Ephemeral clouds and works

Chapter 837: Entangled in a Homicide

    

mily's residence with his servants, pretending to be a distant relative there to offer condolences. By this time, the Wu family's small courtyard was surrounded by government officials. Corpses were b..."I'll kill you, you little wretch!"

Zhou Yuniang had already gone mad, she took off her shoe and directly slapped Zhou Sanniang in the face.

"Ouch! Mothers and daughters should talk things out nicely!"

"Just this, this is the ancestral hall, you're not afraid of disturbing your ancestors!"

"Don't just stand there watching the commotion, grab someone and join in!"

The courtyard in front of the ancestral hall was chaotic for a while, everyone was arguing and making a ruckus. Yueyue was so frightened that she burrowed deeper into her older brother's arms. The aunts were just too scary.

Enough!

The village head roared, finally bringing the chaotic scene to a halt.

"Hong'er, pull the person apart!"

When Wen Jiahong did as he pleased, Zhou Yuniang's face had turned purple with anger by this time, while Zhou Sanniang had footprints all over her face and body, and her hair was tousled. Yet, she still protected Wen Sandidi.

On Wednesday, my younger brother didn't know whether he was touched or scared. He was crying his eyes out right now, looking really pitiful.

After the scene fell silent, the village head spoke:

"Zhou Yuniang, your family are newcomers to this village. We have never ostracized you Zhou family. We even let you enshrine your ancestors in the ancestral hall of Wenjiacun. I consider myself a qualified village head."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Yuniang finally put away her shoes, smoothed down her hair, and carefully said:

"Village head, you speak as if I'm displeased with you. I feel fortunate to be able to settle in Wēnjiā Village."

You're lucky, but Zhou Sanniang isn't. Her husband is unlucky.

The village head said lightly.

"

Zhou Rain immediately froze, unsure how to respond. Then she whispered:

"Village head, as the old saying goes, if we don't divide the family, we all live happily. Why do we have to divide now!"

"Since you're not splitting up, you need to treat everyone equally. We don't care who you favor privately, but it's wrong to exploit others to support your favorite child."

The village head's words were very direct.

"I don't!"

Zhou Yuniang directly denied.

If this matter is admitted, how will she behave in the village afterward

"Alright, I don't want to get involved in your family matters. Right now, we're talking about what to do with Wen Third Brother."

The village head was too lazy to haggle with her, so he just said.

Zhou Yuniang immediately fell silent, not daring to speak another word for fear of further inflaming the situation.

"Ming'er, what do you mean"

The village head asked.

"Village chief, for my and my sister's future, it's better to sign a severance letter, keeping him away from us siblings."

Wen Zhao Ming said lightly.

Since Wednesday's mother has already come forward, he might as well let the two of them have their way and see how Third Brother Wen can live a good life with such a reputation.

What else

"Yu Yu was scared and got sick, this medical money must be paid for by us!"

Wen Zhaoming continued.

"Well, you're right about that. This silver has to be paid out. I'll make the decision and have Wen Third Brother pay your two siblings one tael of silver."

The village head made a direct decision.

After hearing the village head's words, the villagers below were whispering to each other. There were quite a few of them. Thinking about what San had done, everyone felt he deserved it.

On Wednesday, Zhou Sanniang glanced at Ming Ge'er and, in the end, said nothing, tacitly accepting it. As for where these two came from, she didn't bother herself with that anymore.

Finally, under the witness of the village head and all the villagers, Ming'er signed a divorce letter with Wen Santong. The compensation was also paid by Zhou's family. Zhou Sanniang said it was borrowed by her and promised to go to the county to work and earn it back.

Zhou Rainmother didn't want the matter of her harshly treating her third son to become a big deal, so in the end, she could only choose to let it go. She painfully lent out that one or two taels of silver.

Things have been resolved, and Wen Sandi has also been taken back. Thus, this commotion has finally come to an end.

Ming Ge'er released a breath of anger, and with the silver in hand, after receiving his share of meat, he prepared some gifts and sent them to the several families who had helped find Yueyue. The things weren't much, but they were all heartfelt gestures. Everyone accepted them, praising Wen Zhaoming for being sensible.

Wen Zhaoming also prepared a gift for Lianyi, thinking of taking his sister to express their gratitude in two days.

Two days later, there was another big event in Weng Jia Cun.

Zhou Yuniang's house remained shut all day. No one came out to gather firewood, so they thought they were shirking work and didn't pay attention. However, the next day the door was still closed. They became worried, knocked on the door, but no one answered. Then a neighbor pushed the door open and went in.

"Oh!!! Dead people!!!"

A scream shattered the tranquility of the village.

When the village head was summoned, he discovered that Zhou Yuniang's family had been wiped out, with everyone except San Niang dead. The old couple and the rest were all found with purple lips and frothing at the mouth.

The village head was so scared that he plopped down on the ground. This matter was beyond his capacity as village head, so he could only ask his eldest daughter to drive a bullock cart to the county seat to summon a catcher.

Fortunately, the village head had some sense and drove away all the onlookers. He left people to guard Zhou's doorstep specifically, and forbade anyone from moving the body inside. Finally, he ordered villagers to search for Zhou Sanniang and her family of five.

But they searched the whole village and couldn't find Zhou Sanniang and her family. Only a few children playing at the entrance of the village said that they seemed to have seen Zhou Sanniang's three children the day before yesterday, carrying baskets and saying they were going to the market in a nearby village to sell things. As for whether they had returned, none of them had seen.

This immediately sent the village of Wenjia into a frenzy, with all sorts of speculations swirling. However, most people guessed that Zhou Sanniang had quarreled with her family and, after failing to divide property, ultimately murdered her entire family.

For a time, there were several families in the village with over twenty people each who split up their households. They divided their property fairly, of course, but that's all for later.

Back to the present, as the weather had turned cold, the body was decaying slower. Because the report came in promptly, the county magistrate's constables arrived at Wênjiā Village on horseback two days later.

The head constable, Zhou by name, was a forty-year-old woman who was both imposing and powerful. As soon as her team of coroner assistants arrived, she had them begin an autopsy before starting to question witnesses.

Wen Zhaoming was, of course, also the object of inquiry, and could even be said to be the object of suspicion.

Although Wen Zhaoming was a little nervous, he still answered Zhou's questions in a clear and logical manner. And at the end, he summarized by saying:

What I hate is Wen Santong, he's not part of the Zhou family anyway. Besides, we've already severed ties and I received compensation silver. He has no right to interfere with our affairs anymore. I have no reason to do any of this.

We will look into what you said. Please do not leave the village for now.

"Okay, my sister and I are not going anywhere."

Wen Zhaoming nodded in agreement. In fact, he already had a guess in his mind, but he didn't want to say it.

The chief constable stayed here for three days, examined the bodies, and then asked the village headman to temporarily place the remains of the entire family in the village's funeral parlor until a conclusion was reached on the case before they were buried.

The ancestral hall in the village was actually a dilapidated earthen house, which had been filled with the corpses of the Zhou family this time.

And the villagers dared not walk past Zhou Yuniang's doorstep, for it was truly eerie and frightening. The neighbors nearby said that they could hear a child crying at night, which caused the entire village of Wenjia to be deserted after sunset.have to part with some of them."Qi Qi got a preventive shot ahead of time."Alright! A thousand taels, no more! I still have to arrange for these twenty children! Raising them costs money."Ripple swift...