“Tell me, who ordered you two to kidnap me?” Su Yujin asked in a deep voice, “What did you mean when you said you have never succeeded before?”

Shen Cang and Meng Dahai looked at each other again, but both of them remained silent.

“Qing Kui.” Su Yujin shouted, “Hit them!”

“Hit them as hard as you can, I’ll cover you even if you beat them to death! At worst, we’ll say these two individuals had malicious intentions, and we fought back with all our might. Surely the county magistrate won’t say anything then.”

“No matter what the county magistrate wants, we still have people in the capital, and we are not afraid of him as a mere county magistrate!”

Su Yujin meant to scare them with this last sentence.

Originally, she didn’t want to use the second master’s name too much to show off, but Zhang Huaihua was previously ordered to put poison in Su Ji’s haggis soup, and now someone was instigating these two people to kidnap her. It was obvious that she was already regarded as a thorn in others’ side.

If she didn’t make others afraid, she would live in danger.

“Facing a beating?
Moreover, it’s from this extremely strong Qing Kui.”

Su Yujin had a backer in the capital. Wasn’t that bigger than the county magistrate…

Shen Cang and Meng Dahai quickly filtered out a few important pieces of information. Their expressions suddenly changed and they hurriedly said, “We explain, we said …”

With each word, they made everything clear to Su Yujin.

As for the incidents where someone tried to take advantage of you earlier, it was because they wanted to extort money. Once, they pretended to vomit blood after a meal, and another time, they pretended the food was unclean and had bugs in it.

But both times, the former because someone choked, and the latter because Zhang Huaihua was parading the streets, they saw that she had medical skills and was very clever, so they didn’t dare to act recklessly and had to give up.

As for the person who instigated them behind the scenes…

The person was wearing a cloak and a conical hat. The face could not be seen clearly, but the person was not tall and the voice seemed to be that of a woman.

The woman gave them twenty taels of silver and asked them to kidnap Su Yujin and send her away far away. It would be best to find a place to sell it. The money from the sale would belong to Shen Cang and Meng Dahai.

After summing up all the details, if they were successful, they could easily get their hands on at least fifty or sixty taels of silver.

So they responded without any hesitation, and after observing for a long time, they finally waited until tonight to take action.

Su Yujin frowned when she heard this.

This woman whose appearance was unclear…

seemed to be the same as the person who ordered Zhang Huaihua.

This woman had so much hatred against her that she wanted to ruin her business and even sell her.

While Su Yujin was thinking, Ai Cao and others arrived with the yamen officials.

It was already late at night. After briefly asking about the whole incident, the government officials took Shen Cang and Meng Dahai back to the government office to wait for the county magistrate to come and hear the case the next day.

They also explained that Su Yujin would need to go to the Yamen to provide testimony.

Su Yujin naturally agreed.

After all the busy work, Shuanggui Lane returned to calm, and Su Yujin and others returned home.

Qing Kui was frightened today, and Su Yujin told Shuang Ye to stay with her at night and take a good rest for a few days without doing any work.

After they returned, she took a hot bath to relax her tense nerves.

Qing Kui was frightened, and she was no exception.

After all, it happened right in front of her, and the other party’s real target was also her. It was extremely scary to think about it. Seeing this, Ai Cao and Liu’s mother boiled milk for Su Yujin to make her feel better after drinking it.

The next day, Su Yujin and others went to the county government.

After asking about the circumstances of what happened last night, and confirming that it was correct, Su Yujin and others, as well as Shen Cang and Meng Dahai, all signed the testimonials.

But when asked about the identity of the woman wearing a cloak and a conical hat, the answer was that they didn’t know anything except that they knew she was a woman.

Ye Yongwang, the county magistrate, frowned and said in a calm voice, “Really you don’t know?”

“Young people don’t dare to lie. We really don’t know.”

When they arrived at the county government office, Shen Cang was so frightened that he was shaking like chaff. Meng Dahai nodded like a chicken pecking at rice, “Sir, Xiaomin really doesn’t know who she is…”

“Then do you still have the money she gave you?” Ye Yongwang asked.

“I spent some of it, but the rest is still there, hidden under the water tank at my home.” Shen Cang didn’t dare to hide it.

Ye Yong looked at the man and went to search according to Shen Cang’s instructions. Sure enough, he found an oil paper bag with more than ten taels of silver wrapped in it.

Like Zhang Huaihua’s silver, these silvers were all broken pieces of silver. There is no difference. But if we say something special, these pieces of silver were much cleaner than the ordinary pieces of silver. Even the pitted marks on the silver pieces were all washed very thoroughly, and they looked shiny and white.

Ye Yongwang looked at the silver and fell into deep thought.

The matter between Shen Cang and Meng Dahai was very clear. They were instigated by others and attempted to traffic people. They were first given a hundred beatings and then sent to prison. They will be exiled three thousand miles northwest by next spring.

If forced labor involved simply mining and repairing river embankments nearby, then being exiled three thousand miles away would mean being banished to extremely remote areas to perform hard labor until death, making it a much harsher punishment than forced labor.

As for the person behind the scenes, Ye Yongwang said that he would do his best to find out, give Su Yujin an explanation, and also try to maintain the stability of Qinghe County.

Qinghe County was adjacent to the capital, and the annual official assessment was extremely strict. Ye Yongwang did not want Qinghe County to have such a hidden danger of causing trouble, which would frighten the people of Qinghe County.

However, it does take time to locate the mastermind behind it all.

Especially in this era when technology and information were not developed.

Su Yujin understood this truth and only thanked Ye Yongwang, “Master Ye is a good official who serves the people wholeheartedly. Mínnǚ¹ believes that Master Ye will be able to find this vicious person.”

It could be regarded as a high hat for Ye Yongwang.

“Miss Su, rest assured, I will definitely intervene on your behalf,” Ye Yongwang assured her.

Ye Yongwang paused for a moment and said, “I just heard from Shen Cang and Meng Dahai that Miss Su’s family has a good family background, but is there anyone in the family who is also an official in Beijing?”

Were you trying to get to the bottom of her?
How much thought should be put into this matter?

Although she didn’t want to use the banner of the Second Master, this gangster tried to harm her several times…

Su Yujin hesitated slightly, “There are indeed relatives who are officials in the capital.”

“I see,” Ye Yongwang probed again, “May I ask how Miss Su should address that gentleman? Does he hold any official position?”

“Hmm…”

Su Yujin thought again, “Come to think of it, I’ll call him my èr biǎo jiù². My èr biǎo jiù works in the Ministry of Household Affairs, but my èr biǎo jiù is always cautious and doesn’t like to disclose his identity to the outside world.”

“It’s just that the two thieves were stubborn and refused to tell the truth that day. I had no choice but to use my èr biǎo jiù’s name. I hope my èr biǎo jiù won’t blame me when he finds out about it later. “

Su Yujin: Hello èr biǎo jiù

He Yanxiu:…

(End of this chapter)

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Footnote

1. Daughter of a common people
2. Cousin from maternal side, second in the family.