Reborn as the Blissful Wife in the countryside

"Of course he's been arrested, if he hadn't been, do you think we would be able to stand here watching the excitement? We would've been chased away by the people sent by County Magistrate Zou a long time ago. Look around, who is here to drive us away now?"

"Old Xu is right, the Zou family is the most overbearing, always keeping a strict separation between officials and the common people. If County Magistrate Zou hadn't been arrested and lost his authority to command, he would've had us expelled long ago."

County Magistrate Zou's face turned terribly gloomy upon hearing the words of the surrounding commoners, but he knew that he was currently at a disadvantage. Jiang Dahu bore a grudge against him, and even if he asked Jiang Dahu to disperse the onlookers, Jiang Dahu would not agree and would instead mock him further.

County Magistrate Zou would not do such a self-degrading thing. He just stared straight ahead, walking with his head held high and chest puffed out, as if he was innocent and framed by Zou Jiang.

County Captain Jiang glanced at County Magistrate Zou and sneered inwardly. Indeed, an old fox, still pretending to be an upright gentleman who has been framed. Sadly for County Magistrate Zou, his fate of prison is already sealed.

Zou Mansion was not far from the county government office, but because of the large crowd watching along the way, it took County Magistrate Zou and his party a full 30 minutes to reach the government office.

County Magistrate Xu had been waiting for County Captain Jiang to bring the man over and, upon seeing them arrive, immediately struck the gavel: "Silence, silence, summon Zou Youlian to the court."

Squad Leader Yang led a group of Government Officials to make way, and County Captain Jiang brought County Magistrate Zou to the hall.

County Magistrate Zou, still an official, did not need to kneel. He walked into the hall with a straight back and, seeing County Magistrate Xu on the bench, made a bow: "This humble official pays respects to Your Excellency. I have been wronged and wish to accuse Zou Jiang of framing me. I plead for Your Excellency to accept my case."

Saying this, he produced the petition paper which he had prepared earlier and concealed in his garment, and handed it over to County Magistrate Xu.

Upon seeing this, Steward Shao immediately spoke: "Lord County Magistrate, I am a Scholar, and I can represent County Magistrate Zou as his litigation lawyer. Please accept this case, Lord County Magistrate."

A commoner suing an official, County Magistrate Xu must accept, and if he does not accept County Magistrate Zou's accusation against Zou Jiang, then County Magistrate Xu would be seen as abusing his power to harm an Assistant Officer. If such a case were to be taken to the Prefecture Government Office, County Magistrate Xu would no longer be fit to serve as a chief official.

Once County Magistrate Zou and Steward Shao spoke up, not to mention the excited onlookers, even County Magistrate Xu was shocked, sneering continuously in his heart. He knew County Magistrate Zou was a tyrant in Tianfu County, but he didn't expect that even in such circumstances, County Magistrate Zou would still counter-accuse.

Master Tian was so angry he nearly pointed at County Magistrate Zou and cursed. How could someone surnamed Zou be so malicious as to pull such a trick on them?

County Captain Jiang had worked with County Magistrate Zou for half a lifetime and knew well of County Magistrate Zou's shamelessness. Hearing this, he was not surprised in the least and calmly said: "Zou Youlian, you claim Zou Jiang framed you, but do you have evidence? Without evidence, you're accusing others of framing you; you really know how to cry foul. You should know, Zou Jiang's accusation against you comes with solid evidence."

Master Tian immediately snapped back to his senses and reminded County Magistrate Xu: "Your Excellency, bring out the evidence, crush him with the evidence and throw this man surnamed Zou into the prison first."

With the man surnamed Zou directly counter-accusing, he is a tough nut to crack; they cannot afford to argue with him in court for too long. If this drags on, it would not be surprising if the man surnamed Zou creates more unexpected problems.

County Magistrate Xu immediately said: "Lord Jiang is right, there's an order to these proceedings. Since Zou Jiang was the first to accuse you, his petition should be handled first. Come, bring forth the evidence."

Master Tian immediately recounted the accusations Zou Jiang made against County Magistrate Zou.

"Zou Jiang, originally named Jiang Sheng, accused Zou Youlian of corruption and abuse of power during his tenure: embezzling ten thousand dan of grain tax from Tianfu County Government, fourteen hundred taels from the poll tax, using his position to privately seize one thousand one hundred mu of paddy fields, two thousand six hundred mu of dry land, fifty-seven houses, and thirty-one shops."

Master Tian pointed to a wooden box on his desk and said, "These are the account books submitted by Jiang Sheng, which clearly record the amounts embezzled by Zou Youlian. There are also five letters to the clerks at Si Li Square in Hukou Town, Xianggui Town, and Yonglu Town, as well as several village chiefs and village chiefs, all evidence of collusion between Zou Youlian and them in the scheme to seize the peasants' fields, houses, and shops."

"We have already examined these letters and account books; the fields, houses, and shops mentioned in the account books are indeed factual. Now, two-tenths of these properties are under the name of the Zou family, two-tenths are under the name of Steward Shao's wife, and for those not under the Zou or Shao families, Lord will send someone to investigate."

"The handwriting on the letters comes from three different people; we have yet to find the other two, but one of them is indeed Steward Shao."

After Master Tian finished, he looked at the pale-faced Steward Shao with a smile and said, "Steward Shao, you don't have to act as County Magistrate Zou's litigation lawyer anymore. Come, bind this Shao Qizhuang and bring him to the trial!"

"Yes." Three Government Officials immediately rushed over, bound the still dazed Steward Shao, and forced him to the ground.

Steward Shao's knees ached, and he finally came to his senses, shouting, "Injustice, injustice, I did not assist County Magistrate Zou in corruption and abuse of power, I am innocent!"

It was a case of fearing what might come to pass; over the years, Steward Shao had done many evil deeds for County Magistrate Zou and gained quite a bit, and now with County Magistrate Zou being accused by Zou Jiang, he began to fear being implicated and thrown into prison.

County Magistrate Xu said, "Innocence or guilt will be determined by the evidence. If you have evidence to prove your innocence, I will handle it impartially and release you in court; if not, you will be detained for the trial."

"These are only the proceeds of corruption and malpractice, but over the past decades, Zou Youlian also committed crimes of abuse of power for personal gain, taking money to harm lives, using his control over conscription labor to sell good-standing citizens as slaves to Jiangnan!"

Master Tian pointed to another wooden box containing evidence and said, "All these are evidence of Zou Youlian selling free citizens as slaves!"

The crowd outside the government gate, upon hearing this, was utterly shocked and furious, pointing at County Magistrate Zou and shouting, "Zou Youlian, you old beast, how could you sell labor-serving citizens into slavery, are you even human?!"

"Eh! My second son hasn't come back since he went to serve labor duties over a decade ago, and the government's statement was that he died, but not even his corpse was returned. Did he really die, or was he sold into slavery by Zou Youlian?!"

"My eldest son too, neither seen in life nor found in death..."

"My husband as well, never returned after going to serve labor duties, my father-in-law and mother-in-law repeatedly inquired at the government with no answers. Thinking of searching where my husband served labor duties, but the government didn't provide any address. My in-laws died with unresolved grief. It has been twenty years now, my son has married and fathered a son, yet we have not found his father's body. In the grave lies just a set of his clothes."

"Wuu wuu wuu, God in heaven, is my husband dead or was he sold!" An elderly woman, who initially came with her grandson to watch the excitement, now sat at the government gate sobbing heavily.

Other citizens whose family members were said to have died while serving labor duties, without their bodies returned, were all enraged, almost madly attempting to rush into the government office to confront County Magistrate Zou, causing a massive uproar.