Chapter 016: Lin Qingwei's Record

  Ding Hao walked into County Magistrate Zhao's room, where County Magistrate Zhao's face looked even more terrifying than before.

  His current mentality is like a drowning person, who wouldn't let go of even a straw. That Qin Gongzi was in a hurry to leave, and under the suspicious psychology of "Zheng Ren Shi Fu" from Zhao County, he immediately became the most suspicious person.

  Unexpectedly, he brought that Qin young master into the room and used both hard and soft tactics to interrogate him. Not only did he fail to get any useful information out of him, but he was instead scolded by Qin young master from head to toe, which made Zhao county magistrate become flustered. That so-called Qin young master's attire didn't seem like that of a Qin family young master, but his arrogant demeanor...

  Let's not mention others, let's just talk about the Ding family of Baizhou. They are also local wealthy and influential families with a good reputation. Under their own official power, how dare they do anything? But this Qin Yiyun is arrogant and unscrupulous, could he really be from the Qin family of Taiyuan? With this thought in mind, County Magistrate Zhao didn't dare to use corporal punishment on him, but instead ordered someone to take him away and keep a close eye on him. He himself was still fuming with anger in his room.

  Just then, Qing Shui Town's Zheng Jiming stood at the door and nodded: "County Master, Ba Zhou Ding Hao requests an audience."

  "Ding Hao? Another person from the Ding family?"

  "Yes, County Magistrate."

  Zhao Jie thought for a moment and slowly sat down, saying: "Call him in."

  Ding Hao walked into the room, bowed deeply in the direction of Zhao Jie and said: "Your humble subject Ding Hao pays his respects to County Magistrate Sir."

  Zhao Jie narrowed his eyes, sizing him up from head to toe. The man in front of him wore a coarse linen shirt and pants, with a humble appearance, but his eyebrows and eyes were clear and elegant, and his demeanor was neither arrogant nor servile. Unlike ordinary commoners who would be nervous when meeting an official, Zhao Jie couldn't help but feel some doubt: "Just now, I saw that girl dressed as a man, and I found it strange that the Ding family would let a woman show her face in public. Now it seems that this Ding Hao is the real mastermind..."

  At that time, many ordinary people lived and died without leaving their homes for ten miles. The highest official they had ever seen was the town's security officer, and occasionally, if they were lucky, they might catch a glimpse of an official wearing a uniform. A county magistrate in their eyes was as great as an emperor. Although the Ding family was a wealthy and influential family, an ordinary servant would not have dared to be so casual with him, so when Zhao County saw Ding Hao's demeanor, he judged him to be the young master of the Ding family.

  He knew that Ding Hao had seen many descendants of the governor, prefect, and high-ranking officials in the imperial court. Not to mention emperors, there were not a few foreign emperors who could be called by name. Psychologically, he was naturally more at ease and couldn't be as honest and fearful as an ordinary commoner.

  County Magistrate Zhao spoke first, so he didn't ask about his true identity either. He said directly: "Ding Hao, if you're here for the grain team's matter, then don't even mention it. The official seal was stolen, and what was lost wasn't just this official's future prospects, but also the imperial court's dignity. The Ding family has many people and is influential, with all sorts of characters mixed in - who knows if there aren't any scoundrels among them? This case won't be solved before I let you go."

  Ding Hao smiled and said: "Sir misunderstands, I came here for the theft of the official seal."

  County Magistrate Zhao's eyes narrowed, and his gaze suddenly became sharp. "What do you mean by that?" he asked.

  Ding Hao said: "The little people were staying in this store last night, and the adults were having dinner in the dining hall at that time. They must have seen it. The little people stayed here for one night and found some suspicious things. Originally, they didn't think there was anything strange, but after the official seal was stolen, they became more and more suspicious. The little people don't understand the law, so they want to speak out and ask the adults to consider it carefully. County Magistrate, with your wise eyes, you must be able to see some clues..."

  Ding Hao spoke slowly, but County Magistrate Zhao's breathing became increasingly heavy. Before Ding Hao could finish speaking, he had already taken a step forward and stood in front of him, saying impatiently: "Young Master Ding, reporting illegal activities is the right thing to do, and this official highly commends you for it. You've discovered some suspicious matters, quickly tell this official all about them!"

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  In the restaurant, Ding Yuluo and several managers looked at each other for a long time, before Li Shouyin hesitantly said: "That silly boy Ah Dai went to see County Magistrate... what does he want to do?"

  To say, these several Dingshifu officials and head of the long workers, tenant farmers' heads, usually have contact with the highest level of officials are just rural Zhengbaozheng, tax runners, those are clerks, power is not small, but not officials. Like county Wei such court above has a product ranking official, they grew up so big really haven't had any opportunity to see over.

  Especially the county lieutenant has the power to govern a county's judiciary, with the power to mobilize civilians and soldiers to catch thieves and capture bandits. He also has the power to write to his superiors to borrow troops to suppress bandits. His powers are equivalent to those of a public security bureau director and a garrison commander combined, possessing both military might and killing intent. These several rural officials, who looked like country bumpkins, saw County Lieutenant Zhao's gloomy face and their legs began to tremble uncontrollably, they couldn't dodge or hide in time. They really couldn't understand how the usually dull-witted Ah-Dan had suddenly become so formidable today.

  Ding Yuluo knew that Xue Liang had always been on good terms with Ding Hao, so he cast a suspicious glance at him. Xue Liang smiled foolishly and scratched the back of his head, saying: "Ah, stupid... since his high fever went away, it's like he became a different person, looking even more foolish than before. I'm also worried about him."

  He saw that everyone's face looked a bit strange, knew he had said the wrong thing, but didn't know where he was wrong, so he picked up a bun and stuffed it into his mouth.

  The whole restaurant was quietly waiting, and soon Zheng Jiziming from Qingshui Town came out from the back. The shopkeeper hurriedly went to ask, but found that there was no official seal, and everyone's face suddenly fell. After a while, a group of militiamen holding spears came out from the back, and everyone stood up unconsciously. When they saw the person who came out afterwards, they were all shocked and stared with wide eyes, especially the Ding family, who were even more astonished.

  Zhao County Magistrate, who had just been frowning as if everyone owed him hundreds of dollars and hadn't paid back, suddenly had a rare smile on his dry face. What's more surprising was that he even held Ding Hao's hand, being affectionate like brothers, and walked into the backyard shoulder to shoulder.

  Two men entered the restaurant and stood still, Ding Hao's eyes glanced to the side, Zhao County Magistrate understood, his gaze immediately turned to that person, a sly smile, just waved his hand lightly, eight sharp spear guns brushed out in an instant, scaring Peach Blossom Eyes who was watching the excitement with a jump, hurriedly raised both hands and said: "Hey, hey, hey, be careful, you guys... what are you doing?"

  "What are you doing?" Zhao County slowly walked over, a pair of gloomy eyes staring at him, the corners of his mouth slowly revealing a sly smile: "Speak, where is this official's seal?"

  The hall was suddenly in an uproar, and the young man with peach blossom eyes was even more shocked, taking a long time to come back to his senses. He immediately cried out to Heaven and Earth: "Your Honor, I am wrongly accused, really wrongly accused! How could you suspect me of losing your official seal? I am from a humble background, living in Bozhou, my family is clean and honest, my father runs oil, rice, and medicine businesses, with over a dozen shops. Although we are not the richest family in Bozhou, we are at least among the top three families. How could we do such a despicable thing?"

  County Magistrate Zhao's tone became even colder: "Oh? Since that's the case, during this wonderful New Year's festival, you're not at home serving your parents, what are you doing alone in Qing Shui Town?"

  Bixiu Dao said, "Students travel the world for their studies. Originally, I was thinking of returning home for the New Year's festival, but unexpectedly caught a cold on the road and took a long time to recover, which delayed my journey. Isn't this exactly rushing back to my hometown overnight?"

  County Magistrate Zhao sneered: "You think you can deceive me with your clever words and charming appearance? Come, search him!"

  Two civilians immediately rushed up and, in front of County Magistrate Zhao, began to search Taohua Yan's body. Wearing a look of embarrassment, he stood tall, while the two civilians searched him from head to toe, not even sparing his hair, yet they still couldn't find his official seal. County Magistrate Zhao, who had been calm and composed, suddenly became somewhat anxious.

  The people in the restaurant looked at him coldly, and didn't quite believe Zhao County's judgment. The young man in front of them had a clear brow and eyes, and his demeanor was elegant and refined, really not like a thief or a robber. Moreover, he was dressed very luxuriously, with silk robes and jade belts under his sheepskin cloak, and even wore a green jade pendant at his waist, indeed looking like the young master of a wealthy family.

  Ding Hao watched coldly from the side, staring at every move of Bi Xiu, even the subtle changes in his eyes, but he didn't find anything unusual. His heart was slightly shaken: "Could it be that I really misjudged him?"

  As soon as they searched Bie Zhu's body and couldn't find anything, Zhao Xianwei lost his temper and asked the people beside him, "Has his room been searched?"

  Someone on the side replied: "Your Honor, I have carefully searched and found no exposure."

  County Magistrate Zhao furrowed his brow and thought for a moment before saying: "Manager Qiu, has this person ever stored valuables in the cabinet?"

  "Got it, got it... but yesterday when I was lodging here, I left the valuables with the old man. It doesn't seem right..."

  "Cut the crap, bring it over and let's take a look."

  "Yes, yes, yes", Old Man Qiu hastily took the key to open the box. The box was made of elm wood, with intricate grain patterns, making it difficult to split or saw. It was extremely sturdy, and the outside was also wrapped in a thick layer of iron sheeting, weighing over 100 catties (about 60 kg). Moreover, the box was firmly nailed to the bottom of the counter.

  With the key, he opened the three locks inside and outside, took out the package stored in the wall, brought it over and handed it to County Magistrate Zhao. County Magistrate Zhao tore open the package, and with a rustling sound, a table full of gold leaves, silver ingots, jade decorations, silver rings, and two pieces of crimson silk appeared.

  County Magistrate Zhao unfolded the silk fabric to take a look, and Ding Hao also stretched his neck to see. Before he could figure out what was going on, Ding Yuluo had already spat lightly and turned her head away with a slightly pale face.

  It turned out that the two pieces of pink silk were actually two pieces of women's undergarments, one with a mandarin duck playing in the water embroidered on it and the other with a lotus flower emerging from the water, both of which were small clothes for women to wear next to their skin. The restaurant immediately erupted into a burst of laughter, and Bi Xiu's face turned bright red as he said, "County Magistrate, sir, although you are an official, you can't humiliate students like this, it's really shameful!"

  Zhao County Magistrate cursed and said, "Bad luck!" He quickly threw away the two women's undergarments as if they were evil objects that had contaminated his hands. When he turned to look at Ding Hao again, his face was somewhat unpleasant: "Ding Gongzi..." His voice also became somewhat melancholic.

  Liu Shi and others were bewildered, when did this silly boy become a young master, and it was called out from the mouth of Zhao County Wei, that is a dignified court official.

  Ding Hao had been staring at Bi Su's behavior, never finding any flaws, but when Zhao Xianwei dropped the woman's underwear, he finally found a suspicious place and couldn't help but brighten his eyes, with a smile of confidence on his face.

  Zhao County Magistrate was after all an old official, only because he lost his own future, that's why he was so flustered. In fact, he was still very astute, turning his head to see the smile on Ding Hao's face, he first hesitated for a moment, and then his expression immediately became calm.

  Ding Hao's gaze slowly moved down from the embarrassed face of Bi Su, and fell on the plate of unfinished buns in front of him. He smiled faintly: "Sir, this young master Bi seems to be quite particular about that plate of buns. When the gold and silver were scattered all over the table, he didn't care at all. On the contrary, it seemed like he was afraid that sir would accidentally knock the plate of buns onto the floor."

  County Magistrate Zhao heard the sound of the zither and understood the elegant intention, so he stretched out his hand to grab the package of buns in front of Bi Su. Bi Su's face changed greatly, and with a loud shout, he swung his arm and threw two silver coins at County Magistrate Zhao's face. Immediately after, he made a slanting move like a willow tree, bowed his head, and changed his steps. Taking advantage of County Magistrate Zhao rushing forward, the gaps between the halberds were exposed, and with a forward roll, he escaped like a nimble mouse. His movements were so quick and agile that they left people gasping in amazement.

  "Dong dong dong dong..." A burst of smoke rolled to the door, his hands supported the ground, his buttocks lifted up, and a pose similar to a modern 100-meter sprint was just taken out. In front of him, a dense array of arrows shot out, the arrow tails buzzing wildly, the closest arrow only half a foot away from his fingertips. If he had moved any faster, he would have turned into a hedgehog by now.

  Bai Su's legs turned to jelly and he knelt down, with four crossbow bolts instantly pressed against his spine. Zhao County Magistrate had instructed the constable to make preparations before entering the restaurant, as he was originally from a background of catching thieves. If he allowed a small thief to escape under his nose when he was prepared, wouldn't that be a joke?

  County Magistrate Zhao didn't even turn his head, and swept all the gold and silver on the table, as well as the woman's intimate clothes, to one side. He picked up the plate of steamed buns, scanned it briefly, then carefully opened a large bun that had already been bitten into. With a "clink", a copper seal fell onto the table, and County Magistrate Zhao's eyes lit up instantly.

  Square seal, 2 cm on each side, with a tile-shaped button, cast in brass. The right side of the copper seal is engraved with the casting time, and the left side is engraved with the casting institution. The top of the seal button also has an "up" character to indicate the up and down direction of the seal text. The seal surface is intaglio engraved.

  According to the Song Dynasty system, official seals of officials above the county level were called "yin", while those below the county level were called "ji". All levels of official seals were uniformly cast by the Great Song Wen Si Yuan. New officials were issued seals when they took office, and old officials surrendered their seals when they left office. This newly cast seal of Linqing County Wei is precisely the one that was stolen from Zhao County Wei: "Linqing Wei Ji".