Upon hearing these words, Yunyi nodded repeatedly and followed Qi Shi alongside Wu Laosan to the county office. As soon as they entered, they saw Li Shimin, Duan Zhihong, Magistrate Qin, the Feng Cheng family, Li Feng, Lu Sheng, and others all present.

Seeing them enter, a flash of venom crossed Feng Cheng’s eyes as he cupped his hands and said, “May I ask Second Young Master, what is the purpose of summoning us here?”

Li Shimin paid him no attention and glanced at Magistrate Qin, who nodded knowingly and fixed his gaze on Lu Sheng, saying, “How many years have you been working in the office?”

Upon hearing this, Lu Sheng immediately stood up and replied, “In response to Your Honor, this humble servant has been in the office for seven years.”

“Seven years…” Magistrate Qin nodded, “That’s even longer than I’ve been transferred here.” At this point, he suddenly darkened his face and said coldly, “Lu Sheng, do you know your crime?!”

Already sensing something amiss when he saw Feng Cheng and Li Feng, Lu Sheng now trembled all over at Magistrate Qin’s shout, forcing himself to remain calm as he said, “I do not know what crime this humble servant has committed?”

Magistrate Qin said coldly, “This official has already investigated and confirmed your collusion with Li Feng and Feng Cheng and others, unauthorized tampering with the household registration records to gain profit. If you confess now, this official may still show leniency, otherwise you will surely face severe punishment!”

Lu Sheng’s face turned deathly pale as he said, “Your Honor must be mistaken. How could this humble servant do such a thing?”

“So you refuse to admit it?” Faced with Magistrate Qin’s words, Lu Sheng gritted his teeth and said, “This humble servant truly has not done so. Please, Your Honor, investigate clearly!”

Feng Cheng interjected from the side, “Your Honor, this common citizen has always been law-abiding and is not even well acquainted with Clerk Lu. How can there be talk of collusion?”

Li Shimin spoke up, “You are indeed not acquainted, but Li Feng is, and you harbored resentment after failing to successfully accuse Wu Laosan last time. Upon learning of the court’s conscription, you bought Lu Sheng through Li Feng, having him re-transcribe the household registration records containing Wu Laosan’s birth year and month, thereby changing Wu Laosan’s age from fifty to forty-nine. This way, he was included in the scope of this conscription. Besides this, Lu Sheng also tampered with several people from relatively well-off families, thus gaining more profit.”

Feng Cheng grinned, “When Second Young Master puts it that way, it does sound quite believable, but… this common citizen truly has not done such things.”

Li Feng picked up the conversation, “Though Second Young Master holds a noble position, he cannot baselessly accuse people without evidence.”

Magistrate Qin snorted coldly, “Truly won’t shed tears until seeing the coffin.” Saying this, he shouted, “Come! Bring up the items, and also bring up those people.”

Following Magistrate Qin’s words, two bailiffs struggled to carry up a large tray containing over fifty strings of copper coins, along with some gold and silver ornaments. Along with them came several people with panicked expressions – some young men and some elderly men who appeared to be around Wu Laosan’s age.

Seeing them, Lu Sheng’s face changed drastically, his entire body shaking like chaff, like leaves in autumn wind being blown about endlessly, unable even to sit still.

Those people immediately knelt before Magistrate Qin saying, “Your Honor, spare our lives! This common citizen was also forced into this desperate measure. We know our wrongs and beg Your Honor for mercy.”

Magistrate Qin stared at the newcomers, “Since you know your wrongs, why don’t you confess truthfully!”

Hearing this, those people immediately told everything about how Lu Sheng had hinted they could change their ages to avoid the court’s conscription, and how they had sold valuable items from their homes to bribe Lu Sheng. The total amount from all of them was approximately thirty strings of cash.

Lu Sheng said frantically, “Your Honor, don’t listen to their nonsense! Tampering with household registration to avoid conscription is a capital crime – how could this humble servant do such a thing? They must have been bought by someone to deliberately frame this humble servant before you.”

“Is that so?” Magistrate Qin sneered, pointing at the pile of copper coins, “Then explain how you have so much money at home. Your monthly salary is barely over one string of cash. Have you been eating and drinking nothing all these years, never spending a single coin? And these gold and silver ornaments – where did they come from?”

“This humble servant… this humble servant…” Lu Sheng was questioned until he was drenched in sweat, not knowing how to answer, when Magistrate Qin’s stern shout reached his ears, “Lu Sheng, even now, do you still refuse to confess?!”

Lu Sheng was already panic-stricken, and being shouted at like this, his legs immediately gave out as he fell to his knees, crying out, “Your Honor, spare my life! This humble servant was momentarily confused and influenced by Li Feng’s instigation, thereby committing this grave error. Please show mercy, Your Honor!”

“Still not confessing truthfully!” Faced with Magistrate Qin’s rebuke, Lu Sheng dared not hide anything further and truthfully said, “About a month ago, when the conscription order had just come down, Li Feng found this humble servant, requesting that I change one person’s birth year and month to make him one year younger. This humble servant thought this was a capital crime and naturally dared not agree, even driving him out. After a few days, he came to find this humble servant again, saying he had nothing to do and suggested getting a few people together to play some games. This humble servant saw no harm and agreed. Initially, I won quite a bit, but later I kept losing constantly, not only losing all the money on me but also owing him three strings of cash, saying it had to be repaid within ten days or he would make a scene at the office, preventing this humble servant from continuing as clerk. But this humble servant only earns just over one string per month and has to support several people, with no savings at all – how could I repay it? At this time, Li Feng brought up the previous matter again, saying that if this humble servant agreed, not only would the gambling debt be forgiven, but I could also get thirty strings of cash, or even more. This humble servant knew I had fallen into his trap, but… it was already too late, so I had to agree.”

Magistrate Qin glanced at Li Feng, whose expression remained calm, and said, “What he wanted you to tamper with was Wu Laosan’s birth year and month, wasn’t it?”

“Correct. Later, when he learned that this humble servant was preparing to re-transcribe that household registration record, he suggested to this humble servant that from this record, I should pick several families with good circumstances whose ages were just within the conscription range, and change them all together to gain greater profit. This humble servant was momentarily… momentarily greedy and agreed.” Speaking thus, he said urgently, “Your Honor, this was all Li Feng’s conspiracy! This humble servant was also harmed by him – he is the real culprit!”

“Where is that household registration record now?” Yunyi inquired urgently. This was what she was most concerned about – only by obtaining the original household registration record could they prove that Wu Laosan was over fifty and thus exempt from conscription.

Lu Sheng pointed at Li Feng, “As soon as it was transcribed, he took it away, saying it wasn’t safe to keep it with me.”

Magistrate Qin looked at Li Feng and said painfully, “You were once a person of the office – how could you do such a thing?”

Li Feng’s cheek twitched slightly as he gritted his teeth, “Precisely because I was once a person of the office, I had to do this! If today I were still a bailiff, I would not be included in this conscription and wouldn’t have to fight in some damned war. All of this is thanks to Wu Laosan – tell me, how can I let him off?!”

Li Shimin said coldly, “With just you alone, it would be impossible to come up with that much money. I presume a large part of those thirty strings of cash came from Feng Cheng, didn’t it?”