The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 809 - 787: Caught Again

Chapter 809: Chapter 787: Caught Again

Manbao carried her carrying basket into the medicine shop, greeted Doctor Ji, then sat down in her spot and began to wait for patients to come.

Meanwhile, Zhou SiLang had just left the gates of Yizhou City and reached Luojiang County. County Magistrate Tang, who had stayed overnight at the County Governmental Office, got up and had a hearty breakfast, then called over the yamen runner who was keeping an eye on Qili Village to ask him some questions.

"You’re saying that Lai Tou is currently in the gambling house in the county town?"

"Yes, he left the village overnight the day before yesterday and went to Daguan Village just outside the city to gamble, big or small. He actually won a handful of copper coins and came into the city the day before yesterday. Since then, he’s been hanging out in the gambling house and hasn’t left." The yamen runner said, "His luck really wasn’t bad the first couple of days; he kept winning money. But starting yesterday, he began to lose and has almost lost all the money he had with him. He didn’t leave last night, so I reckon he’s still supposed to be in the gambling house."

County Magistrate Tang then said, "Well, take some men with you and bring him back to me."

The yamen runners hadn’t expected it to be about catching Lai Tou again; they still didn’t understand how Lai Tou managed to offend their master, who had them keep watch over him, and even summoned County Magistrate Tang from Yizhou City.

But precisely because this important figure had been called over, the yamen runners didn’t dare to slack off. A few of them formed a group and charged into the gambling street like a pack of wolves. They dragged out Lai Tou, who was gambling so intensely that his eyes were red, and escorted him towards the County Governmental Office.

The gamblers, who had already prepared the snares and were just waiting for Lai Tou to fall into the final one, saw...

As they watched Lai Tou being apprehended by the yamen runners, they couldn’t do a thing. They could only collect the I.O.U. that Lai Tou had already signed and plan to make a trip to Qili Village when they had a chance.

The monk can run but the temple can’t be moved; even if Lai Tou was caught, weren’t there still people in his family?

Lai Tou hadn’t slept for a day and a night, and when he was brought to the County Governmental Office, he was still a little dazed. But perhaps what they say, ’one soon gets used to the unusual,’ applied here, as he wasn’t very afraid this time.

So, when he was being made to kneel in the hall, his face didn’t show much fear; he just numbly knelt there, daydreaming, his mind still filled with thoughts of gambling.

County Magistrate Tang came out from the rear hall and took a seat, interestedly taking the place of the Luojiang County Magistrate on the main hall. He curiously touched the objects on the table, and after examining everything on it, he finally leaned his chin on his hand to look at Lai Tou, who was still lost in thought.

County Magistrate Tang sized up Lai Tou and had a good idea of the situation.

He turned his head and asked the yamen runner, "How much did he lose?"

"The written I.O.U. amounts to eight taels."

County Magistrate Tang clicked his tongue and said, "That’s equivalent to their annual income, isn’t it?"

The yamen runner affirmed with a "yes."

County Magistrate Tang pulled out a tallie from the cylinder, felt it for a moment, and then asked, "I heard his wife and daughter have been sold by him. Is there anyone left in the family who can be sold?"

The yamen runner replied, "There’s still a son."

County Magistrate Tang then handed the tallie to him with a slight smile and said, "Then give him ten beatings with the paddle to wake him up first."

"Yes!"

The yamen runner took the tallie, dragged Lai Tou away to be punished. Because County Magistrate Tang was different from County Magistrate Yang, the ten beatings on Lai Tou were real and solid hits, much more painful than the last time. Lai Tou didn’t expect the beatings to hurt more than before and couldn’t help but scream loudly in pain.

County Magistrate Tang listened with an expressionless face. After the beatings were done and Lai Tou dragged back in, he finally spoke up, "Zhou Dali, look up and see who I am?"

Lai Tou looked up and realized that the official sitting on the dais wasn’t County Magistrate Yang, but a very unfamiliar official, clad in an official’s robe and emanating an air of authority.

County Magistrate Tang smiled faintly at him and said, "County Magistrate Yang has returned to the capital to get married, I have been dispatched from the prefectural city specifically to preside over your case. Do you know what crime you have committed?"

Lai Tou shook his head.

The usually smiling face of County Magistrate Tang turned stern, and with an expressionless face, he said, "Not even knowing what crime you’ve committed shows clearly that you have no intention of repenting. Therefore, there’s no point in conducting a trial. Guards, take him to the secret cell, and prepare for his execution on a chosen day."

The attendants were startled and didn’t react at once, but upon receiving a cold glance from County Magistrate Tang, who lifted his eyelids, they shivered back to their senses and immediately dragged away a thoroughly confused Lai Tou.

It wasn’t until they had left the main hall that Lai Tou finally comprehended, struggling to say, "What, what do you mean? Execute me, why would you execute me..."

No one paid attention to him, they dragged him to the deepest part of the prison and pushed him inside, then closed the door shut.

Luojiang County is small, impoverished, and its populace isn’t particularly rowdy, so there are few who commit crimes throughout the year.

Even when people are caught fighting or stealing, County Magistrate Yang wouldn’t keep them idly in prison. Most of the time, they’re held for a while until subdued, and then put to work outside.

They might be sent to tend to the government fields, or to serve by repairing bridges and roads; there always was an endless amount of work awaiting them.

Thus, the prison in Luojiang County was generally quite lax, and the innermost parts were usually reserved for serious offenders sentenced to death.

Ever since County Magistrate Fu’s tenure, Luojiang County hadn’t had such prisoners, so the cell had always been empty, no one had occupied it. As a person entered a place where no one had lived, the mice and cockroaches that had made their home there became excited, chattering animatedly as they scurried off to frolic, but after a while returned to their hiding.

This chill to the bone even Lai Tou, who was no stranger to rats and insects, and he frantically used his hands to drive them away.

He knew these creatures were like dogs; they cowered if you showed them aggression, so Lai Tou grabbed a handful of straw and swung wildly like a madman, managing to drive away the mice in the cell. But he knew they hadn’t gone far and were surely hiding in a corner, stealthily watching him.

But right now, Lai Tou had no mind to think about that; he rushed to the bars, frantically waving his hands outside, shouting, "Official, sir, official, why am I being arrested this time? What did that gentleman mean by ’execute’?"

The jailer struck his hands hard with a wooden stick, forcing him to retract his hands and shouted, "You better behave yourself. The official instructed you to reflect on your actions, so reflect! If you don’t even know what crime you’ve committed, how can I know?"

With that, he walked away.

From a cell far from Lai Tou’s, a voice called out, "Hey, brother, what crime did you commit to be locked in the death cell?"

Lai Tou’s legs went weak, and he knelt to the ground, looking toward the source of the voice, only to find that it was coming from around a corner, where he could barely see someone was confined. Clearly, his cell was indeed deep inside.

And there was no one in the few cells adjacent to his.

Teardrops streamed down Lai Tou’s face as he sobbed, "I, I just gambled, gambling isn’t illegal..."

"Come off it, you get put in the death cell just for gambling? And to be executed at that, do you know what execution means?" said the prisoner around the corner. "That means getting your head chopped off, mate. What terrible thing have you actually done?"

"Nothing, I haven’t, I haven’t..."

But apart from the two bored prisoners around the corner, no one listened to him speak.

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