All eyes turned to Qin Zhenzhen, who seemed to hold a certain influence in the room.
The village chief cleared his throat, capturing the attention of the villagers once again.
“Yizhi, I believe there must be some misunderstanding here. Su Lan has always been honest and hardworking; she would never do something like this.”
“The fault lies with this hooligan!”
The village chief gave a stern look at the hooligan. “Tell the truth, hooligan.
Who put you up to this? Did someone instruct you to frame Yizhi?”
Terrified, the hooligan began to cry. “I’ve already told you everything! I didn’t set up Wang Yizhi! He paid me to do this for him, promising me 20 liang once it was done!”
The village chief waved his hand dismissively. “Tie him up! This hooligan is always causing trouble for food; he’ll do anything for money!”
The four men behind him immediately rushed forward, subduing the hooligan.
Su Bin stood up, his voice cold as ice. “Village Chief Wang, are you trying to protect us?”
Hearing this, the hooligan turned pale and struggled to break free, to no avail.
He called out to Su Bin and the others, “Come and save me! I will testify against Wang Yizhi in court!”
Though his surname was Wang, he had few relatives who were on good terms with him. In fact, no one in his clan would dare offend the village chief to defend him. He was a despised figure in the village, disliked by everyone.
If the village chief were to kill Wang Yizhi to protect him, the villagers would not object.
However, the hooligan did not want to die.
The village chief explained to Su Bin, “We’re not going to kill a mad dog, but this is a family matter, and outsiders should not interfere.”
As a scholar, Su Bin understood the implications of the village chief’s words.
Taking down Wang Yizhi would not be an easy task as they were up against a
powerful family.
The village chief didn’t intend to kill the hooligan, but he planned to administer medicine to make him mentally impaired, ensuring the clan retained the only Cultivated Talent they had. If Wang Yizhi advanced to become an Advanced Scholar, they would enjoy tax exemptions, making it worth sacrificing the hooligan.
“Don’t worry, as I said before, Su Lan is not capable of such deeds. She would never do something like this, so she is innocent.”
“Both of you were hit, and the hooligan’s face is still swollen. Let’s drop this; it’s all a misunderstanding.”
The village chief gave Wang Yizhi a look. “You should make a statement as well.”
Reluctantly, Wang Yizhi complied without wanting to disobey the chief’s order, “Su Lan, perhaps I misunderstood you. Everything is fine now. Take your daughter home.”
As long as Su Lan didn’t push the matter further, he would be safe.
However, Su Lan responded coldly, “Wang Yizhi, let’s get a divorce. I will take Xiaoyu with me!”
Wang Yizhi was startled. He was about to say yes, when the village chief stopped him.
Her unexpected proposal startled Wang Yizhi. He was about to agree when the village chief intervened.
“Yizhi, can’t you see that your wife is speaking out of anger? Anyone who faces suspicion from their own spouse would react this way!” The village chief suspected that Wang Yizhi had read many useless books and thus devised this devious plan to get rid of Su Lan, even using their daughter as a false witness.
Now, Su Lan was considering a divorce.
The village chief realized that he needed to handle the situation carefully. If he could calm Su Lan and offer her hope, she might be willing to drop the matter.
If he agreed to divorce Su Lan, she might even want to report this to the governmental office!
He was confident that he could win the lawsuit, but the lawsuit would cost a lot of money, and the Wang Family could not afford that..