Sir Song, do you want to pledge yourself to me?

The fat man raised his head with difficulty, looking through the messy crowd, trying to find his own people. However, when he saw the face of the person coming, his face turned pale again.

Song Jinbai, dressed in crimson official uniform, appeared in the tea room with Ji Chuan and Song Huai, as well as a dozen yamen runners in official uniform following closely behind them.

Song Jinbai gently supported Ji Nuan's shoulders, looked her up and down carefully, and asked with concern: "Nuan'er, are you okay? Are you hurt?"

Ji Chuan, who came over a step slower:...It’s not enough that you stole my sister, now you’re stealing my lines!

It was the first time that Ji Nuan saw Song Jinbai in his official uniform. A strange light flashed in her eyes, and she smiled softly, "I'm fine."

Song Jinbai noticed that Ji Nuan's eyes brightened up when she looked at him, and he felt itchy in his heart. If it weren't for the wrong place, he really wanted to hug the person in front of him tightly in his arms.

As if she understood his thoughts, Ji Nuan reminded him, "Let's deal with those people on the ground first. I want to know why he chose to bully our Ji family."

"Song Huai."

Song Jinbai glanced at Song Huai, who immediately understood. He waved his right hand lightly, and the bailiffs quickly escorted everyone on the ground, except the fat man, out.

Song Huai suddenly picked up the fat man lying on the ground like a dead dog and asked sternly, "Are you the one who kidnapped Brother Ji Shan and tried to steal his pastry recipe?"

When the fat man saw the big knife in Song Huai's hand so close to him, he was so scared that his whole body was shaking like a sieve.

"Sir, please spare me, sir, please spare me..." The fat man begged for mercy again and again, accompanied by a dripping sound and a pungent smell of urine.

Song Huai threw him to the ground in disgust.

Song Jinbai pulled Ji Nuan back two steps and said, "Nuan'er, stand further away and don't get stained by filth."

Ji Nuan smiled back, looked up and asked him, "That man claimed to be the brother-in-law of the Tongpan Lord. I beat him up. Is that okay?"

"Go ahead and beat him up." Song Jinbai lowered his voice and laughed happily, "He's bullying the prefect's future brother-in-law."

Ji Nuan glanced at him sideways and muttered to himself: Which serious prefect would have the mind to joke while handling a case?

Ji Shan was standing right next to them, listening to every word of their conversation.

He remembered that his parents had mentioned that Song Jinbai was interested in marrying his younger sister, so he naturally paid more attention to Song Jinbai. Only then did he realize that Song Jinbai's eyes had become so sticky when he looked at his younger sister, and he didn't even hide it in front of them.

Over there, the fat man couldn't answer, and Song Huai was already getting impatient. After hearing Ji Nuan say that this man was related to the magistrate, he stared at the fat man and asked, "Did someone instigate you to steal Brother Ji Shan's cake recipe?"

The fat man thought of the person who had put him in such a predicament, and he felt a surge of resentment. He kowtowed repeatedly, begging for mercy: "Sir, please have mercy. I... I was completely deceived by Wen Jihong. He claimed that the Ji family was just an ordinary peasant family, and even if we seized their land, they wouldn't dare to publicize it."

"Sir, everything I said is true. I didn't know anyone from the Ji family before, and I never had the idea of stealing the secret recipe. All this was instigated by Wen Jihong." The fat man pushed all the responsibility.

Ji Nuan frowned slightly when she heard this: "Wen Jihong? Is he from the wealthy Wen family?"

The fat man nodded hurriedly to confirm: "Yes, it is the third young master of the Wen family."

It seems like they are truly a family. The eldest brother of the Wen family, Wen Jida, uses bandits to take revenge on the Chen family, while the third brother, Wen Jihong, secretly uses this fat man to deal with the Ji family.

"This Wen family is full of stinky rats!" Ji Nuan suspected that Wen Jihong instigated the fat man to attack the Ji family, probably because he was resentful because his last marriage proposal was rejected.

When Song Jinbai mentioned Wen Jihong, he immediately recalled the last time he'd dared to go after Ji Nuan. Back then, Ji Nuan had just agreed to marry him, and in her excitement, she'd forgotten to deal with that Wen guy. Now that he had a handle on him, he was determined to get him to pay for it.

After getting the information they wanted, the rest was left to the government. Ji Nuan said to Song Jinbai, "Okay, take him back for retrial. Everyone at home is worried, so we should go back."

"Yeah." Song Jinbai responded, and then ordered Song Huai, "Song Huai, take the person away."

As he was being escorted away by the yamen runners, the fat man still spared no effort to drag Wen Jihong into the water: "Sir, I want to report Wen Jihong. He has kidnapped young girls and sold them to Xingfanglou more than once. Sir, you must not let him off easily!"

The group walked out of the teahouse and into the lobby, only to see the door surrounded by people watching the excitement. At this moment, a young man ran up to Song Jinbai and knelt down.

"Sir, I, Huang San, am suing Liu Wan for seizing my family's ancestral property and forcing me to do unpaid labor."

Song Jinbai: "Who is Liu Wan?"

Huang San replied, "Sir, Liu Wan is the one who attempted to steal the Ji family's pastry recipe. This Chaxiangju was originally a family business passed down from my ancestors. Two years ago, it was seized by Liu Wan. He even threatened my family and refused to report me to the authorities. Sir, please help me!"

Song Jinbai said solemnly, "If what you said is true, I will definitely take care of it for you. Now, come back to the government office with me and I will explain the whole story clearly."

"Thank you, sir." Huang San was grateful and kowtowed repeatedly.

When the crowd blocking the gate saw Song Jinbai and others coming, they consciously made way for them.

Song Jinbai said goodbye to Ji Nuan and his group, "Big Brother, Third Brother, Nuan'er, you go home first and let your uncle and aunt rest assured. I'll tell you the results after I've investigated the rest of the matter."

Song Jinbai could act affectionate in front of others, but the Ji Shan brothers did not dare to be as casual as him. They bowed respectfully and expressed their gratitude before preparing to leave.

Ji Nuan added, "Liu Wan, relying on his status as the magistrate's brother-in-law, has probably done a lot of things to rob other people's businesses. You should focus on investigating him."

Song Jinbai nodded in agreement and left with his men, followed by a group of people eager to know the final outcome of the matter.

At this time, Master Zhong and his fellow apprentices Feng Ji, Feng Rui, and others came over from the crowd. Master Zhong asked with concern, "Girl, are you all right?"

Ji Nuan was quite surprised to see them, "Master Zhong, why are you here too?"

Master Zhong explained, "Master Ji and Madam Ji were worried that you were short-handed, so my disciples and I came here to see if we could help. We happened to see the yamen officials leading their men in, so we had no choice but to wait outside."

Ji Nuan said gratefully, "Sorry for your concern, we are all fine. Let's all go back quickly. My mother will get even more worried if we wait at home for too long."

Although Ji Shan had never met Master Zhong before, he quickly bowed to express his gratitude since he came to help and save him.

The group then hurried back.