Ge Fanghai was taken aback when he heard someone pleading for justice in the middle of the night.
The people in the hall were also stunned by this sudden strange event, and they all looked in the direction of the yamen gate.
Danma had already drawn his sword, but Chu Mingyao squeezed his wrist, signaling him to be careful of the commotion outside. Danma wasn't stupid; he knew his side was outnumbered and that forcing his way in wasn't the best strategy, so he stood still.
On Ge Fanghai's side, a trusted constable approached and said, "Sir, this..."
Ge Fanghai said, "Ignore her!"
In his eyes, the most important thing was dealing with the matter of the Western Rong Crown Prince; nothing else mattered. Solving cases was just routine; the matter at hand was a matter of life and death.
As if hearing his reply, the woman outside shouted again: "I have a great injustice, and the county magistrate doesn't care, so I'll keep banging. I'll bang on everyone in the county."
As soon as the woman's voice faded, a man's voice boomed, "What are you banging on? Don't you know how to keep people awake in the middle of the night? You're disturbing the peace, don't you know that?"
"I'll keep disturbing you! I'll keep disturbing you!" the woman shouted. "If the magistrate doesn't care, none of you will get any sleep!"
Then a male voice said, "Girl, your banging is scaring my child to tears."
"Go ahead and cry, I'm crying too," the woman said confidently.
“That’s right, that’s right. My mother is deaf, and you woke her up.” Another man chimed in.
The woman seemed to get even more excited, beating the drums louder, the thumping almost matching the war drums of a marching army. More and more people were talking outside, and there were already six or seven voices arguing.
The trusted constable said to Ge Fanghai, "Sir, if we let her keep knocking like this, more and more people will gather. It will be difficult to manage."
Ge Fanghai understood what the constables meant. If a large crowd gathered outside and a fight broke out in the main hall, even if they managed to capture the Crown Prince and his entourage, the people outside would find out, and then it would be difficult to explain.
"Open the door, open the door now!" he shouted angrily. "Tell that woman to stop knocking!"
The constable guarding the door said, "Sir, if you open the door, we won't be able to stop them."
Ge Fanghai had never encountered such a difficult situation, caught in a dilemma. If he didn't open the door, the woman outside kept banging the drum, disturbing many of the people. If he opened the door, the Western Rong prince would surely take the opportunity to leave.
“Everyone come and see! The county magistrate only knows how to sleep in and doesn’t care about the lives of the people at all,” the woman shouted. “How can such an official be fit to be the head of a county?”
Ge Fanghai was so angry that his head was spinning. He thought that if things continued like this, sooner or later the people would come to the yamen to watch the show.
The trusted constable whispered in his ear, "Sir, the best course of action now is to open the gate. Even if the Crown Prince and his men try to escape, they can't outrun us. We can follow them to a secluded spot and then capture them."
Ge Fanghai suddenly realized what was going on, patted the yamen runner on the shoulder, and said to the people guarding the door, "Open the door and let me hold court."
Seeing that Ge Fanghai had spoken, the guards at the gate had no choice but to open it. The remaining constables immediately returned to their posts, sheathed their swords, and picked up their fire-and-water clubs, standing on either side. They shouted in unison, "Majesty!"
As the gate opened, the lights inside flooded into the open space in front of the main hall, illuminating the entrance to the county government office. Eight or nine men had already gathered there, along with a woman with disheveled hair, dressed in men's clothing, who was vigorously striking a drum with drumsticks.
Seeing the door open, Danma took Chu Mingyao's hand and said, "Let's go." Chu Mingyao nodded, and the two of them went out of the lobby together.
Ge Fanghai straightened his official hat and robes, sat down behind his desk, and watched Danma and her group leave. He was so angry that his teeth itched, but there was nothing he could do. He vented all his anger on the woman who was playing the drum, slammed his gavel, and said to the bailiffs, "Bring the prisoner in!"
The constable was taken aback, then leaned closer and said, "Sir, they've come to seek justice."
“Ah, right, right,” Ge Fanghai picked up the gavel and slammed it down again, “Let the woman who is appealing for justice come to the court, and disperse everyone else.”
No sooner had he finished speaking than the men at the yamen gate cried out, "Sir, we're just here to watch the show! Why are you driving us away? Are you saying we commoners aren't allowed to watch your trial?"
Ge Fanghai nearly fainted, and waved his hand, saying, "Alright, alright, you can watch all you want. Let that woman come up here."
Su Wan's shoulders ached from swinging the drumsticks so much. Seeing that the Crown Prince of Xirong and Chu Mingyao had approached, she smiled at them and said, "You two hurry up and go."
Chu Mingyao recognized her and exclaimed in surprise, "Little Jar?"
“I’m not called Little Jar, it’s your brother who made up this nickname,” Su Wan whispered. “You guys go quickly, I’ll hold off the magistrate.”
Danma kept his eyes straight ahead and said to Chu Mingyao, "The magistrate is watching from behind. Don't talk to her. Let's get on our horses and leave quickly. The magistrate will definitely not let us go. Someone will definitely stop us."
Chu Mingyao understood the seriousness of the matter. She simply nodded slightly to Su Wan and then hurriedly left the yamen with Danma, heading to the other side of the street.
Su Wan put down the drumsticks and rubbed her shoulders. A yamen runner walked up to her and said, "Madam, you have a grievance. Go to the main hall immediately to appeal. The magistrate is already waiting in the hall."
Su Wan winked at the people on either side and walked towards the main hall.
The people around were actually her guards, pretending to be disturbed by the drumbeats. They made a scene, which successfully made Ge Fanghai open the gate and let them out.
She walked into the main hall, and the guards, pretending to be onlookers, followed her noisily, but in reality, they were there to protect her.
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