The group had left the village in the morning, but by nightfall, no one had returned.

The Zhao Family clansmen grew anxious with waiting. In the middle of the afternoon, they sent two more people to the county seat to see what was going on.

But these two cousins were like meat buns thrown at a dog—gone for good.

It wasn’t until well after dark that Zhao Jing and his group finally returned, shrouded by the night.

Chen Wanqing and Mrs. Zhao didn’t have time for detailed questions; they quickly ushered everyone in to eat.

In truth, the men had already eaten in the county seat. Chen Wanqing’s mother had personally bought them food and delivered it.

Each man got a bowl of mutton soup and three griddle cakes, along with two large platters of side dishes. They ate until their mouths were glistening with oil, feeling absolutely wonderful.

On the way back, everyone was saying that Jing had truly married the right woman. His father-in-law was capable and his mother-in-law was thoughtful. Then, when they returned to the village and saw that Jing’s wife had also made them dough-drop soup, more griddle cakes, and stir-fried dishes, how could they not be even more envious of Zhao Jing?

Even though they had eaten their fill in the county seat, they were all strapping young lads at an age where they could pack it away. Besides, the weather was frigid, so they were burning through energy. If the food hadn’t been set right in front of them, they might have passed, but now that it was here, they could each put away at least two more bowls.

As they ate, Zhao Jing’s cousins, chiming in one after another, recounted the day’s events.

As they spoke of it, they were filled with righteous indignation, but also couldn’t help feeling a sense of relief and astonishment.

They were relieved that so many from the Zhao Family had gone to the county seat. Otherwise, they might not have even made it there before the wicked old woman was snatched away and beaten to death by someone.

"You guys won’t believe this," Zhao Tang said loudly after slurping down a mouthful of food and wiping his mouth. "As we were getting close to the county seat, we came across two groups of thugs brawling. They were supposedly fighting over a young woman. Some of the onlookers said they’d been at it all morning. It was just one pushing the other, a shove here and a shove there. It didn’t look like they had some deep-seated feud; it was more like they had a mutual admiration, like they were developing a bond through fighting.

"And what happened?

"They sure did have a mutual admiration.

"They were all in it together!

"When we got near them, we were worried about getting in the way of their ’performance,’ so we deliberately stuck to the side of the road. But what do you know? As they fought, the fight spilled right over to us.

"At first, we thought it was an accident, but then Jing suddenly warned us, ’They’re trying to grab her.’

"And weren’t they just! Those guys stumbled over to the old woman, hoisted her onto their shoulders, and took off running.

"It was a good thing so many of our brothers went. Some of us held back the other thugs trying to stir up chaos, while the rest of us took off after them and managed to get her back.

"Otherwise, if that old woman’s accomplices had managed to rescue her, we would have been too ashamed to even talk about it.

"That’s right, accomplices!

"Anyone trying to rescue the old woman at a time like that had to be her accomplice, no doubt about it.

"Since they were accomplices, we didn’t hold back. We grabbed everyone we could and handed them all over to the authorities.

"As for the ones that got away, well, the monk can run, but the temple can’t. Once these guys confess, we’ll have no trouble rounding up the rest."

When they arrived at the county government, Chen Song wasn’t there.

But Zhao Jing had already sent someone ahead with a message to the residence by the Weaving Workshop. As a result, Chen Song arrived before the county magistrate even had a chance to hear the case. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

The moment Chen Song heard about the case, he knew someone was deliberately causing trouble to prevent Zhao Jing from taking the upcoming county exam.

At this conclusion, it wasn’t just Chen Song who was so furious he could hardly breathe; even the county magistrate was livid, his face contorted with rage.

With the two of them giving free rein, the constables immediately resorted to harsh interrogation. The moment the torture rods came out, the old woman, who had just been crying injustice, confessed everything.

It turned out she really was an old beggar woman who had fled from Qi County.

Her home had been hit by a snow disaster, and her entire family, young and old, had been crushed to death.

She was old and had no one to care for her, and her husband’s brothers had even seized her family’s land. With nowhere else to turn, she could only beg her way north, just hoping to find a place to settle down.

She had arrived in Qingshui County the day before yesterday.

At the time, she was in a dilapidated temple, starving and on the verge of death. Just as she was about to breathe her last, someone found her. He promised that if she did one thing for him, he would find her a place to live. It didn’t matter if she became a slave, a servant, or just an old woman doing menial chores—at least she would be fed.

The old woman was moved, which led to her going to the Zhao Village early that morning to beg.

But the previous night, someone had taken her to scout the location. So that morning, she only made a show of begging at a few houses before heading straight for the Zhao Family’s door.