They've all separated, so what does it matter to me if they get poorer and poorer?

Chapter 178 Delivering to the Official
Xu Zhichun: "Local Chief, you are a reasonable man, but there are many unreasonable people in this world who just want to cause trouble. Don't let me get caught in a trap and become crippled. Then, seeing that my family is small and weak, they might still cause trouble for me. I've said what I said today. If anyone still doesn't believe me and thinks I'm lying, and still has evil intentions, you are all witnesses. Please speak up for me then."

"Of course! If there really are people like that, they deserve it."

"That's right. That's really too much."

"But Zhichun, are you really going to buy mousetraps and animal traps?"

Are animal traps really that powerful?

Xu Zhichun: "I'm not joking."

In fact, she doesn't need to buy it. If she's patient enough, she can just rummage through the warehouse space and find it.

Zhang pursed her lips, clearly not believing it.

There were clearly many people who thought the same way as Zhang, but no one said anything.

As night deepened, Liang Lizheng ordered his men to escort Lai Sheng into the village ancestral hall, and everyone quickly dispersed.

The next morning, Zeng Xiaoyan and her friends went to set up a stall to sell their goods. Today, they also had to ask Xu Zhichun to deliver a large basket of fresh tomatoes to Manager Tang.

Xu Zhichun, along with Liang Lizheng and three other villagers who were witnesses, rented another oxcart, threw Lai Sheng, who was tightly bound and gagged, onto the cart, and took him to report to the authorities.

Lai Sheng's right ankle was swollen like a steamed bun, and he was in excruciating pain. His elbow was also injured, and he was in a burning, tearing pain. He had been left on the ground like this all night, suffering terribly. At this moment, he was completely listless, and his eyes were bloodshot. When he saw Xu Zhichun and the others struggling desperately and trying to speak, Xu Zhichun did not give him a chance at all.

"We have nothing to say to the thief, let's just hand him over to the adults."

"Alright."

Who has the patience to argue with this kind of person?

Upon arriving at the yamen, the person was taken into custody, and someone wrote a petition which was then submitted. Liang, the village head, then explained the whole story.

Master Shao raised an eyebrow. “This is truly audacious. Accept the petition. Imprison this man for now, and we will hold a court hearing on a later date. We will inform you when the hearing takes place.”

As the village head, Liang's words naturally carry a certain degree of credibility. With several villagers as witnesses, and the thief caught red-handed, along with the ladder used in the crime, he could be temporarily imprisoned.

Two constables stepped forward, untied the ropes binding Lai Sheng, and removed the gag from his mouth. Just as they were about to take him to the jail, Lai Sheng suddenly cried out, "Sir! Injustice! I'm innocent! I'm not a thief! It was clearly this Xu woman who, unable to bear being alone, lured me there. Who knew she would turn her back on me? The people in her village are xenophobic, so they all conspired to frame me, leaving me with no one to turn to! Please, sir, do justice for me! Please, sir, do justice!"

Liang Lizheng and the others never expected this person to be so shameless and scoundrel.

"Nonsense! Utter nonsense!"

"Are you trying to shift the blame?"

"Have you no shame?"

Some people were so angry that they wanted to go up and beat him up, but Liang, the village head, stopped them. The yamen was not a place to beat people up, otherwise wouldn't that give him even more reason to complain? If they wanted to beat him up, they should wait until they got out of there, and even if they beat him half to death, it would be justified.

"I'm not lying! You're all from the same village, of course you'll side with your own people! Xu, aren't you afraid of being struck by lightning for harming me like this? You shameless little wench, you clearly seduced me, but you won't admit it!"

Liang, the village head, roared angrily, "Shut up!"

Xu Zhichun laughed in exasperation. "Village Head, don't be angry. I should have thought of that sooner. After all, we have a grudge. He has nothing to lose now, so it's no wonder he's resorting to slander and defamation." Lai Sheng did indeed think that way, but he didn't expect Xu Zhichun to see through him so easily. His revenge was mixed with anger and embarrassment. "Slander? I only regret that I was so blinded by my own words and believed your sweet talk. You're not wrong, we have a grudge, how could I have believed you! You despicable woman, you're willing to sacrifice your own reputation to harm me, how vicious!"

Xu Zhichun: "What's so special about you, a stray dog, that I'd want to harm you? If I really invited you, why did you bring a ladder? Advisor—"

Just as Xu Zhichun was about to speak, Lai Sheng interrupted her, shouting and cursing, deliberately preventing her from continuing.

Master Shao: "Gag him."

"Well--"

Lai Sheng stared wide-eyed in disbelief, furious. This was targeted! This was targeted!

"Thank you, Master."

Xu Zhichun could finally speak in peace and quiet.

"Reporting to the clerk, the manager of Sifang Restaurant previously tried to force me to buy the recipe for ice jelly. It was this man who instigated him. Manager Fang had a change of heart, repented, and severely punished the man, kicking him out of the restaurant. This man probably harbors a grudge and wants revenge, which is why he thought of sneaking into my house to steal. Unexpectedly, a friend stayed overnight at my house last night. When the friend got up in the middle of the night, he saw him climbing over the wall and shouted. The villagers all rushed over and caught him red-handed."

“This man keeps claiming that I deliberately framed him and slandered the village head and villagers for giving false testimony for me. He is truly despicable. Since he is so bold and unrepentant, I have reason to believe that he is probably acting under the orders of his master. Please investigate, sir.”

Lai Sheng, who was being forced to kneel on the ground by two constables, struggled and whimpered, feeling like he was going to vomit blood. Let him go! Let him speak! Why are you targeting him?
He now deeply regrets it; if he had known this would happen, he wouldn't have deliberately stopped Ms. Xu from speaking.

He was naive. In this government office, if Madam Xu wanted to speak, could he really stop her?

If this matter drags his former master into it again, he's finished! Even if the authorities only give him a minor punishment as a warning, his former master won't let him off the hook.

But Master Shao completely ignored his wide-eyed wailing and instead nodded thoughtfully: "What Madam Xu said makes sense. I will report to the master and have his master summoned for a thorough interrogation."

He glanced at Lai Sheng casually; he saw right through this scoundrel's behavior.

Xu Zhichun hurriedly added, "Master, I have an idea, but I don't know if we can give it a try?"

"Oh? You said."

"Thank you, Master."

Master Shao sent someone to inform Lord Lu, and then ordered someone to bring Manager Fang to him.

Xu Zhichun was only guessing, but after hearing Xu Zhichun's explanation of the whole story, Master Shao was almost certain that there was an 80% or higher chance that the matter was related to Fang Zhengduan.

Lai Sheng was clearly Fang Zhengduan's scapegoat; his master must have compensated him by giving him benefits before sending him away.

Instead of leaving the county town immediately, Lai Sheng went to the countryside to become a thief, which would be unreasonable if he hadn't been bribed by his master.

When Master Shao sent someone to summon Fang Zhengduan, he was furious.

He let Fang Zhengduan off the hook because of the Zeng family's influence over the ice jelly recipe. But if it turns out that Fang Zhengduan is causing trouble again, he will not let him off easily.

Does this mean they don't respect anyone?

(End of this chapter)