After receiving Peng'er's appeal, Prefect Ma visited her village. By conducting his own investigation among fellow villagers and cadres, Ma clarified several facts and made a new adjudication. First, his judgment condemned Feng Yangui for “selling” his daughter multiple times for profit as if she were livestock. The profit of seven thousand yuan (fabi) caili that Feng Yangui received from Zhu Shouchang was confiscated by the court; in addition, Feng was penalized with three months of labor service. Second, Ma denounced Zhang Jincai's way of dealing with the marriage dispute. He suggested that Zhang should have either made the utmost effort to persuade Feng or brought Feng to court. The kidnapping was wrong because it violated the law and disturbed the social order. As a result, Zhang Jincai was sentenced to two years and six months of prison time. All other participants in the kidnapping but Zhang Bo received sentences varying from half a year to several months. In the previous adjudication made by Huachi County court, Zhang Bo was also sentenced to some jail time for the kidnapping but the new adjudication changed it. Prefect Ma did not impose any penalty on him though he was the reason for the kidnapping and also actively participated in it; instead, Ma ratified his marriage with Peng'er without any penalty. The writ did not explain the reason why Zhang Bo escaped punishment, but it should be viewed in the context of the government trying to maintain a peaceful relationship with the village communities, as discussed in Chapter 5.

In Ma's adjudication, the most notable issue was his rationale for the approval of Peng'er and Zhang Bo's marriage. He explained that although the “marriage” (technically the engagement) was arranged by their parents in 1928, it was based on a widespread local custom (dangdi yiban shehui guanli 当地一般社会惯例). Most importantly and substantively, the adjudication continued, “however, both Peng'er and Zhang Bo have already consented for a long time (shuang fang zao yi tongyi 双方早已同意).