Hearing the order of the county magistrate two old women and one old man came forth, and bowed in greetings.
"Introduce yourselves," Judge Liu ordered coldly. He was clearly disgruntled; it seemed like Sun Baohai had gotten on his bad side.
"I am Li Wen, from the Li family of Linjia village," The first old woman introduced.
"I am Wu Di, from the Wu family of Linjia village," The old man introduced.
"I am Dong Chen," The second old woman introduced.
"Why did you offer marriage to Miss Zhang Yingtai when she had already lost her purity?" Judge Liu asked with a sinister smile on his face. The county magistrates and Sun Baohai immediately frowned, while the Wang mother and son smiled gleefully. It seemed like Judge Liu was thoroughly offended. There was no need to ask such an explicit question unless he was insinuating that people still asking Zhang Yingtai for marriage after such a big incident might have been false and that these people were bribed. The people around felt conflicted, but they were not so quick to judge this time.
"Offering marriage to Zhang Yingtai is just a small thing compared to what her mother has done for me. Her mother, Qi Shuchun, was the kindest person I've ever met. My father was going to sell me to a brothel in order to pay off his gambling debts, when sister Shuchun heard about it, she sold her dowry shop in order to save me, and married me to one of her close friends. Till this day I have yet to suffer any grievances from my husband and children" Li Wen explained as tears formed in her eyes. Her words touched those around her eyes. They have faintly heard about this lady but they never thought that she had done such good deeds.
"I agree with sister Wen, offering marriage is minimal compared to what she had done for me. I am an old Widow so when me and my son were about to starve to death, she took us to town and bought all necessary groceries. She got all the necessary materials to fix my house. She even came to live with me for a while and my small son, so she could take care of me. And when I finally got back on my feet she provided me with a generous dowry, and years later I was able to remarry and be happy. She made me the godmother of her daughter. That's why I hurriedly went to propose marriage when I heard that Zhang Yingtai was about to be married off. When Old Madam Zhang refused, I took Zhang Yingtai home with me to be married to my son. She then threatened to go to the Yamen and report me for kidnapping. I didn't care about such accusations but my goddaughter's reputation was already sullied, so I didn't want to worsen it and returned her. I thought I could take care of her after she married but Old Lady Wang always denied me entry and later told my goddaughter to come and tell me not to ever visit her again, or she would report me and my son for having perverse thoughts towards a married women," Dong Chen explained hatefully as she cried, shocking the people around. This Old Madam Wang and Widower Zhang were hateful.
No one hated that family more than her for the suffering they put her godchildren through. When sister Shuchun was alive, these kids were treated like pearls yet when she passed away they became worse than slaves. She had tried to bring the kids to her house multiple times, but that hateful Old Madam Zhang would always threaten her with the kids, so she could only give up, and secretly do what she could to help them now the tables have finally turned how could she not jump at the chance and help her poor goddaughter?
"When I met sister Shuchun I was already married with kids. I became very ill, and most of the family money went to cure me, but we soon ran out of money and I was about to widow my wife and her children, but sister Shuchun came and provided us with food, medication, and everything else we needed. I survived and was able to live happily with my wife and our kids, so how could I not step in when her daughter needed help?" Wu Di explained sincerely, touching the hearts of those around. None of them were blind. The sincere appreciation and inones eye couldn't be faked that well, by a villager nonetheless. They couldn't help but sigh. This lady's mother was such a good samaritan yet she died young and her children were abused by the stepmother. Even the magistrate was a little touched by these stories.
"So it is true that Miss Zhang had other prospects yet she was still forced to marry Widower Wang. What do you have to say, Madam Wang?" The magistrate asked coldly.
"W-well my son just felt a sense of responsibility and just thought that if the two people involved were married then everything would be fine." Madam Zhang explained a little nervously. She wanted to stop this now. She thought that she had eaten more salt than this weak ger, and just went to sue him to teach him a lesson. She was a very conceited person, so whenever things didn't go her way she would either threaten or take it to the yamen and things would be solved, but now it seemed like she picked up a rock and dropped it on her foot. She was now sure that things wouldn't end the way she wanted and just wanted to stop.
Sun Baohai saw her face and sneered. He would never give her the chance, "You claim that you did it out of responsibility and wanted to smooth things over but why did you treat Yingtai so cruelly? You beat her and tortured her, sometimes almost killing her. Yingtai didn't speak for the sake of her son, so you took her silence as conformity and continued to do so. Is that the behavior of someone who felt responsible?" Sun Baohai questioned coldly.
After hearing Sun Baohai speak so eloquently, a cold sweat broke on Old Madam Wang and Widower Wang's backs. They did not expect this ger to be this unafraid and eloquent in front of the county magistrate. Seeing that they could not stop what they'd started they could only plan to win this argument.
"Slander! When have we ever hit Zhang Yingtai? At most, we could scold her because of her laziness but we have not hurt her. To slander us in such a way isn't that too much?!" Old Lady Wang yelled, incensed. She needed to end this now! Or things would just go downhill.
"As I said before, I don't argue based on emotions, I have evidence," Sun Baohai spat coldly before turning to the county magistrate. "Your honor and honorable judges, the evidence of the Wang's family abuse is still on Yingtai, please send a trustworthy female to examine her, and I also brought witnesses," Sun Baohai stated with a bow, and immediately Old Lady Wang and Widower Wang grew pale.
They let their confidence get the better of them. They forgot that Yingtai had all these bruises on her because to them she was just an animal and not a human. They forgot about the damage done to her over the years. They were doomed! They were doomed! Old Lady Wang immediately felt faint and swayed. How could she let this happen?
"Get female physician Lin to examine her," The county magistrate ordered. The servant obeyed and quickly brought Yingtai into the Yamen Office to be examined. About ten minutes later, the female official came out horrified, her face was pale yet her hands shook from anger. One could only guess just what she saw on the girl's body to make her react this way.
"Report," Judge Liu instructed. He had been too focused on the ger talking nonsense instead of an actual case, and the doctor brought him back to reality. Seeing how even a physician had be involved he knew that he had just acted based on his emotions and clearly made many wrong statements.
"This physician is surprised that this lady is still alive," The physician, said shocking those around. Lucky to still be alive? Just how bad was the abuse? Those words immediately caused the scare the Old Lady Wang to the ground. They were finished!
"If one did not know her skin color from seeing her face, one would think her original color is blue, black, and purple. There are barely any patches of skin that are not bruised. Some of the bruises are old but some a very fresh. Her bones, especially her arms have been fractured if not broken multiple times. Overall it is impossible to claim that she has not been abused, and this abuse has been long-term." The physician continued, causing some women and ger to even tear up.
Abuse was something that had become less common since the new emperor ascended the throne and the most an abusive husband would do was slap, but things like broken arms, fractures, and bruises were no longer as common, so hearing such a report truly shocked them. Now both the judges and the county magistrate frowned as they turned to look at Old Widower Wang.
"N-no I did not hit her!" Old Widower Wang argued as he trembled.
"Then are you saying physician Lin is blind?" The county magistrate asked coldly, at this point, he already knew who was in the wrong.
"N-no that not it your honor," Old Widower Wang hurriedly muttered.
Ignoring them, the county magistrate turned to Sun Baohai, "Any other evidence?"
"Yes, your honor. There are witnesses who can tell you about the abuse, and what kind of people the Wang family were," Sun Baohai replied. Hearing his words, Old Lady Wang knew that she was truly done for.
"Bring them forth," Judge Liu instructed, and several people came forward.
"This humble one greets your honor. I am a neighbor of the Wang family. I can attest that Old Widower Wang and his mom were truly cruel, they would beat Yingtai over little mistakes like putting too much salt in the food, leaving a dirty spot while cleaning, or sometimes just because she talked. Even Yingtai's stepson would disrespect her and even sometimes hit her." One of the witnesses reported, and once again there were whispers. The Wang mother and son were claiming that Yingtai was not fillial yet the stepson disrespected the stepmother, and even hit her, isn't that too much? Isn't it too much to beat your daughter-in-law over such things?
"That's not true! Why are you lying? Did she bribe you to come here?!" Old Lady Wang yelled anxiously. Now even her grandson was dragged into this, how could she stay calm?
"You know better whether she's lying or not!" A middle-aged ger who came forth as a witness yelled with anger, as tears pooled in his eyes. "I married my daughter to your son as a second wife because I saw how well he treated his first wife. Their age wasn't so different so I agreed to the marriage, and I told you that as long as he treated her half as well as his first wife I'd be relieved, but instead she was abused day and night, and could barely sleep without dreaming of your abuse. When I finally found out and came to take my daughter away from you monsters you threatened me with my land. To my daughter who suffered multiple miscarriages, and even had a stillborn, seeing her maternal family getting threatened because of her was her last straw and she took her own life. I wanted to come and shout for the injustice I served yet I had to think about the rest of my children, about their livelihood, but don't even think I forgot about the hatred between you and me!" He exclaimed as he sobbed uncontrollably, breaking the hearts of those around. How could people be so cruel?
"Yes, do you think other people's daughters are just here for you and your son to torture?!, I didn't even want to marry my daughter but her greedy uncle took the chance to collude with you when I was in town. Strangely the situation was similar to that of Yingtai, but my daughter was clumsy so she didn't even get two years of good treatment like Yingtai and was abused since the first day of marriage. If it wasn't for her second uncle being a Xuicai with no child who doted on her I am afraid the divorce wouldn't happen. And I wouldn't be able to take my daughter back. Yet I was also threatened and couldn't come here to cry for my injustices. While your son is fine till this day my daughter is bedridden and traumatized. Just a move of my hands and she goes mad thinking I am going to hit her." Another woman wailed.
Hearing the testimonies, and the frown on the county magistrate's face, Old Lady Wang could no longer pretend to be calm and directly fell to her knees again. Seeing her actions, the judges knew that these witnesses did not lie, and they couldn't help but look at her in contempt.
Seeing such a good chance, how could Sun Baohai let it pass? He suddenly turned to the judges and said, "But even so, Yingtai refused to divorce him. It wasn't until they tried to bury her newborn daughter that she demanded a divorce, and for that too I also have evidence,"
"No need for evidence, I can differentiate between right and wrong," The county magistrate responded as he looked at the mother and son coldly. He was not blind, he could clearly see what was going on."Since Widower Wang had neglected and abused his wife, a divorce will ensue today. He had also hurt Yingtai and his former wives, so he will pay each of their family twenty-five silvers for the damages done. He had also tried to commit the act of child-killing and is guilty of severe abuse, even leading to death. His family and he have no morals. Widower Wang will be charged 15 years of imprisonment with no bail." The county magistrate continued, his voice resolute, before getting up. The meaning was very clear, regarding the Wang family he felt disgusted and would not hear any of their pleas.
Old Widower Wang was so nervous he almost fainted. He expected this trial to happen very differently, but now the reality was he was going to jail. He immediately ran to Yingtai's feet to plead.
"Yingtai we've been wife and husband for so long, why don't you take back your lawsuit? Don't be so cruel," Old Widower Wang pleaded as he kneeled at her feet.
"Yes, we've been wife and husband for so long yet you tried to kill my daughter, and if that wasn't enough for you, you even went to Yamen and tried to accuse me and take my son away from me. Yet you're calling me cruel?" Yingtai sneered coldly as she looked at him with disdain. Her meek demeanor immediately vanished when facing him. All one could see in her eyes was burning hatred. Hearing her voice Old Widower Wang couldn't help but look up. When he saw her cold hazel eyes, he finally realized that he truly had no chance of escaping this.
"Yingtai let's go home, it's over now," Sun Baohai called. He had not expected this to go so easily even with all this evidence, but the county magistrate wasn't He Jin's disciple just for show. He knew how to differentiate between right and wrong, and even Yingtai didn't need to speak. Well with her emotional state at that time it seemed like wasn't capable of doing so anyway.
"Yes, I'm coming," Yingati responded before walking over. The people watched as the two sisters-in-law walked home and couldn't help but admire the ger. If all sisters-in-law could be like this, how many painful moments could be avoided? But these sister-in-laws were one in a million instances, so they could only sigh, and lament about their own sister-in-laws
Hellurrrrr luvelies! Surprise early chapter. It's all thanks to *drumroll*....... @Veleon! Do you see how pretty my book cover is now? Like I was just so geeked that I wrote this long chapter! I am so happy with my book cover guys like it's really just so pretty and cute! So yeah this chapter is dedicated to cutie @Veleon!
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