Fortunately, the Lu family and the Chen family had just entered the house and hadn't been inside for a while when they heard a report from the yamen that the child had been found and was currently at the clinic. The child had suffered some injuries, but the doctor had already treated her.
When they heard the news, the aunt and sister-in-law were both overjoyed. They asked which clinic the child was at, and rushed straight to He'an Medicine Hall. As soon as the two entered the clinic, they asked, "Master Qin, did you bring a little girl here?"
The Apprentice in medicine shop said yes, he recognized Chen, knew that she was Master Lu's wife, and called Chen sister-in-law, thinking she must be Master Lu's own younger sister and the mother of the little girl inside.
The Apprentice in medicine shop led the aunt and sister-in-law to the back courtyard’s detention room.
Inside the detention room, a little girl was lying quietly on the bed, with a female doctor sitting beside her, flipping through medical books while carefully monitoring the child. From time to time she would reach out and touch the child's forehead, extremely attentive. Seeing the Apprentice in medicine shop leading two ladies, she figured they must be the parents of this poor child.
Her daughter, who had left the house well that morning, now lay on the clinic bed covered in injuries, like a fragile rag doll. Lu's heart was broken.
She bent down to kiss her daughter's little face, but seeing the purple and black handprints covering half of her daughter's face, she didn't dare kiss her, afraid of hurting her.
Lu choked back sobs, crying rain for a while. Accidentally, a few teardrops fell on Jiang Yuqing’s face.
The child blinked open her eyes and woke up.
"Mother, hug!" After suffering such an ordeal, her throat felt itchy and blocked, and her voice sounded particularly hoarse and weak.
Lu could no longer hold back and hugged her daughter tightly in her arms. Facing her lost and found daughter, Lu was both sad and happy, crying uncontrollably.
Jiang Yuqing felt bad seeing Lu so heartbroken, and took the initiative to rub her little face against her mother's: "Don't cry! Baby is fine." Hearing her precious daughter's tender comfort, Lu cried even harder, and it took her quite a while to calm down.
At this moment, a group of people poured in with a whoosh outside the hall, it was Master Lu, Jiang Wenkang and his wife, and others.
Jiang Wenkang and his wife were just back from a wedding banquet at the bride's home when they heard their little niece was missing, and they immediately dropped their chopsticks in fright. The couple stuffed the bride price they had prepared for the bride into the hands of their old mother, gave her some instructions, then rushed out in a hurry.
On the way they happened to run into Master Lu, and heard the child had been found and was being treated at the clinic, so the group hurried over.
No matter what, the child had been found back. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. After waiting another half hour, Old Lady Hu from Xijin ferry and the Jiang family from Xijin ferry had all arrived.
Jiang Yuqing wanted to get intimate with each of her elders, but she had no strength now, drifting in and out, and soon developed a fever.
Everyone hurriedly called for the doctor. After the old doctor came to examine her, his expression was very solemn, saying this fever came on fiercely and dangerously, and told them to be mentally prepared.
Hearing this, Lu almost fainted to the ground.
The illness came on fiercely and critically. In the time it took the Apprentice in medicine shop to brew medicine, bubbles had appeared at the corners of Jiang Yuqing's mouth, her lips had turned purple, and her whole body began to convulse violently, leaving the Jiang family at a loss as to what to do.
This was a convulsion caused by high fever. The old doctor had them loosen the child’s clothes, spread out his acupuncture kit, and inserted silver needles one by one into her body’s acupoints...
Seeing her red-hot granddaughter, Old Lady Hu's heart shattered. Crying, she slapped herself, "It's all my fault. If I hadn't agreed to accommodate that old hypocrite due to some vanity, how could my precious granddaughter have suffered so much..."
Although Lu was angry, she also knew it wasn't her mother-in-law's fault.
She swallowed her grief and wiped away her tears, hoarsely comforting her mother-in-law: "Mother, you mustn't blame yourself, this was just an accident.
No one in our family loves our precious granddaughter more than I, her mother, do.
She is lucky, and I as her mother am lucky. If our precious granddaughter wakes up and finds out her grandmother hurt herself because of her, she would definitely not be happy."
The others joined in persuading her: "That's right, Mother, don't be sad. That scumbag has been caught now, and Master Qin is a good official, he will surely give him no good end..."
The Jiang family kept vigil at the clinic for a night, busy for a night, and worried for a night.
It was also the most tormenting night for the entire Jiang family.
Seeing the dying child, the Jiang family's heartache and anger reached its peak.
If it wasn't for Tan Laosan being escorted back to the county prison at this time to await sentencing, I'm afraid he would have been beaten to death by the angry Jiang family.
Perhaps the heavens had heard the Jiang family's prayers. By daybreak, Jiang Yuqing's fever finally broke.
The old doctor, who had also been busy all night, pounded his aching old waist, checked the child's pulse again, and smiled with relief: "It's okay now, she's out of danger.
As the old saying goes, survive a great disaster and good fortune will follow. Raise the child well, and good days are ahead!"
"Thank you, thank you, doctor."
The Jiangs wept with gratitude.
Lu and Old Lady Hu stayed at the clinic to watch over Jiang Yuqing. The rest of the Jiang clan went out for breakfast.
Because Jiang Yuqing had a fever, the whole family hadn't even remembered to eat dinner last night, then stayed up all night, so now they were both hungry and tired.
They found a breakfast shop near the clinic, ate a simple meal, then packed some food for Lu and Old Lady Hu before returning to the clinic.
After a short rest, they got up and headed to the county government.
This matter had to be resolved today.
The incident had caused an uproar, and within just an afternoon, the whole city knew about it.
Most people were kind-hearted, and deeply detested human traffickers.
Although Tan Laosan's actions had not yet been conclusively judged, the common people had already equated him with a human trafficker, and greatly sympathized with the Jiang family's plight.
Hearing that the county yamen was holding a court session on the case today, all who had nothing to do rushed to the county yamen to watch the excitement, crowding the county yamen hall so tightly that water could not trickle through.
Only little Mrs. Hu and her two sons came representing the Tan family.
Her hair was a bit messy, there were dark circles under her eyes, her face was haggard, apparently she had not slept well either last night. Compared to her joy and pride yesterday, it was like night and day.
The court session officially began early in the morning.
Master Qin had the defendant and victim brought into the hall.
Tan Laosan was brought back personally by Master Qin, catching him red-handed, leaving no room for denial.
He figured a beating today was inevitable, and hoping Master Qin would be lenient in sentencing him for his cooperative attitude.
Then he would play the pity card, get his old mother to pull some strings, spend a few days locked up and he'd be out again. His plan was good, but naive.
So before the club came down, Tan Laosan readily confessed everything.
According to him, he owed 150 taels of silver debt to a usurer. The usurer told him to pay it back in 5 days, or they would chop off one of his arms.
He had no choice, so he eyed his family's land deeds.
But when his father died, knowing this younger son was unreliable, he had given all the land deeds and property deeds to his two older sons, leaving him with nothing.
Just then, his younger sister was getting married, so he eyed her dowry.
But his sister was shrewd, guarding her dowry like the apple of her eye, and he failed several times trying to get his hands on it, even until the moment his sister left the house upon marriage he still hadn't succeeded.
It wasn't until at the wedding banquet that he noticed his aunt and her little granddaughter.
The reason he noticed Jiang Yuqing was because the child was so beautiful. In all his years, he had never seen such a beautiful little girl, like a little bodhisattva.
His third aunt told him that beautiful little girls sold to brothels as child brides fetched a good price. Also, just the silver ornaments on her body were worth a lot of money.
So he got the idea to abduct the child and sell her. As luck would have it, the child had fallen asleep.
He saw his aunt put the sleeping child in her mother's room, and surprisingly her mother didn't lock the door when she came out.
What's more, his third aunt came to him and volunteered to help create a diversion for him. The reason was that his third aunt actually held a grudge against the child's family.
He readily agreed. So during the banquet when everyone was seated, he sneakily slipped into his mother's room. He first rummaged through his mother's room and found nothing. Then decisively made his move on the child.
He was afraid he would wake up the child if he took action, so he called someone over. He then ruthlessly covered the child's nose and mouth with a handkerchief that had been soaked in anesthetic a few days earlier, and as expected, the child struggled for a while and then lost consciousness.
After leaving the village, he had originally intended to take the main road to the county seat, but later worried that Old Lady Hu would find out and give chase, so he changed to take the small mountain path instead.
At the entrance to the mountain path on both sides were thorns, and in his panic one of the child's shoes got caught on the thorns and was pulled off, but he didn't think to pick it up.
After running about halfway, he couldn't run anymore, so he stopped by the side of the path to rest, and was unexpectedly bitten by a poisonous snake.
What bit him was a bamboo leaf green snake, and he knew well the toxicity of this kind of snake. If he didn't hurry to find a doctor for treatment, he was afraid he would be crippled for the rest of his life.
He had no choice, so he took off the child's jewelry and abandoned her by the side of the path, then rushed alone towards the county seat to find a doctor.
Unexpectedly, he had barely walked away when he was caught and brought back by Qin County Magistrate.
Tan Laosan knew that he was caught so quickly entirely because of the little shoe that had been hooked off by the thorns at the entrance to the path.
He regretted it so much that he wished he could go back to that moment when he lost the shoe and slap himself twice, before snatching the shoe back...
As for the information Granny Tan gave up about his aunt. After Qin County Magistrate clarified the specific name and address, he immediately had people bring her in.
The other Jiang family members did not recognize her, but Jiang's three daughters-in-law did.
She was exactly the granny Tan who had unsuccessfully tried to take bracelets from them at the wonton stand last year, and cursed that Jiang Yuqing would not grow up, before being severely taught a lesson by Lu.
That day, she had been invited back to her natal family for a celebratory feast, and as soon as she saw Jiang Yuqing in old Lady Hu's arms, her eyes turned red.
Just then, her third nephew had lost a gamble and needed money to buy back his life. She immediately hatched a plan, provoking her nephew that this child was so good-looking that if sold to a brothel could fetch a lot of silver and so on.
Tan Laosan was both wicked and stupid, and as soon as she provoked him he took the bait.
Later she took the initiative to offer to be a lookout for him. It was purely to get back at the Jiang family for the anger she had suffered from them last year.
The truth of the matter was now clear.
As the saying goes, sworn enemies are exceptionally jealous when they meet.
If not for Qin County Magistrate and Master Lu holding these women back desperately, the three daughters-in-law would have been unable to stop themselves from pouncing forward and tearing her apart alive.
Alas, Qin County Magistrate held back the Jiang family women but did not hold back little Mrs. Hu.
Little Mrs. Hu rushed forward like a madwoman, raising her big ear scraper and slapping while cursing: "What wrong has our Tan family ever done to you that you would scheme to harm your own nephew like this?
He is your own nephew! You are heartless...
Granny Tan was no pushover either, and immediately fought back.
In an instant, the two women together nearing a hundred years old came to blows, with their hair flying wildly as they scratched and clawed ferociously at each other.
As the saying goes, you shouldn't involve yourself in other families' affairs. Not a single woman in the Tan family, whether married out or married in, was a good person. They were all stupid and wicked.
The onlookers were amused to watch the show, but it made Qin County Magistrate's head throb with pain.
This was too disgraceful. Two shrews brawling in open court, how could this be allowed? He hurriedly had people pull them apart.
After all this commotion, the case should also come to a conclusion.
The evidence was clear.
Granny Tan had provoked others to commit a crime, and assisted the principal offender by keeping watch in this case, making her an accessory to the actual crime. According to the law she was sentenced to death by hanging, to be carried out in three days at the vegetable market.
Upon hearing this, Granny Tan immediately collapsed limply to the ground.
The principal offender Tan Laosan, for abducting a young child, and for the cruel harm and robbery he inflicted on the abducted child, committed heinous crimes. According to the law he was sentenced to death by dismemberment.
He would be beheaded three days later at the western vegetable market, and must also compensate the Jiang family with thirty taels of silver.
Although Tan Laosan had attended school for two years, he was lazy and unlearned, causing trouble and mischief until his exasperated teacher finally expelled him.
When he was driven back home, he couldn't even recite the Three Character Classic fully, so naturally he didn't understand “death by dismemberment”. But he could understand “beheading three days later at the western vegetable market”.
He immediately collapsed limply to the ground in fright, followed by a stench as he lost control of his bowels and bladder.
Little Mrs. Hu was also frightened limp, but when she came to her senses she knocked her head on the ground, wailing loudly.
As she wept, she pleaded for her son's life: "Your Honor, spare his life! Spare his life, my third son knows he was wrong, he knows he was wrong, please just spare his life..."
However, the Law of Da Xia could not be circumvented with a simple admission of wrongdoing. No matter how she caused a scene and pled, everyone on the bench remained unmoved.
They even scolded her harshly, warning that if she continued making a ruckus they would give her a few boards to eat as well.
When little Mrs. Hu's tearful pleas to Qin County Magistrate were fruitless, she turned and threw herself at old Lady Hu's feet, hugging her legs as she urgently pleaded: "Sister, I was wrong.
I beg you, spare my third son's life, he is still young, you are a generous elder, let him off just this once!"
Old Lady Hu coldly kicked her away: "Disgusting wretch! Still young at over twenty? My granddaughter is not yet one year old, what wrong did she do? When your precious son laid hands on her, did he think to let her off!
Beastly creature, he belongs in the eighteenth level of hell.
Heaven's justice is right, he deserves to die! With him dead, there will be one less scourge in this world!"
Little Mrs. Hu watched helplessly as her beloved youngest son was put in shackles and dragged away like a dead dog.
She looked again at the Jiang family members glaring resentfully at her, then at her sullen eldest and second sons, and instantly even the strength to cry left her as she fainted dead away.
The Jiang family took away the thirty taels of silver in compensation from the Tan family that very day, and brought Jiang Yuqing back to Xijin ferry.
