Chapter Thirty-Three: The County Magistrate's Verdict

  Sun Sanhu went out to buy vegetables with a witness, and the witness was General Manager Liang Xingchu. Wang Xiancheng is about to interrogate the next one.

  "Next one." Wang Xiancheng said loudly.

  "My name is Xiao Wuzi. I was sent by the second madam to the tea shop to pick up a report yesterday afternoon." said the person who called himself Xiao Wuzi.

  The second lady said: "It was I who told him to go."

  "Next." Wang Xian continued in a loud voice.

  "My name is Feng Xiaobao, and we were sent out by Liu Ban Zhang to inspect the farmland." said the person who called himself Feng Xiaobao.

  "Go and verify it." Wang Xiancheng said to his subordinates.

  ……

  The first eight people all had reasons for going out, and after questioning, they were all consistent. Finally, it was Xiaoyu's turn.

  "The last one." Wang Xiancheng continued to shout loudly.

  "My name is Xiao Qing, I am a maid of the fifth madam. Yesterday afternoon, the fifth madam sent me out to buy a comb for her." Xiao Qing replied.

  "Is this true, Fifth Lady?" Magistrate Wang asked Fifth Lady.

  The fifth lady replied: "Yes, sir, it was I who told her to go out and buy a comb. She will be back soon."

  "This is strange, you all have reasons to go out and say that you didn't do anything else, so who went to make the key?" Wang Xiancheng looked like he was really at a loss.

  "I have a way." The crowd followed the sound and saw it was Liang Guan's family.

  "What's your solution?" Wang Xiancheng asked in puzzlement.

  Liáng Xīngchū turned around and ordered his servants: "Bring out Old Qiáo from the locksmith shop!" As soon as he finished speaking, a man in his fifties wearing presbyopic glasses appeared before everyone.

  "This is the only shop in town that can make keys, owned by Old Man Qiao." Liang Xingchu introduced to everyone, "After confirmation, yesterday afternoon, someone made two keys like this in his store. Next, let's ask Old Man Qiao to identify who made these two keys, Old Man Qiao, please!"

  Mr. Qiao's boss walked up, leaned in close to the person's face, and started identifying, starting from Little Qing on the right side. He saw him leaning forward, then pulling his head back, leaning forward again, and pulling back again, repeating several times, thinking carefully, hesitating, wanting to say something, but stopping himself...

  The steward Liang Xingchu, who was standing behind, became anxious and said: "Old Qiao, what are you being so evasive about? If you have something to say, just say it, don't beat around the bush."

  "Judging from her appearance, this girl looks a bit like... but that person was a man." Old Cao still hesitated.

  County Magistrate Wang stepped forward and said urgently, "Are you blind? Can't you see she's a girl? She definitely isn't." He then waved his hand at Xiao Qing and said, "You can go back now." The Fifth Lady pulled Xiao Qing away as they left. At the same time, County Magistrate Wang told the other two maids, "You all can go back too." The two maids happily left as well.

  County Magistrate Wang said to Old Qiao: "You must look carefully."

  Old Cao stuttered: "Because there are many people in the store, it's a bit blurry..." When he saw Xiao Wuzi and Ma Erlangzi, Old Cao hesitated again: "These two seem to look alike, but I'm not sure..."

  "Alright, you can go down now," said Wang Xiancheng. He then ordered the bailiffs, "Take these two people back to the yamen for interrogation. The rest of you disperse." Xiao Wuzi and Ma Erlangzi saw that they were going to be taken to the yamen and their faces turned white with fear, shouting: "It wasn't me! I'm innocent..." "I'm innocent..."

  But no matter how loudly they shouted, the bailiffs simply ignored them and forcibly took them away...

  County Magistrate Wang turned around and said to Zhou Shiming: "Mr. Zhou, I'll go back and investigate carefully again. Goodbye!"

  Zhou Shiming felt it was a bit sudden and hastily said: "Lord Wang, can't we interrogate him at the mansion?"

  County Magistrate Wang's face was full of displeasure: "What, Old Master Zhou still doesn't trust me?"

  "No, not that. Everything will be arranged by Master Wang." He immediately instructed Liang Xingchu to take out some silver and give it to County Magistrate Wang as a token of gratitude. Zhou Shiming looked helpless, and together with the steward Liang Xingchu, they escorted County Magistrate Wang out of the Zhou residence...

  Looking at the back of Wang Xianzhen disappearing into the distance, butler Liang Xingchu spat a mouthful of saliva on the ground and muttered: "Is this how you handle a case?" The crowd saw that the thief had been caught and there was nothing more to do with them, so they all let out a sigh of relief and dispersed...

  Zhou Shiming came to the room of the madam and said, "No matter how this case is tried, we must be extra careful. It seems that the locks on the garden and the ancestral hall need to be changed."

  The madam also sighed: "People all say that a thief in one's own family is hard to prevent, I have deeply experienced it. I will go and arrange the lock now."

  Two people were talking, and the second lady and fourth lady came to visit. As soon as they entered the room, the second lady muttered: "Since Xiao Wu came to the Zhou family, our Zhou family's strange things have increased. Master, we don't know what will happen in our family in the future." Zhou Shi Ming's face was calm, and he advised them: "Xiao Wu has just entered the Zhou family gate, and she is still young and unfamiliar with human emotions and worldly affairs. There are some things that are not yet known to be deep or shallow, so you don't have to pay too much attention to this. In the future, I hope you ladies will unite and harmonize, and everything will prosper."

  "I see, this little Wu is a fox spirit, and that maid Xiao Qing doesn't look like a woman at all. They're both spoiled by the old master." The second lady muttered to herself.

  "Don't blame Lao Ye either, we didn't guide him in time and have some responsibility too." The old madam sighed.

  "Alright, I've had a lot on my plate these past few days and I'm exhausted. You all chat for a bit, I'm going to go rest." He said as he walked out of the madam's room. The second and fourth mistresses also followed him out and each returned to their own rooms...

  When Fourth Madam walked past Fifth Madam's courtyard, Fifth Madam happened to be going out. The two bumped into each other. "Fourth Sister, where are you busy going?" asked Lin Jingya, Fifth Madam.

  "Oh, oh, nothing." The fourth madam seemed unprepared and a little flustered, as if afraid of being seen through by the fifth madam.

  "The fourth sister hasn't come home for a long time, and we two sisters haven't spoken to each other either." said the fifth lady in a soft voice.

  "Isn't this a bit inconvenient?" The fourth wife said hesitantly.

  "Come on, Fourth Sister said there's nothing inconvenient about it. Come in and sit down, have a cup of tea!" She then pulled Fourth Madame into her courtyard. Fourth Madame couldn't decline and had to follow her in.

  After Fourth Mistress sat down, Fifth Mistress Lin Jingya hurriedly served tea. She said politely: "This is the new tea that just came out this year, Fourth Sister try some."

  The fourth madam gently opened the lid, slightly tasted it, and praised: "This tea is really good. Good tea, good tea..."

  The fifth lady smiled slightly, revealing two small dimples, and said: "If the fourth sister likes it, there is another package here, you can take it away and drink it." After finishing, she took out a package of tea leaves from the cabinet and put it in the hands of the fourth lady.

  "This is terrible! I'm stealing someone's beloved!" said the fourth wife with embarrassment.

  "A pack of tea leaves, what's there to like or dislike about it. This was sent over by one of my distant relatives a few days ago, and I still have another pack here. You can take this one, Fourth Sister." said the Fifth Lady with a smile.

  "Has your younger sister gotten used to things here by now?" Fourth Mistress asked with concern.

  "Alas, the mansion is so big and there are so many people, I haven't even met everyone yet. From now on, please, Fourth Sister, guide me more." said Fifth Madam humbly.

  "To be honest with you, there are a lot of things going on in the mansion, and the relationships between people are also quite complicated. Just be more careful!" The fourth madam advised.

  "Fourth Sister, don't be so subtle." asked Fifth Madame.

  "There's no outsider, so as a sister I'll advise you a few words. For example, today, Xiao Qing happened to go out and almost got into trouble, I'm afraid it would have implicated you too. To be honest with you, Second Sister doesn't like her, and hasn't spared any criticism in front of the old master and mistress." After saying these things, Fourth Mistress seemed to feel that she had misspoken, and turned to laugh and say: "Look at my mouth, it's always talking too much, don't mind me! The day is late, I should head back now." Having said this, she stood up to leave.

  The fifth lady hastily stuffed the tea leaves into her hands and said warmly: "Fourth sister, come sit down whenever you have time!"

  After seeing off the Fourth Mistress, Fifth Mistress Lin Jingya fell into deep thought. The speaker had no intention, but the listener did have a mind, and the words of Fourth Mistress Sun Lianxiang really served as a reminder to her, while filling her heart with hatred towards Second Mistress.