Chapter 629: Inquiring about the affair leads to the hidden truth (Part 1)
When Zhang Wu started wailing, she began to talk and told the whole story.
After Zhang An joined the army, Zhang Biao often came to his home, and each time he came he would bring two pounds of meat or some rice and flour.
Although Zhang Wu felt that he was a little too attentive, he was her husband's uncle after all, and he took good care of her family with kind words, so she really couldn't say anything.
But gradually, Zhang Biao became less restrained in his words and would make a few dirty jokes from time to time. The things he sent also changed from food to women's things such as rouge and powder.
Zhang Wu knew that it was inappropriate, so she declined several times and warned her many times in her words, but Zhang Biao still shamelessly came forward and even bought her a pair of underwear.
Mrs. Zhang Wu was really angry now. She shredded the clothes with scissors in front of Zhang Biao, scolded him harshly, and said that the two families should not have any contact until her husband came back.
Zhang Biao was stunned for a long time, and seemed to be about to turn around and leave, but suddenly he rushed forward and hugged Zhang Wu, talking nonsense and trying to be rude and forceful.
Zhang Wu struggled desperately, picked up a pair of scissors and stabbed Zhang Biao in the shoulder, which finally forced Zhang Biao to flee in embarrassment.
After that, the two families completely cut off contact.
In this way, Zhang Wu lived a peaceful life with her child for several months and thought that the matter was over.
Unexpectedly, at the end of last year, when Zhang Wu came back from buying vegetables at the street corner, she saw Zhang Biao sitting in the main hall with his arms full of energy, holding the Zhang family's only son who was soundly asleep in his arms.
Zhang Wu was shocked and was about to rush forward to snatch her son away, but Zhang Biao picked up a sharp ox-ear knife from the table and said that if Zhang Wu did not obey, he would gouge out her nephew's heart and liver.
Zhang Wu was immediately at a loss as to what to do.
After listening to Zhang Biao's vivid description of the details of using a knife to cut open the child's chest and remove the heart, as well as the child's struggling and groaning in pain, he completely lost the courage to resist.
After losing her virginity to Zhang Biao, Zhang Wu thought about committing suicide several times and even thought about filing a complaint with the government - but on the one hand, she couldn't bear to see her son left alone and helpless, and on the other hand, she was afraid that Zhang Biao would bite back and she would be labeled a shameless slut.
So time passed day by day in struggle and cowardice.
Knowing that Zhang An had returned to Beijing with merit not long ago, Zhang Wu hesitated for a long time before finally mustering up the courage last night to tell Zhang An what had happened and that she intended to commit suicide to preserve her reputation.
After Zhang An rescued his wife, he remained silent for the entire night.
The next day, he took a pot of good wine to Zhang Biao's place. Soon he returned home covered in blood. He also told Zhang Wu not to reveal a single word to outsiders about the fact that his own uncle had cheated on him.
Zhang Wu did not dare to ask more questions and served her husband two more pots of liquor. It was not until the officials came to their door that she learned that Zhang Biao had been killed by her husband.
After listening to what Zhang Wu said, Sun Shaozong asked a few more questions. Seeing that there was nothing unusual in her answers, he believed it 90% of the time.
According to this story, Zhang Wu and Zhang Biao did not commit adultery, but lost their chastity under coercion.
This is undoubtedly great news for Zhang An's successful exoneration.
only……
Listening to Zhang Wu's retelling of Zhang An's words and actions, he had obviously made up his mind. He would rather lose his head than make the rape of his wife public.
If this matter were exposed, Zhang An's life would naturally be saved.
But given Zhang An's stubborn temper, Sun Shaozong was not sure whether he could survive with a cuckold.
Just at this moment, the sound of horse hooves approached outside the yard.
Sun Shaozong stood up and looked outside, and saw Qiu Yunfei getting off his horse and rubbing his frozen fat face.
He hurried out to greet him and asked, "What's going on? Did you find out any news?"
Qiu Yunfei walked into the yard, grinning, and did a set of facial exercises to make his frozen muscles more flexible. Then he said, "It's not that we found out. Someone else took the initiative to pass on the message."
It turned out that he and Master Qi were trying every possible way to find out the news, when suddenly someone came to them. It was Wang Gaosheng, the coroner from Daxing County.
Wang Gaosheng had assisted Sun Shaozong in solving the carpenter dismemberment case, and was recommended to be a registered disciple of Lao Xu, the coroner of Shuntian Prefecture. Therefore, he was also familiar with Qiu Yunfei.
After he stepped forward to pay his respects, he said that he had heard that something had happened to Lord Sun's personal guards, so he used his connections to secretly visit the prison, hoping to do his bit to help.
Unexpectedly, when Zhang An heard the purpose of his visit, he asked him to find a way to send a message to Lord Sun, saying that he had behaved immorally after drinking, which was an unforgivable crime. Now he only wanted to die quickly and hoped that Lord Sun would grant his wish.
Yes~
This is even more difficult.
Should we just save him by wearing a green hat regardless of what Zhang An thinks, or should we just let him get what he wants?
Just when he was in a dilemma, someone else rushed over from outside. It was Zhao Wuwei, who had gone to investigate Zhang Biao, and came back with his team to report.
In fact, Sun Shaozong sent them to investigate Zhang Biao mainly because he was afraid that Wu would not confess the truth, so he wanted to collect some information from the side first, just to be prepared.
However, now that Wu had made no reservations, there was no point in investigating Zhang Biao any further - these days, apart from the word "lust", there were really few excuses that could offset the crime of killing his uncle.
But Zhao Wuwei and others braved the wind and snow and investigated for a long time, so they couldn't just ignore it.
So Sun Shaozong called Zhao Wuwei over and listened to his report of the results of his investigation.
Then Zhao Wuwei said, "Sir, there is indeed something wrong with Zhang Biao!"
"He was originally a son-in-law who married into his wife's family. Later, when his father-in-law died, he inherited his wife's family's butcher shop."
"His wife died two years ago. Zhang Biao is now alone. He seems to have never thought of remarrying. He just concentrates on running the butcher shop to make a living."
"But in the early summer of last year, this guy suddenly became addicted to gambling. I heard that within two or three months, he was in debt and couldn't pay it back even if he lost everything he had."
"The neighbors all thought that his family would be ruined from then on, but who knew that after more than a month of being half-human and half-ghost, he made a fortune from nowhere, not only paid off his gambling debts, but also lived a prosperous life from then on."
"From then on, I no longer depended on the butcher shop for a living. It was closed eight out of ten days. Even when it was open, it was not a serious business. I would give 14 taels for half a catty. If you said a few good words, I might even give it away for free."
"The neighbors all thought that this guy must have made some shady money!"
In early summer last year, when Zhang Wu and Zhang Biao were at odds, this guy's attempt to hook up with his niece's wife was unsuccessful, so it was understandable that he resorted to gambling to relieve his boredom.
Later, he was left with nowhere else to go and found some unconventional ways to make a living. Gradually, he became tainted with banditry and then came to threaten Zhang Wu, which was only natural.
However, in this era, relatives should protect each other. Even if you want to give Zhang An a reputation of sacrificing relatives for the greater good, it is probably not enough to make money from a side business...
etc!
Sun Shaozong suddenly had an idea. Since Zhang Biao didn't care about the income of the butcher shop, why didn't he just close the shop? Why did he have to open it every now and then to do business?
Could it be that the shady way he made money was related to the butcher business, or... he needed the butcher business to cover it up?
After a moment's hesitation, Sun Shaozong dismissed his attendants and asked Zhang Wu alone if she knew how Zhang Biao secretly made money.
"This...I have never heard him talk about it."
Zhang Wu shook her head in embarrassment, then suddenly remembered something and said hurriedly, "But once he woke up from a dream and yelled, 'Don't look for me, I was forced to do it!'"
This seems...
There was a gleam in Sun Shaozong's eyes, but his expression was a little solemn.
He paced back and forth in the room for a few steps, and suddenly ordered: "When he first used the child to force you to commit a crime, what did he say and do? Tell me in detail, don't hide a single thing!"
Zhang Wu heard him speak so seriously that she bit her swollen lips and said boldly, "He came up and reached his hand through the collar first..."
“Stop, stop, stop!”
Sun Shaozong hurriedly stopped her and said speechlessly: "I asked you to tell me how he threatened you at that time! I didn't ask you to tell me the details of that incident!"
Zhang Wu was so embarrassed that she couldn't help but question, "Sir, I clearly said it just now..."
"Then say it again, the more detailed the better!"
