Because of the meditation incident, everyone stayed for two more days, waiting for the meditation period to pass before resuming their journey.

During their journey, Benjamin was called a water ghost after saving someone, which once again aroused Shen Nian's sympathy, and Ertai mistook it as feeling sorry for him and became jealous again.

The group arrived at the next town.

Little Swallow grabbed Chen Nianqing'er and they went into the crowd, looking here and there.

Every place has its own unique customs and traditions, and every market is different. Shen Nianqing was also very curious about everything and followed Xiao Yanzi to look around.

As for Ziwei, after the incident with Erkang, Xiaoyanzi was ordered by the others to avoid contact with Ziwei as much as possible.

Who knows if what happened to Er Kang will happen to Xiao Yanzi again?

Fortunately, Xiao Yanzi's relationship with Ziwei was gradually fading along the way, so it wouldn't matter if she reduced her contact with Ziwei even more.

Ziwei has now completely broken away from their group.

Looking at the Third Sister, who was in high spirits, there were four guards, no, five guards, plus Yongxuan.

Erkang was repeatedly humiliated by Ziwei, so he stopped trying to win her over, not to mention he even poisoned himself with some unknown substance.

Since Shen Nian and Yongxuan hadn't figured out how to solve that thing yet, they didn't tell Erkang what it was.

If Er Kang finds out about that thing, he might be unable to accept it and become worried and afraid all day long, which would be bad if he gave himself away.

It just so happens that the two are arguing, and Erkang can use this as an excuse to stay away from Ziwei.

Once his mind cleared, his intelligence naturally returned. He even worried that he shouldn't stay away from Ziwei, so Erkang specifically picked a fight with her, which deepened the conflict between them.

Arrogance and conceit are things Erkang can do with ease, okay? He only needs to unleash a fraction of his power, and Ziwei won't be able to handle it.

For Ziwei, who has an extremely strong sense of self-esteem and has always been well-coaxed by Erkang, how could she accept Erkang treating her like that?

While Er Kang appeared angry, she was filled with anticipation. As Er Kang expected, she argued with him again, lost her temper, and even tried to slap him. However, Er Kang, who was prepared, stopped her this time.

The two parted on bad terms in the end.

Of course, only Ziwei was unhappy; Erkang, on the other hand, was secretly overjoyed.

As for Ziwei, well, she was focused on building a relationship with the Emperor the whole way and always avoided him. He felt something was wrong and wanted to remind her, but she misunderstood and thought he didn't want her to acknowledge her father.

Later, they argued again and again. After being away on tour for so long, their relationship not only did not improve, but it also grew weaker and weaker. Arguing was also consuming the little affection he had left for her.

Moreover, not to mention, he has now been drugged with some unknown substance. Just thinking about being drugged makes him feel uncomfortable all over, disgusted with himself, and destroys the little emotion he has left in his heart.

...

Looking at the group of people gathered around the stall, enjoying themselves immensely, and sensing that she could not possibly intrude into their distance, Ziwei, standing next to the Emperor, clenched her hands tightly.

How could this be? They used to revolve around me, but now I'm the one being excluded.

She felt that Er Kang, in particular, was getting further and further away from her.

Things seemed to have gone awry from all her expectations.

...

"Someone's been assaulted! Someone's been assaulted!"

As the group was browsing the market, they heard a commotion. Ertai, Yongxuan, Yongqi, and the others each grabbed a girl and dragged the three girls who were looking at the calligraphy and paintings back, looking around warily.

Yongxuan, who had originally pulled Qing'er to pull Chen Nian, silently withdrew his hand when he saw Ertai, who reacted quickly and skillfully, pull Chen Nian to his side.

Yongqi also pulled Xiaoyanzi to his side.

With nowhere to attack, Benjamin Ercon stood around the group.

"Which government department are you from? Why are you chasing after ordinary people and beating them?"

The group frowned at the chaotic scene before them. Little Swallow, who couldn't stand such oppression of the people, couldn't hold back any longer. She brushed away Yongqi's hand and jumped out.

"It's none of your business if the government collects taxes."

The constable who was beating people saw Little Swallow jump out and waved the stick in his hand.

Yongqi, standing behind Xiaoyanzi, clenched his fist at his side as he looked at the situation in front of him. Just as he was about to teach the yamen runners a lesson, the Emperor spoke up.

"Is the government office you're talking about Duan Kui's yamen?"

Seeing the arrogant yamen runners about to beat Xiao Yanzi, the Emperor frowned deeply and couldn't help but step forward, asking in a cold voice.

Emin was just talking about the situation in this town, and now he's shown him the real situation. He's really lucky! He runs into corrupt officials wherever he goes.

“How dare you call our county magistrate by his full name?”

The constables, seeing the person who stepped forward, showed no sense of danger and continued speaking arrogantly.

"The Four Guardians and Yongxuan, let's teach them a lesson."

The Emperor was already suppressing his anger, and now that he had been provoked, how could he tolerate it? He sternly ordered the four guards standing behind him, who were already itching to act.

Following the Emperor's instructions, Ertai Yongxuan placed the two girls he was carrying next to the Emperor.

"Stay here and behave, don't run around."

Ertai rubbed Shen Nian's head, gave him some instructions, and then jumped out.

Yongxuan glanced at the two girls, nodded, and jumped out as well.

“You’re really something, daring to beat even the yamen runners. In a moment, our master will lock you all up and beat you until you’re begging for mercy.”

The constables hadn't yet experienced the forceful suppression and were still making threats.

"I'll beat you until you beg for mercy."

Upon hearing the arrogant constable's threats, Xiao Yanzi, who had joined the fray, unleashed her ruthless iron-bone palm strike, giving the constable a good beating and, incidentally, kicking the constable's backside hard.

"Ahhh, stop hitting me! Stop hitting my butt! It hurts!"

"Grandma, don't kick my butt, it hurts!"

After being kicked in the buttocks repeatedly, the constables couldn't help but continue fighting while begging for mercy and reminding others not to kick them.

Little Swallow, engrossed in her beating, paid no attention to their words. She even flipped over and straddled the shoulders of a yamen runner, cleverly poking his nostrils with her hand.

The scene quickly became comical.

"My dear aunt, please stop kicking my butt, it hurts!"

Little Swallow may have also found a way to subdue the yamen runners; if she couldn't beat them, she would kick them at her new discovery, successfully hearing cries of agony.

"You can't kick my butt."

“These yamen runners are behaving strangely. Why can’t we kick their butts? Little Swallow, let’s kick their butts like balloons.”

...