The end of natural disasters: the daily life of child brides in ancient times

Chapter 373 Compensation

Village Chief Yang coughed lightly, and when he saw that the room had quieted down, he said:

"Today, Bai Xing'er and Yang Shulin from the North Courtyard are getting divorced!

The woman's dowry can be taken away in its entirety, and the betrothal gifts do not need to be returned.

If the man eats up the woman's dowry, he must make up for it in full!

In addition, the man shall pay the woman five taels of silver."

When Mrs. Shulin heard him say this, she immediately became anxious.

"Village chief, how can you favor people from outside the village? We Yangs are one family!"

Seeing that she was still trying to make trouble, Village Chief Yang said coldly:

"What outsider?

Without the brothers from the North Courtyard, it is unknown whether our village can survive the siege of bandits!

I have said before that the brothers from the North Courtyard are from our Linshan Village. Don’t mention things like outsiders!

Besides, today we are only discussing right and wrong!

Mrs. Shulin, you are plotting to murder your daughter-in-law and trying to seize her dowry. This is a serious crime.

If the county government office was still open, you would have been thrown into jail!"

Shulin's mother was startled by his words, but she quickly realized that there was no one in the county government office!

She rolled her eyes and argued:

"Divorce is fine! But if you ask us to make up for her dowry and pay her money, we won't agree!

She has been married for so long and has consumed and spent a lot of money.

Besides, she hasn’t even consummated her marriage with my son Shu Lin.

Now, my son has been chopped into pieces like this, and I don’t know whether he is alive or dead!

My son is still so young. If he dies, he will be left without a successor!

Asking my family to compensate her, I feel really wronged!"

As Mother Shulin spoke, she felt wronged and began to cry.

Village Chief Yang was upset by her crying and said rudely:

"Don't mess around anymore!

What? You poisoned someone and it became someone else's fault?

Don’t think that the village won’t dare to punish you!

If what you two did were to get out, you would ruin the reputation of the entire village!

From now on, who would dare to marry into our village?

If you continue to confuse right and wrong, the elders and I will no longer have to consider you and will deal with you according to the clan rules!

In your case, in addition to the necessary monetary punishment, you should also be removed from the family tree!

The elders and I didn't drive you out of the village because you have several little kids at home!

If you continue to talk nonsense, don't blame me for being ruthless!"

Shulin's mother suddenly remembered that more than ten years ago, there was a man in the village who did something bad and was expelled from the village.

When the man was kicked out, he didn't even have a change of clothes.

All the houses, fields and belongings in the family were handed over to the clan.

Now, it is freezing cold outside. If they are driven out, they will probably be worse off than that man!

If you go out, you will either freeze to death or starve to death!

Thinking of that outcome, Mother Shulin shuddered.

But thinking about the money at home, she still opened her mouth to beg:

"Village Chief, I'm not trying to cheat, but my family simply doesn't have that much money to pay!

Can we discuss the compensation money?

How about one ounce, no, five cents?"

Seeing that she was still making trouble, Village Chief Yang was already annoyed and just threw down a sentence.

"If you don't have money, use land as collateral!"

Having said that, he turned and walked towards Lu Tianming and the others, ignoring her.

Seeing that he was so stubborn, Shulin's mother couldn't help but groan inwardly.

If I had known this earlier, I would have told Jian Ya to send some gifts to the village chief and several clan elders last night.

Alas, it was also her fault for being too arrogant. She thought that if she dealt with Huhu, everything would be fine as long as she refused to admit it!

Who would have thought that I would be defeated by that dead girl.

Thinking of this, Shulin Niang looked at the bitch with a look that seemed to be filled with poison.

Jian Ya noticed this look and was startled, but quickly recovered.

Her mother can't hurt her anymore!

Although things didn't develop as I expected today, they didn't go too far either.

Besides, she had other options.

The village chief ignored Shulin Niang and bowed to Lu Tianming.

"Brother Lu, the Yang family was wrong in this matter. I will ask Yongyan to go back and get paper and pen to write the divorce papers.

As for Miss Bai's dowry, since you are here, you can help to prepare it.

If anything is missing, record it.

Let’s resolve the matter today.”

Lu Tianming returned the greeting and said politely:

"Thank you, Brother Yang and the other elders, for handling this matter impartially.

In this case, we won’t waste any time and will pack up now.”

As he spoke, he directed everyone in the North Courtyard to help Bai Xing'er collect her dowry.

Seeing that the matter was resolved, several elders left Village Chief Yang to clean up the mess and then left.

When Li Rui and his fellow apprentices heard that the dowry was to be transported back, they quickly went back to get the cart.

The remaining men began to carry Bai Xing'er's dowry box.

Mother Shulin watched from the side and felt a pang of pain in her heart.

So many things could have belonged to her family.

Now, they are all gone.

Thinking of the five taels of silver I had to pay as compensation, I felt a pang of pain in my heart.

The family didn't have much savings, and even if we added in what we got from killing bandits, it would only be enough for six taels.

And the grain that I have taken away, if calculated according to the grain price in a famine year, then...

The more Shulin's mother thought about it, the less hopeful she felt. Looking at Bai Xing'er leading people to move things, she felt dizzy, her head swollen, and her heart ached.

But Village Chief Yang was watching right beside her, and she really didn't dare to stop him.

Bai Xing'er ignored her little thoughts and talked to the people in the North Courtyard who were waiting to move their things, about which items she had brought.

Soon, one thing after another was moved to the main room.

In the main room, Mrs. Cui and Mrs. Yao were holding the dowry list and checking it bit by bit.

Tian Funiang sneaked into the east room and saw the big unlocked wooden box.

She wanted to open it to see if there was anything good inside, but she was afraid of being cheated, so she walked to the door and shouted to Bai Xing'er:

"Xing'er, come over here and see if there's anything of yours in here."

When Bai Xing'er heard this, she suddenly remembered the piece of material that her ex-mother-in-law had snatched away, and she quickly walked towards the room.

When Mother Shulin saw this, she was so anxious that she shouted on the kang:

"How could you come into my house? It's my stuff!"

After shouting, he covered his stomach again in pain.

The wound on her stomach was not light. She was howling and making a fuss all morning, and a lot of blood was flowing out of the wound.

But in the box in the east room, besides the silver and money, there was also the packet of medicine powder.

Although the punishment has been decided, it will be of no benefit to me if the package is found.

Mother Shulin was extremely anxious, but at this moment, she really couldn't get off the bed.

In desperation, Mother Shulin looked at Jianya and Tingmei in the corner of the room and ordered:

"Bitch, go to the east room and bring me all the cloth bags in the box!"

Upon hearing this, Jian Ya still stood steadily in the corner of the room, pretending not to hear what her mother said.

Seeing that she dared to disobey, Shulin's mother was so angry that she scolded her.

But after cursing twice, he quickly stopped talking.

This is a critical moment and we cannot delay any longer.

If she delayed any further, she was worried that the things in the east room would be found.

After thinking for a while, she coaxed Yang Shubao beside her and said:

"Bao, go to the east room and watch over them. Don't let them open our boxes.

Everything in that box is for you!

If they dare to rob it, you must scream and make a scene, but don’t let them open the box.”

Yang Shubao was young but had a domineering personality. He listened to them trying to steal his things.

He didn't care about being afraid anymore and ran to the east room.

Seeing Tian Fu Niang about to open the box, she cried out:

"Bad guys! You are all bad guys who stole my things!

"Woo woo woo, come quickly, the bad guys are stealing things!"