Wu Youcai and his wife never thought that they would be involved in the lawsuit between Wu Shi and Huang Jiu. After all, they have confidently taken over the inheritance left by their eldest brother to Wu Shi for so many years. Sue them and want to take away the inheritance one day.
However, Wu Youcai was able to covet the inheritance belonging to the Wu family without conscience and sell half of the Wu family to the Huang family. He was naturally not the cowardly person. When he went to court, he was still confident, and even scolded Mrs. Wu on the spot. Said: "I raised you as a daughter, just like my own parents, and now you dare to sue me, this is unfilial, you deserve it if you are beaten to death!"
Although Wu's nature is weak, he has suffered so many crimes these years, and now he sees hope, and he was taught by Zhang Sheng before, which is very different from just crying before. Wu was sobbing, and did not argue with Wu Youcai, but said solemnly to Wu Youcai: "My lord, Minnv has indeed been raised in my uncle's house for a few years, and she should be filial, but Minnv really doesn't want to hurt the hearts of her biological parents, so I only hope that I can get back the belongings left by my parents. If I can’t even keep the things my parents left behind, it would be unfilial, but my uncle refuses to hand it over, so the daughter of the people has the courage to sue.”
Wu Youcai gave Wu Shi a hard look, and then turned to Zhuang Zhuang and said, "Sir, she is talking nonsense! This niece of Cao Min has caused trouble with her misbehavior, and now she has no money, so she will bite Cao Min. Otherwise, why didn't she do it back then?" Sue now?"
At this time, Zhang Sheng, a lawyer, stepped forward. Zhang Sheng did not disappoint Zhuang Zhong when he defended the more perfect Wu family that Zhuang Zhong had taught him before. He not only carefully studied the laws and regulations, but also found out all the evidence during this time. It can be proved that Wu's parents did make a family business by themselves after the separation. According to the law, the Wu family is a well-deserved heir.
Even if half of it should be kept to the Wu family, it should be returned to the Wu family, not Wu Youcai alone.
Zhang Sheng is flexible, he knows that if the Wu family really snatches all the inheritance back, even if it becomes Wu's reputation, it will be damaged, and it will not be easy. After all, the power of the clan is there, and a married woman is equal to someone else's family, and the clan will definitely not allow such a large amount of inheritance to fall into his family. Even if it complies with the law, the clan will come forward to stop it. In Dayou, the power of the clan is sometimes even higher than the law. For example, some clans stipulate that if a woman loses her virtue, she will be punished. This is murder, and according to the law, it will be punished, but if the clan decides, no one will suffer. Unless the woman was framed by someone and was not really immoral, then it is possible for someone to take responsibility for it.
Therefore, Zhang Sheng asked Wu to give up part of his interests, and Wu naturally did not disagree. I didn't expect to get it back, so why would I be reluctant to give it up. At this time, Wu Youcai's previous actions also helped Zhang Sheng and the Wu family. Wu Youcai was a greedy person, so naturally he would not give the benefits to his clansmen. So the family grows bigger but doesn't care about the clan, and the clan members have long been dissatisfied with him. It's just that Wu Youcai is Wu's father's closest relative, so he can only sigh at the sight, unable to get a share of the pie, and even has to rely on Wu Youcai to live. After all, Wu Youcai became the most powerful person in the Wu family because of this inheritance, so naturally his status in the family is different.
Now that the people of the clan have the opportunity to occupy this part of the inheritance, no one is jealous. In addition, he has always been dissatisfied with Wu Youcai, and Wu Youcai is also unreasonable in the law, so he is naturally willing to stand by Wu's side and testify for him.
Wu Youcai did not expect such a law to exist at all, but the evidence was conclusive and solemn and he did not accept bribes from him, no matter how unwilling he was, he had no choice but to accept it.
"My lord, take away what my elder brother left behind, Caomin admits it. But why should Caomin give up the foundation created by Caomin's hard work over the years!? Caomin refuses to accept."
Zhuang raised his eyebrows, "Those are not your property, so the business is just managed by you, which is equivalent to the manager and shopkeeper. Which manager and shopkeeper have you ever seen who can share the profits of the master? How many years have you been in charge, Mrs. Wu?" And the Wu clan will give you the corresponding wages."
With solid evidence and the support of the clan and county magistrate, the Wu family won the lawsuit without any suspense. Not only did Huang Jiu return to his freedom when he had money, but he also became one of the cases of solemn popularization of the law. It is also the duty of the head of a county to spread the law to the local people.
On the day when Zhang Sheng and Wu Shi officially got married, they also invited Zhuang Zhong, because neither of them had parents, so they invited Zhuang Zhong to sit on the high hall, which means reborn parents. Solemnly refused, although it was an honor, it was really awkward, besides, this was his duty, so there was no need for such a thank you. Dayou respects filial piety and regards him as important as a parent, this gift is too great. Besides, Zhuang Zhong didn't want Zhang Sheng to think that he was on his side in this case, that he regarded him as his own, and that he could do anything wrong in the future, so it was better to keep a distance.
Zhang Sheng is smart, he has experienced these things and he is more mature than before, he also knows about Zhuang Zhuang's concerns, so he didn't insist on it, but bowed to Zhuang Zhuang respectfully with Wu Shi.
After attending Zhang Sheng's wedding, Zhuang Zhong suddenly wanted to see Feng Huan for some reason, so he rode a horse to look for Feng Huan early in the morning of the second day.
When Feng Huan heard that Zhuang Zhong was coming, he hurried to respond, but the figure of the other party gradually became bigger in his field of vision, and Feng Huan's original running speed became slower.
Feng Huan folded his hands on his chest and snorted coldly, "You still know how to come here."
Seeing Feng Huan's awkward appearance, Zhuang Zhong couldn't help laughing. The two of them are busy these days, so they haven't seen each other for a long time, and he even came here for a stroll at the beginning, and never came after that.
"I'm here to bring you a belated birthday present." Zhuang Zhuang got off his horse, his movements were very handsome and smooth, which disappointed Feng Huan. It's too bad that I don't even have a chance to move forward.
"Hmph, you still have some conscience." Feng Huan said indifferently, but his movements were very fast, and he directly snatched the bag from Zhuang Zhong's hand, as if he was afraid that others would snatch it away. But when I opened it, I couldn't help being speechless, and said after a while, "Is this a gift from you?"
"That's right, I made this with my own hands. I thought you collected a lot of good things on weekdays, and I must not be able to buy your rare things with this little property. I just thought that the meaning is the most important thing, and the heart comes first. Like? Do you like it?" Zhuang Zhong said proudly, feeling that this gift of his could not be better, very creative.
The corner of Feng Huan's mouth twitched, "Give me a wooden knot as a chopping board?"
Just now Feng Huan opened the gift with great anticipation in his heart. He originally thought that as long as it was a solemn gift, he would be overjoyed. It turned out that I was so naive! No matter who saw that the gift in his pocket turned out to be just a wooden knot about the size of a bowl, about one finger thick, with no decorations, it was probably just cut down and polished a little to make it less thorny, so he gave it to him as a gift. It's too perfunctory!
Zhuang Zhong looked like you didn't understand, and pointed to the grain of the wood knot, "You know these are the annual rings, you can count how many rings there are."
Feng Huan immediately understood what was going on, but he followed what Zhuang Zhong said, and indeed there were twenty laps.
Solemnly proudly said: "Now you understand what it means? This tree is the same age as you, so it is so commemorative. From now on, I will give you a wooden festival that is the same age as you every year. How about this gift from me? Is it innovative and sincere? It’s unique, and I’ve been thinking about it for a long time before I came up with such an idea.”
Now that all the birthday presents have been resolved, Zhuang Zhuang feels that he is too witty!
Feng Huan didn't know what to say, and finally raised his thumb, "You won."
Naturally, Feng Huan would not be satisfied with such an innovative but very perfunctory gift, and it took him a long time to fall asleep with his arms in his arms. Although he didn't make it to the end, the degree of intimacy was far better than before.
Zhuang Zhong left early in the morning, although Feng Huan was reluctant to give up, he did not stop him.
Zhuang Zhong returned to the Yamen and began to look through the files of local criminal cases. The Meixian Prison was overcrowded. Looking at the pile of files on the table, Zhuang Zhong couldn't help but get angry. Mei County has a small population, so there are so many criminals, which is a bit too cruel, and such a high crime rate can only be found in such a chaotic place. Either it was the inaction of former officials, or the brutal law enforcement, all of which were the result of local officials' dereliction of duty.
Suppressing the fire in his heart solemnly, he began to look through the case files of the person who was about to be executed according to his old habits, and he found a case with many doubts.
There was a woman named Zhenniang in the prison. She was convicted of adultery, murdered her husband Wu Baosheng, and was executed in autumn. But Wu Baosheng's body had never been found before, and he couldn't answer Zhenniang's question, only saying that it was thrown in the wild to be eaten by wild dogs. It was not until two years later that a skeleton was found in the forest, which was determined to be that of Wu Baosheng, and the case was closed.
Looking carefully at the case files, it was solemnly discovered that Zhenniang did not plead guilty at first, but was tortured to death by the "adulterant". Pressed confession handprint. The so-called "adulter" is actually Zhenniang's younger brother Zhou Jizu, an orphan adopted by Zhenniang's parents in the clan because of childlessness, so that he can inherit the incense in the future.
The whole story is recorded very simply in the file. After Zhenniang married Wu Baosheng, she said to Wu Baosheng one day: "I heard that my father is sick. I don't know what's going on now. I want to go home and visit him." But Wu Baosheng said that he went to see his father-in-law, if there is nothing wrong with it, then go back and see Zhenniang. Zhenniang was a virtuous woman, it was a rule that married daughters should seldom go home, and she thought it would be more honorable for her son-in-law to go back to visit her, so she agreed.
But she never thought that Wu Baosheng would never come back. Seeing that Wu Baosheng hadn't returned for three days, Zhenniang ordered someone to inquire if her father was seriously ill, so Wu Baosheng was delayed. Unexpectedly, the news came from home that Wu Baosheng was never seen at all, and the person who came to report the news was Zhou Jizu who was considered an adulterer.
Wu's father searched everywhere but could not find Wu Baosheng, and saw that Zhenniang and Zhou Jizu were not related by blood, but they were extremely close. The court accused the two of committing adultery and killing their son.
At that time, the person who tried the case was the county captain He. The method of handling the case was simple and rude. He directly locked up all Zhou's family members, and then tortured Zhou Jizu to extract a confession. It never occurred to Zhou Jizu that he could not survive the torture and was directly beaten to death. But Zhou's father was physically weak, and he was in a filthy prison, so he died without making it through. Zhou's mother had no way to sue outside, and finally couldn't stand it anymore and jumped into the well and committed suicide.
Now there is only Zhenniang left in the Zhou family, waiting for the moment of execution.
Zhuang Zhong felt that the case was strange because of the skeleton. The reason why this skeleton was determined to be Wu Baosheng’s corpse was because there was a jade pendant on Wu Baosheng’s body. As for how and when he died, it was determined from the characteristics of the skeleton There is no record of Wu Baosheng's body, and the autopsy was very hasty.
Zhuang Zhong ordered someone to call Zhang Sheng, a local, to see if he knew about the family and the case.
But Zhang Sheng did not disappoint Zhuang Zhong. Because the case was very sensational at the time, Zhang Sheng also paid close attention to it, so he understood the cause and effect very well.
Zhang Shengdao: "The Zhou family and the Wu family are both wealthy families. The Zhou family is about to end because of this case. Now the Zhou family members are arguing about who will inherit the property of the Zhou family. Now it is said that an heir has been decided, and only waiting for Zhenniang After the execution, he will inherit all the property of the Zhou family. Wu Baosheng also knows Xiaosheng, and he is still a classmate of Xiaosheng. This person is uneducated and incompetent. He was careful, so he married such a wife.
Although Xiaosheng has never met Zhenniang, he has heard of Zhenniang's reputation, saying that she is as beautiful as a flower and jade, and is gentle and gentle, so that the prodigal son Wu Baosheng won his heart. Many people envied Wu Baosheng very much. It was really unfair that such a prodigal son could marry such a good wife. But it never occurred to me that Wu Baosheng was killed by Zhenniang not long after, which made countless people sigh, not knowing whether to rejoice or sigh. "
Zhuang Zhong immediately decided to visit the prison, but before he left the Yamen, County Captain He appeared.