Yin Pinglu took the people assigned to her and went straight to the government office.
Those relatives of the Yin family were still staying in the Yin residence. They were sitting together in discussion about how to deal with the Imperial Envoy, when they heard a servant come to report: "My lord, Sixth Young Lady is back!"
"Pinglu?" Magistrate Yin put down his teacup and stormed out. When he saw Yin Pinglu, he pointed at her in a fit of rage and cursed, "You unfilial daughter, you still know to come back?!"
Yin Pinglu: "I came back to do business."
"What business can you do? You unfilial daughter, I'm going to beat you to death today! This old man has lost all face because of you!" Magistrate Yin stepped forward and raised his hand, but a thick bronze token appeared before his eyes. The words "Imperial Envoy" came into view.
"Who dares to strike me?" Holding the token, Yin Pinglu looked at him with cold eyes, and the people behind her quickly prepared to protect her in the center.
"Why do you have this token?" Magistrate Yin lowered his hand and looked at her in astonishment.
"I am here to investigate the case for Wang-daren. He is busy and cannot spare the time, so he asked me to come in his stead." Yin Pinglu showed a letter. "Third brother-in-law, this is Kuang Zhimei's last letter, which records all of your crimes. Do you plead guilty?"
"What crimes? What Kuang Zhimei? I don't understand what you're talking about!" County Magistrate Wu shouted.
"Kuang Zhimei is the woman you raped last year. You don't seem to remember her. Is it because there are other victims?" Yin Pinglu said.
"How is this possible! You show me that letter!"
Yin Pinglu handed the letter to him, and the county magistrate hurriedly opened it. Magistrate Yin also leaned over to take a look. After a while, both of their faces sank more and more.
With trembling hands, County Magistrate Wu suddenly crumpled up the paper and swallowed it.
"Brother-in-law, what you just ate is a copy that I made." The corners of Yin Pinglu's mouth twitched without humor, and she took out a wrinkled envelope. "This one is the original."
"Yin Pinglu! I never harmed you! Why do you cause trouble for me like this?!" County Magistrate Wu stared at her viciously, wishing to tear her apart.
"You didn't harm me, but what kind of disgusting eyes did you look at me with all the time?" Yin Pinglu raised her chin, took a deep breath, and said calmly, "It is not me who harmed you, but yourself. You hurt good women and innocent people, and spun a cocoon around yourself."
"Enough!" Magistrate Yin interrupted them. "Isn't it a trivial thing to convict someone with one letter? Who knows whether it has been fabricated out of thin air?"
"Yin-daren, don't worry, Wang-daren has already found other evidence. You should hurry up and think about your other crimes, so you can explain them and strive for leniency." After Yin Pinglu finished speaking, she turned around and led the people away.
"Yin Pinglu! You are of the Yin family's blood! If you dare to step out of that door, you will no longer be part of the Yin family!" Magistrate Yin shouted.
Yin Pinglu turned her head and said word by word: "I have never been happy to belong to the Yin family."
She strode out the door and looked up at the sky. The corners of her eyes were moist, but she quickly stabilized her emotions and left with her head held high under the eyes of the watching crowd.
The purpose of her trip was not to anger this group of people, but to emancipate herself from the Yin residence. Only when she completely drew a line between her and the Yin family could she try to escape being convicted later.
"Father-in-law, what should we do now? Wang-daren is coming to find me soon, you have to save me!"
"Save you? I can't even protect myself, what can I do to save you!" Magistrate Yin shoved him away in a rage.
"If you can't save me, there is really no way out." County Magistrate Wu said, "Kuang Zhimei's younger brother reported me to you, but you drove him away. They are sure to investigate you, do you think you can get away with it?"
Magistrate Yin was horrified: "That person......didn't you say that person framed you!"
"Yes, ah, I just gave you some money and you believed my words. You drove that person away without even checking." County Magistrate Wu said in a low voice, "Afterwards, I found someone to take revenge on him. If you don't save me, I will say you did it yourself. Think about it carefully, the governor and I both had accidents. Do you have any other way out?"
"Useless thing, why did I recruit you as a son-in-law!" Magistrate Yin was so furious that he passed out.
Yin Pinglu returned to the inn and sought out Wang Yibo: "My lord, it is already done."
"Thank you for your hard work. You should go back and have a rest first," Wang Yibo said.
"All right."
Wang Yibo opened some letters on the table, which were other evidence that Xiao Zhan brought back from Kuang Sheng's house. There were also signed letters from other victims. Some of these people, such as Kuang Zhimei, gave up redress because of tragic retaliation, and some of them did not want to be known by outsiders and refused to show their faces.
In addition to these letters, there was also a list of officials whom Kuang Sheng had investigated and found had financial transactions with County Magistrate Wu.
"Eat something." Xiao Zhan came in with some snacks. "The dessert in Jiangnan is exquisite and looks really good."
The four rabbit cakes on the plate were very cute, as if they were actual rabbits.
Xiao Zhan picked on up and examined it carefully, saying with emotion, "I wonder how Hongshao is doing now." After speaking, he took a bite of the rabbit cake.
"......" Wang Yibo asked, "Want to go back?"
"It's fine. Anyway, you're here, so it doesn't matter if I go back or not." Xiao Zhan picked up another rabbit cake and fed it to his mouth.
Wang Yibo reached out to grab it, but Xiao Zhan refused to give it to him. He would have to open his mouth to eat it. He lowered his eyes and said: "I can't eat it in one bite."
"Then you can eat it in several bites."
Wang Yibo imagined that scene of eating it bite by bite. This pastry was soft, glutinous, and sticky. Wouldn't it be embarrassing if it stretched?
"It's improper, I won't eat." Wang Yibo still cherished his image, especially now.
"You really won't eat?"
"En."
"Then I'll get you something else." Xiao Zhan put down the rabbit cake, got up, and left the room.
After but a moment, Xiao Zhan approached the door lightly, and when he abruptly pushed it open, he caught Wang Yibo stealing food.
Wang Yibo was startled, and stuffed most of the remaining rabbit cake into his mouth in a panic.
"Ha! I caught you!" Xiao Zhan walked over, put his hands on his knees, and bent down to look at his bulging meat bun face with a smile. "And you said you didn't want to eat it."
They looked at each other for a moment and Wang Yibo was rather embarrassed. Neither eating it nor spitting it out, he could only stare at him fiercely: Get out.
Seeing his appearance, Xiao Zhan was overjoyed. He thought he was really cute, and subconsciously kissed him on the mouth.
Wang Yibo: "......"
Xiao Zhan: "......"
The two froze at the same time, but their hearts were very turbulent. The soft touch stunned Xiao Zhan. It was more fragrant and soft than the rabbit cake. He couldn't help licking it, and it was like fireworks had gone off in his head, making him dizzy.
Wang Yibo gulped, but the thing in his mouth got stuck in his throat.
"Oh my dear mother, why don't you close the door." Li Yucheng passed by and covered his face in fright, only showing his eyes.
Wang Yibo suddenly felt unwell: "Urgh......"
Xiao Zhan: " ? "
"What happened? Xiao Zhan, why are you making someone vomit?"
Xiao Zhan: "......"
Wang Yibo patted his chest heavily, choking. His face flushed red and he hurriedly hid behind the screen, vomiting out the rabbit cake into a brocade handkerchief. His face was unsightly.
He stepped out from the screen and looked at Xiao Zhan in a daze. For a long moment, he didn't know what to say. No matter what was said, he would lose face.
"Go, go, go, what are you doing in my room, do you have nothing to do?" Wang Yibo drove the two of them out of the room, locked the door, and went to deal with the vomit just now with a headache.
Indeed, he didn't even have time to reminisce about that shallow kiss. It was his bad luck.
"General, why do you look preoccupied?" When Yin Pinglu came out to eat, she found that Xiao Zhan had been sitting motionless. "Is there anything I can do to help?"
Xiao Zhan shook his head and looked at her helplessly: "You can't help with this matter."
"What made you look so worried?"
I kissed my wife and he vomited. Can this be spoken? Of course not, ah!
Even though he knew that Wang Yibo was choking, this was their first kiss and it may have left a bad impression on the other party. He regretted it so much that he wanted to die.
He should not have been so reckless.
Under the premise that both of them were ready, another extremely romantic kiss would become an unforgettable memory for a lifetime.
The question was, what should he do to have a romantic kiss without leaving any regrets?
This was much more difficult than contemplating military tactics.
Xiao Zhan went to take care of business that evening, and when he returned to the inn, he saw a couple kissing under a willow tree by the roadside. Their heads were turning back and forth, and it was very odd.
He walked up curiously and was spotted by the man, who cursed at him and took the other person away.
Xiao Zhan resentfully continued to walk forward, and suddenly saw smoke coming out of the inn as people in a crowd shouted. Surprised, he immediately ran over.
Someone shouted that there was a fire, and the guests rushed out through the gate.
Looking around urgently, Xiao Zhan found no trace of Wang Yibo. He jumped onto the roof and then down into Wang Yibo's room, but found nothing.
In that moment, he felt as if his body was encased in ice.
"Wang Yibo! Wang Yibo!"
Xiao Zhan searched from room to room, unable to imagine what he would do if the other party had an accident.
Just when the search seemed fruitless, a figure suddenly ran in the wrong direction through the lobby, shouting: "I'm here! Come down quickly!"
Xiao Zhan looked down and rushed to descend the stairs in just a few steps, hugging him tightly in his arms. He said hoarsely: "Where did you go?"
"Let's go out first." Wang Yibo's voice was a little rough from the smoke.
When Xiao Zhan took him out, Li Yucheng and Yin Pinglu were there to meet them, and they all retreated several tens of meters away.
"Are you all okay?" Xiao Zhan asked.
"We're okay, the three of us went to drink tea upstairs on the opposite side of the street, and it didn't take long to notice smoke coming out of the inn. While we were watching, we saw you, General, rushing inside. You were running so fast that you didn't even hear my lord calling out to you." Yin Pinglu explained the situation just now and was afraid to even think about it. If he had really caught fire, what could they do?
Hearing this, Xiao Zhan covertly squeezed Wang Yibo's palm: "The next time something like this happens, don't rush in."
"It's fine, it's not really on fire anyway," Wang Yibo said.
Xiao Zhan studied the smoky inn and felt that something was wrong. He had never seen the source of the fire. "What's going on?"
"It's just a smoke bomb." Wang Yibo coughed and said, "In order to disperse all the people inside, they used hidden agents."
Xiao Zhan glanced at the subordinates who went to help rescue the inn, and then at the rest: "The target is Xiao Gao?"
"En, the dog has jumped the wall,[1]* and they made up their minds to act," Wang Yibo said.
*[1] The idiom is "a cornered dog will jump over the wall," which means someone has been driven to desperate measures.*
When all was said and done, it had been a year since the case of the woman's rape, and the only evidence was those letters since the victims who were still alive did not want to testify in public. Even if County Magistrate Wu and others were arrested and went through the interrogation process, it would be time-consuming and labor-intensive. In addition, the officials in this area were in collusion, and if something went wrong, it would be easy for them to escape.
However, to plot against the life of a court official who was acting under Imperial decree was naturally different. When the time came, the combined punishment of several crimes would definitely eradicate this group of moths.
"I had Xiao Gao over there pretend to let two people tail him. You go and check the situation, he fled along the alley," Wang Yibo ordered.
Xiao Zhan nodded, and wanted to have the others protect Wang Yibo, but the remaining two were thin and weak, and it was difficult for them to even protect themselves. He could only go to the inn and gather his subordinates to protect Wang Yibo and the others before setting out to search for Gao Tan.
When he arrived, Xiao Gao was fighting with the assassins in a blind alley. Xiao Zhan joined in, and within a short while, they knocked the two people to the ground.
At this time, Xiao Gao crouched down and grasped the man's jaw, breaking it with a crack. Then he cut the tendons in his hands and feet, and went to the other person to do the same.
Xiao Zhan was astonished.
"My lord said that I should cut off all the ways for them to kill themselves first, so that they can suffer and be able to confess quickly during interrogation."
Not long after, Wang Yibo received news that the assassins had all been captured alive and were being sent to the government office.
"Let's go and see a good show." Wang Yibo opened his fan, waved it twice, and then glanced down at the writing on it.
He had never had the time to buy a new fan, and the weather was especially hot, so he could only carry it with him. Apart from being irritating, it still had some practical use.
Li Yucheng also opened his new fan and walked swaggeringly, looking very grandiose.
Yin Pinglu looked at their two fans. One was "The Most Beautiful Man In the Capital" and one was "The Number One Dandy In the Capital."
She was silent for a moment, then slowed down her pace wordlessly so that she was not walking side-by-side with them. Lowering her head, she pretended not to see the mocking eyes of the passers-by around her.
"I think a lot of people have gone in the direction of the government office to watch the excitement. It should be that Xiao Zhan and the others have already arrived," Li Yucheng said.
Wang Yibo stopped abruptly in his tracks.
"Why aren't you moving?" After Li Yucheng asked this, the other went over to the small loch next to him.
Li Yucheng followed him without knowing why, and seeing him stare at the water, he asked: "What are you looking for? What's in this loch?"
Wang Yibo turned his head to the left, then to the right.
Li Yucheng observed for a long while, then realized in surprise: "You can't be looking at your face, right?"
Wang Yibo glanced at him and asked straightforwardly: "I just ran into smoke, is there anything on my face?"
Li Yucheng: "There doesn't seem to be, it's still good-looking."
Only then was Wang Yibo satisfied, and his expression immediately became shrewd and cold: "Let's go."
Li Yucheng: "......"