The old shopkeeper, who had been busy all night, had only been asleep for two hours when his apprentice woke him up, still half asleep.

Upon hearing that Wang Chong had been detained and his son had been summoned by the Jingzhao Prefecture, he suddenly awoke with a start, hastily threw on a robe, and strode out.

The commotion was so loud that Chen Yu, who was in a corner of the yard, also heard it.

Wang Chong arrested? My heart felt like it had been suddenly clenched.

She strained to listen, but never heard the reason for her arrest.

With a gritted tooth and a stomp of his foot, he rushed out of the house.

In the front of the pharmacy, the young manager was still bewildered.

Since it was just a summons for questioning, there was no arrest, but the clerk wielding a fire-and-water stick was no joke.

"My son, my son didn't do anything wrong..."

The old shopkeeper, supported by his apprentice, stumbled over and said, "Sir, is there a mistake? We are honest and law-abiding people."

The head constable glanced at him. "I didn't say you were wrong. We're just summoning you for questioning. If you delay any longer, don't blame me for being impolite."

He didn't have the patience to explain how many people he'd taken from that morning.

"Okay, okay, we'll go with you."

The old shopkeeper, having more experience, turned and ordered the shop to close for the day, then helped his eldest son out.

Chen Yu hid under the eaves, her lips tightly pressed together.

There were two apprentices and a servant in the shop, but now only one apprentice is staying; the other two have gone with him.

"Hey, Miss Chen, where are you going?"

After much deliberation, Chen Yu, clinging to a sliver of hope, decided to go and see for himself.

"I heard that Uncle Wang had an accident, I have to go and see him."

Although he stayed there to prepare for the provincial examination, he had helped many villagers get into prison, so it was only natural that he wanted to visit them.

The apprentice was worried that Chen Yu would get lost, so he suggested waiting for him to close the shop before heading there together. But in the blink of an eye, Chen Yu had disappeared, so the apprentice quickly hurried away.

It didn't take long for Chen Yu to catch up.

Trailing behind at a distance of twenty or thirty paces, it was not conspicuous among the crowd of onlookers.

The same thing happened in various wards and markets of Fengjing.

All the yamen runners and clerks in the Jingzhao Prefecture canceled their days off, and some even stayed up all night.

All the key criminals were apprehended and interrogated overnight; this morning, only some related personnel were summoned.

Despite being exhausted, they deserve a lot of credit this time; while the higher-ups are feasting, they can also get some soup along the way.

The morning air in Fengjing City carried a hint of chill.

A thin, gray fog rolled in this morning. The sun peeked out briefly around 7 AM, but was soon shrouded in dark clouds again.

The withered, curled leaves were torn apart by the autumn wind overnight and fell scattered on the stone path.

The main gate of the Jingzhao Prefecture suddenly opened, the heavy hinges creaking as they turned, shattering the silence of the alleyways.

The crowd, who had been craning their necks at the foot of the stone steps outside the door, began to murmur in hushed tones.

Among the crowd were vendors wrapped in padded jackets, elderly men with their necks hunched and hands tucked into their sleeves, and poor men with pale faces wearing only thin linen clothes.

The people had already heard rumors that there was a major case in the capital today.

At this moment, everyone was trying their best to stand on tiptoe and strain their eyes to see inside through the crowd of people in front.

“Ascend…to the hall…” A long, resonant announcement rose from the depths of the mansion.

In the main hall, Deng Hongyi, the Prefect of Jingzhao, sat upright like a mountain.

He wore a deep scarlet official robe, a gold and jade belt around his waist, and a scholar's cap. His expression was as cold, hard, and solemn as the blue bricks in front of the hall, without a trace of emotion.

"Bring in the criminals!"

The voice was not loud, but every word was clear, carrying an undeniable penetrating power, instantly silencing the murmurs of the onlookers outside the hall.

The clanging of iron chains dragging on the ground grew louder as two burly yamen runners in black robes, one on each side, like iron clamps, dragged a staggering man to the front of the hall.

The criminal was around forty years old, wearing a tattered jacket whose original color was indistinguishable, covered in mud and grime, with traces of blood showing through.

The bailiff shoved the criminal hard, and his knees slammed against the bricks, causing him to fall to his knees with a thud, the chains rattling loudly.

"Zhao Laoshi!" Deng Hongyi's voice rang out again.

"I ask you, was Wang Bao'er, the youngest son of Wang Shouren, a cloth merchant at Ruijinxuan in the West Market, abducted by you the day before the beginning of autumn?"

Zhao Laoshi suddenly looked up. The yamen runner had pushed him with all his might, and his knee was now throbbing with pain.

He bared his teeth, stiffened his neck, and shouted in a gruff voice:

"Injustice! Your Honor is unjust!"

I am a lowly person... I am an honest and law-abiding person, how could I dare to do such a heinous and immoral thing that would lead to my extinction?

"I've never even seen a child from the Wang or Li families before."

"Oh?" Deng Hongyi's brows didn't budge, he simply asked in return, "Never seen it before?"

His gaze shifted to the registrar standing beside the desk. The registrar understood, immediately opened a still-freshly printed scroll in his hand, and read aloud:

"According to the investigation, at 3:45 PM on the day before the start of autumn, there were three eyewitnesses who all identified Zhao Laoshi as loitering around Ruijinxuan in the West Market, acting suspiciously."

One was the owner of a nearby teahouse, the second was a patrolling military officer, and the third…

The registrar paused slightly, his sharp gaze sweeping across Zhao Laoshi's honest and unassuming face.

"The third one is your accomplice from that day, Liu Jincai, who is now in prison!"

Liu Jincai confessed without hesitation, stating that you were the mastermind.

They successfully abducted Wang Bao'er and hid her in the cellar of the abandoned Jishan Charity Estate on the outskirts of Beijing.

Zhao Laoshi's face turned deathly pale in an instant, as white as cheap mulberry paper pasted on a wall.

His lips trembled, his eyes were consumed by immense fear, and he spoke incoherently:

"Liu Jincai is spouting nonsense! He must be... he must be..."

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