Before Jin Shanyao left, she sent a voice transmission to Dahuang and Xiaoli, telling them to protect the two children and make sure they did not lose their lives.
Meng Hongde shot Wang Guihua a vicious glare and said to Meng Hongyi, "Go find a human trafficker now and sell that wretched girl."
When Meng Anzhi heard they were going to sell her, she trembled all over, her face deathly pale. She instinctively looked to Jin Shanyao for help, only to find that her aunt had already been taken away by the constables.
People surrounded them, pointing and whispering about Meng Hongde, yet not one was willing to help her.
Meng Anci clung tightly to his sister and refused to let go. He stared at Meng Hongde with a vicious look in his eyes. "If you dare sell my sister, I'll kill you all."
Smack... Meng Hongde slapped Meng Anci hard across the face, knocking both siblings to the ground. Meng Anci's head struck the stove, and blood streamed down from his temple.
Just then, a beast's low growl sounded outside. A cat and a dog had appeared in the doorway at some point, baring their teeth at him.
As though they would pounce on him the very next moment.
Meng Hongde felt a chill of fear. He wanted to leave but could not get through the doorway, so he could only keep cursing Meng Anci. "You idiot who can't even tell whose family he belongs to. If I catch you looking at me like that again, don't blame me for being ruthless and selling you too."
With that, he looked at Wang Guihua. "Why haven't you left yet? Are you really planning to stay and be a watchdog?"
Scolded in front of everyone, Wang Guihua flushed bright red. Holding her two children by the hand, she could neither leave nor stay.
If she left, Jin Shanyao would not let her off. If she stayed, her eldest brother-in-law would not let her off.
Wang Guihua hesitated. "Eldest brother, whatever else you say, Anzhi is third brother's child. Wouldn't it be wrong to sell her?"
Seeing that she would not leave the house, Meng Hongde could only keep scolding her. "Heh... playing the good person now, are you? When third brother died, you were keener than anyone to snatch his things. I don't have time to argue with you now.
"Second brother, come into town with me. You go find the trafficker, and I'll go finish off that fraud."
The yamen runners had already gone far, and he had no time to waste. So he shoved Meng Hongyi ahead of him and slipped past the cat and dog, out of the courtyard.
Anger surged in Meng Anci's heart. Not only were they going to sell his sister, they were also going to kill his aunt. As he recalled everything that had happened, a terrible thought slowly took root in his heart.
He walked over to Wang Guihua, lightly grasped her hem with his little hand, and looked up at her pitifully. "Second aunt, I'll pick mushrooms for you. Could you please not sell my sister?"
Meng Anzhi reached out with a trembling hand to hold her brother, sobbing. "Second aunt, I've been up the mountain. I know the paths. There are lots of wild fruits and mushrooms up there. I'll take you."
Just as Wang Guihua was hesitating, Diao Siniang of the eldest branch hurried over. Without so much as looking at Wang Guihua, she went straight to the kitchen and dumped all the meat simmering in the pot, broth and all, into a basket.
"Eldest sister-in-law, what are you doing?"
"What am I doing...?" She gave Wang Guihua a mocking look. "If you don't dare take it, then don't get in my way."
Carrying the earthen basket, she rummaged through the kitchen until she found the pig's hind leg in a cool corner. She picked it up and slung it over her shoulder.
She shoved the obstructing Wang Guihua aside with her body and walked over to Meng Anci. "Didn't you say you were going to pick mushrooms? Come on, take me up the mountain to pick them. If we don't find any, I'll skin you alive."
Meng Anci gave her a sweet smile and said in a clear, childish voice, "Eldest aunt, as long as you don't sell my sister, I'll pick mushrooms for you every day."
Diao Siniang rolled her eyes. Once Jin Shanyao was locked up in jail, he would have to pick them whether he wanted to or not.
When the cat and dog in the courtyard saw the two children leave their sight, they rose lazily and sauntered after them.
Inside the county yamen, Jin Shanyao stood calmly in the hall.
Meng Hongde collapsed to the floor as if heartbroken, weeping and sniveling as he cried out, "Clear-sighted magistrate, please see the truth! I, your humble subject Meng Hongde, wish to accuse that wicked woman, Madam Jin! She pretended to be my younger brother's wife's own sister, seized the family property, and abducted..."
Just as he was speaking with fervor, Jin Shanyao moved her fingers slightly, and the Truth Incantation struck him without a sound.
Meng Hongde felt his tongue falter. Then, as though no longer in control of it, he continued.
"...abducted... abducted my ass! Whoever wants to raise those two little brats can have them! All I want are those three rooms and five mu of good land. I've already made a deal with a trafficker. My niece is pretty and will fetch ten taels of silver.
"That wife of third brother's even wanted to send my nephew to school. Bah... his father never passed the scholar's exam, so how much better could his son do? I was planning to keep him as a hired hand and work him to death for the rest of his life.
"As for whether Jin Shanyao is real or fake, what the hell does it matter to me? I'll just borrow your knife to chop her down. She dared stop me from getting rich-she must be tired of living."
Meng Hongde clapped his hands over his mouth, terror in his eyes. No, no, that's not what I wanted to say.
He had clearly investigated everything. His third brother's wife's surname was Wen, and her name was Wen Jingshu. She had grown up with heaven and earth as her parents, living on food from a hundred households. She had no younger sister at all. Jin Shanyao was a fraud.
He had reason and evidence on his side and had no cause to worry about crushing Jin Shanyao. So how had he spoken his innermost thoughts aloud?
The county magistrate abruptly sat up straight when he heard this, his eyes wide with anger. That was not what Meng Hongde had said when he beat the grievance drum. The magistrate had brought her in, only for him to turn around and change his testimony.
He was making a monkey out of the magistrate. The magistrate's face turned livid, and the fingers gripping his gavel went white. He was on the verge of flying into a rage.
Meng Hongde was so frightened that his scalp tingled. He knelt in the hall and knocked his head against the floor again and again. "What are you staring at, you damned fat pig? Every word I just said is true. The third son of the Meng family is dead, so his property should be divided equally. And you went and checked the household register. Can you do anything but eat? Do you even know how to try a case?"
Bang... A tremendous crash rang out...
The gavel slammed down on the desk. Unable to endure any more, the magistrate bellowed, "Guards, drag him away and give him ten strokes of the rod."
Meng Hongde's face was deathly pale. What he was thinking and what came out of his mouth did not match at all. As though possessed, he shouted, "You damned fat pig, you're beating me without even knowing right from wrong. You bought your office, didn't you?"
His words caused an uproar both inside and outside the hall.
Meng Hongde was forced down onto a bench, his trousers pulled down, and the beating began. After three strokes, his buttocks were bruised and swollen.
He howled in pain. Catching sight of Jin Shanyao smiling out of the corner of his eye, he suddenly felt as if enlightenment had been poured over his head. He pointed at her and cursed, "Demon! You must have done something.
"Corrupt official... are you blind? Didn't you see her smile?"
The magistrate's chest was so tight he could scarcely breathe. He had never encountered such an absurd case. He said to Meng Hongde through gritted teeth, "Beat him! Beat him hard! He's shown contempt for the law, bellowed in court, and insulted an official of the imperial court. Beat him..."
With that, he leafed through the household registration documents with trembling hands and found that Meng Hongde had spoken the truth. Wen Jingshu indeed had no younger sister.
He looked up at the woman below. She had been as calm as still water ever since she entered, as if nothing that happened could cause a ripple. "What is your relationship with Wen Jingshu?"
Jin Shanyao had not expected the magistrate to be able to continue hearing the case when he was so angry. She raised an eyebrow and said, "She was my benefactor. She once saved my life, and before she died, she entrusted her two children to me.
"The two children can testify to that, and the headman of Little River Village knows about it too."
The magistrate nodded. Presumably, the children's mother had known that the eldest branch were no good.
He took a deep breath and calmed himself. "Since she entrusted her children to you on her deathbed, and there are witnesses, the children should be raised under your name. As for the land and property..."
The magistrate paused for a moment, still unable to swallow his anger. He had been fat since childhood. What right did that man have to call him a damned fat pig?
"Guards, transfer all the property in Meng Hongzhong's name to Meng Anci. Court dismissed..."
"Mighty..."