Chapter 1380: Boar Sow
Chapter 1380: Chapter 1380: Boar Sow
Judge Tang sneered, "According to the Great Chu Criminal Law, those who assist others in poisoning and harming innocent people of good register are guilty as the main culprit. The Gu Family is a family of scholars, not ordinary commoners, already considered a scholarly family. A commoner’s crime against a scholarly family is punished more severely. The Chai Family should be sentenced to public execution, and you still want money!"
Did you think this money would be so easy to earn?
But Judge Tang didn’t expect the Old Lady Chai to be someone who wanted money more than life. She suddenly shouted, "Sir, my daughter knows about Feng Shiwen and Assistant Judge Jia colluding to seize the Gu Family’s wealth. If my family is willing to testify against Feng Shiwen and Assistant Judge Jia, can we get the reward money?"
Impressive, Young Master Dou clapped his hand on the table in admiration: "Old Lady Chai, I underestimated you. You truly are shameless. Fine, I’ll make you a promise. As long as you are willing to testify against Assistant Judge Jia, I’ll personally give you a reward."
He continued, "However, you, Chai Sanfu, your eldest son, and you, Old Lady Chai, are all accomplices. By law, you’ll be punished. Whether you can spend this silver or not is uncertain."
Old Lady Chai, though a shrew from the countryside, had some insight, as her daughter married Manager Feng as a concubine. She knew that the actions of her and her two sons might result in the death penalty for the whole family, or at the very least, imprisonment for them.
But since things had come to this, and being someone who believed in fate, she feared that if her whole family died, there’d be no one left to offer incense. So she was determined to leave a way out for her grandchildren: "I know, I won’t regret it, as long as Young Master Dou keeps his word."
"Good, straightforward!" Young Master Dou agreed, took out a silver note, and handed it to County Magistrate Fang: "Let County Magistrate Fang hold this silver note first. After you testify against Assistant Judge Jia, naturally, the silver note will go to your Chai family’s descendants who haven’t been convicted."
Seeing this, Old Lady Chai was completely at ease, wiping her tears, she said to her two sons, "Dafu, Sanfu, we have sinned, and this life might end like this for us, but Tiger Brother and the others mustn’t suffer because of us. We must listen to the official, expose all the evil deeds of Feng Shiwen, gain credit, and leave a way out for Tiger Brother and the others, also ensuring incense offerings after we die."
Chai Sanfu was deeply poisoned, very weak, and didn’t even want to speak anymore.
Chai Dafu was unwilling, crying, kowtowing to plead with Magistrate Gu: "Sir, I was tricked by Feng Shiwen, I had no intention to help him harm others, please spare me this time. I’m not even forty, I don’t want to die yet."
He also begged Young Master Dou: "Young Master Dou, you’re a noble from the Capital, your influence is vast, please save me, I’ll be your servant and serve you for a lifetime!"
Bah, get lost, I have plenty of servants, who needs you to serve?
Young Master Dou said disdainfully, "Chai Dafu, with the things you, your mother, and your brother did, there are several fake government officials and Manager Lin testifying, there’s no chance of exoneration. If you don’t want your family’s sons to die off, then redeem your crimes with achievements and help testify against Assistant Judge Jia."
Manager Lin also joined in, nodding in agreement, "Chai Dafu, you and Manager Feng almost killed my staff, they are of good register, and now they’ve been poisoned to this extent, their lives are essentially over. If you dare to try any tricks, don’t blame me for suing you for attempting to murder my staff!"
Manager Lin was furious, taking his staff happily to the Gu Family for a wedding feast, but ended up with his trusted staff suffering such an undeserved disaster.
When he goes back, he doesn’t even know how to explain this to their families.
If not for fearing to disrupt Gu Jin’an’s business, Manager Lin really wanted to hire some thugs to give the Chai family a good beating.
And Manager Feng, that bastard, couldn’t he run his business properly instead of causing all this trouble!
After hearing this, Chai Dafu cried out loud, unwilling to give up, looking at Gu Jin’an, he said, "Gu Jin’an, you clearly said, as long as I reveal the relationship between Feng Shiwen and Assistant Judge Jia, you would let me go, how can you go back on your word?"
Gu Jin’an’s smile was enough to chill people to the bone, "I want to let you go, but the Great Chu Criminal Law doesn’t allow it, I’m just a scholar, how can I knowingly break the law?"
His words were spoken with such righteousness that it almost drove Chai Dafu to the point of wanting to crash into him.
But the Government Official was constantly guarding against Chai Dafu, so there was no chance for him to harm Gu Jin’an, he could only continue crying loudly.
Magistrate Gu was annoyed by his crying and said to the Government Official, "Someone, gag Chai Dafu’s mouth and take him aside."
"Yes." The Government Official swiftly gagged Chai Dafu’s mouth and dragged him away, letting him cry all he wanted by himself.
Magistrate Gu said to Old Lady Chai, "It’s good that you can turn over a new leaf, but having committed a crime, you must be punished. If you want your children and grandchildren to be safe, testify against the Evil Man and redeem your crimes with achievements."
Old Lady Chai, though shrewish, also feared the authorities. Hearing this, she replied, "I will do my best to serve you, sir."
After speaking, she looked at Young Master Dou, using her tear-filled, old eyes to remind him to give the money after the job was done.
Young Master Dou waved his hand, indicating he understood.
Magistrate Gu watched their silent agreement with some disdain, hurriedly concluding the case, fearing they might "do business" in the public court, undermining its dignity.
As for arresting Assistant Judge Jia, it would be a bit difficult.
"Assistant Judge Jia is a court official and an officer of another prefecture, this office has no power to arrest him. We can only send the offenders, evidence, and the case file to Tong’an Prefecture and let Magistrate Xi handle the case."
Magistrate Xi is the magistrate of Tong’an Prefecture, Jia’s superior, with the authority to oversee and arrest Assistant Judge Jia.
After speaking, Magistrate Gu looked at Judge Tang.
Judge Tang immediately stepped forward and said, "Sir, as a deputy magistrate, it’s my duty to accompany Young Master Dou and the others to Tong’an Prefecture to file the complaint since it’s a cross-prefecture case."
Judge Tang was clever, knowing that with Young Master Dou involved, the case wouldn’t be difficult and there was plenty of evidence, so the chances of success were high.
Once it’s handled well, he would gain credit for it.
Magistrate Gu was pleased to see him volunteering. "Since that’s the case, I’ll trouble you to make a trip, Judge Tang."
With that said, he immediately stamped the case file with the seal of He’an Prefecture Government, and wrote a letter to the Tong’an Prefecture Magistrate explaining the case, before handing the case file, letter, evidence, testimonies, and offenders over to Judge Tang.
"There’s no time to lose, Judge Tang set off as soon as possible."
Judge Tang knew this case couldn’t be delayed, nodded, and said, "I will set off in half an hour."
He immediately called in his steward, staff, and servants, after instructing them on matters of the government office and at home, he had someone arrange for a carriage and set off for Tong’an Prefecture immediately.
Young Master Dou knew the advantage of storytellers, so he had already sent a message to Ke Yuli at Shenghe Building, asking him to spread the word that Manager Feng and Assistant Judge Jia conspired to seize the Gu Family’s wealth, but were outsmarted by Gu Jin’an and counter-sued by the Gu Family.
Ke Yuli was talented, having worked as a storyteller for over twenty years, his tales were captivating. He even added many plots about Manager Feng settling all over, taking beautiful prostitutes as concubines, and sending daughters to officials, making them concubines of officers.
It only took one day for Ke Yuli to portray Manager Feng as a male pig occupied with nothing but sowing seeds.