Chapter Twenty Delivery

  Outside the Yue Lai Inn, Chen Chu and Li Tai exchanged pleasantries before parting ways. As they parted, Li Tai sincerely invited Chen Chu to gather together in the evening, intending to befriend him. Chen Chu couldn't reject the other's kind intentions, so he agreed.

  After parting with Li Tai and his group, Chen Chu brought Zhang Liao's siblings to his residence in Le Ping County Town, which was the small courtyard that Wei Du had lent him.

  Not yet at the gate, a young man was seen crouching at the entrance of the campus. Chen Chu felt somewhat familiar with this person, but for a moment he couldn't think of where he had met him before.

  The three of them walked straight over, and that person also saw Chen Chu and the other two.

  "Master, you're back!", the man exclaimed with a delighted and excited face as he came forward.

  Chen Chu looked at this somewhat familiar face and said uncertainly: "Are you Xiaosan?"

  The young man nodded excitedly, "Yes, yes, I'm the little three. Unexpectedly, the master still remembers me!"

  "Why are you here? Didn't something happen in the village?" Chen Chu asked somewhat nervously.

  "Nothing, nothing! Longhu Village is great, better than ever!", Xiao San said hastily, waving his hands. As soon as he mentioned Longhu Village, Xiao San's expression became somewhat excited.

  "Ah." Chen Chu couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief. What he was most worried about was that something would go wrong in Longhu Village, which was his forward base. If anything happened, Chen Chu's heart would be on edge.

  "What's up with you?"

  Xiao San slapped her forehead, "Ah! Master, I was so excited that I forgot the important thing! Deng Gong told me to stay at your doorstep for a while and wait for you, there are many things that need your decision!"

  Chen Chu nodded, then turned to Zhang Liao's siblings beside him and said: "I'll go to the county government office first, Wen Yuan and Rui'er will follow this little three back to Longhu Village."

  "Big brother, I'll go with you to the county yamen."

  Chen Chu thought for a moment and felt that it would be better to bring Zhang Liao along. If the Qin County Magistrate was intentionally being difficult, it would be good to have someone to help out. He nodded his head, "Alright, Wen Yuan will come with me to the county yamen."

  "Xiao San, this is Rui Er, she's your mistress. You take her back to Longhu Village first," Chen Chu said, pulling Zhang Rui over to Xiao San's side.

  Xiao San hastily bowed to Zhang Rui and said: "I've seen you, miss."

  Zhang Rui let out a giggle, and the scene in front of her was still quite fresh for her.

  "Little sister, I'm going out with big brother to take care of something. Don't be reckless!", Zhang Liao said sternly to Zhang Hui.

  Zhang Rui pouted and shook Chen Chu's arm, saying: "Big brother, look at my brother, he's scolding me again! I'm not being arbitrary!"

  "Alright, Nui'er, stop messing around and listen to your brother."

  "Alright, alright, Rui'er knows, you can go and take care of things with peace of mind."

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  Chen Chu and Zhang Liao soon arrived at the county government office.

  As before, the gatekeeper stopped them. However, this time Chen Chu did not ask the gatekeeper to report, but instead showed a transfer order with a seal stamp. The gatekeeper immediately knelt down and dared not stop Chen Chu again.

  Just as he arrived at the main hall, the county magistrate of Qin was there.

  Seeing the two people suddenly appearing in the hall, Qin County Magistrate was quite surprised, because no one had reported it. Recognizing Chen Chu, he said: "What brings Master Chen here?"

  Chen Chu smiled and said, "I am not one to enter the Temple of Three Treasures for no reason. Magistrate Qin, this is my appointment letter." He then handed over the letter.

  Magistrate Qin was not surprised at all, took the decree and only glanced at it before handing it back to Chen Chu. Then he said: "I also thought that someone would come to take over the position of Le Ping County soon, but I didn't expect it to be you, Mr. Chen."

  "If there's nothing else, let's consider it settled then."

  Magistrate Qin nodded, "Of course." He then turned to a nearby minor official and said, "Go fetch the county's account books. I want to hand them over to this new official."

  The little official ran out and was back in a moment with an armful of bamboo tablets.

  The county magistrate nodded to a minor official, who placed the bamboo slips in front of Chen Chu. "Master Chen," he said, "no, I should call you Lord Chen now. These are the various account books of this county. Please take a look."

  Chen Chu nodded and sat down on the ground to read. Zhang Liao stood behind Chen Chu with a serious face.

  Chen Chu initially didn't think much of it, but the more he read on, the angrier he became. Not to mention other things, just looking at the financial resources alone, the entire county only had a hundred taels of silver and five thousand catties of grain.

  Chen Chu slammed the bamboo scroll to the ground, "Qin County Magistrate, why does this county's granary only have one hundred taels of gold and five thousand catties of grain? Are you trying to deceive me?"

  The magistrate of Qin County waved his hand and said, "This county is poor and remote, and it's the hard work of this county that we have these funds. I hope you won't be dissatisfied, Director Chen."

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