Reborn as the Blissful Wife in the countryside

"Zou Hai, your crimes of hiring people to kidnap and cause death, trafficking in household registration, and deceiving women of good families into marriage are extremely vile and heinous. You will be punished for all your crimes concurrently and sentenced to be cut at the waist, execution date to be determined!"

After making the pronouncement, County Magistrate Xu struck the gavel, signifying Zou Hai's conviction.

In fact, Zou Hai's crimes are not limited to these few; he also conspired with County Magistrate Zou in many illicit deeds, at least half of which involved life-and-death legal disputes. However, due to a lack of evidence, the county government could only let those deeds slide, sentencing Zou Hai based on the confirmed charges.

The reason for choosing a date for execution was that many of the cases involving Zou Hai were related to Zou Youlian, who is an important witness. He needed to be escorted to the Imperial Court of Judicial Review in the Capital along with Zou Youlian. After the Water Bandit Case concludes, they would then be executed together.

Zou Hai had long known he would be sentenced to death and was unafraid.

But his wife and children despised him to the bone, publicly cursing him in the court: "You bastard, you have brought disaster to my entire family. Pretending to be a young master from a family of scholars and farmers, claiming that your great-grandfather left Hushan Prefecture and you were obeying his dying wish to return home. Ha! You sure found a good excuse. My Bai family must have been blind to have trusted you, and now you've dragged us all down with you."

"Although my Bai family isn't particularly prominent, we are a household clean of any criminal or violent offender for generations. Now our family's reputation has been utterly tarnished by you, you despicable cur. Even as a ghost, I will not let you off!" Mrs. Bai, Zou Hai's wife in Jianghuai Hushan Prefecture, lamented that because of Zou Hai's actions, her Bai family had become the laughingstock of Hushan Prefecture. She and her three children were paraded out of Hushan Prefecture to the amusement of onlookers, truly a disgrace.

Mrs. Bai's two sons, who kneeled beside her, were already too frightened to speak.

As Mrs. Bai finished speaking, Mrs. Wu from Central State Pingning Prefecture began to cry and curse: "You're still better off, not knowing the extent of this beast's betrayal towards the three of us. He probably wanted to abandon us because I couldn't bear him a son. He never once looked back at us during the chaos in Central State... I've been living like a widow all these years, bearing all family burdens alone. I was so scared during the times when refugees surrounded our home demanding food, I dared not sleep at night for fear of any mishap."

She then pointed at Zhang Yan'er and said, "While we mother and daughter lived in constant fear, that beast must have been enjoying his cozy life with his little mistress!"

Zhang Yan'er cried out in anger upon hearing this, pointing at Zou Hai and said, "Do you think I wasn't victimized by him? I've been married to him for six years, and he barely comes home three or four times a year. It's worse than being widowed, and the entire Yujiang County laughs at me, calling me his concubine."

Zou Hai listened to his wives' scolding and simply sneered, "Though I didn't often come home, did I ever skimp on providing for you? You ate and drank at my expense, and now that I am in trouble, you seek to escape guilt by claiming to have been duped into marriage. Don't even think about it. If we die, we die together, and I'll have plenty of time to accompany you in the underworld. You won't have to complain anymore!"

Hearing this, Zou Hai's wives cursed even louder. County Magistrate Xu, fearing that Junior Minister Ming, who was present, might lose his temper, banged the gavel forcefully and shouted, "Silence! Silence!"

This is a public court, not a marketplace. Why the clamor?

The impeccably dressed Junior Minister Ming sat upright, yet not stiff, his youthful face calm and composed, bearing the serene confidence of a noble son. Noticing County Magistrate Xu looking towards him, he gave a nod of approval and said to Xu, "It is not surprising that he would be sentenced to waist-cutting execution."

Even his wife and children utter such heart-rending curses; his wickedness is such that even death by a thousand cuts would not be unjust.

Relieved at these words, County Magistrate Xu continued with the sentencing for Zou Hai's family: "As Zou Hai is of the slave register, although you may have been deceived into marriage, by law, the children born to him are also of the slave register and must be registered as such."

Upon hearing this, Mrs. Bai and Mrs. Wu made yet another commotion, pleading, "Your Honor, we were deceived into marriage and bore children without knowing Zou Hai was a slave. We implore you to show mercy on account of our being duped, and spare our children, please."

Zou Hai's wife and children were indeed wronged, but Great Chu employs severe statutes and collective punishment, which has always meant that when one person commits a crime, the whole family is executed. County Magistrate Xu could only sentence all of Zou Hai's children to become slaves.

As for the daughters-in-law, taking into consideration that they were deceived into marriage, they were allowed to divorce Zou Hai.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Yan'er, who had been anxious for over ten days, finally let go and cried tears of joy in court.

Mrs. Bai and Mrs. Wu, upset about their children being made slaves, wanted to make more trouble, but Mrs. Ying, who had been silent, whispered to them, "Don't panic. We can use money to buy the children back, then go to the government office to have their slave status removed and have them registered under their mother's family name to restore their status as free people."

She also added, "My family is quite wealthy. If you don't have enough silver, I can provide for you, but please don't make a further scene. Making too much of a fuss in court will do us no good."

Upon hearing this, Mrs. Bai and Mrs. Wu ceased their commotion.

After Zou Hai was sentenced, Wan Lifang's family was also brought to the tribunal.

Wan Lifang had confessed a while ago, but his complicity with Yang Laoda in the kidnapping of Gu Yumei and the resulting loss of life was a fact, leading directly to his sentence of beheading, to be executed at noon the following day.

Wan Lifang was stunned and after regaining his senses, he cried desperately, "Your Honor, I have honestly confessed, why am I still sentenced to death? I object, I object!"

With a bang, Luo Wu wielding a wooden club, struck Wan Lifang. Wan Lifang cried out in pain and, though he didn't dare to continue causing trouble, still claimed he was wronged through his tears.

Gu Dafu's family was observing from the side in the court, and upon hearing this, Gu Dafu cursed, "What injustice can you claim, you beast? Sister Mei's life was taken by you, do you not deserve to pay with your own life? You even intended to kill Lu Shuiwa and her siblings, you are worse than a brute, and if not sentenced to death you will surely harm others in the future."

In an attempt to save his life, Wan Lifang kowtowed to Gu Dafu and his family, "Father-in-law, I know I am wrong, please, have mercy and spare me."

"Shut your mouth, shut your mouth!" Gu Dafu was furious, thoroughly disgusted by Wan Lifang, "Who is your father-in-law? Sister Mei is pure and innocent; she has not married a beast like you."

County Magistrate Xu, seeing that Wan Lifang dared to cause further trouble, ordered Luo Wu to beat him with a dozen sticks, and then stuffed a bundle of hemp cloth in his mouth to keep him quiet.

"Wan Songwen, as a Scholar receiving the grace of the court, you have not managed your family properly, causing numerous embarrassments, and even raised a vicious criminal. According to the law, I hereby strip you of your Scholar title, your whole family will be exiled to the Northwest, never to return home!"

Upon hearing this, Scholar Wan fell to his knees with a thump and fainted completely.

Ms. Ni, not accepting this verdict, wanted to cry and beg for mercy, but a Government Official gagged her before she could speak.

Wan Lizheng was completely terrified, still not having had the chance to speak before being dragged away by the officials.