nycdaug Chapter 446: Divorce Case (1)
Chapter 446: Divorce Case (1)
Li Shoucai froze. He wanted to refute, but deep down he felt that this might be right.
After being stunned for a long while, he got out of bed, put on his slippers and walked out.
"Where are you going? It's very cold now. What if you catch a cold?"
Zhang anxiously tried to persuade him from behind, but when she found that she couldn't persuade him, she had to take a thick cloak and put it on the other party, and then called her youngest son to follow.
Li Yuanming had just asked Old Man Liu to make a walking stick for him yesterday. After hearing the noise, he picked up the walking stick and went to chase his father.
No matter what he asked on the way, Li Shoucai remained silent until they walked under the largest pear tree in the village.
There was a group of people gathered there at this time, all of them were here to buy children...
When some villagers saw the head of the village coming, they made way for him, so the two of them stood in the front smoothly, and then they saw several families trying hard to sell their children.
One of the sellers actually sold his son!
The human traffickers dragged the children around like they were carrying goods. Finally, a timid one accidentally started crying, and then all the children started howling.
The fat woman who bought the maid yelled angrily when she saw this:
“Shut up everyone!!!
"Okay, 50 taels of silver for each girl, 60 taels for each boy, no more. If you disagree, forget it! There are plenty of them in the village, and I have to hurry to the next place!"
When Li Dazhu heard this, his eyes lit up, and he grabbed Daya and pushed her towards the fat woman.
"Madam, my daughter is now in your hands. Please pay me quickly!"
"I don't want to. You are not my father anymore. Our family is not so poor that we can't even afford to eat. Why would you sell me out?!
Mother, mother, where are you, come and save me!"
With a 'slap' sound, the man slapped his daughter hard, his face full of viciousness.
"You little bitch, I'm sending you to a wealthy family to enjoy a good life. Why are you howling like a ghost? If you keep yelling, I'll beat you to death. You can't go anywhere!"
Li Shoucai covered his chest with his hands and gasped heavily, his lips slightly purple.
Li Yuanming was frightened when he saw this. He took out a porcelain bottle from his arms, poured out a pill and stuffed it into his father's mouth. After seeing that the other party swallowed it, he immediately carried the man on his back and ran home without saying a word.
While running on the road, he did not forget to comfort:
"Dad, you can't even take care of yourself with your health, so let's not worry about others, okay? The child is theirs, they can sell it if they want, even the county magistrate can't stop it!"
Bai Er and Zhu San lay on the tree, watching the excitement motionlessly. Seeing that the time was almost right, they asked Zhu San to continue watching while Bai Er went quietly towards the direction of the workshop.
He had to stop those women and not ruin the county magistrate's good deeds.
Early this morning, the county magistrate sent someone to secretly deliver a letter to Qingyue Villa, which detailed what would happen today and the plans for afterwards.
Bai Er and Zhu San came specifically to lend a helping hand to the county magistrate, and even the money needed to hire the people was paid by their master.
As expected, the female workers in the workshop couldn't sit still when they heard the noise and rushed out of the workshop. Fortunately, Bai Er stopped them in time, and with Li's assurance, they were able to calm them down.
The matchmaker finally succeeded in buying seven or eight children and pushed them all into a carriage, not caring how uncomfortable they were squeezed together.
Are you kidding? We still have to go to two more villages!
After selling the child, the family symbolically wiped their eyes and slaughtered the old hen that was used for laying eggs that night. The aroma of meat filled the entire village, and there were bursts of laughter and joy.
Shangguan Qingyue stood on the mountainside, looking at the lights below the mountain and fell into silence for a long time.
I didn't come back to my senses until I was wrapped in a warm cloak.
Xuanyuan Yan patted her shoulder distressedly and comforted her:
"Don't be too sad, this is human nature. They have been poor for too long and got rich too quickly, so it's not surprising that they would do such a thing.
Fortunately, the situation is still under control. Once those people suffer, they will know how wrong they were. "
Shangguan Qingyue rested her head weakly on the other person's arm, well, she couldn't reach his shoulder.
murmured:
"It is said that among the dozen women who were planning to divorce, only five did not sell their children. Four of them did not want to sell their sons, and only one did not want to sell her daughter.
Ah Yan, how can people be so bad? Blood relatives can be measured with silver and money. I am beginning to hate this place..."
When she first learned of Magistrate Wu's plan, she was actually a little skeptical, thinking it might be futile. But she didn't expect that she would be hit so hard on the face.
Tears rolled down the corners of the eyes, accompanied by the little girl's low sobs.
Xuanyuan Yan was so distressed that he didn't know what to do. In desperation, he simply hugged the girl tightly in his arms and patted her back gently like a baby.
Shangguan Qingyue didn't want to cry, but she couldn't help it. Fortunately, this man had seen her in all kinds of miserable states, so she didn't feel embarrassed.
At the end of her crying, she felt so sleepy that she tilted her head and fell asleep in the man's arms.
Xuanyuan Yan looked down at the little girl in his arms with amusement and helplessness, crystal tears still hanging on her long eyelashes.
He bent down and gave her a light kiss on the forehead, then picked her up gently and walked into the yard with steady steps.
……
Early the next morning, many families in the village received the notice from the county government almost at the same time.
More than a dozen men, some accompanied by their families, entered the county government hall without knowing why. After seeing their daughter-in-law whom they had not seen for a long time, they became even more puzzled.
Someone directly grabbed his wife's arm and started questioning her, but before she could say a few words, she was pushed away by the yamen runners with sticks.
Accompanied by a solemn and majestic voice, Wu Yong sat at the top, slammed the gavel in his hand, and looked at everyone in the hall with a stern expression.
"I called you here today for only one thing - divorce."
When he saw the dozen or so farmers in the audience who were already confused, he explained it again:
"Don't doubt it, you heard it right, it's a divorce. Favoring concubines and killing wives, selling children into slavery, these things have been investigated clearly by me, and the evidence is conclusive!
I will now distribute the divorce papers to you all, please sign and seal them now! From now on, you are no longer husband and wife, and your marriages and funerals will no longer be related to each other!"
"Why, I don't agree!"
"My Lord, I was wrong. I didn't sell my daughter. I don't want a divorce!"
Amidst a bunch of "why" and "I disagree", one voice stood out.
The man was afraid that the county magistrate could not hear him, so he pushed through the crowd with all his strength, walked to the front, knelt on the ground with a plop, and kowtowed three times.
The people around him were silent for a moment, and he took this opportunity to quickly explain:
"Sir, I was forced to take a concubine by my family. They disliked Xiuniang for not being able to give birth to a son, and they forced me to take a concubine.
If I don't agree, I won't let my wife live a good life. Xiaomin was forced to do this. I love my daughter very much, so I can't bear to sell her to others as a servant!
Please investigate, I don't want to divorce Xiuniang!"