Chapter 105 - 105: Three Fires_l

Translator: 549690339

The County Magistrate spun his eyes and quickly threw out a green arrest warrant. “Bring the Jiang brothers here!” he ordered.

“Yes!” responded the arrest officer, grabbing the green arrest warrant and leaving the court with several government officials for Chuanhe Town.

Song Wenyu wasn’t in any hurry, he suggested to the County Magistrate that Jiang Sanlang should be released on bail for medical treatment.

They couldn’t keep Jiang Sanlang in jail for another day or two while they waited to arrest the suspects.

The County Magistrate was reluctant, but after seeing Mingfu silently observing from across the room, he hurriedly agreed.

Jiang Sanlang’s case has yet to be decided and no crime was confirmed today. He was injured, deciding against bail would be unfair.

Song Wenyu also pointed out that Jiang Sanlang was injured in jail, which gave the County Magistrate no choice but to let him go.

Truth be told, even if Chen Family won the lawsuit, Jiang Sanlang would not be sentenced to death or exile. It would likely be considered a minor dispute that resulted in a brawl, requiring only a small compensation.

The County Magistrate initially didn’t want to take up this case, but since Chen Guanglu was his trusted confidant, he had to attend to the matter closely as Chen Guanglu’s leg was broken.

Since there was no possibility for Chen Guanglu to overturn the case, the County Magistrate decided to continue the trial according to the rules, disregarding Chesn Guanglu’s views.

Consequently, Chunniang paid two taels of silver for bail and returned to Gao Family Inn with her husband.

Yingbao wanted to treat her father’s injuries but Jiang Sanlang refused, as he needs his wounds visible for the upcoming trial. If his wound heals now, Chen Guanglu would go unpunished.

The next afternoon, the constable brought Jiang Dalang and Jiang Erlang to the county town, followed by several villagers.

The villagers were stirred up, shouting that they wanted to make an example out of Chen Guanglu and Chen Changping.

Seeing the matter was getting out of hand, the County Magistrate, Wu Shi, finally stepped in. He took over the case from the County Magistrate to judge it personally.

Moreover, he publicly tried this civilian dispute.

Indeed, the County Magistrate adjusted the classification of the case and grouped it into civil disputes.

Jiang Sanlang’s stabbing in prison was treated as a separate case.

Upon seeing this, Song Wenyu didn’t hesitate to climb the ladder, submitting an appeal.

He accused Chen Guanglu of breaching the laws of the imperial court by bribing the jailer to torture Jiang Sanlang. He also attempted to mislead and disrupt the court by intentionally breaking the law.

Chen Guanglu was stupefied as he watched the County Magistrate start his sweeping reform of the prison and arresting several officials.

This included Chen Guanglu and a few of his good brothers.

Only then did Yingbao realize why Wu Daozi avoided meeting her and did not speak up for her during the first trial.

It seemed he needed an excuse to clean up the scum within the government office.

The so-called ‘new official lights three fires’ seemed quite timely in Wu Daozi’s case.

After the case was sentenced, County Magistrate Cao Can didn’t dare show his face for several days. Not to mention daring to speak up for the Han couple.

Once the County Magistrate took action, everyone else complied, and no one dared to stir the pot.

In the end, Chen Guanglu was dismissed from his position, sentenced to five years in jail. The jailer and officials who helped him were also successively sentenced.

The appeal of Chen Changping and the Han family were also dismissed without any serious penalty.

However, after this incident, it’s estimated that Chen Changping would face greater difficulties when taking the Scholar Examination

Next, Wu Daozi began to re-try the case of the Han sisters hiring thugs to kidnap.

The case was simple. As soon as Chen Ergou was brought in for a retrial and faced with a torture device, he confessed everything.

Just like that, the Han sisters turned from plaintiffs to defendants and were immediately put in jail.

Considering the Han family’s kidnapping did not cause any deaths, they were sentenced to three years in prison and were to receive forty lashes.

Chen Changping, however, wasn’t involved, so he wasn’t penalized.

As the court session ended, the Jiang Family was overjoyed and immediately paid Song Wenyu twenty taels of silver for the litigation fee.

The first month passed quickly and it was already February before anyone realized.

Jiang Sanlang invited a farmer skilled in nurturing fruit trees to help trim the trees in their courtyard.

The two apple trees from the old house had also been moved to the South Slope and planted in their own courtyard.

One day, while Yingbao was making medicine at home, Erni came in while holding her nose, “Yingbao, I’ve got some interesting news for you.”

“What interesting news?”

“Many people came to the Chen Family in West Village. The three children of Mrs. Han were sent to Chen Changping’s house by Chen Guanglu’s older brother and sister-in-law.”

Erni spoke with curiosity, “Chen Daya even complained that all the troubles had been caused by Mrs. Han and Chen Changping, so the children of Mrs. Han must be raised by Chen Changping’s family.”

Yingbao raised her head, “Three children? Doesn’t Mrs. Han have four children?”

“Yes, there are only three of them, three girls.” Erni fanned her nose with her hand, “What are you brewing that smells so bad?”

“Renewing Pills.” Yingbao stirred the medicine pot and asked again, “What did Chen Changping say?

“What else could he say? He just had to swallow his pride and accept responsibility. He definitely wouldn’t dare to toss the children out.”

Erni gloated, “Now he has to feed five girls by himself. I bet he won’t even have enough for food.”

Chen Guanglu’s oldest daughter is nine years old this year, the second daughter, Chen Tiantian, is only eight years old, and the youngest one must be about four or five years old.

Together with eight-year-old Chen Zhao and ten-year-old Chen Wan, Chen Changping’s household was now a lively one indeed.

Chen Guanglu’s house and property were sold by his older brother, Chen Daya, leaving only ten taels of silver for his nieces for their future living expenses.

Chen Changping had set up his own household separately from his two brothers. Chen Laosuan was utterly disappointed in his second son and had no intention of financially supporting him.

Without any farmland or money, Chen Changping could not continue his studies. He could only copy texts at home, scraping a few coins together to

support his family.

In the sunny March, Yingbao saw several girls, including Chen Tiantian and her sisters, eager to find food on the South Slope.

Among the girls, only Chen Wan seemed happy, patiently teaching Chen Daya and her sisters how to recognize wild vegetables.

Chen Tiantian pouted, reluctantly picking up some wild vegetables and throwing them into a bamboo basket before sitting on the ground, refusing to get up.

Chen Zhao disapproved and reprimanded, “You are not a pampered young miss anymore. If you don’t work, you won’t eat.”

“It’s all because of your mother!” Chen Tiantian suddenly exploded, pointing at Chen Zhao and yelling, “If it weren’t for her getting us into trouble, how could my family be like this?”

Chen Zhao was lost for a reply, “Your parents took 200 taels of silver from our family. If they hadn’t been greedy for money, would they have stepped forward?”

“Humph!” Chen Tiantian turned her head and suddenly saw a girl riding a deer in the distance. Anger surged from within her.

Picking up small clod of dirt, she threw it towards them and yelled, “You bringer of doom! All of this happened because of you!”

Since their perfectly fine life encountered this harbinger of doom, it’s been one misfortune after another.

Yingbao was riding on a deer’s back, watching the girls from a distance; a strange feeling filled her heart.

She wondered if they would have the same smooth ride in this life as they did in the past.

Mrs.. Han was sentenced to three years in prison, so will Chen Xu still be born two years later?