Selling your wife in a play
Xu Zhiqian, who had been investigating the matter, was shocked when he heard the accusation.
If she is like this, what about others
There was a sudden uproar outside the door.
What does this have to do with anything!
It took Lu Gong a long time to come back to his senses. This was completely beyond his preparation last night. He banged the gavel several times to request silence. After the voices at the door disappeared, he asked, "What did you just say? Selling your wife?"
Zhang Fei nodded and said, "That's right. Li Si sold his wife for money. According to the laws of the Song Dynasty, he should be sentenced to two years in prison and fifty strokes of the cane. However, I beg the prefect to show leniency to Li Si for turning himself in and confessing his crime. He should be exempted from the cane and his sentence should be reduced by one year."
"Wait a minute! Wait a minute!"
Lu Gong waved his hands and said, "You have deceived me. According to Li Si's confession, both he and his wife agreed to use his wife to repay the principal. How can he be charged with selling his wife?"
Although the Song Dynasty was a patriarchal society, there were some laws to protect women. For example, in the play, the crime of selling wives was that wives could be sold, but it had to be with the consent of both parties and with complete procedures.
Of course, as a vulnerable group, in many cases they have no way to resist.
But when standing in court, the law is of course still the main thing.
Zhang Fei said, "According to the marriage law of our dynasty, the standard for determining whether two people are married is the gift of betrothal gifts. I wonder if what I said is correct?"
Nazheng means giving the betrothal gift. As long as this step is completed, the two parties will be legally husband and wife, and the relationship is not based on a wedding.
This is why in the case of Ayun, the initial verdict was for treason, because at that time the Wei family had already offered land as a betrothal gift and both parties had signed a contract, but it was later overturned by Xu Zun on the grounds that he was in mourning and could not get married.
Lu Gong nodded and said, "You are right, this is the rule."
Zhang Fei said: "According to Li Si's situation, the principal is the betrothal gift. When this contract takes effect, the betrothal gift ceremony is completed, and Zeng will be Chen Yuteng's wife."
Lu Gongzhu nodded again and said, "You are right."
Zhang Fei said: "But Li Si did not wait for Chen Yuteng to propose, and hurriedly married Zeng to Chen Yuteng. This is of course a crime of selling a show."
Lü Gong was misled by Zhang Fei. He nodded first, then said immediately, "No! Chen Yuteng married Zeng after signing the compensation contract. There is nothing wrong with that."
Zhang Fei smiled and said, "Signing a contract does not mean that it will take effect immediately, because a contract has a characteristic, that is, it has a very strong time limit, and it cannot be calculated based on the date of signing. Please compare the two contracts, prefect."
Lu Gong immediately picked up the two contracts of loan and repayment and compared them.
Then Zhang Fei said, "The first contract stipulated that the repayment date was June 15 of that year, but the second contract was signed on June 3 of the following year. There was a difference of twelve days between them. As far as I know, Chen Yuteng took Zeng home that day."
After a careful comparison, Lu Gong shook his head and said, "You are wrong. Although it was more than ten days in advance, the contract also clearly states that he is willing to use his wife Zeng to repay the principal owed, so it will naturally take effect on the same day."
Zhang Fei shook his head and smiled, "No! No! This sentence only means that Li Si agreed to the deal, but it has no time limit. For example, today I, Zhang San, want to marry Xu as my wife. Can I say that I have married Xu today? Of course not. And the contract does not specifically state that it will take effect today."
Xu? Xu Zhiqian rolled her eyes and cursed inwardly, "This lecher is so abominable!"
Lu Gong nodded slightly and asked, "When do you think it will take effect?"
Zhang Fei replied: "This is a contract involving a loan, so when it comes into effect should not be determined based on the simple statement in the contract, but should be determined based on the benefits generated by the contract."
Lu Gong said: "Chen Yuteng has never asked Li Si for the principal."
Zhang Fei said, "I am not referring to the principal, but the interest. The prefect, please look at the Xiangfu County Court Records. The interest that Chen Yuteng is pursuing is calculated until June 15th. In other words, the validity of the first loan contract ends on this day."
Lu Gongzhu shook his head and said, "Although there is a difference of twelve days, the interest calculation is not wrong."
Regarding the interest on Li Si's contract, since the term is one year, it is calculated on a monthly basis. Even if it is less than a month, it will be calculated as a month. Last night, Lu Gongzhe specially examined this point. The difference of more than ten days is not enough to overturn the judgment of Xiangfu County.
"That's definitely not wrong."
Zhang Fei smiled and nodded, then suddenly changed the subject, "May I ask the governor, in this case, how do you judge that the principal will not generate any interest in the next twelve days?"
Lu Gong thought for a moment and said, "It is indeed difficult to judge, because whether it is the third day of June or the fifteenth day of June, the interest rate is the same, and you cannot judge which day it is calculated on."
Zhang Fei immediately said: "Of course I can."
"Really?" Lu Gong asked, "Then how did you judge it?"
Zhang Fei smiled and said, "That's how the contract is written! Since Chen Yuteng later pursued the interest, it is enough to infer that the second compensation contract did not immediately terminate the first debt contract. The two are not a replacement relationship, but a coexistence relationship, or a supplementary relationship.
Although if it is less than a month, it will be calculated as a month, but we must understand that interest is generated every day, not the first day of each month. Regarding this point, I have enough evidence to prove that many debt contracts are terminated early by the creditor. In this case, it is usually calculated on the same day, not less than a month, which is calculated as a month. It can be seen that interest is generated every day. "
Lu Gong listened and nodded slightly.
This is not difficult to understand. If a period less than a month is calculated as a full month, it is only to protect the interests of the creditors, but the interest is generated based on the number of days.
Zhang Fei continued, "Since the interest is calculated on a daily basis, and the second compensation contract did not terminate the first debt contract, and Chen Yuteng later pursued the interest for the entire year, and the interest is generated from the principal, then the repayment date should of course be June 15."
If the period is less than one month, it will be calculated as one month, which is based on the premise of termination of the contract. If it is not terminated and there is no special explanation, and the interest is calculated in full, then it will naturally be calculated according to the date on the contract.
Lu Gongzhu nodded slightly and said, "It should indeed be counted as the 15th of June."
Since the second contract was a trap in itself, Chen Yuteng did not mention any interest issues, and it was even more impossible to directly terminate the first debt contract.
Since there is no explanation, then it will naturally be calculated based on the statute of limitations of the first contract.
Zhang Fei continued, "Since the principal is the betrothal gift, the date for paying the betrothal gift should be on June 15 of that year. However, Li Si sold his wife to Chen Yuteng on June 3. This is definitely a crime of selling a wife for show."
The people watching at the door were all confused.
This also includes Xu Zhiqian. By now, they have understood everything very clearly, but they are even more confused. If the fight continues like this, Li Si's crime of selling the play will be confirmed.
The crime of selling a wife as a show clearly states that the sale of a wife must be done with the consent of both parties and with complete formalities, otherwise it will be considered a show of selling.
Obviously, Li Si sold his wife to Chen Yuteng without going through the entire procedure.
Lu Gongzhuo carefully checked the information again and said thoughtfully: "Regarding these two contracts, I have to review them again..."
Zhang Fei interrupted Lu Gong directly and said, "Just now the prefect confirmed again and again that there is no problem with these two contracts. Now the prefect thinks there is a problem with these contracts?"
"This officer... ..."
Lu Gong suddenly realized that the debate just now was a trap to trick him into confirming that the contract was correct, but at the same time he was very confused. You were invited by Li Si, so why are you suing Li Si and putting him in jail? What is going on
But Lu Gongzhe was also a veteran of many battles. He knew there must be something else going on. He suddenly looked at Li Si and said, "Li Si, do you plead guilty?"
Li Si hurriedly said, "I plead guilty."
Lu Gong immediately said, "Come here! Arrest Li Si first."
Two yamen runners came up immediately and took Li Si away.
Suddenly, there was talk at the door again.
Many scholars blamed Zhang Fei.
The reputation of the ear writer was not very good to begin with. At this glance, one could tell that Zhang Fei had definitely been bribed by Chen Yuteng. It was another drama of this kind.
It's really disheartening!
Sympathy for Li Si suddenly flooded my heart.
Many people shouted loudly to speak up for Li Si.
What a wrongful case!
But Lu Gong knew that the matter was not that simple. He asked that question just now to test Li Si. Seeing that Li Si confessed his guilt so readily, he knew that they must have colluded with each other long ago.
So he decisively stopped the noise at the door.
As expected, when the crowd had dispersed, Zhang Fei immediately took out two more petitions and said, "I am here on behalf of Li Si to accuse his wife Zeng of the crime of leaving without permission, and Chen Yuteng of Xiangfu County of the crime of stealing his wife."
Xu Zhiqian's eyes lit up, and she said excitedly, "What a good way to treat someone in his own way."
There was another commotion at the door.
Compared with the validity period of the contract, they know better what plays sell, what is leaving without permission, and what is stealing a wife.
The easiest way to understand wife stealing is to snatch someone else's wife.
As for leaving without permission, it means that the wife abandons her original husband and follows another man.
Obviously these three are contradictory.
At most two of the three sins can exist; it is impossible for all three to coexist.
Either the wife colluded with Lao Wang, or the husband colluded with Lao Wang. It is impossible for all three to be guilty at the same time.
This is totally contradictory!
Before Lu Gong even read the complaint, he said, "Since Li Si is guilty of selling a play, how can his wife be guilty of leaving without permission?"
Since it was Li Si who sold his wife, the wife should be the victim. How did she become the defendant
Zhang Fei said: "Zeng voluntarily gave herself to someone else without completing the betrothal ceremony. This is clearly the crime of leaving without permission. By the same token, Chen Yuteng is also guilty of stealing his wife."
Lu Gongzhe, who had tried countless cases, was also confused by Zhang Fei this time.
According to common sense, it is impossible for selling a play and taking away without permission to exist at the same time, but the law does not stipulate this. The law only explains what is selling a play and what is taking away without permission.
Well, if we look at it separately, Zeng did commit the crime of leaving without permission, because she took the initiative to leave her husband and marry someone else without completing the dowry.
Because Li Si didn't rush her to leave at that time. Instead, he looked at her with tears in his eyes, full of reluctance to let her go.
The same is true for Chen Yuteng. He married someone else's wife without completing the betrothal tax. This is of course a form of wife-stealing. Although no one resisted, it does not mean that it is legal.
After thinking for a long time, Lu Gongzhe finally figured it out. In the final analysis, on the effective date of the contract, they all thought they had completed the legal procedures. However, because Chen Yuteng later pursued interest, everything became illegal. Because the transaction date was set on June 15, but the behavior took place in advance on June 3, how could it be legal? None of the three could escape.
At this moment, both Lu Gongzhe and Xu Zhiqian understood why Zhang Fei had asked Li Si to go to Xiangfu County to sue the officials and why he had just accused the contract of being illegal. His purpose was to get the government to issue a certificate to show that the contract was very legal.
As long as this contract is legal, the entire transaction is illegal.
Of course, if all three of them acquiesced, it would actually be legal, and the government would not pursue it. The key now is that Li Si does not admit it. He thinks he is breaking the law. If he breaks the law, the other two will naturally also break the law.
But if the verdict is really to be made, it seems a bit unreasonable. Just twelve days passed, and then three people were sentenced to serious crimes. Li Si and Zeng were still victims. This doesn't seem right!
If the charges are proven, he will be sentenced to imprisonment and caning.
The punishment is very severe.
After all, this is about etiquette.
Lu Gongzhu said very cautiously: "Since this case also involves Chen Yuteng and Zeng, I have to investigate it thoroughly before making a judgment. Court is adjourned!"