Qin Jue glanced at Yu Ying and casually said, "That kid named Jun Qingzhi."

"Derivatives, you guessed right!"

Qin Jue didn't say anything after hearing Yu Ying's words.

"Yansheng, the person Jun Qingzhi sent to investigate you is not simple."

"How is it not simple?"

"They're like secret guards; their martial arts skills are on par with our secret guard battalion."

Qin Jue reacted upon hearing this.

"Go and find out exactly who Jun Qingzhi is."

"Okay, then I'll be going?"

After speaking for a long time, Yu Ying didn't let Qin Jue speak, then got up from the stool and left the Hall of Mental Cultivation.

"Daddy~"

"Hey, what's wrong, Xiaoxi'er?"

When Qin Jue saw Xiao Xi'er run up to him, he picked her up and placed her on his lap.

Xiao Xi'er held up the Luban lock in her hand for Qin Jue to see.

"Daddy, look, am I great?"

Qin Jue looked down at the Luban lock that Xiao Xi'er had untied, and praised Xiao Xi'er.

"Little Xi'er is so great, she even managed to solve this!"

Hehehe

"Little Xi'er, what age is she?"

Xiao Xi'er looked at the fingers Qin Jue had extended and started counting.

"One, two, three, five, seven"

"Wow, Daddy, I know, this is seven!"

Qin Jue looked at his own palm, then at Xiao Xi'er, and decided to take his hand back.

"Little Xi'er, start counting from the beginning, let Daddy hear it."

"Okay, Daddy, listen carefully!"

"One, two, three, five, four, nine, four, one, two, three, seven, four..."

Little Xi'er counted on her fingers with a serious expression.

They kept counting in an endless loop.

Stop, stop, stop!

Qin Jue grabbed Xiao Xi'er's small hand with his large hand, making her stop.

"What's wrong, Daddy?"

"Isn't my counting too good? Daddy, you have to praise me!"

"Haha, Little Xi'er... she really counts very well!!"

"Really?"

With a puzzled look, Xiao Xi looked up at Qin Jue, who gave her a forced smile and said...

"Let's go out and play with Shatin."

After hearing this, Xiao Xi'er got off Qin Jue and ran out to find Sha Ting.

After seeing Xiao Xi'er leave, Qin Jue's forced smile disappeared.

Instead, they began to consider whether to send Xiaoxi'er to the palace school.

——————

Outside the Meridian Gate, the seven people arrested for trafficking women and children knelt on the ground, while Zhang Ji sat in the highest position.

"My lord, it's noon; the execution may proceed."

After glancing at the time, Zhao Feng walked to Zhang Ji's side and whispered something.

Upon hearing that the time had come, Zhang Ji picked up the token from the execution box and threw it on the ground. (The execution token was a plaque with the character "令" (order) thrown out by the executioner before the execution, and the execution box was the box containing the tokens.)

"cut--"

The executioner with the knife saw Zhang Ji throw down the execution token and utter the word 'execution'.

He then raised his broadsword, and the seven men kneeling on the ground looked up and saw Zou Heng in the crowd. They were so frightened that they quickly lowered their heads.

After all, although they could get away with it by stopping them, they had been tortured in various ways for the past three days and couldn't die no matter what. Rather than suffer endless torment, they would rather be killed with a single blow.

The seven men looked up at the large sword overhead, but before they could see it clearly, the sword fell. The seven executioners, one for each of them, beheaded them all at the same time.

The onlookers below clapped and cheered when they saw seven people beheaded.

"Beheading them is too lenient; they sold so many women and children."

"Exactly, His Majesty is too benevolent."

"Alas, what a pity for those women and children who were sold; they can never be found again."

"utterly devoid of conscience"

Although the seven people were already dead, the people couldn't contain their anger and threw their vegetables or other things at their corpses.

After the execution was completed, some constables ran over.

"Lord Zhang, someone has come to the Dali Temple to file a complaint against Lord Tang of the Tang Dynasty."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Ji's eyes lit up. "In that case, let's go back to the Dali Temple."

Zhao Feng, standing behind, noticed Zhang Ji's expression and sensed something was wrong, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

Zhao Feng followed Zhang Ji back to Dali Temple.

Zhang Ji sat in the main seat of the Dali Temple's main hall, looking down at the people kneeling on the ground below.

What brings you here today?

"My lord, we wish to file a complaint against Censor Tang."

Why sue Lord Tang of the Tang Dynasty?

"Sir, please look at this."

One of them took out a token from his pocket.

Upon seeing this, Zhang Ji gave a signal to the yamen runner, who then stepped forward, took the token from the kneeling commoner, and presented it to Zhang Ji.

After receiving the token, Zhang Ji looked it over from all sides, then turned it over to examine it again, before placing it on the table.

"Who are you, and why are you accusing Imperial Censor Tang?"

"Sir, my name is Wang San, and I am the owner of 'Wang's Pastry Shop' in the south of the city."

"The small shop was burned down by men sent by Lord Tang."

"How dare you say such a thing!"

Zhang Ji picked up the gavel and slammed it on the table, then said something in a Western style.

"My lord, last night I captured a man in black who was attempting arson, and subsequently found this token on his person. Today, after examining the token, I learned that it belongs to Imperial Censor Tang Dai."

"Do you have any old or new grudges against the Tang Dynasty official? Why would he burn down your shop?"

"My lord, I have no grudge against Lord Tang, but my master and Lord Tang have always been at odds."

"Your parents?"

"Reporting to you, my lord, my master is Lord Liu Ju."

Zhao Feng, sitting to the side, wasn't surprised to see Zhang Ji, but he sensed something was amiss. Then he heard, "Bring the man in black up."

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