There is a god in the sky

Chapter 410 Help

Shen Lan's words excited Lü Cuihua.

"No! There were no accomplices! I did it all by myself!"

She screamed wildly, no longer caring about the death penalty, only begging the official to deliver a verdict quickly.

Judge Wei looked at Shen Lan with a troubled expression.

Shen Lan had mentioned this point during the autopsy, but since they had only caught the woman and she had confessed, Judge Wei didn't take it seriously.

"The deceased was an old man. Although the woman was weak, she could still kill him by taking advantage of the situation and launching a sneak attack."

Shen Lan looked at Lü Cuihua and said, "My lord, I would like to speak with her."

"Okay, hurry up, it's getting late."

Shen Lan dragged Lü Cuihua into the inner room, closed the door, and met her eyes filled with anger and hatred.

"You're a woman too, why won't you help me?" Lü Cuihua demanded loudly.

Shen Lan sat down beside her and said calmly, "You want to save your three daughters, but do you think it's realistic?"

You killed someone, and you must atone with your death no matter what. After you die, the fate of your three daughters will be entirely in the hands of your husband and mother-in-law.

Lu Cuihua burst into tears, "What...what should I do?"

"If you can't even save yourself, how can you protect your child?"

"I'm just a weak woman, I can't even give birth to a son, I'm useless..."

Shen Lan couldn't connect with her.

Her killing was understandable; in Shen Lan's view, it was self-defense, at most excessive.

Even if she is found not guilty, given her personality, she wouldn't be able to protect her own child.

There are far too many unfortunate women in this world, some of whom have never been loved since birth.

Shen Lan even felt that if she were Lü Cuihua, she would be willing to die with her three children.

Of course, if she were Lü Cuihua, she wouldn't have endured so much mistreatment in her husband's family for so many years without fighting back.

Character dictates.

She wanted to help her, but she didn't know where to start, or which path was the right one.

“The landlord in your village is fifty-five years old this year. He has four concubines. He treats people well. Although it’s not a good match, at least your daughter won’t have any problems if she goes into his family.”

Lu Cuihua stopped crying and listened attentively to Shen Lan's words.

"Tell her to go and discuss with the landlord's wife about bringing her two younger sisters along."

"How could she agree? She must hate my daughter to death."

"So, have your daughter surrender to her."

I've looked into it; that lady is domineering and makes all the decisions, big and small, at home. If your daughter wants to have a good life there, she has to listen to her.

"Okay, I'll listen to you, but can she protect her two younger sisters?"

"Of course you can't rely on her. I don't even know if sending the two little ones to the landlord's house was the right or wrong thing to do. I'm just giving you an idea. Whether you want to do it or not is up to you."

"Those accomplices?"

Shen Lan leaned closer to her and whispered, "You've been beaten by your husband for years. He's a violent man. Doesn't he hate you when he finds out his wife is being humiliated by his father?"

Lu Cuihua's eyes suddenly lit up, and her voice seemed to be laced with poison.

"I understand, I'm going to drag him down to hell with me!"

A husband and father like him are worse off than no husband at all.

Clearly, Lü Cuihua agrees with this.

Lu Cuihua spent almost half her time in bed at her husband's home. Her body was covered in bruises, so it's no wonder she was physically weak.

Back in court, Lü Cuihua insisted that she had an accomplice and recounted in detail how the two of them conspired to murder and bury the body.

Shen Lan knew very well that there were accomplices, but it wasn't her husband.

When the authorities brought her man to the scene, he naturally denied it.

After a few strokes of the cane by Magistrate Wei, the other party still wanted to deny it, but when he saw the finger-crushing board brought by the yamen runner, he had no choice but to admit it.

After the two men signed the papers, Judge Wei immediately delivered his verdict.

The two conspired to murder. Although Lü Cuihua was the mastermind, the accomplice was the one who contributed the effort, and he was the victim's biological father and son, so his crime was unforgivable.

Therefore, in the end, Lü Cuihua was sentenced to exile in Lingnan, while her husband was sentenced to be executed in the autumn.

Shen Lan asked Lü Cuihua the same question again when Lü Cuihua was taken to prison.

She gave Lü Cuihua a second option.

“I can send your three children to Lingnan to reunite with you, provided that you can make it to Lingnan alive.”

Shen Lan thought she wouldn't choose this path.

Because the road to exile is fraught with peril.

Even after she arrived in Lingnan, she was still a criminal, and she and her three girls could hardly live a peaceful life.

But to everyone's surprise, Lü Cuihua resolutely chose this path.

She smiled bitterly: "The four of us, mother and daughters, even if we have to die, we will die together."

Shen Lan admired her perseverance.

There are no fixed answers to life's choices, nor to the unknown future.

"Okay, I'll help you, but from now on you'll have to rely on yourselves."

"Thank you, young lady. You are a good person. If I had known there was a woman like you, I would have left him without hesitation when he first laid a hand on me. I used to be an embroiderer, and he ruined my hands."

Lu Cuihua was filled with resentment and regretted her actions, but unfortunately, there was no medicine for regret in this world.

When Shen Lan returned to the yamen, Magistrate Wei was handing the case file to Xiao Ji for review.

Xiao Ji frowned in disbelief when he saw the final conclusion.

"Did the husband and wife conspire to murder their own father?"

This case sounds so abnormal.

Looking at the details, although the plot is reasonable, it doesn't seem like something an adult male would do.

"Judge Wei, you may go out now. I have something to discuss with the magistrate."

Knowing that the two had a close relationship, Magistrate Wei put down his things and left, thoughtfully closing the door behind him.

Xiao Ji tapped the file. "What happened?"

Shen Lan then told him everything she had done.

In short, what law enforcement officers need least is sympathy, and what they must never do is bend the law for personal gain.

“Her accomplice was her daughter, but I cannot punish this girl who risked her life to save her mother.”

Xiao Ji stamped and signed the file, then put it aside.

"Some evildoers go unpunished not because they don't deserve to die, but simply because there are loopholes in the law."

But even if the laws are amended, they cannot be perfect.

"Yes, for example, domestic violence, where a husband beats his wife, has never been classified as a crime since ancient times. As long as the people standing in the court are all men, this cannot be included in the criminal law."

Xiao Ji agreed with this.

Even among the civil and military officials in the imperial court, there were no shortage of scoundrels who deceived the world, stole fame, and beat their wives.

The idea that a woman should obey her husband after marriage is a shackle that binds her for life.

Xiao Ji often felt that Shen Lan was even stricter with the law than he was.

He will also take Shen Lan's opinion into account when revising the law this time.

However, some of her suggestions were too idealistic and not applicable to the present situation.

Shen Lan was aware of this, so all she could do was gradually instill concepts such as human rights and equality within the limits acceptable to the ancients.