Reborn as the Blissful Wife in the countryside-Chapter 102: Happy

Lu Laosan was sentenced to fifty strokes and three years of imprisonment, but in Great Chu, minor crimes are allowed to be commuted with silver. Therefore, the Lu Family spent three hundred taels of silver to commute Lu Laosan’s three-year imprisonment.

The Lu family also wanted to use silver to commute the fifty strokes, but County Captain Jiang was too firm and did not allow the use of silver to commute the fifty strokes. Lu Laosan was severely beaten with fifty strokes, nearly losing his life.

Old Master Lu and the Lu Family People who obstructed the government officials in handling the case were also fined silver. Each of the captured Lu Family People was fined ten taels of silver, while Old Master Lu, as the principal offender, was fined one hundred taels.

Such a hefty sum in fines took a toll on even the wealthy Old Master Lu’s house.

He Dacai and He Shanwa, those eight hooligans, received the heaviest sentences. The Lu family pushed most of the blame onto them, and they were caned fifty times, exiled thousands of miles, and forever barred from returning to places like Jianghuai.

The two servants of the Lu family were turned into official slaves and were sent to work in the official mines.

The work in the official mines is exhausting and grueling. Those two servants sent there had no chance of surviving and could be considered as good as dead.

"Lu Laosan’s charge established by the county government involved bringing hooligans to rob the property of the good register civilians, therefore, the sentence was so light," Father Luo said regretfully: "If the charge were abusing the name of the County Magistrate to exploit the locals, Lu Laosan would surely not have survived, but this charge wasn’t brought up by the Lord County Magistrate."

As for Old Master Lu’s attempt to malign their families as mountain bandits, the Lord County Magistrate also remained silent.

Third Grandpa said: "County Captain Jiang mentioned that this charge was too significant and would have implicated all the officials in the county, so it couldn’t be brought up. If it were, it would spoil matters. He advised us to let it go and not pursue it too much."

County Captain Jiang was tough, but County Magistrate Zou was also not to be trifled with. Before Lu Laosan was even escorted to the county, County Magistrate Zou became aware of Lu Laosan’s incident and started pulling strings. It was already commendable that Lu Laosan was sentenced.

The families knew this was the best outcome, thus there was no dissatisfaction.

"This Lu Laosan has been sentenced, the Lu family won’t trouble us, right?" Aunt Tian asked worriedly: "We still have to live in this village."

Mrs. Chen said: "Sister-in-law Tian, now we’ve got the Lord County Captain backing us up, are you still scared of the Lu family? Nowadays, even if the Lu family had ten times the courage, they wouldn’t dare trouble us."

Mrs. Chen felt rather proud and felt her spine straighten. Then, turning to Gu Jinli with a flattering smile, she said: "It’s still our Xiao Yu who is impressive, always rescuing important people each time and bringing us benefits. With the Lord County Captain here, we can walk sideways through the village in the future."

"Shut your mouth, you foolish woman, what nonsense are you talking about?" Gu Dagui angrily scolded Mrs. Chen.

Even if County Captain Jiang helped them because Xiao Yu had saved his granddaughter, they couldn’t just blatantly say it like that.

Although Mrs. Chen was scolded, she still remained very cheerful, thinking it didn’t matter if they didn’t talk about it, as long as they knew what was really going on.

Third Grandpa looked at the families and said: "We are just ordinary people. Xiao Yu saved the Lord County Captain’s granddaughter, and the Lord County Captain looks after us a bit, but we must not forget our place because of this."

"Uncle, don’t worry, we understand, and we won’t take advantage of the Lord County Captain’s name for our own benefit," the heads of the families said in unison, while the other women and children nodded in agreement.

Though this was what they said, the families were still very happy, happier than during the New Year festivities.

County town, Zou Mansion, County Magistrate Zou, enraged by the affair concerning the Lu Family, smashed an entire set of porcelain. After being busy for two days, he finally got the matter resolved.

Once the charges against Lu Laosan were confirmed, he finally heaved a huge sigh of relief. It was a close call; had the investigation continued, it wouldn’t just be about Lu Laosan and a few thugs robbing the recipe, but a disastrous calamity involving the destruction of his Zou family.

Due to Lu Laosan’s issue, Concubine Lu was punished by being grounded for six months, copying female precepts a hundred times.

Elder Lu was also expelled from Zou Mansion, deprived of the opportunity to work alongside the County Governor anymore.

Lu Laoda, anxious, went to seek help from Concubine Lu, but she, being clever, did not meet him. Instead, she had her confidant Maid send him a letter, which read: The situation is tense, big brother should not be anxious, stay calm at home and wait, once Old Master cools down, your sister will naturally speak on behalf of big brother.

Lu Laoda, having worked beside County Magistrate Zou for over a decade, was no fool. He knew that County Magistrate Zou was extremely angry this time and understood that entering Zou Mansion again couldn’t be rushed, so he could only wait patiently at home.

Concubine Lu, worried that Old Master Lu might act against the Qin, Gu, and Luotian families, specifically sent word to Old Master Lu, advising him not to do anything foolish. Currently, in the focus of public attention, any incident involving the Qin, Gu, and Luotian families would direct suspicion towards her Lu family. County Magistrate Zou was already furious, and they could not afford to target these families now; they had to endure and settle accounts with them later.

Old Master Lu knew that Concubine Lu was right, but he still fell ill from anger, feeling humiliated. After leaving the county government office, he did not return to the village but instead stayed at Lu Laoda’s in the county town, planning to wait until the situation calmed down before returning to the village.

After this ordeal, the Lu family was deeply wounded.

Fortunately, County Magistrate Zou was unharmed, and the children of Concubine Lu were safe—they still had a chance for a comeback for their family.

Manager Zeng from Fugui Building also suffered a setback due to this, being severely reprimanded by the housekeeper of Zou Mansion, who scolded him for his shortsightedness. Was it worth it to conspire with Lu Laosan over a mere tofu recipe? He was also fined a year’s salary, and with that, the matter was finally settled.

In the entire Zou Mansion, Mrs. Zou was the happiest. She had long disliked Concubine Lu and wanted to eliminate their Lu family. Yet the Lu Family People were clever, and the Old Master had been mesmerized by that vixen, Concubine Lu. Over the past twenty years, not only had Mrs. Zou failed to suppress Concubine Lu, but Concubine Lu had also managed to secure her position in the mansion, giving birth to children.

What was more infuriating was that Concubine Lu wanted her son to succeed as the next County Magistrate of the Zou family, which enraged Mrs. Zou deeply, wishing she could strangle Concubine Lu and poison her son.

Unexpectedly, the Lu family stumbled over several refugees who had fled famine, a true act of divine retribution.

"How are things going on?" Mrs. Zou asked the nanny beside her.

Mrs. Hong replied with her head lowered, "My lady, eight people have been found and are being trained. After some time, they can enter the mansion."

Mrs. Zou frowned, "Still need more time? Don’t wait, while the Old Master is still angry with Concubine Lu, have them enter the mansion quickly, four assigned to the Old Master’s study to serve, and place four in the main house."

To counteract Concubine Lu, starting from last year, Mrs. Zou began scouting for young girls with fine looks, harboring them in another house to be trained, with plans to let these girls enter the mansion once trained, to serve County Magistrate Zou, and divert the favor away from Concubine Lu.

"Yes, I will arrange for them to enter the mansion tomorrow," replied Mrs. Hong.

Mrs. Zou asked again, "Among those eight, are there any particularly outstanding ones? Don’t tell me all eight are useless, unable to even handle a fading beauty."

Mrs. Hong smiled, "Rest assured, my lady, among these eight, there are three excellent ones, especially the daughter of Scholar Zhong, her figure is one in a thousand, any man who lays hands on her will never want to let go."