Chapter 595 - 595: Not What She Meant
Li Qing looked at him. “Lord Liu, I want to ask you. Do you think he will let you reach home safely after you’ve seen him? I think you might as well cooperate with me and find out all the corrupt deeds Wang Ping has done all these years to make up for your mistakes.”
County Magistrate Liu looked at Li Qing and spread out his hands. “The account book was burned by Wang Ping. How are you going to investigate?”
Seeing that he was suggesting that Li Qing would not be able to investigate even if he were to cooperate, Li Qing chuckled and said, “Lord Liu, let’s lay out cards on the table. Look, you’ve long begun to prepare an escape route. I don’t believe that you haven’t had any backup plans all these years. You can raise any conditions. We’ll discuss them.’
County Magistrate Liu looked at Li Qing. “Lord Li, I want to ask you how you dared to investigate this. Is there anyone in the capital who can speak for you?”
So he was afraid that there would be no one behind me. Li Qing looked at him and said with a smile, “Lord Liu, don’t worry. My uncle is a scholar and my brother-in-law is the assistant minister of the Ministry of Revenue. You can rest assured now, right?”
County Magistrate Liu looked at Li Qing as if he was looking at a fool. “If you have such good connections, why are you still in this godforsaken place?”
Li Qing smiled bitterly and said, “That’s right! I regret it too! If it were a little later, I would have been near the capital. However, since I’m already here, I can’t turn around and go back!”
County Magistrate Liu felt that he could not easily give the life-saving thing in his hand to a rash person like Li Qing. He had to go back and discuss it with his uncle and think about it carefully.
“Lord Li, I’ll go back and think about it before replying to you.”
“Okay,” Li Qing agreed readily. He watched him leave and said to himself, “Even if you don’t cooperate with me, I have a way to find out where the food in the warehouse went.”
Just as County Magistrate Liu left, Wang Ping arrived. He stood at the door and looked at the busy Li Qing. He piled up a smile and said to Li Qing, “Lord Li, the villagers in the county want to welcome you. I wonder if you can give me the honor?”
Li Qing looked up at him and said with a dark expression, “Magistrate Wang and the villagers are too considerate. I haven’t officially taken office. I think there’s no need to welcome me!”
Wang Ping did not expect Li Qing to not even give him this bit of respect. He looked troubled. “Lord Li…
“Magistrate Wang,” Li Qing raised his voice. He looked at him and said, “Don’t you know what happened in the county office last night? Do you think I’m still in the mood to attend the banquet?”
Wang Ping blushed. “Lord, I only found out about the news this morning. Why did everything go wrong?”
Li Qing walked up to him and looked down at him. “I still want to know why there was a mishap. It just had to be the room where I checked the accounts. Do you think he intentionally burned it down?”
Wang Ping took two steps back and smiled awkwardly. “Sir, I didn’t even go out the door when I went home…
“I didn’t say it was you!” Li Qing interrupted him and deliberately misinterpreted.
Wang Ping hurriedly shouted, “Lord Li, that’s not what I meant!”
Li Qing looked at him.
Wang Ping cupped his hands at Li Qing resentfully and said, “Lord Li, since you don’t have the time to attend the banquet, I’ll go back to those villagers first.” Li Qing nodded and said, “Alright, please tell the villagers on my behalf that I’ll personally thank them for their kindness when I take office.”
“Yes, Lord Li.” Wang Ping walked out without looking back. He walked out of Li Qing’s sight and spat angrily. “You don’t know how to appreciate favors.”
When Li Qing returned to the back office, Ding Yi returned and reported, “Master, Old Hu has already found the place where the two hamsters are locked up and is interrogating Old Liang!”
Li Qing felt that the people Li Yu had helped him find were really too good. Without their help, he would have a worse time.
Li Qing cupped his fists happily at Ding Yi and said, “Brother Ding, it’s been hard on you.”
Ding Yi smiled and shook his head. “You don’t have to thank me. It’s all within our scope of work.”
County Magistrate Liu returned to the inn to discuss with Advisor Liu. After a night of hesitation, he finally decided to cooperate with Li Qing.
The next day, County Magistrate Liu and Advisor Liu returned to the government office with a ledger and said to Li Qing, “Senior Li, I won’t hide it from you. I reached out to take some not long after I arrived. Later, I realized that something was wrong, so I deposited all the silver I received into the Four Seas Bank. Grandmaster and I have always carried the banknotes with us.”
Li Qing took the ledger and also took out the warehouse managers’ confessions. “Lord Liu, I’ll show you something too.”
After County Magistrate Liu took documents and looked at them, he broke out in a cold sweat. He was secretly glad that he had chosen the right person to side with and handed the confessions to the puzzled Advisor Liu. County Magistrate Liu bowed to Li Qing. “Thank you, Lord Li. Thank you.”
Li Qing obtained evidence of Wang Ping’s corruption and handed over the paperwork to County Magistrate Liu. He said sincerely to County Magistrate Liu, “Lord Liu, I advise you to move back to the Second Hall for a while and wait for Wang Ping and the others to be arrested before leaving.”
County Magistrate Liu and his uncle readily agreed. Assistant Liu knelt down and kowtowed to Li Qing. “Thank you for being kind and magnanimous to my Fenglin. I can’t repay your kindness. I’m willing to testify against Wang Ping.”
Li Qing smiled and helped him up. “Thank you, Advisor Liu. With your help, it will be much easier to capture Wang Ping and the others.”
Li Yu rode the horse with Ruyi and Ji Xiang. In four to five days, they covered most of the distance.
On this day, as soon as they came down from the mountain, the sky gradually darkened. Blinding lightning streaked across the sky, accompanied by deafening thunder. The heavy rain was about to come.
Ruyi said to Li Yu, “Madam, it’s going to rain heavily soon. Let’s find a place to hide. ”
Li Yu replied loudly, “Alright.”
Ji Xiang, who was walking in front, pointed not far away and shouted, ‘Madam, there seems to be a house in front. Let’s go over and take a look.”
The few of them rode over and saw a dilapidated courtyard in front of them.
The three of them led their horses along the moss-covered stone path through the wildly growing bushes, vines, and waist-deep weeds in the courtyard. When they reached the gate, they found that it turned out to be a mountain temple.
There were three rooms, one in the main hall and two side rooms. They tied their horses to the colonnades under the eaves. A thunderclap exploded on the roof and heavy rain fell with lightning.
The three of them walked into the main hall and saw that it was covered in spiderwebs. The originally mighty statue had become mottled. The rain kept dripping from the roof near the statue.
Ji Xiang bowed a few times to the statue. “Mountain God, sorry to disturb you.”
Li Yu turned around and came out. When she arrived at the house on the west side of the hall, she saw that the doors and windows at the front and back were tattered. There was also a dilapidated wooden table and chair inside.
Fortunately, this house did not leak rain.
Li Yu returned to the hall and said to Ji Xiang, “Let’s not disturb the Mountain God in the main hall. Let’s go to the west room. It won’t leak.”
“Yes!” Ji Xiang followed Li Yu out with the bag..