Earlier the people outside the county court house  overwhelmingly denounced Jiang Zhen. However, at  this moment, everyone was confused.

“The emperor even sent an imperial edict to this Jiang Zhen. What is the origin of this Jiang Zhen?“

“That Jiang Zhen married into someone else’s family.  From this point of view, it is not right for an imperial envoy to ask him for his parents’ old age . . .“

“The whole village is speaking for Jiang Zhen ah . . .“

 

. . .

 

The people of Hecheng County were talking, but at the same time, the people who followed Zhou Maohe to this place to observe, were also a bit confused.  This Jiang Zhen, was he good or bad?

However, Zhou Maohe only became angrier. These people, Jiang Zhen’s people must have paid them to come!

“You are so obsessed with Jiang Zhen’s money that you perjured yourselves for him?“ Zhou Maohe said angrily.

“Your Excellency, we did not . . .“ Jiang Ping was looking at Zhou Maohe; he was scared of Zhou Maohe so he could not speak smoothly.

However, even if he could not speak fluently, someone else could and did. Zhao Liu knelt down to the ground and said directly, “Your Excellency, you are wrong! Jiang Zhen has never committed the crime of lack of filial piety. He has been filial since he was a child and helped his family with work since he was five or six. He helped to take care of his younger brothers, and since he was seven or eight, he worked in the fields. At eleven or twelve, he worked more than his father!

“Everyone in our village knows that. Before he came to our house, he did all the farm work in Jiang family. He also single-handedly brought up Jiang Chengxiang and Jiang Xiaomei!“

 

. . . 

Zhao Liu continued to speak, and when she was finished, the people from Hexi Village immediately gave their agreement.

Yes, Jiang Zhen used to be very filial!

“That’s right. In the past, when Jiang Zhen was still in the Jiang family, he did all the hard work for the Jiang family.“

“If the Jiang family had good food, it was only given to the two younger sons to eat. Eldest Jiang did not even have a bite to eat, but he was never angry about it.

“Old lady Jiang always beat him. He had suffered so much as well.“

 

. . .

 

The Hexi villagers spoke out one after another.

The people outside were very noisy, but Zhou Maohe did not drive them away and even allowed them to  speak. But he did not believe them.

Those rich people were the most treacherous. They were also good at using money to buy others. These people are most likely  bought!

Zhou Maohe looked at these people with a cold expression. “Don’t talk nonsense. If you perjure yourselves for money and disrupt the public court, each of you will be beaten with a board twenty times!“

Twenty boards? The Hexi villagers became a little scared after hearing that. They were already a little afraid of the government, so upon hearing that they would be beaten, they naturally flinched a little. But none of the escorts working under Jiang Zhen flinched.

“Your Excellency, what we said is the truth!“

He Chunsheng looked at his father, and his father also said loudly, “My lord, when my youngest son was still not married and lived at home, I treated him better than this Jiang family treated Jiang Zhen. My lord, he should also give  me money! How can he not give me money?“

When Zhou Maohe was in the imperial court, he could talk a lot, but in front of these people, he could not say much. He was dedicated to people, so how could these people not understand it? He  can’t believe that they were still helping Jiang  Zhen!

What kind of good person, can a man like Jiang Zhen be!

“Lord Zhou, I have something to say,“ Jiang Zhen suddenly said.

Jiang Zhen had been in a bad mood till now, but he soon figured everything out. He couldn’t live a peaceful life at all, so since it was time, he had to fight for it. Of course, the top priority was to solve the problem before him first.

Jiang Zhen looked outside the yamen officers and saw Zhao Jinge standing at the door anxiously as well as people from Hexi village. He suddenly calmed down. He’d be fine.

Jiang Zhen looked at Zhou Maohe and said directly, “Lord Zhou, you came to me at my mother’s birthday banquet last time. I am afraid that you already knew that the Jiang family wanted to sue me, so may I say a few words now?“

Hearing Jiang Zhen mention the birthday banquet, Zhou Maohe became so angry that he did not even want to fight with him. At that time, he had a good intention to persuade Jiang Zhen, but he did not expect that Jiang Zhen would not listen at all and even ask people to drive him out!

Looking at Jiang Zhen’s attitude at that time, he could tell that Jiang Zhen was bad to his parents . . .

“Then say it. I would also like to see what you have to say!“ Zhou Maohe said.

Jiang Zhen didn’t  utter a word. Instead, he pulled his belt, ripped off his clothes, and took them off. Although it was winter, Jiang Zhen was not afraid of the cold because he had been exercising a lot. He also did not wear much clothes, so he could simply strip his clothes at the moment.

“You!“ Zhou Maohe was about to criticize him, but he suddenly couldn’t say what he wanted to say anymore.

There were many old injuries on Jiang Zhen’s body. The wounds on Jiang Zhen’s body belonged to the former Eldest Jiang.

During his years in the Jiang family, Eldest Jiang was beaten and injured by the Jiang family. There were many wounds on his body that had never been treated. Naturally, all of those wounds turned into scars.

Jiang Zhen pointed to a deep wound on his arm. “Lord Zhou, this wound was caused by my mother when I was seven years old.“

He then pointed to the burn on his other arm. “Lord Zhou, this wound was caused by my mother when she burned me when I was sixteen years old.“

“When I was fifteen years old, my father burned it with hot bamboo.“

“This wound . . .“

 

. . .

 

Eldest Jiang had lots of wounds on his body. In fact, these were not just left by old lady Jiang, some of them  were left by villagers of the same age who bullied him. But, at this time, Jiang Zhen blamed it all on old lady Jiang and Butcher Jiang. Anyway they would not be able to remember how many times they had beaten  Eldest Jiang up.

When Jiang Zhen blamed his parents,  Zhou Maohe couldn’t say anything. He didn’t know that the Jiang couple was so bad to Jiang Zhen.

The scholars who followed Zhou Maohe were also silent at this moment.

People sympathized with the weak. Before, the Jiang  family looked too pitiful, so they sympathized with the Jiang family, but at this moment . . .

“Your Excellency, he is my son, so what if I beat him? Your Excellency, he hit us!“ Old lady Jiang cried.

It was just that while she was crying, there were obviously not as many people who sympathized with her like at the beginning.

Zhou Maohe frowned and immediately said, “Jiang Zhen, your parents have given you flesh and blood, it’s just some chastisement you suffered from . . .“

“Lord, I have not finished talking!“ Jiang Zhen said, “Lord Zhou, I’m not trying to win sympathy. I just want to tell Lord Zhou that their words should not be taken lightly . . . They  haven’t  told you that, I had lived a life worse than cattle and horses in the Jiang family for more than twenty years.“

Zhou Maohe’s face stiffened. He previously really did not know that father and mother Jiang were so bad to Jiang Zhen.

“My lord, they did not treat me well, but as my lord said, I was born and raised by them. That’s why no matter what they did to me, I suffered in silence.“ Jiang Zhen said, “Your Excellency, before I left home, I have been working for them  as they wanted and never once complained. I had also never done  anything to them after I left home, so please be aware of it!“

“You are talking nonsense. You had clearly beaten us repeatedly!“ Old lady Jiang and the others said one after another.

“Your Excellency, if I really wanted to beat them, why didn’t they leave Hexi and flee to somewhere else?“ Jiang Zhen said.

“You don’t support your parents. Seeing that your parents don’t even have enough to eat, you were still indifferent. What do you have to say about it?“ Zhou Maohe asked again.

“I’d like to ask my lord to search these people,“ Jiang Zhen suddenly said.

“Search?“ Zhou Maohe was stunned.

“Your Excellency, let someone come and search them, then we will know if my parents really did not have enough food to eat!“ Jiang Zhen said. He was extremely good at observing people, and after observing these people from the Jiang family before, he found out one thing—old lady Jiang must be hiding some silver.

“On what grounds do you want to search my body?“ Old lady Jiang immediately said, and then said to Zhou Maohe, “My lord, didn;t you say that you will give us justice? My lord, why don’t you arrest him already?“

Of all the Jiang family, Jiang Chengxiang was the smartest one, so after hearing what Jiang Zhen said about searching their bodies, his heart jumped and he panicked a little.

Before, when that Young Master Shen gave them a lot of silver, they divided  that silver into three parts: he, Jiang Chengwen, and his mother, each had a share.

Jiang Chengwen’s share was probably taken away by Huang Min, but he only gave Zhu Shufen twenty silver of his share, and the rest were hidden on his body. He was afraid to keep it at home, fearing it would be stolen so he naturally had to put it on him. His parents probably did the same.

In the past, they would never have done this, but recently, they have not been in peace at home and have been bullied by the  villagers. How would they dare to leave it at home? But if it were found . . .

 

Edited by: Faro

Proofreader: Xiao Hua

 

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