Old lady Jiang was still trying to make  trouble, but Jiang Chengxiang took out his money and said, “Lord, I have some money on me.“ He took it out, all on his own initiative, which was better than being searched.

“Why do you have so many silvers with you?“ Zhou Maohe was surprised that this man could take out forty silver at once j He was obviously not as poor as he appeared to be!

“My lord, it is not only just on him but also on my mother,“ Jiang Zhen said.

“Yes, my lord. My mother also have it on her. It was gifted to us by a gentleman who pitied us.“ Jiang Chengxiang hurriedly said.

“A gift? Who would give you so much money? You are obviously not poor at all. You deliberately changed into dirty clothes and pretended to be poor to harm me,“ Jiang Zhen said. “Your Excellency, when I married into the Zhao family, the Zhao family was penniless, that is, they did not even have a piece of land. Zhao Jinge, their ger son, had to work as a long-term worker to earn money to support his family, so their family eat thin porridge every day. But the Jiang family had more than 30 mus of land at that time and was one of the richest families in Hexi Village. They said that I forced my parents to live apart, but I dare not  admit it. They are just jealous of the Zhao family’s development, so they want to harm me.“

Jiang Chengxiang unexpectedly had so much money on him that it has already made people suspicious of the Jiang family. And then Jiang Zhen said something like this . . .

Yes, at that time, the Jiang family was far richer than the Zhao family, and Jiang Zhen was well . . . Why did he bother to go to the Zhao family?

Jiang Zhen hadn’t put on his clothes yet, so his upper body was naked. He stood straight and spoke neither humbly or arrogantly. He was very convincing.

Zhou Maohe’s expression froze. If what Jiang Zhen said was true, then . . .

After listening to only one side story of  the Jiang family’, Zhou Maohe already had a preconceived opinion of Jiang Zhen, and now . . .

“Jiang Zhen, you can’t deceive me!’ Zhou Maohe slapped the wooden chair again.

“No, I’m telling the truth. Please check it out,“ Jiang Zhen said.

“Your Excellency, if Jiang Zhen had not saved my life when I went to the capital, I am afraid he would still be penniless . . . Alas, I should not have given him a lot of money out of gratitude, causing him to be targeted and sued in the public court because of his money.“ Zheng Yi sighed and said, “This money is also not for him alone. Zhao Jinge was pregnant, but he still protected me . . .“

“Yes. In the past, when Jiang Zhen had no money, how come they did not try to sue Jiang Zhen?“

“Yes! When the Jiang Zhen left the Jiang family, the Jiang family was still rich. If it were not for Jiang Chengwen being cheated out of money, how could they have fallen to this point today?“

“As a matter of fact, the Jiang family is not poor now. They still have a lot of land! Jiang Chengxiang is also carrying 40 silvers with him!“

 

. . .

 

People were talking one after another. At this time, the hearts of the people in Hecheng Country were already  partial to Jiang Zhen.

Zhou Maohe only felt that he was a little unsteady. Were all of the previous events really a coincidence?

He had never paid attention to the Zheng family before. After all, the Zheng family had no other promising  person except Second Master Zheng. When he came to Jiangnan this time, he actually wanted to check someone else. It was  the letter that made him angry and made him come here.

Zhou Maohe was still in deep  thought, but Jiang Chengxiang was already becoming more and more anxious.

After the imperial edict and these things . . . if everything went on like this, he was really afraid that Jiang Zhen would get out of it!

Why was this imperial envoy so pedantic? When a case was in trial, why did he still let people talk and even listened to outsiders talking?

Jiang Chengxiang was in a hurry when suddenly someone came from outside.

Seeing those people, Zheng Yi and Zhao Jinge both become relieved.

The people who came were from two sides. One group was the people Jiang Zhen rescued from the nest of pirates, both men and women. As soon as they came, they knelt down and cried, pleading for Jiang Zhen.

Zhou Maohe had someone look outside and soon learned what was going on.

When Jiang Zhen escorted Zheng Yi to the capital before, he defeated a group of bandits and saved many people from their hands. He opened the Jinzhen Escort Agency with the people he saved from the hands of pirates.

Zhou Maohe,  this man,  had always sympathized with the weak, so he felt a little bad in his heart at this time. The leader of the other group who came was a white-haired old man and by his side stood the second uncle of the Jiang family.

The second uncle of the Jiang family previously reprimanded Jiang Zhen with  very strong voice. He was  very eloquent and confident but now that he had come to the yamen he bowed his head like a quail, looking very afraid. He was really very afraid right then .

Before, Zhao Liushi and Zhao Fugui brought the Hexi villagers to the county town, relying on their emotions and reasons, but he was different.

They, the elders of the Jiang family, were all bound by the people sent by Zheng Yi.

Zheng Yi made up his mind to save Jiang Zhen, so he thought of the method of treating them the same way they treated others.

If the Jiang family can sue Jiang Zhen, why can’t he find someone to sue the Jiang family? In the Jiang family, it was not like there were no people with higher seniority than Butcher Jiang.

After bullying several elders of the Jiang family, all of these elders obediently obeyed. They were afraid of the imperial envoy, but they were also afraid of the Zheng family and Jiang Zhen.

Their families were   all in the hands of Zheng Yi . . . so they were going to sue the Jiang family no matter what.

Daqi was very kind to the elderly. People above the age of seventy  do not need to kneel when meeting officials. Zhou Maohe has always respected the elderly, even when  he knew that these people  have also come here to save Jaing Zhen, he still invited them respectfully to the yamen.

“Elders, are you also here to plead  mercy for Jiang Zhen? It was wrong of   him to ignore his parents—“ Zhou Maohe said.

“Your Excellency, we are not here to plead mercy for Jiang Zhen. We are here to sue someone,“ the old man at the front said.

This old man was the oldest member of the Jiang family. He was not like the second uncle of the Jiang family, always jumping around. In fact, he had always been indifferent about what was going around him and just waited for his son to bring him meals every day. After finishing eating, he would sit at the entrance of the house, either drowsy or telling stories to the younger generation of the family .

But at this time, all the people in his family, were under Zheng Yi’s care, so he also had to come.

Zhou Maohe was startled and then immediately asked, “You also want to sue Jiang Zhen?“

“No, my lord, I want to sue Jiang Chengwen. He is lazy and forced his parents to sell their fields and land for his own extravagance. After being cheated of the money, he even sold his younger sister, which is really unfilial.“ The old man continued, “After that, he also forced his old mother to work on the fields to support him. He is simply worse than animals.“

“Lord, I also want to sue Jiang Chengxiang. He cheated his parents of money. He was not working and let his old father take care of his family affairs, when he was in the country town, eating meat and drinking, leaving his father to starve at home. He is also unfilial,“ the old man continued.

“What!“ Zhou Maohe was shocked. He never expected that something like this would come out. Someone has come out to sue the other two sons of the Jiang family.

“Nonsense. My Chengwen and Chengxiang are the most filial!“ Old lady Jiang immediately said, “Your Excellency, you can’t listen to his nonsense!“

“My lord, what I said is true. Just look at their hands,“ that old man said again.

Old lady Jiang and Butcher Jiang’s hands were full of calluses and many frostbite wounds.

Zhou Maohe had seen the hands of these two before, and after that, he felt even more sympathetic to them, but then, looking at the hands of Jiang Chengwen and Jiang Chengxiang . . .

These two men, Jiang Chengwen and Jiang Chengxiang did not have any calluses on their hands! Especially Jiang Chengxiang, his pair of hands was extremely well-maintained. His hands did not look like they belonged to a countryside person but to a scholar!

On the contrary, Jiang Zhen . . . 

Jiang Zhen stretched out his hands. Those hands did not have frostbites but were covered in thick calluses, black and thick. There were also many scars on them.

Zhou Maohe didn’t believe Jiang Zhen’s words before, but right now , he froze.

“Your Excellency, Jiang Chengxiang forced his parents to split up their family because his older brother was cheated out of money. Many people in Hexi Village know about this matter, so please, my lord, investigate it clearly.“ Then the old men said, “At that time, this Jiang Chengxiang’s wife brought her family to the Jiang family house and forced her in-laws . . . to divide the family . . .“

This old man looked to the second uncle of the Jiang family; the second uncle immediately took out a letter.

“My lord, this is what we asked them to divide; it’s not the same! My lord!“ old lady Jiang said.

That old man glanced at old lady Jiang, pointed at her, and said slowly: “My lord, I also want to sue her, Jiang Wang. This Jiang Wang is not a virtuous wife or mother, so they should divorce.“

Old lady Jiang was stunned and unable to react. She was accused too?

At that moment, Zhou Maohe already knew that he was probably set up.

Although Jiang Zhen was not a good man, but this Jiang Chengwen and Jiang Chengxiang were not  good men either!

“Your Excellency, Jiang Zhen has already married into the Zhao family, so this is out of his control. But this Jiang Chengwen and Jiang Chengxiang are both unfilial to their parents. I ask my lord to chastise them,“ that old man said again.

“You are talking nonsense!“ Old lady Jiang was furious and wanted to tear the old man up.

No matter how much the law paid attention to filial piety, it had always been unregulated in the countryside, so she did not think it was wrong to hit this man at all.

“You dead old man . . .“ Old lady Jiang hated the old man very much, so she actually pulled him to the ground.

“How dare you!“ Seeing this, Zhou Maohe became furious. That woman actually made a move on an old man with white hair in front of him!

Jiang Chengxiang also secretly shouted, “It’s bad.“

He only thought that the imperial envoy believed them, and because Jiang Zhen really did not support his parents, they could easily sue him. But he did not think that, in the end, even he would get himself involved 

If it weren’t for the fact that this imperial envoy was so stubborn in all these things, how could it end like this?

Jiang Chengxiang hurriedly went to pull his mother away, and it was only at that time old lady Jiang found that the expression of the imperial envoy looked particularly ugly.

This . . . This . . .

Old lady Jiang immediately became anxious. “Chengxiang.“

“Mother . . .“ Jiang Chengxiang’s hands shook a little.

“We’re not suing. We’re no longer suing Jiang Zhen. Let’s go!“ Old lady Jiang had heard Jiang Chengxiang explain a lot of things related to the crime of lack of filial piety these days, so she immediately became frightened. She couldn’t let anything happen to Jiang Chengwen and Jang Chengxiang!

When Zhou Maohe heard her words, his face darkened at once.

This . . . This . . .

He was so angry. He brought many people to witness this trial, but it turned out to be a farce! No, he was just made a fool off by this Jiang family . . . It was just outrageous!

 

Edited by: Faro

Proofreader: Xiao Hua

 

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