Qingyu Case: Female Minister of Dali Temple

Zhang Wanjin looked at the marriage certificate in her hand and suddenly felt weak: It's over, it's all over!

Chen Qingshan and Yang Mugen looked at him and secretly thanked their luck that they did not follow them down the same path.

"Please spare my life, sir!" After a brief moment of daze, Yang Yi suddenly had an idea in his mind. He quickly knelt on the ground and cried out, "Please spare my life, sir. It was this vicious woman who forced me to sign the marriage certificate. If you want to kill me, go find her. I am innocent!"

"Yes, it was my aunt who forced us to sign the marriage contract," Yang Liuzhu followed closely behind Yang Yi and said repeatedly, "My uncle had a bastard with Aunt Chunhua in his early years. Although my aunt had exposed them and controlled my uncle, she was still worried that my uncle would secretly give his wealth to that bastard, so she lured us into signing the marriage contract."

"What did you say?" Yang Mugen suddenly rushed up with bloodshot eyes, grabbed his collar, lifted him up from the ground, and shouted angrily, "Say it again!"

The Aunt Chunhua mentioned by Yang Liuzhu is his wife.

"Yes, that's what my aunt said. I know nothing." Yang Liuzhu grabbed his hand and said fearfully.

Yang Mugen left him and turned to look at Madam Zhang. After a glance, he looked at Zhang Wanjin.

Facing his fierce gaze, Zhang Wanjin said in a voice half painful and half fearful: "Brother Yang, things are not what you think. What happened between Chunhua and me was just an accident..."

Madam Zhang sneered: "Yes, there have been accidents again and again. If I hadn't discovered it, I'm afraid there would have been more accidents!"

Hearing him call out the name "Chunhua" affectionately, Yang Mugen's blood rushed to his forehead. Hearing him say it more than once, Yang Mugen's head buzzed and he rushed over with a roar. He grabbed Zhang Wanjin's hair, punched him twice in the face, then kicked him over. He then went forward to hold him down, punching him one after another, each punch deadly.

Looking at Yang Mugen's hideous and twisted face and Zhang Wanjin's curled up body, Miss Zhang took two steps back and shook her head, muttering, "Impossible, absolutely impossible, how could Dad be with Aunt Chunhua..."

"What's impossible?" Madam Zhang stood up, shook her skirt, and said angrily, "You are the only one who is blind and can't tell good from bad. You blame me and hate me for treating you sisters harshly all day long. Humph! If I hadn't protected you all these years, you would have ended up begging for food or selling your bodies!"

"Do you really think your father and Wang Chunhua are good people?"

Years of rebelliousness made Miss Zhang fight back instinctively: "What about my uncle and cousin? You did everything you could to force me to marry my cousin, but when something went wrong, they turned against me immediately!"

"Who are they?" Madam Zhang said contemptuously, "They are forcing you to marry your cousin just to use them to get your father to transfer all the family wealth to you and your sister."

"I was wondering why you were so kind all of a sudden. You hurriedly called us to Qingdao County, saying that you were going to give us two shops. It turns out that you wanted to use us to help you deal with your brother-in-law!" Hearing that she was just a pawn, Yang Yi was furious and said, "No wonder my brother-in-law wanted to find someone else. When I met a scheming and vicious woman like you, I had to find someone too!"

"If I hadn't helped you every month over the years, you would have died a long time ago!" Mrs. Zhang said disdainfully, "I gave you two shops only because you were still useful. Now that you have turned against me, your life or death in the future has nothing to do with me anymore!"

"We didn't betray them. It was the adults who first found out that the paper used in the marriage certificate that aunt asked us to forge was not correct. We had no choice but to say so." Yang Liuzhu said, "Aunt failed to leave a descendant for the Zhang family, so we can't let our Yang family be exterminated as well, right?"

"It's not up to you to decide whether we can break up or not!" Miss Zhang, whose previous cognition was shattered, suddenly burst out, "My Lord has warned you again and again that according to the laws of Datong, concealing the marriage status and falsifying the facts will result in 80 strokes of the cane to hanging, and forging documents will result in direct execution. You have repeatedly guaranteed that the marriage certificate was signed between you eighteen years ago. Now that my Lord has found out that the marriage certificate is forged, whether we can break up or not depends on whether you survive first!"

These three short sentences not only made Yang Mugen stop, but also made Madam Zhang, Yang Yi and Yang Liuzhu stop talking.

But in just a moment, Yang Mugen knelt on the ground again, kowtowed vigorously and said: "Your Excellency, I want to sue Zhang Wanjin and his wife Wang Chunhua for adultery. Please help me!"

Thinking about how he had never let Wang Chunhua do any work since they got married, no matter how poor and miserable they were, and how she had hired a maid to take care of him all day long after she became rich, but she had committed adultery with Zhang Wanjin behind his back. Thinking about the son he doted on, who was Zhang Wanjin's child, Yang Mugen hated him so much that he felt a sharp pain in his heart.

"It's all my fault. If you want to kill me or chop me up, I won't object. Don't blame Chunhua, she..." Halfway through his words, Zhang Wanjin closed his mouth weakly when he met Yang Mugen's bloodshot eyes.

Miss Zhang, who was still holding on to the last glimmer of hope, felt her heart suddenly sink to the bottom after hearing his words.

Chen Shao looked at them coldly.

She didn't say anything to stop them while they were beating and scolding each other.

Even though she had seen all kinds of murders in her previous life, it was the first time she had seen a case like today, where a simple case of forged marriage certificate evolved into an ethical case of adultery and even raising a child.

After asking Magistrate Wang to arrange for someone to bring Wang Chunhua and her child with Zhang Wanjin to the county government office, Chen Shao looked at everyone and said sternly, "I have said before that the law is merciless. Once it is verified, no matter who comes to plead for mercy, no leniency will be granted. Now that it has been verified that the marriage certificate is fake, then according to the Datong Law, Zhang Wanjin, Madam Zhang, Yang Yi, and Yang Liuzhu will be executed according to the law!"

"As for Lu Mingyuan and Miss Zhang..." Chen Shao looked at the two of them, "Since your marriage started with a rumor, whether the marriage certificate still counts is up to you two to decide."

After handing the marriage certificate to Chan Yi, who then handed it to Lu Mingyuan, Chen Shao looked at Zhang Wanjin, Madam Zhang, Yang Yi and Yang Liuzhu and said, "According to the provisions of the Datong Law, 'Those who falsely accuse others shall be punished', the four of you falsely accused Lu Mingyuan of 50 taels of silver in marriage proposal, which was completely false. In addition, you used the engagement as an excuse to borrow 50 taels of silver from the Zhang family. I sentence you to return the 50 taels of silver in marriage proposal to Lu Mingyuan and compensate him for his loss of reputation by another 50 taels of silver. This return and compensation must be completed before nightfall."

"Please spare my life, sir. I already know my mistake." After hearing the word "execution", Yang Yi didn't bother to argue with Madam Zhang and knelt on the ground. "Please give me another chance, sir. I promise I won't make the same mistake again."

"Your Excellency has heard it before. It was my aunt who forced my father and I to sign the marriage certificate in order to fight for the family wealth," Yang Liuzhu knelt down, "Your Excellency should kill her if you want to. My father and I were completely deceived by her. Please show mercy, Your Excellency."

Chen Shao was too lazy to waste time talking to them, and directly ordered Magistrate Wang: "Take them away and execute them on a chosen day!"

Magistrate Wang immediately said to the guards at the door, "You all heard it, right? Come in quickly and take them to the prison and keep them well. No one is allowed to visit them without my order!"

The bailiffs rushed forward, not allowing them to resist, twisted their hands behind their backs, and took them away.

"My lord, my lord..." Yang Yi struggled and was about to be dragged out of the door. In a hurry, he blurted out, "I have a case to report about Mengshe Prison!"