Zhao Qing's blatant bribery aroused envy from the advisor and Wang Wen.

Magistrate Qiu felt that Zhao Qing was too shrewd; this was even more practical than bribing him with gold and silver.

No matter how much gold and silver there is, it all has to be handed over to the lady. Now, it doesn't have to go through her hands, giving me a sense of freedom and detachment.

Wang Wen was wearing a linen skirt that she had gotten from somewhere, with several patches sewn on it.

The moment Wang Wen gracefully emerged from the inner room, Magistrate Qiu spat out a mouthful of tea.

The clerk, who had always been a serious person, saw Wang Wen's pretentious manner and quickly pretended to pick something up, squatted down, and hid under the table to laugh.

Zhao Qing has a high tolerance for stress. After all, he was the one asking for a favor today. His face turned red, but he couldn't bring himself to laugh.

He gave Wang Wen a thumbs up.

Wang Wen stayed in the backyard of Zhao's Snack Shop that day.

Naturally, he received special treatment and had his own room.

Since chili powder is a consumable item, if an insider steals it once, they will naturally steal it again.

After everyone finished cleaning up the kitchen and locked the door, they went back to their rooms.

Wang Wen and Liu Qing slipped into the kitchen through the window that had been arranged in advance, and then the two of them hid on small stools by the door, dozing off.

Two nights passed without any movement.

On the third night, when all was quiet, Wang Wen heard a noise at the door and gently nudged Liu Qing, who was already dozing off.

The two pricked up their ears, stood up cautiously, and hid on either side of the door.

Because the door is a double door, as long as the door is pushed open from the outside, a person standing in the doorway will definitely not be seen.

A small, thin figure tiptoed in, moving cautiously to the stove.

Light the candles, open the jar containing the chili peppers, scoop out the peppers with a spoon, and put them into a pre-prepared oil paper bag.

Then carefully use a spoon to smooth out the inside of the chili jar.

He checked the stove again by candlelight to make sure there were no problems before carefully putting the bag of chili peppers into his pocket.

He picked up the candle, turned around, and was about to blow it out when he caught sight of Wang Wen and Liu Qing out of the corner of his eye. Startled, he dropped the candle on the ground.

As the candle fell and the light went out, Jin Ping'er sat down on the ground.

Liu Qing shouted, "You Jin Ping'er! I took pity on your poor family and hired you to work in the shop, but I never expected to hire a thief like you."

Liu Qing's voice was loud, and he quickly woke up everyone living in the backyard, especially Chunru and Lamei, who had been having very light sleep lately because of the lost chili powder.

Hearing the commotion, they immediately put on their clothes and ran out. When they saw that the thief was Jin Ping'er, both of them looked very grim.

Chunru had a fiery temper, and she stepped forward and slapped Jin Ping'er several times, causing Jin Ping'er's face to swell up immediately.

"Jin Ping'er, when we hired you to work in the shop, we didn't really want to hire you. But you insisted on kneeling down and kowtowing, saying that your father had been bedridden for a long time and you had no money for treatment."

Your brother is disabled and cannot do heavy work, so the burden of the family falls on you and your mother.

You wanted to earn some money at the shop to buy medicine for your father and ease your mother's burden, and this is it? You kindly took in a thief.

He got even angrier and went forward to slap her twice and kick her.

Wang Wen locked the person up and then, in front of everyone, took off his women's clothing, revealing his official uniform underneath.

Everyone was stunned.

Wang Wen removed the wooden hairpin from his head and neatly tied his hair up.

Then he shook his body.

"I'm exhausted. I'm taking the human traffickers back to the yamen now for trial tonight. Liu Qing, could you please get on the carriage and give me a ride?"

As she spoke, she picked up the women's clothes she had taken off earlier, and then found a hemp rope to tie them into a small bundle.

Holding a piece of clothing with a single finger, leaning against the door, he looked relaxed.

Chunru, who had previously hit someone, blushed deeply when she discovered that Wang Wen was actually a man.

Wax Plum noticed Chunru's embarrassed look and laughed rather unkindly.

"Actually, even if you didn't beat her up, I would have, it's just that you were a little faster than me."

Chunru looked up and glared at the winter plum blossom.

"Alright, everyone knows who I am. I'm a shrew, and I'm happy and satisfied."

"You're so refined, but you've missed your chance to act. Look, the lock's already on."

She quickly ran back into her room, took out some snacks she had bought during the day, and handed them to Wang Wen.

"Wang family sister, ptooey, Wang family brothers, catching thieves here so late at night, you must be tired."

I bought this snack during the day, it's still soft. Have some to tide you over, don't mind.

"Come to the shop for a meal when you're free tomorrow, it'll be on me."

She spoke with such boldness. It was the first time Wang Wen had been invited to dinner by a girl, and a strange feeling stirred within him.

A grin spread across his face. "Alright, then I won't stand on ceremony."

Chunru had thought that Wang Wen would at least be polite.

To her surprise, the other party agreed so readily that Chunru's eyes widened, and she didn't know what to say next.

Wax Plum was suppressing a laugh on the side, because Chunru was the stingiest of the sisters, who would stretch every penny to its limit.

When asked why she was saving the money, her answer was...

"Save money for retirement. Even if we are servants, eating and living in the master's house, we will still grow old eventually."

If she's lucky enough to get married, that's fine; but if she doesn't meet the right person, she might never marry.

When you get old, you need some savings to tide you over. If you want to eat something nice, you need money to buy it, right?

At these times, everyone falls silent.

Chunru likes to save money, while others prefer to live in the moment. There's no right or wrong, just different perspectives.

Seeing Chunru's dazed expression, Wang Wen couldn't help but laugh.

Liu Qing had already harnessed the carriage, and Wang Wen picked up Jin Ping'er, who was lying on the ground, and threw her onto the carriage.

He jumped onto the other side of the carriage, and Liu Qing cracked his whip in the air, making the horse trot off.

Lord Qiu was truly a good official. Upon hearing the report that the Zhao family's thieves had been caught, he immediately got up and quickly held a court hearing to interrogate Jin Ping'er that very night.

The matter is simple: Jin Ping'er's father wasn't truly ill and bedridden; he was just a lazy bum who spent all his time lying in bed, eating and waiting to die.

My brother isn't sick and can't do heavy work; he's just spoiled rotten. He goes out every day to tease cats and dogs and hangs out with scoundrels. If you walk on the dark too often, you're bound to run into a ghost eventually.

One day, he and his cronies flirted with a young woman, who turned out to be the twentieth concubine of Hai Shengping, the owner of Haiyanlou.

Jin Ping'er's brother, Jin Dahu, and his cronies arrested Hai Shengping and threatened to break his legs.

Jin Dahu is truly a tiger, but also truly stupid. He got himself into trouble with just a few words, and his so-called "brothers" pushed all the blame onto him.