In early February of the twenty-seventh year of the First Emperor of Qin, the Anlu County prison guard received a report, and the person who reported the case was Zhong, a Tianzuo official in the county.
Although Zhong's title and position were not high, he was the most powerful man in the county and the brother of Heifu, the right concubine. He was so angry that he did not dare to neglect and immediately received him personally.
Zhong is already in his thirties. He used to be a dark and thin farmer. In recent years, after becoming wealthy, his complexion has become much rounder, but his clothes are still simple and he is dressed in linen.
Although Heifu is famous and has the highest reputation in Anlu, Ke Zhi has always kept a low profile. He works in the county temple conscientiously and inspects the farm work conscientiously. Sometimes he even goes barefoot and carries a hoe to the fields to demonstrate to the people the deep cultivation method from Guanzhong.
method.
For such an honest man, it is hard to imagine that he would be involved in a lawsuit, let alone be the plaintiff.
After being invited to the court by Nu, he sincerely explained the reason for his trip.
"Someone pretended to be the concubine's wife and had a son in an adulterous manner?" After hearing this, he was very shocked.
A foreign wife is the "mistress" in ancient times. "Adult child" is the name given to children born out of wedlock in the Qin Dynasty. Since unmarried adultery is not promoted by the government, children born through adultery have a very low status and have no right to inherit their identity.
Those who are a little bit can be recognized by their father and may get some property, while those who are worse are no different from servants at home.
Although the First Emperor of Qin enacted laws to combat adultery, "adult children" still appeared in endless numbers in Nanjun. After all, Jingchu, the land of Yunmeng, had this tradition since ancient times.
For example, five hundred years ago, Dou Bobi, a nobleman of Ruao's family in Chu State, had an affair with the daughter of Yun State and had a son. In order to cover up the scandal, he abandoned the baby in Yunmeng Lake, where he was raised by a tigress and fed with milk.
He did not shy away from others, so Yunzi thought it was a sacred object, so he brought it back to the country of Yun and ordered his daughter to raise him, naming him "Douguyu Tu", which means "the son of a tiger suckling."
Therefore, it is normal for Nanjun officials to have foreign wives outside, but Nu doesn't believe that Heifu would do such a thing.
"Years ago, You Shuchang was appointed as the head of Huyang Pavilion. I was the county magistrate and often interacted with him. I knew very well that You Shuchang only liked to play with strong men and was not interested in women. When I met a woman teasing and seducing him in the streets and shops,
, and didn’t even look sideways. In those two years, let alone being a foreigner, I didn’t even go to the house once!”
"No."
Zhong said: "However, the woman claimed to be from Yuzhang, Jiujiang County, and worked as a prostitute in the military market. Three years ago, my brother-in-law, who was on the southern expedition, passed through Xunyang and asked her to sleep with her..."
"this……"
It's hard to judge now. The army is the loneliest. The Qin army conquered Chu with hundreds of thousands of people. It took two years of fighting to completely destroy Chu. As a result, in the past two years, many Chu lands have sprung up like bamboo shoots after a rain.
Children born from adultery were all seeds left by the soldiers of the Qin army in the local area. It is not clear whether those Chu women were voluntary or forced.
Zhong sighed and said: "Brother Zhong never mentioned this matter to us, but the woman told the time and place one by one, and even the title and authority of Brother Zhong at that time were correct. My mother has always wanted Brother Zhong to have
After listening to this, heir, he saw that the three-year-old child had a dark complexion and looked very similar to his younger brother when he was young, so he believed it to be true..."
Old people are always gullible, and they also think that having more children and grandchildren is a good thing, and it doesn't matter if there is a son born from a foreign wife.
But the lady didn’t think so.
"Fortunately, my brother-in-law only asked one question and the woman showed her weakness."
Having said this, she couldn't help but admire her brother-in-law's calmness and reason. An ordinary woman would definitely be jealous, but she just asked the woman coldly.
"You said he slept with you several times. Did he send someone to summon you to the big tent, or did he go to the maid's hut by himself?"
The woman said that the man came by herself at night, and she also asked questions, but the man who called himself "Sima Heifu of the Other Department" said that he had a noble status and it would not be good to directly summon her to the big tent, so he came in disguise.
In fact, Zi Jin was a little unsure at that time. During the boudoir ceremony, although her husband claimed that he had never touched a woman before, Zi Jin did not believe it.
Her husband was very skillful in his methods. On the wedding night, he showed pity to her and only tried it briefly. After that, he got out of control and always asked himself to do some embarrassing postures. He was probably a veteran in the romantic field. Although he had not heard of any bad deeds, he must have done so.
I have passed many women, otherwise how could I be so skilled?
Although there was suspicion, Ye Zijin also concluded from the woman's story that the matter was probably false.
"Will he pay the money afterwards?" Ye Zijin asked another key question.
The woman hesitated for a moment and said no. She only gave her a piece of linen to make clothes. She left with the army the next day and was never heard from again.
However, she kept remembering this incident, and did not have sex with anyone for several months until she became pregnant. She kept waiting by the river with her belly raised, but the officer who claimed that he would "come to pick her up after the truce"...
Never appeared again.
After the woman gave birth to the baby, she raised the baby alone for two years. After asking around, she managed to find a way to get a genetic test. She took a ship arranged by Hei Fu to transport soldiers and their families between Xiakou and Jiujiang for free, and came to Anlu...
"After hearing this, my mother and I knew that this kind of bastard thing was definitely not done by my brother Zhong."
Zhong handed over the evidence by the way, which was a scroll of bamboo slips and a book bound with linen paper. This was Heifu's new invention. In the past, a book had to be divided into many volumes, but now it can be compiled directly into one.
After Nu took it, he saw that "Southern Expedition" was written in official script on it. Looking at the handwriting inside, it was very graceful, as if it was written by a woman...
"It was written by my middle brother when he was marching south to Yuzhang. It recorded the daily march and formation, local customs, and what he did. My brother-in-law copied it on paper for him."
The corresponding woman said that the night when the "black husband" got into her shack, although the place was in Xunyang, the old bamboo slips and paper books clearly recorded:
"The boat passed Zhuzhu, Jiujiang, and after traveling less than ten miles, suddenly there was a storm and strong waves. We hurriedly tied the cable to Xunyang. We stayed here for the night. We boarded the boat to visit Zhao Tuo, the Lord of Five Hundred, and talked with him until late at night. We stayed at
On the ship, the next day, we resumed sailing and set sail."
This would not be right. Although the woman denied it and said that she had misremembered the specific day, Heifu remembered it clearly. He only stayed in Xunyang for one night, and the lie was self-defeating.
Afterwards, the woman confessed honestly. In fact, she had already guessed that the officer who came to spend the night that day was bragging and pretending to be a black man. There was no way he could be a high-ranking official like Sima from another department. However, she still took one ten thousandth
With high expectations, he crossed the river with his son.
"My mother took pity on her and wanted to take in the mother and son, but my brother-in-law did not agree."
When Zhong first met Ye Zijin, he thought she was a gentle lady who spoke and acted softly. But today, she showed her strength!
She said: "If this girl is truly a beloved wife, and this son is truly the son of a beloved man, I will take care of her properly, raise her with delicious food, and treat her as my own."
"But they are just hypocrites with a lucky heart. If you are soft-hearted and accept them, the rumors may spread throughout Anlu and Nanjun. The common people in the countryside are mostly people who like liveliness. They would rather believe that they are there, and the lies will come into their mouths.
, will also become true!”
All these words made sense, so Zhong's mother took a step back and said, "If you don't want to stay, don't stay. Don't blame this poor woman. Just give her some money and let her go back to Xunyang."
Ye Zijin still disagreed. She bowed to the ground, her voice gentle but her attitude very firm.
"Mother, if you don't reward or dissuade, you're doing good deeds; if you're not punishing, you're indulging in evil. Although this woman is pitiful, what she did was illegal. If we give her money and silk and let her go, let alone my family committing a crime of harboring evil.
This is a crime. Seeing that this woman has benefited, the people of the county are afraid that in time, the woman who pretends to be the son of her husband with a child in her arms will cross the threshold!"
The girl gave the only solution: "Report the blame to the officials, ask the officials to clarify the case, and then send the woman back to her place of origin for trial. We must find the villain who pretended to be a good man and owed a romantic debt!"
Although Qin's laws are strict, there are still many people who commit crimes, and impersonation and fraud also occur from time to time. For example, a few years ago, a disciple of Nanyang School caused a great impact by pretending to be Feng Wuze's son to defraud money and silk.
The army is full of good and bad, and it cannot be ruled out that some officers pretend to be superiors in women's households.
The military official who pretended to be a black man is the source of all evil and must be caught and severely punished.
"This is how we can put this matter to rest!"
This is why Zhong is taking the unprecedented step of becoming a plaintiff today.
"Mrs. Youshu Zhang... you are truly worthy of being the daughter of a county governor. She behaves with the power of a county governor." She praised angrily and felt that this lady was really untouchable.
Zhongye nodded in agreement and took the crying woman to the county temple. He also worriedly asked his brother-in-law:
"My family is doing this, and although it is abiding by the law, will it be considered unkind by the county people if it treats orphans and widows like this?"
But Ye Zijin has her own reasons: "Brother, a gentleman loves others with virtue, and a villain loves others with tolerance. I believe that you should practice the love of a gentleman and not the pity of a villain. Besides..."
"Set up ships, open sugar mills, feed our parents, and raise our children. My family's kindness in Anlu is enough, and the Anlu people also love my family very much, but I secretly feel that there is still something missing..."
"What's missing?" Zhong asked. Unknowingly, when Hei Fu was away, the backbone of their family was Ye Zijin.
The girl who was a new wife lost her obedient and obedient attitude in front of the black husband, and there was a faint power in her smile.
"Awe!"
…
Just when Heifu was cleared by his wife of being a foster mother and having a child, thousands of miles away in Pei County, Surabaya County, in a village next to the Surabaya Pavilion, the bearded Liu Ji held a sleepy baby high.
Get up and laugh.
"This nose and this forehead are exactly the same as mine! They are really my kind!"
Widow Cao, who was pale and sweaty, lay weakly on the shabby straw mat and smiled happily. She had already begun to look forward to being called "Mrs. Pavilion Chief" after marrying Liu Ji.
But her smile soon solidified. After Liu Ji finished teasing the baby named "Fat", he lowered his head and said something to Widow Cao confidently.
"I admit that this son is mine, and I will give you two shi of millet every month to support your mother and son, but I cannot marry you!"
He said shamelessly: "My wife is going to marry a beautiful lady. You can only be my wife..."
Widow Cao suddenly changed her color. She was so angry that she grabbed a clod of soil and threw it towards Liu Ji, cursing.
"Liu Ji, you damn thing! You used to be a wanderer, but now you fight for petty officials. You have no money and no house, and you still want to marry a lady from a famous family? Bah!"
She picked up Liu Fei and cried: "My mother doesn't care about you raising her. This baby is not yours either. It was born between me and the shoemaker next door. Get out of here!"
Liu Ji quickly ran away, ran out the door, stuck his head in, and said with a playful smile: "Ms. Cao, I only promised to support you in advance, but I didn't promise to marry you. A true man will do what he says, just wait, I will do it now
