The servant standing beside the man understood the meaning in his master’s eyes. He stepped forward, his tone hostile.
“Where did these outsiders come from? Don’t they know the slightest bit of etiquette?”
Several servants strode over to Ji Zhaoxi and the others’ table, glaring at them.
The innkeeper and waiter huddled in a corner and exchanged a glance. It seemed these outsiders were about to get beaten up.
Xu Ancheng watched the scene, his expression turning extremely grim. Was this what Magistrate Li meant by the simple and honest local customs?
This man was so arrogant that the moment he came downstairs, not a single other patron in the restaurant dared to speak. It was clear just how much influence he wielded in Pingyuan County.
“May I ask who this gentleman is?” Xu Ancheng asked, his brows tightly furrowed.
As soon as he heard Xu Ancheng’s question, the servant shouted, “How dare you! Is our master’s name something outsiders like you are entitled to ask about?”
The man behind them looked utterly gloomy. The servant beside him wiped the sweat from his forehead and cut off the one in front.
“Stop wasting your breath on them. Hurry up and teach them a lesson!”
Just beat them up already. Why say so much and waste your breath?
In the corner, the innkeeper sighed in despair. After this fight, she would have to buy another set of tables and chairs.
Those people would beat someone up, dust off their hands, and walk away.
Qin Qiwu was angered by them as well. She stood up and said, “On what grounds are you attacking people? Do you have any regard for the law?”
“Who cares about the law? In Pingyuan County, our master is the law!”
Several burly servants charged straight at them. Just as one of them was about to lay a hand on Qin Qiwu, a sharp cry suddenly rang out.
“Ahhhhhhh—”
Ji Zhaoxi seized the man’s wrist and twisted hard. The servant’s face instantly went white.
“Please, ma’am, I was wrong! Please, ma’am…”
No one had seen how Ji Zhaoxi had moved. The nearby patrons hurriedly hid in a corner, terrified that they might get caught up in the fight.
Cries of pain rang through the restaurant. One servant clutched his arm and wept bitterly, while another covered his groin, his face shifting from green to white before he collapsed to the floor.
Before long, all the servants had fallen one after another. Ji Zhaoxi cast a disdainful glance at Fu Xianyan beside her and tossed him into the corner at the back.
The patrons hiding there kindly made room for him.
“You… you… you…”
The fat-bellied master was so frightened that he could barely remain seated. When he rose too quickly, he nearly fell flat on his face.
“You… you… you…” Ji Zhaoxi mimicked him. “What about you?”
The fat-bellied master: “…”
He looked at Ji Zhaoxi’s mocking expression and was nearly furious enough to explode. Pointing at her, he turned the color of pig liver.
“You… you… this is… this is outrageous!”
Ji Zhaoxi clapped the dust from her hands, then kicked away the servant at her feet. The man rolled along with the force of the kick and went tumbling out of the restaurant.
He was the first to escape!
The others sprawled on the floor watched in silence as the servant rolled out of the restaurant.
What a sly one. If they had known, they would have taken the chance to roll out too…
Ji Zhaoxi walked toward the fat-bellied master one step at a time. Completely panicked, the master shouted as he hid behind his servants.
“What are you waiting for? Charge her! Useless fools, get up and attack!”
The innkeeper watched Ji Zhaoxi with pleading eyes, hoping that when this female hero threw people around, she would throw them onto the floor.
She really did not want to spend money on new tables.
Qin Qiwu checked Ji Zhaoxi over to see whether she had suffered any fresh injuries, then frowned at the people across from them.
“Do you usually treat the people of Pingyuan County this way?”
What kind of local bully was this?
Hiding behind his servants, the master shouted, “Hurry and send someone to fetch the authorities! Outsiders have come here to cause trouble!”
As he spoke, someone quietly slipped out of the restaurant.
Xu Ancheng’s expression also turned somewhat grim. “Perfect. We would like to see how the authorities in Pingyuan County handle cases. We outsiders have been bullied on our very first day here.”
The innkeeper glanced at Ji Zhaoxi and the others. Their bearing was extraordinary, especially the woman carrying a sword beside them.
Could they be… bandits from some mountain stronghold?
She had such a strong bandit air about her!
The other patrons in the restaurant quietly slipped away. The innkeeper put on a smile and tried to smooth things over.
“Esteemed guests, this master meant no harm…”
Before she could finish, Ji Zhaoxi suddenly slammed her sword down on the table and said with sudden realization, “So you’re all in this together!”
The innkeeper jumped in fright and hurriedly waved her hands. “Miss, you’ve misunderstood! I’m only a businesswoman!”
Ji Zhaoxi looked at the dishes on the table and frowned. “But my stomach feels awful.”
Qin Qiwu’s expression changed. “There’s poison in the food!”
The innkeeper nearly fainted from fright. “How could there be poison? Please don’t joke about something like that.”
Poison was expensive! She would never waste money buying it.
Xu Ancheng frowned and examined Ji Zhaoxi’s pulse. Qin Qiwu was terribly worried.
“Miss Ji, where exactly do you feel uncomfortable?”
Ji Zhaoxi thought about all the food she had just eaten and felt the pain in her stomach growing worse. A cold sweat broke out across her forehead.
Pointing at her stomach, she said weakly, “It hurts here. It feels swollen and hard, as if something is pressing upward and making it difficult to breathe. There’s also something rising up inside…”
As she spoke, her eyes began to redden.
What a poisonous restaurant!
She had actually been poisoned.
The innkeeper’s eyes reddened with panic as well. “Miss, did you eat something somewhere else? We really didn’t put any poison in your food!”
The other patrons hiding nearby grew alarmed when they saw this. They had eaten here too. Could the food really have been poisoned?
Fu Xianyan looked at Ji Zhaoxi’s pale face and frowned. He placed his fingertips against the pulse point on her wrist.
Ji Zhaoxi glanced at the innkeeper, who looked as if she were about to cry, then at Fu Xianyan, whose brows were tightly knitted.
“Fu Xianyan, so it was you after all. I knew it…”
Fu Xianyan withdrew his hand. He looked at Ji Zhaoxi’s accusing expression and fell silent for a moment.
“This is a slippery pulse, the sign of a full stomach.”
Seeing Ji Zhaoxi already preparing to deliver her last words, a trace of amusement entered his voice.
“Miss Ji, how many hu bing flatbreads did you just eat?”
Ji Zhaoxi fell silent.
Qin Qiwu let out a sigh of relief. She rubbed Ji Zhaoxi’s stomach, then nodded at Xu Ancheng.
The innkeeper wiped the sweat from her forehead.
Miss Ji was far too suspicious!
The constables from the authorities had arrived. Xu Ancheng went outside. At first, he had planned to reason with them, but the constables ignored him completely and prepared to arrest them.
He had no choice but to take out the token in his hand.
The constables’ expressions changed at once, awkwardness spreading across their faces.
Ji Zhaoxi watched from the side while sipping hot tea. “I told you the constables here don’t care about reason.”
Qin Qiwu lowered her head awkwardly.
Miss Ji was right.
Before this, she and Young Master Xu had always felt that producing the token would be an abuse of power…
Ji Zhaoxi was very familiar with this sort of thing. Her father was exactly that kind of person. He was always bullying others by relying on his lack of education, and he was notoriously fond of currying favor with the powerful.
She herself was famously a little snob.
