Ma Dazhuang frowned; it was obvious they were being manipulated.

It's just passing through this county, without even entering the county seat, yet they still have to pay such a high toll.

Normally, even one coin is considered expensive. An ordinary person would earn at most ten coins a day.

They still have 250 people left, which is 2,500 taels of silver. Such a huge toll is simply astronomical!

The group remained deadlocked. Ma Dazhuang said, "You are the local bullies here, but we have an imperial order to escort the convict to his destination. No one is allowed to obstruct us. Are you sure you want to disobey the imperial order?"

The constables' faces turned ashen, clearly feeling that Ma Dazhuang was ungrateful.

The last constable whispered a few words to the head constable.

The head constable's face was sinister as he gritted his teeth and said, "Just you wait, no one will leave here unscathed."

Just as Hua'er was about to be lifted onto the carriage, Mu Wanting threw several stones at the yamen runners. The runners' expressions changed, and they quickly collapsed to the ground.

Hua'er seized the opportunity to run back, and the constable turned to look at the exiled prisoner, his eyes filled with malice.

The convicts also looked puzzled, and the head constable was somewhat stunned. Could it be that there was someone else?

The constables wanted to catch more flowers, but stones from who-knows-where knocked them down, rendering them unable to move.

Mu Wanting wasn't angry at all.

With the constables gone, Mu Wanting and the others breathed a sigh of relief.

Hua'er hugged her mother and cried uncontrollably.

"Mother, what should I do? I don't want to marry the head constable. I've heard he's ruthless and that he tortured several of his wives to death."

The elderly couple only had this one daughter, and they loved her dearly, so naturally they couldn't bear to hurt her.

"How about we become refugees too?"

Mu Wanting said, "The refugees don't need to stay for now. Do you have any close relatives? Go to their house quietly and avoid them, without letting anyone know."

After speaking, Mu Wanting looked at the flowers again.

“You should also dress up as a man and paint your face black.”

If she could, she would also like to dress up the flowers beautifully, but there was nothing she could do. That's just how the world is; it's really not easy for women to survive.

After Hua'er finished dressing up, she and her parents fled with their luggage.

Mu Wanting really liked this little girl, so she caught up with her family and gave them twenty taels of silver.

"Take these; nothing is more useful than silver on this journey."

Hua'er declined, saying, "Sister Mu, I can't accept this."

Mu Wanting also gave her a bag of osmanthus cakes and asked her family to bring over a small cart. She took two sacks of grain from her own cart and hid them, covering them with straw.

"Since I'm giving it to you, just take it. Hope we meet again someday."

The flowers reddened their eyes: "See you again if fate allows."

The Hua family also had tears in their eyes. They had only thought that the exiled prisoners had a hard life and wanted to treat them well. They never expected to have formed such a good relationship with them.

"Thank you very much, young lady."

Not long after the family left, the constables returned, accompanied by thousands of soldiers, who were carrying arrest warrants issued by the county magistrate.

They were the people being referred to; they stole cultural relics from the county government office, and now they are to be arrested and brought to justice.

Behind them were several young women who were tied up, all of them crying their eyes out.

Ma Dazhuang frowned: "This is outrageous! How can they be so blatant!"

Su Yu scoffed: "If Heaven wants to destroy someone, it will first make them go mad."

Even if the convicts wanted to resist, they couldn't because the other side had a large number of people.

A group of people were escorted to the county government office. Along the way, everyone was in a hurry, and their faces were filled with worry and fear.

Upon seeing the officials, they would begin to detour around them from a distance. Those unfortunate souls who were caught were then dragged around and severely exploited.

It could be said that these yamen runners were like locusts in flight, leaving nothing but desolation in their wake.

Upon arriving at the county government office, the county magistrate, sitting at the head of the table, was fat and oily-faced.

Do you all know your crimes?

Ma Dazhuang said, "Sir, we've never even been to the county town. What crime have we committed?"

"We're in a hurry to escort prisoners to the Northwest; we can't disobey the Emperor's orders."

After Ma Dazhuang's explanation, anyone with a discerning eye would have immediately let him pass.

Lord Niu merely glanced at it and sneered.

"It's your business if you have an imperial edict, but we have cultural relics stolen from us. I advise you to hand them over as soon as possible if you know what's good for you, or you'll force me to take action."

Lord Niu's expression changed, and he immediately shook his head.

"No, sir."

Lord Niu sneered: "No? Then where did our county government's cultural relics go? Those cultural relics were gifts from important figures."

"Men, beat them until they confess."

Ma Dazhuang and his ilk were also members of the privileged class, but when they became the targets of exploitation, they turned pale with anger.

"Sir, please tell us, how can we be spared?"

Seeing that Ma Dazhuang was so cooperative, Lord Niu's stern expression softened.

"It's simple: either return the cultural relics or each person pays 20 taels of silver."

In just two hours, the price doubled.

Mu Wanting smiled: "The adults always say that we took cultural relics, so we should tell you what these cultural relics look like."

Lord Niu's eyes darted around.

"It's like a painting, a picture of cheetahs playing in the water."

Mu Wanting was speechless. What was all this? She had never heard of it before.

Seeing that everyone was about to be beaten, Mu Wanting said, "Why don't you give us some time, sir, so that we can investigate properly?"

This chapter is not finished, please click the next page to continue reading!