CHAPTER 394: CHAPTER 394: SCARS

County Magistrate Zou was bewildered, pointing at Qin San Lang, the curse words hadn’t yet left his mouth when Qin San Lang had already vanished without a trace.

After a short while, he caught his breath, pointed in the direction where Qin San Lang had disappeared, and angrily asked, "Who is this man? What audacity! A mere soldier dares to ignore my command... I shall punish him for his crime!"

Lu Hehua saw County Magistrate Zou coming and hurriedly called out, "My dear brother-in-law, you must save us! We’ve done nothing wrong, yet we were dragged to the government office in the middle of the night. They’re treating an official’s family in such a way, blatantly disregarding you, brother-in-law. Please, quickly..."

"Shut up! Who is this shrew? My wife’s family bears the surname Hong, yours bears Lu, your husband’s family bears Niu. When did I ever become your brother-in-law?" County Magistrate Zou was extremely upset. These Lu Family People are truly unreliable, in such a time and still continually calling me brother-in-law, as if afraid others won’t know how he favored his concubine over his wife, as if afraid others won’t know he intends to abuse his power to save his concubine’s family?

Lu Hehua was yelled at and was stunned for a moment, then became angry: "Brother-in-law, are you refusing to acknowledge us now? Fine, fine, it turns out that as soon as you see the Lu Family in trouble, you’re ready to abandon the Lu Family. You conscienceless old thing. Back when you were doting on my sister, you said, although you couldn’t marry our Meihua as your official wife, the Lu Family was still your family by marriage, that we were to treat each other as legitimate relatives. Now you..."

"Silence!"

"Silence!"

"Silence!"

Three shouts of fury rang out, from Lu Laoda, Zou Jiang, and County Magistrate Zou respectively.

County Magistrate Zou was already ill, and being so angered by Lu Hehua, felt a sweetness at the back of his throat, a rush of blood racing up, as if he was about to vomit blood from fury.

County Magistrate Zou forcefully suppressed it, but he was so angry with Lu Hehua that he was unable to utter a single word.

Steward Shao stepped forward a few paces, approached Lu Hehua, and quietly warned her, "If you don’t want to die, keep your mouth shut. If you infuriate our superior and he leaves in anger, we’ll let your Lu Family be annihilated."

Steward Shao was a scholar, who greatly valued the distinction between legitimate and illegitimate descendants; he initially supported Zou Yuqian, but Zou Yuqian was too foolish, essentially digging his own grave.

And because of Zou Yuqian, County Magistrate Zou hated Mrs. Zou’s family to death, intending to abandon Mrs. Zou’s family to support Zou Yuzhen as the future head of the Zou family.

However, Steward Shao knew that Zou Yuzhen, being cold-hearted and ruthless, was not a good master to serve, thus he did not wish for Zou Yuzhen to ascend.

The one he favored was... the eldest son of Zou Yunkun.

Even though Zou Yunkun was muddled, his son was not bad; although his learning was not as profound as Zou Yuqian’s son, Zou Yunkun had not impregnated County Magistrate Zou’s concubine. For this alone, County Magistrate Zou would not harbour great hate towards Zou Yunkun’s son.

Now that the Lu Family was in trouble, if Old Master Lu were indeed to be proven a runaway indentured servant, the Zou family, even if it exonerates Zou Yuzhen, would find it difficult for Zou Yuzhen to seek an official position with a grandfather who was an escaped servant.

After Steward Shao scolded Lu Hehua, he approached County Magistrate Zou and quietly told him, "Sir, if the Lu Family truly cannot be saved, you don’t have to fall out with the Lord County Magistrate. You know, no matter how important the Lu Family is, it is not as vital as the Zou family. You can’t afford to drive the Zou family into a dire situation for the sake of irrelevant outsiders."

The Zou family had lost too much face recently, already becoming the laughingstock of the county. If they were to confront the Lord County Magistrate over saving the Lu Family, the loss would not be worth the gain.

County Magistrate Xu had the merit of proposing the removal of half of the village chiefs in Great Chu, and his promotion was all but a done deal.

Opposing County Magistrate Xu at this time, if in case it enraged him, and upon his reassignment he were to leave behind a complaint against County Magistrate Zou. If higher-ups came to investigate County Magistrate Zou, they would not withstand scrutiny.

Hearing this, County Magistrate Zou finally calmed down and nodded to Steward Shao, "Steward’s reminder is apt, we cannot afford to clash head-on with the Lord County Magistrate."

He turned, gave the Lu Family People a glance, his expression darkened, and without uttering a word, he was helped by Zou Jiang to the back courtyard of the government office.

The pond in the backyard of the county government office was not far away, and Qin San Lang swiftly carried Old Master Lu to the edge of the pond. After untying the ropes binding Old Master Lu’s hands, he threw him into the pond with a splash.

Old Master Lu was stupefied, half-floating on the water’s surface, and cursed at Qin San Lang, "You Qin scoundrel, how dare you seek private revenge under the guise of public duty!"

Qin San Lang paid him no attention and started hitting Old Master Lu in the water with a long bamboo pole handed to him by County Captain Jiang.

Old Master Lu, not being a fool, realized that there must be a reason for Qin San Lang throwing him into the water. But before he could fathom the reason, the long bamboo pole struck.

After several harsh smacks, unable to bear the beating, Old Master Lu dived underwater and soon reached the other side of the pond.

County Magistrate Xu and others watched from the pond’s edge, nodding in agreement... Old Master Lu could indeed swim. When court convened shortly, it would be difficult for Old Master Lu to refute that he couldn’t swim and had not escaped by swimming.

Seeing County Magistrate Zou approaching, Qin San Lang quickly ran to the other side of the pond and once again aimed the long bamboo pole at Old Master Lu.

"You Qin whelp, you damned wolf cub, are you trying to murder someone?" Old Master Lu cursed Qin San Lang while diving back under the water, soon emerging on the other side of the pond.

County Magistrate Zou frowned, asking Lord County Magistrate with dissatisfaction, "My lord, what is this about? Allowing a youngster to beat an elder like this—if word gets out, I fear it will tarnish your reputation."

County Magistrate Xu laughed at County Magistrate Zou and said, "Lord Zou worries too much. San Lang is merely testing the suspect to prevent him from recanting his testimony during the trial."

Suspect?

Recanting his testimony during the trial?

Could it be that County Magistrate Xu had evidence against Old Master Lu?

While County Magistrate Zou was pondering, County Magistrate Xu had already ordered Qin San Lang, "Young Qin, haul Old Master Lu out of the water, bind him well, and bring him to the main hall."

Moments later, with a strike of the gavel, County Magistrate Xu started the court proceedings, first summoning Old Man Xue to reveal how Old Master Lu was discovered to be a runaway slave, as well as the matter of the Linglong Painting Boat from the past years, recounting everything in detail.

Old Master Lu turned pale... Indeed, his past of having been enslaved had been exposed.

He immediately pleaded innocence, "It’s an injustice, I am wronged! This Xue scoundrel, who bumped into my mule cart a while ago and was scolded by this elderly man, has held a grudge ever since. He is deliberately slandering me as a runaway slave, trying to doom my whole family... This old man has never even been to Jiangnan, how could I possibly be from the Linglong Painting Boat?"

Old Man Xue laughed, "Huai Siliu, you might have disguised yourself as a beggar and used a fake name to sell yourself, but when you sold yourself, the indenture was filed in the Jinling Prefecture government office, and Jinling Prefecture has the Slave Registration Book. You may deny it temporarily, but can you deny it for a lifetime? Officials have already been sent to Jinling Prefecture. Within ten days, we can retrieve the Slave Registration Book from Jinling Prefecture for a fingerprint comparison. Once the fingerprints match, you’ll have no chance to argue."

Old Master Lu turned a deathly pale, nearly fainting... But he could not allow himself to be detained now; he must buy time for his family to escape within these ten days. He argued again, "Who is Huai Siliu? This old man has no idea what you’re talking about. You say I am Huai Siliu, but what evidence do you have? Accusing without evidence is defamation, and you will be the one imprisoned!"

Then he addressed the Lord County Magistrate, "My lord, you have no evidence to prove I am Huai Siliu, so you cannot detain me. You must release me at once!"

County Magistrate Xu was taken aback; indeed, until the Slave Registration Book from Jinling Prefecture arrived, Old Master Lu could only be considered a suspected runaway slave. Although he could have someone secretly watch the Lu family, he was not authorized to arrest them.

Now, arresting the people of the Lu family would be a violation of Criminal Law.

Old Man Xue, having served as a housekeeper for the Fu Family, smiled upon hearing this and said, "Huai Siliu, since you insist on being so cunning, I shall reveal another matter. Is there not a ’Huai Siliu’ inscribed on your upper back? This was the custom of the Linglong Painting Boat, where every servant sold into slavery would have their name etched into their back."

He continued, "You’re clever enough to conceal this part of your past, and you must have destroyed those words. But that’s your flesh and skin; once destroyed, scars remain. Surely you cannot claim it’s a coincidence your upper back happens to have a scar."