Du Tang was afraid that he was not stimulated enough, so he leaned on the box and laughed twistedly: "Do you know how Xu Jin died? Haha, if it wasn't for you, would I be interested in such a weakling? After I completely controlled the Du family, I poisoned him to death. When he died, he stared at me and said the word 'poisonous woman' before he died."

After saying that, Du Tang stared at Du Li carefully, wanting to see what her expression was.

Unfortunately, she was disappointed this time.

Du Li smiled: "Xu Jin is dead? Or was he poisoned by you? Then I really want to thank you."

She meant it sincerely.

As she was laughing, tears started to fall on her face again and she quickly turned around to wipe them away.

But it was not for Xu Jin, but for the child who had never met.

Shen Yizhi stroked her shoulder and said, "Madam Du, how are you going to deal with these two people?"

All the past events flashed through her mind. Du Li had thought about how to take revenge on Du Tang and Xu Jin after she was released. However, now, Xu Jin was dead, and Du Tang had an unbreakable blood relationship with her after all, and she could not be as cruel as her.

"Leave it to the authorities for disposal."

The judgment at that time will be determined by the law.

"Boom, boom, boom--" the drums of complaint outside the county government office sounded.

The person beating the drum was Du Li, who had just washed and dressed in new clothes.

The two guards with swords on their shoulders at the door looked at each other, and one of them came up to Du Li and asked, "Who is beating the drum?"

Du Li put down the drumstick and turned to the yamen official: "Madam Du, this is Du Li."

The yamen official was over 30 years old, born and raised here, and still had some memories of the Du family's eldest lady, but didn't she die more than ten years ago? Why did she come here to beat the drum to complain? Could it be a ghost? The yamen official was a little nervous, and subconsciously looked at Du Li's feet. Seeing a shadow under her feet, he breathed a sigh of relief, it seemed that it was not a ghost.

"Madam Du, if you beat the drum of complaint, you will be punished with twenty strokes of the cane. Are you sure you want to keep beating it?"

Generally, there is a procedure for reporting a grievance to the authorities. The general steps are to write a petition and submit it to the petition box in front of the county government office. It will be accepted by a special person and then handed over to the county magistrate, who is the assistant to the county magistrate, for processing. If the county magistrate is unable to handle it, it will be submitted to the county magistrate for his knowledge.

The grievance drum is set up for those people who have suffered great grievances and cannot wait to go through the process.

After the drum of reporting grievances was struck, the county magistrate would immediately summon the person who struck the drum and take charge of handling that person's case.

But since it was queue jumping, there was a price to pay, which was twenty strokes of the cane. Otherwise, if everyone came to complain, would the county magistrate be busy with other things? Twenty strokes of the cane were not something everyone could bear. The wooden canes used to beat people were all made of heavy solid wood. Usually, a single blow would leave the buttocks bruised, let alone twenty strokes.

Even an ordinary strong man can't stand it.

However, if the drummer can withstand the beating, it also shows his determination.

The drum of avenging grievances must be struck twenty-four times.

Du Li hadn't finished beating the drum yet, and continued to smash it with the drumstick, as if he wanted to vent all the anger and pain in his heart.

The sound of the drums attracted a lot of onlookers.

"Who is this? How dare you come here to beat the drum of grievance?"

“Is there some great injustice?”

"Why does that woman look familiar to me?"

"Ah! Isn't that the Du family's eldest lady who has been dead for more than ten years?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the crowd watching went wild.

Soon, the news that "the eldest lady of the Du family, who had been dead for more than ten years, was beating the drum in front of the county government office to appeal for justice" spread quickly throughout Jincheng like wings.

When the people behind arrived, Mrs. Du was nowhere to be seen.

Those who came earlier began to tell them the story.

At this time, Du Li, who had beaten the drum twenty-four times to complain about his grievances, was being beaten with a stick.

She lay on the stool, holding the edge of it tightly with both hands, and occasionally let out a muffled groan of pain.

But in fact, she didn't feel any pain at all. She was just pretending according to the instructions of Shen Yizi who was hiding on the side.

After learning the rules of beating the drum to report grievances, Shen Yizhi put a Vajra Talisman on Du Li.

So everything she was enduring at the moment was dissolved by the Vajra Talisman, and although the board seemed to hit her buttocks hard, it actually did not cause her any harm at all.

In order to make it more realistic, Shen Yizhi also cast an illusion on Du Li and created a wave of special effects, making Du Li look miserable in the eyes of everyone.

The crowd gathered at the gate of the county government office and started talking about it.

"Mrs. Du was clearly still alive, so why was she said to be dead? And why was she even given a funeral?"

"What's there to not understand? Madam Du is dead, so who benefits the most? It must be Madam Du's doing."

The public has sharp eyes and quickly uncovered the truth of that year.

After the beating, Du Li was carried to the main hall with four large characters on it: "A clear mirror hangs high". The county magistrate slammed the gavel and asked, "Who is in the hall?"

In fact, he had already received the news, but the interrogation process still had to be followed. Otherwise, how could the penman who was recording the interrogation process record it?

Du Li said with a faint breath, "Madam Du, Du Li."

Although the voice was weak, the words were clear and every word was heard by everyone.

"What is your grievance?"

Du Li took out a petition that had been written long ago from his bosom and handed it to the yamen official beside him, who presented it to the county magistrate.

After reading it, the county magistrate was shocked and looked deeply at his subordinates whom he had always trusted.

Liu Ran, who was standing straight at the upper left, felt uneasy when he was looked at by him and had the urge to run away.

Many years ago, Liu Ran was not the inspector in charge of many yamen runners as he is now. He was not even a yamen runner. He was just a street gangster making a living.

Later, he found ways to hook up with Du Tang and did a lot of dirty things for her. Gradually, he gained Du Tang's trust and became her lover. With the financial support provided by her, he sneaked into the government office, and then rose step by step to become the inspector of a county.

There was a department in the county government called the Inspection Department, which was responsible for arresting thieves, interrogating traitors, maintaining public order, etc. It was equivalent to the modern Public Security Bureau, and the Inspection Department was the director of the Public Security Bureau.

It can be said that in the entire Jincheng, Liu Ran is second only to the county magistrate.

As Du Tang's mistress, Liu Ran was extremely wary of Du Li's appearance. Why did this sister who had died many years ago suddenly appear today? Was it related to Du Tang? He already had something to hide, and when the county magistrate looked at him like that, he became even more uneasy.

What was written on the petition? After reading it, the county magistrate handed it to the county magistrate beside him.

After they both finished reading, they looked at each other.

The county magistrate ordered the deputy inspector: "Kang Dayou, go to the Du family and bring Mrs. Du back."

Liu Ran immediately broke out in a cold sweat.

The county magistrate has always relied on him, but now he has bypassed him and used Kang Dayou! There is definitely something wrong here!