Zhao Jing noticed her gaze and said, "The temperature isn’t too low today. When we have a moment later, De’an and I will clear the snow off the straw and give the vegetable seedlings some air. They won’t be ready to sell before the new year, but they should be fully grown after the new year passes."

"We’ll be coming back to stay after the new year, so we’ll be able to eat them fresh then. There are a lot of us, so these seedlings should be just enough to supply us. That will also save Mom the trouble of selling them."

Zhao Jing couldn’t help but laugh. "You’re quite good at saving Mother-in-law trouble. But since you suggested it, of course she’ll agree. I’ll enjoy the perks too, then, and eat some fresh vegetables in the middle of winter."

Zhao Jing was always saying "Mother-in-law" and "Father-in-law" these days.

Chen Wanqing had gone from being uncomfortable with it at first to now being too lazy to care.

’What difference did it make what he called them?’

’If he wanted to call them Father-in-law and Mother-in-law, then let him. Besides, her parents loved to hear it. It was like the story of Zhou Yu and Huang Gai—a charade where both parties were willing participants. It had nothing to do with her, so she wasn’t going to get involved.’

It was nearing noon, but Chen Song still hadn’t returned, and the catered meal hadn’t been delivered either.

So Zhao Jing called De’an and Yao’an, and the three of them went to the backyard together. They cleared the snow from the straw coverings and lifted the straw to let the seedlings get some sun.

After the meal, they would have to quickly cover them with straw again. The temperature was still low, after all, and they couldn’t let these little seedlings, which they had worked so hard to keep alive, freeze to death.

By the time the three of them finished this task, the catered meal had arrived, and Chen Song had returned as well.

Chen Song was covered in dust, his eyes ringed with dark circles, but his expression was energized, and he seemed to be in high spirits.

The family sat down to eat. They didn’t observe the rule of "no talking during meals," as everyone was curious about the progress of the case, and Chen Song naturally had to satisfy his wife and children’s curiosity.

"One of the men is named Guan San, and the other is Dong Kui."

Guan San was the coachman, and Dong Kui was the man who had been sitting inside the carriage.

They were about the same age, in their forties or fifties, with brawny builds. When they smiled, they looked as gentle as a Bodhisattva on a shrine. But when they got vicious, even the most timid constables at the county government were afraid of them.

They were truly ruthless. Not only did they have daggers hidden in their boots, but they also had sleeve arrows strapped to their arms. They lost the sleeve arrows in a ditch in the locust tree forest; otherwise, the constables would have surely shed some blood trying to subdue them today.

As they were utterly vicious criminals, the business they conducted was, naturally, one that provoked universal outrage.

It was just as Xu Su Ying had guessed—they were indeed human traffickers.

What they did was search for good-looking young boys and girls, or young women in the prime of their youth, and send them one by one to the south.

In the south, relationships between men were in vogue. Coupled with the abundance of scholars and aesthetes, the trade in young virgins was considered a fashionable pursuit. Whether it be young boys, girls, or maidens in their prime, they all served a single purpose once they arrived: to wait upon the "nobility."

Dong Kui and his men had been in this line of business for decades. One can only imagine how many young men and women they had victimized.

As for why they were rushing to the Prefecture overnight, it was to meet with their contacts there.

Their contacts in the Prefecture had acquired a new batch of "prime goods." If they didn’t go, someone else would get there first. So, despite knowing the dangers of traveling on a snowy night, they went anyway. After all, "men die for wealth as birds die for food." For a fortune that was within their grasp, a little risk was worth it.

In the end, perhaps even Heaven couldn’t stand their evil deeds and decided to strike them down so suddenly.

Chen Song spoke with righteous indignation, and the others at the table listened, sighing in dismay.

However, there was still something they didn’t understand.

Yao’an asked, "Father, those are terrible villains. There’s no way they’d just answer whatever you asked. Did you use torture?"

Shoveling rice into his mouth, Chen Song retorted, "What do you think? If they looked innocent, the County Magistrate isn’t an unreasonable man. He’d certainly conduct a proper interrogation to clear their names. But those two pulled out daggers and nearly stabbed my brothers. How could we show them any mercy?"

Once they were brought to the county government, before the County Magistrate even had a chance to question them, his brothers got to work.

They started with the most severe method: "pasting the sheepskin paper." When their lives were truly on the line, they couldn’t afford any more reservations and just spilled everything.

"To prevent them from lying or hiding anything, we also interrogated them separately. And just as we expected, Guan San was more forthright, while Dong Kui was very cunning and refused to say a word about the most critical matters. If we hadn’t used a combination of trickery and torture, we wouldn’t have gotten the information this quickly."