Qin Yao said coldly: "Bring something in exchange."

Lin Erbao immediately knelt down and kowtowed to her twice, "Thank you, Madam, for not killing me!"

Qin Yao picked up the sack containing the golden toad and walked straight towards his carriage, saying calmly:

"The tea shed was burned down."

Lin Erbao didn't dare to say anything. He immediately spread the combustible wood in the shed next to the stove and used the thugs' sticks to dismantle the shed.

She didn't say to burn the thugs together, so he took the initiative to drag the ten thugs who had already lost consciousness to the bushes outside the tea shed and covered them with dry grass.

The fire was lit and the tea shed made of thatch and wood caught fire immediately. In less than half a quarter of an hour, flames shot up into the sky, thick smoke billowed, and all traces were reduced to ashes in the burning flames.

Qin Yao was already sitting in the carriage. Lin Erbao suppressed his fear, patted his clothes and tidied himself up, sat on the shaft, and drove the carriage slowly towards the county town.

It gets dark early in winter, and the sky darkened at some point. The wide-open gate of Kaiyang County looked like the bloody mouth of a ferocious beast in Lin Erbao's eyes.

He had no choice. He knew he couldn't get in, but he had to go in.

Dawn was breaking.

The night watchman finished his last watch of the night, yawned, and walked home.

When he reached the door of the pawnshop, his steps suddenly stopped.

He slowly raised his head, raised the lantern in his hand to shine it, and his sleepy eyes instantly widened.

A faceless, right-handless human figure was hung on a tall pole used to support cloth banners in the pawnshop.

“Ghost!!!”

The night watchman's shrill cry of fear spread throughout Kaiyang County, waking up all the residents in the city.

The Golden Toad, one of the three evils in Kaiyang County, had half of his face scraped off, one of his hands cut off, and was hung outside his own pawnshop for public display.

No one knew who had done it, but except for Golden Toad and his family, everyone in the city felt secretly excited that retribution had finally come.

I've seen people falling out with each other, but this is the first time I've seen a real falling out.

The officials worked for a long time before finally taking the golden toad off the pole. Everyone thought he was dead, but the man lying on the ground suddenly opened his eyes, as if he didn't feel any pain, and asked very clearly:

"What happened? Where is this?"

The official who was originally going to cover him with a shroud was frightened half to death, and the people around him all gasped.

The Golden Toad then realized that the situation was not good. Why were everyone looking at him as if they had seen a ghost?

Under the guidance of the official, the golden toad lowered its head and screamed in fear: "Ahhhhh - my hand, my hand!"

He touched his face with his remaining left hand again and felt it was soft, wet and sore. He held it in front of his face and opened his palm, which was covered in blood. He fainted instantly out of fright.

The warden arrived late and bent down to take a look, only to find that the golden toad was in such a strange state because it had been given a large amount of anesthetics.

If it were an ordinary person, he would have died from the pain long ago.

The onlookers watched the police and the Jin family members who had arrived carry the golden toad away, with regret in their eyes. Why didn't he die?

Why didn't the hero behind the scenes who was trying to rid the people of this evil just kill this unforgivable golden toad directly?

However, the evil guy who had been rampant for so long finally got his retribution, and everyone felt relieved.

The Jin family was not satisfied and was filled with rage. They filed a complaint in court, requesting the county magistrate to order the arrest of the murderer, the Liu couple.

County Magistrate Song Zhang was speechless and asked patiently, "Where is the evidence? Where is the witness? I cannot arrest an honest scholar with a good reputation for no reason."

The Jin family opened their mouths to say something, but they were so frustrated that they couldn't say anything.

Where did the witnesses come from?

The ten thugs are still lying unconscious in their respective homes.

The only one who returned, Ma Fulin Erbao, had already left Kaiyang County with his family overnight.

The crime scene was reduced to ashes by fire, so where is the evidence?

What annoyed the Jin family the most was that everyone in the city knew that the scholar Liu Ji was driven out of the city after he caused a big fuss, and it was impossible for him, a mere scholar, to seriously injure ten professional thugs like this.

If it was his wife who did it, no common people would have seen her appear for even a moment.

But the murderer was this woman, and of course the Jin family believed what the Golden Toad said.

The eldest son of the Jin family angrily replied, "Sir, even if we don't have any witnesses or evidence, such a terrible thing has happened in the city. As the head of the county, are you really going to let it go just because there are no witnesses or evidence?"

The second son of the Jin family followed up and pressed, "We have filed a lawsuit today, the complaint has been submitted, and the case has been established. No matter what, we should let the police arrest the Liu couple and bring them to the hall for a confrontation!"

Having said this, the two brothers looked at Captain Yu who was standing outside the hall.

Captain Yu was a little tired, but he still walked in and reported: "Sir, what the second young master said is indeed in line with the procedures. Can you now order your subordinates to go to Liujia Village and bring the defendant Liu and his wife to the county government office?"

While asking the question, Captain Yu glanced sideways at the county magistrate who was sitting on the right side of the lobby.

In cases like this where someone is injured, the county magistrate is responsible for arresting the perpetrator. If he wants to, the county magistrate can only give the order.

If it were a normal situation, under this kind of oppressive atmosphere, County Magistrate Song would have already ordered the detectives to conduct a thorough investigation.

However, when have the government offices, which used to be passive and lazy, ever been so proactive?

The previous problem of horse bandits was delayed in being solved, and the bounty had been posted for half a year but no one had taken it down. County Magistrate Song realized that although Kaiyang County seemed peaceful, the black and white had long been mixed together, and it was impossible to tell us apart.

But fortunately, there are always unexpected things or people appearing in the world. A lady named Qin opened the tightly closed gate a crack, and since then the two muddy waters that were mixed together have become somewhat black and white.

The color gradually became clearer, and he, as the county magistrate, could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

But today, the Jin brothers forced him to come to court, which made him feel that the brief clarity of mind before was just an illusion.

Once he leaves, they will have to do what they have to do and just be patient. There is only a year or so left.

But not all those who work hard to pass the imperial examinations want to use their official positions to make money for themselves. There are always people who have lofty ambitions that are laughed at by others.

And Song Zhang is the latter.

He is still young, just over 30 years old, and in an ordinary family, he is already a mature father. If the child is born earlier, he may have become a grandfather.

But in the officialdom, he is still a young man. Such people, when they first enter the court, always have some naive ideals.

He was relatively lucky. Every time he was about to be drowned in this pool of muddy water, a hand would fall from the sky and clear a piece of clear water for him, allowing him to wake up and hold on for a few more days.

Looking at the hesitant county magistrate and the other Jin family helper, the prison warden, who was about to speak, Song Zhang nodded slightly to the master beside him.

The lawyer stepped forward and said, "Please ask the county magistrate and the prison warden to follow me to the back hall."