Today, Magistrate Fang was not on duty. Assistant Magistrate Zuo and several other officials and constables were carefully discussing the latest case.
Lu Wanning asked curiously, looking around, "Why isn't Magistrate Fang on duty?"
Assistant Magistrate Zuo's eyes flickered. "Your Highness the Princess, why are you here? Magistrate Fang... well, he's not feeling well and has taken leave."
Lu Wanning frowned and asked, "Not feeling well? What's wrong with him?"
Assistant Magistrate Zuo waved his hand. "It's nothing serious. He'll be fine after a few days' rest. Why did Your Highness come?"
Lu Wanning said, "Oh, it's like this. I remembered the case of the missing girls from a while ago and came to ask when the case will be closed."
Everyone present looked at each other, and suddenly fell silent. They all looked dejected.
Only Assistant Magistrate Zuo said, "This case is rather complicated. It's being handled by Magistrate Fang. Your Highness might as well inquire with Magistrate Fang in a few days. We don't know."
Lu Wanning was displeased. "What do you mean, sir? For such a major case, is Magistrate Fang the only one handling it? If something happens to Magistrate Fang, will you all just ignore it?"
Assistant Magistrate Zuo was an older man. Being scolded by such a delicate young lady, he wasn't angry. He just lowered his head and didn't defend himself.
But a constable beside him was an impatient man. Seeing his superior being wronged, he couldn't help but speak up. "Why does Your Highness say so? Our magistrate is not ignoring the case. There are reasons for it. Moreover, if this matter didn't involve your royal family, why would we be in such a difficult situation? And why would Magistrate Fang be beaten up and unable to be on duty?"
Assistant Magistrate Zuo scolded, "A Liang, don't be rude. This is Princess Zhaoyang. How can you talk to her like this?"
Although the constable named A Liang stopped talking, the look in his eyes when he looked at Lu Wanning clearly showed dissatisfaction.
Lu Wanning didn't wait for an apology from Assistant Magistrate Zuo. She immediately left and went straight to Magistrate Fang's house.
Before the servant of the Fang family could announce her arrival, Lu Wanning stepped in. The Fang family's house wasn't very big, with three courtyards. There weren't many people either, and it looked quite elegant.
The servant who went to announce her arrival ran fast, but Lu Wanning walked quickly. He just went in, and Lu Wanning followed him into the room.
Inside the room, Magistrate Fang was groaning. Beside him was presumably his wife, carefully applying medicine to him.
Lu Wanning stepped forward, pulled away Magistrate Fang's wife's hand, and took a look. Magistrate Fang's whole face was swollen, his eyes were terribly red, and his long beard was uneven, as if it had been tugged at.
Magistrate Fang paused and stopped groaning. He said evasively, "Why has Your Highness come? I'm sorry I didn't greet you properly."
He was about to kneel down, but Lu Wanning helped him up. "Come on, don't kneel. You're badly injured. What's the point of kneeling? How did you end up like this?"
Magistrate Fang stammered, "I bumped into something..."
Who would believe that?
Magistrate Fang's wife explained tearfully, "Your Highness, it wasn't a bump. My husband didn't know who he offended. On his way home last night, he was beaten up like this..."
Lu Wanning was extremely angry and asked, "Was it Prince Xiao who did this?"
Magistrate Fang was startled and quickly shook his head. "Your Highness, you can't talk nonsense. Although I've had some disagreements with Prince Xiao recently, it's only because of official business. We have no private grudges. How could it be..."
"How couldn't it be? Magistrate Fang is just and impartial. It must be that Prince Xiao has committed evil deeds but refuses to admit his guilt and came up with such a method. Don't worry. I'm also a member of the Supreme Court now. I won't ignore this."
Lu Wanning stormed out of the house, ignoring Magistrate Fang's words of defense behind her. She quickly came up with an idea.
She took Jiyue with her and went to a teahouse. After waiting for a while, a timid-looking shopkeeper led three other people in. They knelt on the ground and didn't dare to raise their heads.
Lu Wanning asked, "Where's your boss?"
The shopkeeper quickly said, "Miss, my boss is the royal merchant, the Zhao family. The boss isn't in the shop. It may take a while before I can see the boss. May I ask your surname, miss? So that I can announce it when I see the boss..."
Seeing that he was about to raise his head, Jiyue immediately scolded, "How dare you!"
The shopkeeper didn't dare to raise his head. He crawled on the ground, shivering.
"Your storytellers here are quite good. Are these three the best?"
The shopkeeper nodded repeatedly. "Yes, miss. These three storytellers are well-known far and wide. They have excellent eloquence and tell stories vividly. Many people specifically ask for them."
The three storytellers each told a short story. Their voices and tones were indeed quite good.
Lu Wanning nodded. "Okay. I have a story here. You should adapt it and tell it to me."
Jiyue continued, "Tell the story that there have been cases of girls disappearing in the folk for a long time without being solved. There's a princess with excellent martial arts. Unable to bear the suffering of the common people, she personally acted as bait and entered the tiger's den to arrest the criminals. The princess finally discovered the truth. It turned out that it was the younger brother of the current emperor who used his power for personal gain. Regardless of the lives of the common people, he specifically kidnapped beautiful girls and forced them to do evil things. This case is intolerable to heaven. Even the emperor can't show favoritism. If the prince isn't beheaded, the people's resentment won't be appeased."
The four people kneeling on the ground were stunned. They didn't dare to move or speak.
Lu Wanning said, "Didn't you understand?"
Sweat rolled down the shopkeeper's forehead. "I... I understand..."
"If you understand, then adapt it."
The shopkeeper shook his head and said, "But this... this isn't appropriate, miss. If we adapt this story and spread it, we may really lose our heads."
Lu Wanning sneered. "You're so timid? This princess... this miss tells you to adapt it, so you should. If you dare not to, I'll have your heads right now."
The four people shivered and had no choice but to reluctantly adapt the story. They emphasized how brave the princess was. In the end, they only said that the prince was arrested and brought to justice.
Lu Wanning yawned and nodded. "Not bad. The adaptation is okay. You can go. By the end of today, this princess... er, this miss wants everyone in the capital to know about this."
The shopkeeper was relieved when he heard that they could leave. But when he heard the latter part, he wanted to cry but had no tears. After discussing outside, they finally decided to do as this noble lady, who was obviously a princess, said.
After all, they didn't know that prince, but the princess was practically holding a knife to their necks.
Jiyue asked curiously, "Your Highness, you could have concealed your identity. Why did you deliberately reveal it?"
Lu Wanning leaned back on the chair, pouting. "I feel like I've been used."
"What?"
Lu Wanning sighed. "Forget it. Being used is okay. Anyway, my goal is to find something for Father to do. Naturally, the bigger this matter gets, the better."