Chapter 365: Swindling the Truth

Translator: Lonelytree 

Lin Yiwei felt a lingering fear when he thought of the consequences.

This was no different from the crime of murder. Therefore, it was better not to forgive such individuals.

“Lin Mingqing, are you planning to send them to court?” Lin An asked sternly. From his stern tone, it was obvious that he did not approve of this. This would tarnish the Lin family Village’s reputation.

“Yes! Grandpa An, what would you do if something like this happened to uncle Ping?” Lin Mingping was Lin An’s youngest son.

This was Lin Mingqing’s way of telling Lin An to put himself in his shoes.

He had suffered so much for the past three years. How could he let these culprits off so easily?

“Great-grandfather An,” Lin Yuelan stood up and said, “if it wasn’t for uncle Mingqing’s good fortune, he would become a pile of bones by now. However, his soul wouldn’t be able to rest. Do you think the peace of the dead is more important, or is it more important to protect the culprit and ruin the reputation of the village?”

No matter how vicious a person was when they were alive, they would be given respect after death. Furthermore, people of this era believed that people would come back as ghosts if they had died an unjust death.

So, if Lin Mingqing had really died in that accident three years ago, then the Lin family Village would have been haunted by his vengeful spirit.

Lin An’s shrewd gaze turned to Lin Yuelan, and he asked sternly, “Girl, what do you mean by protecting the culprit and ruining the reputation of the village?”

Lin Yuelan wasn’t afraid of Lin An’s sharp gaze at all. She said, “there are good and bad people in every village. However, if we cover up for the criminals to preserve the village’s reputation, then let me ask you, great-grandfather An, can you guarantee that these people will turn over a new leaf?

“As the saying goes, it’s hard to teach an old dog new tricks. Furthermore, the fact that the villagers decide to cover up their bad deeds will give them confidence that they will not be punished if they do anything horrible. Therefore, they might kill more people without any restraint. When the kill count adds up, the authorities will be alerted. Then the village will really become a murderer’s village.”

“Oh yeah. I remember that a year ago, there was a murderer in Back village. He killed a woman and was caught. However, for the sake of the village’s reputation, the elders there didn’t send him to the authorities. Instead, they made him kneel in the ancestral hall for three days without eating or drinking and punished him with thirty strokes. A month later, he started killing again, and it was another woman. He was punished with kneeling again. When he recovered, he killed more people. I heard that this continued until his fifth victim. Everyone was afraid. The villagers finally couldn’t stand it anymore, and someone secretly reported it to court. Only then did the murder case come to an end. However, the reputation of the village rose because of this. It was said that the villager who reported it was driven out of Back village by the clan elders.”

“Hey, I’ve also heard about that.”

“Yes. If they had sent the killer to court at first, four innocent lives wouldn’t have lost.”

“You’re right. They wouldn’t have to live in fear all day long either.”

“That’s why we should punish these criminals. Or we might end up as Back Village.”

“Back Village was called Murder Village not because of the murderer but because too many women had died. If the culprit was secretly sent to court, who would know that there was a murderer in the village?”

“That’s true.”

Listening to the villagers’ discussion, Lin Yuelan’s lips curled up, and then she said sternly, “so, instead of shielding the criminals and letting them continue to commit crimes unscrupulously, it’s better to stop these people’s criminal activities from the beginning and let the authorities give the most severe punishment. Sending them to jail is the best warning to the villagers. This will prevent the others from making the same mistake. The village would become more peaceful. Don’t you think so, great-grandfather An, Grandpa village chief?”

Since Lin Mingqing had already made up his mind, Lin Yuelan would help him. She had to get Lin An to agree to it. Otherwise, it would cause a backlash from the villagers. That would make Lin Mingqing and Lin Yiwei lose the people’s support. This would place Lin Yiwei in a difficult position, and Lin Yuelan didn’t want that.

Therefore, she had to first convince Lin An and Lin Yiwei. The surrounding villagers were thankfully very supportive.

With the example from Back Village, the villagers didn’t want to cover up for Lin Laosan’s family in case they followed the same fate.

As expected…

Lin An furrowed his brows deeply, and after some careful consideration, he said to Lin Yuelan, “Girl, what you said seems to make sense. Forget it, forget it. I’ll leave this matter to Lin Mingqing to handle. I’m old. I’m tired now and I need to go back and have a good rest!”

With that, Lin An left with the help of others.

“Uncle An, take care!”

“You can’t go, uncle An, you can’t go!” Li Cuihua immediately shouted to stop him.

“Uncle An is already tired. Do you want him to die of exhaustion? You shrew, get out of the way!”

“Grandpa An, be careful!”

“Great-grandfather An, take care!

Along the way, no one asked Lin An to stay.

Seeing Lin An leave, Lin Laosan’s family’s faces turned ashen.