"You vicious thief, you destroyed my mine and murdered me for your money!"
"Your Honor, please uphold justice for the people!"
"A life for a life—"
"..."
The miners raised their pickaxes, pinning down the three thieves, banging and shouting as they made their way towards the prefectural city. The miners, who had heard the collapse of the mine from afar, were shocked to see the miners and the young masters of the Jin family, their faces covered in dust, their clothes tattered and stained with blood.
So the mine collapse wasn't an accident, but man-made?
The people who were coming to the mine at this moment all had relatives or friends working there. They rushed over after hearing about the mine collapse. Upon hearing this, they wished they could kill the three thieves immediately.
Some people were searching for their relatives in the crowd.
After finding the person, he rushed into the group, crying and shouting, wanting to go to the government office together to appeal for justice.
Thus, by the time they had traveled halfway to the government office, the procession had more than doubled in size, filled with the clatter and banging of the miners and their families, a deafening roar.
Just then...
Iceface and his guards finally caught up on horseback and blocked their way.
"What are you trying to do?!"
The icy face swept coldly over the three thieves in front of him, finally settling on the young man from the Jin family who was in charge, as well as the crowd of people who had rushed over after hearing the commotion and gradually formed a circle around him.
The voice was icy and chilling, containing an undisguised questioning intent.
Of the three thieves, apart from the skinny one, the other two looked like drowning people grasping at a straw, their eyes filled with pleading and hope.
They struggled desperately, crying out, "Your Honor, we're innocent! We didn't know anything, but they held us down and insisted we were going to blow up the mine! Our wish! Our wish is truly our wish!"
"We're just ordinary people who came here to mine! We're just trying to earn a few coins to make a living, and we absolutely did not blow up the mine!"
The man with the icy expression looked coldly at the Jin family boys who were leading the group.
"Since nothing has happened, why did you abandon your posts and incite a disturbance? This is a serious crime."
In a single sentence, he was convicted.
Young Master Jin stepped forward and asked loudly, "May I ask which sir is this? We've captured the thieves who blew up the mine and are on our way to the government office to claim our reward. Would you like to come along, sir?"
"But let me make this clear from the start: we are the ones who caught this thief, so the credit will definitely go to us. If you escort us safely into the government office, we will definitely report to the prefect and reward you with a merit for escorting us."
The implication was that she was worried the icy-faced guy would steal the credit.
Ice Face's expression darkened, and he was about to seize the opportunity to lash out when he saw Young Master Jin take a few more steps forward, pretending to lower his voice mysteriously.
This drew everyone's attention, and they heard it clearly.
"We suspect that this thief is being directed by someone, and they might try to stop us or even kill us along the way. We only feel at ease with an adult escorting us!"
The icy face that had been "blocked halfway" instantly turned ashen.
When it flares up, it gets stuck in your throat, unable to go up or down, feeling like you're holding back a mouthful of phlegm—it's disgusting.
Under the watchful eyes of everyone, Ice Face didn't dare to make a move, and couldn't even utter a word of refusal. If he did, he would be directly admitting to being the one behind it all.
The icy-faced man's gloomy gaze fell on the three thieves, carrying a subtle threat and intimidation.
I miscalculated.
They thought that if the three of them blew up the mine, they would surely perish together with the people in the mine. Unexpectedly, not only did they fail, but they were also captured.
Taking a deep breath, the icy-faced man suppressed his rage and said coldly, "I'll take these three to the government office. The mine is a mess; you'll have to clean it up..."
He casually pointed to Jin Xiaosi, who looked the thinnest, and said, "You're the one. You take these three and come with me. Everyone else, go back to the mine!"
"My lord, you mustn't!"
Young Master Jin shouted angrily, "How can there be a trial in court when the victim is not present?"
"We are all here today to testify at the government office, having suffered such a great calamity!"
"Yes, sir! We were almost killed by these thieves. How can we concentrate on our work if we don't watch them being tortured?"
"I saw him pull out the firecrackers with my own eyes. I'm going to go to the government office to testify and see how they try to deny it!"
"It's all because of them that my arm was broken by a rolling stone... I must testify!"
"We must go to the government office to testify!"
"We must get justice!"
Various voices rose and fell.
Young Master Jin spread his hands, looking helpless. "Sir, you see, it's the will of the people, there's nothing I can do!"
"Let's hurry up and leave. If we're too late and the person behind it all discovers us, tries to stop us, or even kill us, it'll be a real problem."
As he spoke, he grinned, revealing a set of white teeth that gleamed in the sunlight, his smile sincere and radiant.
What do scheming people fear most?
Of course... it's about exposing it to the light of day, a calculated move!
If we take action, we will inevitably fall into the trap set by the so-called mastermind behind the Jin family. If we don't take action and let the people storm into the government office, the mastermind behind it will definitely have sleepless nights.
The two sides are locked in a standoff.
Ice Face's expression shifted, his eyes gradually turning sinister as he calculated whether he could strike hard enough to kill the three men and eliminate any future trouble.
Conflict is imminent.
Just then—
Several fine horses galloped towards us from afar!
As they drew near, the men reined in their horses and stood high above, shouting at the icy-faced man, "Guard Mei! Have you seen my sister?"
"Hmph! Don't tell me you didn't know! Some of us saw you and my sister walking in the same direction!"
"If even a single hair on my sister's head gets hurt, you'll be sorry!"
They were none other than the three young masters of Magistrate Qian's family.
Guard Mei's face darkened further, and he gritted his teeth, saying, "Miss Qian is in the mine. Go find her yourselves. I absolutely did not lay a hand on her!"
In Shu County, everyone knows that the young master of the Qian family is famous for spoiling his younger sister.
"Take us there! I won't believe a word of it until I see it with my own eyes!"
"Let's go! Lead the way!"
The three young masters of the Qian family gave orders arrogantly.
Young Master Jin's eyes darted around, and he shouted, "He's going to escort us to the government office to file a complaint, so we can't go with you."
The three young masters of the Qian family then turned their gaze to the Jin family boys and the miners, saying arrogantly, "It's just going to the government office, do we need Guard Mei to escort us? Someone—"
With a shout, dozens of guards immediately surrounded him.
Young Master Qian pointed at the Jin family members and said, "You take them to the government office. Guard Mei is to guide me. You must deliver every single one of them to the government office!"
"Yes, young master!"
The guards responded in unison and quickly pushed aside Mei's men. They were used to being arrogant and domineering under Young Master Qian's leadership, and they weren't even afraid of Mei Lanxin, so they wouldn't take a mere guard seriously.
Mei, the bodyguard, had a gloomy expression.
If one didn't know the unruly nature of these young masters of the Qian family, one would think they were just trying to help the Jin family out of a predicament. As far as he knew, the Jin family hadn't had any dealings with the Tongpan Prefecture since they arrived.
They even had a few minor conflicts over trivial matters like dog fighting and cockfighting.
"What are you dawdling for? Lead the way!"
Young Master Qian spurred his horse, raised his hand, and lashed the guard Mei's horse with his whip.
Upon hearing a roar, Guard Mei's horse charged forward, watching helplessly as the Jin family and the miners, under the protection of the Qian family, marched towards the government office with gongs and drums.
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