Marrying the Crown Prince

"Does Your Highness think the county magistrate is a smart person?" Zhou Zhou leaned forward.

Li Ziyan's face turned cold, and he parted his lips slightly, "Fool."

Hearing his words, Zhou Zhou's expression was complicated: Although I know you are cursing someone else, it really sounds like you are cursing me.

"Does Your Highness think that someone as foolish as him will be in danger here once he finds out that I pushed his son off the cliff?" Zhou Zhou covered her chest with her right hand, her thick eyelashes trembling slightly, looking incredibly delicate. "What should we do, Your Highness? My heart is pounding with anxiety."

Li Ziyan burst out laughing, "How can you act so convincingly?"

Seeing that the other party was not cooperating, Zhou Zhou sat up straight again. "Your Highness, do you think the Prefect of the Capital Prefecture will arrive first, or the County Magistrate?"

Indeed, as soon as Zhou Zhou returned, he ordered the guards around Li Ziyan to go back to the capital and summon the Prefect of Jingzhao.

The reason is simple: the twenty-four counties near Kyoto are all under the jurisdiction of the Jingzhao Prefecture, so it's much easier to summon him than to reveal his identity.

Moreover, even if he reveals his identity, the county magistrate may not recognize him.

"Given the efficiency of the Jingzhao Prefecture, the local bullies will definitely get here first," Li Ziyan scoffed.

"Alas, it's a pity His Highness isn't afraid." Zhou Zhou sighed softly with regret.

"I'm scared," Li Ziyan blinked innocently.

Oh? Are you that afraid?

Zhou Zhou chuckled softly.

The next day at noon, just as the two men had guessed correctly, before they even saw the soul of the Prefect of Jingzhao, the gate of the manor was being pounded on loudly.

The three masters came out of the bedroom and stood on the veranda.

Suhe and Wanying were still half asleep. Being woken up, she was in a bad mood and said in an unfriendly tone, "Are they performing a soul-summoning ritual?"

Zhou Zhou reminded her, "You filmed it the same way the day before yesterday."

Su and Wan Ying shut their mouths.

At this moment, the village head reappeared, repeating the same words from the day before, "Hey, stop banging, stop banging, or the door will break."

Unfortunately, the door couldn't hold on this time. With a loud "bang," the door was kicked open by the group of burly men at the door.

It turned out that the head of the village had given them an idea—since the door was going to break anyway, they might as well just kick it down.

"You, you...you all..."

The village headman watched as the door that had been with him for over a thousand years collapsed, his body trembling with rage. But when he noticed that the person who kicked the door was an official, he could only swallow back the curses that were about to spill from his mouth.

"Catch him!"

At the constable's command, his men were about to capture the village head.

Just as the man's hand was about to touch the head constable, Li Ziyan's guards tapped him lightly with the hilt of their swords. The constable cried out in pain, clutching his hand. "You bunch of traitors, how dare you disobey orders?"

The guard scoffed, "You yourself have called me a traitor, so why should I obey your orders?"

"Aren't you afraid of having your entire family executed?"

This……

Is the execution of nine generations of a family something that can be done so casually?

"Who are you trying to scare?" The head guard spat disdainfully. "You say you're going to arrest us, but do you have an arrest warrant? What's the reason for the arrest? Has there been a trial? You just keep talking about arresting us. Brother, aren't you abusing your power?"

"You, you..." The constable, used to being arrogant, was rendered speechless and could only resort to sophistry, "That's utter nonsense!"

The constable was quick-witted after all. He stepped out from the crowd, looked at the three people under the opposite corridor, and bowed, saying, "My men were rude just now. Please forgive them, young master and madam."

“Since it’s a misunderstanding, then leave the money for repairing the door and go back.” Zhou Zhou nodded, indicating his understanding.

The head constable was taken aback and hesitated for a moment before replying, "We will compensate you for the money, but the three of you will probably have to make a trip to the yamen."

"Then should we wear shackles?"

Zhou Zhou's words further convinced the head constable that the three of them were not to be trifled with. "The three of you have not yet been tried or sentenced, and your crimes are still undetermined. Therefore, what is being used is a summons, not an arrest warrant. So these shackles are not being used."

This man was very shrewd. Zhou Zhou couldn't help but glance at him and saw that he was bowing and his official robes were somewhat worn, but the people around him treated him with great respect.

She looked away, her voice languid, "Let's go."

“Wait, gentlemen, these swords,” the constable said, looking at the group of guards with a serious expression, “are not allowed to be brought along.”

The guards all looked at Li Ziyan, who nodded slightly. They deftly removed their swords, because apart from the head constable who was a trained fighter, the rest of the constables were just ordinary people. Even without their swords, they could still take on all five of them at once.

Once outside, Zhou Zhou, finding the sun too strong, climbed directly into the carriage.

The constable jumped up instantly, shouting, "Hey, what are you doing?"

Zhou Zhou lifted the curtain. "Sir, am I not allowed to ride in a carriage when summoned?"

"I..." The constable was speechless.

"That settles it then," Zhou Zhou snorted, lowering the curtain. "Sir, my horse has four legs. Instead of arguing with me here, you might as well run faster."

That makes perfect sense; they have no way to refute it.

After saying that, Zhou Zhou instructed, "Let's go, let's wait for them at the entrance of the yamen."

"drive--!"

The horses' hooves pounded the ground, and the cart wheels rolled rapidly, kicking up clouds of dust.

As for the guards, they all mounted their horses and rode off as well.

The constable stared in disbelief as the people and horses vanished rapidly before his eyes. "Captain, this...this...this..."

The person just ran away, how are they going to explain this?

"You're not a stutterer, what are you babbling about? Why aren't you running?" The head constable glared at them fiercely, too lazy to say anything more, and ran towards the yamen.

What a joke! If we don't run now, are we really going to have them waiting for us at the government office?

But no matter how fast two legs run, they can't outrun four legs.

A group of people ran breathlessly to the entrance of the yamen.

Seeing that they were panting heavily, Zhou Zhou kindly suggested, "Why don't we rest for a bit before going in?"

"No, no need!" they said, shaking their heads as they panted.

"OK then."

So, a large group of people marched into the government office.

Inside the yamen, the magistrate, thinking about the two celestial beauties his son had described, grinned lewdly—wait, wait until he gets those two beauties... hehehe—heh!

A dozen or so tall and burly guards suddenly appeared in front of him, and the magistrate almost fell off his chair.

"Who...who are you?" He was terrified and almost cried for help.

"This gentleman is quite strange. Didn't you call us here? Now you're asking us who we are. How funny." Suhe and Wanying chuckled.

The county magistrate, blushing with embarrassment, quickly grasped the key information upon hearing this—this group of people appeared to be a group of law-abiding outsiders.

Thinking of this, the magistrate raised his head, his official authority reappearing. He slammed the gavel down and roared, "How dare you! You have no choice but to kneel down before me!"