Reborn as the Blissful Wife in the countryside-Chapter 156: Capturing Someone in the Village

The next morning at the crack of dawn, before Lu Dezhu’s wife and two sons could even get out of bed, they were captured by a group of Government Officials who stormed into their room and tied them up with ropes.

Ms. Ge, Lu Dezhu’s wife, screamed, "Who are you? Let us go! We haven’t broken any laws, we are the Lu Family People, relatives of County Magistrate Zou!"

Lu Jincai, Lu Dezhu’s eldest son, also shouted, "We are relatives of County Magistrate Zou, release us at once, or the County Governor will not let you off!"

Bang—

One of the Government Officials kicked Lu Jincai in the chest and cursed, "Pah, County Magistrate Zou won’t let us off? You think too highly of yourself. Even if County Magistrate Zou had the brains of a pig, he would never bother to pick a quarrel with us over you!"

Lu Jincai was kicked violently in the chest, causing him to curl up on the ground and wail in pain.

Ms. Ge’s face turned pale with fright; her previous arrogance disappeared, and she shivering begged the Government Officials, "Mas... Master Constable, please, calm your anger, calm your anger."

Lu Jinjin, Lu Dezhu’s second son, was more clever. Seeing his elder brother getting beaten, he didn’t dare to cry out blindly but looked around at the group of Government Officials, his gaze settling on the constable Squad Leader. He addressed him, "Esteemed Lord, is there perhaps some misunderstanding? Our family has always been law-abiding citizens."

Lu Dezhu and Ms. Ge had a total of two sons and four daughters, and they sold their four daughters in exchange for money when each girl turned seven. Over the years, aside from petty theft and helping the Lu Family with unscrupulous activities to make money, they lived by selling off their daughters.

They owned farmland but hardly tended to it; the wild grass there grew taller than the crops.

"Law-abiding citizens?" Squad Leader Yang laughed: "A whole family working together to steal cattle, steal pigs, spread rumors to extort money, and prey on the vulnerable women and children who have lost their husbands or fathers, bullying women—is that what you call law-abiding citizens? To hell with your claim of being law-abiding!"

Squad Leader Yang grabbed a large stick from another Government Official and brutally beat Lu Jinjin with it.

Thud, thud, thud!

He beat Lu Jinjin until he bled from his head and cried out for mercy: "Lord, spare my life, please, Lord, have mercy."

The more Lu Jinjin pleaded, the more ferociously Squad Leader Yang beat him, until Lu Jinjin nearly passed out from the beating.

After he finished with Lu Jinjin, he beat Lu Jincai and Ms. Ge, pummeling the three of them until they screamed in agony, with wounds all over their heads, faces, and bodies.

Squad Leader Yang was so incensed because they had interrogated Lu Dezhu overnight and found out that the Lu Dezhu’s Family had not only stolen cattle from Village Chief He’s house more than twenty years ago, but they had also harmed a girl fifteen years earlier, and in the last decade, they intermittently brought misfortune upon four different girls. One of those girls was even from the same village; they had completely lost all conscience!

The other three girls were from other villages. Lu Dezhu, having no money to find wives for his sons, would wander around nearby villages with his sons. Once his sons took a fancy to any girl, they would break into her house at night and assault her, thinking that by doing so, they could cook the raw rice into a done deal, and thus, without spending money, the girl’s family would beg them to marry her off.

Lu Jincai’s wife was taken in that manner, but Lu Jincai was a despicable man. After taking his wife back by underhanded means and losing interest in her, he beat her daily until she miscarried. Unable to bear it anymore, his wife ran away, and her whereabouts remain unknown. She certainly had not returned to her parental home.

The remaining two girls from outside the village, although wronged, were cherished by their families. When the Lu Dezhu’s family created a commotion, they did not marry their daughters into their household, instead sending them to relatives, and eventually seeing them married off to distant lands.

Squad Leader Yang and his men, upon learning of the vile deeds committed by the Lu Dezhu family, were so infuriated they almost beat Lu Dezhu to death on the spot. After questioning and finding out that Lu Dezhu’s daughter-in-law and two sons were also involved, they rushed over by carriage before dawn to make arrests, cornering Ms. Ge and her three children in their home.

Hearing Squad Leader Yang’s words, Ms. Ge knew that disaster was imminent and hurriedly cried out, "Master Constable, Master Constable, this civilian woman is wronged! Those evil acts were all done by Lu Dezhu and his three sons; I was completely unaware. You’ve arrested the wrong person."

Ms. Ge, capable of marrying Lu Dezhu, was inherently cruel-hearted. Seeing that things had gone awry, she pushed the blame onto Lu Dezhu and his three sons, "Arrest them, arrest them, take these two little beasts away. I did nothing; I am truly wronged."

Lu Jincai, upon hearing this, was stunned and looked at his own mother in disbelief: "Mother, what are you saying? We are your own flesh and blood!"

Tears streaming down her face, Ms. Ge said, "My sons, although you are born of me, you have committed sins. You can’t blame your mother. Just follow the Master Constables quietly to the county government and serve your time in prison obediently. Mother will wait for your return."

What of real sons and not real sons, could Lu Dezhu’s seed be reliable? She’d rather have the three father and sons captured. She had her own hoarded silver and the family land; in time, she could buy a servant, holding the servo’t indenture, ensuring the servant dared not neglect her care in her old age.

Ms. Ge dreamt a beautiful dream, but Lu Jinjin saw through her intentions and directly addressed Squad Leader Yang, "Master Constable, don’t let this matron off. She knew all of the evil deeds my father did and even helped him buy medicine to harm other girls. She is no decent farmwife, worse than a procuress."

"Lu Jinjin, you beast, even wronging your own mother, I will strangle you!" Ms. Ge’s eyes were filled with rage, never expecting her own son to turn against her.

Lu Jinjin sneered, "Since you want to send us off to prison, why should I be polite with you? Let’s not dwell on nonsense; if we’re to go to prison, let’s go together!"

Lu Jincai, equally heartless, hearing his younger brother’s words, immediately stiffened his neck and said, "Right, you think you can escape alone? If we’re to die, we die together!"

Hearing this, Ms. Ge nearly passed out with anger, cursing Lu Jincai and Lu Jinjin, "Beasts, ingrates. I raised you all, and this is how you repay me? If I knew you’d be this heartless, I should have drowned you in the piss pot!"

Lu Jincai and Lu Jinjin, unwilling to show weakness, cursed back at Ms. Ge.

Squad Leader Yang, uninterested in watching their mother-son feud, ordered his government officials, "Take them to the courtyard and wait. Search the house for any contraband, and take all household registers and land deeds." These items were to be used to compensate the victims’ families.

"Yes, squad leader."

The subordinates immediately started rummaging through Lu Dezhu’s house, and after half an hour, even poking through the mouse holes, they eventually found a land deed and twenty taels of broken silver.

Learning that the officials had actually found twenty taels of silver, Lu Jinjin was so enraged he nearly devoured Ms. Ge alive.

"You vile woman, how dare you secretly hoard silver behind our backs, and twenty taels at that! No wonder you want to hand us over to the authorities. You planned to pocket your secret funds and live in comfort after we were taken away by the officials! Pah, keep dreaming. Even if we three are to die, we’ll drag you down with us!"

Squad Leader Yang frowned upon hearing this and signaled to one of his officials, "Jiang Zi, gag their mouths for me; they’re annoying me to death."

"Yes." Jiang Zi took out several bunches of coarse cloth and stuffed the mouths of Ms. Ge and her two sons, leaving them only able to mumble and unable to speak further.