Chapter 365 Death News
Early the next morning, Xia Zilan and Mrs. Xu had just finished breakfast when they were surrounded by a group of maids and women... Oh, no, they were gagged and escorted into the carriage.
Within an hour, a group of people left the capital and headed for Jiangning City.
Not long after Xu left, October entered, and the news of Lady Cao's death came.
It is said that people came out of the temple and contracted smallpox on the way.
Smallpox was a contagious disease with a near-death risk. People with this disease were not allowed to enter the city by the court.
Even if people in the city got the disease, they had to be sent out of the city immediately, and even those who had been in contact with the sick people had to be quarantined for a period of time.
Only when everything is in good condition can we enter the city.
After Cao Zian heard the news, he was heartbroken and grief-stricken, so he asked Madam Cao to borrow a village five or six days away from the capital to treat Madam Cao.
After Lady Cao contracted the disease, Cao Zian became very infatuated. He left Old Lady Cao at Cao's house and went to Zhuangzi alone to take care of Lady Cao.
But Mrs. Cao still couldn't make it through. After arriving at Zhuangzi, she left within a few days.
When the Zheng family got the news and rushed over heartbroken, Lady Cao's body had just been cremated.
However, the daughter whom I hadn't seen for just over a month, when I saw her again, she was already a pile of ashes, a burnt black skeleton.
The two members of the Zheng family cried so hard that one was heartbroken and heartbroken.
People who contracted smallpox not only had to be cremated as soon as possible, but they also had to be buried as soon as possible to avoid the spread of the infectious disease.
Even if the Zheng family was reluctant to part with it, they did not dare to violate the court's regulations. They buried Lady Cao's ashes the next day.
After being quarantined for half a month, a group of people returned to the capital.
Cao Zian personally delivered his father-in-law and mother-in-law to the gate of Zheng's house.
"Father-in-law, mother-in-law."
When the Zheng family was about to enter, Cao Zian suddenly stopped them, his eyes were moist and red, looking very sad, "Although my wife is gone, I am still your son-in-law, and I will continue to honor you."
He choked up for a moment, with a hint of crying in his voice, and continued to perform, "They say that for a son-in-law, I am your biological son. From now on, I will take care of you until you die, and you will be my parents."
The heartfelt remarks moved the Zheng family members to tears.
Madam Zheng immediately held Cao Zian's hand and cried so hard, "Zian, I remember your affection for my son."
The head of the Zheng family also shed tears and said, "Okay, okay, okay, with these few words from you, our love for you these days has not been in vain."
Love him?
Humph, you didn’t kill him, did you?
Cao Zian felt disdainful, but said, "Father-in-law, you and my wife are both good to me. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have a family until now. With you, I know what family is."< br>
"It's just...I didn't expect that my wife...hey, from now on, I will honor the two elders on my behalf."
The pretentious wiping of tears completely deceived the hearts of the two elders of the Zheng family.
After sending Cao Zian off, the Zheng family returned to their house and cried again when they thought of their short-lived daughter.
In the evening, the couple had no appetite, so they climbed onto the kang to rest. Madam Zheng felt that the pillow was extremely high today, making it uncomfortable to sleep on.
Inadvertently, I pulled out a large pile of paper from the bottom.
"Her dad, what is this?"
Madam Zheng held a stack of paper with a puzzled look on her face.
The head of the Zheng family quickly got up and lit the oil lamp. There was light in the room, and the couple could see clearly that the paper was full of small figures with words beside them.
The Zheng family is illiterate.
But I can read paintings.
The first picture shows a young man and an old woman getting off a carriage at the door of a house. A fat young woman opens the door from inside and leans out half of her body.
Madam Zheng looked at it and exclaimed, "Dad, isn't this Zian, our daughter, and her biological mother?"
The couple looked at each other and started flipping through each page.
When they saw Mrs. Cao hitting Madam Cao with a chair, her head was bruised and bleeding, and the Cao family's mother and son pushed Madam Cao to the ground and beat her, both of the Zheng family's faces were black and blue with anger, and their bodies were shaking.
Especially when they saw Mrs. Cao being tied up and locked up in a firewood shed without food, the Zheng family got angry and hammered the bed, "Inhumane, you beast..."
When Mrs. Zheng turned to the seventh card and the Cao family put Mrs. Cao into a sack, her head buzzed and she quickly turned to the next card.
Sure enough, the next painting showed the Cao family's mother and son working together to load Mrs. Cao in a sack into a carriage. A young and beautiful woman carrying a basket came from far away from the alley.
Madam Zheng screamed, and suddenly she went crazy, crying and shouting, "His father, his father, this person is me, wuwu... My daughter was put in a sack and stuffed into the carriage. Guess, I, a mother-in-law, was at the scene, but I didn’t even know it. I was talking and laughing with my enemies, and even gave them free tofu and tofu skin to eat. Those two beasts were the murderers of my daughter..."
All these evidences prove that the Cao family's mother and son killed Lady Cao.
The Zheng family was extremely sad. Early the next morning, without even eating breakfast, they went to the government office to report the crime with a pile of evidence. When the officials arrived at the Cao family to arrest someone, the Cao family's mother and son were having breakfast at the table.
While eating, they happily discussed how to coax the Zheng family's recipe for making tofu into their hands. You know, that recipe can be sold for twenty taels of silver.
With this amount of money, and Mrs. Cao said that after killing Madam Cao, she would promote Cao Zian to the rank of steward of the Cao family. At that time, he would have a monthly salary of three taels of silver.
After two years, these twenty taels of silver, plus his monthly money, will be able to save seventy taels of silver even if food and drink are not taken away.
With this large amount of money, when the time comes, he can let Mrs. Cao make the decision to marry him a charming little lady.
What Mrs. Cao thought was that if she had twenty taels of silver, she would keep fifteen taels of silver as her own private money, and the remaining five taels of silver would give her son a wife.
Anyway, Mrs. Cao owes them mother and son. When the time comes, she will let Mrs. Cao decide which maid in the Cao family's house is beautiful and give her Anzi as a daughter-in-law. Maybe even the five taels of silver will be useless.
It does not mean that the maids in wealthy families are all slaves bought by their masters. The contracts of sale are in the hands of the masters. They have to do whatever the master tells them.
When the time comes, as long as Mrs. Cao shows mercy, Anzi from her family will be able to get a daughter-in-law for free.
The mother and son were discussing, their eyes full of calculations.
Thinking of the good days ahead, the two of them felt very happy. Even the simple steamed buns and pickles were very delicious to them.
Dong Dong Dong...
Before I could finish eating, there were knocks on the door outside.
When Cao Zian cursed and put down his chopsticks, and went to open the door, his curses suddenly stopped, and his face turned pale at that moment.
"Are you Cao Zian?" Mr. Chai outside the door raised his eyebrows and looked Cao Zian up and down.
Cao Zian was in a state of panic, and his calves could not help but tremble, but he still tried to keep himself calm, bowed respectfully, and said, "Yes, I am Cao Zian, Mr. Chai, what's the matter?" What are you doing? ”
"Someone reported the crime, saying that your mother and son collaborated to kill your wife." Then he glanced at Mrs. Cao who came out later, and said impatiently, "Come on, come with us."
"Master Chai, is there any misunderstanding? How could I kill my daughter-in-law? My daughter-in-law died of smallpox, and everyone around here knows it."
As expected of Mrs. Cao, she could still calmly defend herself at this time.
Compared to Cao Zian, whose heart was trembling with fear and whose legs were shaking, Old Lady Cao could be called a thousand-year-old fox whose face would not change even if the sky fell.
Mr. Cha just obeyed orders and didn't bother to listen to Mrs. Cao's excuse. He stretched out his hand to pull Mrs. Cao.
When Mrs. Cao saw this, she let out a scream and lay down on the ground to play.
I actually wanted to let it go.
But in a life case in the government office, how could one not arrest someone just because a shrew was playing tricks?
From then on, whoever kills people will come to play tricks, and the world will not be in chaos.
We see many people like this in official positions.
Without saying a word, the officer knocked down the old woman Cao with a knife, knocked her unconscious, and then left.
Cao Zian turned pale with fright, but he didn't dare not follow him.
The matter between the Zheng family and the Cao family exploded in the capital like a bowl of water poured into a hot oil pan.
For the nobles in the capital, they added a dessert after tea.
By the way, after the Cao family's mother and son entered the government office, they underwent a series of interrogations.
The Cao family's mother and son were cunning and refused to acknowledge the execution no matter what. The skin on their buttocks was bruised and bruised, and they gritted their teeth and said it was the Zheng family who made the false accusation and they did not kill Lady Cao.
The official went to Zhuangzi above the villain painting to investigate.
Because when Cao Zian brought Lady Cao to Zhuangzi, he told her that she was suffering from smallpox, which frightened the people in Zhuangzi and did not dare to approach Lady Cao. Therefore, no one had really seen Lady Cao, and no one knew about Lady Cao. Smallpox is real or fake.
When Cao Zian carried her to the room, she was wrapped in a quilt and her whole body was under the quilt. They only saw a silhouette, not a real person.
When the officials asked, they told the truth and what they knew, but everyone said that Lady Cao died of smallpox, and no one testified that Lady Cao was killed by Cao Zian.
There is no direct evidence, and just a small painting of a villain is not enough to convict the Cao family and their son.
This time, it was difficult for the government officials.
Just when everyone was at a loss for words, a person suddenly came to the door of the government office. The person who came was a neighbor of the Cao family, who came specially to testify.
"There was a leak in the roof of my house. That day, I happened to be repairing the leak on the roof, and I saw the Cao family's mother and son beating Mrs. Cao in the yard."
"Then Mrs. Cao, to be honest, she is domineering, brutal and unreasonable. My wife is often bullied by her on weekdays. If it weren't for my conscience, I really wouldn't be willing to be her witness."
Then he talked about what happened that day, "I also saw with my own eyes the mother and son of the Cao family, who tied up Mrs. Cao and locked her up in the woodshed."
(End of chapter)