Chapter 43 Qin Hu is sentenced to be executed in the autumn
Old Man Qin's face was terribly gloomy. Qin Hu was his only grandson, and he couldn't just watch him get beaten to death. He pushed the terrified Liu.
Liu rushed over with a roar and hit Dahuadie's stomach with her head. Dahuadie was not paying attention and fell to the ground. Liu took advantage of the situation and scratched Dahuadie's face with her claws like a shrew. Dahuadie's face was scratched with several bloody marks, but he was a grown man and couldn't fight back against the old lady, so he could only endure it.
Aunt Dahua, who had just arrived from the crowd, saw this scene and was filled with anger. She ran over and grabbed Liu's hair and pulled her away without thinking twice. Liu felt a sharp pain on her head and had to let go to protect her head. Aunt Dahua immediately sat on Liu and slapped her left and right, venting all her anger on her.
"Stop," the village head hurried over after hearing the news, and gasped when he saw Dahua's miserable condition.
The village head's head was throbbing with pain, and he couldn't suppress the situation even if someone died. He immediately sent a young man named Qin Zheng to report the case to the government. Qin Dahai wanted to stop it but couldn't. This was a criminal case, and the government couldn't ignore it unless the people reported it.
Seeing Qin Zheng was about to report the case, Liu ran over to stop him and cried, "Qin Zheng, tell the official that Hu Zi was innocent and that Da Hua seduced him. My Hu Zi is a good boy."
Liu's words made the onlookers couldn't help but curse their father. Your Huzi is stealing and cheating outside all day long. He has done a lot of bad things at such a young age, and you still have the nerve to say that he is a good boy.
"Liu, do you have any shame to say this? My daughter Dahua was picking wild vegetables at the foot of the mountain and was killed by this beast. If those cattle-herding children hadn't seen it and ran to my house to report it, we would still be kept in the dark. Poor Dahua, she is only thirteen years old. How are her parents going to live?" Dahua's aunt Jin pointed at Liu's nose and cursed and cried.
The head of the village waved his hand to signal Qin Zheng to go and report the case, then turned around and ordered the other two men to tie up Qin Hu with ropes.
Old Man Qin came over and said with a dark face, "Do you have to be so ruthless? Look, Hu Zi was almost beaten to death by Da Hua's father. He has been punished. Can't you let him go? Is a little girl worth you risking the reputation of the whole village to protect?"
The head of the village was so angry that he laughed at Old Man Qin's shameless words.
The head of the village pointed at Dahua and roared angrily: "Is she an ant? She is also a treasure in the palm of her parents' hands. Don't think that beating this beast up can solve everything. Since ancient times, killing a person means paying with one's life. It is unjust to let him go like this."
Among the onlookers, many had daughters. After hearing what Old Man Qin said, everyone was filled with righteous indignation and demanded that Qin Hu be severely punished.
Soon, Qin Zheng came with a group of officials, including yamen runners and coroners. Because they knew in advance that the victim was a girl, the coroner sent was a female coroner.
The female coroner was named Zhou Daxian, and she was very experienced. Zhou Daxian took out a piece of cloth and gave it to several yamen runners, asking them to tear the cloth open and cover the victim with their backs to the surrounding city. Several women in the village had already helped Dahua Niang to the side.
Zhou Daxian conducted a thorough examination of the victim, and the autopsy process lasted for more than half an hour.
The yamen runners also asked the surrounding people for confessions, focusing on the group of cowherds. Because the case was of a serious nature, the county magistrate requested that the suspects be brought back to the court for public trial immediately. The cowherds and the people at the scene were also invited to testify in court. Dahua's body was wrapped in white cloth and taken back to the county yamen.
Qin Zhiyin was standing behind a big tree on the slope and was not discovered. She went down the mountain and went home only after the scene was empty.
Shen Changzhou was dancing with a sword in the yard, and Ah Si was standing under a big tree admiring him. When Qin Zhi came over, Ah Si was wiping Shen Changzhou's sweat with a handkerchief.
Qin Zhi pretended to cough, which startled Ah Si and made her flustered and shy. Shen Changzhou touched Ah Si's head to comfort her, then turned around and rolled his eyes at Qin Zhi.
Qin Zhi muttered in a low voice that he valued women over friendship, and Shen Changzhou, who had amazing hearing, heard it.
Shen Changzhou...
Qin Zhi took Ah Si's hand and said he had something to talk to her about, then dragged her away.
Shen Changzhou's voice could be heard from behind: "Slow down, don't scare her."
Qin Zhi almost staggered. How could I, an eleven-year-old girl, scare a twenty-seven or twenty-eight-year-old woman?
Qin Zhi took Ah Si to the study and told her that he wanted to feel her pulse. Ah Si thought that Qin Zhi wanted to help her get pregnant as soon as possible, so she raised her arm obediently so that she could feel her pulse. Qin Zhi then asked her to open her mouth and used a small flashlight to illuminate her throat for inspection.
After the examination, he let Ah Si go back, but afterwards he would secretly call Ah Si away before every meal and ask her to drink a bowl of medicine.
Dahua's case was quickly closed, with irrefutable evidence. Qin Hu was sentenced to death for intentional homicide and executed in the autumn. The county magistrate ordered the Qin family to pay Dahua's family fifty taels of silver.
When Liu heard that Huzi wanted to execute her after the autumn, she fainted immediately. It was only after the doctor in the county government pinched her Ren Zhong point and gave her a few injections that she woke up.
Old man Qin seemed to have aged several dozen years in an instant. He took out his purse and handed fifty taels of silver to the yamen runners, who asked him to deliver it to the Dahua family.
Qin Dahai had a gloomy face the whole time, and he was extremely sad in his heart. This son was raised by him and Mei, so how could he die at such an old age?
As for Qin Lian, she had always had a deep relationship with Qin Hu. When she heard that Qin Hu could not survive, she was immediately filled with grief.
Dahua's family took Dahua's body back and hastily selected a plot of land to bury her that day. Poor Dahua's mother could not bear the pain of losing her daughter, and she ended her life with a three-foot white silk that night.
Everyone was sighing over this. A happy family of three was now left with only Dahua's father left all alone.
When the Qin family learned about this, they became even more humble and didn't even dare to leave the house.
Two days later, the sky was covered with dark clouds and strong winds blew.
On this day, Dahua Niang was buried, and everyone carried the coffin and held banners to bid her farewell. Her relatives followed behind in great pain.
When the people were carrying the coffin past the door of Lao Qin's house, the coffin suddenly felt as if it weighed a thousand pounds. The people carrying the coffin tried their best and could hardly bear it.
The old patriarch saw that the situation was not right and shouted not to land on the ground.
Everyone knows that if a coffin suddenly becomes heavy it means the deceased still has resentment.
It happened to be at the doorstep of Lao Qin's house. The old clan leader knew that this matter would not be easy to handle today, so he told the host family to find Lao Qin's family and ask them to kneel down in front of the coffin to apologize.
So the young men among the relatives went to knock on the door of the old Qin family, but the people inside were afraid and did not dare to open the door. The young men were worried about where to vent their anger, so they kicked the door. The door had been cut off by Qin Zhi with a knife before, and it was kicked off again just after it was repaired.
The young men rushed in, dragged out the people from Lao Qin's family one by one, pressed them down, and made them kneel in front of the coffin. Of course, they didn't look for Xiaohong, because it was a taboo for a pregnant woman to appear in front of the coffin.
The old patriarch explained the current situation to Old Man Qin and asked them to apologize. They did owe the Dahua family an apology.
Old man Qin was forced by those young men to kneel on the ground. He was angry and anxious, but he knew in his heart that only this method could resolve his resentment. As a result, all the young and old in the Qin family apologized to the coffin.
Seeing that the time was ripe, the clan leader ordered the coffin bearers to continue lifting the body with all their strength, and this time they lifted it up easily.
The funeral procession continued to move forward, and the Qin family members all broke out in cold sweats and went back into the house in disgrace. Among these people was not Qin Erzhu, who was trapped in a trap on the mountain at this time, with his thigh pierced by a bamboo tip and unable to move.