Zhao Xu had only ever seen her smile, never cry, and when he saw her shed tears, he panicked.
She wanted to wipe away Fangniang's tears but was afraid of being too forward.
I don't know what to do with my hands and feet.
It took me a while to calm down after panicking for a while.
"Let's go to the county government office."
Thank you~
Fangniang came to her senses and wiped away the tears on her face.
She didn't cry in front of Zhao Xu on purpose. From the moment the constables came to arrest her, to when she went to the county government to plead her case, and then to when she came to find Zhao Xu, she didn't shed a single tear. All she could think about was how to rescue her mother.
Upon seeing Zhao Xu, for some reason, all the anxiety, unease, and grievances in her heart suddenly welled up, and she burst into tears.
It seems like they're deliberately trying to gain sympathy.
It's so embarrassing.
Fortunately, Zhao Xu did not laugh at or ridicule her.
Zhao Xu selected three hundred guards to accompany him to Nanyue City.
When they arrived at the county government office, the gates had just opened and the magistrate had not yet taken the stage.
When the constables saw hundreds of cavalrymen appear menacingly in front of the yamen, their legs went weak with fear, and they almost thought that someone was attacking the city.
Upon hearing that it was the Prince of Dai who had arrived, he hurried inside to report to the county magistrate.
The county magistrate's surname was Liang. He came from a prominent local family and had served as the county magistrate of Nanyue City for over ten years. Thanks to his family's influence and his own shrewdness, he held his position steadily and lived a very leisurely life.
When the constable came in to report, he was playing with a string of tortoiseshell prayer beads that his nephew had given him the day before.
This rosary has 108 beads in total, each one as clear and translucent as amber, warm and delicate, exuding a captivating charm.
Of all the treasures from Southeast Asia, Magistrate Liang's favorite was hawksbill turtle.
Not only because it's beautiful, but also because he believes that hawksbill turtles are the incarnation of the mythical beast Xuanwu in the human world, and that playing with hawksbill turtles can prolong his life and ward off evil spirits and bring good fortune.
For example, during this change of throne, the magistrates of both Xiyue and Dongyue were dismissed, but he remained unharmed, which was due to the protection of the hawksbill turtle.
His nephew knew about his quirk, which is why he specially gave him this string of prayer beads, asking him to do him a small favor.
It was just a matter of locking up a woman for a few days, allowing the nephew to successfully win over the beauty.
Magistrate Liang agreed to such a trivial matter without hesitation.
Little did he know that this trivial matter would bring his leisurely days to an end and cause the collapse of the Liang family's mansion.
"Sir, the Prince of Dai has come to our yamen."
The constable rushed in to report.
Magistrate Liang hurried out to greet him.
After bowing, Magistrate Liang cautiously asked, "I didn't know Your Highness had graced us with your presence. What brings you here?"
"I've heard that Lord Liang is very good at solving cases. I've had nothing better to do, so I've come to sit in on his case."
Zhao Xu said casually.
Magistrate Liang's heart skipped a beat.
He has always kept a low profile, quietly accumulating wealth, and has never publicized his fame. Where did this new king hear about him?
Is someone trying to frame him?
He tried to be modest and dissuade Zhao Xu, but Zhao Xu was determined to watch him handle the case and did not waver in the slightest.
Magistrate Liang had no choice but to have his clerk bring out the complaint, preparing to choose a simple case for trial.
Unexpectedly, Zhao Xu walked over, casually picked up a complaint, glanced at it, and said, "This one will do. I think it's quite interesting."
When Magistrate Liang saw it, he almost fainted.
The lawsuit was clearly related to Hua's Tofu Shop, the same case his nephew had asked him to do for a small favor.
"Your Highness, these kinds of cases are nothing interesting. Restaurants in the city receive similar complaints every day. How about I show you something more unusual, like this one: a man was urinating by the roadside when a goat fell from the sky and killed him. The driver of the car that hit the goat was sued for manslaughter..."
"I don't like these bizarre cases; I prefer something more down-to-earth. Let's take the one from earlier."
Zhao Xu looked at him with a calm and composed expression.
"Or is it that Lord Liang is not good at judging that case?"
It's just an ordinary case, what's there to be good at or bad at!
Magistrate Liang was forced to take refuge in Liangshan. He had no choice but to apologize to his nephew.
The plaintiff was arranged by his nephew, and the evidence was insufficient; it was pure slander. He quickly finished the trial and sentenced the plaintiff to one hundred strokes of the cane and a fine of fifty taels of silver.
Just as he was about to order the bailiffs to carry out the caning, Zhao Xu suddenly spoke up: "Just now, Lord Liang said that restaurants in the city receive such complaints every day. It seems that falsely accusing restaurants has become a trend in Nan Yue City. I think it is necessary to curb this bad trend. Why don't we give this case a heavier sentence and make an example of it?"
Magistrate Liang was astonished: "Sentence him to a higher level? He'll go to jail? Then sentence him to six months in prison..."
"death penalty."
Zhao Xu said lightly.
"If a few people die, how can we scare these petty scoundrels?"
Magistrate Liang sensed something was wrong, but before he could speak to stop the accuser, the plaintiff was so frightened that he started kowtowing.
"My lord! I did not mean to falsely accuse the Hua family tofu shop. I was greedy and took money from others, so I did it."
After saying this, he revealed the identity of Magistrate Liang's nephew.
This young master was probably so angry at Fangniang's rejection that he didn't bother to find someone to cause trouble or send a servant; he just went ahead and did it himself.
Even Magistrate Liang can't save him now.
Zhao Xu had the young master brought in, and after the trial, he took out more than a dozen petitions and threw them at Magistrate Liang.
"There are still more than a dozen cases here, all of which are against Young Master Yu. Why don't we try them all at once?"
Magistrate Liang then realized that Zhao Xu had come for his nephew.
The cases were all committed by his nephew in the past, which he had covered up. He never expected that they would be brought up again one day.
Magistrate Liang reluctantly tried these dozen or so cases and sentenced his own nephew to death.
As the nephew was dragged away, he kept shouting, "Uncle, save me!"
Magistrate Liang turned his face away.
It wasn't that he didn't want to save them, but he was like a clay Bodhisattva crossing a river—he couldn't even save himself.
The only option is to find a death row inmate to behead him.
As he was making these plans, someone from the back courtyard brought out more than a dozen boxes and lined them up in the main hall. When the lids were opened, countless brightly colored tortoiseshell artifacts were revealed.
Zhao Xu said meaningfully, "Lord Liang has quite a collection. The total number of tortoiseshells in the entire Da Xi region probably doesn't even equal the number in your collection."
Magistrate Liang's breath hitched.
While he was presiding over the case in the front hall, Zhao Xu actually sent people to ransack the house in the back.
Zhao Xu's real target was not his nephew, but himself?
Magistrate Liang felt a metallic taste in his throat and slumped into his armchair, the tortoiseshell prayer beads slipping from his hands.
This time, even the hawksbill turtle couldn't protect him.
Zhao Xu acted swiftly and decisively, arresting Magistrate Liang and then ordering his men to search Liang's house. They found not only a huge sum of embezzled funds but also tens of thousands of tranquilizing pills.
Following the trail, they also raided the Yu, Bu, and Xiang families, who were related to the Liang family by marriage.
These wealthy families have a lot of blood on their hands; an investigation would easily uncover them.
For a time, the wealthy households in the city were filled with anxiety, all worried that Zhao Xu would make an example of them.
Zhao Xu refused to see anyone who came to him to make overtures.
Once the smoking ban is implemented, all these people will definitely be eliminated; there's no need for them to establish contact.
However, he never expected that someone who had been wronged by him, unable to retaliate against him, would take it out on someone else.
This "other person" was none other than Fangniang and her daughter.
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