“That’s right, Your Highness, your mother is still worried about you,” Zhou Wan echoed.

Upon hearing this, Qi Guze hesitated for a moment. They were right; it was indeed not appropriate for him to show himself at this time.

When he heard that Pei Xuan had been arrested, he didn't think too much about it for a moment. As the saying goes, concern leads to confusion, and now is not the time to let his emotions get the better of him.

"Your Highness, I'll go myself. After all, I'm a soldier of the Dragon Tiger Camp, they won't dare to do anything to me." Tie Xiong decided to go by himself. Although he was loyal to Qi Guze, he still held real power.

Qi Guze nodded in agreement, saying that it was most appropriate to let Tie Xiong sound out the situation first.

After Pei Xuan was arrested, he was immediately thrown into prison without even going through any court proceedings.

"I want to see the magistrate!" Pei Xuan shouted as he struggled. "Do you know what you're doing? This is illegal imprisonment!"

But the constables almost laughed their heads off. "Who do you think you are? You think you can see the magistrate? Just stay here obediently, and we'll make sure you suffer less."

The lackey next to him chimed in, "Exactly! You think you're worthy?"

"Let him live for two more days, then just behead him. Oh, and starve him for a few days first, so he won't keep yelling and bothering us. Before the execution, give him a good meal so he can die well, and won't complain to the King of Hell that we neglected him." The constable instructed his men.

Everyone was stunned for a moment, then they remembered Pei Xuan's earlier clamor to see the magistrate, and imagined what he would do if he went down and started yelling about seeing the King of Hell. In an instant, everyone burst into laughter and couldn't straighten up.

Pei Xuan was furious when he heard that they were so lawless and even made up jokes to mock him. He demanded to see the magistrate.

But the constables mocked him directly, and even punched and kicked him, saying that he was crazy and that everyone should not lower themselves to the level of a madman.

"Hey, it's time for the madman to eat." When it was time to deliver the food, the young constable brought him spoiled rice instead.

Pei Xuan smelled a sour odor from afar, and immediately frowned and turned his head away.

"Hey, this kid's really arrogant. Brothers, keep an eye on him." He said, his eyes hardening, and he kicked over the bowl of rice.

Immediately afterward, the head constable waved his hand, and four or five men came forward. They held down Pei Xuan's hands and feet tightly, then forcefully pried open his mouth, stuffed the stale rice that had been spilled on the ground into Pei Xuan's mouth, and then the crowd dispersed with laughter.

Pei Xuan sat up, glaring fiercely at them. If looks could kill, Pei Xuan would have torn them to pieces by now. The stench from his mouth filled the air, and he frowned and spat on the ground.

"Hey, this kid's still not convinced, what do we do, brothers?" The head constable said arrogantly from his chair upon hearing the voice.

"Then of course we should teach him a lesson." As soon as a yamen runner finished speaking, he kicked Pei Xuan in the stomach, causing Pei Xuan to bend over in pain.

Immediately afterwards, the four or five constables forced Pei Xuan to kneel on the ground and apologize to their leader, but Pei Xuan kept his teeth tightly shut and refused to speak.

Tie Xiong arrived at the county government office, intending to ask the magistrate for the release of the person.

"I want to see the magistrate." Tie Xiong glanced at the guard at the door, too lazy to be polite, and went straight to the point.

The guard carefully examined Tie Xiong and figured he was no ordinary person; he must be someone of importance. He knew he couldn't afford to be negligent, so he gave a forced smile and quickly went inside to report.

"Your Excellency, Your Excellency, someone outside requests an audience!" he shouted before even entering the house.

Seeing his haste, the magistrate assumed it was some important figure and waved his hand, saying, "Let him in."

Tie Xiong went in without any formalities, found a chair and sat down, saying in a boisterous manner, "Magistrate, your yamen runners arrested my brother this morning, and I'm here to get him back."

The magistrate looked up at Tie Xiong and saw that he had nothing in his hands, so he lowered his head again and pretended to process official documents.

He didn't know this person, and he couldn't tell who he was. Moreover, he came to ask for someone back without bringing anything with him. He was really clueless.

He pretended to be busy with official documents, implying to Tie Xiong that he could only help people if he paid them. How could I help you if you didn't pay me?

Tie Xiong was afraid that the soldiers might do something indecent to Pei Xuan, but judging from the magistrate's reaction, he didn't intend to interfere.

If the upper beam is crooked, the lower beam will be crooked too. If even the county magistrate is like this, Pei Xuan must be suffering a lot right now.

He didn't say anything more, and simply took out his waist token and slammed it on the magistrate's table. He originally wanted to slam it on the magistrate's head, but he was afraid that he would kill the frail scholar by slamming it on the table instead.

"Bang!" Tie Xiong's grip was incredibly strong; the table visibly shook.

When the magistrate saw that Tie Xiong dared to slam his table, he was initially startled, but then he realized what was going on and was about to get angry. "Who do you think you are? How dare you slam your table?"

However, he swallowed those two sentences as soon as they popped into his mind, because he saw the three bright characters on the waist tag: Dragon Tiger Camp.

Upon seeing the Dragon Tiger Camp's waist tag, he instantly softened, wiping the cold sweat from his forehead and saying:

"So you're one of us, one of us! It's a misunderstanding!" As she spoke, she stood up and offered Tie Xiong her seat.

Tie Xiong didn't stand on ceremony. He plopped down in the magistrate's seat, picked up the teacup in front of him, took a sip, and spat it on the ground, saying, "What kind of rubbish are you drinking? It's fine tea!"

"Yes, yes, sir, please wait a moment, sir, please wait a moment," the magistrate said, bowing and scraping to Tie Xiong, while sternly telling the yamen runners beside him, "Why don't you hurry up and bring that Pei Xuan here?"

"Ah? Yes, yes, sir, please wait a moment, sir, please wait a moment." The yamen runners immediately ran down in a state of panic. Goodness, even the county magistrate was so polite to the visitor, he must be a high-ranking official.

The county magistrate, however, personally replaced the teapot with a fresh one for Tie Xiong and poured him a cup, saying obsequiously, "Sir, this is the finest West Lake Longjing tea, would you like to try it?"

Tie Xiong glanced at them, feeling utterly contemptuous. These people were truly the epitome of bullying the weak and fearing the strong. But one can't hit a smiling face, so he still took the teacup and sipped it.