Chapter 30: Saving people is such a bad taste!

At the gate of the yard stood a woman in green. She had a thin face, an expression of haggardness that was difficult to conceal, a frail body, and eyes filled with endless sorrow and grief.

Half of her face was hidden in the night, facing the dim light in the yard, which made her look even more sickly.

"Excuse me, what do you mean by 'rescue'?" Zhou Tinglan walked towards the woman in green.

The woman in green shrank back and spoke slowly, "Just now... I saw it all. You were the first one who dared to hit him. So... can you please save us? Many of us sisters are about to die!"

Zhou Tinglan listened to the words of the woman in green and recalled what he had seen and heard at the tofu shop today: "You are all girls that were snatched from this town by the young master of the Wu family."

The woman in green nodded, lowered her brows and uttered two words: "Not bad."

Zhou Tinglan was even angrier. She had indeed been too kind to Master Wu and had gone too easy on him.

Zhou Tinglan was shocked when she glanced at the woman's exposed neck. She grabbed the woman's wrist and asked, "Did he hit her?"

The wrist was pulled back violently, but despite this, Zhou Tinglan still saw the same scars on the woman's neck under her sleeve, which were all over her skin and were particularly terrifying.

Although the woman in green did not speak, the answer was self-evident.

Zhou Tinglan said to Xie Zechuan beside him, "Go and drag Master Wu over here!"

It's not enough for one person to vent her anger. She wants to let all these poor women who were kidnapped and abused by Master Wu vent their anger.

Xie Zechuan returned to the courtyard to drag the collapsed Master Wu away. Zhou Tinglan looked at the woman in green. She took a deep breath and asked, "Where are the rest of you?"

"The two sisters are now seriously ill and unable to get up. The Wu family father and son are unwilling to hire a doctor for them. They have been abandoned in the woodshed to fend for themselves. We have no choice but to go and take care of them secretly from time to time."

Zhou Tinglan and the woman in green came to the woodshed. Two pretty women were lying on a piece of tattered coarse cloth, barely breathing, with hay underneath.

A woman in blue was standing by, wiping the sweat off the lying woman and feeding her water.

They all had scars on their bodies.

"Qingyi, who is she?" The blue-dressed woman asked when she saw the blue-dressed woman leading a stranger into the house. However, before the blue-dressed woman could answer, she turned and spoke angrily, "That damn fat pig is not going to rob girls in the town again. Is she here to take the place of the dead red-dressed or green-dressed woman? How many girls does he have to trample on before he will stop? When will he die?"

"Girl, you better escape now while Master Wu is away. We two sisters will cover for you. If you are any later, it will be too late!"

As the woman in blue spoke, she had already rushed to Zhou Tinglan, grabbed her hand and was about to pull her away, constantly telling Zhou Tinglan to leave quickly.

Zhou Tinglan held down the woman in blue and said, "Lan Yi, I wasn't kidnapped by Master Wu. I'm here to rescue you! I have a way to free you from Master Wu's control, so you can leave the Wu Mansion and regain your freedom!"

Lan Yi looked at Zhou Tinglan in disbelief, tears welling up in her eyes.

Leaving the Wu Mansion seemed so far away to her. Everyone in the town knew that the government officials, from top to bottom, obeyed Master Wu. From the moment she was forcibly taken into the Wu Mansion, she was ready to die here. She had seen too many sisters die in this cannibalistic mansion, really... too many.

"Really? Can you really rescue us?" the woman in blue asked excitedly.

"Lan Yi, I just went out to get some hot water and saw her beating Master Wu in the yard. I thought she might be able to save us, so I asked her for help."

After beating Master Wu in the yard, Lan Yi felt worried: "Miss, you beat Master Wu, why don't you run away early? If you get caught, it will be very miserable."

"Don't worry, since I said there is a way to rescue you, I will definitely do it. Can you tell me what exactly happened in the Wu Mansion?"

Soon, Zhou Tinglan learned from Qingyi and Lanyi that the father and son of the Wu family relied on the name of the government to forcibly snatch beautiful girls in the town, making them wear clothes of different colors and naming them accordingly. Now, only Lanyi, Qingyi and the terminally ill Orange and Yellowyi were left in the mansion.

The man in red and the man in green were beaten to death by Master Wu last month, and their bodies were said to have been dumped in a mass grave outside the town.

The more Zhou Tinglan listened, the more he couldn't suppress his anger.

He kidnapped the girl, abused her, dumped her body in a mass grave, and even made himself and the girl look like the Seven Fairies. What a disgusting thing! If it were in modern times, she would definitely appeal to the Wu family father and son and make them spend the rest of their lives in prison.

She immediately took Qingyi and Lanyi out of the woodshed.

Zhou Tinglan kicked the unconscious Mr. Wu on the ground hard, and as if he was not satisfied, he kicked him again.

She called out to the two of them, "What are you still standing there for? If you have grudges or complaints, come and vent them together!"

Lan Yi was still hesitating, but Qing Yi pulled her over: "Lan Yi, today we should vent our anger for our sisters!"

Under the moonlight, the three women kicked Mr. Wu on the ground like a ball. The scene was very interesting. Xie Zechuan couldn't help laughing while watching.

After a long time, the three of them felt a little tired and stopped moving.

Zhou Tinglan asked Xie Zechuan to take Master Wu with him, and told Qingyi and Lanyi, "I'll come to pick you up later. Please pack up and take good care of the seriously ill Chengyi and Huangyi."

At the door of the woodshed, Lan Yi looked at the moon in the sky. The moon emerged from behind the clouds and illuminated half of the sky.

"Qingyi, do you think that girl can succeed?"

Qingyi hugged Lanyi: "There is always hope, everything will be fine."

**

After Zhou Tinglan and Xie Zechuan finished telling about the dirty things happening in the Wu Mansion, they brought Master Wu to the gate of the Wu Mansion.

The door was opened, and Zhou Tinglan said angrily: "Call out your Master Wu!"

Seeing this, the servants of the Wu Mansion hurriedly asked, "What do the two nobles want from our master?"

Xie Zechuan received Zhou Tinglan's signal and threw Master Wu in front of the servant, who turned pale with fear. "Please come in, my two nobles. I'll go call our master."

The two were led into the lobby of the Wu Mansion by a servant. The servant made a pot of hot tea for them and then hurried to call Master Wu.

Mr. Wu arrived shortly after. When he saw Master Wu lying unconscious on the ground, he yelled, "Doctor! Go get a doctor for the young master!"

He looked at Zhou Tinglan. "I wonder why you came to visit me so late at night. And what did my son do to provoke you so much anger?"

Zhou Tinglan was blunt: "Master Wu, what did I tell you today? I told you to discipline your son, but you caught him molesting another girl on the street at night. Is this how you discipline me?"

"I have already disciplined him, but the brat must not have listened to me. I will apologize to you two adults on his behalf." Mr. Wu smiled innocently, trying to gloss over the matter.

Unexpectedly, Zhou Tinglan's next sentence made him break out in a cold sweat.

"Master Wu, I don't think Young Master Wu is someone who won't listen to discipline. According to the laws of the Great Zhao Kingdom, what is the punishment for forcibly seizing a girl from a decent family?"

Xie Zechuan skillfully recited the Dazhao Kingdom's law: "Imprisoned and forced to work until repentance."

Beads of sweat formed on Master Wu's forehead. He wiped them away with the back of his hand and said, "My Lords, I was just confused for a moment. I hope you can forgive me."

He picked up a cloth bag and stuffed it into Xie Zechuan's hand. Xie Zechuan weighed it and found that the bag was filled with silver and money, and it was quite a lot.

Zhou Tinglan's face was expressionless: "Master Wu, do you know what crime it is to bribe an official of the imperial court?"

"Yes...their property will be confiscated and they will remove him from office." Mr. Wu's expression grew increasingly grim. "Sir, I know I was wrong. Please forgive me and my son this time!"

Under Zhou Tinglan's astonished gaze, Mr. Wu suddenly knelt down on the ground and crawled to Zhou Tinglan's feet, wailing.

Zhou Tinglan was upset and kicked the man away: "Master Wu, I will search your mansion thoroughly. Do you have any objections?"

"My lord! My lord... don't!"

After Zhou Tinglan finished speaking, he turned around and left Mr. Wu behind, and turned around to search the entire Wu Mansion with Xie Zechuan, and rescue Qingyi and others by the way.

Suddenly, a loud shout from Master Wu came from behind. Zhou Tinglan dodged sideways. Xie Zechuan subdued Master Wu to the ground and took the dagger from his hand.

Zhou Tinglan looked down at the struggling Master Wu and asked, "You want to kill me?"

"If it weren't for you, how could anything have happened to my father and me? I'm going to kill you!"

"Too bad you'll never get the chance."

The two men found ropes and tied up the Wu father and son. They then searched the Wu residence thoroughly. Zhou Tinglan looked at the large amount of valuables found and sighed, "Even if all the treasures in Master Wu's yard were exposed, they would be thrown into prison without any action."

Zhou Tinglan called a doctor to give the four people in Qingyi proper treatment and temporarily placed them in the back hall of the knife shop to rest.

She tied up the father and son of the Wu family in front of the government gate and asked them to each hold a wooden sign that listed the many crimes they had committed in the town over the years. Then Zhou Tinglan asked the people in the village to keep watch there to prevent any accidents.

The next day, when the sun shone on the stone lions in front of the government gate, the officers and soldiers who came to work were shocked to see the father and son at the door.

"Master, how could you be..."

Mr. Wu cursed loudly and wanted the soldiers to rescue him, but was stopped by the people in the stronghold.

Xiao Ruo stood at the front, holding the paper Zhou Tinglan had handed him before he left, and shouted loudly: "The father and son of the Wu family used their official positions to commit crimes in the town and embezzled money..."

The people on the street pointed and talked about the Wu father and son. The officers and soldiers were ashamed and did not dare to step forward. They walked into the government office quietly and no longer asked about the Wu father and son who were tied up outside.

**

Meanwhile, Zhou Tinglan and four other men in blue arrived at the gate of the County Magistrate's Mansion early in the morning. They pounded the drums in front of the mansion and began shouting, "The officials are making it impossible for us to survive. The officials and their sons in this town have been forcibly abducting women in the streets, brutally killing civilians, and embezzling ill-gotten gains. Please, County Magistrate, help these poor girls!"

The four men in blue clothes supported each other and knelt in front of the county magistrate's mansion. The sound of drums attracted people on the street to watch.

The county magistrate opened the gate and two men in official uniforms walked out.

Zhou Tinglan frowned. Wasn't it said that there was only one county magistrate here? Why did two people come out of the door now?

"Who is filing a complaint in front of the county magistrate's office?"