Translator: Dj2203
Editor: Dj2203
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The villagers, who had never stolen anything from his house, naturally wouldn’t let it go so easily. They were determined to have Zhuang Tian’er tied up and burned at the yamen no matter what.
Seeing everyone frantically dismantling the courtyard wall and fence, Zhuang Tian’er, who had been hiding behind her father, suddenly cried out, “The young master knows about my affairs! I’m going to go and tell him on you! The young master is an upright man; he won’t allow you to take such drastic measures!”
Zhuang Jiuge, who was hidden behind the crowd, spoke up at the right moment: “The Prince of Qi died suddenly last night. Spreading rumors and slandering the Prince is a capital offense, and I would never say such a thing.”
Zhuang Tian’er was stunned. In a daze, she seemed to see a staircase leading to the sky collapse step by step before her eyes, turning into ruins. All her dreams for the future vanished in that instant.
How could the young master have died suddenly? No way! Things shouldn’t be like this! She pondered with extreme frantic yet unwavering conviction, but she couldn’t quite explain how things should have turned out.
Without any hesitation, the villagers immediately knocked down the courtyard wall and rushed forward to capture Zhuang Tian’er. Some held her head down, some tied her hands, some gagged her, and others kicked and punched her in the chaos. Before long, most of her clothes were torn off, her cheeks were scratched, a rag was stuffed in her mouth, and her hair was disheveled.
As long as the villagers’ testimonies were consistent, the yamen would definitely burn Zhuang Tian’er to death as an evil spirit!
Zhuang Laoda immediately abandoned his daughter, covered his head, and hid inside the house.
Grandma Zhuang and Grandpa Zhuang didn’t show up at all; they didn’t care at all about their granddaughter’s life or death.
Meanwhile, Zhuang Tian’er’s mother, Qin Shi, frantically kowtowed to the villagers, crying out in a shrill voice, “Uncles, aunts, brothers, please spare my Tian’er! I’ll give you money, please let her go! From now on, our family will move far away and never come back! We still have silver, we’ll give it all to you!”
She slammed her head against the ground harder and harder each time, and soon her head was bleeding profusely, a truly gruesome sight.
Zhuang Tian’er shook her head frantically, making muffled noises through her mouth covered with a rag.
Qin Shi, however, completely failed to understand her meaning. She picked up an iron shovel, pried open the floor tiles of the pigsty, dug out a package weighing dozens of kilograms, and said breathlessly, “There is a thousand taels of silver here, all of it is yours, just let my Tian’er go!”
Zhuang Tian’er was still shaking her head frantically, her eyes bulging so much they looked like they could pop out.
The villagers were all stunned. They never imagined that the Zhuang family was so wealthy! First, several hundred taels of silver were stolen, and now they had produced another thousand taels! Just how rich were they? Where did all this silver come from?
However, this urge to get to the bottom of things was quickly overshadowed by their inner greed. The villagers realized, without prior agreement, that if they agreed to Qin’s demands, each of them could receive about twenty taels of silver— a huge sum!
The noisy courtyard immediately quieted down. Apart from Lao Liu and Lao Dong, no one wanted to send Zhuang Tian’er to the authorities anymore. Even the woman whose son had died chose to remain silent.
At this moment, Zhuang Laoda and Old Master Zhuang rushed out, threw themselves onto the huge bundle covered in pig manure, and shouted hoarsely, “No one can take my family’s silver! You want to burn Zhuang Tian’er to death? Go ahead! Burn her if you want, we don’t care, but no one can touch this silver!”
Zhuang Tian’er, who had initially thought her mother shouldn’t have taken out the money, was stunned, staring wide-eyed at the scene in disbelief.
Zhuang Laoda, however, completely disregarded his daughter’s feelings and roared at Qin Shi, “You actually hid so much silver behind my back! Were you planning to keep it all for yourself! Fine, fine, you vicious woman, I’ll divorce you right now!”
He didn’t care at all about the source of this huge sum of money.
Old Master Zhuang also came out of the house and calmly said, “Take Zhuang Tian’er away, we don’t care anymore.”
This heartless scene not only shattered Zhuang Tian’er’s heart, but also allowed Zhuang Jiuge, who was hiding behind the crowd, to see the true colors of these so-called relatives. He was very glad that he had come; otherwise, he would have returned to the village in a few days and taken his grandparents to live on the mountain.
He thought that family members wouldn’t hold grudges overnight, but in reality, there might not even be any affection between family members; there might only be cold-blooded interests and decisive choices. Some people, even if they become family, were not much better than enemies.
He couldn’t look directly at his grandparents, just as he couldn’t look directly into people’s hearts.
“Let’s go back,” he said, covering his eyes and looking utterly dejected.
The lead guard waved his hand and whispered, “Young master, please wait a moment. We want to see the silver in that bundle. Even if Zhuang Tian’er has extraordinary abilities, she couldn’t possibly earn so much silver. The small Luoxia Village is simply not enough for her to plunder. We suspect that this silver has another source.”
“Where did it come from?” Zhuang Jiuge’s eyes darted around as a chilling connection formed in his mind: “A while ago, the imperial court lost 600,000 taels of disaster relief funds, and the incident occurred not far from Luoxia Village. Do you suspect that Zhuang Tian’er is involved with that money?”
“Exactly.” The lead guard stared intently at the package covered in pig dung.
Money could be a powerful motivator. Since Qin Shi had already announced the money, the villagers, being numerous and powerful, would certainly not give up. Sooner or later, the money would be exposed to them; they could just wait and see.
Sure enough, the villagers abandoned Zhuang Tian’er and all rushed to grab the package. If several elders hadn’t stepped in to maintain order, Zhuang Laoda, who was on top of the package, would probably have been torn to shreds.
Finally, the villagers took the silver and left, leaving behind a mess in the yard.
The battered and bruised Zhuang Laoda got up and started fighting with Qin Shi, while Old Master Zhuang and Old Madam Zhuang rushed over to help. Forgotten by everyone, Zhuang Tian’er huddled in a corner, staring blankly at the absurd scene before her.
Zhuang Jiuge had already quietly left the Zhuang family courtyard. He walked to the village entrance, stopped a villager, exchanged one of her own silver coins for another, and handed it to the guard for inspection.
“The silver has been cut into pieces, and the branding marks have been worn off. We can’t tell if it’s official silver. We need to send it to Bazhou City to have it weighed and its purity checked. If the purity is 100%, then this silver is definitely official silver.” The guard pondered, holding the pieces of silver.
At the same time, detailed information about Miss Zhou’s murder case was also sent to Qi Wang’s desk. One record in the case made Zhuang Li connect the matter with Zhuang Tian’er.
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