Chapter 97: Evidence is needed

After hearing the magistrate Zhang Duan’s question, Sun Dan thought for a moment, sorted out Sun Dan’s memories in his head, and told him the whole story one by one.

Of course, there are many things in the marriage between Sun Dan and Zhiniang that are worth pondering, and even he doesn't know the truth. But the shop that was the key to this matter was just to insist that when his father booked this marriage for him, he did not give the shop to Wan Butcher as a bride price.

So Sun Dan started from the night when his father passed away, saying that he was kneeling in front of his father's spirit to thank his relatives and friends who came to pay his respects. Then the butcher and his son rushed in with Di Bao and matchmaker, waved the contract in his hand, forcibly took away the Sun family's shop, and left Zhiniang in the Sun family.

After listening to Sun Dan's words quietly, Zhang Magistrate listened to all this, touched his beard and said, "This matter has a contract, a matchmaker's words, a witness of a land guarantee, a teacher and a saint's right way to be a saint, and naturally he must enforce the law impartially. This matter is not easy to handle, but the reason is all on your father-in-law's side. Although you and I have a relationship with teachers and students, we cannot be favoritism and abuse of power."

"The teacher is a gentleman, and the students admire him." Sun Dan praised him and said, "But there are many doubts about this. The students have a few questions and they want to tell their teacher."

"Okay, you said, if there is something suspicious about this matter, I will naturally find out the truth and give you justice."

After hearing what Zhang Magistrate said, Sun Dan felt at ease, cleared his throat, and said in a leisurely manner: "Have you ever thought about it? My father was ignorant of his family, and how could he understand the contract. Although there were silences and fingerprints on it, the silences were just a circle, and anyone could draw them randomly. As for fingerprints, my father had been dead for many years, and he could not compare them." When talking about his deceased father and thinking of his parents in another world, Sun Dan felt a little sad. He was silent for a moment, lowered his voice and said: "My father loved the students the most when he was alive. That shop was my son's livelihood, so how could he give others a bride price."

The magistrate Zhang Duan suddenly realized and held his forehead with his hands: "Yes, this is true. Nowadays, Zouping, marrying a woman from a good family, requires only two or three taels of silver. Even if he is a wealthy family, he will only have thirty or forty. If your store is sold for more than one thousand taels of gold, how could your father spend such a big price for an ordinary woman? As you said, if you find someone to draw a placard, it looks decent and you can't tell who it was. As for fingerprints..."

County Magistrate Zhang asked again: "When did your father be buried?"

"Report to my teacher, I'll be buried the next day."

"Hey, Jingyuan, you are so confused. If you have any questions that day, you should ask the government to find me to make the decision for you. As long as you use a pair of fingerprints, you will know whether the contract is true or false." County Magistrate Zhang couldn't stop.

Sun Dan sighed, touched his chin, and said, "The dead are the most important. Sun Dan was determined to let his father fall into peace at that time. How could he make trouble in the government and alarm his father's spirit in heaven?" He was also very depressed. I had not traveled to the Ming Dynasty at that time. At that time, Sun Dan was a fool with insufficient brains. When he met a guy with a low EQ and IQ, what could I do?

County Magistrate Zhang also sighed: "Jingyuan, you are sincere and filial, and you are very pleased to be your teacher. But things have come to this point... This makes people wonder what to say."

Sun Dan shed tears again and deliberately pretended to be sad and unable to do so: "Isn't the student forced to do anything? When he arrived in the capital and entered the Imperial College, it really didn't work, so the student stayed in the school building of the Imperial College. As for his family, he was in his hometown and only came to pick her up when the student passed the juren, passed the Jinshi, and became an official."

"Not appropriate." Zhang Magistrate Zhang waved his head: "If you really become an official in the future, you will be placed in the local area as a seventh-rank county magistrate according to the customs of the officialdom. The state has its own laws, and local officials cannot take their families to take office. A local official has been for several years. You are already seventeen now. You are nineteen years old and then served as an official in the local area for a few years, and you will be in the twenty-two. You have never been able to be with your family, so why don't you have children? There are three unfilial things, and you will be the best. I was also a father before I became a Jinshi. After I became an official in Shandong, I have not had the opportunity to go back to Zhejiang to reunite with my family. So, I would like to remind you that you must seize the opportunity and give this big event within two years, so as to comfort your father's spirit in heaven."

He and Sun Dan were in love with teachers and students, and felt it was necessary to remind this disciple.

When Sun Dan heard him say such thoughtful words, he was also moved and pretended to be distressed: "My teacher said this truth, but what if it doesn't happen? It's a pity that there are many doubts about my store, but the students can't solve it."

County Magistrate Zhang also slapped the table fiercely and said angrily: "What a humble butcher, who had the idea of ​​hitting us scholars. Such a troublemaker would not be punished, and it would not be enough to calm my hatred." The Ming Dynasty ruled the world with the gentry, and the gentry was mainly composed of scholars with fame.

As long as you read books and gain fame, you will be squeezed into the ruling class.

Now that Sun Dan has been deceiving his property by an ordinary butcher, not to mention that Zhang Duan and Sun Dan have a teacher-student friendship, even if they are any scholar, they will empathize with it.

The interpersonal relationships in the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty were mixed. Teachers and students, and in the same year, relatives and friends were important links to maintain their interpersonal relationships. Sooner or later, Sun Dan would become an official. No matter what achievements he has in the future, his teacher-student relationship with Zhang Duan will last for a lifetime.

Moreover, this matter has risen to the level of the challenge of ordinary citizens to the authority of the ruling class.

Seeing Zhang Duan get angry, Sun Dan already knew that this was obvious.

He stood up and bowed: "My teacher, the student is now confused and helpless. He is not trying to cause trouble for the teacher. He is really sad and he doesn't feel happy if he doesn't vomit."

Zhang Duan hurriedly reached out to support Sun Dan and said angrily: "As far as this matter is concerned, there are only ten thousand butchers, matchmakers and the local protectors, and those words of the lowly and unruly people cannot be accurate. In this way, you can visit again to see if you can find out the flaws. As long as there is evidence of physical evidence, I will give you justice. The teacher's words can only reach this point, it depends on how you do it. By the way, if there is any inconvenience in doing things, you can find a water captain and help from the side, and I will continue to give it to you."

The words of the magistrate Zhang were already very clear. Sun Dan was not a fool, so he couldn't understand them.

Zhang Duan’s meaning is very simple, which is to ask Sun Dan to find a physical evidence and another personal evidence. As long as there are these two things, the case can be judged.

Sun Dan was delighted and bowed again: "Students will do it now."

"Wait." Zhang Magistrate asked Sun Dan to sit in the lobby for a moment, then he went out to the inner room and handed it to Sun Dan. He said with a gentle voice: "Jingyuan, you are about to go to the Imperial College for study. Although the capital is good, it is not easy to live there. The teacher is a large family in Zhejiang and has a lot of assets at home. I will regard this twenty taels of silver as a teacher to give you a farewell ceremony. Study hard and don't embarrass me."

Sun Dan hurriedly said, "Thank you, my teacher, and the students will live up to the teacher's expectations."

After saying goodbye from Zhang County Magistrate, Sun Dan thought about it.

Zhang Duan is right about this matter. If you want to get the shop back from Wan Butcher, you have to go through a procedure, that is, to turn this matter into a civil dispute case. There must be a victim, a defendant, a complaint, and evidence.

Evidence is necessary, and the words of the county magistrate Zhang were handed to him: as long as there is a personal evidence and a physical evidence, regardless of whether the evidence can withstand scrutiny, he will give Sun Dan a satisfactory result.

Not to mention the relationship between Sun Dan and Zhang Duan’s teacher and his disciple, even if another person becomes the magistrate, he will make such a judgment. After all, anyone knows how to choose between a scholar who has read the books of sages and a rude and unwilling little businessman.

This is also the difference between the rule of man in ancient society and the rule of law in modern society. In the Ming Dynasty, where science was underdeveloped and there were no necessary means of evidence, local officials made case judgments, especially such civil disputes, often made necessary choices from the perspective of moral and social influence.

It is difficult to make physical evidence, and there is no way to make it. However, it is easier to make a personal evidence.

Didn’t Wang Butcher Wang find Di Bao and matchmaker to be his personal certificate, so he successfully took the Sun’s store?

It seems that the breakthrough of this matter is about these two people. As long as they find these two people and make them say that they were deceived by Wan Butcher Wan or gained his benefits, they will bite Sun Dan's father to use the store as a betrothal gift, so that Sun Dan can successfully get the store back.

But there is a problem here. Although the local security guard is not an official, it is also a manager who helps the government maintain local management. According to modern society, it is an external employee of a public institution. If you use some unconventional methods on him, I am afraid that County Magistrate Zhang will not look good on the face.

Then, we can only open a gap from that matchmaker.

Matchmaker, Gong Gui, Yabo, Corsair, and Bitch are the lowest in feudal society. You only need to force her to speak up a little, and there will be no future troubles.

Moreover, there are many doubts about this matter. It is very likely that the matchmaker was greedy for the money of the butcher, so he colluded with Zhiniang's father and brother to seek the Sun family's property. The reason for this matter is on Sun Dan's side. Even if there is anything happening, the people of Zouping will applaud.

As far as Sun Dan knows, the old woman named Gong Matchmaker has a very bad reputation in the county town, and is a dirty thing that does not recognize people in personal money. Many good families’ daughters were deceived by her fair tongue and married very poorly. Not only that, the matchmaker also engages in the business of buying and selling people. Some time ago, she bought a lot of girls from poor families in remote mountainous areas and sold them to kilns.

When the woman mentioned, people in Zouping shook her head.

This Mrs. Gong is also the matchmaker who had been accused of brother Zhiniang and Sufen some time ago.
Chapter completed!