Master Sun gave him a reassuring look, then turned to Ge Long and asked, "Where is this brother taking the goods?"

Ge Long answered truthfully, "Send it to Yuxi."

Master Sun nodded and said, "That's quite far. What kind of goods are they?"

Ge Long said, "It's a type of silk unique to our Qinghe County."

Master Sun's eyes lit up and he said, "Qinghe silk is indeed a fine product. Has this batch of goods already been pre-ordered?"

Although Ge Long didn't know why this clerk was talking so much nonsense, he still answered honestly, "I don't know. We are only responsible for transporting this batch of silk to the local silk shops. Selling it is the silk shops' business."

"In that case, how about you sell these goods to us, brother?"

Ge Long: "???"

Magistrate Zhou finally understood what Master Sun meant and quickly took over the conversation.

"Yes, yes, yes, since you're going to sell this batch of goods anyway, it's the same if you sell them to us."

Ge Long hesitated for a moment and said, "But this batch of goods has already been pre-ordered by a silk shop."

Magistrate Zhou laughed and said, "It doesn't matter. You can sell this batch of goods to us and then transport another batch back to Qinghe. Anyway, I will definitely not lose a single penny from you."

Ge Long wanted to speak again, but then he heard Master Sun say, "If you are worried about damaging your integrity, our government can send someone to Yuxi to inform the silk shop that your batch of silk has been purchased by the government, and it will certainly not affect your future business."

After the two men took turns persuading him, Ge Long was finally convinced and decided to sell the silk to Magistrate Zhou.

Magistrate Zhou was very satisfied and immediately ordered someone to return to the county office to retrieve the silver notes, thus completing the transaction between the two parties.

Since the caravan was no longer heading south, they had no choice but to attend the victory banquet, unable to refuse the warm invitation.

At this point, Jian Yang had not yet become suspicious; she simply thought that Magistrate Zhou and Clerk Sun were two overly enthusiastic people.

However, when she returned to the inn, the innkeeper pulled her aside and said warily, "Young lady, have you offended Magistrate Zhou?"

Jian Yang asked blankly, "No, why do you say that, elder sister?"

The innkeeper spat and said, "You're from out of town, you don't know, but Magistrate Zhou and his advisor Sun are notorious in our area for their ruthless collusion and exploitation of the people!"

Jian Yang: "?!"

Then, from the innkeeper's wife, Jian Yang learned about the various "great achievements" of Magistrate Zhou and Master Sun since they took office, which shocked her so much that her jaw almost dropped to the ground.

However, she could never reconcile the two corrupt officials mentioned by the landlady with the two magistrates, since after the first time, both Magistrate Zhou and Master Sun had been extremely polite to her.

"Young lady," the proprietress said earnestly, "I have to give you a piece of advice: if you really get into trouble, run away as soon as you can. Magistrate Zhou and Clerk Sun are full of evil intentions. Don't let them ruin a pretty girl like you!"

Jian Yang expressed her gratitude to the innkeeper for speaking up for her.

But she won't change her opinion of someone just because of a few words from others; she needs to verify it again, no matter what.

So Jian Yang went out for a stroll under the pretext of buying rouge.

Then they got the same conclusion from the various merchants as the innkeeper.

At this point, Jian Yang finally realized that he and the caravan had been tricked by Magistrate Zhou and his associates.

But they were just an ordinary caravan selling silk, so what was the point of fooling them?

Just as Jian Yang was racking her brains, she suddenly thought of a possibility—could it be that Magistrate Zhou knew her identity?

Once the thought popped into my head, I couldn't stop it.

Considering Magistrate Zhou's deliberate slowing down of their progress and his extremely polite attitude towards them, Jian Yang became increasingly certain that her identity had been exposed!

In any case, I can't stay in Nanyang County anymore.

So Jian Yang returned to the inn to bid farewell to the caravan.

It was nearly evening, and darkness was approaching. When the caravan members learned of her idea, they were all astonished.

Jian Yang smiled and said, "All good things must come to an end. I'm already very happy to have traveled this far with everyone. Anyway, you'll all be going back to Qinghe tomorrow, and we'll have to part ways sooner or later."

Ge Dong said with some reluctance, "But Sister Jian, it's already so late. Can't you leave tomorrow?"

Jian Yang shook her head and said, "Once I've made up my mind, nothing can change it. I'm already tired of living in Nanyang County."

“It’s dangerous outside…” Ge Dong stammered.

Jian Yang smiled and ruffled his hair: "Don't you know how capable I am? I'm not afraid of any number of bandits."

Seeing that they couldn't persuade her to stay, everyone had no choice but to say goodbye to her one by one. Jian Yang shouldered her backpack and satchel and walked into the night without looking back.

As she reached the city gate, she saw that it was about to close.

"Wait a minute, I still need to leave the city!" Jian Yang hurriedly ran over.

The guard at the gate glanced at her, somewhat embarrassed, and said, "Miss, it's getting late. Are you really going to leave the city?"

Jian Yang nodded: "Yes, it will be released."

She had a premonition that if she couldn't get out tonight, she might never be able to leave again.

Upon hearing this, the guard left a small crack in the city gate, just wide enough for a person to pass through, and said with a smile, "Miss, please hurry, we're about to close the gate."

Jian Yang smiled and said, "Thank you, big brother."

Unexpectedly, as soon as she stepped out of the city gate, she smelled a strange fragrance.

She sniffed the air and thought to herself, "Oh no!"

Then he completely lost consciousness.

At the same time, Eunuch Zhang strode into the Imperial Study.

"Your Majesty, the magistrate of Nanyang County has sent someone to report that he has discovered traces of the Empress in the area and said he will try to find a way to keep her here."

The emperor immediately put down his brush and said without thinking, "Yongfu, go and make preparations. I will personally go to fetch the empress back to the palace."

"Your Majesty, we haven't verified the authenticity of the information yet..."

The Emperor interrupted, "No need to verify, I believe the Empress is definitely there!"

Perhaps it was a sixth sense, or perhaps it was telepathy, but he was inexplicably certain that Jian Yang was definitely there.

Without saying another word, Eunuch Zhang hurried off to prepare for leaving the palace.

When Jian Yang woke up, it was already broad daylight.

She found herself sleeping in an unfamiliar room.

The room was fully furnished, with delicate pastries and fruits on the table, but the doors and windows were locked.

Although she was extremely panicked, she decided to hold back for the time being and act according to the circumstances.

After an unknown amount of time, the sound of a lock being opened came from outside the door.

Jian Yang quickly closed her eyes and pretended to sleep, but through the slits in her eyes she saw that the person who entered the room was a little maid carrying a food box.