Everyone was shocked. They didn't expect this scene to happen. Niu Sanniang was actually killed by Lu's mother? !
The Niu family was even more stunned. Although they thought Niu Sanniang died strangely and suspected that the Lu family did it, they couldn't believe it when they heard it with their own ears. After all, they were still a family in the past, they ate food from the pot and lived under the same roof, how could they be so cruel.
The Niu family has a close relationship with the Lu family. Father Niu and Father Lu knew each other before Niu Sanniang was born, so the Niu family is still Father Lu's savior. Back then, Mei County was even more chaotic than it is now, and bandits often came to raid the city, which was one of the reasons why no one wanted to come to Mei County. The bandits on that mountain were extremely ferocious, and it seemed impossible to get rid of them. It wasn't until He Xing became a county lieutenant that he made an agreement with the bandits outside the city that they didn't enter the county town. In this way, even the county magistrate had to give He Xing a little bit of a nudge, otherwise he would be snapped by the bandits accidentally.
And one time when Lu's father went to the county town to sell wild game from the mountains, he happened to encounter a group of bandits. Father Lu was stubborn, and when he saw that the bandits wanted to steal his game, he directly picked up a pole to resist. But he was no match against a group of extremely ferocious bandits alone. If it wasn't for the Niu family who later pulled him into the house, he might have lost his life now. But even so, Lu's father was also injured. Niu's father appreciated that he was a bloody man, and after getting along with each other, the two became brothers of the opposite sex.
At that time, Niu Mu was pregnant with Niu Sanniang. Lu Da laughed and said that there happened to be a boy in his family. Father Lu kept his promise, and when Niu Sanniang was full moon, he would come to the Lu family to propose marriage for his son.
The Niu family disagreed at the time, saying that the child is still young, and he doesn't know what his temperament is, and he doesn't know whether it will be suitable in the future, so we should wait until he is older. So I put this matter aside for the time being, but I still kept it in my heart after all.
Although Lu's father was a farmer, he was very good at hunting. Every now and then, he would get some wild animals from the mountains and sell them in the market. This made my family live a good life, and allowed Lu Da to study in a private school. There was only one son in the Lu family, plus Lu Da was clever and smart since he was a child, so he was very favored at home, and because he was a farmer's son who studied, he didn't know the grain. Father Lu felt that Lu Da's appearance must be matched with a capable daughter-in-law, so when Niu Sanniang passed Jiji, he brought up the marriage of the two families again.
The Niu family saw that Lu Da was cute and handsome, and also liked him very much since he was a child. Niu Sanniang also had a good impression of Lu Da, so they agreed. But Lu Da was not happy, thinking that Niu Sanniang was vulgar, and it was indecent to do business in public since she was a child. But Father Lu was always talkative at home, and ignored him, just treating him as a young man who didn't understand Niu Sanniang. Although Lu Da was arrogant in front of Lu's mother, he did not dare to disobey his father's wishes. In addition, Lu's mother said that he has not passed the examination of scholar, if he passed the examination, his father would naturally reject the marriage, after all, it was not a good marriage at that time. If the account is wrong, even if his father doesn't push it away, she will lose the Niu family. As a result, Lu Da reluctantly agreed.
What I didn't expect was that before Lu Da passed the exam, Lu's father encountered a ferocious mountain king tiger when he was hunting in the mountains. Although he was not killed on the spot, he was seriously injured and died not long after. family affairs.
In fact, Lu Da and Lu's mother also saw Niu Sanniang's disdain for Niu Sanniang's family, so the two families have not made a decision, but exchanged tokens, and said that they hoped that Niu Sanniang would leave the court later. Lu Mu and Lu Da also thought that it would be a little later, and they would be able to terminate the agreement as a matter of course when they were admitted as a scholar, so they agreed.
But because of this accident, Niu Sanniang finally married Lu Da for the last wish of the deceased. And Niu Sanniang did support the family just as Father Lu had imagined. You must know that Lu Mu is inexperienced. Although Lu Da has read a lot, he is not familiar with common affairs. During the period when Father Lu just left, the Lu family was in a mess. It didn't take long for the family to be completely defeated. It wasn't until Niu Sanniang married in that things improved.
Although Lu Mu and Lu Da are not very satisfied with Niu Sanniang, after all they have lived together for so long, and Niu Sanniang has done so much. With such a result, how can it not be chilling.
"Why?! Why did you do this! How can my Sanniang feel sorry for you, you want to be so cruel!" Father Niu almost gritted his teeth and burst out the words word by word.
Mother Lu cried bitterly, "I'm sorry for your Niu family. I don't know why I was smeared with lard and did such a thing. When I realized it, she was already dead. I regret it, am I sorry?" Living in the Niu family is sorry for the ancestors of the Lu family, if you want to punish me, punish me!"
Lu Da looked incredible, "Mother, don't talk nonsense, how could you do such a thing."
Mother Lu shook her head, "I'm sorry for you, my son, I'm also a demon, but you don't care, but mother can't stand your suffering."
When the Niu family heard this, something was wrong, and the eldest daughter-in-law Niu was the first to explode, "What do you mean by this, why did our Sanniang make Lu Da suffer! If it weren't for our Sanniang, your Lu family is still alive now!" Eat bran and wild vegetables! You don’t even know how to arrange the land at home, and these are all made by my Sanniang. What you eat is our Sanniang, and now you are saying that it is our Sanniang who made you suffer. When a person is dead, they will still be splashed with dirty water!"
Lu Da also hurriedly said: "Mother, don't you want to say that, Sanniang is a good person, and she is always filial to you, why are you... hey."
Mother Lu wiped her tears and said: "Mother was also harmed by those gossip women. They all said that you were wearing a cuckold, and that Jianer is not your flesh and blood. I couldn't get angry for a while... Oh, hey, I was wrong, sir." The family is very kind to our Lu family, so what if we raise a son for someone else, at worst, we will be born again in the future, why can't I figure it out for a while... "
The Niu family was not happy now, so the cow mother rushed over and grabbed Lu Mu's clothes, "What nonsense are you talking about! So you are still thinking about this matter, our Sanniang is really wronged, if she didn't do it for you My mother, I still have to carry water to work with a big belly, as for the premature birth so early! Because of this reason, you have been thinking about her for so many years, thinking that she has an outsider! Sanniang, you are so wronged! You are so cheap The mother-in-law is really vicious, she killed my daughter, and now she is still slandering her, see if I don't beat you to death!"
Before everyone could react, the cow mother began to swing Lu Mu. The cow mother has been doing hard work since she was a child, but after two or three strokes, the corners of Lu Mu's mouth were bleeding, and her teeth were loose. Seeing this, the yamen servant hurried up to stop them, and it took a while to pull the two apart.
Mother Lu cried: "I'm a sinner, you just let them beat me to death, it's all my fault, I shouldn't have killed Niu Sanniang! I'm the one who failed the Niu family..."
As he spoke, he suddenly jumped up and slammed into a tree beside him.
"mother!"
Everyone didn't expect that Mother Lu would do such a thing, and they were all dumbfounded. Just when everyone thought that Mother Lu was going to pretend to be dead or seriously injured, Master Tong flashed in front of Mother Lu and pushed Lu The mother pushed it aside and fell on all fours.
Mother Lu was stunned for a moment and then cried again, "You just let me die, I am the one who is sorry for Sanniang and Niu's family, let me pay for my life with my life!"
As he said that, he wanted to get up and wanted to kill her, but he was ordered by a solemn order to tie her up. Mother Lu kept yelling that she was going to die when she was tied up, but the yamen servant directly stuffed a rag into his mouth, and the world suddenly became quiet.
Lu Da couldn't bear it, knelt down and said, "My lord, I am willing to suffer in place of my mother! Please also fulfill my filial piety, my lord."
When Lu's mother heard this, she struggled even more violently, but the rope was tied tightly, so she could only do useless work.
Solemnly gave him a look, "You are a scholar, but you don't even know the law! Killing people pays for their lives, and whoever does it will be punished accordingly. If everyone is like you, how can this law be enacted?" usefulness!"
"I… "
Lu Da still wanted to intercede, but was interrupted by Zhuang Zhong, "The case has not been solved yet, and it is not yet time for you to take the blame."
Lu Da was taken aback, "What else is there to investigate in this case?"
Zhuang Zhong frowned, and said coldly: "Do you think the case will be over as long as someone pleads guilty? What do you think of me?"
Lu Da didn't dare to say any more, and silently stepped aside.
Mother Lu leaned forward with snot and tears and said: "My lord, my daughter really didn't steal anyone. Although she has been doing business with us in public since she was a child, she has never been with anyone who is neither good nor bad. The reason for the premature birth is that That's because she was tired. It was the autumn harvest time, and she was stubborn. She took care of everything by herself, so she gave birth prematurely. The baby looked like a kitten when it was born, and it was not full-term at all. The way a child should be…”
Lu's mother chattered endlessly, but she was afraid that Zhuang Zhong would misunderstand Niu Sanniang's lack of virtue and feel that she deserved what she deserved.
Zhuang solemnly said: "No matter what the reason is, this is not a reason to harm someone. Don't worry, I will definitely bring justice to Niu Sanniang."
At this time, Lu's mother had settled down quite a bit, and Zhuang Zhong ordered someone to take the rag out of her mouth, "You must answer truthfully what I ask you. If you dare to yell at the court again, you will be punished."
Mother Lu still wanted to howl, and said solemnly and coldly: "Your son volunteers to share the burden for you. If you howl once, then he will bear the burden for you."
With such a sentence, Lu's mother immediately stopped, not daring to make any more fuss.
"You said you killed Niu Sanniang, how did you do it?"
Lu's mother said: "The other day I heard people say that Jian'er is not from our Lu family's blood. The more I thought about it, the more I felt bad. How can such an outstanding son as my son wear a cuckold. It just so happened that there were rats at home in those few days, so I bought it. I left some arsenic at home, so I put the medicine in the meal that night."
"Then only Niu Sanniang ate the food?"
"Yes, she works late on weekdays, and she doesn't order dinner with us."
Hearing this, the Niu family was very annoyed. If Zhuang Zhong was not interrogating, they would have jumped on him. The third mother of their family lived so hard because of this family, but this family actually treated her like this!
Mother Lu hurriedly said again: "I didn't do it on purpose, but I didn't know why, so I did this stupid thing. It's all because of those gossip women. If it wasn't for them, I wouldn't have done such a thing! "
Niu scolded angrily: "If you were just confused for a while, why didn't Sanniang stand up and tell the truth after she became like that! If the doctor knew what was going on, maybe he could save Sanniang back!", Lu Mu murmured He muttered: "How can I be saved after eating arsenic..."
"You—" Niu Da wanted to go up to beat the old woman, but was stopped by the yamen servant.
"My lord, this is all my fault. It's my demonic barrier. I dare not ask your lord and the Niu family to be magnanimous. Just let me pay for my life. In the next life, I will make atonement for Sanniang as a cow and a horse."
Zhuang Zhong asked a few more detailed questions, and after answering them one by one, he ordered people to clear the place, leaving only Niu Da's wife and Lu Da.
Lu's mother was a little anxious, "Didn't I already plead guilty, what else should I do?"
Zhuang Zhong put on his clothes and gloves again, and said: "However, a one-sided statement is not enough to convict. The real cause of Niu Sanniang's death will not be determined until the examination is completed." "Have you finished the examination just now?"
Mother Lu hurriedly said: "It's Niu Sanniang who I poisoned to death, no need to investigate any more, don't disturb Sanniang."
Mrs. Niu sneered: "Now that I know how to care about Sanniang, how could I be so vicious before! I think there must be something tricky, so I blocked it again and again."
Niu's daughter-in-law was just talking casually, but she didn't expect Mother Lu to panic, "I killed the man, I killed the man. My lord, please quickly convict me, and don't investigate any further!"
Mother Lu's abnormal reaction even Niu's daughter-in-law felt that something was wrong, she narrowed her eyes solemnly, and said to Fang Yingying, "Continue to work just now, don't miss a detail."