Quite a few people knelt in the county yamen’s public hall, but the County Magistrate and his constables all stood outside, the constables curiously peering inward.

“My lord,” one asked, “what major case is being tried? Even officials from the capital have come.”

The County Magistrate glared at him: “Mind your own business less. Don’t inquire about matters that don’t concern us. Do you want to go in and be interrogated yourself?”

The constable shrank back, not daring to speak further.

The County Magistrate kept his eyes on his nose and his nose on his heart, listening to the crack from inside the hall—that was his gavel being thrown on the ground.

Deng Yi withdrew his hand, leaning back in his chair, looking at the four people kneeling on the ground. Besides the cart driver, there was the newly found Madam Yang—the prostitute Li Niang—plus a physician, as well as the Station Master.

Before each of them lay money and jewels in varying amounts.

“Everyone speak,” Deng Yi said, his gaze sweeping over the four before settling on Li Niang. “If I’m not mistaken, you should be the first.”

Li Niang hurriedly raised her head: “No, no, my lord. This humble woman wasn’t the first. That young lady found the physician first.” She pointed at the man beside her.

The man was a physician who said frantically: “My lord, I, I, I know nothing.”

Deng Yi said mildly: “No matter. Once you speak, this official will know.”

The physician quickly acknowledged this, taking a deep breath to gather his thoughts: “I’m an itinerant physician. That day I was walking along the road when I saw two girls resting by the roadside—”

Deng Yi interrupted him: “How old were those two girls, what did they look like? Be specific.”

The physician thought for a moment and said: “The younger one was twelve or thirteen, the older one no more than fifteen. Their dress and appearance were quite ordinary. The older one was standing, the younger one sitting. That younger one was quite pretty—small face, big eyes.”

Her eyes seemed able to speak, and her voice was pleasant too, delicate and fragile, naturally evoking pity.

That’s why he’d been bewitched at the time.

Deng Yi raised his hand: “Continue.”

“That young lady called me over, saying she needed medical attention, and gave me a bag of money—I thought I’d found business, but then she didn’t want me to examine her. She said in a few days I should come to the relay station to examine a woman, with just one requirement: no matter what I found, I was to say the woman was beyond medical help and didn’t have long to live.”

At this point, he stole a glance at the lord seated above. The lord’s expression remained calm, showing neither pleasure nor anger.

“I, I would never carelessly deceive people, so I thought I’d look when the time came, and if she could be treated, I would certainly do my utmost to cure her.”

Deng Yi said nothing. Supervisor Qi, standing to the side, sneered coldly. This money-grubbing wretch was still making excuses for himself.

The physician kept his head lowered, not daring to look at them.

“For those several days I lingered around the relay station. I’m an itinerant physician, so it wasn’t strange. Sure enough, one day a station worker ran out looking for a physician. He ran into me and brought me inside, and that’s when I saw this—lady.”

He turned to look at Li Niang beside him.

After the initial panic, Li Niang had now calmed down. She hadn’t done anything unconscionable—she’d merely accepted money to play someone’s mother. Seeing the physician look over, she even gave him a flirtatious smile before raising her head to look at that lord—

“My lord~” she said.

The lord glanced at her. Li Niang, who had seen all kinds of customers in pleasure houses, stiffened and knelt up properly.

“That day I was taking an afternoon nap at the establishment when those two girls climbed in through my window. What a fright! I live on the third floor—I thought they were bandits come to rob me.”

Being someone from a pleasure house after all, she was more astute than the physician. Without waiting for Deng Yi to ask, she proactively gave very detailed information.

“But then I saw they were two girls of thirteen or fourteen. Though they looked quite ordinary at first glance, that younger girl was very pretty.”

Li Niang’s eyes brightened. As someone who served with beauty, she was best at recognizing beauties.

“When she grows a few years older, at seventeen or eighteen or nineteen, she’ll absolutely be a peerless beauty. However, her eyes are a bit too fierce—that’s not so good. Men won’t like it—”

Deng Yi interrupted her: “Get to the point.”

Li Niang looked embarrassed and continued: “This little girl threw me three bags of money, saying she was hiring me for three days to play her mother.”

She pointed to the money bags before her. Compared to the physician’s, she had much more, including scattered gold, silver hairpins, and jade bracelets.

“My lord, this humble woman sells herself for a living. Whether it’s men or women, whether playing a wife or playing a mother, this humble woman has no choice.

“This humble woman just lay there pretending to be sick, then spoke according to what she taught me—”

At this point she quickly leaned forward to look at the Station Master kneeling at the far end.

“Station Master Xu, those words truly weren’t my own idea. They were all what my daughter, A’Fu, told me to say.”

The Station Master’s face showed no expression. He didn’t respond to her, turning his head away. Today, all the face he’d built up in his lifetime was completely lost.

The Station Master wouldn’t speak, but the cart driver couldn’t wait any longer. Panicking, he kowtowed: “My lord, my lord, I didn’t know anything. I never met anyone. This lady just said she needed a cart, then said she didn’t need it anymore, and told me not to refund her money, so I just, just—”

Why not take advantage of free money?

He pushed the handful of coins before him forward. Compared to the others, his was the least.

“I don’t want it anymore. I’ll turn it in. My lord, spare my life.”

Li Niang said from the side: “My lord, I was the one who found him. It has nothing to do with A’Fu—A’Fu is that girl’s name, what she called herself. Also, A’Fu said to have me ride all the way to Yang Village before getting off, then leave after the driver had gone. But I thought it wasn’t necessary and got off early. As a result, indeed, it wasn’t perfect, and you lords discovered it—”

She gave an embarrassed laugh.

“If that young lady found out, she’d probably dock my pay.”

Deng Yi also smiled. After thinking for a moment, he nodded: “She probably would.” His gaze turned to the Station Master. “Station Master Xu, you—”

The Station Master prostrated himself, kowtowing: “This humble official is guilty. Greed for money clouded my judgment and I failed in my duty. I beg my lord’s punishment.”

Before him, money was piled high—

Supervisor Qi pointed at him from above, saying bitterly: “Old Xu, how many times have I told you—everything about you is fine except your greed for money. Sooner or later you’d have an accident!”

Before Deng Yi could speak, hurried footsteps sounded outside the door as a young master wrapped in a cloak rushed in.

“Lord Deng,” he asked urgently, “have you found my sister?”

Deng Yi smiled at him: “Young Master Chu Ke has arrived.”

So this was the young master from the eldest branch of the Chu family who came looking for his sister but sat comfortably in the prefecture seat, the Station Master thought as he lay on the ground, lifting his head slightly to look—to see if he resembled that deceitful A’Fu.

This young master was seventeen or eighteen, quite tall, with fair skin. At the moment his face showed urgent anxiety, his emotions openly displayed in an impetuous manner.

That A’Fu wasn’t like this at all. Though she appeared gentle and fragile, either tearfully pleading with him or kowtowing in gratitude, thinking back now, that girl had actually been very composed.

Without composure, she couldn’t have deceived so many people.

“Lord Deng, I heard you found her?” Young Master Chu Ke asked urgently.

“Young Master A’Ke,” Deng Yi said, “first take a look—are these money and items from your household?”

Only then did Chu Ke look inside the hall. His gaze fell on the money piled before each person, and he immediately shouted: “Yes!” He reached out to grab the jade bracelet and vermillion hairpin before Li Niang. “These are my mother’s, part of her dowry.”

At this point his face filled with fury.

“That little wretch, she really dared to steal!”

Li Niang looked at the young man before her. Tsk tsk, to actually call his sister a “little wretch”—clearly this young master’s relationship with his sister wasn’t very good.

“These too.” Young Master Chu walked over to the Station Master’s side. Seeing the piled-up money, he shouted angrily, “So much! I didn’t even know where the household money was kept, yet she managed to steal out this much! So much money, such precious jewelry, and she just gave it away so easily to people! Has she gone mad?!”

Deng Yi smiled and said: “Miss Chu Zhao hasn’t gone mad—she’s a hero.”