Chapter 46: Magistrate Guo 1/3

The original owner of Li Qingzhi’s body had a father who used to be a county magistrate.

Li Qingzhi knew how cases were usually handled in the county court, and he had a rough idea of how the magistrate would rule in this case.

Before, Li Qingzhi had tried to learn about the current magistrate of Chongcheng County.

The original owner’s father, Li Zhao, was a juren, and although he could hold an official position, he was just a magistrate in a poor county.

For a wealthy county like Chongcheng, the magistrate must be a jinshi to hold such a position. The current magistrate of Chongcheng County was named Guo, a jinshi with a bit of background. Magistrate Guo didn’t have much presence in Chongcheng County.

He was amiable and never offended anyone. He would make some money, but not excessively.

Chongcheng County was very wealthy, with many merchants, especially at the wharf where countless ships docked every day. Magistrate Guo’s money mostly came from merchants and the wharf. The merchants actually hoped he would ask for money; even if he didn’t, they would willingly offer, feeling relieved only after they did.

As for settling cases, the magistrate couldn’t sentence people to death. Major cases had to be sent to higher authorities for judgment, but Magistrate Guo was fairly impartial when handling minor cases.

The Hong family was esteemed in the scholarly circles of Chongcheng County, but the highest achievement in the family was only a scholar. Magistrate Guo had no reason to fear them, nor would he show favoritism towards the Hong family when adjudicating cases.

There was nothing to favor in this case anyway.

Therefore, Li Qingzhi was determined to report to the authorities. Only by making the matter big would they prevent another Zhao Mancang. Otherwise, if the Hong family found another servant for their young master, what would they do?

The courtrooms of this era were quite small, unlike what was depicted in TV dramas, with a group of bailiffs standing neatly on both sides.

Yes, there were bailiffs, but they seemed rather casual, some even smiling and greeting Zhu Qian.

As a businessman, Zhu Qian was acquainted with people from all walks of life.

Compared to the county yamen where the original owner’s father worked, the county yamen in Chongcheng County had improved a lot. The county yamen where the original owner’s father worked looked shabby.

In the original owner’s memory, sometimes the commoners would even fight in the courtroom, and the original owner had once rolled up his sleeves to join the fray, only to be kicked by someone.

The original owner, as the son of a magistrate when he was young, although he didn’t study well, he had always lived happily and had a wide circle of friends… Unfortunately, he later experienced a great change, and the entire Yu County was flooded.

Jin Xiaoye didn’t enter the courtroom, but Zhu Qian, Zhu Xunmiao, Li Qingzhi, and Zhao Mancang did. Also present was Hong Hui, who had followed them to the county town after they left the Hong family.

Hong Hui had originally wanted to compensate Li Qingzhi and suppress the matter, but unexpectedly, they ended up in court.

Therefore, his expression was extremely unsightly. He couldn’t believe that Zhu Xunmiao would actually report to the authorities.

After all, Zhu Xunmiao hadn’t been harmed!

Although there was a scholar with a broken arm, he had never seen him before and had never heard of him. Clearly, he was someone of little importance. Even if his hand was broken… compensating him with some money would suffice. Why report it to the authorities?

As for Zhao Mancang, he was their family’s servant!

So what if Zhao Mancang didn’t serve his younger brother well and was hit a few times? His younger brother was still a child!

Although he thought this way, Hong Hui didn’t show it on his face. Instead, he apologized to Li Qingzhi with a face full of regret.

“This has nothing to do with Brother Hong.” Li Qingzhi gave Hong Hui a weak smile.

Hong Hui could act, and so could he.

Just as they were talking, Magistrate Guo arrived.

Magistrate Guo was a middle-aged man who was plump and round. He was no more than 1.7 meters tall, but he weighed at least 180 pounds.

As soon as the chubby Magistrate Guo arrived, he began to inquire about the case.

The case was explained by Zhu Xunmiao and Zhu Qian, while Li Qingzhi lay on the stretcher, not needing to do anything.

The final judgment in this case was similar to what Li Qingzhi had expected.

In Daqi, the trade of human beings was rampant, and many wealthy families would buy slaves. However, regardless of trade, killing was still a crime.

However, this was ancient times, not a modern society ruled by law, so wealthy people had many ways to evade responsibility even if they killed their slaves.

For example, they could frame the slave for theft, inform the authorities, and openly beat them to death. 

Some slaves who died from beatings could be claimed to have died from illness, and no one would investigate further.

Being confined to the stone quarry like the original owner was a desperate situation.

However, in Chongcheng County, most of the laborers working for wealthy families were locals, and they signed labor contracts. If these people were beaten to death, their families would definitely come to make trouble.

Yet even so… most of the time, as long as the wealthy families offered more money, the families of the slaves wouldn’t go to the authorities.

Li Qingzhi had talked to Zhao Mancang and had some understanding of his family.

Zhao Mancang’s father was a drunkard, and as for Zhao Mancang’s mother… she was completely different from Jin Xiaoye. Even though she was often beaten and scolded by Zhao Mancang’s father, she endured it all.

If Zhao Mancang had been accidentally beaten to death by the young master of the Hong family, his father would most likely take the money and settle the matter.

Fortunately, Zhao Mancang was unharmed.

In the future, the Hong family couldn’t let their young master act recklessly like this anymore.

Magistrate Guo’s judgment was made according to the laws of Daqi.

When a lunatic accidentally kills or injures someone, according to the law, the lunatic needs to be detained or placed under the supervision of their family.

The young master of the Hong family was a lunatic and also a child. After consulting with the Hong family, the decision was made to have the Hong family take charge of his supervision.

If he were to harm anyone again in the future, the responsibility would fall on other members of the Hong family.

In addition, Zhao Mancang was compensated with ten taels of silver for his injuries, while Li Qingzhi, who had his arm broken, was compensated with fifty taels. The vast difference in compensation amounts was because Zhao Mancang was a servant of the Hong family, while Li Qingzhi was not. Moreover, in the eyes of most people, a scholar having his arm broken was considered more serious than a child being beaten all over.

In this world, there were always many injustices.

The whole case was clear, and Magistrate Guo’s judgment was quick, with no objections from anyone.

The Hong family couldn’t object. Both injured parties were lying in the courtroom, which was solid evidence. Moreover, if Hong Zhao were summoned to the courtroom to answer for himself, it would only bring more disgrace to the Hong family.

As for Li Qingzhi… he was well aware that if he chose to privately negotiate with the Hong family, he might be able to get more money out of them, but that wasn’t what he wanted.

He hoped that the young master of the Hong family would be supervised, and that no one else would be harmed.

With the case settled, Hong Hui expressed his apologies to Li Qingzhi, saying, “Brother Li, I’m really sorry for what happened today.”

“It’s alright, Brother Hong. As long as you can take care of your younger brother in the future,” Li Qingzhi replied.

Hong Hui immediately gave his assurance, “Brother Li, rest assured, I will definitely take good care of my younger brother in the future.”

While they were talking, Zhao Mancang grabbed Li Qingzhi’s uninjured arm with his slender fingers and trembled all over.