Chapter 66: Three People Sentenced
“As for how this green hairpin came into Liu’s hands, Your Excellency can interrogate her thoroughly,” Song Che said.
Song Shijie began to interrogate Qin Erzhu again, "Qin Erzhu, how did you steal this green hairpin? Tell the truth."
Qin Erzhu turned to look at Liu, who glared at him and warned him in a low voice not to talk nonsense.
Qin Erzhu, the taciturn man, didn't say a word, and the people who were watching the fun became anxious.
"Qin Erzhu, you might as well confess the truth," Song Shijie slammed the gavel again with an annoyed look on his face.
"My mother said that Shen is my wife, what's hers is mine, and what's mine is my mother's. It would be unfilial not to give it to her. Mother also said that the blue hairpin Shen was wearing was very beautiful, and asked me to take it to honor her mother. I saw Shen wipe the jewelry in the jewelry box again and again every day, and take out the silver in the box under the bed and count it again and again every day. So I took it out and gave it to my mother." Qin Erzhu lowered his head and said in a low voice. Although his voice was very small, he heard everything he should have heard.
"What nonsense are you talking about, you beast? When did I ever say that?" Liu pounced over and scratched Qin Erzhu's face, leaving several bloody marks.
"Liu, don't disturb the court," Song Shijie slammed the gavel.
"Qin Erzhu, as far as I know, you married into the Shen family. According to the laws of the Great Xiao Dynasty, you have no right to dispose of the Shen family's money. Your misappropriation without authorization is considered theft. And what you stole was not just simple property, but also something given by the emperor. According to the laws of the Great Xiao Dynasty, you are sentenced to twenty years in prison and twenty strokes of the cane." Song Shijie said.
Qin Erzhu was dumbfounded. He just gave his wife's things to his mother, so why did he have to go to jail for twenty years?
"Erya, Dad knows I was wrong. Dad will never take your mother's things again. Please ask Young Master Song to let me go." Qin Erzhu's voice was shaking with panic.
Shen Zhi just looked at him coldly. If you let this kind of person go once, he will do it again without hesitation the next time when he is coaxed by others.
"People like you are unworthy of being a father and a husband. What you have done has hurt your wife and children's hearts thousands of times. No one will believe you anymore." Shen Zhi said mercilessly.
Qin Erzhu couldn't convince Shen Zhi, so he turned to Shen Zhen and said, "Daya, Dad knows he was wrong, please forgive him."
Unlike before, Shen Zhen did not show a trace of heartache and just looked at him coldly.
"Qin Erzhu, stealing the imperial gift is a serious crime and a great disrespect to the current emperor. No one can save you." Song Shijie really looked down on irresponsible people like Qin Erzhu.
Song Shijie then pronounced Liu's sentence, "Liu instigated her son to steal Shen's property, including the property given by the emperor. She is sentenced to 20 years in prison, 20 strokes of the cane, and must immediately return Shen's jewelry and silver."
Liu was really anxious this time, and she shouted to Old Man Qin, "Master, please save me, I don't want to go to jail. Didn't you say this is a family matter? The county magistrate will lock me up for a few days and then let me go."
Old Man Qin's face was as black as charcoal at this time. This stupid woman said all these in front of the county magistrate. Didn't you see that the county magistrate's face turned black?
Seeing that Old Man Qin ignored her, Liu turned to Qin Dahai and said, "Dahai, please save my mother. When you were the manager of Wangxian Tower, didn't you say that everyone listened to you? Ask them to help and let my mother out." Liu shouted in a very ungraceful manner.
This time it was Qin Dahai's turn to be angry. How could he have such a stupid mother?
"Are you Qin Dahai?" Song Che suddenly asked.
"Yes, he is Qin Dahai, my eldest son. Do you know him, my Excellency? Please spare me for the sake of my son." Liu thought that Song Che would spare her because his son used to be the chief steward.
It was too late for Qin Dahai to stop his mother. He thought to himself that he was doomed. His mother was really incapable of helping, but only of causing trouble. Qin Dahai lowered his head, trying to reduce his presence.
Song Che turned to look at Song Shijie and said, "Sir, I want to sue Qin Dahai for stealing 200 taels of silver from Wangxianlou and absconding."
Song Shijie slammed the gavel and said, "Qin Dahai, is what the plaintiff said true?"
Qin Dahai knew he couldn't escape, so he knelt down and replied, "Your Excellency, I know I am guilty. I was confused for a moment and committed such a heinous crime."
Qin Dahai's attitude of admitting his mistake was quite good, so Song Shijie sentenced him to return the 200 taels of silver immediately, imprisonment for six months and twenty strokes of the cane.
Qin Dahai received the two hundred taels, but within two days, Old Man Qin coaxed him out of one hundred taels. He still had his own one hundred taels, but Old Man Qin had experienced Qin Wen's marriage, and later Qin Hu became stupid, so he lost fifty taels to Dahua's family, leaving him with not much left.
After Song Shijie imprisoned Liu, Qin Dahai and Qin Erzhu, he ordered someone to follow Old Man Qin home to get the remaining 100 taels of silver.
Old Qin had no choice but to search through boxes and cabinets to find the money and jewelry hidden by Liu. He scraped together 100 taels and handed them to the yamen runner. Old Qin looked like he had aged ten years. His family was penniless. He was the only one left in the Qin family, along with Xiaohong, Qin Lian and Xiaoyueya, who was Xiaohong's newborn daughter. How could this family survive with so many old and young people in the house? It was a sin.
Shen Zhi and Shen Zhen did not return to the village immediately. They had come to the town with great difficulty and had paid for their trip, so they had to go shopping to make their money back before going back.
After Song Che found out, he warmly invited the two sisters to the Song Mansion for a simple meal, saying that the old lady wanted to thank Shen Zhi in person.
However, Shen Zhi declined politely. Shen Zhi felt that it was not appropriate to get too close to the Song family openly.
Shen Zhi took her sister to Jihetang, as usual, to buy pregnancy-preserving medicine for her aunt.
After leaving Jihetang, the two of them really relaxed, wandered around, and did some shopping.
The weather was getting colder day by day, so it was time to prepare some thick clothes. The two of them went to the cloth shop, picked out a piece of fabric for each of them, and bought some cotton. They went back and asked Shen to help them make some cotton-padded jackets.
I went to the pastry shop and bought some pastries, and picked out some kinds of salted sour plums for my aunt.
It was still early, and Shen Zhi went to the West Market to buy some pork belly and ribs, preparing to go back and make braised pork and bone soup for his family.
After buying the items, they walked slowly back to Stone Village.
After returning home, Shen Zhi gave the recovered jewelry and silver to Shen Shi, and told her the result of the sentence. Shen Shi felt relieved after hearing it.
Shen Zhi cooked dinner himself.
I used a stainless steel soup barrel I bought on Pinduoduo to make a large bucket of pork rib soup, a large pot of braised pork, and also made braised eggplant, braised pheasant with potatoes, spicy rabbit, and stir-fried some vegetables. Pheasants and rabbits were caught and kept in the space before, and I would catch one when I wanted to eat.
Shen Zhi put one portion on a plate and brought it into the dining room, and put the rest in basins and placed them at the entrance of the basement. He called Mr. Sun and a few others to help carry them into the basement.
When a dozen or so grown men saw the pot of vegetables, they were so happy that they acted like idiots.