Not long after, the head of the village sent someone to call Jiang Sanlang to the township hall for questioning.
Jiang Dalang went with his third brother, leaving his second brother to look after Yingbao and Dalu.
The township hall is where the village head and the township officials work. Today, the interrogation of the criminals will be handled here by the village head.
It was already dark. Lanterns were hung high in the courtyard of the village hall, and there were several torches stuck around, illuminating the entire courtyard.
There were quite a few people squatting by the courtyard wall, all of them were guarantors of the three criminals, about twenty or thirty of them.
Several household heads were too old, so their sons took the punishment instead, and each of them received twenty strokes of the cane.
Because the number of village guards was limited, people had to line up to be beaten.
For a moment, the yard was filled with the sound of wooden boards hitting flesh and cries of pain.
With the help of his elder brother, Jiang Sanlang walked into the main hall and greeted the head of the village with a fist salute.
The village head asked him to tell the whole story and had a clerk record it in court, which was then compared with the confessions of the three robbers.
After confirming that everything was correct, Sun Lizheng ordered the three offenders to compensate Jiang Sanlang with 15 taels of silver for medical expenses. The 15 taels of silver must be delivered within a certain time, otherwise they will be severely punished.
Tu Da was straightforward. He immediately asked his family to send five taels of silver and personally presented it to Jiang Sanlang. "It's all because of my poor parenting. Please forgive me, Mr. Jiang."
Jiang Sanlang took the silver expressionlessly and said calmly, "It doesn't matter whether I forgive or not. The government will make the decision."
Anyway, he will not forgive these people. Those who dare to harm him and his daughter will have to pay the price.
The remaining ten taels were paid by Chen Sanshi and Chen Lu'er's families.
But Chen Sanshi's family was penniless, his wife was pregnant, and he couldn't take out a penny.
Sun Lizheng asked the ten households that had guaranteed his family to pay the money together. Anyone who dared not pay on time would be beaten with a stick until the money was paid off.
Seeing that this was possible, Chen Ergou, who was squatting at the door, began to have evil thoughts.
He also claimed that his family had no money and could not afford even a penny.
Sun Lizheng sneered, slapped the table and said, "Well, let the ten households that are jointly guaranteed by your family pay together."
When the ten households heard this, they hated Chen Ergou so much that they gritted their teeth and vowed to make life difficult for his family in the future.
Among these ten households, there is Chen Changping’s father, Chen Laoshuan.
Chen Laoshuan is fifty years old this year. He was stripped of his pants and pressed on a bench and beaten with twenty boards in public. He felt humiliated. But he was asked to pay another five hundred coins. He was so angry that he vomited blood.
But I can't not go out.
So he asked his youngest son to go home and get the money and hand it over to Sun Lizheng.
After being beaten with a stick and fined, Li Zheng Sun naturally released the man.
Chen Laoshuan was carried home by his youngest son Chen Changhai.
He was cursing all the way, scolding Sun Lizheng and Muramasa for being ruthless and calling Chen Ergou a good-for-nothing.
"It's true that birds of a feather flock together. Look at what a kid Chen Ergou has born! He's been a thief since he was young, and now he's a robber. It's all because of the good example his father set!"
Speaking of which, this Chen Ergou is related to Chen Laoshuan. I didn't expect that he would be so shameless as to let my family pay money to his family.
"Our family is so unlucky that we have to form a co-guarantor with his family. Changhai, go to your cousin's house tomorrow and ask him to find a new co-guarantor for us." Chen Laoshuan said angrily.
Chen Changhai said angrily: "Dad, if you want to change it, then change it. Who dares to get involved with Chen Ergou's family now? I think we should let uncle drive his family out of the village as soon as possible."
It was really a disaster that would last for thousands of years. Chen Ergou's father was a habitual thief. At such an old age, he actually went to steal the cooked chicken from the neighbor's pot during the New Year and was caught on the spot.
Alas, my family has to provide joint guarantee with people like him.
When Chen Laoshuan returned home, he lay on the kang and Chen Fengshi applied medicine to him.
"Why is Chen Lu'er so desperate that he hangs out with the street thug Chen Sanshi? Now, Chen Ergou finally gave birth to a son, but he is being sentenced before he can leave an heir. Tsk tsk..."
Chen Fengshi grumbled and complained, "Your cousin is the same. How could he let someone beat you up like this? You won't be able to get off the bed for several days."
Chen Laoshuan’s cousin is Chen Changsheng, the village chief of Xichen Village, and he was also the one who pushed these joint guarantor households out.
Chen Laoshuan was also very angry about this.
He has no mercy at all and makes him lose money and face shame. What kind of relative is he
Humph! When it's my turn to be Muramasa, I'll definitely let him have a taste of what it means to be inhumane.
…
At 12:00 p.m., Jiang Sanlang returned home carrying his sleeping daughter.
Chunniang hurried forward to take her daughter and put her on the kang.
"How are you? Are you seriously injured?" Chun Niang touched her husband's head.
"It's okay. It's not a problem anymore." Jiang Sanlang took out a bag of silver from his arms and handed it to his wife. "This is the compensation awarded to Baoer and me by the village head. It's fifteen taels in total."
Chunniang took it, put it aside, and asked, "How were the people who harmed you sentenced? They were not fined and then released, were they?"
"No, the village head said he would be sent to the county government office early tomorrow morning to be punished by the government."
After all, the village head was not a public official and did not have the power to sentence criminals, but he could still impose fines or beat people with a few sticks.
Chunniang felt relieved, put the money away and asked:
"Have you eaten yet? I'm warming up dinner in the pot, would you like to eat some?"
"I have eaten chicken porridge at my eldest brother's house."
Jiang Sanlang then said to his wife, "Bao'er is not in good spirits today. Doctor Li said she might have been frightened, so he prescribed a tranquilizer for her to drink.
Let Baoer sleep with you tonight, you take care of him while I go to the west room."
"Okay." Chunniang picked up the oil lamp and led her husband to the west room. "Sit down first. I'll bring you some hot water."
Jiang Sanlang nodded, took off his shoes and sat on the edge of the kang. He felt his head was heavy and wanted to sleep.
After a while, Chunniang brought hot water for him to wash his face, and went to get a basin of water for her husband to wash his feet.
After Jiang Sanlang finished washing up, he lay down and fell asleep.
He lost too much blood today and felt cold all over and his eyelids were trembling. If he didn't fall asleep, he might faint.
At this time, Chunniang brought another bowl of golden ear porridge and insisted that he drink it before going to sleep.
Chunniang covered her husband with a quilt and then returned to the east room. She brought a basin of water for her daughter to wash her face and hands, and then fetched water to wash her feet.
Yingbao's eyelids moved slightly, and she was falling into a dream about her past life.
In the cold winter, she came back from washing clothes by the river. Her biological mother, Han, who had always been unfriendly to her, suddenly called her into the house and took out a gorgeous dress and a pair of anklets for her to wear.
Yingbao took the skirt, shook it open and looked at it, her face slightly gloomy.
The material was thin, the hem of the skirt only reached the calves, and there were long tassels hanging at the waist. It was a dance skirt worn by Hu Xuan dancers.
"Ying'er, we have distinguished guests today. Didn't you learn the Huxuan dance at Wuchunyuan? Why don't you demonstrate it to the guests?"
Han called out "Ying'er", but she probably felt awkward herself, and her pretended motherly smile looked particularly fake.
"Whether your father can become an official depends on this distinguished guest, so you must behave well and never offend the distinguished guest."
Yingbao threw the skirt in her hand on the table and sneered, "Why don't you let your second daughter go? I am small and ugly, and I am afraid that I will offend the distinguished guests."
Her hands, feet and face were all covered with frostbite. In such cold weather, she had to wear such a thin dress. Not to mention dancing for men, she would be cursed even if she walked on the street.
What kind of demonstration? It's just an attempt to sell her again.
What kind of people had she not seen in the Dance Spring Academy over the years? Fortunately, she was on good terms with Sister Wen and was young, so she was not pushed out by the head of the dance academy early.
Unexpectedly, her mother redeemed her just to use her to please a nobleman.