Court

"God, I have no choice. My son desperately needs money; if we don't get his medicine soon, he won't make it through the New Year."

He muttered to himself, and when he reached the base of the wall, he wished he could move as slowly as possible.

Master Qian said that there are two dogs in this courtyard, right by the west wall.

To prevent the two dogs from causing trouble, he specially prepared two steamed buns laced with medicine. He threw them in to knock the dogs down first.

Then he poured the oil from the bucket onto the wall and threw the fire starter up there.

The howling north wind whipped up the flames, and they quickly ignited.

"I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry. I had no choice."

Seeing the fire spreading, he turned around and tried to run away.

But as soon as he turned around, someone hit him on the back with a hoe, and he fell to the ground.

"Ouch!" the man couldn't help but exclaim.

Inside the house, Jiang Che, who was holding Jiang Yun Ning and fast asleep, suddenly opened his eyes. Immediately afterward, he heard Lai Fu shouting, "Help! Help! There's a fire!"

Laifu shouted as he pressed himself tightly against the man, afraid that he would run away.

Since the two nights they were robbed, Laifu and Laicai have been discussing keeping watch at night.

I was just about to go to the toilet, and before I could even take my pants off, I saw a steamed bun fall from the sky and land right next to Big Black and Little Black by the courtyard wall not far away.

Before he could react, Dahei and Erhei had already finished eating.

In the blink of an eye, he fell into a deep sleep.

At this point, Laifu no longer cared about taking off his pants to urinate. He re-tied his belt, which he had just loosened, and quietly picked up his hoe, ready to call for help.

But before he could take a few steps, he saw flames shooting into the sky, and the arsonist was about to escape.

In a panic, he could only restrain the people first, and then call for help to put out the fire.

Fortunately, the courtyard wall was a long distance from the main house, and the fire was discovered in time. Many neighbors heard the noise and came up to help put out the fire.

The fire was quickly extinguished, but one side of the courtyard wall was blackened by the fire.

Jiang Che carried the man, who was bound hand and foot, into the main room. He saw Jiang Yun Ning unconsciously rubbing her hands together. Then he went into the room, took out a still-warm hot water bottle, and stuffed it into her hand.

Jiang Yun Ning held the hot water bottle and looked at the unfamiliar man who had been thrown on the ground.

"Tell me. Who sent you?"

I just met Zheng Qi during the day, and then someone set a fire that night. Could it be Zheng Qi?

Since the cooperation failed, are they planning to set fire to the house and steal her soap in the chaos?

She pursed her lips, feeling that based on their interaction today, Zheng Qi didn't seem like such a despicable person. Or was he just a good actor? Two-faced?

"I...I..."

The man was trembling so badly that he confessed everything almost without being forced to.

"I am a servant in Master Qian's household, my name is Fugui. He gave me one hundred taels of silver and asked me to set a fire. He said he was just trying to scare me."

Before Jiang Yunning could even speak, Jiang Yuntian, enraged, kicked him in the butt: "Bullshit!"

There were so many oil stains on the ground near the courtyard wall. How could it be just a scare tactic? They clearly wanted to burn the whole family to death in the courtyard.

If Laifu hadn't discovered them in time, they would have been gone long ago.

The kick was very powerful, and Fugui turned pale with pain, but dared not utter a sound.

"For money, you actually dared to commit murder and arson!" Jiang Yuntian looked at Liu Yuzhi's belly and kicked her again in anger. Still not satisfied, he grabbed her clothes and slapped her several times.

Jiang Yun Ning remained silent, simply observing the reactions of the other family members.

Fortunately, although Jiang Laosan and Wang Cuihua were kind-hearted, they were not saints. Faced with Fugui's attempt to murder their family members, they showed no reluctance whatsoever.

"You'll get your comeuppance for doing this." Wang Cuihua stared at Fugui, then turned to Jiang Yuntian: "Yuntian, you're strong. Give me a couple of slaps for me."

Jiang Yuntian nodded, then slapped him twice more, his hands stinging from the force.

"Stop hitting him! Stop hitting him! I really have no other choice. My son is waiting for medical treatment to save his life, and he said all he needs to do is set a fire."

Fugui was being beaten so badly that he could barely hold on and kept begging for mercy.

Jiang Yunning stood up: "Brother, lock him up when you're tired of beating him. We'll go to the yamen first thing tomorrow morning."

Upon hearing this, Fu Gui collapsed to the ground, pleading, "Please don't sue the authorities! My son is waiting for me to come back and save his life!"

Jiang Yunning scoffed: "Human life became worthless the moment you agreed to set the fire."

Fu Gui was stunned.

He seemed to understand what she meant.

He didn't care about the lives of the Jiang family, so how could anyone care about his son's life?

That night, none of the Jiang family members slept.

Especially the elderly couple, Mr. and Mrs. Jiang, were so worried that they could hardly believe their eyes when they closed them. In the end, they sat up and kept their eyes open until dawn.

As dawn broke, Jiang Yun Ning got up and quickly dressed: "Jiang Che, today you go to the snack shop and help Dong Mei and Chang happy get things going. My brother and I will go to the yamen."

The past few days have seen a heavy snowfall, which is the peak season for hot and sour noodles and roasted chestnuts, with daily revenue reaching seven or eight taels of silver. She couldn't bear to close down just like that.

Moreover, she was worried that others would be envious of the snack shop, and that one of them, Jiang Che, would have to stay and keep the snack shop in order.

Jiang Che frowned, instinctively wanting to object. The next second, as if remembering something, he hummed in agreement.

After a quick breakfast, Jiang Yuning and Jiang Yuntian went to the county government office to file a complaint in a carriage.

When Master Qian was brought to the county government office, he saw Fugui kneeling on the ground and Jiang Yuning unharmed, and knew that he had failed again.

Fortunately, he had already come up with a solution.

Fu Gui's family was poor, and he had a sickly son who relied on medicine to stay alive. As long as he could control that short-lived boy, Fu Gui could be completely used by him.

Thinking of this, Master Qian was no longer flustered and spoke with an innocent and puzzled expression.

"Fugui, I just visited your son. The doctor said it would be best to get some tonics every month. I was even ready to pay, so why was I taken to the yamen? What happened?"

The once numb Fugui heard his son's voice, his empty eyes gleaming, but the more he listened, the more horrified he became. Slowly, the light in his eyes flickered and faded, until finally he could only lower his head.

He understood that Master Qian wanted him to take all the blame, only in this way could he give his son a chance to live.

"Don't say useless things in court." The magistrate picked up the gavel and slammed it down hard. Fugui trembled all over in fright and immediately prostrated himself on the ground.

"Fugui, you just confessed that Master Qian ordered you to set the fire. Now that you have been brought here, you will be confronted in court."

Fugui lay on the ground and slowly pushed himself up.

It was only a few seconds, but it felt like several long years to Master Qian.

"Sir, I lied. I started the fire myself; no one instructed me to."