Min Yueqing smacked her lips twice, pretending to savor the taste, "Hmm, not bad, do you want to try some?" As she spoke, she picked off a small piece of lean meat from the pork knuckle and handed it to the little boy's mouth.

Seeing this, Pei Ji opened her mouth with some doubt and ate it. After chewing it a couple of times, Pei Ji's face unconsciously wrinkled up, and finally she swallowed it with a bitter expression.

Min Yueqing suppressed a laugh and asked knowingly, "What's wrong? Doesn't Lele like it?"

She knew the little one never liked fatty meat, so she specially picked out a small piece of lean meat for him. But the problem was that this big pork knuckle was made from a whole piece, so the lean meat inside wasn't very flavorful. She hadn't dipped it in the pork knuckle sauce, so it tasted pretty much like it had no seasoning. That's why the little one was so reluctant to eat it.

Pei Ji swallowed the meat in his mouth with difficulty, when he heard Min Yueqing ask such a terrible question. He immediately shook his head and said, "It doesn't taste good."

Stone's meal was coming to an end, and he was able to listen to the people around him while eating. Hearing Pei Ji say this, he leaned over and said, "It's delicious! How could meat not be delicious?"

Stone thought to himself, "Besides, it's such a big piece, it'll be so satisfying to eat."

Pei Ji disagreed and gave his reasons, "But it's too greasy, and it has a strange taste."

Stone scratched his head. "Meat is just meat, what strange taste could it have? And if meat isn't greasy, would it even be called meat?"

Min Yueqing watched the two children discuss a dish so earnestly, and sat down to listen with great interest, treating it as a way to digest her food after the meal.

The meal lasted for about an hour, with everyone chatting for the latter half. Only after everyone had eaten and drunk their fill did Min Yueqing lead them back to the inn.

Min Yueqing's idea was simple: if they could find a place to stay in a town, they could eat and drink to their heart's content; if they really couldn't find a place to stay, or if the place was poor in supplies, they would just have to make do.

Of course, they made ample preparations before setting off, and Min Yueqing also had the advantage of her spatial ability, so it wasn't that they would suffer a lot.

Inside the inn, however, a great surprise awaited them.

As soon as Min Yueqing entered the inn, she was greeted by San Cai, who had disappeared for several days. She immediately realized that the person behind the local thugs' evil deeds had probably been found.

Sure enough, the first thing San Cai said when he stepped forward was, "Madam, that person has really shown up again."

Min Yueqing nodded and asked, "Where is he?"

At that time, the reason why Min Yueqing only sent two local thugs to the yamen was that she wanted to use the remaining one as bait to lure out the instigator.

Min Yueqing guessed that the person who came up with such a poor and ill-conceived plan was probably not very smart. When such a person saw that one of these thugs had managed to escape, he would probably be unable to resist finding out what had happened. Therefore, Min Yueqing specially sent San Cai with two people to monitor this bait and see if it could lure the snake out of its hole.

Of course, it wouldn't matter much even if they couldn't, since they were leaving soon anyway. But this person couldn't hold back and gave himself away.

San Cai replied in a low voice, "He's locked up next to the stables in the backyard, the same place where those thugs were locked up last time."

Min Yueqing's lips twitched involuntarily. Her men were quite mischievous; their unspoken sarcasm was the most deadly.

Inside the small wooden house, a man in blue robes, bound like a pretzel, whimpered unwillingly. Sensing light coming from the doorway, the man in blue robes struggled even more.

“Madam, this is a eunuch,” San Cai said, pointing to the man in blue.

Upon hearing the word "eunuch," Pei Ji immediately scrutinized the person on the ground. He remembered clearly what his mother had said last time: his father had been framed by an eunuch and was thus suddenly sent away from the capital.

Min Yueqing approached the man in blue and saw that he had a dirty rag stuffed in his mouth. She turned to San Cai and said, "Take the thing out of his mouth."

As soon as San Cai pulled out the rag, the man in blue's shrill voice rang out, "You've got some nerve, daring to arrest us! Do you even know who we work for?"

Pei Ji scrutinized the man in blue for a long time but couldn't detect anything different. However, when he heard the man speak, he immediately realized that the man's voice was quite unique.

Pei Ji tilted his head and thought for a long time, but couldn't figure it out. So he obediently leaned against Min Yueqing's legs and waited for her to speak.

Min Yueqing scoffed, "What's there to not know? They're Jia Ren's people, aren't they?"

The man in blue was stunned by the disdain in her voice. Regardless of rank, all the palace maids and eunuchs treated Eunuch Jia with utmost respect, never daring to utter a single word, let alone address him by his full name.

Since the current emperor ascended the throne, Jia Ren has been running rampant in the palace, acting as if those who obey him will prosper and those who oppose him will perish. If anyone speaks ill of him behind his back, it will basically mean death if it reaches his ears.

Several years ago, a young eunuch, who was new to the palace and not very familiar with the situation there, and who was rather naive, overheard someone talking about Jia Ren and casually chimed in with a few comments.

Unexpectedly, Jia Ren found out about this the next day. He was furious and ordered all five people who had participated in the conversation to be arrested and sent directly to the palace's torture chamber.

For the palace servants, the torture chamber was a death trap. No matter how powerful you were outside, once you entered the torture chamber, all that awaited you were the eighteen kinds of cruel tortures. Even the toughest person could only wail in agony once inside.

After these five people were arrested, they were released a few days later as five cold and miserable corpses.

You must understand, that little eunuch was only eight years old and knew nothing. He was simply an innocent bystander caught in the crossfire. Jia Ren didn't even spare such a child, which is utterly depraved.

His arrogance was so rampant that no one in the palace dared to stop him, nor did anyone seek justice for the wrongfully killed eunuch.

After this incident, the palace maids and eunuchs were terrified of Jia Ren. No one dared to say a word about him in private, let alone disobey his wishes. Jia Ren had become another "emperor" in the palace.

The man in blue looked at Min Yueqing and said, trembling, "Are you out of your mind? How dare you disrespect Eunuch Jia!"

Seeing that the eunuch had already left the capital, yet still spoke of Jia Ren with such utmost respect, clearly showing that his fear of Jia Ren had penetrated to the bone, Min Yueqing couldn't help but feel a strange, indescribable feeling welling up inside her.

"May I have your name?"

The man in blue was somewhat puzzled by the question, but looking at Min Yueqing's calm and composed gaze, he subconsciously didn't want to refuse her question, so he answered truthfully, "My name is Ba Liang."

He was filthy all over, and his hair was a mess covering his face, so Min Yueqing couldn't see his face clearly. But from his voice, he seemed to be not very old, so she asked, "How old are you this year?"

Nineteen years old.

Min Yueqing fell silent for a moment. Nineteen years old, which in later years would be the age of just starting college, yet she was sent out to do such a wicked thing.