Chapter 178 Sending an Official
Xu Zhichun: "You, the village head, are a sensible man and reasonable, but there are many unreasonable people in this world who only care about making trouble. Don't let yourself get caught in a trap and become crippled. Also, seeing that my family is small and weak, it's inevitable that they will find trouble with me. I have said this today. If there are still people who don't believe it and think I am lying to deceive people, and still have evil thoughts, you are all witnesses, so please speak up for me when the time comes."
"Needless to say? If there really is such a person, he deserves it."
"That's right. That's too much of a bully."
"But Zhichun, are you really going to buy some mousetraps and animal traps?"
"Are animal traps really that powerful?"
Xu Zhichun: "I'm not kidding."
In fact, she doesn't need to buy it. She just needs to be patient and look through the warehouse space, and she will definitely find it.
Zhang curled her lips, obviously not believing it.
There were obviously many people who thought the same as Zhang, but no one said anything.
It was late at night, and Liang Lizheng ordered his men to take Sheng to the village ancestral hall, and everyone soon dispersed.
The next morning, Zeng Xiaoyan and her friends went to set up a stall to sell things. Today, they had to ask Xu Zhichun to deliver a large basket of fresh tomatoes to Manager Tang.
Xu Zhichun, together with Liang Lizheng and three other villagers who served as witnesses, rented another ox cart, threw Lai Sheng, who was tied up tightly and had his mouth gagged, into the cart, and took him to report to the police.
Lai Sheng's right ankle was swollen like a steamed bun, and he felt waves of excruciating pain. His elbow was also injured, and he felt a burning and tearing pain. He was thrown to the ground like this all night and was in great pain. At this time, he was listless, with bloodshot eyes. He saw Xu Zhichun and others struggling desperately and whimpering, trying to speak, but Xu Zhichun didn't give him a chance at all.
"We have nothing to say to the thief, so let's just hand him over to the adults."
"Okay."
Who has the patience to talk to such a person?
When they arrived at the yamen, they brought the man in and asked someone to write a complaint and hand it in. Liang Lizheng then reported the whole story.
Shao Shiye raised an eyebrow. "This is truly audacious. I'll accept the complaint. This man will be temporarily imprisoned and will be brought to court for a detailed trial on a later date. I'll let you know when the time comes."
As the village head, Liang Lizheng's words naturally have a certain credibility. There are also several villagers as witnesses. The thief was caught red-handed, and the ladder he used to commit the crime was also brought along. It is entirely possible to temporarily imprison him.
Two officers stepped forward, untied the ropes from Lai Sheng's body, and removed the cloth gag from his mouth. They were about to take him to jail when Lai Sheng suddenly cried out, "Master! It's unjust! I'm innocent! I'm not a thief. It was clearly this Xu who lured me there out of loneliness, but who knew she would turn against me? The people in her village are xenophobic, so they ganged up on me and framed me, leaving me with nowhere to complain! Master, please, help me! Please, help me!"
Liang Lizheng and others never expected that this man was so shameless and scoundrel.
"Nonsense! Absolute nonsense!"
"You're the one who's blaming me?"
"Do you have any shame?"
Some people were so angry that they wanted to go up and beat him up, but they were stopped by Liang Lizheng. The government office was not the place to beat people up, otherwise he would have more things to say. If they wanted to beat him up, they had to wait until they were outside. Beating him half to death was also worthy of it.
"I'm not talking nonsense! You're from the same village, so of course you're helping your own people! Xu, aren't you afraid of being struck by lightning for harming me like this? You're such a shameless little girl! It was clearly you who seduced me, and you're refusing to admit it!"
Liang Lizheng shouted angrily: "Shut up!"
Xu Zhichun laughed at his anger. "Don't be angry, Li Zhengbo. I should have thought of this earlier. After all, we have a grudge. He is now barefoot and not afraid of those who wear shoes. No wonder he would throw in the towel and slander me."
Lai Sheng had indeed thought so, but he hadn't expected Xu Zhichun to see through him. His revenge was filled with anger and shame, "Slander? I only hate myself for being so foolish as to believe your sweet talk. You're right, we have a grudge, how could I have believed you! You bitch, you're willing to sacrifice your own reputation just to harm me. How cruel!"
Xu Zhichun: "You are a stray dog, what is there for me to harm? If it was really me who asked you to go, why did you bring a ladder? Master——"
Xu Zhichun was about to speak when Lai Sheng interrupted her by yelling and cursing, not giving her a chance to continue.
Master Shao: "Shut his mouth."
“Hmm—”
Lai Sheng opened his eyes wide in disbelief. He was so angry that he almost died. This is targeting you! This is targeting you!
"Thank you, Master."
Xu Zhichun could finally speak in peace.
"Master, Mr. Fang, the owner of the Sifang Restaurant, tried to force me to buy the ice jelly recipe. This person instigated him. Mr. Fang had a sudden realization and changed his ways. He severely punished this person and kicked him out of the restaurant. This person probably harbored a grudge and wanted revenge, so he sneaked into my house to steal. Unexpectedly, a friend of mine was staying over last night. When he woke up, he saw him climbing over the wall and started yelling. The villagers rushed over and caught him red-handed."
"This man keeps saying that I deliberately framed him and slandered the village head and villagers for giving false testimony on my behalf. This is truly despicable. Since he is so bold and refuses to repent, I have reason to believe that he is most likely acting at the behest of his master. Please investigate carefully, Master."
Lai Sheng was forced to kneel on the ground by two yamen runners, struggling and whimpering so much that he felt like vomiting blood. Let him go, let him speak, why are you targeting him?
He regretted it so much now. If he had known this would happen, he would not have deliberately stopped Xu from speaking.
He was naive. In this yamen, if Xu wanted to speak, could he stop her?
If his former master was involved in this matter, he would be finished! Even if the government only gave him a light punishment or a severe warning, his former master would not let him go.
But Master Shao ignored him even as he whimpered with wide eyes. Instead, he nodded thoughtfully, "Madam Xu has a point. I will report this to the Lord and have his master summoned for a thorough interrogation."
He glanced at Lai Sheng casually. He saw through the rogue behavior of this cunning slave at a glance, really.
Xu Zhichun hurriedly said, "Master, I have an idea. Can we give it a try?"
"Oh? Go ahead."
"Thank you, Master."
Mr. Shao sent someone to report to Lord Lu, and then ordered someone to bring Manager Fang.
Xu Zhichun was just guessing, but after listening to Xu Zhichun's explanation of the whole story, Master Shao could almost conclude that there was more than an 80% chance that this matter was related to Fang Zhengduan.
Lai Sheng was obviously Fang Zhengduan's scapegoat, and his master must have compensated him with benefits before driving him away.
Lai Sheng did not leave the county immediately, but instead went to the countryside to become a thief. This would be unacceptable if he was not bribed by his master.
When Master Shao sent someone to summon Fang Zhengduan, he was very angry.
He let Fang Zhengduan off for the sake of the Zeng family regarding the ice jelly recipe, but if the truth is confirmed and he makes trouble again, he will never let him off easily.
Who are you looking down upon?
(End of this chapter)
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