After being reborn as a man, the woman improved her family's fortunes through education.

Jiang Xiyue painted herself completely black.

Lin Yueniang also added a large mole to her face, symbolizing her role as a matchmaker.

After the mother and daughter finished getting ready, they were both amused by each other's appearance.

"Alright, alright, stop laughing. Wenbin and the others are still waiting for us to rescue them in jail!"

"Hmm, Mother, if we confirm today that the magistrate and the bandits are in cahoots, should we storm in?"

“Listen to your brother, we’ll provide support, and we’ll do whatever your brother says.”

"Yes, Mother. We finally have a chance to act on behalf of Heaven. We're a little excited~ Hehe."

Before, my older sister would go out to do good deeds without taking me with her. This time, I'm out, but my older sister is staying home to prepare for childbirth. Hehe, what goes around comes around!

"Achoo! Achoo!"

Jiang Xiwen, awaiting childbirth: First I think, then I curse, then I worry. Who's cursing me?

Ouyang Zheng and Li Haisheng kept their eyes on the south and north of the city, where the county government was most likely to go, respectively, since these two places were relatively remote and less likely to attract attention.

The busiest areas in the city, the east and west, will be kept under the watch of Lin Yueniang and her daughter, while the city center will most likely be under the responsibility of Jiang Xiaoqi.

It wouldn't have required so much effort, but adhering to the principle of not wronging an innocent person and never letting a guilty person go unpunished, everyone refrained from forcing their way in.

After all, they couldn't let the county magistrate stand on the moral high ground; they had to expose his true colors first.

If the county magistrate is a fake, as his superior, did the prefect know this, and if so, why didn't he take action?

Furthermore, this person certainly didn't just take office this year; he took the provincial and palace examinations seven or eight years ago, meaning he's been in office for at least six years.

If it's a counterfeit, how did the county magistrate pass his annual performance evaluation? Is there someone deliberately protecting it?

If we force our way in, we might alert the enemy, let the big boss go as a good guy, and only capture a few small fry. What's the point?

A new "county magistrate" will still take over the current one. Since a day has already been wasted, they don't care about wasting a few more days.

It wasn't that they didn't care about Wenbin and the others' safety; last night, when they sneaked into the county government office, the master and apprentice also took a trip to the prison.

Seeing that Wenbin, Li Mo, and A Niu had not been tortured, they decided not to rescue them for the time being.

Before leaving, Jiang Xiaoqi took advantage of her master's inattention to leave the three of them with three small, dark pills, just in case.

Jiang Xiaoqi wandered around the city center several times, pretending to be a greedy child.

Although he is nine years old, he can pretend to be young without any problem. Perhaps it's because he ate some youth-preserving pills when he was little, but his baby fat is particularly hard to get rid of.

If you don't look at his height now, he really does look like a five or six-year-old gluttonous child.

The vendors also assumed that this was a well-nourished child.

Candied hawthorn vendor: Look at this child, so young yet so sturdy and tall, he clearly has plenty to eat and wear.

Wonton stall owner: Raising this kid is expensive, he's already eaten his third bowl of wontons...

Jiang Xiaoqi ate the not-so-delicious wontons without staring directly at the pharmacy.

So far, no doctor has made house calls. Some patients or those who need to see a doctor or get medicine have not invited the attending doctor home; all prescriptions and medicines are dispensed on the spot.

He couldn't eat anymore. Even though this wonton stall had the best surveillance angle, he was too full!

Could it really be as Master predicted, that they're most likely to go to the south or north of the city? I should have switched places with my senior brother!

As darkness fell, the person who was supposed to call a doctor did not arrive; instead, his second sister came instead.

"Second sister? Why are you here instead of keeping an eye on the west side of the city?"

"What are you still looking at? Your mother has already followed them. Those people are going to the pharmacy in the east of the city. You didn't expect that, did you? Even your master can make mistakes."

"What? Mother went after them by herself? Come on! We'll go too!"

Jiang Xiaoqi didn't want to waste time talking to his second sister. He was closest to the county government office and could get there the fastest.

Jiang Xiaoqi and her second sister ran all the way and soon arrived at the back gate of the county government, but they did not see Lin Yueniang.

"Mother must have already gone in with those people? There's no way to hide it in broad daylight!" Why did she have to go to the pharmacy in the east of the city?

"Don't worry, your mother is quite skilled and won't be discovered. Once your mother finds out that he was indeed a doctor hired for those bandits, she will definitely come out safely."

The county magistrate is a fake, and have the more than one hundred yamen runners in the county office been replaced by bandits? They've turned the county office into a den of thieves.

Meanwhile, a portion of the gang continues to rob as usual, and even if someone reports the crime, the report will be sent to the nearest county, Chuanling County.

The thieves will certainly not be caught. Perhaps they will, but the county government and the bandits will put on a show in front of the victim, so that the magistrate can gain both the reputation of suppressing the bandits and the money.

Jiang Xiaoqi gritted his teeth; he now felt that the prefect of Qianzhou Prefecture was mostly untrustworthy.

He didn't believe that no one had reported this to the authorities in the prefectural city all these years. Even if the prefect wasn't in cahoots with the bandits, he must have received benefits from them.

They really make money from anything, great! Anyway, we're just idling around, let them expose this cancer!

My second sister and I found a secluded corner to hide in, observing the movements around the county government office. If there was any commotion, we would rush in to save our mother.

Less than a quarter of an hour later, Lin Yueniang leaped out from the side gate of the county government office, her expression somewhat solemn. Seeing her two children hiding behind a tattered straw mat, she lowered her voice and said, "Let's talk when we get back!"

It was already dark by then, and Lin Yueniang had probably been waiting for a long time before coming out.

"It was indeed a doctor hired for the bandits. He's a master of external wound treatment, and he'll probably be staying at the county office all night."

It's confirmed that the county magistrate is involved in a problem. However, not all the yamen runners are bandits in disguise; some are veteran constables who, for some reason, haven't been replaced.

"What else could it be? They've been assimilated by the bandits. How much money can you make as a constable? This way, you can make money and have the prestige of a constable."

Those who refused to go along with it were either killed or driven out of Chuanling. "Jiang Xiyue said angrily.

“That’s right!” Ouyang Zheng stepped into Jiang Xiaoqi’s room, confirming Jiang Xiyue’s opinion. It seemed that he already knew the results of the investigation.

"Master! You're back. My second sister and I were so worried that we didn't go to the South City to look for you."

“It’s alright. Runzhi and I didn’t see anyone from the county government, but we did see someone from Qianzhou Prefecture. Your guesses were basically correct.”

However, the replaced yamen runners were not killed, but were sent to Qianzhou Prefecture, where they are now all working in the prefectural government.

"What? There isn't a single good person among them! They're rotten to the core from top to bottom!"

Jiang Xiyue thought Qianzhou was a beautiful place with clear waters and lush mountains, but she never expected that such a beautiful landscape was hiding all sorts of evil spirits.

"What should we do then? Should we take it to the provincial government?" Lin Yueniang was only concerned about whether anyone could deal with these lawless people.

"I sent a message to the governor of this area by carrier pigeon this afternoon. We will rescue the people tonight and leave the city overnight."

Ouyang Zheng didn't want to confront the more than one hundred county yamen runners and the newly arrived Qianzhou yamen runners with his apprentices and their families. It wasn't that he couldn't win, but he didn't want the big fish in the prefectural city to get wind of it and escape, or to destroy the evidence of deceiving his superiors.

"Master, there's a curfew tonight, so we can't leave the city."

"It's alright, I have a plan."

Jiang Xiaoqi didn't know what his master meant by "having his own way of dealing with things." He only felt that he had to say "goodbye" to his horse for the time being.