Su Nuo was not like Su Tang, who had the body of a child but the soul of an adult. Because of that edge, she had a very clear logic when she spoke and, because she had been an editor in her previous life, she was able to advance her point one step at a time, raising the stakes to this level little by little.
But the little guy was better than her at speaking plainly and, with a few words, he was able to tell everyone how difficult life was for him in Su Yonggui's family. After all, while it was true that farmers had hard lives, at the very least their children could always eat eggs all year-round.
But Su Nuo said that he would never have been able to eat an egg if it weren't for the fact that he was being sacrificed the River God. From that, people could imagine how must he have been treated and raised until he was sacrificed to the River God in an effort to save Su Sanshou.
By this point, it wasn't a matter of the sibling's adverse fate anymore, because people began to feel that it really wasn't too much to say that they had already completely paid back anything they might have owed to Su Yonggui's family.
At a glance, today's incident seemed to only be a case of framing Su Tang and her brother, but when Su Yongqiang thought about it carefully he discovered that the matter was not so simple. Su Tang and her brother were not just a pair of siblings anymore, they were the children adopted by Su Laochuan.
Su Laochuan had only just died, but now barely a week later his stepchild was already forced to the point where she had to die to prove her innocence? If that really happened, what would outsiders think of the Su family? What good reputation could they have in the future? The whole Su family would be implicated.
Nowadays, the people of the Su family were all working hard as farmers, but Su Yongqiang was preparing to send his grandson to study and take the imperial examination to maybe change his fate. If there was something wrong with his reputation, what future could he have?
The Su family was a big family, and for big families, both prosperity and calamity went hand in hand. If the family had a bad reputation, it would certainly affect the future of everyone surnamed 'Su'.
Su Yonggui did not expect Su Tang to say such a thing. He had only just opened his mouth to respond when he saw Su Yongqiang had begun to speak.
"The Su family is not a family without rules, and when the members make mistakes they will be punished. I said it before: If Sister Tang and Brother Nuo really stole the money, I wouldn't overlook it but, if they were framed, I wouldn't overlook that either."
"Without any evidence, Madam Zhao and Madam Wu slandered the only heirs of Su Laochuan's household. They will each receive ten boards. Madam Zhang and Madam Sun, as the daughters-in-law, did not persuade their elders to reconcile and, instead, they provoked the situation further. Madam Sun also connived with her sons to persecute their elders. Madam Sun will receive eight boards and Madam Zhang will receive five boards. The punishment will be executed now!"
Su Yongqiang's voice as he announced his verdict was sharp and clear.
Madam Wu had always been a person who valued her face. Recently, she had been feeling humiliated because of the talk about the siblings circulating the village, and the pressure she felt was like she was constantly being poked in the spine every day, which was really difficult for her to bear. So now when she heard she was going to be beaten with a board because of them, of course, she was unwilling.
"Patriarch, this treatment is unfair. I have already lost thirty copper coins and I only came forward with my reasonable suspicions. There's no reason why I should be beaten even after I lost my money."
Madam Wu stood up and argued back. But when Su Tang heard her words, she immediately interjected, "You losing your money and you coming to slander my brother and I are two different matters. If you lost your money, you could just report it to the officials and you would be able to find out who stole it, then who would want to hit you with a board?"
"But when you lost your money, you immediately came over with your mother-in-law to directly accuse us of being thieves while at the same time trying to beat and scold us."
"Also, Madam Wu, I've wanted to say this since the beginning but, no matter what it was like before, in the genealogy, I am your aunt. However, have you ever showed a sliver of respect for your elders since you came here?"
"Since you are so unruly, it's really no loss for you to be beaten no matter what the reason."
"Didn't you say that there will be a big official born in your family in the future? If that's the case, you should pay more attention to the rules so you won't lose too much face for them if that time really comes."
"As your elder, there is nothing I am willing to teach you. But, at the very least, I will teach you the rules today."