The alternative he offered sounded like it was the best, but it was actually the cruelest and most ruthless.

Of course, this was still a choice for the three criminals.

Lin Yiwei did not understand Lin Mingqing’s plan. He thought that Lin Ming Qing was being kind and wanted to let the three of them go. He frowned and disagreed with this.

He called out softly, “Qing ‘Er …”

Lin Mingqing shook his head at his father and said, “Father, let me handle this matter myself!”

This matter was essentially attempted murder. However, that would mean bringing this to court. In this era, not everyone was willing to deal with the court. Unless the culprit was a serial killer, many villages preferred to deal with such incidents among themselves.

This was because if this were brought to court, it would ruin the reputation of the village. A village with a murderer was not good. It would also affect the marriages of unmarried young men and women.

After all, who would want to marry their children to a village with murderers? How safe could it be? Plus, the village’s reputation would be notorious too. If no one was willing to migrate to this village, it would eventually wither and die.

Therefore, for the sake of the village’s reputation, many elders would usually cover up things that would damage the reputation of the village and not let anyone else know.

The Lin family Village was the same.

Even the righteous Lin Yiwei wouldn’t let a rat’s poop spoil a pot of porridge. Therefore, his plan was really to punish the three criminals in private as an example for the others. Even though this involved his own family, that was the extent of the punishment Lin Yiwei could think of.

However…

“What do you mean?” Lin Laosan asked urgently.

Lin Daniu and Lin Erniu’s faces were swollen, and their teeth were knocked out. They couldn’t even speak properly, so even though they were anxious, they were still one step slower than Lin Laosan.

Lin Mingqing had a gentle and elegant smile on his face as he looked at Lin Laosan. He didn’t reply immediately and just looked at him.

The atmosphere returned to silence, other than the panting of the crowd and the barking of dogs outside.

Everyone was also very curious about what Lin Mingqing was up to.

Three years ago, Lin Mingqing was an intelligent, kind, humble, and polite scholar. Therefore, with his kindness, gentleness, and consideration for the big picture, he would let the three of them go.

After an unknown period of time, Lin Mingqing suddenly said in a serious tone, “Uncle San, it’s actually very simple. Like I said, if we brought you to court, all three of you would be sentenced to prison. However, your family will lose three able-bodied men. How will your family survive?

“So, after thinking about it, I feel that instead of punishing three, why not we just punish one? I’ll plead with the authorities to reduce the sentence so that only one will be given the imprisonment sentence. This way, everyone will survive!”

Lin Mingqing’s words shocked everyone, including the Lin family’s father and sons.

However, everyone’s shock was different.

Those who were slightly dumber would think that Lin Mingqing was as kind and magnanimous as he used to be. Three people tried to kill him, but he decided to only punish one of them. This was because he was concerned about the survival of Lin Laosan’s family.

However, a smart person would be able to understand Lin Mingqing’s motive. This was actually really heartless. However, Lin Mingqing had suffered so much over the past three years. If he wanted to punish all three of them, no one would have objected. This was perhaps already the biggest kindness on his part.

In any case, Lin Mingqing still wanted to bring this to court.