Spring comes to the desperate place

Chapter 272 Exile

Late at night, after seeing off all the guests, the Song family did not rest immediately, but gathered together to talk about Zhou Daya's matter.

Zhou Ning had heard about today's events from Song Chunming, with a look of shame on his face. He had never expected that his cousin would actually do such a harmful act as pushing someone into the water. He was too ashamed to face everyone in the Song family, and his heart was even more uneasy. Marrying into the Song family was the best decision he had ever made in his life, but now he found himself actually starting to get scared. He was afraid of facing the accusations of the Song family, and he was even more afraid that Song Chunsheng would resent him from now on. What if, what if Song Chunsheng developed a grudge against him because of this incident, then how could he gain a foothold in the Song family in the future?

Song Chunsheng seemed to notice his wife's nervousness, and it was not difficult to guess his inner torment from the expression on his face, so he silently held his hand and gently squeezed his palm.

After all, she is the one who sleeps by your side. Seeing Song Chunsheng's behavior, Zhou Ning felt even more sad. He even wondered worriedly, if he was kicked out of the Song family in the future, would Song Chunsheng still be so caring towards his next wife?

Just thinking of that scene, Zhou Ning felt a sharp pain in his heart.

"Ning brother." Grandpa Song finally spoke after a long silence. He mentioned Zhou Ning's name as soon as he opened his mouth, which scared Zhou Ning so much that he trembled all over and responded after a long time.

Seeing his expression, Grandpa Song thought that the child might have some bad thoughts, but no matter how harsh the words were, he still had to say a few words.

"Ning'er, your cousin will probably not come back. She wants to harm not only our children, but also our children. This matter cannot be resolved peacefully. Of course, even if you are not convinced, we will definitely report her to the government. If she dares to harm our children, she will pay with her own life."

Song A-mo, who was sitting next to her, also had a bad face: "She is still a mother. She used her own child to frame you, and now she wants to kill our child. She is really a vicious woman and unworthy of being a mother."

With every word the two old men spoke, Zhou Ning's face turned paler. In the end, he was completely cold and his face was bloodless. It was obvious that he was terrified.

When Song Chunlin saw Zhou Ning's reaction, he sighed in his heart. His sister-in-law was good in every way. She was hardworking, filial to her elders, and very good to his brother. Ever since Song Chunsheng married Zhou Ning, his clothes were always clean and tidy, and he could buy a new piece of clothing every month. Even Song Qinshi praised her and said that Song Chunsheng was lucky to marry such a good wife.

The only bad thing about him is his mother's family. There are few good elders in the Zhou family. Even the seemingly kind grandparents are biased. Otherwise, Zhou Ping and Zhou An have treated the children left by their brother harshly for so many years. He doesn't believe that the two old people are not aware of it. They just think that Zhou Ning is a money-loser and has no parents by his side, so it doesn't matter if they treat him harshly. It's okay as long as he doesn't die. If he dies, they can divide up Zhou Ning's things.

It is not easy for Zhou Ning to grow up with a good family background despite having such elders.

At this moment, Zhou Ning bit his lower lip, seeming to find it difficult to speak. When he saw everyone looking at him, he lowered his head in shame.

"This is all Zhou Daya's fault. I have no complaints about everyone's decision. As for the Zhou family, I... I'll go back and tell them..."

"What do you want to say?" Song Chunsheng asked back dissatisfiedly, "What can we say to them? It's obvious that Zhou Daya failed to harm people and ended up in trouble. Since Feng Yuedu has taken her to Jingzhao Prefecture, Jingzhao Prefecture will make the decision. If the Zhou family asks, you can tell them the truth. If they don't want to listen, call me. I'm thick-skinned and I'll beat them out."

Zhou Ning looked at Song Chunsheng who was defending him, and his heart was filled with bitterness. He looked around hesitantly.

Grandpa Song: "Chunsheng is right. We have nothing to explain to the Zhou family about this matter. On the contrary, it is the Zhou family. Hum, I want to ask your good grandfather how he educated his descendants. I schemed against you, and I schemed against my grandson. Do you really think that our Song family is dead?"

Finally, he looked at Zhou Ning again: "You don't have to blame yourself or worry. This matter has nothing to do with you. You married into our Song family, so you are a member of our Song family. I think you don't have to go back to your parents' home next year. You dare to hurt my grandson and still want my Song family to give the Zhou family a New Year gift. He is dreaming!"

The old man had made the final decision, and it seemed that the marriage between the Song family and the Zhou family was now completely severed. Zhou Ning did not refute it, and it took a long time for him to come back to his senses until he returned to the room and sat on the bed with Song Chunsheng and his wife.

Song Chunsheng rubbed his head and comforted him: "Don't think too much, grandpa and the others don't blame you. Besides, Chunming and the others were just a little frightened this time. If it weren't for the sake of eliminating future troubles, grandpa wouldn't want Jingzhao Prefecture to sentence Zhou Daya severely."

Zhou Ning's mind suddenly became clear again: "Didn't they say that Jingzhao Prefecture would not accept such lawsuits that endanger human lives?"

Song Chunsheng smiled and said, "She only intended to murder, but failed. It was at most an attempted murder. Jingzhao Prefecture can accept the case but cannot sentence it. In the end, it will still be handed over to the Ministry of Justice. It's just a process."

As for what Gu Fengyue said about asking the Ministry of Justice to sentence Zhou Daya to exile three thousand miles, it is hard to say because it involves Song Chunming. Although the emperor has erased Song Chunming's true identity, it does not mean that the emperor no longer recognizes this brother. Zhou Daya not only murdered the Song family's children this time, her biggest crime was murdering the royal bloodline. This alone is a serious crime. Sending her to Jingzhao Prefecture was just to say hello to the emperor. Compared with the Ministry of Justice, the emperor has more power in Jingzhao Prefecture. Of course, Zhou Daya's end will not be easy.

If you dare to harm the emperor's brother, be prepared to be skinned alive.

At this time, Zhou Daya was imprisoned in the Jingzhao Prefecture Prison. She kept saying that she was wronged, but everyone in the prison said that they were wronged. Her words fell on deaf ears and did not cause any waves at all.

It was not until the next day that the Zhou family learned from fellow villagers that their granddaughter had been arrested. Grandpa Zhou was so shocked by this sudden change that his eyes rolled back and he fainted on the spot. Grandma Zhou was so scared that she quickly asked someone to carry him back to the room and called Doctor Wang over. Acupuncture and medicine were of no use. It was not until Grandma Zhou soaked some Codonopsis pilosula that she had brought from the Song family last time in water and gave it to Grandpa Zhou that he slowly woke up.

"Old man, you are finally awake. If anything happened to you, how would an old woman like me survive?"

Grandma Zhou was crying and wailing, and didn't notice Grandpa Zhou lying on the bed at all. His mouth was crooked and his speech was slurred. Doctor Wang gave him a few more injections before he could speak normally, but he only uttered four words.

"Family misfortune."

Grandma Zhou stopped crying immediately. She thought that it was the Song family who sent people to arrest Zhou Daya. She was about to go to the Song family to ask for an explanation, but was stopped by the surrounding villagers.

"Third sister-in-law, please don't go. Your eldest daughter almost killed three children of the Song family. Three! If three children of your family were killed at once, would you be able to bear it?"

"That's right, Third Sister-in-law, don't think too hard. This is the eldest girl's fate. Who told her to do something else but pick on those kids? Fortunately, those kids are fine. If they were, the Song family would have killed your whole family to pay for it."

"Of course not. My little grandson is my lifeblood. I feel so sad when he gets hurt. The river has swollen this year. If those kids didn't know how to swim, they would have died long ago. Just think about it, that's three lives."

They say good news doesn't travel far, but bad news travels a thousand miles, especially when something as serious as this almost resulted in a loss of life. After this night of fermentation, almost everyone in the surrounding area knew about it. Some people even recounted the details of how Zhou Daya pushed the person down, describing it vividly, as if they had seen it with their own eyes.

When Grandma Zhou heard these people talking at the same time and asking her not to cause trouble for the Song family, her initial resentment gradually turned into panic.

When she thought that Zhou Daya was so cruel that she dared to murder three children at once, she recalled the last time when Zhou Daya's son was one month old and Zhou Daya used her own son to frame Zhou Ning, and her heart became even more sad.

What a sin she had committed! She gave birth to three sons, one of whom died, and the remaining two wanted to bury their nephew alive for money. And her eldest granddaughter, whom she had loved since she was a child, was even more of a cruel and ruthless she-devil. She dared to kill several children out of inexplicable jealousy.

Grandma Zhou felt dull pain in her chest and back. Doctor Wang saw her holding her chest and quickly gave her a few injections.

"Aunt Zhou, you and Uncle Zhou should remember not to be too happy or too sad. Take good care of yourself. I'll have the medicine boy bring you the medicine later."

Grandma Zhou didn't answer. Doctor Wang quietly packed up his things and left. When most of the people who came to watch the fun had left, Aunt Zhou dared to come out of the house. The two aunts who stayed behind scolded her in dissatisfaction when they saw her.

"Such a big thing happened at home, and you are still hiding in the house?"

Another one also said coldly: "This is still her good daughter who caused this trouble. Could it be that this jinx taught her to do this?"

Aunt Zhou screamed in retort: "It's not me, I didn't do it. How could I teach her to do such a thing? Maybe the Song family framed her?"

It would have been fine if she hadn't refuted, but as soon as she refuted, Grandma Zhou realized something was wrong. As mother-in-law and daughter-in-law have been together for decades, Grandma Zhou thought she knew Aunt Zhou well enough. Seeing her stern tone, she guessed that this troublesome thing must have known about it. Thinking of Grandpa Zhou collapsed on the bed, thinking of her hungry great-grandson, thinking of her eldest granddaughter shamelessly working for others, all these things, when added together, were related to this idiot.

The more Grandma Zhou thought about it, the angrier she got. She stood up suddenly, picked up a broom and started beating Aunt Zhou, cursing as she beat her. Aunt Zhou screamed in pain from the beating. She wanted to resist but was held down by the two aunts who stayed behind. Grandma Zhou was not polite at all and slapped her in the face.

"I've let you, a jinx, lead my granddaughter astray. Tell me the truth. Has she been planning this behind our backs for a long time? As a mother, I don't believe you are completely unaware of this. Tell me, how much do you know?"

Aunt Zhou's cheeks were swollen from being slapped, but under the intimidation of Grandma Zhou, she had to confess everything she knew. Not only did she tell when Zhou Daya had the idea of retaliating against the Song family, she even told him how Zhou Daya sold the Song family's medicinal herbs for silver in order to bribe the jailer to see Li Xu.

The more Grandma Zhou listened, the darker her face became. Her chest, which had just felt better, was aching again. She covered her chest and said the same thing as Grandpa Zhou:

"Family misfortune."

The Song family didn't care at all about the chaos in the Zhou family. Now that the irrigation problem had been solved, their hearts and eyes were filled with rice in the fields.

Like the Song family, many veteran farmers are also paying attention to those fields. According to their experience, the Song family's rice fields can most likely be harvested before winter. If the Song family can harvest successfully, does it mean that they can also grow two crops of rice a year like the Song family?

As the Song family's rice was about to be harvested, all the Li family members were taken to Caishikou for execution. Li Xu, until his beheading, was still fantasizing that Zhou Daya could deal a fatal blow to the Song family. However, Zhou Daya was already in danger at this time, and her case was judged very quickly. Before the Li family's execution, she was sentenced to exile three thousand miles away to a bitter and cold place to do hard labor.

The day before departure, Song Chunlin went to the prison. Looking at Zhou Daya, who had been tortured beyond recognition, he did not feel any joy in his heart. Zhou Daya did not react much to his arrival. Song Chunlin felt that Zhou Daya might die on the road before she reached the place of exile.

He had the cell opened and walked in himself.

Zhou Daya raised her eyelids and glanced at him, the hatred and anger in her eyes almost bursting out, but Song Chunlin was not here to talk nonsense with her. He asked the jailer to lift the woman up, pry open her mouth, and pour a big mouthful of spiritual spring water into her mouth.

The effect of the undiluted spiritual spring water was very significant. Song Chunlin did not make her feel much better. There was Coptis chinensis soaked in the spiritual spring water. As soon as Zhou Daya drank the water, she frowned because of the bitterness. However, she did not have the strength to break free from the jailer. She could only watch Song Chunlin pour the bitter water into her mouth, and thus ignored her body's reaction.

After Song Chunlin poured the spiritual spring water, he did not explain to her. He came here simply because he did not want Zhou Daya to die like this. He hoped that she could hold on until the exile. After all, that was where her suffering began. If she died so early, it would be too easy for her.

Song Chunlin clapped his hands and ordered the jailer: "Watch her carefully, don't let her die."

After finishing all this, Song Chunlin walked out of the dark, damp and smelly cell.