The sickly son died young? After the marriage exchange, I will bring prosperity to his entire clan f

Arresting the doctor would take time, so the leader simply led the entire village back to Ling Silang's house, intending to search it thoroughly again, hoping to find something suspicious to prove their innocence.

Ling Silang and Du Mingxian walked ahead. Ling's father and mother were terrified, their hearts pounding in their chests, but they couldn't show any abnormality. They felt that their heads might roll at any moment.

When they arrived at the door, the twenty or so people who had gathered there searched the Ling family's courtyard thoroughly, as if they wouldn't give up until they found him.

Du Mingxian wasn't worried about her family, but she was worried about... the doctor.

She clung tightly to Ling Silang, appearing to outsiders as if she were afraid of the officials, but in reality, she was quietly asking, "Will this doctor tell the truth?"

They really did hire a doctor to examine You Yuan back then. I don't know what happened to him. He's the young master of the You family, and an official of the imperial court. Now he's like a wanted criminal. It's really pitiful.

It's one thing to be pitiful, but now, with just a casual act of rescue, the lives of family members are at stake.

Let's do it again...

Forget it, let's try again. If we know he's You Yuan, we have to save him even if it's just for the little knowledge he has.

“The doctor is familiar with us. When we invited him over, I told him something. Given the current situation… if the doctor is smart enough, he certainly won’t say anything. If he’s not smart, he might talk nonsense.”

Du Mingxian frowned tightly. Regardless of whether the doctor was smart or not, as long as he spoke out, he would not escape being held accountable. If the doctor insisted that he came to the Ling family only to treat his husband, perhaps everyone could escape punishment.

The two were snuggling together, and both of Ling's parents were on tenterhooks. Ling's mother held Ling's father's hand tightly, her body trembling uncontrollably.

"It's alright, don't worry," said Ling's father, but as he watched those people walk towards the cellar, he trembled uncontrollably, terrified.

Fortunately, after searching thoroughly, they still couldn't find anyone. However, they did manage to find the small amount of savings that Ling's mother had left, which the soldier presented to the leader.

"Boss, I suspect something's wrong. They're just ordinary farmers, how could they have so much silver?"

The Ling family members stood at the front, blocking the door. The soldiers were all inside. The soldier's voice wasn't loud. The crowd of onlookers wanted to see what was going on, but they valued their lives more than anyone else and didn't dare to step forward. At this moment, they were only paying attention to the movements in the courtyard and didn't see this scene.

When Ling's mother saw that the cloth bag containing her hidden silver had been taken by someone, she became extremely anxious and even tried to step forward, but was held back tightly by Ling's father.

The leader glanced at the silver in his hand, then at the silver note, and turned to the Ling family. "Tell me, is this a thank-you gift from the person you saved after you rescued them?"

“Sir, our family was fortunate enough to dig up ginseng in the mountains. Everyone in the village knows about this. Moreover, our family also runs a business. Although we have separated our households, we still give a portion of the money we earn to our family. All of this can be verified.”

"Ginseng?"

"Yes, it's a thousand-year-old ginseng."

The man in the lead was suspicious, but Ling Silang remained calm. "The ginseng was sold to Doctor Lin in the county. He's a doctor whose ancestors were imperial physicians. He's easy to find out about. You can send someone to ask him."

Seeing Ling Silang's frankness, the others were nervous. Nowadays, what civilian wouldn't be afraid of soldiers? The leader didn't think much of it.

In front of the Ling family, the leader glanced at the silver, then pocketed five hundred taels of silver notes, leaving the rest for his men to divide.

A blatant robber.

Du Mingxian lowered her head silently, concealing the murderous intent in her eyes. These people were not ordinary soldiers; how were their behavior any different from that of bandits?

Ling Silang could sense Du Mingxian's emotional change, so he held her hand tightly to prevent her from moving around.

Perhaps because they had been bribed, these soldiers became less aggressive and instead simply sat down in the courtyard to wait.

The doctor was quickly brought over and taken directly into the Ling family's courtyard.

The man in the lead asked, "Did you come to the Ling family for medical treatment this month?"

The doctor had some doubts, but answered with certainty, "Yes, Ling's fourth son was born with a deficiency and his health is very poor, so he often needs to come and see a doctor."

"Have you seen anyone else at the Ling family this month?"

"Yes." The doctor's words made the rest of the Ling family jump, and they were all quite frightened. Ling Silang even tightened his grip on Du Mingxian's hand.

Du Mingxian was already wondering if she had the skills to take down all of them, but what would happen after that? Would she escape with her family?

Having openly committed murder, the entire Ling family will be fugitives for life, and Ling Silang's official career will likely be ruined.

Everyone was terrified when the doctor pointed at Granny Zhao and said, "The Ling family is small, and I know all the family members. This person is a new face who just arrived this month."

Ling Silang felt a little relieved. "This is an old woman we bought at home."

"Oh?"

"These can all be verified."

The leader glanced at them and knew that the Ling family was telling the truth. However, the Ling family was also quite suspicious. He then looked at Pandi, who was being held by her subordinates outside the door, and said, "You said there were people in their family, but now we've searched the place and there's no one there. You're lying."

"No, I didn't, I won't lie, they just brought someone back." Pandi was extremely flustered, but she kept repeating it.

The leader glanced at him disdainfully, "A little kid who can lie, he'll be no good when he grows up. Let's just kill him."

Upon hearing that she was to be killed, Pandi cried as if her parents had died, her cries filled with misery. "No, please, sir, don't! I really didn't lie!"

An underling stepped forward and said, "Boss, this girl is too young. It wouldn't be good for us to kill her in front of so many people."

"Fine, since it's a girl, then let's disfigure her. Lying comes at a price."

The matter ended with Pandi being disfigured. The officials left with their men, and the whole village was in an uproar. No one expected that a little girl like Pandi would have such audacity, and in the end, she was disfigured.

At the Ling family home, Mr. Ling's inner clothes were soaked with sweat, and Mrs. Ling's legs went weak and she was about to sit down on the ground, but Du Mingxian helped her up first, saying, "Mother, you can't sit down, there are many people watching outside."

They helped Ling's mother into the courtyard before closing the door. Ling's mother was completely unable to walk; the scene just now was too dangerous.

Wang and Zhou helped the person into the house, while Liu and Granny Zhao went to the kitchen to boil some water.

Du Mingxian didn't go in because... her father was rushing towards the cellar. If she went in, wouldn't they give themselves away? She hurriedly stepped forward to stop him, "Dad, don't go yet. Those people just left. They might have left someone outside watching us. Let's do what we need to do first."

Let's go back to the time after Granny Zhao rushed back to report the news.

Du Mingxian hurried into You Yuan's room, where You Yuan was still explaining to Ling Silang, "Husband, soldiers have come outside to search, and they are very likely looking for him."