Qingtan County Government Office.
A portly man with a mustache, who looked to be in his thirties, sat in the court.
The man was none other than the magistrate of Qingtan County, Mr. Li Hai.
I heard that Lord Li has been working in Qingtan County for five years and has refused promotion.
The people here also love him very much and call him a good official rarely seen in a century.
Building roads, bridges, and schools... every single one of these is a good thing for the country and the people.
Lord Li picked up the gavel and slammed it on the table, saying solemnly, "Who is here? Tell me your name."
The innkeeper was the first to reply: "Your Excellency the County Magistrate, I am the innkeeper of the Sihai Inn."
"I am a passing merchant and I am passing by here." Xu An answered neither humbly nor arrogantly.
The innkeeper and Xu An stood in the middle of the lobby as representatives of both parties, while many people gathered outside the lobby to watch the fun.
Lord Li's eyes slowly swept across the faces of the two men, and then asked, "What is the conflict between you two?"
"Your Excellency, allow me to report that Xu and his group stayed at the Sihai Inn yesterday morning. This morning, they discovered that all the goods and treasures they brought with them were missing. I suspect that this was done by the Sihai Inn!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the innkeeper earnestly argued, "Your Excellency, please understand! I have run my inn for many years and have always been doing business in an honest manner. How could I do such a petty theft?
"Mr. Xu's things are lost, and we are very anxious, but how can we say that we stole them without any evidence? Sir, we didn't steal anything, please help us!"
Lord Li pondered for a moment and asked again: "Mr. Xu, do you have evidence to prove that the things were stolen by the innkeepers?"
Xu An said nothing.
Seeing this, Lord Li spoke again: “This is Mr. Xu’s first visit to Qingtan County, so there is something he may not know.
There is a group of elusive bandits in this area of the county who prey on passing merchants. The things you lost were most likely stolen by the bandits. "
"Bandits?" Jiang Yueyang suddenly spoke with a faint smile on her lips.
Lord Li looked over in the direction of the voice and frowned slightly. The eyes of everyone present were also focused on her.
Jiang Yueyang slowly walked to Xu An, looked at Lord Li and asked, "Lord County Magistrate, since you know there are bandits in this area, and that they specifically target passing merchants, have you organized any personnel to capture them?"
"Who is the girl?"
"This is my wife." Xu An answered for him.
Jiang Yueyang looked at Lord Li with a half-smile and repeated, "Have you ever sent anyone to arrest him?"
"I have sent people to capture them, but that gang of bandits was too cunning and they escaped every time." Lord Li looked calm.
He could see that Jiang Yueyang and his people were not ordinary businessmen, but he was not panicked, because he had the final say here.
Jiang Yueyang pretended to be sad, "In this case, won't we be able to find back the things we lost?"
"I will do my best to help you find your lost property. You can go back and wait for news."
"Go back?" Jiang Yueyang narrowed her eyes and smiled, "No, that won't work. Whoever takes my things must return them to me!"
"Since the county magistrate is unable to arrest the bandits, we will catch them ourselves," she continued.
When the innkeeper heard her words, he couldn't help but sneer in his heart. These rich people were really shameless.
Do they know where the robbers are?
But Lord Li's face changed. "Madam, when you say this, do you have any clues about the bandits?"
"Aren't the bandits in the hall?" After saying that, she slowly looked towards the innkeeper.
Seeing this, the innkeeper hurriedly asked, "Madam said I was a bandit, do you have any evidence?"
As his voice fell, Xu An took out a bun from his sleeve and held it in his hand.
The innkeeper panicked when he saw Baozi and quickly thought of a way to deal with the situation.
Jiang Yueyang: "This bun is from Sihai Inn. It has something called opium in it. And that opium is poisonous."
The innkeeper felt relieved when he heard that they only found that the buns were poisonous.
Lord Li also secretly breathed a sigh of relief, as he thought the matter of the meat filling had been discovered.
As soon as Jiang Yueyang saw their reaction, he knew that they still had some hope, so he wanted to tease them for a while longer.
She smiled plausibly and said, "The innkeepers poisoned the buns, and our things were stolen the next day. The connection is self-evident. My lord, what do you think?"
The innkeeper continued to defend himself, "Your Excellency, I did not poison the buns, and I don't know what opium is. If there really was something like opium in the buns, could it have been added by the person who made the buns?"
Upon hearing this, Lord Li slammed the gavel and said, "Come here, go to Sihai Inn and bring over everyone who has handled the buns."
"yes!"
"It seems that the county magistrate wants to protect the innkeeper!" The smile on Jiang Yueyang's face faded a little.
"How dare you!" Lord Li shouted at her.
Jiang Yueyang immediately turned cold, glared at Lord Li above and said coldly: "Take them down!"
As her voice fell, Ye Wuhen and several Cangwu soldiers who followed him rushed out and restrained the yamen runners, the innkeeper, and Lord Li in the hall.
Because the incident happened so suddenly, the people who were watching the excitement were unable to react for a while and just stood there in a daze, motionless.
It was not until Lord Li was rudely dragged down by Ye Wuhen and forced to kneel on the ground that they screamed.
"What do you want to do! Release the county magistrate!"
"Release the county magistrate!"
"Shut up!" Ye Wuhen shouted coldly, and the people present instantly became intimidated.
Lord Li struggled and said, "How dare you, you lunatic, to be so presumptuous in the court? Do you know what crime it is to assassinate an official of the imperial court?"
Jiang Yueyang ignored him, walked up slowly, picked up the gavel and slammed it down hard.
"Qingtan County Magistrate, do you admit your guilt?"
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