Reborn as an Ugly Wife in the Countryside-Chapter 1292 - 1294: Settling the Matter Privately
"If there’s no silver, there’s no silver. I want justice for my son; I’ll have everyone taken in." Madam Feng was set on one thing: she was determined to drag the Zhong Family members into it.
At this moment, some villagers started to persuade her.
"Sister-in-law Feng, you need to think this through. If you go to the government office, your son might have died in vain, and you won’t even get any silver."
"Exactly, even if you send the Zhong Family to the government office, it’s not a murder case. With some silver, they can be released, and the Zhong Family can afford it."
"Yes, Madam Feng, at that time, the Zhong Family would just lose some silver, but they would still come out. What’s the point for you? It’s better to let the Zhong Family’s loss benefit your family."
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Listening to the villagers’ persuasion, Madam Feng’s eldest son spoke up, "Mother, everyone makes sense. Our youngest brother is already gone, and our family has no power. We can’t do anything to the Zhong Family. It’s better to take some silver. Besides, our youngest brother was indeed close to Zhong Dalong; we don’t need to ruin them."
Madam Feng’s eldest daughter-in-law also spoke up, "Yes, Mother, what my husband said is right. Our family should settle this privately."
Madam Feng’s eldest daughter-in-law had no feelings for her brother-in-law. Dead is dead, getting the silver was what mattered. With money, their lives would improve, and her son was getting old enough to marry. With some wealth, more girls would be willing to marry into the family.
Actually, Madam Feng understood what everyone was saying, but she couldn’t swallow this injustice. Her son just died in vain. But as everyone said, the government office wouldn’t give her much. After thinking it through, she decided to settle privately.
But she insisted that the Zhong Family must bleed heavily. Even if the matter went to the government office, the Zhong Family would still have to pay a lot. It might as well go to her family, so she said, "Settling privately is possible, give one hundred liang."
Hearing the amount Madam Feng demanded, the villagers gasped. One hundred liang was truly a lot.
Yang Ming was calculating in his mind that if this went to the government office, it might not even be settled with five hundred liang. Although Madam Feng was asking a bit much, a private settlement was still more economically sound.
But Yang Ming was still thinking about how to lower the price, as one hundred liang was a bit too much.
As he was pondering, a voice rang out, "Fine, one hundred liang it is. Let’s settle this privately between our two families. Yang Ming, write a note. We can’t trouble our Zhong Family over this again."
Yang Ming looked over and saw it was Uncle Zhong speaking. The yard not only contained villagers but also the Zhong Family relatives.
Seeing that Xiaoxiao’s uncle agreed to this, Yang Ming looked at Zhong’s father, who nodded to him in agreement. Yang Ming then went inside to get pen and ink from Xiaoxiao. It was best to resolve this quickly.
The note was quickly written. Both sides pressed their fingerprints onto it. The Feng Family took the hundred liang of silver and carried away the Feng son’s body.
Seeing the private settlement concluded, the villagers left the Zhong family’s courtyard.
Only the Zhong Family members remained in the courtyard.
With a glance from Uncle Zhong, a few brothers stepped forward, each handing silver to Zhong’s father. Uncle Zhong said, "This mountain is our Zhong Family’s. An incident happened, but it’s not right for your family alone to bear the cost. Let’s share the burden of this silver among our families."
