Han lowered his eyelids, feeling confused.
After the child was born, when she found out it was a girl, she didn't even look at it.
We don't even know what she looks like, so how can we have any evidence
However, she seemed to hear the midwife, Aunt Wu, say something in surprise, but she forgot what she said exactly.
What is it exactly
"I, I was confused at that time, I don't remember..."
Jiang Sanlang sneered: "Then tell me first, how did I pick up your child?"
Han: …
She couldn't tell the truth, even if she really didn't lose the child.
But if you say he is your husband, that is even worse.
Her husband was a scholar, and reputation was extremely important to him. She would rather not give birth to a son than ruin his chance of passing the imperial examination.
Seeing that her daughter-in-law didn't say anything, Chen Fengshi immediately replied: "Because the child was weak and died at birth, so, so..."
"So you threw her into the river?" Jiang Sanlang asked coldly.
Chen Feng nodded quickly: "Yes! We can't leave a dead child at home."
"Then tell me where in the river your dead baby was left and why I found him?" Jiang Sanlang asked aggressively.
"Lost, lost somewhere in the river, I don't remember the exact location, it's been so many years..."
Chen Feng looked at her second daughter-in-law for help, "Han, do you know?"
Han bit her lip and said nothing.
My husband Chen Changping did not say that he abandoned the child by the river, he only said that he threw the child into the Beishan Mountain.
But why did Jiang Sanlang say that the child was by the river? Did he deliberately lie to confuse me? Or was the child really not his
But no matter what, the child must be his!
Jiang Sanlang turned to Li Zheng Sun and said, "Li Zheng, my daughter Yingbao has never been weak since she was a child. If you don't believe me, you can ask my neighbors if they have seen my daughter consult a doctor or take medicine."
Everyone shook their heads: "We have never seen Yingbao get sick, nor have we seen the Jiang family hire a doctor for the child."
"Since my child is not weak, how come he became the child of the Chen family who was weak and died at birth?"
Jiang Sanlang turned to Han with a sharp gaze, "Or did you believe the rumors and deliberately cheat because you couldn't give birth to a son, in order to steal my Yingbao to give you a child?"
Han avoided her gaze and stammered, "I didn't..."
She now began to doubt her previous judgment. Maybe... maybe the girl was not hers at all, but so what.
"Also, I didn't pick up my Yingbao by the Chuan River. I brought her back from the south slope, which is several miles away from the Chuan River." Jiang Sanlang said with certainty.
Chen Feng Han:…
Chen Laoshuan glared at his second daughter-in-law angrily.
Han was about to say something else, but was interrupted by Sun Lizheng, "Okay, all of you just shut up."
Pointing at Chen Laoshuan, he said, "You are the head of the family, but you are fooling around with two women. I won't punish you with a stick today, but I can't encourage this kind of evil trend.
How about this, you pay two taels of silver to Jiang Sanlang's family as compensation, and the matter will be settled. Otherwise, I will have to send you to the county government, and let the prefect personally try this fraud case."
He was really fed up with these guys in Xichen Village. Instead of doing their proper work, they were doing these crooked things.
Seeing that the deadline for autumn tax was approaching, there were still a few families in Xicun who had not paid. If he didn't punish them, they would be in great trouble.
Look at Dongcun. There were quite a few poor families there last year, but this year they all paid their taxes early, saving them a lot of trouble.
When Chen Feng heard that she was going to be fined, she was unhappy, "Hey, head of the village, why are you fined my family? Even if we recognized the wrong person, you shouldn't sentence us like this."
Sun Lizheng slammed the table and shouted, "What? How do you think I should judge you? You keep accusing other people's children? Is there still law?"
Chen Feng shrank her neck and said nothing.
He glared at his second daughter-in-law again.
What a useless thing! Without any evidence, he actually dared to instigate her to go to the Jiang family to ask for the child.
This time I've really lost face in front of my grandma.
In the end, Chen Laoshuan had no choice but to pay another two taels of silver, otherwise the head of the village would beat his wife and second daughter-in-law with a stick, as well as him.
If this happened to his own female relatives, who took off their pants and spanked them in public, he would be too embarrassed to save face.
On the way home, Chen Laoshuan couldn't help but scold the two women harshly, telling them to go back and shut up and not tell their second son about this so as not to affect his studies.
When Jiang Sanlang returned home, Zhou Mao had already collected the goods and left. The villagers also went back to their own places.
He gave two taels of silver to Chunniang and told her about the situation with the head of the village.
"I think Chen Han is still a little unwilling. We have to be careful."
Jiang Sanlang sighed, "But it's good this way. The matter is finally laid out in the open."
He had always been worried that someone would come to his house to ask for Yingbao, but when the day finally came and he laid it out, he actually felt relieved.
I'm not afraid of thieves stealing, but I'm afraid of thieves thinking about it. Now that I know their tricks, I also have ways to deal with them.
No matter what, he would not give up his daughter.
"What about the birthmark on Yingbao's wrist?" Chunniang asked worriedly.
Because the little girl always insisted on taking a bath and changing clothes by herself, Chun Niang didn't know that the birthmark on her wrist was gone.
In addition, Yingbao drew a little red turtle for herself, so even if Chunniang occasionally saw her daughter's wrist, she just thought that the birthmark was covered by her daughter's drawing.
Jiang Sanlang frowned and thought, "We'll talk about it when the time comes. There's always a way. However, the Chen family didn't mention the birthmark on Yingbao's wrist today. I guess they don't know about it at all."
This is good, I can think of a solution in secret.
Chun Niang thought thoughtfully: "Don't they know that Yingbao has a birthmark on her wrist?"
"It's possible." Jiang Sanlang stroked his chin, "It would be great if that were true."
At this time, Yingbao poked his head in: "Dad, you're back?"
Jiang Sanlang waved at her, "Bao'er, come here, let your parents see the birthmark on your wrist."
Yingbao ran in obediently, rolled up her sleeves, and revealed her clean wrists.
It was all white, without the plum blossom mark from before.
"Huh? Why is it gone?" Chunniang and Jiang Sanlang were both surprised.
Yingbao smiled and said, "It was washed away by Baoer."
She couldn't say that she had burned herself with charcoal; that would be more difficult and troublesome to explain.
"Washed? What did you use to wash it?" Chunniang grabbed her daughter's wrists and searched over and over again.
It was gone, the birthmark was really gone! There was only a small red mole the size of a pinhead, which was invisible unless you looked closely.
Chunniang couldn't help but smile.
Jiang Sanlang also breathed a sigh of relief.
This time, I am no longer afraid of any conspiracy or tricks from the Chen family.
"I washed it with a golden ear." Yingbao said with a smile: "It took a long time to wash it."
Chunniang hugged her daughter tightly, almost crying with joy, and said distressedly: "Bao'er, you must have rubbed off a layer of skin." It was estimated that only by shedding a layer of skin could the birthmark be removed.
Yingbao was speechless.
Let my parents misunderstand me like this. It is better to rub off a layer of skin than to burn a piece of flesh.
Jiang Sanlang touched his daughter's head and sighed in his heart.
His daughter was so sensible that she actually figured out a way to rub off the birthmark.
How badly must this kid's skin be rubbed to remove a birthmark as big as a copper coin? It's connected to the flesh.
"Does it hurt, Bao'er?" he asked, tears welling up in his eyes.
"It doesn't hurt." Yingbao shook her head.
"Good girl." Chun Niang hugged her daughter tightly and put her face close to hers, "My good girl."
The twin brother also came over, stretched his neck and snuggled with his sister, "Ajie (Awu), you are such a good girl."
Yingbao chuckled and pushed away the heads of her two younger brothers that were leaning towards her.