Making you a son-in-law is not about making you conquer the world.

The sunlight after a long period of overcast skies was a bit dazzling. The magistrate in charge of guarding Tiger Head Prison sat under the eaves with his legs crossed, leisurely sipping tea and humming a little tune.

According to the official system of the Wu Kingdom, the Tongpan was not considered a high-ranking official. Apart from assisting the prefect in some arrest work, he was mainly responsible for guarding the prison, which was commonly known as the "prison head".

But here, the emperor is far away, and even a minor official can act arrogantly and domineeringly. No wonder this person is so leisurely.

Of course, the reason this person looked so happy was because he had recently helped the prefect accomplish a great feat, and he would likely be rewarded, or even promoted exceptionally.

However, just as he was lost in thought, the Prefect Chen walked over with a stern face, followed by Lin Ping and his entourage.

The prefect was startled, swallowed the tea stalk he was holding in his mouth, nimbly jumped off the armchair, knelt down and kowtowed, saying, "Your subordinate, Yuchi Fen, greets Your Excellency, the Prefect!"

Tiger Head Prison is a serious place where death row inmates are held. It would be rather inappropriate for someone to openly cross their legs and hum a tune, so it's no wonder that this person was somewhat frightened.

"Yuchi Fen?!"

Lin Ping spat all over Xia Linglong, his face twitching with laughter: "What's your relationship with Yu Chixiang?"

Yuchi Fen was puzzled by Lin Pingxiao's smile. He looked Lin Pingxiao up and down and realized that he was of high status. He respectfully said, "Yuchi Xiang is my son."

"Oh... so it's a dog's son. No wonder they all like to eat poop." Lin Ping nodded meaningfully, his muttering clearly audible.

Yuchi Fenqi was furious, but fearing he might openly offend Jiang Yunying, his old face drooped longer than a donkey's. He thought to himself: Let's see how long you can be so arrogant. When the City Lord's Mansion is wiped out, I will repay this grudge tenfold.

Regardless, Yuchi Fen was a son of a high-ranking official, and he had access to information from the upper echelons of Jiangcheng Prefecture. He also knew that the City Lord's Mansion was being targeted everywhere and probably wouldn't last long.

Therefore, Yuchi Fen knew how to be patient and could not openly provoke the city lord's mansion at this critical juncture.

"Yuchi Fen, have there been any unusual developments in the prison recently, such as prisoners escaping? Commander Xia suspects that five people are missing." The Prefect of Huai'an said to Yuchi Fen with a wink, hoping that he would understand the implications.

Having navigated the officialdom for decades, Yuchi Fen was not worthy of his position if he couldn't even see through this basic tactic. He hurriedly kowtowed and said, "There was no unusual activity. I just conducted an inspection last night."

"Last night?" Lin Ping thought to himself that this guy was cunning. Since Xia Linglong made it clear that she wanted to investigate this matter thoroughly, she would definitely find a loophole. Yu Chi Fen only said that he had checked the cell once last night, and denied everything after last night.

"Give me the roster!" Xia Linglong naturally didn't believe him and didn't want to waste time. Checking the roster would make everything clear.

Yu Chifen was terrified and trembling as he pulled out a black leather register from his pocket.

The prefect thought to himself, "This is bad. This register is usually locked in a drawer. Now that Yuchi Fen is carrying it with him, he must be tampering with it."

If he had already crossed out the names of those five people, it would be clear that something was wrong, and he could no longer use the excuse of prisoners escaping on their own.

"Lord Yuchi is truly dedicated, carrying a roster with him at all times." Xia Linglong snatched the roster and carefully examined its dense contents.

In addition to the prisoners' names, the roster also included their gender, age, place of origin, and a simple portrait.

Xia Linglong roughly counted, and there were more than forty people on the prison, with at least five people imprisoned in each cell.

Seeing that the names of the five people had not yet been crossed out, the prefect breathed a sigh of relief and even felt grateful to Yuchi Fen for his sluggishness.

"Open the door!" Xia Linglong said, holding the roster in her hand, as she spoke to the dark-colored door of Tiger Head Prison.

Tiger Head Prison was set up specifically for death row inmates, so naturally they had no human rights whatsoever. Even the gate was only five feet high, and prisoners could only squat in the dark and damp cells.

Two jailers cautiously opened the small, dark door, and a stench of decay wafted out. There was no latrine here; the prisoners had to eat, drink, and relieve themselves all inside their cells.

Lin Ping pinched his nose and kept gagging, urging Jiang Yunying to step back, lest the stench overshadow her natural fragrance.

Xia Linglong also pinched her nose and frowned, then bent over and walked into the dark and gloomy Tiger Head Prison.

"This young lady really has some guts!" Lin Ping secretly admired, and naturally followed her inside.

Xia Linglong was a captain in the Northern Garrison Command, and entering and leaving the imperial prison was a daily routine for her. How could she possibly look down on this mere Tiger Head Prison?

Before long, Captain Xia noticed something amiss and pointed to an empty cell, demanding, "Where are the five people in here?"

The roster recorded the cell where each prisoner was located, making it easy to see whether anyone was in the cell. How could Xia Linglong, who was familiar with the place, not find out?

Yu Chifen ran over with an innocent look on his face, staring at the cell in surprise, and asked doubtfully, "Impossible, these five people were still here last night! They probably just escaped."

"Escape? I don't believe you! This place is airtight, not even a fly can get out. You try to escape!" Lin Ping cursed inwardly, sincerely admiring Yuchi Fen's acting skills.

"Yuchi Fen, do you know your crime? Neglecting the duty to guard prisoners is a serious offense and you will be imprisoned!" the prefect said preemptively, preparing to convict Yuchi Fen.

"This humble official knows his crime..." Yuchi Fen was half-lying on the ground, cold sweat pouring down his back.

Although the prefect of Huai'an had charged him with negligence in supervision, he would eventually have to go to jail. He only hoped that the city lord's mansion would perish quickly, so that he could openly return to the light of day.

"Guards, drag Yuchi Fen away and await your judgment!" the Prefect of Huai'an ordered sternly, determined to make the most of this charade.

After receiving the order, two constables came over, pressed down on Yuchi Fen's arms, and were about to drag him away.

"Wait a minute..." Just as Xia Linglong was carefully searching the cell for any secret passages, Lin Ping spoke up, "Your Excellency, the cell is airtight; not even a mouse could squeeze out. How did the prisoner escape?"

The Prefect of Huai'an had anticipated Lin Ping's words and said with a straight face, "The prison floor is covered with a thick layer of thatch. Who knows, there might be secret passages dug by prisoners underneath. Young Master Lin, you wouldn't want to move all thatch to see what's going on, would you? There's a lot of prisoners' filth underneath. We can't afford to offend Captain Xia's health."

A secret passage?

Do you think all prisoners are Shawshank?

Furthermore, Lin Ping had already checked with his X-ray vision and there was no passage under the thatch at all.

However, the prefect of Huai'an was very cunning and directly shifted the blame to Xia Linglong. If she didn't agree, Lin Ping wouldn't dare to force the removal of all the thatch.

Lin Ping was a bit troubled by this. If Xia Linglong were a man, it wouldn't matter. At most, he would be disgusted by the excrement and urine to the point of vomiting. But she was a woman, a woman who valued her image more than her life!

"Guards, move all this thatch out!" Just as the Prefect of Huai'an was getting carried away with his pride, Xia Linglong said sternly, even releasing her jade fingers that were pinching her nose.