Chapter 233: The Verdict

Disclaimer: 

1. This is an unofficial translation and no permission has been obtained from the author/ official publisher. It may be taken down if the author/official publisher requests. 

2. This is a fan work and the interpretation represents only the translator’s personal views without any input from the author. 

3. No permission has been granted to use, publish, upload and/or copy this translation to any other site except for Second Life Translations.

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Liu Changshi had been growing goji berries for 10 years now. His plants had long since been producing fruit for him. He now owned about 30 mu of land while Liu Changgeng had about 50 mu, all of which were devoted to farming goji berries. Everyone in Feng County, as well as all the nearby towns would come to buy their produce. 

Every year, each mu would fetch about 70 taels of silver, which meant that every year, they would have made about 5-6000 taels of silver. After deducting labor costs, they earned about 4000 in profit every year. Although Liu Changshi had less land than his erge, because he was the one who managed Liu Changgeng’s land, Liu Changgeng would give him 500 taels for his work every year. So Liu Changshi would make about 2000 taels of silver annually. 

So it could be said that Liu Changshi was a very wealthy man. He had been discussing with He Ruyu plans to expand their home. It so happened that heir neighbours wanted to sell their house, so he had purchased it and planned to knock down the wall between them before renovating their home again properly. 

Although he had money, Liu Changshi had never stopped working in the fields. He often stripped down to short sleeves and labored along with the rest to care for the goji plants. It was now the fifth month, the busiest period on the farm – they needed to water and fertilise the plants often so Liu Changshi would go down daily to check on everything. 

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As she said this, she lowered her voice, “I heard Shu say….. That Third won’t have a good ending, it might be…” Then she shook her head. With a soft voice, she said, “You cannot let their grandparents hear about this – they can’t bear to think about it! A few days ago, their nai asked Shu to look for officials to see if we could plead for mercy….”

Xiuxiu’s mother wasn’t here for gossip, but she was quite interested in the topic. She quickly lowered her own voice and said, “I heard their father say that they might be… executed?”

He shi nodded her head, “Exactly! Their nai even asked Shu to plead for mercy. Changgeng had already made it clear – in order to resolve this matter, Shi Cheng has already been extorted of a lot of money. Is it easy to mingle with officials? Even if one is a juren, so what? The issue is that they did indeed commit the crime! And it’s such a major crime! There is no way for them to escape! Even if he were to go, he would just get blackmailed into giving them more money….”

Xiuxiu’s mother shook her head fervently, “That’s right! He cannot go. He would just get cheated. Who knows how much money they would extort from him before they would allow Liu Shu to  leave!”

He shi quickly said, “Although we are well aware of the issue, we can’t say it directly to their grandparents. We need to find a more tactful way to persuade them…” She shook her head. “We had to take a lot of time and effort to explain it to them! So,” She finally brought the topic back on track, “So it would be better for Liu Tao and Xiuxiu’s wedding to be held earlier. Otherwise, once the verdict comes down from Dongchangfu, it might be a white situation  ¹ White is the colour of mourning in chinese culture. Therefore a white situation refers to death/ funeral ! Then the wedding would have to be delayed by years. You might feel that Xiuxiu is still young now, but she won’t be next year. If they don’t get married this year, it might be delayed indefinitely.”

Xiuxiu’s mother started to sigh, “This is all my fault! I should have agreed last year, when Liu Tao first came to propose marriage. If they had gotten engaged last year, and married this year, it wouldn’t be this rushed. But now… It just feels so hurried, as though my Xiuxiu is unmarriageable…”

He shi could understand her underlying fears. She quickly interrupted and said, “Please don’t say that! There are many people who get engaged and married within the year. Everyone is well aware of how desirable your Xiuxiu is! Look at your family’s current financial situation? Then look at Liu Tao’s financial circumstances? Anyone with eyes would know that it is a good match between two good families. They definitely won’t feel that she’s unmarriageable, or that he’s unable to find a wife…. Actually, our family’s situation is probably well known in Taohua Village, Qianzhuang village and all the villages that are closely associated with us. Everyone would know exactly why the marriage is so rushed. So you really don’t need to worry. In any case, there’s no point in worrying.”

Xiuxiu’s mother thought it over and sighed, “It’s true.”

“Those of good character would definitely not say anything, and those who are crooked and jealous, especially of people wealthier than them – well, why would you listen to them? So you shouldn’t overthink it. You should just consider letting them get married soon. It would definitely be better than dragging it out for a long time!”

Xiuxiu’s mother thought that was reasonable, so she set down the worry in her heart. When she went back, she started to prepare for Xiuxiu’s wedding. 

Liu Tao and his father didn’t discuss anything. It was difficult to say anything openly, but both of them knew that they might be making funeral arrangements when the verdict came down! Liu Tao’s feelings were obvious and even Liu Changqi hoped that his son could get married before the sentence came down, so that his marriage wouldn’t be delayed indefinitely! As such, during the discussion with He Wenqing, he suggested they get married in the sixth month. 

While Xiuxiu’s mother was being advised by He shi, He Wenqing had already thought of this point, and so had immediately agreed. 

In the sixth month, Liu Tao and Xiuxiu got married. Although they didn’t have much time to prepare for it, there were plenty of relatives on both sides of the family to help out. With everyone’s assistance, although time was still tight, they managed to organise a very respectable wedding. 

The day they got married, Liu Tao’s home was very lively. Liu Changqi was Old Man Liu and Liu Gao shi’s eldest son. Now that the eldest son of their eldest son was getting married, Old Man Liu and Liu Gao shi could finally put down a burden on their heart. Honestly, the two elders had been worried about First’s family for a long time. They blamed themselves for how messy First’s family situation had been. 

Now that First’s family were all doing well, and his eldest son was getting married, they could finally heave a sigh of relief. 

Their other burden was, naturally, Third. It was just that, they could do nothing for him now. 

After Liu Tao got married, he continued to be the handicraft store’s manager. After the store had merged together and expanded, it was Feng town’s largest and best stocked handicrafts store. There were two levels, and a large range of goods. They had to hire over a dozen shop assistants, and even with all that, their manpower wasn’t quite sufficient during busy festive periods!

Liu Xu’er was still a bit worried about something else. It wasn’t good for her to mention it directly, so she sent Shi Cheng to speak privately to Liu Tao and hint to them to avoid pregnancy for a while. When Xiuxiu was older, they could start to try. It would be best if she was at least 17 or 18 before that happened. That  would minimise the risk of pregnancy.

They made sure to only point it out privately to them.

Everyone was still quietly waiting for news. Nothing happened in the sixth or seventh month. During that period, Old Man Liu and Liu Gao shi’s anxiety and worry could only be imagined. Although they were prepared for the worst, it was still unbearable to have to keep waiting for news. 

Everyone had come by during those months to help console them. The case had already been clearly investigated, but it still needed to be reported up the chain. It would take some time for their superiors to receive and understand the situation, and some time more for the verdict to come out.

There was finally news in the eighth month. 

Both Liu Changgui and Liu Yun’er were spared the death penalty!

Although this was somewhat unexpected, it was not entirely so. Liu Changqi’s small cunning saved his life. According to Dongchangfu’s investigation, he had gone out to smuggle three times, and all three times, Jia De had accompanied him, so he was judged to be an accomplice, not the main culprit 

Actually, this was just Liu Changgui’s small cunning at play. Every time he went out to sea, he had accompanied Jia De out. In actual fact, the last two times Jia De had gone, he wasn’t involved with smuggling. Instead he had been there to collect what others had owed him previously. While Liu Changgui could have helped him with it, Liu Changgui didn’t behave in a trustworthy manner, so Jia De had worried he might steal some of his money. As such, he had insisted on personally going to collect. Coincidentally, the two times he had gone, Liu Changgui had been the one in charge of smuggling the goods, but because Jia De was with him, Liu Changgui had pushed the blame onto Jia De during the course of the investigation. 

Also, Liu Changgeng had stopped engaging in the trade after doing it a few times. So after the investigation, the officials judged him to be an accomplice. Especially since Liu Changgui was a resolute person – the instant he had been arrested, he had turned over all the valuable items in his home, including all his hidden gold, silver etc. He had turned everything over in exchange for a lighter sentence. 

While Liu Yun’er was just a married woman. Originally she could have pushed the blame entirely onto her husband, Fang Jicheng, and deny knowledge of this. She could have escaped all this. Fang Jicheng was already dead. If it weren’t for Liu Yun’er’s stupidity and greed, officials wouldn’t have been able to link her to the crime. 

But Liu Yun’er was too greedy and too stupid! There were rules when smuggling silver,  chief amongst which was that they could never, ever, ever keep any of the smuggled silver for themselves. The silver was often official silver ingots, with official stamps on them! Even if they weren’t official silver, they would be in large denominations, like 10 or 50 tael silver ingots – there weren’t many of those on the market, and they were all recorded. It would be too easy to be discovered if they were to keep any of it. 

But Liu Yun’er was greedy. When she saw all that glittering silver, she couldn’t resist and wanted to keep some for herself. Of course Fang Jicheng refused, so she had secretly kept five ingots for herself. And it was because of these five ingots that Fang Jicheng lost his life. When he went to deliver the goods, he was short five ingots, which was to say, he was lacking 50 taels of silver. The person receiving the goods refused to listen to Fang Jicheng’s explanation. He directly killed him and absconded with the silver. 

And it was these same five ingots that were discovered when the officials went to search their home. After a beating, Liu Yun’er spilled that she had hidden the money and branded herself an accomplice. 

When the verdict came down, Liu Changgui was given 50 planks and exiled 3000 li. Liu Yun’er was given 30 planks and exiled 1000 li. 

Jia De, Jia shi’s lover were all main culprits and given the death penalty. They would be executed in the autumn. Because Jia shi had helped her lover, and because she had been involved with the smuggling of silver for 10 years – she had something of a reputation for herself within the circle – there was strong evidence for her involvement. As such, she was given the same sentence as Liu Changgui – 50 planks and exiled 3000 li. It was just that Jia shi had made herself so delicate, that she wasn’t able to withstand the 50 planks and died during the beating. 

Fang Yun’s sentence was lighter – she was given 10 planks and exiled 1000 li…