Two hundred taels?
This is twice the price of Wang Jingze's.
Of course, Wang Jingze knew that this amount of money was nothing to Cui Yuanzhao, but the key issue was that his friend was now furious with Qihuai County and only wanted to take revenge.
Let alone giving them money, they probably wish they could uproot Qihuai County entirely.
"Stop dreaming! You won't get a single copper coin from me. Take me to the magistrate!"
Having witnessed Li Da Kui's methods, Cui Yuanzhao felt a vague sense of fear.
However, the other party's status was lowly, and Cui Yuanzhao still looked down on him somewhat.
Moreover, he thought that perhaps this person was not very bright and had no idea how powerful his father was in the court, while the county magistrate certainly did.
At that time, we can use the prime minister to suppress the county magistrate, and then use the county magistrate to suppress Li Daikui.
Don't you like making me take my pants off and embarrass myself in front of others?
I want you to be paraded naked through the streets!
Li Da Kui looked at Cui Yuan Zhao with some suspicion, "Are you sure you want to see my master?"
For some reason, Choi Won-jo saw a hint of pity in Lee Dae-kyu's eyes, as if he had made a terrible decision.
"Take me to see him. I want to see who could allow Qihuai County to become like this! I want him to give me an explanation."
Li Daikui shrugged and took the lead.
Cui Yuanzhao immediately followed.
Wang Jingze was somewhat unwilling to continue the argument and had a vague premonition of something bad.
However, they couldn't let Cui Yuanzhao face the situation alone, and they were even more afraid that Cui Yuanzhao would cause a big fuss in Qihuai County, so they could only continue to follow him.
On the way, Wang Jingze got his portrait and wanted to tear it up and throw it away several times, but he decided to roll it up and hold it in his hand, planning to do it later.
However, Cui Yuanzhao's portrait was still being held by Li Da Kui's men, with no intention of returning it.
By the time they arrived at the county government office, it was already dark.
The familiar aroma of hot pot wafted into everyone's nostrils from the backyard of the county government office.
Cui Yuanzhao's gaze swept over the busy girl and finally landed on the man who was eating and had a ruddy complexion.
"You are Tang Huan, the magistrate of Qihuai County?"
Cui Yuanzhao's voice was low and questioning.
Tang Huan put a piece of tofu in her mouth and glanced up at it.
"I heard you caught a few guys harassing girls in the street earlier, is this them?" Tang Huan asked Li Daikui.
Li Daikui showed none of his previous ruthlessness in front of Tang Huan; instead, he became incredibly obedient.
This unusual occurrence caught the attention of Wang Jingze and Cui Yuanzhao.
But no matter how you look at it, Magistrate Tang Huan doesn't seem like a capable fighter. He's clearly thin and weak, so how did he manage to scare Li Dai Kui like this?
It seems that Li Da Kui is truly a brainless man, only afraid of the county magistrate, but not the prime minister.
Cui Yuanzhao snorted coldly in his heart.
"My lord, these two claim to be noble young men from the capital, the sons of the Minister of Revenue and the Prime Minister, respectively."
Upon hearing these two identities, Tang Huan stopped what she was doing.
He put down his chopsticks and quickly got up to walk over to Cui Yuanzhao and Wang Jingze.
Faced with Tang Huan's smiling face and outstretched hand, Cui Yuanzhao shook it hesitantly, unsure of the other party's intentions.
"So you are the sons of the Minister and the Prime Minister. I apologize for not greeting you properly."
"As it turns out, I, Tang, will do my best to be a good host and entertain you all these next few days."
Seeing Tang Huan's attitude, Cui Yuanzhao suddenly became somewhat disdainful.
Sure enough, it's just that Li Daikui is brainless.
This county magistrate was much more sensible. After learning his identity, his attitude softened considerably, and he acted no differently from the sycophants in the capital.
Cui Yuanzhao stopped looking at Tang Huan and sat down in the courtyard, acting as if he were the master of the house.
"Your name is..."
"Tang Huan," Tang Huan introduced himself with a grin.
"Lord Tang, your subordinate had our clothes stripped off in the street, left behind a painting, and then went on to extort money from us. What do you think we should do about this?"
Cui Yuanzhao directly put pressure on Tang Huan.
He felt that, given Tang Huan's obsequious manner, she would definitely teach Li Daikui a lesson once she found out about this.
As expected, upon hearing this, Tang Huan immediately put on a stern face and said, "Da Kui, how could you do this? Since you know they are the sons of the Minister of Revenue and the Prime Minister, how could you still leave them a portrait?"
Li Daikui felt somewhat aggrieved, "But, this was done according to your wishes, isn't this the rule of Qihuai County..."
Tang Huan felt a pang of heartache. "Rules are rules, but people are flexible!"
Cui Yuanzhao nodded in satisfaction, finding Tang Huan much more pleasing to the eye than Li Daikui.
But what Tang Huan said next was so surprising that it left everyone speechless.
"Since you know their identities, how can you only leave one painting? The son of the Minister of Revenue and the son of the Prime Minister have come all this way to Qihuai County, so naturally you should paint several more. Is it because the painter didn't eat and didn't have enough strength?"
When Li Daikui heard the adult say that, he scratched his head awkwardly.
Having followed the adults for several years, Li Daikui often felt that he had figured out the adults' temperament, but he also frequently found that the adults' ideas were whimsical and unpredictable.
Cui Yuanzhao was taken aback by Tang Huan's words and immediately questioned, "Lord Tang, what do you mean by that?"
Wang Jingze's heart sank to the bottom.
He recalled the rumors he had heard: Li Daikui of Qihuai County was already an extremely terrifying person, but the one he needed to be most wary of was County Magistrate Tang Huan.
Even though it was their first meeting, Wang Jingze felt a chill run down his spine.
"It doesn't mean anything, I just feel that as the son of the prime minister, I cannot be negligent."
Tang Huan thought for a moment and instructed Li Daikui: "Here's what you'd like. Tell several painters in the county to make copies of the portraits overnight and then post them on the bulletin boards throughout Qihuai County."
"How dare you!" Cui Yuanzhao was instantly enraged.
This county magistrate dared to be so presumptuous, even more so than Li Daikui.
Tang Huan glanced at Cui Yuanzhao and changed his mind, saying, "Paint more, and have them sent to the capital by fast horse so that those high-ranking officials and nobles can have them viewed. The skills of the painters from Qihuai County cannot be buried..."
Upon hearing Tang Huan's words, Cui Yuanzhao felt a tremor in his heart.
If he wasn't particularly afraid before, only feeling annoyed, he's truly terrified now.
He doesn't care what the people think, nor does he mind the criticism from others.
But if the ministers and his family in the capital saw him naked, would he still want to live?
At this moment, Wang Jingze felt fortunate that he had redeemed his portrait long ago.
Tang Huan seemed even more lawless than Li Daikui, showing no fear of their identities whatsoever.
Cui Yuanzhao's face turned pale and then red, and finally he reluctantly spoke:
"Wait, I'm also willing to pay to redeem my own portrait."
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