As he spoke, the obese man began to look Jiang Ling up and down with ill intent.
Jiang Ling ignored the man's current appearance. She knew that in a while, this man would pay an extremely heavy price.
About two or three minutes later, the sound of messy footsteps reached Jiang Ling's ears.
Jiang Ling turned her head and saw Zhao Liu leading the way, running towards them menacingly.
Upon seeing Zhao Liu, Jiang Ling's previously anxious heart was completely relieved. The obese man was slightly surprised to see Zhao Liu dressed in official robes.
But then he thought about it again and realized that the woman in front of him didn't seem like someone who could summon officials. He figured it was just a coincidence, and his anxiety subsided.
However, when Zhao Liu walked up to him and bowed to Jiang Ling, the fat man's heart was once again in turmoil. In just two or three minutes, the fat man's heart had been on a rollercoaster ride several times.
"Take them away! Take them all away!" Zhao Liu said to the group of officials behind him with a dark face.
The obese man, thinking the words were directed at Jiang Ling, quickly retorted sarcastically, "Hmph! You think you can be with me..."
"Hey, sir, why are you tying me up!" Before the fat man could finish speaking, Zhao Liu grabbed his wrist tightly, startling him.
"Why...why are you tying up my father! Untie him right now!" Miss Qian panicked when she saw the arrogant and domineering yamen runners. She hurriedly stood in front of her father and said to Zhao Liu.
Zhao Liu ignored Miss Qian and, with a dark face, forced her to leave first.
"Sister-in-law, could you please go too?" Zhao Liu, one of the other constables, had already given the order, and they treated Jiang Ling with great courtesy.
The obese man panicked at the sight, but he still pretended to be calm and followed Zhao Liu to the entrance of the yamen.
When Jiang Yaojie went to report the news, he embellished the story with Magistrate Duan for quite a while, and Magistrate Duan's face was so black it could be wrung out.
He glanced at the obese man, slammed his gavel down, and addressed the two men below, "Who goes there and what brings you here?"
"My lord... my surname is Qian, my given name is Xiao, and I am a merchant from the neighboring county. Today, my daughter came to take the winter exam, but this peasant woman's daughter tried to sneak into Linghui Academy to steal something. My daughter caught her in the act and then coerced my daughter!"
"As a father, I dare to ask you, sir: shouldn't I stand up for my daughter?"
Magistrate Duan almost burst out laughing in the court when he heard such an absurd reason. He tried hard to suppress his laughter and asked, "Oh? Qianxin, is what you said true?"
"Of course, how could I possibly lie to you!" Qianxin said firmly, glancing at his daughter behind him.
Magistrate Duan glanced at Jiang, who was kneeling beside him, and asked, "You're also a party involved, so tell us!"
Jiang Ling nodded and recounted everything that had happened before, like pouring beans from a bamboo tube.
No sooner had Qian Xin finished speaking than he jumped up, pointed at Jiang Ling's nose, and cursed, "You country bumpkin, you're so good at making false accusations and slanders!"
"Insolence! Your noise is not permitted in the imperial court!" Magistrate Duan slammed his gavel and shouted.
Qian Xin immediately quieted down after being reprimanded by Magistrate Duan, and glared angrily at Jiang Ling.
“Since you two have conflicting accounts, bring in Academician Liu from Linghui Academy!” Magistrate Duan said, glancing outside.
Academician Liu was quickly brought to the imperial court by Zhao Liu. After bowing respectfully to Magistrate Duan, he asked, "May I ask what business Your Excellency has summoned me for?"
Magistrate Duan said, "Please trouble Academician Liu to recount everything that happened this morning."
Academician Liu was a good person. He glanced at Jiang Ling and Qian Xin, nodded, and slowly told the court what he had seen.
Upon hearing this, Qian Xin's face turned ashen. He abruptly turned to look at his daughter, who was hiding in the crowd, trying to escape.
He suddenly stood up from the ground, rushed towards the crowd, grabbed his daughter who was trying to escape, and slapped her hard across the face.
"How old are you to lie like this! Are you trying to get your father killed?"
Qianxin's voice was so loud that everyone around could hear her daughter.
To Jiang Ling's surprise, Qian Xin's slap was very forceful, and her daughter's face was swollen from the blow. However, her daughter did not cry; she simply covered her face and glared at her father with resentment.
"I...I'm sorry, it's my fault for not raising my daughter properly. I apologize for what I did before. Please accept this money!" After hitting his daughter, Qian Xin immediately ran to Jiang Ling and apologized to her repeatedly. He also took out a lot of silver from his pocket and placed it in front of Jiang Ling.
Jiang Ling did not accept the money. She didn't need the money right now. She shook her head and refused, saying, "I don't need your money. I just need you to apologize to me, apologize to Xiao Zhao, and apologize to your daughter and my daughter!"
"No apology! Don't even think about making me apologize! What right does someone as poor and stingy as you have to study and learn to read with me? This outfit of mine is worth ten years of your family's income!"
No one expected that as soon as Jiang Ling uttered these words, Qian Xin's daughter immediately jumped out and caused a scene in the court.
Qian Xin was furious when he saw this. He slapped her again and scolded his daughter, "Qian Qiuling, you're getting more and more unruly and willful. Not only did you lie about this, you almost got me thrown in jail. I'm your father, do you want to kill me?"
Qian Qiuling didn't answer, but glared at her father with resentment, pointing at Jiang Ling with her head held high and stubbornly saying, "You can forget about me apologizing to her. This kind of country bumpkin's child is going to cooperate with me to go to school? They just want to steal things during the winter exams! Otherwise, where would they get the money to take the exams and study!"
This ridiculous reason made Jiang Ling frown and shake her head repeatedly. Even Magistrate Duan in the imperial court sighed helplessly. Only Qian Xin was so angry that his veins almost bulged.
His clenched fist cracked, and if he hadn't remembered that he was in the county government office, he probably would have slapped his daughter again.
Qian Qiuling smirked and glared at Qian Xin, then covered her face and ran away.
Qian Xin's face turned ashen, and he sulked awkwardly. Jiang Ling glanced at Qian Xin and said, "Since your daughter is unwilling to apologize, I won't let this go! You also have a daughter; you surely know how important innocence is to a girl!"
“I will not back down on this matter. Besides, you insulted the son of the magistrate of Guangping County. What will happen if the magistrate finds out?”
These two short sentences nearly made Qian Xin sit down on the ground in shock. He never expected that this seemingly plain-dressed lady would suddenly have such a powerful aura.
Qianxin opened his mouth, not knowing what to say. Just then, Zhao Liu suddenly ran over and whispered something to Magistrate Duan.
Magistrate Duan frowned and whispered, "What? Are you telling the truth?"
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