Transmigrated as a Stepmother: Time to Bring the Family to Prosper!-Chapter 357: Unyielding Integrity

Bringing along the elderly doctor who was moved deeply, Liu Ji and his wife returned home, arranged for his stay, and found themselves alone in the courtyard.

Liu Ji looked at Qin Yao’s cold eyes and tentatively spoke, "Wife, are you and Ah Wang planning to deal with those people..."

He gestured by raising his hand to his neck, tilting his head, mimicking a "cut-off" motion.

Seeing Qin Yao remain silent, Liu Ji was already certain, and silently lit a row of candles in his heart for them.

"Wife, is there anything I can do?" Today’s events had truly angered Liu Ji, and for once he was eager to show the children that their father was not a coward!

Indeed, there was.

Qin Yao beckoned, asking him to lean closer. As Liu Ji did so, the more he listened, the more he frowned, "This... this isn’t right, is it?"

She wanted him to cause a scene at the pawnshop’s entrance to lure out the person behind the scenes, risking his life with just one slip!

Seeing his timid demeanor, Qin Yao gestured dismissively, "If you can’t do it, then forget it. I didn’t expect you to be of much help anyway."

With that, leaving a look of disdain, she turned to leave.

Her hand was suddenly grabbed.

Impatiently glancing back, Qin Yao asked, "Do you want to die?"

Liu Ji quickly released her hand, raising his chin defiantly, "Alright, I’ll do it!"

Qin Yao’s lips curled into a smile—the provocative tactic worked.

Liu Ji grabbed Qin Yao again, but this time by the sleeve, advising with concern, "But you must appear in time. If they want to kill me, I can’t hold on, wife..."

Qin Yao raised her hand to stop him, patting his shoulder, "Don’t worry, I promise you won’t get beaten this time; I’ll personally follow you."

Liu Ji let out a long sigh of relief, "You should’ve said so earlier. With you behind me, wife, I’m at ease."

Still a bit frightened, Liu Ji weakly suggested, "Or maybe Wife should discreetly handle them. If I cause a scene like this, won’t it expose us?"

Qin Yao shook her finger and, folding her arms, questioned him, "Do you know what’s most important when wandering in the Jianghu?"

Testingly, Liu Ji answered, "Money?"

"Wrong," Qin Yao replied coldly, "It’s reputation, a fierce name!"

"I want to treat them the same way they treated us. They act so arrogantly because they think we have no witnesses or evidence, and that even reporting to the authorities is useless. Since that’s the case, I’ll let them experience the feeling of having no recourse."

She wanted them to know it was her handiwork, yet unable to do anything about it.

Also, to make Wang Mawu and his kind reconsider thoroughly before touching her interests, wondering if they have what it takes to challenge her!

Qin Yao sneered lightly, "What’s a tyrant? I am the tyrant!"

Liu Ji widened his eyes, staring at the domineering woman in front of him, thinking to himself that she was even scarier than a tyrant!

Yet after hearing these words from this fierce woman, he felt his blood boil and was itching to try.

The night passed peacefully, and the sun rose, making for a rare sunny day.

Ah Wang had gotten up early, waiting for Qin Yao to order him to kill the opponent.

Unexpectedly, after Qin Yao saw off the children, she calmly asked him for a bottle of smiling half-step madness.

The previous bottle Qin Yao hadn’t used, but that amount wasn’t enough; she needed another bottle.

Liu Ji had already set off, driving the ox cart himself, and had conveniently sent the elderly doctor back to Jinshi Town.

By now, he was likely nearing the county. As soon as the city gates opened, he was to complete his task of causing trouble at the pawnshop entrance.

Of course, before Qin Yao, his bodyguard, was in place, he would keep things within limits to avoid being beaten to death.

To date, no one had dared to cause a ruckus at the pawnshop entrance. Thinking about being the first, Liu Ji was a little excited.

Back to Qin Yao, seeing she only asked for medicine and had no intention of assigning him any assassination task, Ah Wang showed a rare expression of surprise.

He earnestly said, "I’ll go, it’ll be quick."

Killing was his specialty, and he could leave no trace.

Qin Yao shook her head, "Once done, it still leaves traces. You’re no longer the Death Warrior of Prince Feng Mansion. I have another plan for this. Your task now is to stay home and supervise, helping me watch over Da Lang and the others."

Qin Yao extended her hand again, "Give me the medicine, if I don’t set off soon, your master will be killed."

Ah Wang stared at her for a moment, then hesitantly handed over the anesthetic powder, which he had recently prepared and intended for Qin Yao as an essential travel item.

Qin Yao raised the medicine bottle generously, "I’ll treat you to candied haw after this."

Ah Wang licked the corner of his lips, a hint of anticipation in his eyes. He hadn’t had candied haw before; Si Niang said it was delicious, so it probably really was.

Qin Yao found a wooden basin, tossed the prepared linen bag inside, stuffed cotton into her nostrils, and then poured both bottles of smiling half-step madness over it, evenly spreading it on every corner of the linen bag.

After a moment, she rolled up the processed linen bag into a wide-mouthed clay pot, covered it with a lid, slipped it into a mesh bag, hung it on the horse’s back, and waved to Ah Wang, lightly shouting "Giddyup!" and headed towards the county.

When Qin Yao rode over the bridge, Mute and others were just about to go to her place for work. They exchanged glances, assuming she was going out to discuss business, without knowing that from today onwards, Jin Chan Chu, one of the three evils of Kaiyang County, would be removed from the list of evils.

When Qin Yao arrived in the county, the sun was shining brightly, illuminating the bustling streets in a peaceful scene.

However, she wasn’t in the mood to admire it, as she headed into a small alley near the pawnshop, lightly leapt up, grabbed onto the rooftop with one hand, exerting some force, and reached the top of the building.

The view became expansive, with the surrounding courtyards in full view. In broad daylight, no one was on guard, and no one even looked up. Qin Yao brazenly walked on the rooftops, reaching the top of a shop diagonally opposite the pawnshop and crouched down, watching Liu Ji standing at the pawnshop door, being pulled by three or four shop assistants.

She arrived just in time; Liu Ji had already attracted a crowd of onlookers. Although the three or four assistants tried to grab him, by agile movements, he kept maneuvering around them, angrily shouting:

"Others may fear you, Jin Chan Chu, but I, Liu Ji, am not afraid of you! You, who prey upon the townsfolk, kill, set fires, bully men and women, commit all kinds of evil, should be thrown into the deepest jail!"

"Everyone, come and see, Scholar Ding’s family in Jinshi Town has a hundred mu of high-quality farmland. They wanted to sell it for eight hundred taels of silver, but these villains tried to buy it for one hundred taels. When they refused, they killed someone on their land and threw the body there, forcing them for months without being able to sell..."

"In the end, my family bought Scholar Ding’s land at the original price. It should’ve been a good thing, but these villains got furious because we bought the land they wanted, and sent a dozen thugs last evening—a dozen!—to surround our children, not even ten years old, beating them and threatening to kill—monstrous behavior!"

Liu Ji’s eyes were red with emotion as he accused, his hair disheveled, clothed in thin, coarse cloth, standing upright in October’s cold, embodying the stubborn, unyielding scholar, instantly igniting the anger of the surrounding crowd, pointing at the pawnshop assistants.

The government officers called by the pawnshop manager, seeing this scene, couldn’t help but look at him with admiration.

Unyielding, fearless of tyrants—a truly steely man!

Unfortunately, having offended Jin Chan Chu, even though they admired him, they still had to drag him away and throw him out of the city.