"I didn't, how could I say such a thing."
Little Han was furious, pointing at Ying Bao and yelling, "You are so young, but you are talking nonsense. Who taught you that?"
"You are talking nonsense! I swear to heaven that everything I said is true. Do you dare? Humph! You and your sister went to my house before and tried to kidnap a child. Even the neighbors couldn't stand it and threw stinky shit all over you, so you paid Chen Ergou to do the murder."
Yingbao relied on her young age and talked a lot, and even the clerk couldn't keep up with the records.
Little Han didn't expect a kid to be so sharp-tongued, and said angrily: "Shut up! You are so young and you are just talking nonsense. You have no manners..."
"You are the one who has no manners. Look at what you did, how could you be so well-mannered?" Yingbao refused to give in and cursed at her with her hands on her hips.
“You…you…” Xiao Han’s hands were shaking with anger.
"Shut up! No noise is allowed in the court!"
The Mei County Magistrate slammed the gavel and said, "If you keep making noise, you will be punished with a tong!"
Xiao Han didn't dare to say anything more.
Yingbao rolled her eyes at her and stood obediently next to her father.
The Mei County Magistrate turned to the accused Chen Ergou and asked, "Tell me everything you have done. If you miss a word, you will be punished with a cane!"
Chen Ergou knelt on the ground and began to confess.
Finally, he said, “… I was angry that Jiang Sanlang had caused my wife and children to be imprisoned or exiled, so I discussed with my son-in-law to take his child away and abandon her to the wild to fend for herself.
"Sir, I was confused for a moment and didn't mean to kill anyone. I am a good citizen and have never killed a chicken. Please forgive me this time."
Liao Qilin, who was standing beside the county magistrate's desk, asked, "Your confession seems to be different from Zhang Mazi's. He said that you were hired by someone and would give him one or two taels of silver after the incident. Is this true?"
"That's not true, sir. How could I tell him that? That guy must be trying to blackmail me. Think about it, if someone really hired me, how could I not even have money for food?"
Chen Ergou's repeated denials made Jiang Sanlang and Yingbao very angry.
This guy must have been bribed, but there was nothing he could do.
"You're lying!" Jiang Sanlang shouted angrily, "You clearly handed Bao'er over to the Han sisters, and now you're still trying to make excuses. Do you want to get something from them?"
"I didn't, don't try to accuse good people..." Chen Ergou avoided her eyes.
"Silence!" The Mei County Magistrate slammed the gavel and shouted, "Jiang Sanlang! I haven't asked you to reply yet, so don't make any noise! Otherwise, you will be beaten with twenty sticks!"
He turned to the defendant and asked, "Chen Ergou, I want to ask you, are you familiar with these two women in the court?"
Chen Ergou shrank his neck and glanced at the Han sisters, and said loudly: "My lord, I know these two people, but they didn't hire me. Really, they didn't. It was all my fault. I am willing to bear all the blame and will never wrongly accuse good people..."
Yingbao and her father were so angry at this bastard that they turned around to look at the Han sisters, only to see a smug look on their faces.
The magistrate of Mei County was very satisfied to see that the criminal readily admitted his guilt. He just wanted to settle the case as soon as possible so that he could sort out his resignation matters.
Then the prisoners were asked to sign their confessions and put their fingerprints on them before the sentencing was ready.
Jiang Sanlang was dissatisfied, and stepped forward and clasped his fists, saying: "Sir, my daughter was indeed kidnapped by the Han sisters. You can't just close the case like this..."
"presumptuous!"
Mei County Magistrate was furious. "When did I use a villager like you to criticize me when I was judging a case? You think there must be evidence for the Han sisters to hire a killer, but you speculated that they were criminals just based on the words of an ignorant child. Are you playing with the court's laws? Or do you think I am incompetent and can be manipulated by a commoner like you?"
Jiang Sanlang was angry, but he could only bow and salute, "I dare not."
"snort!"
The Mei County Magistrate slammed the gavel and said, "This case is clear and straightforward. According to the criminal law of the court, I sentence the principal offender Chen Ergou to 40 strokes of the cane and five years in prison. The accomplice Zhang Mazi to 30 strokes of the cane and three years in prison!"
Chen Ergou and Zhang Mazi knelt down and kowtowed, feeling relieved.
At least I'm not going to be exiled, so my life is saved. But I'll be in prison for a few years, and then I can go back to my hometown and farm and live.
Jiang Sanlang clenched his fists in anger. Seeing this, Yingbao quickly grabbed her father's hand and shook her head at him.
The Han sisters looked delighted, called the county magistrate "honest official" and kowtowed to him to express their gratitude.
The magistrate of Mei County took out the official seal and stamped the verdict. He then asked Lin Zhubo to write a verdict notice and post it on the public notice wall outside the county government office.
Han Ju Niang suddenly said, "Sir, I have something else to report."
The magistrate of Mei County was in a good mood and allowed her to speak.
Han Ju Niang said, "To be honest, the little girl from Jiang Sanlang's family is actually my biological child. His Jiang family has been holding on to her and refuses to return her. I would like to ask the great official Mingfu to help me and return the child to my family."
When Jiang Sanlang heard this, he was furious and was about to rush forward to beat the man up.
Yingbao quickly grabbed her father and told him to calm down. She said to Han, "I am not your child. I think you are still determined to steal me and sell me off, right?"
Seeing that the two sides were on the verge of a fight, the surrounding yamen runners suddenly swung their sticks and roared in unison: "Mighty~"
The Mei County Magistrate also slammed the gavel, his face darkened, but he couldn't help but ask curiously, "Is there such a thing? Han, tell me what's going on."
Han Ju Niang bowed to Mei County Magistrate Fu and said, "I gave birth to a child three years ago, but because she was born weak, she died early. My mother-in-law thought she was dead and abandoned her, but later she was picked up by Jiang Sanlang..."
The Mei County Magistrate knew what was going to happen and waved his hand, "This matter has nothing to do with the case. If you have any disputes, you can come and file a complaint when the next county magistrate takes office. Court is adjourned!"
Jiang Sanlang was furious, but he knew that he couldn't lose his temper in court, so he picked up Yingbao and left.
He sneered as he passed by the Han sisters.
Yingbao lay on her father's shoulder and said to Han: "I am not your child, bad woman! Your child was killed by you a long time ago! You should go to the underworld to find her."
Han's face froze.
Little Han was also very dissatisfied with her elder sister's actions. She pulled her over and scolded her in a low voice, "What nonsense did you just say? How can you say such things at this time?"
If the county magistrate hadn't wanted to close the case as soon as possible, would this idiot have wanted to drag himself into it
"Don't ever mention this matter again! The child is not yours, so don't make things complicated!" Xiao Han said angrily.
Han lowered her head and responded softly, but she was unwilling in her heart.
"Also, my family spent a lot of money on you this time, and we will return the money later." Little Han looked at her elder sister with disdain: "A total of two hundred taels, you must return it to me before the end of the year."
Han screamed, "What? Why do you want so much? Where do I have two hundred taels of silver?"
"Keep your voice down!"
Little Han quickly left the court and came to her mule cart. She turned to Han who followed her and said, "You think you are only bribing one person? How can this amount of money be too much? I don't care whether you have money or not, you must give me this money. If you don't have it, go ask your brother-in-law for it, or ask your parents-in-law if that doesn't work."
"Also, don't mention the child again. If anything goes wrong, no one can save you." After saying this, Xiao Han got on the mule cart and urged the servants to drive away.
Han was stunned on the spot. She looked around and saw that the Jiang family was looking at her. She was frightened and quickly ran to find her husband Chen Changping.