Chapter 137: Qin Lao Han Exiled to Ningguta
When Shen Zhi put the evidence in front of him, Old Man Qin seemed to have aged ten years and he did not make any excuses.
The head of the village standing by was so disappointed that he wanted to slap him twice. You and your whole family have bad intentions. You sent yourselves to prison. What does it have to do with the Shen family? It's good enough that they didn't add insult to injury. You still did such an unforgivable thing on their good day.
No one made a fuss, but secretly locked Old Man Qin in the woodshed and waited to deal with him after the banquet to avoid disturbing other guests.
The banquet was still going on, and the villagers would basically pack up the leftovers after finishing the buffet and take them away.
After seeing today's protagonist, Xiao Dun Dun, the relatives were arranged by the host to stay in a private room, and the steaming hot food was served. The food on the table was large, and a few more dishes were added. The third uncle came up to entertain them personally. Shen Zhi called Qingfeng and Qingyu to help move the three-layer cake to this private room.
It was the first time that Shen Bi saw this cake. She was immediately attracted by the cartoon accessories and couldn’t bear to take her eyes off the cake.
Shen Zhi teased, "Stop drooling. When your child is one month old, I will give him one too."
Shen Bi blushed and said angrily: "How dare you laugh at me, you little bitch."
Shen Changzhou came over holding Xiao Dundun and Ah Si. It was the first time Ah Si stepped out of the room since giving birth. Now she looked rosy and more beautiful.
Shen Changzhou lit the candles on the cake, and the couple closed their eyes and made a wish before blowing out the candles. Shen Zhi helped cut the cake and distributed the cakes to the guests one by one. Even the people at the table of Cao Gonggong who had already eaten got a piece of cake, but Shen Zhi only gave a small piece to Lord Sun and strictly ordered him to eat less sweets.
The guests raved about the cake, saying it was soft, sweet and very tasty, much better than other cakes sold in town.
After today's full moon banquet, Shen Zhicai told his family about the old man Qin poisoning the food at the dinner table. Everyone was terrified.
When County Magistrate Song left, he took Old Man Qin with him, and also took away the cleared food on the table, which was physical evidence.
Afterwards, Shen Changzhou personally went to the county government office to bring back the verdict of Qin Lao Han's trial, and exiled him to Ningguta. His son Qin Wen was also to be exiled here, but had been delayed until now because of the closure of the city by the King of Huainan. Three days later, they, father and son, would set off for Ningguta together.
Two days later, Shen Zhi and Eunuch Cao returned to Baiyun Villa.
However, she found that the workers were not working as hard as before, but were listless and depressed.
The old scholars all laughed at Shen Zhi when they saw this. They said that servants are servants, how could they be so indulged? They must have given up their duties now.
Shen Zhi felt very strange, so he found an honest worker and asked him what had happened.
It turned out that everyone had taken advantage of the two days off given by their employer to look for their families. When they went to the pawnbroker to inquire, most of the families had already been sold, and many were sold separately. They were separated from their wives and children, and even never saw each other again in this life. Some people's families were still in the pawnbroker, and they could not escape the fate of being sold. As servants, they did not have the ability to buy their families.
Among them was a young man named Lian Bo, who was actually Shen Zhi's favorite in the past. He worked hard and had a quick mind, so Shen Zhi wanted to promote him. But when he came back to see him this time, he found that he was in a low mood and looked like he had lost all hope in life. Shen Zhi asked him what happened.
Lian Bo then cried and complained: "I went to the pawnshop to look for my wife, only to find out that she had been sold to the Gu family in our town. When I found the Gu family, she had been tortured by the young lady of the Gu family and was covered with bruises and was in critical condition."
Upon hearing this news, Shen Zhi could not help but frown. She learned that Lian Bo's wife was originally a hardworking woman, filial and considerate. Before Lian Bo's parents passed away, his wife Ruyi served them day and night. But since she was sold to the Gu family, she has been abused and tortured by the young lady of the Gu family. What's worse is that when Lian Bo took the silver money raised by his co-workers to beg for Ruyi's redemption, the Gu family refused to let her go.
After some investigation, Shen Zhi was surprised to find that this Miss Gu was actually Miss Gu Si who caused trouble on the opening day of the photo studio last time. This discovery made Shen Zhi angry, and she decided to seek justice for Lian Bo's wife Ruyi.
Shen Zhi found Eunuch Cao and asked him about the body contract of this era.
Eunuch Cao did not hide anything and explained one by one that servants in the Great Xiao Dynasty had two contracts, one was a body contract and the other was a red contract. The body contract was equivalent to an employment relationship with the employer, while the red contract was equivalent to a household registration. Some buyers were unwilling to spend money to go to the government to apply for a red contract, so if this contractual relationship was not notarized by the government, the slaves had the right to redeem their freedom.
Shen Zhi went to the pawnshop and gave a large gold ingot to Manager Zhao, who had met him there last time. Manager Zhao was overjoyed to see that it was a ten-liang gold ingot, which added up to one hundred liang of silver.
Manager Zhao probably guessed Shen Zhi's intention. In the past two days, the servant bought by Miss Shen kept asking about the whereabouts of his family. He probably wanted to find his relatives for the servant. He hurriedly invited Shen Zhi to the private room in the backyard and ordered someone to serve tea and snacks.
"I believe Manager Zhao knows why I'm here. You've been in the pawnbroker business for many years, and you know the twists and turns involved best. I bought thirty-seven strong laborers here before, and their families were sent to your Sifang Pawnbroker at the time. Most of them have been sold now. May I ask Manager Zhao if there is any way to get these people back? I'll buy them." Shen Zhi said truthfully.
Manager Zhao pondered for a moment and said, "To be honest with you, Miss Shen, since the servants asked me about this two days ago, I took out all the records and counted them. Of the thirty-seven people you have, fifteen of them have family members who have not been sold to me. These fifteen families have a total of thirty-two people. The other twenty-two families have been sold. These twenty-two families have more than fifty people. There are two buyers. One is the He family in our town. Because the second branch of this family intervened in the affairs of Dafang before, they placed many people in the first branch. The other family is the Gu family in the east of the city. The Gu family was originally a kind person in the city. However, the fourth Miss Gu was fostered here by a high-ranking official in the capital, so she cannot be beaten or scolded. I heard that the fourth Miss Gu was arrogant and domineering, and many servants were tortured to death by her. I have a little friendship with the head of the Gu family, but I am afraid that the head of the Gu family can't do anything to the fourth Miss Gu. "