Chapter 39

TRANSLATED BY MYPEN_22

He looked around and saw that no one was calling him, so he continued, "The woman just now is the wife of Zhou Xieyuan, whose name is Zhou Yongyan and who is well educated and from a good family. Those servants who were with Madam Zhou are from the Zhou family."

    Hua Ling could not help but ask in a low voice, "Is Madam Zhou's brain wrong?" Why else would she look crazy?

    Xiao Er shook his head, a sad look gradually appeared on his face, he said with a long sigh "Madam Zhou is not sick in the head, she is a poor person. Mrs Zhou's mother's family is not in Tonglin County, but in a neighbouring county, and her family is comparable to the Zhou family. There is a Baiyun Temple between our two counties, and it is said that the two met there when they were visiting incense, and later on they became attached to each other and got married. Zhou Xieyuan was a good-looking man, from a good family, with good literary skills, and treated others with kindness, so everyone said at the time that Mrs Zhou had found a good home. On the day of his marriage, Zhou Xieyuan told the guests that he would never take a concubine and that he was the only one in his life, which made people envious.

    "In the second year of their marriage, Mrs Zhou gave birth to a boy, and later a son and a daughter. One day, when the Zhou family's eldest son was three years old, Mrs Zhou brought back a little boy from outside, saying that she had found him on the road and that he did not look much younger than the Zhou youngest son. Mrs Zhou, always kind-hearted, agreed to keep the foundling as if it were her own. Thus, the foundling became the second young master of the Zhou family. Mrs Zhou was always kind to people and would not look down on you just because you were from a good family, let alone because you were from a poor family. Although the second young master was not her own, she treated him as if he were her own. She also cautioned the old men in the house not to speak blindly, and only hid from the second young master Zhou that he was her own."

    Hua Ling was moved to tears "This Madam Zhou is really a good person, what about afterwards."

    Xiao Er cleared his throat and lowered his voice even further, "In fact, the second young master is not an abandoned baby at all, but was born to Zhou Xie Yuan and an outside woman. Not long after he married Madam Zhou, he raised an outside woman, and the second young master was only five months younger than the first young master. When he was just over two years old, Zhou Xieyuan's chambermaid died of a disease, and only then did he ask his mother to carry the child back, only telling Madam Zhou that he had found it outside."

    Hua Ling was furious, "Zhou Xieyuan is not a good person at all!"

    Although Yan Shi's face did not move, his fists were clenched tighter under the table, and Qu Liujing turned the small bamboo tube in his hand upside down.

    Hua Ling then asked, "What happened then? Did Madam Zhou never know?"

    "The world is not impervious to the wind, this matter has been known to Madam Zhou in the end, but it did not take long for Madam Zhou to find out, about two months or so." Xiao Er had a sympathetic look on his face as he said this, "Madam Zhou is very strong in nature, and when she found out about it, she wanted to divorce Zhou Xieyuan. As you know, families like theirs are all about saving face, so how could they easily agree to a divorce? The Zhou family could not agree to this, even more so when Madam Zhou wanted to take away her child and change it to her mother's name. The Zhou family could not agree to this. Mrs. Zhou was not to be trifled with, so she went to the magistrate's office to sue, but the magistrate had already been bribed by the Zhou family, so the case could not be filed. When Mrs. Zhou saw that she couldn't sue at the county court, she wanted to sue at the government office, but after going there several times, she was arrested by the Zhou family and was arrested again on her way to the government office."

    Zhou Yongyan did not agree to the divorce not only because he wanted to save face, but also because there was an explicit rule in the Great Abyss dynasty that one could not keep an outside wife, and if the matter was stirred up, he would be sent to jail.

    Hua Ling's face was full of anger and he was just about to speak when he heard Yan Shi's nice voice ringing out from his ears, "Didn't Xiao Er brother say that Mrs. Zhou's mother's family was in a neighboring county and they didn't know about such a big incident here?"

    Xiao Er continued, "How else can we say that Madam Zhou's life is not good? Her father had no sons, so he gave birth to two daughters, and the eldest daughter married far away, while Madam Zhou married closer. About three or four years after she got married, her parents died one after another. Before they left, they divided the family fortune in two and gave it to Mrs Zhou and her sister. Otherwise, the Zhou family would not have leapt to the top of Tonglin County so quickly."

    Seeing that all he needed to know was almost done, Yan Shi took out a piece of silver from his sleeve, "Thank you, Little Brother, settle the bill."

    He said, "Thank you, Little Brother, for the check." He took Hua Ling and got up and left his seat.

    The voice of the junior was heard from behind him, "Sir, you can't use this silver."

    Yan Shi replied without looking back, "You can have the rest."

    The waiter thanked him and happily took the silver.

    At the bottom of the restaurant, Hua Ling tugged on Yan Shi's sleeve and asked, "Brother, are we going to that Zhou Yongyan's house next?"

    Yan Shi nodded, and as he spoke, his gaze flashed with a hint of viciousness, "Since the magistrate can't manage it, then let me, the Da Lisi Secretary, manage it."

    Hua Ling said happily from the side "Then brother must punish him severely."

    Zhou Yongyan's home was easy to find, anyone who asked around would know.

    Zhao Chunhai went forward to talk to the concierge, who took a glance back and saw that they were all dressed in top quality clothes, so he knew they were wealthy, so he went into the house to report.

    Within a short time, Zhou Yongyan came out. This man was around thirty years old, with an elegant look and a modest and courteous manner. If one did not know what this man was like, one would have been fooled by his appearance, and I think this was how Madam Zhou had been deceived for more than ten years. When Zhou Yongyan saw that it was three masters with two subordinates, he could see at a glance that Yan Shi should be the leader of these people, so he cupped his fist and said "I am Zhou Yongyan, I wonder if your Excellency is ..."

    The concierge had only said that they were from the Imperial City, not their identities.

    Zhao Chunhai took out his token "We are from the Da Lisi."

    Zhou Yongyan's heart jumped, he didn't know why the Da Lisi people would come. According to reason, even if Madam Zhou had left Tonglin County, she hadn't gone far before she was arrested and could not have met another official. The more Zhou Yongyan thought about it, the more he thought it was right, but his face did not change as he sat down in an inviting gesture, "Your Excellencies have had a long journey, come in and take a rest."

    Zhou Yongyan let them into the house and gave a wink to his beloved boy who was with him. The boy had been with him for many years, so he knew what his master meant with a look.

    The boy had never seen anything like this before, so his legs went limp in fear, and he settled down and said, "I want to go to the kitchen and tell them to prepare a good meal for you.

    Yan Shi said, "No need, we are here to investigate the case, please take us to see Madam Zhou."

    Zhou Yongyan did not dare to say no, but he had a ghost in his heart and did not dare to bring them to Madam Zhou, so he could only say, "Please follow me to the hall to rest, I will ask my subordinates to summon the inner son ..."

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    The first plan failed to produce another plan, Zhou Yongyan said with a difficult face, "Sir, it's not that I don't want you to go, but it's just that it's not convenient for you to enter the inner house as a foreign man."

    Yan Shi snorted, and then set his eyes on Hua Ling, soft as water, "Zhou Jieyuan's words are right, it is indeed inconvenient for me to enter the inner house, so let Madam go on my behalf."

    Although Hua Ling was also a man, he was a male wife and could enter the inner residence as long as he was accompanied by a servant of the house. Zhou Yongyan was dumbfounded, he did not expect that there would be male wife in this group, but immediately Hua Ling puffed out his chest, and Yan Shi laughed.

    In a short time, Hua Ling brought Madam Zhou out. He walked ahead of Madam Zhou and ran to Yan Shi with small steps, stretched out a jade finger and pointed at Zhou Yongyan and said hatefully "Brother, this man is so bad, he has tied Madam Zhou to a chair!

    When Zhou Yongyan repeatedly stopped them from entering the house to look for Madam Zhou, he guessed that there was something he didn't want them to see, but he only thought that Zhou Yongyan would lock Madam Zhou up later, not that he would tie her up.

    Yan Shi narrowed his eyes, "What's going on with Zhou Jieyuan?"

    As he spoke, Mrs. Zhou came over, gathering her hair with her hand and saluting, "This wife, Mrs. Zhou Zhang, presents herself to Your Excellency."

    Yan Shi nodded "Get up, do you know what this official is here for?"

    Mrs. Zhou said, "I know."

    Yan Shi said, "Since you know, then come with me."

    They were going to the Tonglin County Office.

    When they arrived at the entrance of the magistrate's office, Zhao Chunhai directly showed his token and entered the magistrate's office.

    It was just after noon and the magistrate was still resting. When the magistrate called him out, he was walking and putting on his clothes, and when he saw Yan Shi, he was also dressed.

    "My lord, see you." The magistrate knelt on the ground, and when he saw Zhou Yongyan and his wife behind Yan Shi, he knew at once what the magistrate had come for.

    Yan Shi had already made up his mind when he saw this appearance, "Lord Qian, since you already know the purpose of this official, please make a decision on the Zhou family." After saying this, he found a seat in the lobby and sat down.

    The county magistrate, although he had received a lot of money from Zhou Yongyan, did not dare to disobey Yan Shi's words, so he looked at Zhou Yongyan with difficulty and rose to the court with a stiff upper lip.

    "Wait..." Yan Shi suddenly said, "Magistrate Qian, won't you call the people of Tonglin County to see how this case is being tried?"

    The people were allowed to stand outside and listen to the case being heard in the county court. As soon as Magistrate Qian heard this, beads of sweat dripped down his neck, but he had to order someone to go down and do it.

    When two magistrates received the order, they each took a gong and went in the opposite direction, shouting "Your Honour, the case of Zhou Xieyuan's family is about to be heard!"