Chapter Eleven: The County Magistrate

  Although he had returned to the Ming Dynasty for more than half a day, Yang Qiuchi still hadn't recovered from the novelty of traveling through time and space. Along the way, he looked around curiously, and when passing by Gao Peng Inn, he suddenly remembered that his stomach was still empty. However, this wasn't the time to indulge in food and drink. Just as he was feeling frustrated, a shopkeeper came out of the inn with several guests, saw Yang Qiuchi and Song Yun'er walking together without arguing, and Song Yun'er didn't seem like she wanted to cause trouble either. The shopkeeper's face lit up with joy and beckoned him over.

  Yang Qiuchi glared at him fiercely, resenting that he had deserted in the face of danger and hadn't helped him testify. Fortunately, the matter was already settled, and they had even earned a few extra taels of silver. Considering that he was afraid of County Magistrate's fierce wife, Yang Qiuchi stopped in his tracks and said to Lei Daotou and the others: "Please wait a moment, I'll just say two words and then leave."

  Song Yun'er said: "You're really troublesome, hurry up!"

  Yang Qiuchi nodded and turned around to walk away.

  The young shopkeeper walked up with a smile: "Are you okay? I..."

  Yang Qiuchi waved his hand: "Nothing's wrong, what did you call me for? I still have things to attend to."

  Someone rewarded himself with so much money, but when it came to the crucial moment, he ran away with his tail between his legs. This made the shopkeeper a bit embarrassed: "Well! Well!" Suddenly remembering something, "Haven't you eaten yet, sir? I'll get you two baskets of steamed buns!"

  Before Yang Qiuchi could speak, the shopkeeper had already turned around and entered the inn. In a moment, he took out a white paper bag containing a large package of steaming hot meat buns and handed them to Yang Qiuchi: "Here! Eat it while it's hot, freshly baked, smells great!"

  As soon as Yang Qiuchuan smelled the aroma of the meat buns, he almost drooled. He took one with his left hand and reached into the paper bag with his right hand to grab another and stuff it into his mouth. Indeed, the skin was crispy and thin, and the flavor was deliciously savory. As soon as he took a bite, oil dripped from his mouth. While eating, he said: "So fragrant! Too delicious!" He turned around and handed the paper bag to Song Yun'er and others: "You guys have two too, it's really good!" Song Yun'er wasn't interested in this kind of food at small inns, so she shook her head and ignored him. The others also shook their heads to indicate they didn't want any.

  Yang Qiuchi didn't force the issue, and took out a meat bun to toss to the little black dog that was closely following him. The little black dog let out a low cry, and with quick reflexes, it caught the meat bun in mid-air and swallowed it in two or three bites, looking like it was starving. Yang Qiuchi felt a pang of sympathy, and tossed another bun to the little black dog, then asked the shopkeeper, "How much?"

  The shopkeeper smiled and waved his hand repeatedly: "No need to pay anymore, you've already given me a lot of money as a tip earlier."

  Yang Qiuchi smiled and said, "In that case, thank you very much!" Suddenly remembering something, he took the two tiger legs off his shoulders and handed them to the shopkeeper, "Trouble you to help me cook these tiger legs into a good dish, I'll come back for it later."

  "No problem! Leave it to me!" The shopkeeper took over the tiger legs, he didn't expect them to be so heavy, almost couldn't catch them, and spat out his tongue, "So heavy! Don't worry, sir, I'll get the chef to cook them well for you, come back later to pick them up!"

  "Thank you!" Yang Qiuchi bowed with his fist.

  Song Yun'er waited until one side was already impatient, stretched out her hand to pull Yang Qiuchi: "Hey! Hurry up, stop being so garrulous!"

  Yang Qiuchi was pulled into a stumble, and had to follow the crowd, that little black dog holding the meat bun trotting along behind Yang Qiuchi.

  On the way, Yang Qiuchi and Xiao Hei Gou quickly finished off the big bag of meat buns in no time. Their stomachs were full and their spirits lifted.

  The crowd arrived at the gate of the eight-character courtyard where Yang Qiuchi had just entered to admire, and the gatekeeper said that County Master Lao had already set off for the scene and told them to go straight over.

  A group of people arrived at the gate of a large mansion on the east side of the county town, where several bailiffs were setting up a cordon with more than a dozen militiamen, and many people were gathered around the gate, pointing and staring at the commotion.

  The crowd entered the large courtyard, and the small black dog closely followed Yang Qiuchi, but no one stopped it. The guards led the group through several corridors and courtyards to the inner area. Several servants came forward, and one of them saw the little black dog and cursed, "How did a wild dog get in here!" He bent down to pick up a stone to hit the little black dog, but before Yang Qiuchi could stop him, the little black dog had already turned around and run far away. Two servants hastily chased after it.

  Yang Qiuchi and others continued to move forward, turning over several courtyards, and saw that in the distance, another group of people were busy coming and going in a small courtyard. Under a big tree in the yard, an old man with a white beard was sitting on a taishi chair, wearing an official robe, one hand stroking his small goat beard, the other holding a tea bowl, savoring the tea with relish.

  An old man in official robes stood with several attendants behind him, as well as a young nobleman dressed in finery. The young nobleman was wiping away tears and speaking softly. A few steps away, an elderly couple sat on a chair, the old man leaning on his cane and sighing, while the old woman next to him also wiped away tears. Several maidservants stood behind them with their heads bowed, waiting in attendance.

  Yang Qiuchi walked closer and saw that the person sitting on the armchair sipping tea was none other than the goat-bearded County Magistrate who had just been presiding over a case in the county yamen.

  A murder has occurred and yet the county magistrate is not in a hurry, nor does he go to inspect the scene, but instead drinks tea here, which leaves Yang Qiuchi very perplexed.

  Everyone went forward to pay respects to Magistrate Song. This old man, Magistrate Song with the white beard, merely raised an eyebrow, not even giving them a proper look, this old fellow, though his official position was not high, he put on quite a big show.

  Magistrate Song looked at the old coroner who was standing with his head bowed and said slowly: "You, you go and take a look at the body, come back and report to me." This Magistrate Song originally had a stutter, but it wasn't very severe, and listening to him didn't feel very strenuous.

  The county magistrate himself did not go to inspect the body, but let the coroner go. In ancient times, officials generally did not conduct autopsies themselves. This kind of unlucky thing was handled by a specialized coroner. The county magistrate only looked at the scene and then sat aside waiting for the coroner responsible for autopsy to investigate the cause of death and other situations before reporting back to him and filling out a report, which is an autopsy report.

  The old servant responded with a "yes" and was about to lead Yang Qiuchu away when the young man in brocade, who had been wiping away tears behind Magistrate Song, spoke up: "I'll take them there." Magistrate Song turned around, his tone suddenly different: "Ah, thank you, Young Master Yin." Suddenly noticing a small girl standing behind him, he took a closer look and exclaimed: "You, how did you get here? Who told you to come? Hmm?"

  The little girl standing behind him was Song Yun'er. She had originally planned to hide behind her father and then sneak in with Yang Qiuchi and the others, but she didn't expect to be discovered after all.

  Lei Pu and Old Weng, among others, heard the county magistrate ask who brought the thousand taels of gold. They all looked towards Yang Qiuchuan together. Magistrate Song followed their gaze and saw a young man standing behind Old Weng, wearing a green shirt and short jacket, looking somewhat familiar. After careful examination, he suddenly exclaimed: "You, you are Old Weng's new apprentice? You, aren't you the one who was blown away by the wind and died?"

  "This matter is not easy to explain, if I tell them the truth that they come from modern times and have borrowed a corpse to revive in Yang's body, it will be too scary for people during the day, but I'm afraid others will say that I am mentally ill. So I'll just make up a story: 'Master, I didn't die, I just got a little injured on my arm, nothing serious.'"

  Song Zhi County looked up and down at Yang Qiuchi, nodded, turned his head to look at Song Yuner, frowned, and said with a gentle tone: "Good, good daughter, I didn't tell you not to come to this kind of place? Hurry back!"

  Song Yun'er pouted with her red lips: "I won't! I want to see them examine the body!" She reached out and pulled Yang Qiuchu, then ran into the next room. Lao Weng and Yin Gongzi also entered the house afterwards.