AWB Chapter 162 The culprit is inside; ask them for it.
Chapter 162 The culprit is inside; ask them for it.
However, if we don't clarify things now, it will become even more difficult to clarify later.
The elders of the Zhou, Huo, and Niu clans waved their hands repeatedly.
The Zhou clan elder said, "How could we possibly do something so immoral? Think about it carefully. When our little girl from the Jiu family went missing, didn't we gather the strength of the entire clan to stop her at the city gate?"
“We members of the Zhou clan would never do something so unconscionable.”
The Huo clan elder remained calm. "Don't look at me like that. Last year, when Xiao Qi was taken away by a stranger at the village entrance, didn't I have the men in my family chase that stranger for ten miles and bring him back?"
"That's not all!" a clansman in the know chimed in. "The brothers gave that outsider a good beating and eventually sent him to the county government."
The Huo clan elders remained indifferent, ignoring the matter.
The remaining elders of the Niu clan were trembling with fear, their foreheads covered in sweat. "I, I, I can barely read a few words. Let alone talking to people about such unscrupulous deals, I'd be ripped off even if I were to buy something!"
"If I had done such a thing, how could I have kept it a secret for so many years?"
"That wicked daughter-in-law has reminded me. Could it be that the girls who went missing in our clan were sold by someone from the Lin family?"
The air fell silent for a moment, then someone shouted, "Did those missing girls from the Niu family all have close relationships with girls from the Lin family? Or were they all lost together?"
A stone stirred up a thousand waves.
Then someone else shouted, "It's so obvious, what else is there to not understand? Those girls from your Niu family were taken away and sold by the Lin family!"
"My child..." Some families who lost their baby girls immediately looked up to the sky and wailed.
Someone next to me reminded me, "What's the use of crying? The culprit is inside. Go ask them for it."
As soon as these words were spoken, the people, their eyes burning with anger, surged toward the Gu family's main hall.
The Lin clan elders in the main room were already pale-faced and trembling, unable to speak.
Lin Chang'er frowned, thinking, "What a nuisance."
If it were outside, they would have killed her without a second thought, but it happened in her own home.
And yet, the official in charge happened to be Wu Qingfeng.
If he were to order these scumbags to be beaten to death right now, he'd be in serious trouble.
Fortunately, the constables reacted quickly and squeezed to the front of the door to block it.
Lin Chang'er and Wu Qingfeng exchanged a glance, walked to the door, and said loudly, "Dear uncles, aunts, and sisters-in-law, please listen to me."
“A country has its laws and a family has its rules. The Lin clan has committed many evils and harmed the villagers. They deserve to die, but it is not our place to take action.”
"In a few days, Lord Wu, Lord Li, and Lord Zhu will be here. Why don't we let the magistrates have a proper interrogation of the Lin family and their associates?"
"We need to get them to give us all the information about the children. Who knows, those children might be hoping you'll come looking for them!"
The surging crowd gradually quieted down, followed by a chorus of sobs.
Suddenly, someone cried out, "This humble woman is accusing the Lin family of abducting my daughter. I beg you, Your Honor, to grant me justice!"
"We beg Your Honor to uphold justice for us!"
A large portion of the dark-skinned crowd knelt down.
Outraged, Wu Qingfeng and his two companions discussed the matter and decided to hold the trial directly in Linshui Village to save time.
Soon, the elders of the Lin clan were taken to the ancestral hall. To prevent the Lin clan members from escaping, the entire Lin clan was also herded to the threshing ground and placed under guard.
Lin Chang'er did not go to watch Wu Qingfeng's trial, but went to the threshing ground with her brothers from the coastal defense team, fearing that the villagers and the Lin clan would clash.
Among them, three families surnamed Lin crowded in front of her, saying, "Sanlang's wife, what happened? We...we didn't do anything..."
These three households are the same three households that fought the pirates with Lin Chang'er and the others last night.
He lives on this side of the river and is usually quite kind.
Lin Chang'er then cut to the chase and told them what had happened.
The three families cried out that they were wronged, “What a Lin clansman, what a heartless clan elder! Sanlang’s wife, you don’t know, we were only alienated from our own clan because our little sister went missing, and the clan wouldn’t let us look for her. Then they sent us a small sum of money as compensation from the clan to our families.”
“Over the years, we have never associated with the Lin family on the other side of the river. Sanlang’s wife, we are also victims!”
"We can't let them be the ones who do all the bad things, and we have to suffer the consequences too. Sanlang's wife, you've seen so much, please help us!"
Lin Chang'er frowned and said, "There are ways, it just depends on whether you're willing to do it."
The heads of the three households exchanged glances and immediately said, "Tell us what you want to do. We have nothing to lose right now."
Lin Chang'er said, "Let's leave the clan!"
The three families were taken aback for a moment, then nodded. In a very short time, they said, "We are leaving our clan. Please ask Sanlang's wife to help us."
Lin Chang'er said, "Go and wait outside the ancestral hall. After the county magistrate finishes his trial, he will help you remove your names from the family genealogy."
“Okay, let’s go!” The three families hurriedly led their wives and children to the ancestral hall.
With Lin Chang'er vouching for them, the coastal defense team didn't make things difficult for them and simply let them leave.
Then a member of the Lin clan nearby chimed in, saying, "We also want to leave the clan. They get all the good fortune, so why should we share the bad consequences?"
“Yes, we also want to leave our clan and go to the ancestral hall.”
The Lin clan members started making a fuss and shouted at Lin Chang'er.
Lin Chang'er sneered. She recognized all of these faces: the guard dog who had imprisoned her in Lin Quede's backyard, the thugs who later stormed her door, and the beast who had gone with Lin Dashan to steal food from their own people that morning.
Now they've completely absolved themselves of all the bad things they've done.
Lin Chang'er sneered, "You don't need me to remind you what you did, do you?"
“The village is naturally willing to give truly innocent people another chance.”
“But you have always been the Lin family’s vicious dogs, the pests of the village. Even if you are banished, you are not innocent.”
"Lin Chang'er..." Those men were clearly unconvinced, their eyes flashing with malice, cursing and trying to pounce on her, but they were immediately stopped by the coastal defense team and other villagers.
Xu Gun'er, Gu Silang, Zhou Li, and Xiao Jinyu stood in front of them with sticks, shouting at the people, "Come and try, I'll teach you a lesson today."
The troublemakers from the Lin clan were quickly suppressed.
Yang Cuihua made the initial accusation, followed by corroboration from the families of the Lin family who had lost their daughters.
However, the Lin clan elders resisted stubbornly, and it took them some time to finally get them to confess.
According to the laws of this dynasty, anyone who abducts and sells their own child will be imprisoned for three years. Anyone who traffics in people will be sentenced to death, and the family members, whether they knew about it or not, will be given 2000 yuan.
The Lin family case involved both the abduction of their own children and the abduction of other people's children, which was quite complicated.
In the end, all the Lin clan members on the other side of the river, except for two or three widows whose husbands had died young, actually managed to get inside.
After finishing the human trafficking case, they continued to try the case of those who exploited their descendants.
In order to get a lighter punishment, Yang Cuihua seemed to have a completely different mind and cooperated extremely well. Soon, the family's wealth was inventoried.
Fortunately, it didn't take long, and only a small portion was spent; the shops and farmland are still there.
However, the portion that had already been squandered could only be made up by the Lin clan members borrowing silver from the government, and then earning money by paying off their labor debts once they reached their place of exile.
The Lin family's remaining assets were to be used to compensate other families with missing daughters.
Of course, there are indeed some who deserve sympathy and pity. For example, in the Lin family, there was a family where the man disliked the girl as a money-losing commodity and offered her up for sale. Later, he also participated in the trafficking of other families' girls, but his wife and children were unaware of this and searched for the relatives who had been sold year after year.
In cases like these, if any woman was willing to divorce, Wu Qingfeng would make the decision for her, allowing her to raise her children and live her own life...