General, you should rest now; the lady is even more ruthless.

"Sir, those two men stayed at the Zheng residence for over an hour and have now come out. They're carrying a bulging sack, but I don't know what's inside."

Inside the Liyuan County government office, Li Yi sat in a chair, listening to reports from his subordinates.

A few days ago, ever since he returned from Longcheng, he had a vague feeling of unease, and these past two days his eyelids had been twitching violently.

My left eyelid twitched, which was fine, but my right eyelid twitched instead.

He has regretted what Magistrate Zheng did back then all these years.

He regretted not eliminating the root of the problem and letting his daughter go.

So for the past few years, he has been sending people to keep an eye on the Zheng family. As long as that girl is alive, she will definitely come back. When he catches her, he will not be soft-hearted again.

Are you sure it's two men?

The servant thought for a moment and nodded firmly: "Sir, I'm sure. Although they are thin, they are indeed two men."

"Where are they now?" Li Yi asked.

"Your Excellency, I followed them all the way and saw them enter Xingli Inn with my own eyes."

"Xingli Inn?" Li Yi laughed; it was truly an effortless stroke of luck.

That was opened by his brother-in-law.

"Sir, should I sneak off and arrest those two tonight?"

“No need,” Li Yi stopped him. “We have important business to attend to tonight. Go to the Zheng residence first and see what they took.”

Those two are probably just petty thieves, not worth making a fuss about. Besides, they're in his brother-in-law's shop, so they can't escape anyway. It's not too late to deal with them after tonight's events.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Upon returning, Jiang Qiqi and Zheng Lin'er immediately went into their room to look at the things they had brought back.

“Miss,” Zheng Lin’er said, “there’s something I’m not sure if I should say.”

Jiang Qiqi didn't even look up: "Yes."

"I feel something's strange."

Jiang Qiqi raised her head and wiped her face, revealing two black handprints on her originally fair and clean face.

"What's weird?"

"I don't know either." Zheng Lin'er scratched her head. "Miss, I always have this feeling that someone is watching us."

"Oh, is that all?" Jiang Qiqi smiled. This girl is quite perceptive.

“It’s not your imagination. Ever since we arrived at your house, someone has been watching us.”

"Huh?" Zheng Lin'er was stunned. "Miss, where are they? I'm going to go out and beat them to death."

……

When Jiang Qiqi saw the calluses on Lin'er's hands when she saved her, she guessed that Lin'er must have been using a long-handled weapon, such as a longsword or a long knife.

But she was only half right.

Zheng Lin'er used a large iron sledgehammer.

Since she recovered, she has been swinging a hammer in the courtyard every day. Not to mention that she has already smashed two windows, a water vat, and a stone table in the general's mansion.

Even just considering a young girl of about sixteen carrying a large iron hammer and making a "clanging" sound, it's still quite jarring, isn't it?

"Miss, are we in danger?" While Jiang Qiqi was thinking, Zheng Lin'er had already dragged her iron hammer out from under the bed.

Jiang Qiqi looked at the iron hammer, which was bigger than her head, and decisively shook her head.

"Will not."

"why?"

"Hehe," Jiang Qiqi chuckled and winked, "because we're just two ordinary little thieves."

"Huh? What petty thief?"

"Do you remember how many times we walked back and forth in the main room before we left?"

"I remember," Zheng Lin'er said. This time, she really couldn't understand why, since there were no snakes in the house.

Jiang Qiqi explained patiently.

“If we only leave footprints near the study, the people watching us will definitely become suspicious and think we’re looking for something. But if most of our footprints are in the main room, then we’re probably just here to steal something.”

Zheng Lin'er suddenly realized that her young mistress had messed up the bed a bit, and exclaimed, "So that's why we went to the main room!"

Jiang Qiqi smiled and nodded: "Of course, it's also to see Lord Zheng and Madam Zheng."

"Miss." Zheng Lin'er, who had just had a sudden realization, pursed her lips, stood up, and knelt down beside her.

"Thank you for your trouble, Miss." She would never have thought of this if she were alone.

From a young age, her mother said she was all brawn and no brains. At the time, she didn't believe it, but now it seems her mother was too accurate.

Even if you gave her two more heads, she still couldn't outsmart the young lady.

Jiang Qiqi went to help her up: "Silly child, everyone has their strengths and weaknesses. If it were me, I wouldn't just pick up a big, burly maid and throw her into the lake."

"..."

She was referring to the scene where Zheng Lin'er protected her at the Second Prince's residence.

“Miss.” Zheng Lin’er understood that her mistress was saying this to comfort her. Her eyes filled with tears, and she kowtowed. “Miss, I have no way to repay your great kindness. I only wish to serve you like a slave for the rest of my life.”

"Okay, okay." Jiang Qiqi was too embarrassed to say, what's wrong with being treated like a slave?

In modern times, we are all like cattle and horses.

ヽ(；▽；)ノ

"It's too early to talk about gratitude now. You can talk about it after we've truly avenged your parents."

As she spoke, she waved a notebook in her hand: "We've found a clue."

This sack contained quite a lot of things: some were classified state documents, some were Lord Zheng's diary, and only one book remained as evidence that Cui Zhi and others had embezzled state disaster relief grain and silver.

"Lord Zheng probably knew he might be in danger, so he left a backup in the secret room," Jiang Qiqi said.

"It details how Cui Zhi tried to win him over, then resorted to threatening him when that failed, as well as what Cui Zhi said about their plans."

"With these," Jiang Qiqi closed the notebook, "Cui Zhi won't be able to escape."

"He mentioned that Cui Zhi said they had someone protecting them when they did these things, and that person was Wang Liang, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue."

Jiang Qiqi certainly didn't believe that a mere Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue would dare to embezzle such a large amount of disaster relief funds.

It's likely that her adoptive father was also involved in this matter.

Further up the hierarchy, there might be the matter of the Third Prince.

However, she didn't say any of this, since there was no evidence.

"That's wonderful, Miss." Zheng Lin'er was overjoyed; she had finally waited for this day.

"If we hand this over to the Ministry of Justice, will they be brought to justice?"

“It’s not them, it’s him,” Jiang Qiqi said. “With just the evidence left by your father, it’s impossible to bring down a vice minister of the Ministry of Revenue. However, with the previous concealment of memorials and such, it wouldn’t be a problem to execute Cui Zhiding immediately.”

"I see." Zheng Lin'er lowered her head in disappointment, then raised it again after a while. "Alright, it's fine to only convict Cui Zhi."

Jiang Qiqi chuckled and tapped her forehead with her finger: "Where is that alright? Did your young lady sacrifice her backside to come to Liyuan just to convict a mere prefect?"

“Cui Zhi is just a small fry; it’s not enough to convict him alone.”

"Miss, you mean...?" Zheng Lin'er was stunned.

Jiang Qiqi nodded: "That's right, this is just the first step. We need to continue looking for evidence until we can bring down Wang Liang."

"But Miss, I'm afraid this is all the evidence my father has. He's just an ordinary county magistrate; where can we find the rest?"

Jiang Qiqi had already thought about this, and she was just about to answer...

Suddenly, flames erupted outside, and someone shouted, "The rebels are here! Run! The rebels have broken in!"

Jiang Qiqi and Zheng Lin'er exchanged a glance and immediately said, "Let's go out and take a look."