Chapter 53: Going to the Court to Decide the Case

Juchao, county government.

An old woman pulled a young woman and ran to the county government office, ringing the "drum of injustice".

Zhou Yu slept peacefully last night. The bumps along the way made him fall asleep on the couch and lie down until he woke up at noon.

Zhou Yu had just finished washing up and heard the sound of "dongdong" drums, and couldn't help but mutter to himself: "One day I took office, someone came to complain. Is this good or bad?" Fortunately, I often go to the county government to listen to the county magistrate Liu Jun's promotion to the court to make a case. I am familiar with the trial process, so I should be able to deal with it today.

Zhou Yu hurriedly called the servants to change his clothes, put on his official uniform, ran to the lobby, and ordered him to go to the hall.

The yamen runners standing on both sides of the lobby all knocked on the floor with sticks, making rhythmic sounds, and shouted: "Magnificent..."

Zhou Yu sat in the lobby with a serious face and shouted, "Come on the drum."

An old woman with tall hair walked in tremblingly. When she saw Zhou Yu, she knelt down on the ground and shouted, "Please make the decision for the people's women." Behind her was a young woman, with an ordinary appearance, dark face and thick hands, and she seemed to be a person who often does farm work.

Zhou Yu asked in a deep voice: "Who are you going to tell me?"

The old woman said, "I want to sue my daughter-in-law Sun."

"What's the matter with her?"

"I sued her for being unfilial to me!" the old woman replied loudly.

"Oh, let's talk about it." Zhou Yu was happy. It turned out that if his wife was unfilial to her mother-in-law, she could sue the official. If this were the case, the judges in later generations would be too busy to be busy.

The old woman cried sadly: "Sir, on weekdays, I am suffering from my wife's cold words and eating my wife's cold porridge and cold rice. Today is my birthday. I saw her making big fish and meat. I wanted to live a good life quickly. Who would have thought that she brought the fish to her room and left me with vegetable and radish soup. Sir, think about it, can I still survive under such a bad-hearted wife? I hope my master will take charge of me!"

Zhou Yu asked the young woman after hearing this, "Sun, is your mother-in-law's words the truth?"

But the woman also began to cry and said sobly: "Sir, the truth is not what she said... I am very filial to my mother-in-law on weekdays... Today... I gave her all the fish and meat, and I ate vegetables and radishes..."

The old woman immediately denied, "You are lying! You are obviously unfilial to me, but you have never treated me well after my poor son died. I think you want to remarry someone else!"

After hearing this, Sun cried and said, "Mother-in-law, what are you saying... I don't have the will to remarry, and I am respectful to you..."

For a moment, the two people seemed to be "crying" in the competition, and the "woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo

Zhou Yu couldn't laugh. He saw the old woman's white hair, her back bent down and arched, and she cried endlessly, which was very pitiful. He saw that the young wife was blushing and angry, her hands and feet trembling, and she cried even more, which was very pitiful.

Alas, it’s very pitiful on one side and very pitiful on the other side. This is really a dilemma.

Wang Yue, Zang Ba, Zhang Fan and Zhang Cheng also arrived in the lobby at this time and stood by and watched the fun.

Zhou Yu thought for a moment and said to the old woman calmly: "Your wife is unfilial and deserves punishment. However, as a commoner, our county should also be responsible for the unclear education. Now, our county has prepared two bowls of birthday noodles for you, one to celebrate your birthday, and the other to wish you a harmonious relationship with your mother-in-law and daughter-in-law in the future. How do you think?"

When the old woman saw the county magistrate celebrate her birthday in person, she felt glorious and felt quite proud. She hurriedly nodded and said goodbye. Zhou Yu called the county magistrate Xiao Jun beside her and gave her a few words. Xiao Jun hurried to the back hall.

Not long after, several officers brought two bowls of hot and scented birthday noodles. Zhou Yu said, "Come on, come on, you two should eat this birthday noodles quickly."

The old woman was holding the bowl and feeling a little embarrassed to eat. Zhou Yu advised again: "This is the intention of our county. You don't have to be restrained, eat it while it's hot."

The old woman was not polite and started eating "smashingly". Her wife Sun hesitated for a moment and had to start eating noodles.

Soon, the two finished their birthday noodles. Zhou Yu ordered people to bring in two wooden piers and let them sit and rest and go back. After a while, the old woman and his wife Sun suddenly exclaimed that they had a stomachache and vomited, and spitted the food they had eaten for lunch today on the lobby.

Zhou Yu ordered the yamen runners to check and saw that the food the old woman spitted out contained fish and meat, while the food the wife Sun spit out was only vegetables and radishes.

It turned out that Zhou Yu ordered Xiao Jun to find some vomiting medicine and put it in the birthday noodles to see what the two of them were taking.

Zhou Yu asked the old woman and said, "You said you didn't eat the fish and meat made by your wife, so where did the fish in your belly come from?"

The old woman was ashamed and lowered her head and did not speak.

Zhou Yu comforted him: "Since ancient times, everything is going to be prosperous for harmony in the family. You mother-in-law and daughter-in-law should be courteous and considerate of each other, especially those who are mother-in-law, you should not be old and disrespectful. Okay, go home and live a good life in the future."

At this time, his wife Sun took the initiative to come over to support the old woman and walked out. The old woman was quite grateful, and her eyes looked at her daughter-in-law and became much gentler.

Looking at the backs of the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law leaving, Zhou Yu sighed: "If everyone gives a little love, the world will become a beautiful world..."

Zhang Cheng felt that he couldn't understand Zhou Yu's words and asked, "Gongjin, what did you mean just now?"

Zang Ba glared at him slightly and said, "It's so troublesome! I often don't understand what my elder brother said."

After dealing with the incident of the disagreement between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, Zhou Yu was about to go back to the backyard to rest. Before he could say the word "retirement" when he suddenly heard a yamen runner come to the hall and said hurriedly: "Sir, someone has reported the case."

A couple walked in. The man looked like a vendor in the clothes, and the woman looked pretty and beautiful. The two bowed to Zhou Yu and said sobbingly: "We have no more belongings. Please solve the case for us."

Zhou Yu said in a deep voice: "Don't be anxious, don't be anxious, you can talk slowly and explain the matter clearly."

It turned out that the couple, the man was Shi Hong and the woman was Ma Zhen. A few days ago, Shi Hong was going to go far to sell cloth, and it was originally scheduled to return in seven days. Unexpectedly, late on the third night, Ma Zhen was so scared that he heard someone knocking on the door and asked, "Who?"

"I am Shi Hong, why can't I even hear my voice?"

When Ma Zhen heard that it was her husband's voice, he hurriedly opened the door. Shi Hong was empty-handed and said dejectedly: "Unfortunate. This business was going well and he made a lot of money. He was eager to get back, but when he met a pack of wolves on the other side of the mountain just now, he was so scared that he threw his bag away!"

Ma Zhen was shocked and said, "Didn't you hurt?"

"Fortunately I wasn't hurt, but this business lost a lot of money!"

"Forget it. As long as you are a good person, God will bless you. Come on the kang and have a rest, and I will cook for you." After that, Ma Zhen went to make a fire and then went to the hotel to get a drink.

After drinking and eating, Shi Hong actually started a play happily and said to Ma Zhen in an opera voice: "Do you really think I lost the money? I have handed the money in the land temple outside the West Gate."

“Why?”

"Hehe, is it a test for you to love your lover or your money!"

"Oh, you are really looking for happiness. If someone discovers the place where the silver hidden is hidden, will it be taken away?"

"No, I put it in the hole of the land god's queen and covered it with a board. No one cares about it. It's not too late to get it tomorrow morning." After Shi Hong said that, he hugged Ma Zhen, blew out the lamp, and went to bed to rest.

The next morning, Shi Hong and his wife came to the Land Temple. They were shocked when they saw it. The money was gone! Shi Hong regretted it very much and shouldn't have made such a joke.

After hearing the two of them, Zhou Yu asked, "Have you ever mentioned the location of Tibetan silver?"

Shi Hong replied: "I said it."

"Then who have you ever met?" Zhou Yu asked again.

Shi Hong shook his head and Ma Zhen said, "There was no wine at home at that time. I went out and bought a pound of wine at Xingli Inn."

Zhou Yu immediately asked, "Who are there in the store?"

"Only the shopkeeper Liu Er."

"What did he ask you?"

"He said, who did you drink for in the middle of the night? I said that my husband was back. He didn't believe it, and even said a few unruly words. I ignored him and went home." Ma Zhen replied.

"Oh," Zhou Yu was confused and said to Shi Hong and his wife: "It seems that only the land god can know who stole your silver."

As he said that, Zhou Yu shouted to everyone: "Come, prepare your horse, accompany me... to question the land god!"

"Mr. Xiao, please inform the local local guards, saying that I will go to their village to examine the land god in the afternoon to solve the case. All villagers will be reviewed and no one will be missed."

"Gongyi, I know you are good at painting portraits. Based on the descriptions of them, you can help me draw a portrait of Zhang Liu Er and give it to me quickly."

Wang Yue and others felt funny when they heard this, but there was no expression on their faces. The yamen runners covered their mouths and couldn't help laughing, thinking to themselves: I just saw that the new county magistrate was quite quick in thinking and quickly in the case. Why did he do this in this case? Could it be that he was confused?

Living outside the west gate of the cave, there is a small land temple.

An hour later, Zhou Yu and his group came to the Land Temple majestic.

Zhou Yu turned over and dismounted, entered the Land Temple and bowed to the statue of the Land God, then sat on the side of the Land God, and looked at the people and came to examine the Land God.

"Bold Hairy God, dares to embezzle the silver of the people! I ask you, Shi Hong put five ingots of silver behind you last night?...What?...ah, where did the silver go? Did you hide it?...No? Oh! Ask the people from this village to take it? Who?"

Zhou Yu asked and answered himself, his eyes wandering among the onlookers, and saw a person who looked very similar to the portrait. His face was panicked.

Zhou Zai continued to talk to the God of Land: "Oh, I heard clearly, it was the shopkeeper Liu Er who took it! It has nothing to do with you. The official offended him!" After that, he bowed to the statue of the God of Land, turned around and shouted sternly: "Take Liu Er to the hall!"

Liu Er was already scared and his face turned pale. Zhou Yu pointed at Liu Er and said, "Bold thief! The God of Land has revealed your stealing behavior. Shi Hong's silver was stolen by you, and it's true!"

When Liu Er saw that the god had eyes, he had to admit it.

It turned out that he had long been coveting Ma Zhen's appearance, but Ma Zhen was a decent person and did not dare to take action. Last night, he saw Ma Zhen buying wine late at night, and knew that Shi Hong was not at home. He thought Ma Zhen had an affair with someone, so he followed behind quietly, trying to hold on to force Ma Zhen to surrender. But when he heard that Shi Hong had come back outside the door, he was very disappointed. Suddenly, he heard Shi Hong say the location of the Tibetan silver, and secretly took the silver.

Liu Er was arrested and imprisoned by the yamen runners.
Chapter completed!