Lijia Village —

"Suddenly, a large group of constables rushed into the house, tied up the Ye family members one by one, gagged them, and pulled them onto the carriage!"

At Li Zhiyuan's house, Li Gouwa started babbling on and on.

The Li family of five listened intently, and finally burst into laughter.

Granny Li rolled on the ground in excitement: "Hahaha, retribution! Retribution indeed! Heaven has finally taken that slut away!"

Li Zhiyuan was also beaming with satisfaction, finally able to vent his pent-up anger: "I knew it! Those who do many evil deeds will surely perish!"

Zhang Shuiniang also breathed a heavy sigh of relief. That bitch, who had been dominating her all this time, is now in jail! Heaven has finally opened its eyes.

Li Zhiyuan took out two hundred coins: "Jiaojiao, go to town and buy two roast chickens and a pot of wine. Let's celebrate!"

At noon, Li Zhiyuan's family not only had a good meal with wine and meat, but also set off two strings of firecrackers.

...

The backyard of the government office.

Ye Caiping was taken into the living room alone.

Magistrate Lu, seated at the head of the table, saw her and hurriedly put down his teacup: "Why are you tied up? Untie me at once!"

As the servants were about to untie Ye Caiping, she said, "No need, I'll be going to jail soon anyway."

Magistrate Lu's smile froze, but he still maintained a touch of scholarly elegance: "Sister Caiping, why make a fool of yourself?"

Ye Caiping was taken aback by his flattery: "If you want to get closer to me, why don't you call me Caiping's niece? You're 50 years old, right? I'm 30, old enough to be my father."

Magistrate Lu was speechless. He was confident in his good appearance; even if he were really 50, he should look like he was in his early 40s!

Magistrate Lu was successfully provoked: "Fine, very well. Guards, lock her up in jail!"

After saying that, several constables dragged Ye Caiping away.

Magistrate Lu was so angry that his chest heaved. His wife, accompanied by Granny Fang, came out from behind the screen and said, "Master, don't be angry. We'll teach this ungrateful woman a lesson later."

He thought to himself with sneer, "At his age, he's still flirting with young women. Shameless!"

Granny Fang said, "I heard she's never suffered before. Drag her down and torture her with all sorts of instruments, then she'll be scared."

Magistrate Lu rolled his eyes at her: "If you beat her badly, how will she face the people when the higher-ups come down to inspect? She's a woman with long hair and short brains. I have my own way of dealing with her."

The magistrate's wife glared at Granny Fang, and Granny Fang dared not utter another word.

...

In prison.

The Ye family members were thrown into two separate prisons, with men and women separated.

Wei and Jin Hua and Yin Hua were filled with anxiety and unease.

Jin'er and Huan'er remained calm, sitting with their knees drawn up in a corner.

Wei cried and sobbed, "Does that mean the magistrate wanted to take my sister as a concubine, but she refused, so he falsely accused us of harboring a criminal?"

"What kind of nonsense is this? There are so many eighteen-year-old girls out there, why insist on dating a younger sister? If all else fails, marrying the county magistrate wouldn't be a bad deal!"

"Shut up!" Old Mrs. Ye glared at her. "If you keep spouting nonsense, we'll divorce you when we get out! If you don't get out, we'll beat you to death right here!"

Wei immediately shut her mouth and pulled Yinhua aside.

She was just too scared. She'd finally achieved a good life, only to end up in jail. Why was she so stubborn about a problem she could have easily solved?

The men's prison is right across the street.

Old Man Ye, Ye Yong, Ye Xuan, and Ye Peng were all sitting on the ground, while Ye Daquan paced back and forth, looking extremely anxious.

"Go in!" With a shout, Ye Caiping was led in by the constables and finally pushed into the women's prison.

Ye Daquan immediately called out, "Little sister! Little sister, are you alright?"

"Don't speak!" The constable lashed the wooden door with his whip.

Ye Daquan's face darkened.

After the constable left, Ye Caiping looked at him and said, "It's nothing. Did you deliver the letter I asked you to?"

"Don't worry, I'll personally hand it over to Manager Lin," Ye Daquan said in a low voice. "Oh, and I bought the roast chicken too! And I'll throw in ten steamed buns!"

As he spoke, he reached into his sleeve and pulled out a roast chicken wrapped in oil paper, then reached into his other sleeve and pulled out a handful of meat buns.

Ye Caiping and the others: "..."

Good grief, this guy even brings his own takeout while in jail! They don't even search him, do they?

"Hey Xiu, catch!" Ye Daquan tossed the roast chicken over.

With a bang, it was thrown in front of the gate on the women's side of the prison.

Grandma Ye and Madam Du were all speechless. Did the prison really have such a wide jurisdiction?

"Oh ho, they even have roast chicken and meat buns. They're eating better than us." At that moment, two constables and a woman walked in, carrying several sets of prison clothes.

The constables threw the prison clothes into the cell, picked up the roast chicken that had just fallen to the ground, and searched Ye Da's body, taking away all the steamed buns.

Then they searched each person one by one. The men were searched by the constables, and the women by the woman.

Everything on their person—earrings, silver hairpins, and loose silver—was taken.

Madam Wei was furious. Her large silver hairpin and her newly bought silver bracelet had all been taken away!

After searching them, one of the constables grinned and said, "Put on your prison clothes."

Then they left.

Ye Caiping: "..."

Ye Daquan: "Pah, so they really did search me! I've been hiding my roast chicken and steamed buns for nothing. I should have taken a bite of them."

Ye Caiping said irritably, lowering her voice, "The roast chicken and steamed buns are secondary, but did you really send the letter?"

"Don't worry, don't worry!"