Chapter 137 (1/2)

The Yamen service took Uncle Li and several villagers to the hall.

Luo Mingda first asked Uncle Li. After asking him to report his name and other basic information, he asked, ”Uncle Li, how long have you been a helper in Jia's house?”

Uncle Li was very frightened when he went to court for the first time. He bent down and lay on the ground. When he heard the questions of the county magistrate, he just raised his head slightly and replied, ”if you go back and return to your excellency, the grass people are 15 years old and have been sold to Jia's house for 36 years.”

Luo Mingda asked, ”have you ever looked at the yard in the other yard of Jia family near Wulipo village?”

Uncle Li replied, ”yes.”

”When did you go to Jia's other courtyard to see the courtyard? How many years? What happened during this period? ”

Uncle Li replied, ”ten years ago, the grass people were sent to other hospitals to see the house because they were in poor health and couldn't do heavy work again. I was transferred to another hospital five years ago. Yesterday, the owner suddenly sent someone to send me back to another hospital in Wulipo. ”

”Do you know why the Jia family transferred you?”

Uncle Li replied, ”I don't know. I just heard it's of great use.”

”What great use?”

”It seems to be for someone.”

”Who?”

”The grass-roots people don't know.”

”Do you know why I sent you back to Wulipo yesterday?”

Uncle Li shook his head and said, ”the housekeeper who picked me up said that no one lived there and needed someone to look at the house.”

”Did you find anything strange when you returned to Wulipo other courtyard yesterday? What's different about the yard? ”

Uncle Li thought for a moment and replied, ”it's very messy. There are many more things, some wooden stakes and so on. There are many scratches in many places of the courtyard wall. The previous flower beds are gone, and the room is in a mess. Everything in the cabinet and drawer has been opened and not closed, just like being robbed. Oh, by the way, there are half eaten meals in the kitchen and on the table, and there is a fire in the stove. ”

Luo Mingda raised her eyebrows and asked, ”that means there are still people living there before you arrive at another hospital? Is that what you mean? ”

Uncle Li nodded and said, ”yes, sir.”

”How many people seem to eat those meals?”

Uncle Li recalled and said, ”there are eight or nine sets of dishes and chopsticks on the table and several in the kitchen pot. There should be more than a dozen people.”

Luo Mingda asked, ”that is to say, during your five years away from Wulipo other hospital, there were more than a dozen people living there. Before you arrived at the other hospital yesterday afternoon, they were having lunch, but they suddenly left for some reason?”

Uncle Li nodded and said, ”yes.”

”Thank you, Uncle Li. Go down and have a rest.” After Luo Mingda asked Uncle Li, he turned to ask the villagers.

The villagers have the same answer. There are more than a dozen men living in the other courtyard. They are fierce and overbearing. They often go to the village to catch poultry and livestock and pull vegetables without giving money. Some villagers saw the housekeeper and boys of Jia's house go in and out of the other courtyard. It's the same as Cao Yuan said.

Then some villagers saw that at noon yesterday, the dozen men left the yard with their bags on their backs, even the uncle and uncle who cooked and swept away.

At this time, outside the court, a group of people came behind the onlookers. When the Yamen guard outside the door saw the man, he saluted. He was about to shout, but he was stopped by the leader.

The Yamen officer nodded and helped them to squeeze away the crowd and let them stand in a place where they could see the hall.

After asking the villagers, Luo Mingda looked at Jia Xiaoren and asked, ”Jia Xiaoren, you said your other courtyard was uninhabited. Now, according to the confessions of Uncle Li and the villagers in Wulipo, it is clear that more than a dozen men and a pair of cooking and sweeping husbands lived in it in the past five years. What else do you explain?”

Jia Xiaoren suffered from the board the day before yesterday. His ass was very sore. He stayed in prison for two days. He looked very embarrassed. His mind was not as flexible as before. He didn't find an excuse to refute for a long time. He was stunned for a moment.

Seeing this, Lord Lu winked at Jia Fu and motioned him to explain.

Jia Fu hurried forward and said, ”Sir, I have something to say.”

”Who makes noise?” Lominda asked aloud.

Jia's father hurried into the court, knelt down and said, ”Cao min Jia Zhiming is Jia Xiaoren's father.”

”Oh.” Lominda asked, ”what do you want to say?”

Jia Fu said, ”my house is in the other courtyard in Wulipo. Because I don't often live in it, I rented it out five years ago. The housekeeper and the boy go to the other courtyard to collect rent. The people living there are not as servants of my Jia house as the villagers say.”

Rented out?

Yu Qingze looked at Jia's father sideways. Fortunately, he could react and find such an excuse at this time.

Luo Mingda raised her eyebrows and asked, ”is it rented out? To whom? When his name and age were reported, why did he just go to the Yamen to investigate and it was empty? ”

This was originally thought up by Jia Fu temporarily. Where do you know who to rent it to? He wiped the sweat off his head, hesitated, then casually made up a name and said, ”rent it to a man in the north, surnamed Qian, how old is Qian, in his forties. The grass people don't know why he suddenly moved away.”

Luo Mingda frowned and asked, ”Jia Zhiming, are you sure? In court, if you deliberately lie and mislead me, I have the right to deal with you. ”

Jia Fu has been overbearing all his life, but he is a little guilty.

Luo Mingda obviously doesn't sell favors to his family. The relationship his family relies on is Lu Hongsheng as the magistrate and his brother as the waiter of the Ministry of rites, but now these are useless to Luo Mingda. He wanted to give gifts and bribes the day before yesterday, but he didn't succeed. Without a strong backing, his Jia family is just a big family with some money in Qingzhou, and in Tongshan City, people won't buy his account.

But for the sake of his son, he threw himself out and nodded, ”sure.”

Luo Mingda didn't ask Jia Fu again and said, ”witness!”