Prince Li You of the Great Tang Dynasty begs the noble families to their deaths!

In the eyes of ordinary people, these 500 mu of paddy fields are worth as much as 500 taels of gold.

Only Widow Sun and her family were still speculating about the woman's possible cause of death.

Under pressure from his family, Lu Qing confessed everything about his relationship with the woman.

"Mother, I really didn't kill her."

Widow Sun glared at her youngest son: "You still have the nerve to talk nonsense? Why didn't you say so sooner! With our family's circumstances, it's not like we couldn't afford to marry her, so why have we ended up in this mess?"

"I've brought up marriage with her, but sometimes she agrees and sometimes she doesn't..."

Wang, the eldest son Lu Ze's wife, sensed something was amiss and said, "Mother, something's fishy about this! What young lady would dare to so openly seduce a man? And if she really did, she'd definitely want to secure a title for herself, fearing her lover might change his mind. Why is she being so hesitant? Is she some kind of high-born princess, unworthy of our uncle?"

Lu Ze also said, "That Master Zhao today seemed a bit strange, like he was putting on a show with that Hu fellow. And I heard some people gossiping that the knife on the woman's body was clearly stabbed by Master Zhao."

Widow Sun exclaimed happily, "Then Master Zhao is the murderer?"

Lu Ze said, "...I heard from them that Master Zhao only put the needle on after the woman died."

Widow Sun sighed heavily, "What you all say makes sense, but it's all useless. The land deed has already been given to the Hu family, and we're in the wrong; we're wrong in every way. Alas! Such good paddy fields!"

Lu Qing said urgently, "Mother, we can't just let this go!"

"Isn't it all because of you, you wretched child? You have the guts, then tell me, what should we do with this family?"

"this……"

"What, you're helpless when it comes to something important?" Widow Sun stood up, pointing at her youngest son and continuing her tirade: "I told you to study hard and be ambitious, and I even asked Mr. Zhou for help, but you just wouldn't study properly. You're always causing trouble, and you were even kicked out of the private school. You're never serious, and now this has happened... Look at you, how can you compare to your older brother..."

Widow Sun was filled with sorrow. After grumbling for a while, she burst into tears again.

The whole family wept with him.

Between sobs, Lu Qing said, "Mother, I will go to Mr. Zhou's house tomorrow, kowtow to him and apologize, and I will definitely study hard from now on..."

……

A few days later, accompanied by his elder brother Lu Ze, Lu Qing traveled west for two days and entered Chengwu County to visit the renowned scholar, Master Zhou.

Mr. Zhou was well-informed and had heard about the misfortune, so he had some reservations about Lu Qing's character.

After hearing the two brothers' explanation, doubts arose in his heart again.

"Lu Ze, did that woman really die from suffocation, her head tilted back, her limbs stiff?"

"That's right. Mr. Zhou, is there any significance to this physique?"

Mr. Zhou thought for a while, walked to the side, took his notes from the bookshelf and looked at them, then said, "That's right, it's probably this. When I traveled through Jiannan, I heard people say that among the most poisonous things in the world are aconite, Gelsemium elegans, Gelsemium elegans, and Antiaris toxicaria, etc. Among them, when Gelsemium elegans poisoning takes effect, the whole body is weak, the abdomen is in excruciating pain, and when one dies, the head and feet are placed together, which is very tragic, and it matches the way this woman died."

"So, her cause of death was poisoning?"

"It's hard to say; this is just my guess."

Lu Ze secretly noted this down, and then said, "Mr. Zhou, I'm entrusting my unworthy younger brother to you. If he commits any wrongdoing, you are free to punish him as you see fit."

Grandpa Zhou hummed in agreement, then turned to Lu Qing and said, "For your mother's sake, I'll give you another chance. The essence of studying is to understand principles. I hope you can learn from this lesson, calm down and study diligently in the future, think thrice before acting, and never do anything to cause trouble again."

Lu Qing bowed deeply and said, "This sinner will humbly obey your teachings, sir!"

Old Master Zhou waved his hand and said, "If you are not the murderer, then you have not committed a serious crime. At most, it's just youthful infatuation. But this is not a trivial matter. I have seen too many young people commit murder because of infatuation. Lu Ze, go back and talk to your mother about finding a good marriage for your younger brother. With a woman keeping an eye on him, he will be more disciplined."

"Thank you for your guidance, sir!"

And so, Lu Qing began to study with Mr. Zhou.

His brother, Lu Ze, returned home and heard some more news.

The 500 mu of paddy fields were divided in two, with the Hu family owning one half and the Zhao family owning the other half.

The woman's body was quickly cremated and hastily buried in a mass grave.

Lu Ze, being cautious, bribed the Zhao family's servants with a large sum of money to obtain definite information about the woman's grave. Then, under cover of night, he led the servants to the mass grave and dug up the woman's grave.

The body was cremated, and all traces disappeared, but Lu Ze did not come away empty-handed: the coffin inside the tomb was buried vertically; the pottery jar containing the woman's ashes was painted with Taoist seals for suppressing evil spirits; and there were also five-element tablets placed in the tomb, arranged in a special way.

The above arrangement indicates that the person who buried the body believed that the woman died unjustly and that it was necessary to use the method of "suppressing evil spirits" to prevent her from being reborn for eternity, lest she become a vengeful ghost and haunt them, preventing them from being reborn as well.

All of this points to one possibility: the Hu and Zhao families conspired to use a woman's life to extort 500 mu of paddy fields from the Lu family.

Lu Ze sighed inwardly, feeling uneasy.

He replaced the coffin with a clean one, placed the woman's ashes inside, chose a place to bury her properly, and offered prayers and sacrifices at the grave.

In reality, the superstitions of the ancients were completely unfounded, and the wronged person did not turn into a vengeful ghost to seek revenge.

After the Hu and Zhao families acquired the fertile land, their fortunes improved even further, and they accomplished several "major feats."

Although Widow Sun and her family knew what was going on, they had no evidence and could only watch the other two families prosper, their hearts burning with hatred, yet they were helpless.

The hatred of a gentleman can be avenged even after ten generations.

The following year, Prince Qi, Li You, returned to Shandong and established the "Equalization Society." He accomplished several things, including punishing many local bullies and Taoist priests, and also adopted abandoned infants and equalized land distribution, which won him great popularity.

Many people who had been wronged and had nowhere else to turn for help went to the "Equalization Society" to seek redress.

Lu Qing, who was studying under Mr. Zhou, also heard about the existence of the "Equalization Society".

Although more than half a year has passed and Lu Qing has returned to the private school, he still often thinks about this incident, and the anger and melancholy in his heart have not dissipated.

Especially when it came to matchmaking, many girls from Yutai County, upon hearing of Lu Qing's "reputation" of "killing his daughter," were unwilling to pay him any attention, and marriage was out of the question.

Lu Ze and Widow Sun tried their best, but they couldn't find a suitable family to marry into; no one was willing to marry their daughter to them.

Lu Qing also learned of this matter and was deeply troubled by it. He secretly inquired, hoping to find heroes from the "Equalization Society" to seek justice for himself and his family.

At this time, Junping Society had become public in Chengwu County, and the government knew about them and was even somewhat wary of them.

Without much effort, Lu Qing found someone who had joined the Junping Society and reported his family's situation.

Li You found the case interesting and summoned Lu Qing.

"You're Lu Qing?"

"He is indeed a petty person."

"sit!"

Li You pointed to the armchair in the room and asked Lu Qing to sit down.

Lu Qing had never seen this thing before. He put his hands on the armrests, leaned back, and felt very comfortable.

Seeing that his men were suffering from kneeling all day, Li You found a carpenter, talked with him, and in a few days they made a folding chair. After that, when receiving guests or holding meetings, everyone was made to sit down.

"You really didn't kill him?"

"If I utter any falsehoods, I am willing to suffer the wrath of the axe!"