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Her body began to tremble, and pain and grief left her sobbing too hard to speak.

Shen Lantang felt awful too, especially since that man surnamed Lin had actually told her he wanted to marry her. It filled her with a visceral disgust she could not suppress.

But—

"Do you remember how long ago you were abducted?"

"I can't remember clearly, but it shouldn't have been more than ten days. I remember the beginning clearly, but over the last few days, he kept feeding me sedatives. I was so groggy that I can't remember."

"All right, all right. Don't be afraid. Now that we've rescued you, we certainly won't throw you back into that nightmare. Rest here, and when morning comes, we'll find a way to contact your family."

Zhu Keying nodded through her tears.

Shen Lantang offered her a few more words of comfort, then left the room.

Xie Jin and Wu You stood in the courtyard. Though the door had been between them, they had heard everything.

Wu You's face was full of anger, while something more complicated and more sinister had settled over Xie Jin's.

"It seems Prefect Lin, Magistrate Zhang, and Gentry Liu have formed a chain," Wu You said. "Magistrate Zhang handles all their dirty business for them. Judging by how practiced they were today, this clearly wasn't their first time."

Shen Lantang said, "We can get testimony from the people who were arrested. As long as we bring this into the light of day, neither Magistrate Zhang nor Prefect Lin will get away, right?"

Xie Jin nodded solemnly.

Shen Lantang breathed a sigh of relief. "Good. It took some effort, but at least we can root out two malignant tumors."

It was already very late. Zhu Keying was settled in Brother Wu's quarters, with