A divine healer, a general, a young marquis! Who can rival them!

And then, three days passed after Zhao Yanei made his harsh remarks.

The sedan chair belonging to the Zhao family in the west of the city actually stopped in front of the gate of the Yang family in the east of the city.

This time, it wasn't that blustering but cowardly brat who got off the bus, but his father—Zhao, the magistrate of the western part of the city!

Judge Zhao was over fifty years old, with a fair complexion, no beard, three small mustaches, and a somewhat rustic old-fashioned blue cloth official robe. He stood very straight.

He got out of the car, put his hands behind his back, and paced back and forth looking at the gate of Yang's shop. His demeanor was completely different from that of his little rascal son. He was an old fox who had spent his whole life in the officialdom!

Four constables with swords followed behind him. Zhao Yanei hid at the very back, his face showing a hint of guilt but also an undisguised smugness of revenge.

Those seeking medical help all witnessed it; a large amount of it scattered with a whoosh.

Before, when it was just Zhao Yanei bringing a few hooligans, people could at least watch from a distance. But now that the dignified Magistrate Zhao had arrived, with his yamen runners standing at the door, no one dared to look any longer. They just squatted in the corner of the wall not far away, muttering to themselves.

"Good heavens, even Magistrate Zhao has been alerted. This Dr. Yang is probably in for trouble!"

"Yes, Young Master Zhao was humiliated. How could his father possibly calm down?"

"Which one of you is Dr. Yang? I am Zhao, the Prefect of this city. I have heard that a miraculous doctor has emerged in this city, so I have come to pay him a visit."

Judge Zhao stepped in, a forced smile on his face, but his voice wasn't loud: "Dr. Yang, is there anything I can do to help you?"

Yang Hu's heart skipped a beat, but his face remained expressionless. He bowed deeply and said, "I dare not accept such a title, Prefect. I am Yang Hu, a humble commoner. What instructions do you have for me?"

"Hehehe." Magistrate Zhao walked around the middle of the room, sat down on a chair for guests, picked up a teacup on the table, blew on the foam, and then slowly said, "I received a report that your clinic is protecting a vicious woman who has injured many innocent people on the street; it is also said that she used sorcery to bewitch people, and a single silver needle can paralyze a person! The people of the eastern part of the city are terrified, and as the official in charge of educating the people of this city, I have no choice but to come and inquire about this matter."

Every word he spoke was official jargon, and every sentence he uttered could lead to his arrest.

Why can't Yang Hu understand?

This is because Zhao Yanei was humiliated and went outside to exaggerate and complain, trying to cause trouble for his own family!

However, this time it was indeed a high-ranking official who came. The word "official" has two mouths. You can say she protected the perpetrators, or you can say she used witchcraft to mislead the public, or you can say she used witchcraft to mislead the public. With such a big label on her, whatever you want to say is wrong.

"Your Honor is wise!" Yang Hu said neither humbly nor arrogantly, "That day, it was Young Master Zhao who led his men to abduct my family's women. My family had no choice but to act. As for acupuncture, it was merely an emergency treatment technique for some acupoints, absolutely not some kind of sorcery. If Your Honor doesn't believe me, go ask Chief Wang of the city defense camp! Besides, it was my few acupuncture needles that pulled Old Master Zhou, the biggest grain merchant in your city, back from the brink of death! Everyone in the Zhou family knows about my clinic!"

These two cards just fooled Zhao Yanei.

But this time, Judge Zhao, holding his teacup, didn't even blink, and gave a cold laugh:

"Zhou Ji! Just a small merchant who buys and sells grain, and a minor captain in the city defense battalion."

He gently placed the teacup back on the table, his voice devoid of any emotion. "Doctor Yang, their reputation is utterly worthless in my eyes!"

Yang Hu's heart sank little by little.

He had long anticipated that Magistrate Zhao would be difficult to deal with, but he never expected that the two cards he could have used to leverage his power would become worthless in the old fox's hands. This was a real official, and if he really wanted to use his official authority to intimidate people, his pride simply couldn't withstand it.

The attempt to resolve the issue through personal connections failed here for the first time.

This hurdle is dozens of times more dangerous than confronting Zhao Yanei in the street.

What terrified him even more was what Judge Zhao said next.

"Speaking of which, I've heard something," Judge Zhao sat up straight, his eyes suddenly sweeping over Yang Hu's shoulder and landing on a curtain hanging in the back hall. His tone suddenly changed as he slowly said, "Doctor Yang, it seems you have quite a few beautiful daughters in your family. As for their origins... there must be something fishy about them. Today, I'd very much like to see what's going on with them!"

Yang Hu's blood suddenly turned ice-cold at that moment.

This old fox didn't come because of any hatred he felt for his son.

Over the years, he had conducted layer upon layer of covert investigations, checking household registrations, investigating the origins of women, and asking acquaintances in the capital about the identities of those missing nobles. All of this had led him to vaguely guess something. Today, he brought a group of constables, using murder and sorcery as pretexts, but in reality, he wanted to lift the curtain behind the back hall and uncover the paper window.

Yang Hu secretly placed his tightly clenched fist inside his clothes.

He recalled the 24/7 surveillance of the house across the street, the repeated undercover investigations in the west of the city, and so on. It turned out that this seemingly unassuming father had been secretly and meticulously searching this house all along. Today, he was using his son's grudge as an excuse to personally come to the door, hoping to lift the last veil of secrecy.

This old fox is far more terrifying than his unreasonable son.

The curtain in the back room trembled slightly.

Qin Ying stood behind the curtain in the back hall, one finger pressed against her waist, her fingers turning white from clenching.

Having commanded troops at the border, she could tell what murderous intent lurked beneath the official airs in the hall.

This Magistrate Zhao, he came here for her!

Lu Yan secretly covered her wrist; it was ice-cold. She quickly whispered a whole bunch of things in her ear:

Just bear with it and see how this guy deals with you!

Having worked in the Duke's mansion, she had witnessed many cunning and treacherous officials. She knew that if she were to use her dagger now, it would be tantamount to admitting her fierce reputation, which would play right into that old fox's mind!

"Um."

Lu Yan's voice rang out softly. She took a deep breath and finally suppressed the surging urge of blood.

"What?!" When Judge Zhao saw that Yang Hu refused to answer, the smile on his face immediately disappeared, and he slowly stood up.

He raised his hand and said, "Has everyone gone mute?"

"Search the entire back hall! Bring all those 'women' of unknown origin to me; I will personally question them!"

Four or five yamen runners responded and headed towards the back hall.

"Wait!"

Liu Ye had already stood in front of the hanging beaded curtain, holding a short dagger in her hand, her eyes as cold and ruthless as ice.

"Sir, this is a serious matter, not something to be taken lightly. You can't just act recklessly without any proof or rules!" Yang Hu walked to Liu Ye's side, trying to stall for time again.

"Rules for vouchers?"

The smile on Zhao Tongpan's face vanished. He slowly stood up, waved his hand, and said, "My word is law!"

Yang Hu opened his mouth to speak, but found that this time he really couldn't counter Old Zhao's beast-like official authority.

Everyone fell silent.

Silence reigned all around.

The sunlight from the snow outside shone through the door, reflecting in Judge Zhao's determined expression.

The image also came into view of Liu Ye's hand, which was positioned in front of the beaded curtain, where she gripped a short dagger.

And behind the curtain, Qin Ying's hand, gripping the hilt of her knife tightly, had veins bulging out.

Should we show it or not?

Lu was a huge calamity that brought to life the granddaughter of the Duke of Zhenguo, who should have "died" on the border. It was the black hand in the capital that wrote the entire Qin family as dead.

If Bu Lu is the one protecting her in this courtyard, then today the old fox will uproot her completely!

That was a weight of a thousand pounds, which landed on the hesitant hand behind the curtain, which had been tightly clutching the hilt of the knife.