Chapter 50

Fifty, It's Already Over!

"Investigate! It must be thoroughly investigated! Our Longcheng County is absolutely not a place outside the law!"

Magistrate Ouyang Rong slapped the nanmu official desk, making a "bang-bang" sound.

Wang Caozhi, Shopkeeper Ma, and the other grain merchants felt their eyelids jump along with the brush rack on the table.

It was the same familiar place.

It was the same familiar face.

It was the same familiar tone.

It was just a bit hard on the table.

But the young magistrate was actually slapping the table with his hand hidden beneath his sleeve; otherwise, his flesh and blood couldn't possibly make such a sound on a nanmu table. He discovered that this thing was actually quite useful. No wonder he often saw the magistrates in TV dramas slapping it—it really was a stress-relief artifact.

"It is simply outrageous! Within the borders of our Longcheng, burning ships in public—is there still any imperial law? Is there still any justice?"

Magistrate Ouyang Rong suddenly raised his hand, poised to slam the table, and the grain merchants below the dais collectively and subconsciously leaned back. However, this time they waited for a long while, but the expected sound never came.

Taking a look, the young magistrate had raised his right hand high, only to gently place it back down, and turned his head to ask the blue-clad constable... what a top-tier feint.

"Constable Yan, were there any casualties this time?"

"Reporting to the Magistrate, only two boatmen suffered minor burns. Everyone else was skilled in the water and jumped ship to escape in time. Fortunately, the grain ships weren't far out, and our men arrived early, so there were no other casualties."

"That's good. It's a blessing in misfortune; as long as the people are fine, it's fine."

"My Lord, but my grain is gone!" It would have been better if something had happened to the people.

Shopkeeper Ma gritted his teeth and gripped his prayer beads tightly, his heart dripping with blood.

Wang Caozhi and the others saw that the string of the prayer beads in his hand had been snapped, but they didn't feel much empathy; instead, their expressions hid a bit of schadenfreude.

"Shopkeeper Ma, calm down." Magistrate Ouyang Rong offered a word of comfort, then asked the blue-clad constable again: "Both grain ships caught fire at the same time; if this is a coincidence, it's too coincidental. Has it been determined who committed arson?"

"The boatmen who were rescued all said they didn't see how the ships caught fire. The fire first spread from the grain storage hold, and later, finding they couldn't extinguish it, they abandoned the ships and jumped into the river..."

Shopkeeper Ma gritted his teeth and interrupted: "They didn't even try to save the fire, only knowing how to run away—they are all a bunch of ungrateful wolves!"

Wang Caozhi sighed and said a fair word: "Shopkeeper Ma, perhaps they did their best. After all, anyone in that environment, with the ship on fire, would be quite panicked..." He paused, as if remembering something, and added: "Besides, they hadn't even eaten."

"Did their best, my foot!"

Shopkeeper Ma stood up abruptly, his prayer beads scattering all over the floor, his face full of indignation:

"Not a single person died, and they dare to say they did their best?! The people from both ships ran back, but only my grain is gone. There is definitely something fishy, something fishy!

His eyes turned red, and he addressed the head of the hall: "Magistrate, you must uphold justice for this commoner! You must investigate this to the end."

Magistrate Ouyang Rong raised his hand in a gesture to calm him, his expression serious: "Shopkeeper Ma, don't be anxious yet."

He turned his head and said to Yan Yan Liulang: "To be able to commit arson and burn grain without anyone noticing, either there is a mole among the boatmen, or... someone with excellent swimming skills took advantage of the night to sneak onto the ships and do it."

"It's also possible there was a mole providing assistance!" Shopkeeper Ma was a habitual interrupter.

Magistrate Ouyang Rong glanced at him and nodded, "Hmm, that is indeed possible. We must investigate from both sides. Constable Yan, this matter concerns the shipping safety of our Butterfly Creek; it must be handled with the utmost seriousness!"

"Yes!"

Yan Yan Liulang bowed with his usual expression, but just as he retreated, a clamor suddenly came from the main courtyard of the county office. Soon, Yan Yan Liulang returned to the main hall with an old merchant with a goat beard who looked utterly dejected.

It was Shopkeeper Li, who had been absent today.

Wang Caozhi and the small grain merchants beside him looked over with curious expressions.

Over the past two days, the grain storage of Shopkeeper Ma and Shopkeeper Li had been the first to be cleared, and both were busy transporting grain, having no contact with their colleagues, nor was there anything worth contacting about. After all, they had just torn off their masks in front of the young magistrate not long ago, fighting and grabbing.

Shopkeeper Ma's warehouse at the pier was the first to be cleared, and he had impatiently loaded the ships and left yesterday evening.

As for Shopkeeper Li, it was only last night that a warehouse storing over nine hundred shi of grain was cleared. However, Shopkeeper Li seemed to have heard of Shopkeeper Ma's encounter and learned his lesson, choosing not to transport grain in the middle of the night, opting to leave the city in broad daylight, abandoning water transport for land transport, and even personally supervising the escort...

"Uh, Shopkeeper Li, didn't you take men to transport grain out of the city? How did you end up like this..."

Wang Caozhi looked at the old merchant with the goat beard, whose hat was missing,

and asked cautiously.

Shopkeeper Li's beard was disheveled, his eyes were dazed and unfocused, and he seemed to be muttering to himself, ignoring Wang Caozhi.

He was led into the main hall by Yan Yan Liulang, and if it weren't for the latter reminding him to "watch the threshold," he would have almost tripped over the one-foot-high threshold at the gate.

The young magistrate on the dais raised an eyebrow as he looked at Shopkeeper Li's disheveled appearance, and couldn't help but ask the clerk beside him in a low voice: "No one should have stolen the stone covers of our county's sewers, right... road safety must be strictly managed."

"..." The clerk.

"... They are all robbers... they are all robbers... they are all robbers..."

Arriving below the dais, Shopkeeper Li muttered tragically.

Magistrate Ouyang Rong cleared his throat and asked suspiciously: "Shopkeeper Li, are you... did you fall into a well?"

Shopkeeper Li opened his mouth, speechless. Seeing this, the small steward following behind him cried out with lingering fear:

"Reporting to the Magistrate, the Shopkeeper took us to hire pier porters this morning to escort the grain out of the city. But when we passed through that field on the outskirts of the city, that bunch of disaster victims and refugees in the broken sheds on both sides of the road suddenly swarmed up like starving wild dogs and stripped all the grain from our carts. Hundreds of bags of top-quality rice, all snatched away by this group of lowly people! It's a sin!"

"Robbers... they are all robbers..." Shopkeeper Li knelt on the ground with a thud, sobbing: "Blue-sky Magistrate, you must uphold justice for us commoners!"

Magistrate Ouyang Rong jumped up from his chair with a start.

Bang, bang, bang! The gavel shook the whole hall.

"Lawless people, simply lawless people! Snatching grain in broad daylight! The road security of our Longcheng County has actually deteriorated to such a degree!"

The young magistrate was heartbroken:

"This group of lawless people in the disaster camp on the outskirts of the city must have grown guts of bears and leopards! Who gave them the courage to rob in broad daylight? It's not like I haven't distributed rice to them; I even gave everyone half a zongzi during the Dragon Boat Festival. What are they snatching for?

"Don't they know that even the zongzi rice was painstakingly transported to Longcheng by you virtuous shopkeepers? So what if it's expensive? If it weren't for you gentlemen, they wouldn't even have a zongzi to eat during the festival. It's one thing not to be grateful, but to dare to bite the hand that feeds them!"

The young magistrate seemed unable to contain his anger, threw down the gavel, flipped his sleeves, and was about to rush out of the main hall of the county office to angrily lecture the ungrateful lawless people with righteous indignation.

This impassioned display left Shopkeeper Li and Shopkeeper Ma, who had been crying for justice, stunned, and Wang Caozhi and the others, who were watching the show, were even more shocked.

"Magistrate, calm down! Magistrate, calm down!" Fortunately, Yan Yan Liulang, the clerk, and others blocked him with all their might, barely managing to stop him.

"Let me calm down? How can I calm down?" Magistrate Ouyang Rong said righteously, "Shopkeeper Ma and Shopkeeper Li have suffered such great injustice, and the people under my rule are so ungrateful. How can you expect me to calm down!"

Yan Yan Liulang said with a bitter face: "No matter what happens, just let us subordinates handle it. How can we let the Magistrate do it himself? You are the magistrate of a county; if something were to happen to you, the sky would collapse for us."

"Fine, then you investigate, investigate well, investigate thoroughly!"

Magistrate Ouyang Rong pointed at Shopkeeper Ma and Shopkeeper Li with his fingers hidden under his sleeves, and set the tone with a straight face:

"Put aside the work at hand for now, send all the manpower out. First, go to the disaster relief camp on the outskirts of the city to recover the rice, then investigate the burned grain ships. We must give the two shopkeepers justice!"

Shopkeeper Ma and Shopkeeper Li looked at the young magistrate and couldn't help but feel a little moved. They really couldn't find any fault.

"Yes, sir!"

Yan Yan Liulang took the order and was about to leave, but Shopkeeper Ma hesitated and hurriedly called out:

"Wait, Constable Yan, you are going to investigate the case, but what about the grain counting?"

Yan Yan Liulang said casually: "Of course, put it aside for now. Official business is important; the brothers have to go and get justice for the two of you!"

Shopkeeper Ma opened his mouth but didn't speak.

Shopkeeper Li's lips were a bit dry, and he couldn't help but say: "Constable, counting the grain is also official business."

Yan Yan Liulang frowned, hugged the knife he was holding in his arms, tilted his head, and asked:

"Then what should we do? The workload for both of these official tasks is very heavy. Our small county office doesn't have enough manpower to do them together. Originally, my brothers and I often patrolled the disaster relief camp on the outskirts of the city, and the security had always been quite good. It was only because we were slacking off these past two days to check your grain warehouses that such a vicious incident happened in the blink of an eye, causing the Magistrate to be furious..."

"This..." Shopkeeper Ma and Shopkeeper Li were hesitant.

Yan, also, the two shopkeepers have tens of thousands of shi of grain in storage at the pier.

Being burned or snatched of two thousand shi doesn't count for much; it's a small matter."

"No, no." Shopkeeper Ma waved his hands anxiously: "This time one thousand shi were burned; what if next time ten thousand shi are burned? Constable Yan must hurry and arrest the real culprit and find out the truth. This is a big matter!"

Shopkeeper Li nodded like a pestle, his face pained: "The grain snatched by those poor ghosts must be recovered quickly, and... and the truth must be found out! This old man suspects that someone among those lawless people instructed and led the robbery. Constable, you must catch them, otherwise, who would dare to transport grain out of the city?"

Yan Yan Liulang was speechless and spread his hands: "Then you tell me, which matter should our constable squad do first?"

Shopkeeper Ma whispered: "How about tightening things up, splitting into two groups, and taking care of both..."

The blue-clad constable didn't speak, but judging by the way he stared at Shopkeeper Ma expressionlessly while hugging his knife, his attitude was already very clear.

Shopkeeper Ma and Shopkeeper Li felt a bit guilty.

Yan Yan Liulang suddenly nodded:

"Fine, split if you want. Although the brothers in the constable squad are used to acting together, since the two shopkeepers are the masters, we'll split into two groups. But if, in the end, there isn't enough manpower, the case isn't solved, and the grain isn't recovered... the two masters shouldn't blame me and the brothers again. Also, the grain counting will be even slower, so the two masters should bear with it..."

"Enough!" The young magistrate, who had returned to the dais and sat down to rub his forehead, suddenly interrupted with a light shout: "Everything is fine, why are you saying such angry words?"

Magistrate Ouyang Rong shook his head, turned to Shopkeeper Ma and Shopkeeper Li, and frowned:

"You two, I know you are anxious, but the safety of Longcheng is more important than counting the grain warehouses. We must distinguish between the light and the heavy. Let Constable Yan and the others investigate the case with all their might first; we'll count the grain warehouses later."

He made the final decision directly.

Shopkeeper Ma and Shopkeeper Li were speechless, not knowing how to refute, caught in a dilemma.

Why did it feel like the situation was marking time, and the gate for transporting grain out of Longcheng had slammed shut again...

These two big grain merchants couldn't help but turn their heads to look at Wang Caozhi and their other colleagues and friends, wanting to unite everyone to put pressure on the county office again.

But facing their pleading gazes, Wang Caozhi and the group of small grain merchants remained motionless, like clay bodhisattvas in a temple, either looking away or pretending not to see.

Shopkeeper Ma and Shopkeeper Li's mood plummeted...

People's hearts were scattered.

Before long, a government office runner shouted "Court dismissed."

Even if they were unwilling, the people in the main hall had to disperse one after another.

Wang Caozhi walked at the very back of the grain merchants leaving the county office. Before stepping out, he couldn't help but look back. On the high dais, that "cheap brother-in-law" was patting his wide sleeves with ease, calmly turning to head toward the back hall.

The short young man frowned, his expression thoughtful.

By the patio in the back hall, Chenjun Xie Chenjun Xie Lingjiang was again lowering her head to feed the fish.

Magistrate Ouyang Rong walked over with his hands behind his back.

"Not busy anymore?" she asked curiously.

"It's already over." He nodded.

The young magistrate's mouth curled into a smile again, and he turned first: "Let's go, I said I'd take you to a place earlier. Let's go take a look before it goes out of business."

Chenjun Xie Chenjun Xie Lingjiang was stunned.

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Fifty, It's Already Over!. However, no one doubted the origin of this ability. After all, the most proficient talent of the Kong Que Demon Clan was originally shifting stars and changing battles. Her technique had the same effect as shifting stars and changing battles.

After Meigongzi neutralized Cao Cao Yuwei's attack this time, she didn't rush to attack, just stood still in place.

Cao Cao Yuwei frowned slightly. Was this little girl's perception actually so keen? After he transformed fire into armor, he had other means. If Meigongzi had followed up with an attack, he would have been confident in using those means to restrain her. The content of the computer version chapter is slow, please use the app to read the latest content for free. But Meigongzi didn't step forward, forcing his originally ready-to-go ability to be interrupted.

The battle blade slashed out again, the powerful blade intent even stronger than before. Cao Cao Yuwei also followed the blade, man and blade as one, heading straight for Meigongzi.

Meigongzi's Heavenly Secret Feather once again formed a mysterious circle of heaven, and with a momentary shift, she switched her position. While neutralizing the opponent's attack, she also neutralized the opponent's lock. The next instant, she was already on the other side. The golden-red light on Cao Cao Yuwei's body flashed and disappeared. If she hadn't dodged quickly, there would undoubtedly have been another ability descending.

Competing in consumption! She seemed to be competing in consumption with Cao Cao Yuwei.

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However, no one doubted the origin of this ability. After all, the most proficient talent of the Kong Que Demon Clan was originally shifting stars and changing battles. Her technique had the same effect as shifting stars and changing battles.

After Meigongzi neutralized Cao Cao Yuwei's attack this time, she didn't rush to attack, just stood still in place.

Cao Cao Yuwei frowned slightly. Was this little girl's perception actually so keen? After he transformed fire into armor, he had other means. If Meigongzi had followed up with an attack, he would have been confident in using those means to restrain her. But Meigongzi didn't step forward, forcing his originally ready-to-go ability to be interrupted.

The battle blade slashed out again, the powerful blade intent even stronger than before. Cao Cao Yuwei also followed the blade, man and blade as one, heading straight for Meigongzi.

Meigongzi's Heavenly Secret Feather once again formed a mysterious circle of heaven, and with a momentary shift, she switched her position. While neutralizing the opponent's attack, she also neutralized the opponent's lock. The next instant, she was already on the other side. The golden-red light on Cao Cao Yuwei's body flashed and disappeared. If she hadn't dodged quickly, there would undoubtedly have been another ability descending.

Competing in consumption! She seemed to be competing in consumption with Cao Cao Yuwei.

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Fifty, It's Already Over! Free reading. Providing you with the