A faint smile flickered across Jiang Ling's lips, but she quickly adopted a troubled expression, frowning and letting out a heavy sigh.

Chen Qiyu was quite surprised to see this, and he asked in a low voice, "Is...is it a little difficult?"

Jiang Ling shook her head calmly and declined, saying, "Never mind, thank you for your kindness, but my family is facing some difficulties. Please don't make things difficult for me!"

"Oh, Lady An, what are you saying? What do you mean by 'in a difficult situation'? Come, come, Lord Yu is an upright and honest official. You can just talk to him about whatever you need to do!" Chen Yuqi winked at Yu Yansong.

“That’s right, that’s right, Anren, please tell me if you have any difficulties!” Yu Yansong’s fierce expression had disappeared.

The two men knew perfectly well that once this matter was resolved, the Emperor would be overjoyed. Even if he didn't promote them, he would still bestow upon them many good things. If Jiang Ling hadn't taken the lead, how could they have reaped such great benefits?

Chen Qiyu is an ambitious man. He is over forty years old this year and has only reached the position of a sixth-rank prefect. If he can't make some big moves, his official career will probably end here.

Chen Qiyu was not an ungrateful person. Jiang Ling had helped him so much, and he had already secretly decided that if Jiang Ling ever asked him for help again, he would do everything he could to help her.

Thinking of this, Chen Qiyu chimed in, "That's right, that's right! This Lord Yu is a governor sent down by the Emperor; he's incredibly capable!"

After being flattered by Chen Qiyu, Yu Yansong's ego swelled even more, and the smile on his face gradually deepened.

Seeing that the time was right, Jiang Ling began to cover her face and cry.

This crying startled the two men, leaving them at a loss. They looked at each other, each seemingly trying to find the answer in the other.

Jiang Ling's sobs were low, but she cried very sadly. The way she sobbed made both of them feel a chill run down their spines.

After what seemed like an eternity, when Jiang Ling felt she could no longer cry, Chen Qiyu tentatively asked, somewhat stammeringly, "An... Anren, what happened? Who bullied you? Tell me! As long as I am the Prefect of Qingzhou, I will help you!"

Seeing that she had laid the groundwork for things, Jiang Ling gradually stopped crying, first bowing to the two men before saying, "I'm sure you two gentlemen know about the annual tea house competition in Qingzhou to select talented women!"

After hearing this, Yu Yansong frowned and turned to look at Chen Qiyu with a puzzled expression.

Chen Qiyu quickly explained to Yansong, "Your Excellency, this is a unique feature of Qingzhou. Every year during the girls' examination, teahouses of all sizes organize various activities, and ultimately, a talented woman is selected based on everyone's votes!"

"What? Is there a problem?" After explaining, Chen Qiyu turned to Jiang Ling and asked.

Jiang Ling sighed heavily, shook her head, glanced at Jiang Suihe, and said, "My daughter is not very talented; she won first place earlier..."

"This is a good thing, so why is Anren so sad and upset!" Chen Qiyu was confused by Jiang Ling, her brows furrowed into a deep frown as she asked with a puzzled look.

"It is indeed a good thing, but Boss Wang's daughter, Wang Qianhua, is a shrewish and unreasonable person. She was jealous that my daughter won first place, so she cornered us in the alley and gave us a bunch of unreasonable arguments!"

“My daughter didn’t want to cause trouble, so she gave the prize to Wang Qianhua. Who would have thought that my daughter was humiliating her? First, she threw the prize at me, and then she started saying some dirty and nasty things! My daughter and I didn’t want to pay attention to it and were about to leave when Boss Wang suddenly rushed out. He insisted that we had frightened Wang Qianhua and demanded that we apologize. He even tried to extort five hundred taels from us!”

"What? Five...five hundred taels?" Chen Qiyu's expression was somewhat surprised, but then turned to anger.

He flicked his sleeve and muttered, "Five hundred taels? How dare this guy say that!"

“Mother…” Jiang Suihe looked at Jiang Ling in surprise, but after exchanging a glance with Jiang Ling, she shut her mouth and pretended to be on the verge of tears.

"Sir, I come from a farming family and have four children to support. Where am I supposed to get so much money for him? In the end, I could only come up with fifty taels, which was the result of all the villagers in Lujia Village pooling together their money and saving it up for two whole years!"

"Ah, you don't know, in recent years our Lu Family Village hasn't produced a single scholar, let alone a Xiucai (a successful candidate in the imperial examinations), not even a Tongsheng (a successful candidate in the lowest level of the imperial examinations). Everyone's expectations for this year's harvest are really..."

At this point, Jiang Ling's eyes reddened again. She sniffed, covered her face, and sobbed softly once more.

Jiang Ling's words had successfully ignited the anger of both of them.

Yu Yansong was known for his fiery temper. He flicked his sleeve and said to Jiang Ling, "My lady, don't be sad. Five hundred taels, right? I'll make that bitch return a thousand taels to you. I refuse to believe I can't teach her a lesson!"

Having said that, Yu Yansong headed towards the door. Jiang Ling, seeing this, quickly stopped him, feigning a troubled expression. "Your Excellency, this is inappropriate. No one was present when he threatened me, and we didn't have any written agreement. This... please... what if he turns around and accuses me? Ah, well, thank you both for your kindness. To be honest, if we had those fifty taels of silver, we could stay for another day or two! But... but..."

At this point, Jiang Ling gritted her teeth and rubbed her hands together, deliberately putting on a troubled expression.

Yu Yansong squinted and glanced towards the prison. "Don't worry, with me here, I'll help you resolve this completely! Qi Yu, let's go!"

After saying that, Yu Yansong took the lead and walked out of the room, followed closely by Chen Qiyu. After taking a few steps, he turned around and instructed Jiang Ling, "Auntie, you can't leave first!"

Jiang Ling bowed and thanked them. At this moment, only Jiang Ling and Jiang Suihe remained in the room.

Jiang Suihe looked at Jiang Ling with curiosity, but she knew that her current situation was not the best time to find the answer in her heart.

Yu Yansong was very efficient. In less than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, Yu Yansong appeared in front of Jiang Ling with a stack of silver notes in his hand, and Chen Qiyu behind him was all smiles.

"Please take a look, this is a total of five hundred and fifty taels of silver notes!" Yu Yansong said, placing the silver notes in Jiang Ling's hand.

Jiang Ling glanced at the silver notes in her hand: five hundred-tael notes and one fifty-tael note. She didn't put all the notes away; she only put the fifty-tael note into her pocket and then placed the remaining five hundred-tael notes back into Yu Yansong's hand.

Yu Yansong asked in surprise, "What do you mean by this, Anren?"

Jiang Ling said with a relaxed expression, "My lord, these five hundred taels do not belong to me. I only need to take back my fifty taels of silver notes!"

"Oh, what are you saying? This five hundred taels is what you deserve. Who told that scoundrel to threaten you! Consider this compensation!" Yu Yansong stuffed the silver notes into Jiang Ling's hand again.

Jiang Ling did not put the five hundred taels of silver notes in her bosom. She divided them in a 1:2:2 ratio, first placing two hundred taels in Yu Yansong's hand and then placing the other two hundred taels in Chen Qiyu's bosom.

"What are you doing?" The two were a little confused by Jiang Ling's actions and asked in unison.