Liu Xiancheng shouted at the right time: "Lin Dayi, the chief of Quxi Village, and the villagers Lin Dashi, Lin Dashu, Lin Mingle, Lin Qianqian, Lin Mingming, Li Dahong, Li Tiankun, Li Tianmei, and Xu Banxian. ”

A servant beckoned to the chief: "Chief Linli, take the people of your village to the hall." ”

The lieutenant militarily wiped the sweat that didn't exist on his head at all, and whispered to everyone: "You all come along, kneel down when you get to the hall, and don't make any other sounds." ”

The group from Quxi Village nodded.

After everyone arrived in the hall, the lieutenant chief took the lead in kneeling on the ground with a "plop" and kowtowed respectfully.

The others also knelt down in fear.

Lin Qianqian secretly cursed this damn ancient bad habit in his heart, but he still knelt down obediently.

Mao Zhixian nodded with satisfaction and asked: "Chief Linli, Wei Xiaogu, the criminal in this case, Wei Xiaogu, was captured by the villagers of your Quxi Village and sent to the government, you can tell me about the arrest process." ”

The day after Quxi Village arrested the liar Wei Xiaogu, it was Lin Dashi and Lin Dashu who sent him to the official mansion.

Now it is a trial in court, Mao Zhixian asked the lieutenant chief to tell the chief in public about the process of arrest, so that these testimonies can become evidence in court, and the lieutenant chief said it in court, if there is any inconsistence, the criminal Wei Xiaogu can refute it, which is a routine operation.

It's so old, and I haven't been to court yet, and this is the first time that the bride has been in a sedan chair.

He trembled with nervousness, and said the events of that night in a trembling voice: "..... I heard people in the county that someone can ask for rain from the sky, this year there is a drought, everyone is looking forward to the next heavy rain, I inquired about the whereabouts of the immortal, I went to the inn and invited him to the village, he chose Tianmei as the goddess that day, and we also prepared two chickens, one for him to eat, one for the goddess to eat, and asked the goddess to live in the ancestral hall, he also wanted to live in the ancestral hall, at that time he was dressed like an old fairy, we didn't know that he was a liar, in order to succeed in asking for rain, of course he did everything he said, Our village also scraped together five taels of silver, and prepared to give it to the immortals after the rain ceremony was completed the next day. ”

"That night, the girl came to my house, told me that the horseshoe was found on the mountain, and asked me to take the villagers to dig, I think this food is not easy to come by, it must be our Lin family ancestors in the sky to bless us, so I took the girl, Xiao Ming and Xiao Le to the ancestral hall to worship the ancestors, to the ancestral hall, we went to the main hall to worship the ancestors, because the ancestors want to burn incense, I asked the big girl to the door to find some hay, I and Xiao Ming, Xiao Le in the main hall to prepare incense candles and the like, we waited inside for a while, and suddenly heard a loud noise outside, We ran out to see, oops, the door of the side hall was kicked off, the fairy squatted on the ground, Tianmei lay on the bed, the girl stood in the room and stared at the fairy, we were surprised at first, and then the girl told me that the fairy had bad intentions for Tianmei, fortunately, the girl found out in time, otherwise the consequences would be unimaginable. ”

"A few of us were talking, and the liar wanted to run, and then the big girl knocked him unconscious with a bench, and then I called my son Dashi and Dashu, tied up Lao Dao, and let them watch over it all night, and the next day he was sent to the yamen. That night, in addition to calling my two sons, I also called Dahong to pick up Tianmei, and also called Xu Langzhong to check on Tianmei to see if she was injured, we confirmed that Tianmei was okay, and the liar was also tied up, and we went home separately. ”

Mao Zhixian nodded as he listened.

After the lieutenant chief finished speaking, Mao Zhixian looked around at the people in Quxi Village under the hall and asked: "The criminal Wei Xiaogu deceived more than 20 villages and harvested one hundred and twenty-five taels of silver, and now the silver is gone, he kept saying that the silver was lost in Quxi Village that night, and it is very likely that it was lost when you captured him, how many of you have ever seen the silver?" ”

When everyone heard that the liar had lost so much money, they were so shocked that they didn't dare to move, and when they heard Mao Zhixian's words, they were even more shocked and shook their heads like a rattle.

More than a hundred taels of silver, they probably won't be able to earn so much silver in their lives, if anyone doesn't shake their heads, and is identified by the county magistrate as the person who picked up the silver, then how can they compensate?

Mao Zhixian saw that everyone in the hall shook his head and snorted lightly, "No one admits it, right?" Very good. ”

He slapped the startled wood again and said loudly: "Where are Lin Qianqian and Lin Mingming?" ”

Lin Qianqian replied crisply: "The folk girl is here." ”

Lin Mingming was already stunned.

The county magistrate knew that the liar had lost more than 100 taels of silver, so did he already know that the silver was picked up by the eldest sister?

If the county magistrate knew that they had spent a lot of money, would he beat them up?

He was so shocked and frightened that Mao Zhixian called twice, "Where is Lin Mingming?" He didn't hear it.

Lin Qianqian gently tugged at his sleeve before he came back to his senses, "Grass people.. The grass people are in..."

Mao Zhixian once again slapped the shocking wood loudly, "Let me ask you, did you pick up the one hundred and twenty-five taels of silver lost by the criminals?" ”

"It's not!" Lin Qianqian immediately denied that although she was not short of money, how could it be easy to take out what had gone into her pocket.

Besides, if she admits to picking up the silver, didn't say it at the time, and only admits it now, what do others think of her?

Lin Mingming shook his head: "No, no, my sister didn't pick it up." ”

Lin Qianqian looked at Lin Mingming's reaction, and estimated that his younger brother was so nervous, maybe he was afraid that the matter of picking up silver would be exposed.

She soothingly took Lin Mingming's hand.

Lin Mingming looked at her, she nodded slightly, looking like she was in her chest, Lin Mingming's nervous mood inexplicably calmed down.

Mao Zhixian said loudly: "The two of you don't want to deny it, this official has already asked people to investigate, your family used to be a poor nail in Quxi Village, so poor that you sold all the bedding and farm tools, but during this time, your family not only eats meat and rice every day, but also buys two donkeys and two donkey carts, you don't want to fool the official, your daily food is not concerned for the time being, just two donkeys and two donkey carts, according to the current price, it will cost forty taels of silver, dare to ask you such a poor family, Where did you get so much money to buy donkeys and donkey carts? ”

Lin Qianqian replied respectfully: "Back to my lord's words, our family eats rice and meat, firstly, because the meat is from the chickens and goats caught from the mountains, secondly, Uncle Dahong gave my family a lot of rice, and thirdly, our family has recently done a konjac tofu business, and the family does have a little spare money. ”

After Mao Zhixian heard this, he let out a "hmm" and groaned with his beard.