The girl traveled through another world and forced the prince to take the imperial examination

Miss Sun said angrily, "Do you even need to ask? Of course I recognize the cow my family raised. This is the cow we sold to Xu Yongfu's family. I don't know how it ended up in your hands."

Miss Sun looked Mu Qingcheng up and down with disdain and said, "Humph! Someone who looks pleasing to the eye may not necessarily be from a decent family. She might have colluded with bandits and robbed the Xu family's ox cart. I think we should report it to the authorities right away! Let them investigate. She might have done something shameful!"

These words were so vicious. Mu Qingcheng felt that Miss Sun was mentally ill. Did she have a grudge against her?

Mr. and Mrs. Zhou were worried. If Mu Qingcheng and the others couldn't explain the origin of the cow, or if there were no witnesses, then they would be stuck.

Everyone else looked at Mu Qingcheng with scrutiny. No matter how they looked at her, she still had a calm and composed expression, even her eyes were clear. A girl like her wouldn't do something like collude with bandits and steal someone else's ox cart, would she? No one present believed it. Even the victim, Fang, couldn't believe that such a delicate girl would steal her family's ox cart.

"Haha!" Mu Qingcheng laughed instead of getting angry, "I'm colluding with bandits? It seems Miss Sun is quite familiar with bandits! Otherwise, how would she know that I'm colluding with bandits?"

Everyone finally came to their senses and wondered why Miss Sun had slandered someone for no reason. If this were reported to the authorities, even if this innocent girl had done nothing wrong, her reputation would be ruined. Could Miss Sun have a grudge against this person?

Everyone's eyes turned to Miss Sun again. Miss Sun didn't expect that just saying this would bring trouble upon herself.

"I... I, I don't know any of the bandits. You, you're just the thief crying 'stop thief'. If you're not colluding with the bandits, then where did this ox cart come from?"

Mu Qingcheng said calmly: "This ox cart is definitely not ours."

Everyone was surprised that the girl actually admitted that the ox cart was not theirs. Miss Sun was very excited. She said proudly, "I told you, I'm not wrong. She stole the ox in collusion with the bandits."

Zhou Da was also worried. If this girl was charged with collaborating with bandits, she would be finished.

"Don't be afraid, Aunt Fang. I will accompany you to report to the police." Miss Sun excitedly wanted to pull Fang away.

Madam Zhou hurriedly grabbed Fang and said, "This sister-in-law is a reasonable person. We can't wrongly accuse her. We have to get to the bottom of this! If we go to the authorities without knowing the truth, and if we wrongly accuse someone, we'll be punished."

Fang had no intention of reporting to the authorities. A commoner would not easily enter the yamen. When she heard that she was going to be beaten, she quickly shook off Miss Sun's hand.

"Why would I need to report this to the police? Since this girl has admitted that the cow isn't theirs, she's going to return the cart to me. Why would I report this to the police?"

Miss Sun stomped her feet in anger.

Mu Qingcheng was touched. She and the owner and the proprietress of the inn were just strangers, yet they could protect her so much.

She smiled gently at Madam Zhou and said, "Actually, we stole this ox cart from bandits. Speaking of which, we have a very interesting story with Ah Niu. If everyone is not busy, please sit down and listen to our experience."

Mu Qingcheng deliberately kept the topic a secret, seeing that everyone's attention was drawn to her. In this era, there were few entertainment programs, and everyone, regardless of gender or age, loved to listen to gossip.

When Zhou Da heard this, he quickly brought over two benches. One bench could seat three people, and if they squeezed together, four people could sit on it.

Zhou Da invited everyone to sit down, except for Miss Sun. Mu Qingcheng, Madam Zhou and Fang sat together.

Miss Sun was no ordinary person. No one greeted her, so she squeezed in and sat next to Fang.

Mu Qingcheng took advantage of this moment to quickly make up a story in her mind. Speaking of making up a story, for a student who had gone through the baptism of the college entrance examination, this was a piece of cake.

Mu Qingcheng chatted and laughed freely as if she was just chatting with her family: "My brother and I are from Yunzhou. My brother's surname is Mu and his given name is Qingguo, and mine is Qingcheng. My brother is a scholar. He wants to travel and study to gain some knowledge so that he can write a good essay for the imperial examination in the future. My family was afraid that he would be in danger if he went out alone, so they asked my cousin to be his companion. My cousin has practiced martial arts since he was a child and has very good kung fu.

We have a relative in Yongkang County, Changle Prefecture, and a cousin was getting married soon, so I came with my brothers to visit them and give them some dowry. So the three of us traveled together in a horse-drawn carriage.

It was our first time in Changle Prefecture, and we'd taken the wrong road. There was no one on the road, and nowhere to ask for directions. We were getting increasingly secluded, and just as we were about to turn back, over twenty people suddenly rushed out and surrounded our carriage. They looked ferocious, like bandits, and they demanded we hand over all our money or else they'd kill us.

When everyone heard that there were more than twenty bandits, they looked nervous and were sweating in their hearts.

Mu Qingcheng continued, "My cousin saw that they were outnumbered and would be at a disadvantage if they fought, so he suggested we pretend to surrender and wait for an opportunity to escape. So, the bandits stole our carriage and luggage. We thought they were just robbing us, but we didn't expect them to kidnap us and send us to some mine..."

When everyone heard about the mine, their faces changed. Mu Qingcheng took in their expressions and continued to tell the story.

"They split into two groups. One group drove our carriage and luggage to some... village, and the other group took the three of us to the mine. They pulled an ox cart and put the three of us on it."

Mu Qingcheng pointed at Ah Niu and said, "It's this ox cart."

Fang cried out, "Oh my God! Those bandits stole my ox cart and yet they did such a heartless thing!"

Everyone shook their heads and sighed. In their barbarian land in the south, bandits were rampant and even the government could not control them. With the emperor far away, who would care about the lives of the common people?

"We walked along a mountain road for a while, and my cousin felt the time was right. He used a small knife hidden in his sleeve to cut the rope, and then cut the rope for us. He went to kill the bandits alone, and let us escape in the ox cart first, while he stayed behind to cover our retreat."

At this point, everyone gasped and looked extremely nervous.

"Alas! We wanted to help too! But we don't know martial arts, so going would only make matters worse. We could only drive the ox cart faster, the farther away from them the safer it would be. Fortunately, Ah Niu was there, and he pulled my brother and me all the way, and we finally escaped. Later, we waited in the mountains for a whole night, and my cousin finally caught up with us, covered in wounds. However, his injuries were so severe that he fell unconscious before he could say a word to us."