Phi-Fic Chapter 5 Processing
Chapter 5 Processing
"The village chief is here!" When the villagers saw the village chief coming, they quickly made way for him. It turned out that the villagers had seen the Xiao family going to Xiao Quan's house in a menacing manner and had gone to tell the village chief.
"What's going on, Qiren? What are you doing?" The village chief asked hurriedly when he entered the house and saw the scene.
After Xiao Qiren explained the whole story, the village chief was furious. He knew about Xiao's third son's wife's premature birth yesterday, and that his wife had delivered the baby, but he didn't know there was more to the story.
This Li Daya is truly beyond redemption. She's always gossiping in the village, criticizing this family and picking fights with that family. She's truly hated by everyone. Now she's even done something that could kill someone. Nothing like this has ever happened in Xiaojia Village before.
“Li Daya, tell me, what grudge do you have against the Xiao family? Why are you capable of doing such a vicious thing? We usually turn a blind eye to what you do, but this time we cannot forgive you so easily,” the village chief said with a grim face.
"Village chief, I didn't push her, she just lost her balance," Li Daya said hastily, flustered when she saw the village chief arrive. After all, in this village, the village chief was the most powerful person.
The village chief stared sharply at Li Daya, making her extremely uneasy and too guilty to meet his gaze. But she kept insisting it wasn't her, that the Xiao family was framing her.
The village chief did not believe Li Daya's explanation. "It wasn't you. Humph, so many people saw it, and you still try to deny it. If it wasn't you, what are you afraid of?" Seeing Li Daya's guilty conscience, the village chief was basically certain of the truth.
"Since you won't admit it, then let's report it to the authorities."
The village chief's words struck everyone like a thunderbolt, and immediately the surrounding people began to discuss among themselves. After all, such a thing as reporting to the authorities had never happened in this small village before.
Furthermore, in this era, people had a great fear of the government. Generally, matters were handled by the village chief, and in their view, being arrested by the government was a serious crime.
"Village chief, they just said they were going to report it to the authorities, so Li Daya is doomed." It's understandable that the villagers said this, after all, information was scarce in ancient times, and they had little knowledge of these things. They mostly relied on hearsay, and they were even less clear about the law.
Upon hearing the report from the authorities, unlike the calm acceptance of the rest of the Xiao family, Xiao Quan's family panicked. Xiao Quan's mother even fainted, and his father looked grim. After a moment of panic, Xiao Quan's expression turned serious, as if he were deep in thought.
“Village chief, please don’t report this to the authorities. I admit that I pushed him. As long as you don’t report this to the authorities, I’m willing to be punished however you want.”
Li Daya was terrified and immediately confessed. If the village chief dealt with it, it would probably mean kneeling in the ancestral hall or paying compensation, which was how people in the village were usually dealt with for their mistakes. But if she reported it to the authorities, things would be much worse.
"It's too late. There's no room for maneuver in this matter."
Upon hearing this, Li Daya finally broke down in tears and knelt before the Xiao family, pleading, "Please let me go! I promise I'll never cause Lin Qin any more trouble!"
The Xiao family hates her to death, so why would they pay any attention to her?
"Two men, take Li Daya with us. We're going to the county government office," the village chief said to the people outside the door.
"Wait." It was Xiao Quan's voice.
Li Daya, who was still crying, heard Xiao Quan call out to the village chief and immediately turned around. A glimmer of hope appeared in her tear-filled eyes, but it vanished in an instant.
Xiao Quan didn't even look at Li Daya, but said to the village chief, "Village chief, I want to divorce my wife."
Everyone was surprised and incredulous upon hearing this. Xiao Quan had always been seen as a timid and taciturn man in the village; who would have thought he would make such a decision at this moment?
"Xiao Quan, you just said you wanted to divorce your wife?" the village chief asked again.
“Yes, I want to divorce my wife. I can’t let my child have a mother with such a tarnished reputation.” His child was still young, with endless possibilities for the future. If he had a mother like that, she might have to live with gossip and rumors in the future. He couldn’t let Li Daya stay in the village any longer.
"Hahaha, it's true what they say, 'Husbands and wives are like birds in the same forest; when disaster strikes, they fly away separately.' Xiao Quan, you actually want to divorce me!" Li Daya collapsed upon hearing this.
She really didn't expect Xiao Quan to do this. Usually, Xiao Quan would never fight back or talk back when hit or scolded, which she thought was pathetic and had always looked down on.
Xiao Quan looked at the strange looks he was getting from the people around him, and his expression was a little embarrassed, but he still said to Li Daya, "I divorced my wife because you did something wrong. Have you forgotten that we have two children?"
Yes, she has children, especially her son Xiao Qiang. She put in so much effort and the whole family scrimped and saved to send him to school, hoping he could pass the imperial examinations in the future. Although at first it was to keep up with the Xiao family, she gradually came to hope that her son would have a bright future.
Thinking about all this, Li Daya's expression softened somewhat.
Finally, with a look of despair on his face, he said, "Fine, you can divorce me, but I have one condition."
Upon seeing this, Xiao Quan relaxed. Although there were conditions, he was willing to accept anything as long as he could divorce his wife.
"What are the conditions?"
"You can't remarry; you can only have these two children in your life."
Although the condition was somewhat difficult, Xiao Quan still agreed.
Afterwards, they asked the villagers to help write a letter of divorce, and each of them put their fingerprints on it. From then on, the two had no relationship.
Before leaving, Li Daya said fiercely, "You used to be cowardly and incompetent, but I didn't expect you to have some guts now. I hope you keep your word, or I'll haunt you even as a ghost."
Xiao Quan watched as Li Daya was taken away, closed his eyes, turned around and went into the house.
Seeing this, the others also left.
Afterwards, the county government determined that Li Daya had intentionally injured someone, but without causing death. Therefore, Li Daya was sentenced to twenty strokes of the cane and ordered to pay 50 taels of silver in compensation.
Of course, Xiao Quan ultimately had to pay for all the money. After Li Daya was beaten, she was too injured to get up. Her family disliked her and didn't care about her at all. So, Xiao Quan took her back home and waited until she recovered before returning to her family.
The Xiao family members were fairly satisfied with the verdict. After all, divorcing a wife was already a very serious punishment. They could all imagine Li Daya's future; she would probably be sold. Li Daya's family was somewhat patriarchal and hadn't treated her well. They hadn't even come to see her when she was injured. It was clear how little they cared about her, and they probably even hoped she would die.
In fact, the Xiao family guessed correctly. After Li Daya recovered from her injuries, her family refused to let her into their home. In the end, she had no choice but to marry an old bachelor in the village. He was over fifty years old and couldn't find a wife because he was poor. Moreover, he had a bad temper. Li Daya died in less than three years. However, all of this happened later.