CHAPTER 603: CHAPTER 603: I LIKE EATING FISH

Therefore, Qin San Lang said: "It was Uncle Jiang Jiao who first rushed in, and Brother Luo Wu and I dealt with that gang of rascals outside."

That Chen Gou was an oddball, greedy and unwilling to see the Du Family’s wealth flow into the hands of others, so he only took his two younger brothers in to face Miss Du.

But his little brother was young, and was restrained by Du Qian’s daughter. That’s how the situation was deadlocked until they arrived.

Gu Jinli looked at him: "Really? You’re not lying?"

Qin San Lang nodded: "I’m not, I would never deceive you."

Gu Jinli smiled and was about to ask more, when Third Grandma cut in: "San Lang, what about the women of the Du Family? Did anything happen to them?"

Qin San Lang: "They’re fine. They were tied up by Chen Gou and his group and dragged into the backyard of Du Qian’s house."

Their mouths were also gagged; that’s why the Du Family couldn’t run to call for help.

"Such sins, why are the people of Chen Village so evil? Even worse than the Lu Family People." Third Grandma cursed the Chen Family People.

But Third Grandpa asked Qin San Lang: "What happened to that bunch of rascals? Were they all caught? They must be caught, or the Du Family will suffer again."

What the countryside feared most was the revenge of the hoodlums. If Chen Gou and his people weren’t all captured, the Du Family wouldn’t be so lucky the next time.

Qin San Lang replied: "You can rest assured, old man, those rascals and Chen Gou’s family have all been caught, including his grandmother."

It turns out, it was Chen Gou’s grandmother, Old Mrs. Wei, who came up with the idea to disrupt the purity of the young lady and then propose marriage afterward. She even said that this method had been used by others before and it always worked.

Chen Gou and his group had long coveted Miss Du. Once they had their grandmother’s word, how could they not agree? They took advantage of Du Qian’s absence to go to the town and rushed to the Du Family to force the issue.

Third Grandpa and Third Grandma were both shocked: "How can this Old Mrs. Wei be so evil? Her heart is too vicious!"

Qin San Lang smiled: "Don’t be angry, Third Grandpa and Grandma, the whole family of Old Mrs. Wei has already been sentenced. She was the mastermind, along with her grandson Chen Gou, and Village Chief Chen, they were sentenced to beheading, the execution to be carried out at noon the day after tomorrow."

"Ah, why was the village chief of Chen Village also sentenced to beheading?" Third Grandpa was quite surprised: "A leader of a village, to be beheaded just because of negligence, isn’t this punishment a bit too harsh?"

Qin San Lang shook his head: "Not at all, Village Chief Chen brought it upon himself. He accepted three hundred coppers from Old Mrs. Wei, and agreed that after Chen Gou and his people succeeded, he would help force Miss Du to marry into the Chen Family."

All for three hundred coppers, he was ready to harm the young ladies of the Du Family, and those three hundred coppers were still stolen by Chen Gou and his brothers.

At this point, Luo Wu said: "Ever since the incident in Yushu Village came out, County Magistrate Xu called all the village chiefs to the county government and told them not to condone or cover up the miscreants of the village. Village Chief Chen, relying on his village being far from the county, took the words of County Magistrate Xu as nothing but wind, only seeking immediate small benefits. This time, County Magistrate Xu is determined to set a severe sentence for Village Chief Chen, serving as a warning to all village chiefs."

After Village Chief Chen’s execution the day after tomorrow, County Magistrate Xu also ordered all village chiefs to witness the execution.

As for the other rascals, as well as the family members of Village Chief Chen and Old Mrs. Wei, they were all sentenced to severe punishment: the men were sent to work in the mines, and the women were given ten days to divorce; otherwise, they would be entered into the registry of slaves.

Furthermore," he said, "County Magistrate Xu has already prepared to eliminate the riffraff from the villages of Tianfu County. Anyone who has committed a crime will be arrested, those who have harmed lives or defiled innocence will be beheaded, and the rest guilty of other offenses will be sent to toil in the mines, vowing to cleanse Tianfu County of its riffraff before the end of his term."

Luo Wu said this as he glanced at the room where Gu Jinxiu was staying, observing that the door was ajar, he felt a tinge of disappointment. Why wasn’t Sister Xiu coming out?

He had no choice but to raise his voice and say, "San Lang and I only have tomorrow off, which is to make up for the missed Dongzhi holiday, and we must return to the county early the day after tomorrow. It will be very busy before the New Year."

Not only them, but Zou Jiang had also returned from his hometown in Luchang County.

Zou Jiang originally planned to stay until just before the New Year, but because of this incident, he decided not to return to Luchang County. County Magistrate Xu even persuaded him, saying this little matter could be handled by him and Master Tian.

However, Zou Jiang’s family was decimated, other relatives were also mostly dead, and there had been no contact for many years. He was not close to his clan, and quite a few clan members wanted him to help introduce them to County Magistrate Xu, so they could follow him to enjoy fortunes in the Capital.

Zou Jiang felt extreme contempt, having seen through it all, he let go of his homesickness, determined to rely entirely on Xu Dexian from now on.

Third Grandpa and Third Grandma sighed upon hearing this, "County Magistrate Xu truly is a good official. He’s clearing out the riffraff before he leaves, truly bringing blessings to the people."

Qin San Lang and Luo Wu just smiled upon hearing this, knowing that County Magistrate Xu was not really a good official. He liked to smooth things over, and many troubles in Tianfu County were smoothed over by him, and the task of clearing out the riffraff in the entire county was also Zou Jiang’s initiative.

Zou Jiang was plotting a major move: he wanted to accumulate enough reputation for County Magistrate Xu so that he could ascend to the Capital magnificently, eliminating any desire for revenge from families devastated by the water bandit case.

"Since you couldn’t enjoy a big meal on Dongzhi, today and tomorrow we will prepare delicious food for you to feast on," Third Grandma said cheerfully: "Just wait, this old lady is going to fetch some braised meats from Aunt Daya’s house for you, including that new crispy pork skin you haven’t tried yet. It’s really tasty. I’ll go and get it for you and bring it over to your place."

Third Grandma doted on the children from several families the most. In the past, they were too poor to afford it, but now that the times were better, it was only right to provide good food for the children of the families.

Qin San Lang called out to the departing figure of Third Grandma, "Take your time, there’s no need to bring too much... I like fish."

His last half-sentence was spoken very softly, and after saying it, he looked at Gu Jinli with an expectant expression.

Gu Jinli smiled: "You want grilled fish, right?"

Qin San Lang nodded: "Mhm. If Xiao Yu is busy, it’s also okay not to make it, I can eat something else."

With you giving me such a pitiful look, if I don’t make it for you, I’ll probably be cursed to death.

Sure enough, Third Master said: "Xiao Yu, why don’t you grill some fish for San Lang? He loves that. I’ll go wash the iron stand for you, so you can start grilling in a bit."

Qin San Lang laughed: "I’ll go kill the fish for you."

Gu Jinli: "How do you know I have fish in my house?"

Qin San Lang pointed at the two water buckets under the kitchen corridor: "These are the buckets you specifically use to keep live fish, tied with a blue cloth strip."

Gu Jinli felt frustrated for being discovered. She thought that since Qin San Lang couldn’t celebrate Dongzhi, he would definitely have time off to come back after settling the affair at the Du Family, so she prepared six live fish every day. If Qin San Lang didn’t come, those six live fish would be taken to Gu Daya’s house, and the next day they could be taken back and killed by Lu Gen Sheng.

The braised fish chunks from the brinery shop sell very well, with Boss Hu, Manager Lin, and Manager Feng’s restaurants coming to stock up every day. But butchering fish is a tiring job, so Gu Daya’s house employed Lu Gen Sheng to butcher the fish, getting a copper coin for turning three fish into chunks.

Gu Daya’s house needed hundreds of fish every day, and Lu Gen Sheng’s family could earn nearly two hundred copper coins a day from butchering fish, which amounted to almost six taels of silver a month, much to the delight of Lu Gen Sheng’s family.