Chapter 74 - 74: No Evidence_l

Translator: 549690339

Han’s Family motherhood set her eyes down, her heart in a daze.

She hadn’t even looked at the child when she found out it was a girl.

She had no idea what she looked like, let alone any evidence to prove it.

However, she seemed to remember the midwife Wu Sishen saying something in surprise, but she couldn’t remember exactly what it was.

What was it?

“I, I was a bit fuzzy at the time, I can’t remember…” n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Jiang Sanlang sneered, “Then why don’t you tell us, how did your child end up with me?”

Han’s Family: .

She couldn’t tell the truth, even if she wasn’t the one who lost the child.

But to say it was her husband, that was even worse.

Her husband was a scholar, his reputation was crucial, she would rather be childless than ruin his chance in the imperial examination.

Seeing her daughter-in-law not saying a word, Chen Feng immediately responded, “Because the child was weak from birth and didn’t have any strength, so, so…”

“So you left her by the river Chuanhe?” Jiang Sanlang asked coldly.

Chen Feng quickly nodded, “Yes! We can’t keep a dead child at home, can we?”

“Then tell me, how did your child, who passed away as soon as she was born, end up with me?” Jiang Sanlang asked forcefully.

“I threw….threw her somewhere by the Chuanhe, I can’t remember the exact location, It has been so many years…”

Chen Feng looked to her daughter-in-law for help, “Han’s Family, do you know?”

Han’s Family was silent.

Her husband Chen Changping never said he threw the child by the Chuanhe. He only said he left her in North Mountain.

But why did Jiang Sanlang say the child was found by the Chuanhe? Was he trying to confuse them? Or was the child really not hers?

Regardless, the child had to be hers!

Jiang Sanlang turned to Sun Licheng and said, “Lizheng, Yingbao has never been weak since she was a child. If you don’t believe me, you can ask my neighbours if they have ever seen her been ill or used medications.”

Everyone shook their heads, “We never saw Yingbao fall ill, and we never saw the Jiangs invite a doctor for the child.”

“If my child has never been weak, how did she become Chen’s child who was weak from birth and died?”

Jiang Sanlang’s gaze was sharp, he turned to Han’s Family, “Or is it because you couldn’t give birth to a son, you listened to rumours, intentionally deceived and tried to steal Yingbao from us for your heir?”

Han’s Family avoided his gaze and mumbled, “I didn’t…”.

She began to doubt her previous judgement. Maybe… maybe the girl wasn’t hers after all. So what if that’s the case?

“Also, Yingbao wasn’t found by Chuanhe, I picked her up from South Slope, which is miles away from Chuanhe.” Jiang Sanlang asserted confidently.

Chen Feng and Han’s Family: ….

Old Chen angerly glared at his daughter-in-law.

Han’s Family wanted to say something, but was interrupted by Sun Licheng,

“Enough, you all quiet down now!”

Pointing at Old Chen, “You are the head of the family, you shouldn’t be making a fuss with two women. I won’t punish you today, but I can’t tolerate this unhealthy trend.

How about this, you give Jiang Sanlang two taels of silver as a compensation, let’s end this matter right here. Otherwise, I will have to take you to the county government and let Mingfu himself preside over this fraud case.”

He was really fed up with the families from Xichen Village, they didn’t do any actual work but kept doing these unlawful things.

The autumn tax collection deadline was approaching. There were still several families in West Village that hadn’t paid. If he didn’t issue a penalty, they would think they could get away with anything.

When he looked at East Village, several households that had difficulty paying tax last year, paid their taxes early. This saved him so much trouble.

When Chen Feng heard about the penalty silver, she became annoyed. “Lizheng, why should our family get penalised? Even if we mistook the person, the judgement shouldn’t warrant this.”

Sun Licheng slammed on the table, “What? So how should I judge? You defame others’ children again and again. Is there no law and order?”

Chen Feng shrunk her neck back and kept quiet.

She looked at her daughter-in-law once again with hardened eyes.

What a useless thing! Without any evidence, she had the nerve to go to the Jiang’s and demand the child.

Now they had lost all face.

In the end, Old Chen had no choice but to give two taels of silver, otherwise Lizheng would spank both his wife and daughter-in-law, as well as him.

If his female family members were forced to pull down their pants and be spanked in public, he would be utterly humiliated.

On the way home, unable to hold back his anger, Old Chen scolded the two women harshly, instructing them to keep their mouths shut and not tell his second son about the incident, as he didn’t want it to distract him from his studies.

Back at home, Jiang Sanlang found out that Zhou Mao had already left after receiving the goods, and villagers had also gone their separate ways.

Handing the two taels of silver to Chunniang, he talked about the incident at Lizheng’s.

“I suspect that Chen’s wife from the Han Family is still not content. We have to be careful,” he said.

Jiang Sanlang sighed, “But this is a good thing, at least everything is out in the open now.”

He had always been worried that someone might come to claim Yingbao. Now that they had explicitly stated their intention, he felt relieved.

It’s easier to deal with a thief who actually steals than one who just covets what you have. Now knowing their intentions and tactics, he could figure out how to deal with them.

No matter what, he would not give up his daughter.

“What about the birthmark on Yingbao’s wrist?” Chunniang asked nervously. Since their daughter had been insistent on bathing and changing clothes herself, Chunniang was not aware that the birthmark on her wrist had disappeared.

Moreover, Yingbao had tattooed a small red turtle on her wrist. Even if Chunniang occasionally saw her daughter’s wrist, she would assume that the birthmark had been covered by her daughter’s tattoo.

Jiang Sanlang frowned in thought, “Let’s deal with it when the time comes, there will always be a way. However, the Chens didn’t mention anything about the birthmark on Yingbao’s wrist today. They must not know about it.”

This was a good opportunity for him to figure out a solution unnoticed.

Chunniang pondered, “Do they really not know about the birthmark on Yingbao’s wrist?”

“Quite possible.” Jiang Sanlang stroked his chin, “If that is the case, it’s even better.”

At this moment, Yingbao stuck her head in, asking, “Dad, you’re back?”

Jiang Sanlang waved her over, “Baobao, come over here, let your mom and dad take a look at the birthmark on your wrist.”

Yingbao obediently ran over, pulling up her sleeve to reveal the clean wrist.

It was entirely white, with no trace of the previously existing plum blossom-shaped birthmark.

“What? How is it gone?” Both Chunniang and Jiang Sanlang exclaimed in surprise.

Yingbao chuckled, “I scrubbed it off.”

She couldn’t say that she had actually burned it off with charcoal, which would be harder to explain and more troublesome.

“Scrubbed it off? What did you scrub it with?” Chunniang checked Yingbao’s wrists again, looking for the birthmark.

It was really gone, the birthmark was honestly gone! Only a tiny red mole the size of a needle tip was left, hardly noticeable without close inspection.

Chunniang beamed joyfully.

Jiang Sanlang also heaved a great sigh of relief.

Now they didn’t need to worry about any conspiracies from the Chen Family anymore.

“I used golden ears to scrub.” Yingbao chuckled, “I scrubbed for a long time.”

Upon hearing this, Chunniang held her daughter in her arms, nearly crying from happiness, she cried out in heartache, “Baobao, you must have scrubbed away a whole layer of skin, right?” She could only assume that the birthmark could have been removed by scrubbing away a layer of skin.

Yingbao didn’t say a word.

It was better to let her parents misunderstand her, scrubbing off a layer of skin was much better than explaining that she had burned off a piece of flesh.

Jiang Sanlang patted his daughter on the head, feeling rather taken aback.

His daughter was so sensible that she had figured out how to scrub off her own birthmark.

What condition could she have probably scrubbed her skin to for the big coin-sized birthmark to fade? It was connected to the flesh after all.

“Did it hurt, Baobao?” he asked, his eyes welling up.

“It didn’t hurt,” Yingbao shook her head.

“Good girl.” Chunniang clung to her daughter, pressing their cheeks together, “You’re my good daughter.”

Her twin brother also came over, stretching his neck to press his cheek against his sister’s, “A Wu (A Jie) good girl.”

Yingbao laughed, pushing away her brothers’ heads..