The Formidable Lady of the Poor Scholar’s Household

Chapter 18: A Pleasant Surprise

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

When Liu Hua heard her daughter talk about what happened that night, the two elders were also terrified. This rapist was too bold. Liu Hua hugged Li Jiajia with tears in her eyes.

“From now on, Sishui is our family’s great benefactor. We won’t tell anyone about this. Keep it to yourself, do you hear me?”

“Mother, I know. Sister-in-law Shi won’t say anything either.”

“That girl looks cold and doesn’t talk much. I didn’t expect her to be so kind. It doesn’t matter if it’s because of money or not. We’ll pretend that we don’t know what happened. What happened tonight was that you went to the Shi family to learn embroidery,” Father Li said as he looked at his pipe.

“I understand, Dad.”

“I’ll sleep with Jiajia tonight.”

Due to the shock, Li Jiajia was running a high fever.

On the other hand, Qian Sishui had dragged the rapist all the way to the government office. The lantern was still lit, but she couldn’t beat the drum, so how could she enter? She walked around the office, took off the golden thread tied to it, and put it in her bag.

“He’s quite rich.” There were a thousand taels of silver in his wallet! Thinking about the three hundred taels of silver, Qian Sishui’s eyes glimmered and she threw the man over the wall. Then, she turned around and skipped into the night.

Bam!

“Who’s that?”

The man happened to land on the patrolman’s body, scaring him so much that he drew his saber.

“Boss, save me. I’m being crushed to death.” What was so heavy?

The others were on guard. A few of them helped their fellow guard up. They held lanterns and looked at the figure on the ground. “It’s the rapist, Yan Shikuan!”

“You’re right! Quick, tie him up!”

The men worked quickly to tie the rapist up. This time, they would definitely be recognized for their service!

“Dislocate his hands and feet, just in case,” Captain An Ming ordered.

“Yes, sir.”

“I’ll go report to the Lord. Take good care of him. If he wakes up, knock him out. In any case, just deliver him from our hands to the magistrate. We can’t kill him, but don’t try to keep him alive either.”

“Understood, boss.”

This was a big fish!

The government office should have been in the county, but the county was just a step away. That was why the government office was placed in town.

“My lord, my lord.”

After knocking for a long time, there was no response. After thinking for a while, he said, “My lord! My lord!” His tone was obviously different.

The county magistrate heard it, but he thought it was a dream. He simply tossed in his bed and fell asleep.

“My lord! My lord! The rapist has committed another crime!”

That shocked the person on the bed so much so that he instantly flipped over and fell off the bed!

Bam!

The person waiting at the door trembled!

“Where’s the crime scene?” The man ran out with his shoes in his hands.

“My lord, don’t be so anxious. Listen to me. Someone threw the rapist into our government office. My men are guarding him in the backyard now.”

“Really? How could such a good thing happen to us?”

The young county magistrate looked incredulous. Could it really be true?

“Absolutely!”

“Let’s go and take a look.”

The two of them hurriedly ran to the backyard. The county magistrate looked at the man who was trussed up and noticed that the shape of this person’s legs and hands was not right.

“What’s wrong with his hands and feet?”

“My lord, our boss wanted us to dislocate his limbs. When I was about to do so, I realized someone had already done it!” Ordinary people did not know how to do this.

“I feel like I’m dreaming.” This whole scene felt surreal. The Imperial Court had been in a terrible fix over this matter, yet it had been resolved so easily.

“My lord, what do you think we should do? We can’t put his hands and feet back in place.”

“Why?” The magistrate asked. They had worked together long enough to understand each other.

The captain’s surname was Qin and his name was Tai’an! He was a veteran and had been specially recruited to work at the government office.

“My lord, the way this dislocation was done is a little strange. Ordinary people wouldn’t know how to use it. If we use force, the tendons in his hands might be broken. We don’t know how to do it!”

The county magistrate had some achievements, and had requested the royal family for a favor. In the end, he had been made the county magistrate. Although he was far away from his family, he was at least at ease.

The 22-year-old county magistrate was still an old bachelor with the surname Hu. His name was Yuan’an. There were many old bachelors in the government office, and he happened to be one of them.

“As long as he can talk, it’s fine. We don’t want anything to happen. Get the rest to prepare now. Give him a few jars of sleeping powder and let him sleep for three days. We just have to throw him to the higher-ups. We don’t have to care about anything else.”

“Yes, sir.” Qin Tai’an personally went to make the arrangements.

Just like that, by the time the rapist woke up, he was already on the guillotine.

There was no need to interrogate him at all. He would be executed immediately now that he had been caught!

Half a month later, the government office posted a notice. Li Jiajia’s father happened to be in town. Recently, he had been going around the town almost every day to inquire about the news of the rapist.

“Little brother, what does this say?” The old man, Li Yuan Bao, pulled a man in uniform beside him and asked.

“Oh, it says here that the rapist was caught and executed. He’s dead now, but the nameless hero hasn’t been found. There’s no way to reward him. In the end, the government office decided to use the money as donations to build bridges and roads!” His tone was filled with admiration for the nameless hero.

Everyone thought that this hero must be a man—a man with a righteous heart!

When Li Yuan Bao heard this, he turned around and left. Now, he would be at ease even if he died.

He hadn’t expected the daughter-in-law of the Shi family to give up on the monetary reward. She probably didn’t want others to know about her good deed and just wanted to keep it to herself!

After returning home, he explained everything to his wife and daughter.

“Don’t worry, I’m not the kind of person who bites the hand that feeds me.” Tsk, they were looking down on him!

When Li Jiajia heard this, she felt relieved. It was good that he was dead. Otherwise, how many more girls would suffer? Not every girl was as lucky as her.

And what was their nameless hero doing right now?

It was Shi Jinhua’s day off today, so he could go and get some soil to fertilize the corn in the fields.

After Shi Jinhua picked out the soil, he dug a hole while the other poured the fertilizer in.

“Don’t move. Just go under the tree and take a breather. I’ll finish this in a while.”

Seeing that Shi Jinhua was no longer slow when he worked, Qian Sishui agreed to take a break under the tree.

For some reason, Liu Hua spotted Shi Jinhua and Qian Sishui, who were busy working in the fields.

When she got home, she called out to her eldest son, Li Jin, “Take the hoe and help Hua in the fields.”

“Alright, Mother.”

Without any objections, he carried the hoe and went out.

The eldest daughter-in-law found it strange. What was wrong with her mother-in-law today? She had never seen her in-laws interact with the Shi family since she married into the family.

“What are you looking at? Hurry up and get your chores done. Every day, I have to shout for everything to be done. I don’t know how your family taught you to be a daughter-in-law.”

Don’t think that I don’t know what you’re thinking about! Don’t you think that you can slack off just because you haven’t moved out?

‘I won’t let you move out. I’m going to watch and see how you get angry but can’t say anything,’ Liu Hua thought to herself.

When Li Jin arrived at Shi Jinhua’s house, the latter was confused. Why was the Li family suddenly so enthusiastic in helping him?

‘This is all so out of the blue,’ Shi Jinhua thought to himself.

Li Jiajia followed behind her brother. She was extremely excited when she saw Qian Sishui from afar.

Shi Jinhua was at a loss again. What did this woman do without him knowing?

How strange…

It was naturally much faster to have someone help. He saw two people under the tree. One was lively and the other was cold. It was rare to see the woman being able to talk with someone else!