Chapter 89 The Result

  "Yes, yes, the two gentlemen please. Ya-Wen* speech+ emotion first @ send" County Magistrate was very grateful to Nie Bowen and Du Haoran at this time. Nie Bowen didn't say go, he naturally couldn't open his mouth to let the two leave. But staying in the back hall for too long would make the onlookers in the front hall who were watching the trial gossip, thinking they were secretly plotting something, which would easily affect his official reputation.

  It so happened that when the three returned to the main hall, two small servants dressed as bailiffs were just entering. And Xie Yunfeng's father, Xie Jizong, had already arrived at the main hall without anyone noticing, and was now standing beside Xie Yunfeng with a worried look on his face, listening to him speak.

  The county magistrate asked Nie Bao and Wen to sit down first, then sat down in his own position and said to the bailiff: "Bring them up." Seeing that both of them were kneeling with their hands tied behind their backs, he shouted: "Are you servants of the Xie family?"

  Before the two young men could speak, Xie Jizu knelt down on the ground and kowtowed, saying: "Your Honor, this is a miscarriage of justice! Our Xie family has done nothing wrong or evil. These two men are not members of our Xie family. Your Honor's questioning is unbearable for us!" After finishing speaking, he repeatedly kowtowed and wailed in grief. This spectacle caused the onlookers to gasp in shock. This old master of the Xie family, who had been so prosperous and respected due to his successful business, was now reduced to a lowly insect, subject to the whims of others.

  With a loud "slap", the county magistrate slapped the wooden table, his face stern: "Who dares to shout in the court? Is this a vegetable market? Can anyone just interrupt at will? Guards, take this person away and give him five slaps on the buttocks to maintain courtroom discipline."

  "Awesome." The yamen on both sides saw someone challenging the majesty of the gate. They picked up the killing halberd in their hands and struck the ground with force, shouting loudly. Two more people came out and pulled Xie Jizong down.

  "Really......" Xie Jizu looked at County Magistrate, his face full of disbelief.

  He dared to do that just now, relying on the case not being settled yet, and the Xie family's status in Nanshan Town is higher than the Ye family. Moreover, they often give a lot of gifts to this county magistrate. According to his daughter's report, his son Xie Yunfeng has a good relationship with Nie Gongzi. So he thought that this county magistrate would at least be biased towards him and allow him to shout injustice. But unexpectedly, this guy was completely ruthless and wanted to hit the board immediately after turning his face.

  "Take him away." The county magistrate ordered.

  "Dad......" Xie Yunfeng didn't expect his old man to get hit with a board as soon as he appeared, and was instantly stunned. But having the precedent of Xie Jizong, he couldn't bear it but also didn't dare go up to plead for his father's grievances.

  The county magistrate, Yuan Chaolin, has been serving as the county head in Nanshan Town for three years. He has handled countless cases and treated his subordinates well, so they get along with him very harmoniously. The tone of County Magistrate Yuan's speech, the expression on his face, are all indicators of the severity of the punishment. At this time, when he ordered the beating, his voice was stern and powerful, and the yamen naturally did not show any mercy. The five slaps were loud and clear, and they beat the elegant and refined Mr. Xie into a miserable cry, completely losing his usual elegance.

  On the other hand, Yuan Chaolin seemed to have not heard. He continued to interrogate the two servants. At first, the two servants were still stubborn, but after Yuan Chaolin used a clever tactic and had one of them taken away for questioning, he used Du Haoran's words to trick the other one, and then took out torture instruments to intimidate him. The two servants then spilled the beans like pouring out peas. Their statements completely matched what Wang Chengdong and Du Haoran had said.

  Yuan Chaolin had the bailiffs beat Xie Jizong. He didn't even call for someone to bring him up, only allowing the bailiffs to drag Xie Yuntian down to kneel below the public hall, shouting: "Xie Yuntian, all of your family's servants have confessed. If you confess truthfully now, I'll consider it as you knowing your mistakes and being able to change, and I might be lenient with you. If you refuse to tell the truth, don't blame me for using torture on you."

  Just now, Zhang Xin relied on his martial arts skills and refused to speak, but was pierced by Yuan Chaolin's five-inch needle one by one in his fingers until he screamed and immediately confessed. Xie Yunfeng watched from the side with a pale face, almost fainting. When he heard that Yuan Chaolin wanted to use torture on him, how could he hold on? At first, he still made excuses for two sentences, but when the bailiffs took out the instruments of torture to prepare to take action against him, he confessed honestly.

  "I asked you, Xie family, why do you want to frame the Ye family? What did the Ye family ever do to offend you?" Although Xie Yunfeng had already confessed, when a local official investigates a case, they must clearly write down the causes and consequences on the file; Yuan Chaolin himself was also very curious about this question, so he definitely wanted to get an answer.

  This was also the question in everyone's mind. When they heard County Master ask this, the entire hall fell silent, so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. Even Nie Bowen, who had nothing to do with the case and was already showing signs of impatience, perked up his ears to listen carefully.

  Ye Zhuo's heart was almost jumping out of her throat. When La Wang Chengdong came to the public hall, she thought of this problem. Once Xie's family confessed, they would inevitably be asked about it. But no matter how hard she thought, she felt that without the help of the government, it would be difficult to bring down Xie's family. And if Xie's plan failed, it was likely that they would come up with another one. The Ye family's power was really too weak, all were old and young women and children, Zheng Shi would soon move out to live alone, Xie's family could make such a plan this time, next time they would probably use poisonous tricks on people. By then, it would be too late for regrets.

  Besides, even if Xie Yunfeng reveals her skills in guessing the stones, she can refute them on the spot. As long as she doesn't guess the stones again or only wins once out of ten times, no one can say that she has such skills.

  Although she thought so, when County Master asked like this, Ye Zhuo was still very nervous, afraid that Xie Yunfeng would mention the gambling stone matter and add trouble to her future life.

  "Yè Zhuō Míng clearly knows she's unlucky, yet still wants to marry into our family. Doesn't that mean she wants to harm my life? She wants to oppress me, so I naturally want to make things difficult for her." Xiè Yún Tīng said with a face full of indignation, then lifted his head again, "I just wanted to make things difficult for her, waste some money, and didn't intend to harm their lives."

  Xie Yunfeng's voice was not small, and Ye Zhuo heard it clearly. She let out a long sigh of relief and put her mind at ease.

  Perhaps, in Xie Yunfeng's view, it was the Ye family that had him and his father imprisoned, and it was the Ye family that made the Xie family a laughing stock of the entire Nanshan town. So he hated her and thought that as long as he spread the news about her being infertile, making her unable to get married for life, it would be the greatest punishment for her. And if he revealed her talent for gambling on stones, perhaps someone would take a liking to her, win her over, or even marry her regardless of everything, which would actually be helping her greatly. So, he chose to reveal the first reason.

  But he didn't know that she never wanted to get married in the first place and wasn't afraid of people saying she had a hard fate. Besides, it wouldn't be difficult for her to quell this rumor, would it? As long as Master Guang could say one sentence in public, her supposedly bad fate might even become a noble one.

  "For this reason?" Yuan Chaolin raised his eyebrows in surprise.

  "That's it." Xie Yunfeng said with certainty.

  Everyone present felt that although Ye's family had retreated from the engagement in a straightforward manner, Xie Yunfeng still harbored deep hatred towards Ye Zhuo and wanted his downfall. It was indeed puzzling, but they couldn't think of a better reason - after all, the Xie and Ye families hadn't had much interaction before, only becoming entangled due to this marriage matter. The relationship between the two families was simply too straightforward; apart from Xie Yunfeng's stated reason, no other explanation could be found.

  Xie Yunfeng was arrested, and when Xie Jizong was brought up, he had to plead guilty. However, he said that everything was his arrangement and had nothing to do with Xie Yunfeng, taking all the blame on himself, making Xie Yunfeng cry tears of gratitude.

  "What are you talking about, old man? Those things were all done by Yun Tian, what does it have to do with you? You're taking all the blame on yourself, how can we live?" A middle-aged woman squeezed out of the crowd and shouted at Xie Ji Zu. It was obviously Xie Yun Yi's mother.

  "This is a public court, what right do you have to speak as if this were your own home? Get out!" Xie Jizong's face suddenly changed color.

  The woman backed away with a humiliated look on her face, covering her mouth and bursting into tears.

  "Xie Jia Ting Pan." Yuan Chaolin saw that things had already been settled, and at this time the sky was already late. The public hall had all lit up with oil lamps. It seemed that Nie Gongzi sitting there was also tired. He slapped the alarm stone and prepared to announce the result.

  Everyone fell silent, even Xie Yunrui's mother held back her voice and dared not cry again, fearing that if she cried out once more, the county magistrate would mete out an even heavier punishment.

  "The Xie family, due to a marriage matter, harbored resentment and set up a trap, intending to make the Ye family lose money. Although their sinister plan was not successful, they still acted with malice and even wanted to harm the life of their accomplice, Wang Chengdong. As punishment, they were fined 10,000 taels of silver, which would be confiscated, and the mastermind, Xie Jizong, would be imprisoned for three years and exiled a thousand miles away." Yuan Chaolin finished speaking and looked at Nie Bowen and Du Haoran to see if the two gentlemen had any objections. Originally, he wanted to divide some of the silver among the Ye family, but since they hadn't suffered any losses in this disaster and even made a profit, it wouldn't be good for them to have the Xie family's silver returned to them, as it would only invite jealousy from others."

  Nie Bao didn't care about this matter, anyway it was Du Haoran's responsibility, so he naturally had to make the decision, and didn't bother with Yuan Chaolin. On the other hand, Du Haoran nodded slightly towards Yuan Chaolin, indicating that he was somewhat satisfied with this punishment. Although the Xie family had set up a big trap to frame the Ye family, it ultimately didn't succeed. Killing someone and attempting to kill someone may have the same motive, but the crime is still different. The Xie family's case is also the same reason.

  "Wang Chengdong, the accomplice, harbored resentment in his heart over a small matter and was used by others to harm the Ye family. However, due to his meritorious report and thorough confession, he was sentenced to two years of imprisonment and exile to a place one thousand miles away."

  Wang Chengdong listened to the verdict, unlike Xie's family, his face was not ashen. Instead, he calmly knelt on the ground and kowtowed to Yuan Chaolin, indicating submission to the judgment.

  There were two people named Du Wang and Du Nian, who had already said that as long as he honestly told the truth about what happened, they would find a way to rescue him and set him free. The only requirement was that he was not allowed to return to Nan Shan Town again. As for this, he really didn't care, he had been in Nan Shui since he was very young and didn't have any sense of belonging to Nan Shan Town. Now that his parents' coffins were buried, he didn't need to come back here either. In the future, he would just burn incense from afar, thinking that even if his parents knew about it underground, they wouldn't blame him.

  Thank you for the reward from Miao Miao Lai Le, thank you Taiwan Xiao You You, Dong Fang Feng Yun, Wen Wen Xin Xin, Emilyy, and Kan Liu Yun's pink ticket!