Chapter 70

Chapter 70

They thought they had gotten their revenge, but unexpectedly, the old man not only reported them to the authorities, but the authorities also gave him a free cow.

"If we kill our own cow and report it, do you think we could get a cow too?"

The one who said this was the eldest son of the family—the very person who had killed the old man’s cow.

Hearing this, the family’s eyes lit up.

If they sold the slaughtered cow for money and then got a better cow from the government, wouldn’t that be killing two birds with one stone?

When Yun Changxie learned that they planned to kill their own cow to scam the government, he sent constables to the village in advance to keep an eye out.

Killing a cow was no small matter.

Even if done at night, there would still be some noise.

With constables monitoring day and night, it would be easy to catch them in the act.

Ordinary people were not allowed to slaughter work cattle without permission—it was illegal.

Only old or sick cattle could be slaughtered privately after getting permission.

This family’s cow was in perfect health, and they intended to kill it just to cheat the authorities.

Such actions not only broke the law against unauthorized slaughter of work cattle but also constituted fraud against the government.

With these two charges, Yun Changxie could bring them to the county court for interrogation. A little pressure during questioning, and they would confess everything.

Yun Changxie wasn’t exactly a kind person.

Especially when dealing with such villains, he never concerned himself with their rights.

Only those who empathized with villains would show them mercy.

Because when they saw villains, they couldn’t help but sympathize with them.

On the contrary, they often harbored malice toward the victims.

They would think, "How terrible these victims are, unwilling to be bullied quietly and daring to fight back?"

When absolutely certain they hadn’t arrested the wrong person, there was no need to be polite with villains.

Moreover, the laws of Great Zhou explicitly permitted the use of torture on criminals.

As long as Yun Changxie didn’t misjudge cases or wrong the innocent, his harsh methods were of little consequence.

Soon, the bailiffs brought the entire family to the magistrate’s office. They hadn’t slaughtered the cow at home but had dragged it to a remote spot in the dead of night.

The bailiffs deliberately waited until they began the slaughter before making a show of arresting them.

During the arrest, they made sure the whole village knew this family had illegally killed a cow.

Some sharp villagers couldn’t help but whisper among themselves.

"Do you think they were the ones who killed Old Liu’s cow?"

"Looks like it. I heard they had a grudge with Old Liu’s family."

"What kind of feud?"

"Their eldest grandson had a crush on Old Liu’s boy. That boy is quite handsome and didn’t fancy their grandson, so the two families had a falling out over it."

"Over something so trivial, they killed someone’s cow? How awful."

"Exactly. Honestly, it’s a good thing Old Liu didn’t agree to the marriage. Just look at that family’s behavior—clearly difficult to deal with. If they’d kill a cow over a minor disagreement, who knows what suffering the boy would endure if married into that household?"

...

After arresting the family, Yun Changxie had them interrogated.

They were just ordinary farmers—perhaps domineering in the village, but powerless against the authorities.

With a little intimidation and some light torture, they confessed everything.

Under Great Zhou’s laws, illegally slaughtering one’s own cow warranted twenty strokes of the cane and a year of hard labor.

Killing someone else’s cow meant thirty lashes, three years of hard labor, and a compensation of twenty silver taels.

This family had first killed someone else’s cow and then planned to kill their own.

For both cows, the ringleader and mastermind were sentenced to thirty lashes, five years of hard labor, and a compensation of twenty silver taels.

...

After resolving this case, Yun Changxie took a short break.

Lately, he had been so busy nonstop he barely rested, and now he was genuinely exhausted.

His family had returned to Qiuping County and moved into the courtyard behind the county office.

This courtyard had previously been home to the third branch of the Yun family.

Having lived there for a long time, they had fixed it up nicely.

Recently, Yun Changxie had been busy at the county office, and even when he returned to the courtyard, he had no time to spend with his family.

Now that the first three cases were handled, he wanted to squeeze in some time to rest.

Su Qingruo hadn’t seen him for days, so his sudden return from the front was a pleasant surprise.

Yun Changxie smiled at him. "I’ll rest this afternoon and spend some time with you and the child."

Su Qingruo let out a resigned sigh. Both he and the child had servants to care for them—Yun Changxie’s company wasn’t necessary.

Seeing how tired Yun Changxie truly was, he gently ushered him toward the bedroom to rest.

Once inside, Su Qingruo waited until Yun Changxie lay down before heading to the kitchen.

With Yun Changxie running himself ragged these past few days, he probably hadn’t had a decent meal.

But Yun Changxie didn’t let him leave. He took Su Qingruo’s hand, pulling him into a hug.

Su Qingruo’s cheeks flushed, but he couldn’t bear to pull away from his husband. His favorite thing was staying in his husband’s arms, listening to him calmly recount events from outside.

Yun Changxie wasn’t much of a talker, but ever since they got together, he had gradually started opening up more.

First, Yun Changxie filled Su Qingruo in on the latest cases he had been working on.

As he spoke, Yun Changxie suddenly brought up the matter of finding a doctor to examine Su Qingruo.

"We’d agreed before to have your throat examined, but I never found the time. I’ll mention it to Mother tonight and ask her to help look for someone. The county may not have skilled doctors, so we’ll just have to search and hope for the best. If we can’t find a good one here, we’ll keep looking when we move elsewhere. The best option would be to go to the capital and seek a palace doctor. Too bad when we were in the capital before, I was too busy with the imperial exams and didn’t have the means to arrange for a palace physician to see you."

At that time, Yun Changxie was still a pitiful dependent, living off others.

If he wanted to find a palace doctor for Su Qingruo, it would be best if he had some status of his own—only then would those physicians truly be willing to take the matter seriously.

Su Qingruo shook his head, showing he wasn’t worried.

He had grown accustomed to it, and it wasn’t all that bad.

Yun Changxie didn’t disdain him, and his mother-in-law wouldn’t bully him over it either.

Whether his muteness could be cured or not made little difference to him.

The next day, Yun Changxie continued with his busy schedule, so Liu Shi sent Qing Shan to search the county for any decent physicians.

The Xu family had checked Su Qingruo before and said it was congenital and somewhat difficult to treat.

Liu Shi thought it best to consult several doctors first—whether it could be cured or not would only be known after examination.

Each physician had their own expertise; maybe if they kept looking, they’d find someone who could treat muteness?