Stepmother

Justice Is Served

Hearing the order of the county magistrate two old women and one old man came forth, and bowed in greetings.

"Introduce yourselves," Judge Liu ordered coldly. He was clearly disgruntled; it seemed like Sun Baohai had gotten on his bad side.

"I am Li Wen, from the Li family of Linjia village," The first old woman introduced. 

"I am Wu Di, from the Wu family of Linjia village," The old man introduced.

"I am Dong Chen," The second old woman introduced.

"Why did you offer marriage to Miss Zhang Yingtai when she had already lost her purity?" Judge Liu asked with a sinister smile on his face. The county magistrates and Sun Baohai immediately frowned, while the Wang mother and son smiled gleefully. It seemed like Judge Liu was thoroughly offended. There was no need to ask such an explicit question unless he was insinuating that people still asking Zhang Yingtai for marriage after such a big incident might have been false and that these people were bribed. The people around felt conflicted, but they were not so quick to judge this time.

"Offering marriage to Zhang Yingtai is just a small thing compared to what her mother has done for me. Her mother,  Qi Shuchun, was the kindest person I've ever met. My father was going to sell me to a brothel in order to pay off his gambling debts, when sister Shuchun heard about it, she sold her dowry shop in order to save me, and married me to one of her close friends. Till this day I have yet to suffer any grievances from my husband and children" Li Wen explained as tears formed in her eyes. Her words touched those around her eyes. They have faintly heard about this lady but they never thought that she had done such good deeds.

"I agree with sister Wen, offering marriage is minimal compared to what she had done for me. I am an old Widow so when me and my son were about to starve to death, she took us to town and bought all necessary groceries. She got all the necessary materials to fix my house. She even came to live with me for a while and my small son, so she could take care of me. And when I finally got back on my feet she provided me with a generous dowry, and years later I was able to remarry and be happy. She made me the godmother of her daughter. That's why I hurriedly went to propose marriage when I heard that Zhang Yingtai was about to be married off. When Old Madam Zhang refused, I took Zhang Yingtai home with me to be married to my son. She then threatened to go to the Yamen and report me for kidnapping. I didn't care about such accusations but my goddaughter's reputation was already sullied, so I didn't want to worsen it and returned her. I thought I could take care of her after she married but Old Lady Wang always denied me entry and later told my goddaughter to come and tell me not to ever visit her again, or she would report me and my son for having perverse thoughts towards a married women," Dong Chen explained hatefully as she cried, shocking the people around. This Old Madam Wang and Widower Zhang were hateful.

No one hated that family more than her for the suffering they put her godchildren through. When sister Shuchun was alive, these kids were treated like pearls yet when she passed away they became worse than slaves. She had tried to bring the kids to her house multiple times, but that hateful Old Madam Zhang would always threaten her with the kids, so she could only give up, and secretly do what she could to help them now the tables have finally turned how could she not jump at the chance and help her poor goddaughter?

"When I met sister Shuchun I was already married with kids. I became very ill, and most of the family money went to cure me, but we soon ran out of money and I was about to widow my wife and her children, but sister Shuchun came and provided us with food, medication, and everything else we needed. I survived and was able to live happily with my wife and our kids, so how could I not step in when her daughter needed help?" Wu Di explained sincerely, touching the hearts of those around. None of them were blind. The sincere appreciation and inones eye couldn't be faked that well, by a villager nonetheless. They couldn't help but sigh. This lady's mother was such a good samaritan yet she died young and her children were abused by the stepmother. Even the magistrate was a little touched by these stories.