Disguised as a man, she became the biggest villain in the book.

Zheng Luoqi looked at them, frowned, and said unhappily, "What's wrong with you? Didn't you come here to eat? Why are you fighting with someone?"

He Jinyu quickly explained, "Sir, we didn't cause any trouble. They attacked first, and we were just defending ourselves."

Zheng Luoqi didn't speak, but turned to look at the man and asked, "And why are you arresting my men?"

"My surname is Kong. This young master barged into my room out of nowhere and even attacked my men, so I had no choice but to defend myself," the man said, pointing at Pei Wenyu.

Zheng Luoqi sneered, nodded, and looked at Pei Wenyu, saying, "Oh? Is that so? And you? Do you have anything to say?"

“We were having a nice meal when they made too much noise in the next room, which disturbed our meal. So I went over to talk to them, but then I saw a dozen or so big men bullying a weak woman, so I couldn’t help but intervene!” Pei Wenyu explained.

"Young Master Kong, is what my subordinate said true?" Zheng Luoqi picked up the tea his subordinate had just brewed, took a sip, and asked.

"Yes, but that woman is a servant of our Kong family. This matter is probably not for this young master to interfere with!" Young Master Kong said with a forced smile.

Zheng Luoqi nodded in agreement; Pei Wenyu was indeed meddling too much.

“It’s my subordinates who are being irresponsible.” Zheng Luoqi got up and walked to Pei Wenyu’s side.

"Apologize to Young Master Kong, and let's just let this matter rest," Zheng Luoqi said coldly to Pei Wenyu.

Pei Wenyu lowered his head and remained silent, clearly unconvinced.

“Apologize? Don’t make me say it twice. You need to know whose territory this is,” Zheng Luoqi said with a gloomy expression.

Young Master Kong, who was watching the show from the sidelines, also realized the situation. It seemed that he wouldn't be able to take these people with him today. Fortunately, his family had told him not to clash with the prefect before he left home, so he didn't dare to go up and demand the people.

Zheng Luoqi only wanted to use this incident to make them behave themselves, since she couldn't actually kill them.

If these people get into trouble in Xuzhou, wouldn't that give the emperor a handle to use against the Prime Minister's office?

Pei Wenyu originally wanted to retort, but suddenly remembered that Zheng Luoqi had attacked Zhao Peng at the flower viewing banquet, which was really too ruthless, as well as the time when he was given laxatives on the way back to Beijing.

In short, Pei Wenyu didn't want to offend Zheng Luoqi. After all, he was currently in Xuzhou and didn't have any help around him, so he had to be careful. Although he was unwilling, he still apologized to Young Master Kong.

That young master Kong was a sensible person; he didn't linger and left.

Zheng Luoqi brought these people back to the government office. Once back there, they stood in a row, heads bowed, not daring to speak.

Zheng Luoqi sat in the main seat, rhythmically tapping the table with her knuckles.

The group listened to the sound of Zheng Luoqi's knuckles tapping on the table, and felt that each tap was agonizing.

Soon after, Zheng Luoqi spoke coldly: "You are one of us: the Grand Commandant's nephew, General Pei's grandson, Lin Zongzheng's son, and you, He Jinyu."

"How old are you? You must be in your twenties. Do you still think of yourselves as little kids? Fighting is one thing, but you can't even win. And when you can't win, I have to clean up your messes. Do you know how busy I am?"

"If you can't win in the future, just take your swords and commit suicide. Don't bother me to save you anymore. As for your bodies, I will have them sent back."

"Do you know what I hate most? If there's a next time, you can save that energy for plowing the fields. You'll get the same treatment as those young masters from noble families!" Zheng Luoqi said with a forced smile, then took out a medicine packet and poured it into the teapot.

Pei Wenyu and Lin Zifeng looked at this familiar scene.

Zheng Luoqi poured four cups of tea for them. Pei Wenyu and Lin Zifeng hesitated to drink from the cups of tea, and Wen Yixuan and He Jinyu had the same feeling.

"If you don't want to die, drink it!" Zheng Luoqi said coldly.

Wen Yixuan was about to resist when he looked up and found that he was surrounded by Zheng Luoqi's people.

It felt like if they didn't drink, a knife would be held to their throats.

Zheng Luoqi didn't want to waste time with them. Pei Wenyu and Lin Zifeng saw that Zheng Luoqi's expression was not right and were afraid that she would kill them right now, so they immediately drank their tea obediently.

He Jinyu followed closely behind and downed his tea in one gulp.

Wen Yixuan was different. He had no idea what kind of weird stuff Zheng Luoqi had put in the tea, so how could he dare to drink it? He didn't want to drink it, but it was no use. Zheng Luoqi had someone hold him down and force-feed him the tea.

Then these people suffered from diarrhea for a full half month. During this half month, Zheng Luoqi forbade them from seeing a doctor and only allowed them to eat cornbread and drink plain water twice a day. They were so exhausted from the diarrhea that they couldn't even leave the courtyard and had no choice but to accept their fate.

Zheng Luoqi also felt much more at peace during these past two weeks.

Of course, Zheng Luoqi hadn't been idle for the past two weeks either. She sent people to investigate what that young master Kong had been doing that day, and they actually found out something.

The young master Kong that day was from the Kong family, one of the five great families of Xuzhou. He was Kong Yan'an's uncle, Kong Zhao.

According to the information found, the Kong family would send people every year to find a woman with a special destiny, and she had to be born in a yin year, yin month, and yin day.

They search for so many women every year, but where have they gone? There's not a single trace of them.

Moreover, this Kong Zhao seems to be related to some organization in the martial arts world, so those thugs who were so skilled in martial arts must all be people from the martial arts world. What's even more interesting is that the eldest daughter of the Kong family was sent to Prince Gong's mansion as a concubine a few years ago, and is now Prince Gong's most favored concubine.

Prince Gong? A Jianghu organization? The Kong family? And the woman born on a day, month, and year of the undetermined disappearance—Zheng Luoqi pondered the relationships between these individuals.

Just as Zheng Luoqi was thinking about where to start his investigation, his subordinate rushed in to report: "Sir, someone has been beating the drum to appeal for justice!"

"Beating the drum to appeal for justice?" Zheng Luoqi also realized that she was now the prefect, and this was the first time someone had come to appeal for justice in all the time she had been here. It was truly a rare sight.

Previously, due to the influence of powerful families and the inaction of the government, the common people believed that there was collusion between officials and merchants, and that reporting to the authorities would not solve the problem. In fact, they might even be thrown out by the government. Therefore, most people dared not seek redress for their grievances.

This time, no one knew who dared to beat the drum and appeal for justice; by this time, the area outside the government office was already crowded with people.

[Author's Note: These young masters from the capital are so annoying. I'm already thinking about their fates. This storyline will probably be stretched out a bit. So, the current situation is that this silent battlefield has moved from the capital to Xuzhou. Zheng Luoqi and He Jinyu are on the Prime Minister's side, Wen Yixuan is on the Grand Commandant's side, and Lin Zifeng and Pei Wenyu are on the Emperor's side.]