Hammer in her left hand, sword in her right, the eldest sister is connected to both worlds.

Chapter 201 It can't be the Lin Yun County Government Office.

Xue Lan wanted to see the middle-aged woman, and Ming Cheng readily agreed, quickly bringing the woman to Xue Lan's front.

The middle-aged woman was among the first to be hoisted up. She had been unconscious due to Xue Lan's spell, but had now woken up.

His seemingly honest face was covered in red marks, especially his cheeks, where two bright red handprints were swollen, making him look particularly pitiful.

Xue Lan had just been wondering if she was not skilled enough to wake this person up so quickly, but now she realized that she hadn't woken up naturally, but had been whipped awake.

This constable's subordinate was a man of great kindness and chivalry, and Xue Lan liked him very much.

The middle-aged woman, still dazed from being slapped, was somewhat disoriented even now, standing before Xue Lan. It took her a while to make out the person in front of her.

"So it was you, you little slut... Ah!"

The middle-aged woman looked at the thin, blind man in front of her and struggled to speak, but before she could finish a sentence, her already swollen cheek was slapped again.

Before anyone could react, Xue Tong slowly shook his hand.

"You're so shameless! My hand hurts from hitting you!" The young girl stunned the middle-aged woman, her tone full of bewildered malice.

She held out her hand to Xue Lan: "Sister, the whip!"

Xue Lan smiled knowingly and, without saying a word, took out a rolled-up whip from her sleeve.

This whip was issued by Xue Lan when he was working in the Enforcement Hall of the Xuanhuang Sect after Ling Yuanzi ran away.

As everyone knows, the most troublesome members of the Xuanhuang Sect are the sword cultivators of Xuanling Peak, and sword cultivators are generally quite thick-skinned. Therefore, the elders of the Enforcement Hall put a lot of effort into this whip, making it a thin whip covered with barbs, which looks particularly terrifying.

Xue Tong took the whip, shook it, and held it directly in front of the middle-aged woman's eyes.

Seeing the woman's face filled with fear, the crowd hurriedly retreated.

"What are you trying to do? The adults won't let you get away with this!"

Xue Lan keenly caught the "adult" in the man's words, and slowly raised her hand with narrowed eyes.

Xue Tong stopped in her tracks and looked up at Xue Lan.

The girl spoke slowly: "My lord? Which lord?"

The middle-aged woman finally realized that she had said something she shouldn't have in her fear, and she lowered her head and remained silent.

Xue Lan didn't press for answers, but instead asked Ming Cheng, "Miss Ming, where will these children be sent next?"

Mingcheng's expression changed slightly, as if he had pondered for a moment. Ultimately, he decided to tell the truth:

"In any case, it won't be the Linyun County government office."

Xue Lan nodded. She had expected this. First, she had overheard a conversation between two slave traders in the county town, in which they said that several constables were from Shaoyi County.

Furthermore, none of the helpers around him are government officials.

Xue Lan glanced to her side, and Xue Tong immediately understood what Xue Lan meant.

The young girl stepped forward and kicked the middle-aged woman in the chest with all her might. The middle-aged woman fainted before she could even scream.

Xue Lan wondered if she had corrupted someone else's child. Xue Tong's current behavior was just like that of a bandit in the mountains.

The girl sighed: "You gentlemen refuse to hand these children over to the Linyun County government office. Is there... some kind of disagreement?"

Xue Lan's question was veiled, but what could possibly be the conflict between constables and government officials? It was nothing more than a matter of power and greed.

Mingcheng nodded in agreement: "The young lady is intelligent!"

The Dali Dynasty's territory was smaller than that of the Da Shun Dynasty, encompassing only ten prefectures including the border regions. Yet, even the prefectural government couldn't be relied upon for this very matter of harvesting and killing animals. It's truly a case of a thousand-mile dike collapsing due to an ant hole.

Xue Lan didn't ask any further questions, but Ming Cheng still arranged for someone to explain the matter to Xue Lan.

This person was none other than the coroner, Cao Yike.

“We are constables from Shaoyi County. Two years ago, we cooperated with Linyun County on a case involving the mutilation of a child. In the end, we caught the person in Linyun County and handed the person and child over to the Linyun County government.”

"And then something changed?"

Cao Yike didn't seem like someone from the government; he spoke in a light and cheerful tone. But after Xue Lan spoke, his tone suddenly changed: "The practice of kidnapping and mutilating children was rampant even when the late emperor was still alive. Our Ming family was kidnapped by human traffickers and rescued and adopted by the old constable. At that time, the people of Linyun County told the old constable that all those children had been found and returned to their owners."

"But last year, the old constable returned to his hometown in his old age and saw one of the children in Jiulin County, which is under the jurisdiction of Shaoyi County..."

The elderly constable thought all the children he had saved had returned home safely, but in his hometown he found children with severed tendons in their hands and feet, begging on the streets.

Enraged, he went to the Linyun County government office to demand an explanation, but was given the runaround and told that the children had been abducted twice.

"Forty-six children, the old man handed them over to the Linyun County government, but now eight of them are being persecuted by human traffickers and are no longer human or ghosts! He dragged his old body around and finally died in the snow last year."

Xue Tong noticed that Cao Yike's eyes were a little red and her fists were clenched.

Xue Lan nodded: "I understand."

"Then may I ask, Brother Cao, what will happen to these children if they are not handed over to the Linyun County government?"

Cao Yike composed herself and pointed to the muscular men around her: "These brothers all come from the largest merchant guild in the Great Li Dynasty—the Qianyun Merchant Guild."

"Hua Niangzi, the head of the Qianyun Chamber of Commerce, please help us send them home."

Just as Cao Yike finished speaking, the sound of horses' hooves came from the distant mountain road.

Everyone looked in that direction and saw a long convoy of carriages parked at the foot of the mountain. A woman dressed in red rode a chestnut horse, galloping towards them.

Cao Yike said to Xue Lan, "Hua Niangzi is here!"

Xue Tong saw the woman fly to the crowd like a red cloud, dismount gracefully, and remove her veil as she walked towards them.

As the veil on her face was removed, Xue Tong opened her mouth wide.

The young girl looked at Xue Lan, then at the flower maid in front of her.

No one else had ever seen Xue Lan's dark eyes, but Xue Tong had. The woman in front of him looked about 80% similar to Xue Lan when she had dark eyes.

The little girl looked at Xue Lan's face in a bit of a panic and found that his appearance had changed just now. His originally round almond eyes had been elongated under the effect of the magic, making him look like Ji Jinjin.

"So this is Lady Hua!" Xue Lan murmured softly.

In Xue Lan's eyes, an exceptionally solid causal line extended from his fingertips, connecting him to the Flower Maiden in front of him.

It is a kinship.