The criminal law of the Qiyuan Dynasty was strict. If someone instigated someone to rob, even if the spoils were only ten cents, the instigator would be punished by having his arm cut off. If the instigator succeeded in killing someone, the instigator would be punished by having his body torn into pieces.
According to the law, people like Heizhi who were instigated to commit crimes but did not succeed were sentenced to five years of hard labor and a fine of three taels of silver.
However, the situation of Zhang Cuixiu, who failed to cheat money, was much simpler. She was only fined five taels of silver.
Because Lu's father and Lu Mingyue were not injured, and the Qiyuan Dynasty had always given preferential treatment to scholars, the punishment Liu Shumin finally received was only a broken arm and a compensation of ten taels of silver.
But for a scholar like Liu Shumin, losing an arm means ruining his future, and a disabled person cannot become an official.
Moreover, the profit-seeking Liu family was not willing to pay another ten taels of silver to redeem a waste.
Even several sisters-in-law of the Liu family came to scold Liu Shumin, blaming him for being a liar and saying that the story of Wenquxing descending to the earth was fake and that he had caused the Liu family to suffer over the years.
So in the end, Liu Shumin had no choice but to serve hard labor along with Heizi as punishment.
As for whether a disabled man in the military would be bullied, and how the black mole who was with him would retaliate against him, that was not within Mingyue's scope of concern.
Mingyue looked at Father Lu and smiled innocently: "My daughter really wasn't deceived. She is very smart!"
Father Lu, who had always been indulgent towards his daughter, now had a rare sullen look on his face.
Father Lu took a deep breath and tried to sound calm: "What's going on with Wang Xingzhi? What's going on with Zhang Cuixiu? What's going on with Liu Shumin? Yue'er, how many things have you been hiding from me?"
Wang Xingzhi is the weak steward who has always followed Lu's father. He is also a man who can kick a knife away and subdue a thug in an instant.
Originally, Father Lu didn't think there was anything wrong with this manager. He just thought he was judging people by their appearance.
As a result, after Heizhi was imprisoned, Wang Xingzhi came to say goodbye to Lu's father, saying that his mission had been completed. He also said that Miss Lu was really generous and asked him to come back for such a good thing next time.
There was nothing that Father Lu didn't understand now. It turned out that Wang Xingzhi was the person his daughter arranged to be by his side.
But…
Father Lu felt a little tight in his chest. Even if he was speaking against his conscience, he knew that his daughter was innocent and naive, but did not have this kind of wisdom.
From personally supervising the construction of Jishantang, adopting and raising children, asking Wang Xingzhi to protect him, and solving the problems of Zhang Cuixiu and Liu Shumin, etc.
He had never thought about it carefully before, but now that he thought about it carefully, everything, every single thing, was not something his simple-minded daughter could do.
However, the face in front of him was clearly his Yue'er.
Father Lu asked himself in his heart: Can a person really change so much
He didn't dare to think about it, nor did he dare to ask for the answer.
Seeing the suspicion in Father Lu's eyes, Mingyue sighed helplessly.
The people around her have changed drastically, and anyone who pays attention can notice it. It was also within Mingyue's expectations that Father Lu would find out that she was not Lu Mingyue. After all, she had not concealed her true character for a long time.
However, as long as Father Lu doesn't expose her, Mingyue will continue to act with him.
In order to make Father Lu feel better, she would even make him believe that she was Lu Mingyue.
"That Wang Xingzhi was indeed hired by my daughter at a high price to protect Daddy. I remember you told me that you once encountered robbers on your way back from Luoyang City and lost seven boxes of goods. That trip was a heavy loss." Mingyue pursed her lips and continued, "Last time you were going on a long journey, I was very worried, so I thought of asking a powerful person to follow you, so that I could feel more at ease."
Father Lu felt relieved. He had indeed said this to his daughter. Perhaps his daughter was simply worried about him. He asked again, "What about Zhang Cuixiu and Liu Shumin?"
Mingyue pouted and said, "Cuixiu always mentioned Mr. Liu in front of me, and always said that Mr. Liu's family was poor and his life was miserable. I was afraid that she was deceived, so I asked someone to check Mr. Liu. It turned out that they knew each other for a long time and were neighbors. It turned out that Cuixiu was not deceived, but Cuixiu and Mr. Liu wanted to deceive me. I was angry for a while, so I didn't allow Cuixiu to come to the house anymore."
Everything seemed to make sense, and Father Lu finally felt relieved.
Even though he knew that things were too coincidental, including Liu Shumin's accident this time, his subconscious was telling him, forget it, just let it be, this result was already very good.
Father Lu’s expression finally eased, and he warned: “Forget about this matter this time. Next time you encounter such a thing, you must tell Dad.”
The bright moon nodded like garlic in response.
Afterwards, the two chatted for a while, and then Father Lu went out on the pretext of having something to do.
Looking at Mr. Lu's back, Mingyue put away the smile on her face and finally let out a light sigh.
*
A few days later, Mingyue heard news about Zhang Cuixiu again.
After what happened at the county government office, Zhang Cuixiu's reputation was completely ruined.
It was said that Zhang married Zhang Cuixiu to a widower who sold pork as his second wife. Zhang took twenty taels of silver from the pork seller and promised that she would no longer care about Zhang Cuixiu's life or death in the future.
From being the wife of a number one scholar to being the second wife of a pork seller, Zhang Cuixiu's world was about to fall apart.
Zhang Cuixiu went to Zhang and begged her crying, saying that she knew she was wrong and that she didn't want to marry a pork seller.
But Zhang was totally indifferent. She just said that she had done her best by using her daughter to sell pork in exchange for the silver she had stolen and used to redeem her.
Zhang's father also said that she had a bad reputation and that she was able to marry a pork seller only because she had a pretty face, so she was considered to be marrying above her station.
Zhang Cuixiu was filled with despair, but she had no other options. She could not resist Zhang, and she did not dare to die, so she was forced to marry.
But this has nothing to do with Mingyue, so Mingyue can just listen to it.
"Miss, Miss Yunshu, Miss Yunman, Miss Yunyan... they are all here." Lu Wu lifted the door curtain and said with a smile.
Nine little girls followed behind Lu Wu, all of them happily calling Ming Yue "Sister."
The pitiful little girls who had less than 200 grams of flesh on their bodies have now become fair and clean, and each of them looks like a flower bud.
Mingyue couldn't help but smile: "Today is a day off, and I specially came to find you. Actually, I want to ask you something."
Under the girls' curious gazes, Mingyue asked gently:
"Have you ever thought about your future
Like your older brothers, they all have planned paths for the future.
Like Yunqi, he is studying for the imperial examination, Tianwei, he is a world-famous chef, Fuji, he is a doctor who saves the dying and the wounded, Langyi, he is going to the frontier battlefield, and Lingyun...
So what about you? What do you want to do? "
(End of this chapter)