Royal Gold Magistrate

After finishing his arrangement, Fang Zheng glanced at Wei Shan’s crotch.

He then walked to the table, picked up a teacup, and smiled, “Excellent! This official shall drink with you all today! May tomorrow’s endeavors be successful!”

“Good! We’ll take Lord Fang’s auspicious words!” everyone responded in unison, then drank their tea in big gulps.

Fang Zheng also drained his cup in one go, then suddenly smashed it!

The room instantly fell silent. Everyone looked at Fang Zheng, two words popping into their minds.

Idiot.

Did he think he was giving a signal to start a rebellion?

The next second, they saw Fang Zheng suddenly spring into action! He kicked Wei Shan in the crotch without hesitation!

At the same time, he punched Wei Shan in the throat!

Caught off guard, Wei Shan immediately howled in pain, clutching his crotch as he fell to the ground, coughing incessantly.

Then the door *Bang!* burst open with a loud crash, and a group of burly men charged in fiercely!

Everyone’s thoughts couldn’t keep up. They had been looking at Fang Zheng, then instantly turned towards the door, nearly twisting their necks.

Then they heard Fang Zheng shout, “Nobody move! I have a hostage!”

Everyone immediately turned back!

They saw that Liu Xun had already been pinned face-down on the table by Fang Zheng, his arms twisted behind his back.

People realized something was wrong and turned back, but it was too late.

They watched as the group of burly men, each holding a thick hemp rope, rushed up to them, tied them up tightly, and stuffed cloth gags in their mouths.

In an instant, everyone in the room had been subdued.

Seeing that the situation was under control and everything was going according to plan, Fang Zheng breathed a sigh of relief.

Liu Xun, pinned beneath him, shouted frantically, “Fang Zheng! What are you doing? Have you gone mad? You’re harming an imperial official?!”

“Let me go! Release this prefect immediately, you’re digging your own grave!!”

Fang Zheng sneered, “Imperial official? Hah, I see you treating human life as grass! This official came to Jianjiang on His Majesty’s orders to provide disaster relief, only to stumble upon such a massive case of corruption. It’s your unlucky day! Zhang Biao!!”

Hearing this, Zhang Biao strode over to Fang Zheng with a hemp rope, quickly tying up Liu Xun’s upper body.

Then he delivered two powerful kicks, breaking both of Liu Xun’s legs.

Before Liu Xun could wail, a large cloth gag was stuffed into his mouth, making his eyes roll back.

On the ground, Wei Shan was still clutching his crotch and screaming hoarsely.

Zhang Biao frowned upon seeing this: “This one has some martial arts skills!”

He then delivered two more kicks, breaking Wei Shan’s legs as well.

Fang Zheng watched with a furrowed brow. Too violent! This was too violent! Not civilized at all!

Unfortunately, Zhang Biao moved too quickly. By the time Fang Zheng wanted to say something, Wei Shan had already been tied up and gagged.

Suddenly, the room was filled with muffled sounds. The rest of the uninjured people looked at Fang Zheng in terror.

Fang Zheng surveyed the scene, seeing the faces of the people from Taoyuan County beaming with happy smiles, their eyes shining with excitement.

This is youth!!

He couldn’t help but feel moved. As expected of the people I, Fang Zheng, have trained!

How many years has it been since we’ve done this? Their skills haven’t rusted at all!

“Is everything prepared?”

Zhang Biao shouted, “The sacks and carts are ready!”

Fang Zheng regained his former confidence, waving his hand grandly, “Prepare to load them up!”

Everyone simultaneously untied the sacks from their waists, smoothly slipping the bound people into them, then tightening the openings.

Then, each person dragged two sacks and began going downstairs to load the carts.

At the top of the stairs, there was a series of *thud thud thud thud thud* as the sacks were dragged down.

Downstairs, looking at the several fully loaded carts, Fang Zheng waved his hand again.

“Take them to the pleasure boat. I’ll interrogate them properly tonight.”

“A few more of you, go to my residence. There are still some people locked in the woodshed and bedroom. Give them some silver and let them go!”

“Zhang Biao, come with me to escort the prisoners back to the pleasure boat!”

Several people acknowledged the order, then Fang Zheng and his group boarded the carts and set off towards the Cheng Lake pleasure boat.

…

Lian Gui and the others, following their orders, headed towards Fang’s residence.

At this time, Hong Yao and Lu Liu, the two maids locked in the woodshed, were crying out in vain.

Early in the morning, Fang Zheng had gone mad for some reason, calling them into the room one by one, saying he wanted to play a little game.

Having witnessed Zhou Dahai’s miserable state, the two women had a bad premonition, but under Fang Zheng’s tyrannical pressure, they had no choice but to submit.

They saw him produce a bundle of red rope from somewhere and tie them up one after another in a turtle shell binding, just like Zhou Dahai’s.

Fang Zheng was naturally a pure, kind-hearted good youth. These binding techniques were all summarized from years of kidnapping experience and had absolutely nothing to do with any Eastern videos.

Fortunately, Fang Zheng still showed some consideration for the fairer sex. He didn’t use the same hemp rope as Zhou Dahai’s, but thoughtfully switched to red cotton rope, which was much softer and more comfortable than hemp.

The strange binding method hadn’t seemed like much on Zhou Dahai, but when the rope was tied on their own bodies, it became extraordinarily lewd.

The parts that should protrude became even more prominent.

The two women felt both ashamed and angry. They had originally thought Fang Zheng was going to hang them up and whip them, but instead, he carried them to the woodshed, which made them feel even more humiliated.

Although you like men, surely we two have some charm!

In the dark woodshed, they didn’t know how much time had passed. The two women grew increasingly panicked, and the ropes on their bodies became increasingly unbearable.

Suddenly, the door opened, and dazzling sunlight poured in.

Several tall men stood backlit, their faces unclear.

They heard the leader say, “It’s these two. Only the master would tie them like this.”

The leader then stepped forward, crouched down, and untied the ropes on the two women.

Then they heard the men in front of them start to talk.

“Brother Gui, these two girls must be spies sent by the prefect, right?”

“Mm, definitely. Otherwise, the master wouldn’t have tied them up.”

Lian Gui looked at Hong Yao and Lu Liu kneeling on the ground, took out two silver notes from his sleeve, and threw them down: “Go on, this is the severance pay from Master Fang. Spend it however you like. You have no more connection to the Fang household.”

Hong Yao and Lu Liu looked at the silver notes fluttering to the ground, then at each other, their eyes filled with confusion.

The prefect’s spies… master.

So he knew everything all along?

Hong Yao hesitantly said, “I… we slaves can’t leave. The prefect sent us to serve Master Fang. If we leave rashly, we’ll be beaten to death when we return.”

Lu Liu nodded vigorously in agreement.

Lian Gui sneered, “The prefect? There’s no more prefect in Jianjiang now! There’s only one Master Fang!”

“If you have indenture contracts or anything like that with the prefect, don’t worry. Since Master Fang said to release you, he’ll help resolve all of that. Any more questions?”

The two women’s eyes widened, hardly believing their ears.

Hong Yao asked in a trembling voice, “How can there be no prefect?”

“He’s dead!”

“What!” Both women raised their heads simultaneously, their eyes filled with shock.

Dead? Does that mean… they no longer had to be tormented by that disgusting old man… they were free?

Thinking of how they had been abused by that old bastard since they were young, and then sent around by him, now that scum had suddenly died?

Hong Yao and Lu Liu couldn’t help but tear up. They knelt properly and kowtowed: “We… thank Master Fang.”

…