Qi Lie then looked at Granny Fang and Guo Zheng, "Additionally, Chen Bing has already admitted that the person he was indebted to for saving his life thirty years ago should be Fang Caixia. Thus, the money given for gratitude should rightfully belong to Fang Caixia. Since Fang Caixia and Chen Bing are no longer married, the money that Chen Bing kept from her should be returned to Fang Caixia."
Granny Fang was taken aback, indeed, indeed, Chen Bing had just admitted to what he did back then.
Although these are matters of morality and cannot make him serve ti in prison, the money was indeed misappropriated by Chen Bing and of course needs to be returned to her.
Qi Lie continued, "Within five days, the Chen Family must hand over the six hundred taels of silver that belonged to Fang Caixia back then."
Six, six hundred taels?
Chen Bing was dumbfounded, so much money, if he handed it over, and he were sentenced to prison, what would the family use to bribe the prison head?
The Chen Family could no longer withstand it and collapsed to the ground.
Ms. Pan had a rough idea of how much money the family had. Over the years, the expenses at ho were not low. Their son and daughter’s als and clothing, the son’s marriage, and his child’s birth were all significant expenditures.
The only inco for the family was the grocery store, but ever since Zhou Tiedong, the staff, left, the business had not been doing well. On top of that, they had to use their past savings to bribe Constable Li and others.
Currently, the family could scrape together only three to four hundred taels at most.
They still had to compensate Zhou Tiedong, where would that kind of money co from? Unless they sold their large house or shop.
But if they sold those, how would they survive?
Yet, this was not all; Qi Lie continued, "Moreover, Chen Bing also admitted to colluding with Constable Li to falsely accuse Guo Zheng, which caused him to suffer a lingering illness for years. Compensation of fifty taels of silver should be paid to Guo Zheng."
When Chen Bing was confessing his cris in a daze, Qi Lie took the opportunity to ask a few questions, including those about Guo Zheng, to which he admitted.
Guo Zheng’s eyes were filled with tears. After years of wrongful accusations, his na was finally cleared. How could he not be emotional? He imdiately kowtowed three tis, "Thank you, Lord, for your keen insight."
The Chen Family could not muster a single word at this mont. Zhou Tiedong was imprisoned back then, and Chen Bing, accusing him of theft, demanded compensation from the Zhou family.
But the Zhou family’s situation was dire, and they could at most give twenty taels of silver, which were all handed to the Chen family. Chen Bing also made them sign an IOU, requiring them to slowly repay the remaining two hundred eighty taels.
Now, this IOU is naturally void, and the twenty taels of silver must be returned, plus an additional fifty in compensation.
This amounts to seventy taels, plus six hundred taels for Granny Fang, and fifty taels for Guo Zheng, totaling seven hundred twenty taels.
Heavens, where could the Chen Family find that much money?
Ms. Pan almost fainted, while Eldest Pan wore a frost-like expression. If the Chen Family could not co up with this money, they would end up ’borrowing’ it from the Pan family, and of course, it wouldn’t be returned.
Chen Bing looked defeated, years of endeavors all in vain. When he ca to Chenggu County, he was penniless. Now... he was back to square one, or worse.
He still had to go to prison, but for how long was yet to be determined.
Alas, his thinking was still too naive, Shu Yu thought, the heaviest blow had yet to fall.
Qi Lie struck the gavel, "Chen Bing, your collusion with a constable to fra others and embezzle money is truly abhorrent. According to Dasu’s laws, you should be given thirty strokes and a two-year sentence. But!"
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