"My lord! I'm not talking nonsense. I hope you can see the truth. This guy even gave me 50 copper coins as a reward!" Jiang Hai said hurriedly, taking out fifty coins from his pocket and throwing them on the ground.
"You! You! Jiang Hai! You're talking nonsense!" Even though Lu Youren was being held down, his mouth was still full of filth!
"Slap him twenty times!" the magistrate said coldly, glancing at Lu Youren.
Lu Youren was dragged by the bailiffs to the inner room next door. Soon, Lu Youren's screams and the sound of slapping his face could be heard from inside the inner room.
When Lu Youren came out again, he had lost his previous frenzied energy. His mouth was full of blood and he knelt next to the village chief with a look of despair.
The village chief was incredibly intelligent. He had completely understood the whole situation from Jiang Hai's words. If they weren't in the government office, the village chief would probably have slapped Lu Youren across the face.
"I'll deal with you when we get back!" The village chief glared at Lu Youren and hissed in a low voice.
"My lord, I truly did not lie. Last night he told me what Jiang looked like. I was worried I wouldn't recognize her, and he told me he would remind me tomorrow, and that I must get to the back mountain before dawn tomorrow!"
"After the people from Lujia Village arrived, I saw him quietly walk up to a woman and secretly point at her. That's when I...that's when I..." As he said this, Jiang Hai suddenly moved a few steps toward Jiang Ling.
He looked at Jiang Ling with tears streaming down his face and said, "Jiang, we're from the same village, please have mercy! I... I was forced into this situation!"
"Silence!" The magistrate slammed his gavel again, then turned his gaze to Jiang Ling and asked, "Jiang, as the victim in this matter, what do you have to say?"
"Jiang, even a day as husband and wife is a hundred days of kindness, a day as husband and wife is as deep as the sea! You! You can't..."
"Quiet! I, Lu Youren, am not asking you to open your mouth!" the magistrate snapped.
Jiang Ling glared at Lu Youren. She couldn't understand why this man in front of her could be so vicious. Looking at his mouth, which was covered in blood and gore, Jiang Ling felt a little happy. Just as Jiang Ling was about to say something, the village chief suddenly coughed softly.
Jiang Ling looked at the village chief, whose eyes held a hint of pleading. Jiang Ling understood his gaze; he wanted her to let Lu Youren go this time. Her initial happiness vanished because of that one look from the village chief. Jiang Ling couldn't convince herself to forgive Lu Youren. She couldn't understand why, when she was the one who had been wronged, she was being asked to be forgiven.
Today I might be lucky to have been rescued by the county magistrate for no apparent reason. But what if I had been unlucky? I probably wouldn't be able to clear my name even if I jumped into the Yellow River!
Thinking of this, Jiang Ling's eyes reddened, and feelings of resentment, sadness, and anger welled up in her heart.
Jiang Ling looked at the county magistrate in front of her, and finally took a deep breath, trying to make her tone sound calm as she said, "I am an illiterate countrywoman who does not know any laws or regulations. I only hope that they will restore my reputation!"
"Jiang, is that really what you think?" The magistrate looked at Jiang Ling with some disbelief and asked again.
Jiang Ling bit her lip and didn't speak, but simply nodded slightly.
"Very well! Jiang Hai and Lu Youren, I hereby give you two days to personally come to my door to apologize!"
"Thank you, Your Excellency! Thank you, Your Excellency! Thank you, Your Excellency!" Lu Youren and Jiang Hai breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing the magistrate's words and kowtowed repeatedly in gratitude.
"However! Although Madam Jiang kindly let you go, I still have to teach you a lesson. You spread rumors and slander women, and you insulted the county magistrate with your foul language! Guards! Give each of them twenty strokes of the cane!"
"Spare us! Your Honor, spare us!" Although Lu Youren and Jiang Hai kept kowtowing and begging for mercy, they were quickly dragged by the bailiffs to the execution bench.
Screams echoed throughout the county government office. Jiang Ling looked at Lu Youren, who had been beaten, and the gloom in her heart dissipated considerably.
On the way back, the village chief had a dark face and wanted to lash out several times, but seeing Lu Youren's disheveled appearance, he held back in the end.
"They're back! They're back! They're back! Hey, why is Lu Youren being helped by the village chief?" The crowd who had been waiting for the village chief at the village entrance started discussing this scene.
The people who had been digging potatoes earlier were still glaring angrily at Jiang Ling.
"Gousheng, ring the bell and tell everyone in the village to go to the Lu family ancestral hall! I need to hold a meeting!" The village chief said to his grandson Lu Gousheng with a dark face.
"What? The Lu Family Ancestral Hall?"
"Has something major happened?"
"It's probably related to the Jiang family!"
"See? I told you outsiders couldn't be trusted...tsk...you were right!"
The village chief's words immediately caused an uproar in the village, and all sorts of speculations began to spread like a plague.
In the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, everyone from Lujia Village gathered at the Lujia Ancestral Hall.
All eyes were on the village chief, Jiang Ling, and Lu Youren, who was lying on the ground groaning.
"Oh dear! My son, what happened to you!" Old Mrs. Lu asked, her eyes wide as she saw Lu Youren's bloody and mangled buttocks.
"You still have the nerve to ask how your son is? This guy has completely disgraced our Lu Family Village!" The village chief slammed his fist on the table and roared!
"What? My son is a disgrace? What do you mean by that, village chief? My son may not be very educated, but at least he is honest, kind, and filial!" Old Mrs. Lu said defiantly, her eyes the size of soybeans.
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