Xi'er had no choice but to put her fingerprints on the deed of sale herself.
Yang Bailao was filled with grief and anger. He picked up a stick and tried to resist, but was beaten to the ground by a group of thugs. Then the group carried Xi'er and walked away, leaving Yang Bailao alone and shouting in pain.
At the end of the first act, many people in the audience cried, and the middle-aged man holding his son also wiped his tears. He thought of his wife who died young.
The curtain opened on the stage, and it changed to the second act, where the Yamen complained of grievances.
With the help of Dahang and other villagers, Yang Bailao came to the local government office. Through the dialogue between these villagers and Yang Bailao, the audience learned that the local county magistrate was a Qingtian man with a good official reputation, so everyone felt that
Hope was ignited.
When they got to the hall, Yang Bailao cried and complained about his grievances. The county magistrate heard that he was angry and asked Butler Mu on the spot if this was the case. Butler Mu picked his nose and said with a smile: "County Magistrate Zhang is good at reassuring the people and has outstanding political achievements. I believe in Zhang."
The county magistrate is aware of everything and will definitely clear the name of the Huang family!"
County Magistrate Zhang narrowed his eyes, stroked his beard and thought for a while, then suppressed the case and sent someone to investigate first.
After leaving the county government office, Butler Mu cursed fiercely: "Yang Bailao, you idiot, how dare you bite Mr. Huang back? Are you tired of living?"
Yang Bailao retorted: "You robbed civilian girls and said I bit Mr. Huang back? I'm going to sue the officials! I don't believe it. Isn't there a place for reasoning in this world?"
Butler Mu sneered: "The county magistrate and Mr. Huang are friends. This is the yamen door. Where are you going to reason?"
Yang Bailao's face turned pale: "Are the county magistrate and Mr. Huang friends? But they say that the county magistrate enforces the law impartially, and he is a rare blue sky master!"
Butler Mu walked away: "Then let's wait and see!"
Yang Bailao, Butler Mu and others left the stage, leaving only County Magistrate Zhang and his entourage. Behind the lobby of the county government office, Magistrate Zhang’s master said to County Magistrate Zhang: “County Magistrate, the Huang family asked me to transfer 30,000 yuan to you.
Guan, please don’t ask about this case.”
County Magistrate Zhang was furious and refused, demanding that the master must find out Yang Xier's whereabouts within three days.
The next day, the county magistrate's wife went to the study and handed a post to Magistrate Zhang. It said "One hundred thousand yuan of money" on it.
The county magistrate explained the cause and effect, and then immediately got up and left angrily.
County Magistrate Zhang asked the master about the progress of the investigation. Seeing that he could not shirk the blame, the master went out with his troops.
This time, the whereabouts of Yang Xier were not brought. Instead, Mr. Huang came to plead guilty in person and delivered a wooden box to County Magistrate Zhang. After opening it, he found one hundred thousand taels of silver inside. This time Magistrate Zhang was silent.
Upon seeing this, Mr. Huang went home satisfied.
The county magistrate's wife picked up a few pieces of silver and asked: "Officials have always been clean and impartial. People call you Mr. Qingtian, but you still give in with these white pieces of silver in front of you. It seems that in the past
The reputation is all because the price is not right!”
County Magistrate Zhang shook his head and said, "It's not that I'm pretending to be noble, it's that they gave me too much!"
He explained that with 30,000 guan, he could only buy the subordinate officials in the county government and people close to County Magistrate Zhang, but as long as County Magistrate Zhang ignored them, he could continue to investigate the case; with 50,000 guan, he could already buy them.
Most prefectural and county magistrates have agreed, but as long as Magistrate Zhang himself sternly refuses, that will be enough.
But with as much as one hundred thousand taels of silver, you can reach the gods! Not to mention that there are governors and military envoys in the state on top of County Magistrate Zhang. With one hundred thousand taels of silver, you can even open up connections in the palace! With so much money, all the people in the world can
There is nothing that cannot be saved!
Furthermore, if Huang Shiren's family can produce one hundred thousand taels of silver, they must be extremely powerful in the local area. If they are really unyielding and a civil uprising breaks out, County Magistrate Zhang will not be able to reap any good consequences.
"I am afraid of the disaster and have to stop." County Magistrate Zhang said to his wife, "If I accept this money, I can also provide some subsidies for the plaintiff's family."
The county magistrate's wife curiously asked her husband: "How beautiful must Yang Xi'er be to allow Huang Shiren to pay one hundred thousand taels of silver to settle matters?"
County Magistrate Zhang shook his head: "These one hundred thousand taels of silver are not for one Yang Xi'er, but for the tens of thousands of Yang Xi'ers that the Huang family has captured in the past and in the future. Today, one hundred thousand taels of silver are paid.
In a few years, he will have to capture another one hundred, one thousand Yang Xier to get back his money!"
The county magistrate's wife was too frightened to speak.
The next day, when the court was raised again, County Magistrate Zhang announced that the incident of Yang Xier being kidnapped by the Huang family was just a rumor. It was Yang Bailao who took the initiative to send his daughter to the Huang family as a servant. However, he was dissatisfied with the low deed payment and falsely accused his employer Huang Shiren. However, he pitied Yang Bailao's family.
After years of poverty and no punishment, the case is over.
This verdict hit the ears of Yang Bailao and all the villagers like a thunderbolt from the blue. Huang Shiren was not even present in person. Only Butler Mu laughed at Yang Bailao and said: "How about it, you know this time? King Fa Wang Fa belongs to the Huang family.
Dharma! How can there be any room for reasoning in this world?"
Upon seeing this, County Magistrate Zhang wanted to say something, but suppressed it.
Yang Bailao was helped out of the county office by Dahang like a zombie, but he saw County Magistrate Zhang changed his clothes and came up to Yang Bailao and said: "Yang Bailao, this county knows that you are resentful, but the Huang family is a powerful family in the county, and this county does not
Dare to move lightly, otherwise I'm afraid something unbearable will happen!"
"Here is a hundred taels of silver that I took out of my salary. Take it and go to another place to ask a wife to have a baby. Xi'er, just pretend that you have never given birth!" County Magistrate Zhang said.
Putting the bag of money in Yang Bailao's hand, he advised, "Think about the overall situation!"
Yang Bailao asked County Magistrate Zhang angrily: "Considering the overall situation? In order to make money, the government suddenly raised the price of salt from 10 yuan to 110 yuan. The common people could no longer afford salt and could only eat light food. Even private salt
The dealers have no business anymore!”
"Look at the natural enemies at the foot of Sleepy Hollow. Seventy-eight percent of them are under the names of the two big families in the south of the city. All the people in the county are either tenants or tenants! How come the overall situation is never considered for us?"
County Magistrate Zhang stood there, not knowing what to say.
Yang Bailao threw away the bag of money from County Magistrate Zhang, and a hundred silver coins rolled around on the stage. Then Magistrate Zhang picked up all the coins on the ground with distress.
At the end of this scene, Yang Bailao, who was helpless and extremely sad and angry, used all the money he had left to buy a bucket of brine, drank it and committed suicide.
The open space under the stage was eerily quiet. All the audience members watched Yang Bailao go to a dead end, with chills running down their backs, as if it was not an actor on the stage who committed suicide by drinking brine, but themselves.