The county magistrate almost stood up in shock, his eyes wide open, the younger sister of the Song Scholar was the future daughter-in-law of the Gu Qian family?
Yuan Cheng did not expect Master Gu to turn things around with a single move and was about to argue with him.
“Wait, wait!”
The county magistrate spoke out, “Which one of you two will tell me what is going on here?”
Master Gu had told him what had happened, and also mentioned Song Wan Yue, but did not say that she was the younger sister of the Song lifer, let alone tell that she was the Gu family’s future daughter-in-law.
“My dog son is betrothed to Miss Song today, and she is the future daughter-in-law of our Gu family in name only.”
The county magistrate drew a breath backwards in his heart this time.
If Song Si won the imperial examinations, his status would rise, and all the dignified people in Qingping County would be in favour of him.
No, no, no, this is not what he should be thinking about. What he should be thinking about is how he should judge this case if Gu Qian does not agree to Yuan Cheng’s terms!
If the sentence was light, the Yuan family would not be willing. If the sentence is heavy, will Song Si be looking for him once he has won the examination, or even made it to the temple?
“This is not negotiable ……”
Yuan Cheng’s attitude was tough, “If you don’t agree? wait for jail time.”
“Not necessarily!”
Master Gu changed his silence from earlier and said quietly, “My people know how to do it in their hearts, at most they will make someone lie down for a few months, they will never take her life, there must be another reason for your daughter’s sudden and violent death.”
Master Gu had originally thought that this matter would be reduced to a minor issue, but Yuan Cheng was so deceitful that he wanted Yi’er and the Song maids to wear mourning for her daughter!
He did not want to take the money, not to mention the 2 million taels, but even 20,000 taels.
Yuan Tong looked at him angrily and aggressively, “Are you questioning the ability of the coroner?”
The pallbearer was an old pallbearer who had examined countless corpses and had never made a mistake.
At his words, his face sank, “What does Master Gu mean?”
“Silence!”
The county magistrate slapped the wood of the hall, clearly favouring Master Gu, “Gu Qian, if you have any doubts, just speak up.”
“The grassroots only have one request, that my family’s doctor be allowed to personally examine the corpse.”
“Granted.”
“My Lord!”
Yuan Cheng was not convinced and took a step forward on his knees, knocking his head heavily on the ground, “I don’t want to, my daughter has already been disturbed once, how can I be disturbed a second time?”
The county magistrate stared at him, “Yuan Cheng, you have repeatedly obstructed the Gu family’s doctor from going to the autopsy, is there really another reason for your daughter’s death?”
“Wrongly accused, Your Excellency, I just don’t want my daughter to be disturbed again and again.”
“But she should be more than willing to let the truth of her death be found out. Don’t worry, if the Gu family’s doctor can’t find out anything, this official will definitely do it for you and make the two Gu family boys pay for your daughter’s life!”
Master Zhang had been standing at the entrance of the government office, and seeing that the county magistrate had made his decision, he hurriedly squeezed out of the crowd, got into the carriage and went to the Yuan residence.
Not many people came to offer their condolences, the Yuan House steward was not busy, and when he saw Master Zhang get off the carriage, he hurriedly greeted him, “Master Zhang ……”
“Min’er is so pitiful.”
Master Zhang interrupted him, “I just came back from the government office side, the Gu family’s people are dead set against admitting that they killed the man, the county magistrate has promised to have the Gu family’s doctor come over to re-examine.”
“How dare they! If they dare to come, I’ll risk my life to stop them today.”
Master Zhang patted him on the shoulder, “Your master really did see you right. Please go and call my wife out, I’ll tell her to take good care of your wife, so that she won’t be frightened when the magistrates come.”
“Thank you, Master Zhang.”
The housekeeper called out for Madam Zhang to come out, Master Zhang led her to the side and didn’t avoid the housekeeper, “Madam, I’ve just come from the magistrate’s office, later the Gu family will send a doctor to re-examine the corpse, keep an eye on Madam Yuan, don’t let her be stimulated again because of this.”
“How could this happen? Didn’t the coroner just come to examine the body?”
Master Zhang let out a long sigh, “The situation is not as good as it should be, Brother Yuan was already prepared to settle the matter privately, asking the Gu family to compensate with silver, but the Gu family refused, insisting that there was another reason for Min’er’s death. But the Gu family refused, insisting that there was another reason for Min’er’s death. Because Song Si had won the imperial examinations, the county magistrate favoured them, so he agreed to the Gu family’s request.”
“It’s simply deceitful.”
“Who says otherwise, when you go in, make sure you keep an eye on Madam Yuan, I’ll stay at the door and wait for Brother Yuan to return.”
Mrs. Zhang went back to Mrs. Yuan’s room with “hatred and resentment”.
Madam Yuan had fainted again and again from the pain, and it was as if she had aged many years, and now she was lying on the bed, beginning to shed tears again.
She sat down on the round stool in front of the bed, but she couldn’t hold back, “The Gu family is so deceitful, it’s not enough to have the coroner come to examine her once, but they want the family doctor to come again.
Mrs. Yuan suddenly stopped crying and sat up and pulled her sleeve, “What did you say?”
Only then did Mrs. Zhang realize she had let her mouth slip, “No, it’s nothing, I ……”
“I’ve already heard it, the Gu family is going to send someone else, isn’t it?”
I’ll fight with them!” said Mrs. Yuan, lifting the thin blanket off her body and getting out of bed, “I’ll fight with them!”
Before she could finish her sentence, her eyes went black and she fell forward.
Mrs. Zhang hastily embraced her and helped her back to the bed, “Don’t worry yet, people haven’t come yet.”
It was not enough that the Gu family had killed her daughter, but they were repeatedly sending people to disturb Min’er’s peace.
“If he Gu family dares to come, I will fight with them.”
“What are you fighting for? The county governor has sent people, if we really want to fight, it’s our house that will lose out. Besides, the way you are now, you will fall down before you can fight them. Min’er is already gone, do you still want to get yourself involved.”
“Even better, even if Min’er and I become evil spirits, we will not spare the Gu family.”
“What a silly thing to say, Min’er is already gone, if anything happens to you again, will Master Yuan and Tong’er still be alive? If we want to stop them, let’s think of other ways.”
……
“My lord, can my daughter go along?”
Song Wan Yue saw Master Zhang leave in a hurry out of the corner of her eye and raised her voice towards the county court to ask.
The county magistrate Zhang was about to give an order when he heard the sound and looked over, seeing that it was just a seven or eight year old girl, he was about to get angry, but then he suddenly remembered what Master Gu had said and swallowed it down, narrowing his eyes and sizing her up, “Are you Song Wan Yue, the younger sister of Master Song?”
