Meng Qingluan patted Chen Yan's hand reassuringly.
"You go home first, I'll be back soon."
"……careful."
After a moment's hesitation, Chen Yan released his hand and left only a brief instruction.
Only after Meng Qingluan was taken away by the constables did the man standing on the restaurant turn his gaze away.
“Interesting, this scene is really interesting.”
The man held a folding fan in his hand, and with a gentle fold, the fan closed.
"..."
The man standing next to the man watched this scene, somewhat speechless.
Seeing that he remained silent, the man turned his head to look at him.
"Eleven, don't you think that woman is interesting?"
“Master,” the man called Eleven said with a cracked expression, “would you like to hear the truth or a lie?”
"Hmm..." The man held his fan to his chin, thought for a moment, and replied, "A lie."
Eleven remained expressionless. "Interesting."
Upon hearing this, the man raised an eyebrow, a faint smile playing at the corners of his eyes.
"Tell me the truth."
"She must be mentally ill."
"..."
The man tapped his long, slender, pale fingers lightly on the table, then suddenly stood up and walked out.
"Let's go to the yamen and continue watching this grand show."
"The woman Fifth Brother has his eye on is sure to put on an even more spectacular show!"
Eleven sighed helplessly; his patriarch was as unpredictable as ever…
——
Inside the yamen (government office).
Aunt Meng knelt in the center of the hall, her hair and face covered with pig intestines of varying sizes, and specks of pig manure on her face.
The entire government office was filled with a foul stench.
Meng Qingluan leaned to the side with a hint of disdain.
The constables who had intended to stop Meng Qingluan lowered their hands again upon smelling the stench.
never mind.
excusable.
Aunt Meng cried and sobbed, "Your Honor, you must do justice for me!"
"That little slut, I raised her from a baby to adulthood, and not only does she not know how to be grateful, she actually threw feces at me in the street today!"
"Waaah, smell me! I stink!"
As Aunt Meng spoke, she stood up and was about to step forward to let the magistrate smell it.
The magistrate was terrified. He jumped up from his chair and hid behind him, while his clerk raised his hand and roared.
"Don't come any closer! Don't come any closer! Just stay where you are."
"..."
Aunt Meng was stopped by two sticks from the constables of the yamen, which frightened her so much that she stopped and dared not go any further.
Meng Qingluan pouted, covered her eyes in disgust, and simply couldn't bear to look.
The magistrate then sat back down in his seat, pointing at Meng Qingluan with one finger.
"Meng Qingluan?"
"I am here."
The magistrate stroked his beard and asked leisurely.
"Is what your aunt just said true? Do you know that assaulting an elder and disturbing public order are serious crimes?"
Meng Qingluan glanced at her smug aunt and couldn't help but laugh out loud.
The magistrate and his advisor exchanged a glance, then asked with displeasure:
"What are you laughing at? Is what I said so laughable?"
Meng Qingluan shook her head, her face turning red before she finally answered.
"I was just amused by the shamelessness of some people. My aunt saying such things is enough to make the whole world laugh their heads off?"
"Oh?" The magistrate's gossip-loving nature was piqued by Meng Qingluan's words. "What makes you say that?"
Just as the magistrate was getting interested in hearing some gossip, a servant hurried over from the backyard and whispered a few words in his ear.
The magistrate's expression changed drastically, and he quickly stood up and walked towards the backyard.
The servant pulled the magistrate aside, shook his head, and whispered a few more words of advice.
The magistrate's eyes darted around, his gaze unconsciously landing on Meng Qingluan, before he nodded.
He whispered to the servant, "Take good care of Young Master Lan. I will go to pay my respects to him personally after I finish this."
The servant nodded and went back.
Meng Qingluan frowned. It seemed that a capable person had arrived in the backyard, alarming the prefect.
Meng Qingluan's smile faded, her expression turned cold, and she spoke in a low voice.
“My aunt was indeed entrusted by my parents to take care of me.”
“However,” Meng Qingluan changed the subject, “this is not a favor. My parents gave them fifteen taels of silver before they left. It was a transaction, so how can it be considered a favor?”
The magistrate looked at Aunt Meng with a scrutinizing gaze.
"Is what she said true?"
Aunt Meng stammered, "But..."
"You only need to answer whether it's true or not; I don't want to hear the rest," the magistrate said impatiently, waving his hand to interrupt.
Aunt Meng closed her eyes and gritted her teeth, "Yes!"
Aunt Meng continued, "I admit to all of these things, but sir, isn't it a fact that she threw pig manure at me in the street today?"
Meng Qingluan said quietly.
"As a street vendor, you not only don't consider the health of your customers, but you even boil unwashed pig offal into soup and sell it."
"Aren't you harming people? You mustn't use business as a cover to poison people in public, Auntie."
"Besides, my stall was set up perfectly fine to the side. We kept to ourselves. If you hadn't come over and overturned my stall, why would I have thrown anything at you?"
The magistrate nodded, agreeing with Meng Qingluan's assessment.
Besides, what kind of nonsense is it to openly sell pig manure soup on the street?
Could it be that she really intends to use the guise of selling food to openly poison people?
If someone dies, things will escalate. If the imperial court finds out about this, he'll lose his official position.
I'm afraid even his head might be in danger...
The more I think about it, the scarier it gets; the more I think about it, the angrier I get.
The magistrate slammed the gavel down heavily and glared angrily.
"You vicious woman! How dare you openly poison people, and even after being exposed, you still dare to falsely accuse innocent people. What is your punishment?"
Aunt Meng was so frightened that she sat frozen in place.
How did she suddenly become a poisoner who openly poisoned people?
"I didn't, Your Honor, I've truly been wronged!"
"No need to say more," the magistrate said, looking at Meng Qingluan. "Take stock of your losses for today and give the compensation to your aunt."
Meng Qingluan looked at Aunt Meng with ill intent.
Aunt Meng's heart skipped a beat; she knew it was all over...
Meng Qingluan cleared her throat and began to list the compensation amounts in detail.
"The cart broke today; it belonged to the village chief and cost about five hundred coins..."
"You're talking nonsense, it's just a piece of junk..."
Aunt Meng started cursing loudly.
"Um?"
The magistrate gave her a threatening look, and Aunt Meng shut up and stood still again.
"That pot is a century-old pot, and I have a deep bond with it since childhood. It's only worth ten taels of silver."
"..."
The county magistrate sat in the courtroom, somewhat speechless, and touched his nose. What the hell is this century-old pot? This is the first time I've ever heard of childhood sweethearts being a giant iron pot.
What can he do?
Since that person had just given their greeting, anything Meng Qingluan said now was reasonable.
After Meng Qingluan finished speaking, Aunt Meng's legs went weak and she collapsed to the ground.
All in all, that bitch Meng Qingluan actually managed to swindle her out of thirty taels of silver!
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