Union

Chapter 28 is extremely immoral.
It's important to know that Magistrate Fan was a very important figure in Yungui County. Because of the saying, "Magistrate Fan is a constant, while the magistrates of Yungui County come and go," Magistrate Fan was famous throughout the entire county.

And Magistrate Fan enjoyed a good reputation among the people. He always appeared cheerful and kind, spoke softly and gently, and was patient and considerate towards those who came to him with complaints. The people felt that this magistrate was truly capable. Although the county government often ruled against wrongful convictions, it wasn't the magistrate's fault. After all, he was just a magistrate, and the one who could make all the decisions in the county was the magistrate.
Furthermore, Magistrate Fan was extremely filial to his elderly mother and was a renowned filial son in the area. For more than ten years, he also took care of his paralyzed first wife, and in order to prevent her from being neglected, he did not even take a concubine.

Such a man, successful in his career, filial to his mother, and loyal to his wife, is someone no one can criticize.

But this model man was caught in bed with a woman!

The noise outside is much greater than the little maid described.

The reason was that the woman he was having an affair with was a married woman! Moreover, she was usually very virtuous and was a well-known good wife and mother in the area.

After being caught in the act of adultery, her husband saw Magistrate Fan's face and was immediately struck dumb. He roared, "You slut! Not only did you cheat on me with your lover, but you also made me raise your child!"

The news of the woman giving birth outside caused an uproar among the common people. Inside the house, everyone, including Aunt Ding, abandoned all pretense of modesty and eagerly asked the maid, "What woman gave birth? That man's child isn't his; it's Magistrate Fan's?"

The young maid nodded hurriedly, and then repeated what the people on the street were saying.

It turned out that the man's surname was Qian, and he was a bodyguard from a security escort agency. Bodyguards were very rare in Yun Gui County, after all, the place was really poor, and the people of the county didn't need bodyguards to escort valuables in ordinary times.

But if you're not escorting goods, can't you still escort people? In other words, it's called "human escort."

Ultimately, it all comes down to the fact that there are too many bandits in the south. When ordinary people visit distant relatives, they have to bring several people with them to ensure they feel safe. Some wealthy families, to be on the safe side, will even hire experienced bodyguards to accompany them.

Qian Cheng was such a bodyguard, and because of his good skills, he was almost always assigned to escort missions.

The escorts in the escort agency are divided into short escorts and long escorts.

First, let's talk about short-haul shipments. As long as it doesn't leave Lingnan Prefecture, it's considered a short-haul shipment, and the journey usually doesn't exceed half a month. As for long-haul shipments, there's no limit to how long they can take. Whether it's the capital or the Northwest, as long as the customer wants to go, they'll accompany them. And long-haul shipments take significantly longer, sometimes even two or three years.

Qian Cheng is an experienced bodyguard, which means that he is away from home for a long time each year, sometimes even for several years. Doesn't that give his wife the opportunity to have an affair?
Then there are Qian Cheng's two sons.

Qian Cheng himself wasn't particularly handsome, but he possessed a heroic air and had honest, upright eyes, making him a respectable man. However, his two sons were strikingly good-looking. Each had large eyes and fair skin, and while they resembled their mother somewhat, they bore absolutely no resemblance to their father, Qian Cheng.

The neighbors weren't without their gossips, and some even reminded Qian Cheng not to stay out for so long. She was a beautiful woman, and even if she was virtuous, she couldn't resist those lecherous men knocking on her door at night.

Qian Cheng scoffed at all of this. Firstly, he had confidence in his wife's character, believing that his reclusive wife was definitely not that kind of person. Secondly, the escort agency he worked for was the largest in Yun Gui County—the dozens of brothers in the agency were like family. Even when he and his brothers were away on escort missions, their wives would occasionally visit their homes to keep any troublemakers in check.

In addition, although the neighbors occasionally gossiped, no one actually caught his wife cheating. Therefore, Qian Cheng increasingly felt that those people were just talking nonsense and couldn't stand seeing the couple's good relationship.

That's what he said, but looking at his two sons who were clearly unlike him and not close to him, Qian Cheng couldn't help but have his doubts. However, all these doubts vanished in the end when he saw his wife's tears, and Qian Cheng no longer dared to doubt his wife's loyalty.

But to his surprise, when they stopped at the post station at night on their return journey, he received that note.

The note didn't have anything else written on it, just an address and a time.

As luck would have it, the address was right behind their house. If their house had a back door, it would be directly opposite the front door of that house. The two houses were separated only by a small alley, and the house had changed hands many years ago, so it was unclear who the current owner was. In the past, only an elderly deaf-mute couple looked after the house.

As for the time, it's only two days from now...

Qian Cheng had a bad feeling. Without even resting that night, he rushed to Yungui County.

It was his bad luck that he got caught in a heavy rain on the way, which delayed him considerably. Otherwise, he could have arrived much sooner. But even so, he arrived just in time. He climbed over the gate when no one was looking and caught the woman and Magistrate Fan red-handed in the act of adultery…

Upon seeing Magistrate Fan's clean-cut and refined face, Qian Cheng lost all reason. If his fellow disciples hadn't stopped him at the crucial moment, Qian Cheng might have killed Magistrate Fan. Qiu Ning and Rui Zhu craned their necks and asked the maid who had spoken, "So what now? Magistrate Fan was caught red-handed by that镖师 (bodyguard/escort). They didn't kill him, but they probably won't let him go easily, right?"

"Absolutely!" the maid exclaimed excitedly. Anyone would go crazy in this situation. Working so hard to support the family, only to find out their wife is having an affair, and even their two sons aren't their own. No man could bear such a blow.

"The bodyguard and his fellow disciples escorted Magistrate Fan to the county government office, intending to file a complaint."

As the maid was speaking, the sound of drums rang out from ahead. Instantly, everyone's ears perked up, and then they scattered in a flurry, preparing to find a place close to the yamen to hear what happened next.

Aunt Ding was also very curious about this matter, so she didn't restrain the maids from being too unruly.

The maid's behavior could be disciplined later, but since Magistrate Fan was in trouble... she really wanted to see if she could finally bring this scoundrel to his knees this time.

That cunning and slippery old fox has caused my second master no shortage of trouble. If it weren't for his underhanded tactics, would those bailiffs and clerks in the county government dare to neglect my second master?

Ha, even if it really is an old man who hanged himself, tired of living!
With readily available witnesses, Magistrate Fan's case was resolved quickly.

According to the laws of the previous dynasty, in cases of adultery, commoners were allowed to use private punishment. If the person survived the private punishment, they could report it to the government. Men would be punished with castration or death, while women would be stripped naked and beaten to death.

The laws of this dynasty are much more enlightened than those of the previous dynasty. Magistrate Fan was ultimately only given thirty strokes of the cane and sentenced to five years of exile in the northwest. As for Qian Cheng's wife, she was given twenty strokes of the cane and also served two years in prison.

Upon hearing the punishment, Aunt Ding muttered, "They got off too easy."

Yunying, however, did not feel that this punishment was any good for Magistrate Fan.

After all, Magistrate Fan had been beaten up by Qian Cheng and his fellow apprentices before he was even sent to the authorities. It was said that when he was carried to the courtroom, he was already barely breathing.

Thirty strokes of the cane might seem like a light punishment. However, if that were too much, Magistrate Fan would likely be beaten to death in court. Furthermore, even if he were lucky enough to survive, he would still face five years in prison.

The journey from Lingnan to the Northwest must have been incredibly arduous. Even a healthy, strong man would be severely injured just to complete such a journey, let alone someone like Magistrate Fan who was barely clinging to life. It was his good fortune that he was able to leave Lingnan Prefecture.

However, Magistrate Fan deserved his punishment, but what about those two children...?

Yunying wanted to say that the child was innocent, but Qiuning spoke first.

The maid who had gone to listen in was displeased upon hearing this and quickly said, "They are not pitiful at all, they are more hateful."

"What do you mean by that?"

The little maid eagerly recounted everything she had overheard.

It turned out that the two boys knew Qian Cheng wasn't their biological father. Whether it was Qian Cheng's wife wanting to rise in rank, or the two children wanting a "high-ranking and powerful" father, in any case, they were very close to Magistrate Fan.

Qian Cheng's wife, who was close to him, had repeatedly taken her child to the residence of Magistrate Fan in secret.

They are utterly immoral!

Qian Cheng's wife resented that Magistrate Fan's wife hadn't died yet, and she often abused the paralyzed first wife. It was said that every time she went there, the first wife's flesh would rot for days. And those two boys, they would pour scalding hot tea on the first wife's face and stab her throat with sticks. They were truly worse than animals, without a shred of humanity.

Thank you to Mount Everest for the book points, thank you to Binbin for the book points, and thank you to all the other readers for your contributions to the collection and recommendations. Thank you everyone!

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(End of this chapter)