The moment the handkerchief touched his skin, Lu Ning suddenly woke up.
She quickly took the handkerchief from Hu Qi's hand and wiped the sweat from her face.
"Miss Lu, are you okay?" Hu Qi looked at her, a little worried.
Lu Ning bit his lower lip, still a little distracted: "If the first fall off the horse was an accident, then what about this time? How could it be such a coincidence that when we came here to investigate, the whole family was wiped out?"
Hu Qi also frowned and said in a deep voice: "It's really hard to believe that this is a coincidence. Someone must have done it on purpose!"
"Little deer, the green smoke coming out of the crack of the door just now is an unburned fire in the house!" Tutu covered his mouth and nose and ran out from the scene of the incident.
Lu Ning's face darkened and he said coldly: "It seems that these people didn't die for a long time, and they were burned alive!"
Hu Qi was quite shocked and hurriedly asked: "How can Miss Lu determine that they were burned alive?"
Lu Ning's heart tightened, and he explained in a deep voice: "The charred corpses stacked inside should have been piled up like that after death. But the charred corpses at the door should have pushed the door hard to escape before they died.
That’s why he would appear in that posture after death.”
"Did the Dongsheng Escort Agency offend some force and be destroyed?" Toto tried to propose another possibility.
Lu Ning dusted off the dust on his body and said in a low voice: "It's too early to draw a conclusion now! Aren't they saying that the caravan has colluded with the local government? Let's go visit the local prefect now!"
Toto stood up angrily and exclaimed: "Didn't you say there are three people? Let's go and see the third person now, it's still too late to go!"
Lu Ning shook his head slightly and sighed: "No, if someone really sees through our actions and makes some moves in advance, then it is already too late. If these two things are just accidents, then we should stand still and secretly
Action is.”
Toto immediately nodded approvingly and said, "It's up to you, let's go to the Yamen now!"
Lu Ning looked at him and said warmly: "Brother, once we go to the government office, the caravan will know about it soon, so we will split up. You go back to the caravan to monitor them first, while Hu Qi and I will visit the local prefect."
Although Toto wanted to be with Lu Ning, he had to obey her arrangement and separate with the two of them.
As the sun sets over the western mountains, smoke rises from the chimneys of every house in Lingzhou City.
Lu Ning and Hu Qi rode together and hurried all the way to the Lingzhou government office, but they were not in a hurry to dismount.
Because the scene we see today is very different from the yamen in other places:
The government officials who should have been on both sides of the door were not there.
A thick layer of dust fell on the originally shiny plaque.
The vermilion-lacquered door is somewhat mottled, and a thick layer of fallen leaves has piled up at the door.
Hu Qi looked at the somewhat dilapidated government office and couldn't help but tease: "Lingzhou City is rich and prosperous, but I didn't expect that the government office would be so dilapidated! It couldn't be the case. The people in the caravan are so knowledgeable that they knew we were coming, so they even
The people in the Yamen were also silenced?"
Lu Ning looked embarrassed, immediately dismounted, and said coldly: "Let's go in and see what happened!"
Hu Qi also quickly jumped off the horse and walked through the door after him.
Fortunately, as soon as they entered the door, they saw a man who looked like a servant.
The man saw them, looked them up and down, and shouted coldly: "Who let you come in at will? Don't you know this is a government office?"
For some reason, even though this man looked out of place with the yamen, they still breathed a sigh of relief after hearing these words.
Lu Ning hurriedly clasped his hands and said respectfully: "Excuse me, the prefect, are you here? I am the young leader of the Xiama Gang. I am passing by Lingzhou and came to visit you!"
After hearing Lu Ning's name, the servant's face softened: "The prefect is going back to his hometown to visit relatives and will not be here for the past few days. You go back and come back in two days!"
Lu Ning and Hu Qi looked at each other awkwardly.
Lu Ning once again cupped his hands and said politely: "To be honest, we came here because we have something to discuss with you. If the prefect is not here,
, I wonder if there is someone else who can temporarily take charge of the affairs?"
The servant looked at the two of them suspiciously, with a somewhat dissatisfied tone: "Didn't you come here specifically to see the prefect? Why did you suddenly change your story? You must have ulterior motives, right?"
Hu Qi quickly took out a silver ingot and put it into his hand: "Can you please be accommodating? We are friends of the prefect, and we really have something very important to report!"
The servant looked at the silver ingot in his hand, smiled, and waved to them: "Although the prefect is not here, the new official is here. Since it is an emergency, why not give him a try!"
With that said, the servant led the two of them through the lobby to the back hall.
The scenery that comes into view along the way is still old, gray, desolate and desolate.
The two of them walked into the back hall. A tall and powerful old man with a beautiful beard and a drooping chest was sitting next to a desk full of files, and he was looking through the files carefully. He looked so focused that he didn't even notice anyone coming in.
Lu Ning felt that this person looked familiar, but he couldn't remember where he had seen him before.
She walked over with a gentle step, bowed her hands to the adult, and said respectfully: "Your Excellency, Lu Ning, the young leader of the caravan, has an unexpected visit!"
The adult finally raised his head, and the two looked at each other with a look of surprise on their faces.
"Master Xia, why are you here?" Meeting an old friend in a foreign land brought a rare smile to Lu Ning's face.
Xia Yunqing looked at her, twisted his beard and said with a smile: "Brother Lu, aren't you in Shengjing? Why are you here?"
While he was talking, he saw the handsome young man next to Lu Ning and asked, "Who is this?"
Lu Ning smiled slightly and introduced quickly: "Mr.
What a coincidence!"
After saying that, she introduced to Hu Qi: "This is our famous Mr. Xia Yunqing from Beiyu!"
Hu Qi came forward, bowed deeply, and said loudly: "Hu Qi, a late student, pays homage to Mr. Xia. Your reputation is as thunderous as thunder. When I see you today, Mr. Xia is dignified and majestic, and his reputation is indeed well-deserved!"
The polite Hu Qi made Xia Yunqing feel good about him. He led the two of them to the back hall, and when the three of them were seated, Xia Yunqing ordered his servants to serve simple refreshments.
Although Xia Yunqing and Lu Ning only met once, he is still grateful to this day because she risked his life to save her.
After a few cups of tea, the two of them chatted for a while, and then Lu Ning asked carefully: "Master Xia, the servant who brought us here just now said that he would lead us to promote Lingzhou to the official position. Could this official...
Is that you?"
Xia Yunqing smiled faintly and said, "That's right, I'm currently an official in Lingzhou."
Lu Ning was taken aback and looked at him intently. Seeing that he didn't seem to be joking, he asked tentatively: "Master Xia, what happened? Can you tell me?"
Xia Yunqing twirled his beard and sighed, and said calmly: "It's a long story, it's better that the Lu Gang Leader doesn't know about it!"
Lu Ning saw that he seemed to have something to hide, so she wisely stopped asking. However, she guessed in her heart that the ups and downs in the officialdom were just a game between you and me.
The right to speak is in the hands of the emperor.
For some reason, Lu Ning suddenly thought of King Yi, and his heart suddenly felt sour: I wonder how he is doing now? Did the emperor make things difficult for him? Did he make things difficult for the caravan brothers?
However, it has been so long since it happened, so he must have almost forgotten about himself.
Putting down the tea cup, Lu Ning spoke quietly and asked: "Master Xia, please forgive me, why is this Lingzhou government office like this? Did something happen here?"
Mentioning this matter, Xia Yunqing's face suddenly became serious: "The reason for the current ruined scene is because the magistrate of Lingzhou had heard about me a long time ago. His attempt to win over me failed, so he led his men to passively sabotage their work in an attempt to
The entire government office was paralyzed, leaving me at a loss to surrender to him!"
Hearing this, Lu Ning was immediately shocked and couldn't help but said angrily: "It's really a tiger being bullied by a dog! How can this prefect be so arrogant and dare to be so rude to the chief minister!"
Xia Yunqing
He snorted coldly and said sadly: "Things have changed and people have changed. I am no longer the chief minister of the cabinet! Instead, I am a sixth-grade official and a subordinate of the prefect. There is nothing wrong with him doing this!"
However, Lu Ning looked stern and said proudly: "I used to be the chief minister of the cabinet, and then I am also the chief minister! How could he treat you like this!" After a pause, she added: "So, now the entire government office is gone.
?Wouldn’t it be very inconvenient for you to investigate cases on weekdays?”
Xia Yunqing smiled coldly and said: "They have indeed caused a lot of inconvenience to me, but they are not completely paralyzed. On weekdays, my wife does the sewing, mending, boiling water and cooking; if the people come to complain, I will take care of them."
I'm working on the case with a few servants. Everything is pretty normal and orderly."
Lu Ning pondered slightly and suggested to Xia Yunqing: "Master Xia, we have a lot of brothers in the caravan. Why don't I send some people here to help tomorrow?"
Xia Yunqing looked sad and sighed: "It's not that I failed to live up to the good intentions of the Lu Gang leader, but that since I became a Lingzhou official, my salary has been meager. It is extremely difficult to support this yamen. I really can't afford to hire so many people!"
Lu Ning smiled knowingly and said: "It's almost winter now, and the mountain roads are no longer accessible. The caravan's business will temporarily stop during the winter. Those people are idle, so why not come to your place to help them? As for their salary
, it’s better for our caravan to come out!”
Hearing this, Xia Yunqing's expression suddenly became proud and solemn: "No reward for no merit, I'm sorry for not accepting the help of the Lu Gang Leader!"
Hu Qi listened quietly and said nothing. Seeing Xia Yunqing being so stubborn, the expression on his face was a bit sulky.
After pondering for a moment, he couldn't help but persuaded: "Master Xia, please forgive me for talking too much! This Lingzhou City is so big, I guess Master Xia has to deal with a lot of things every day. Judging from the current situation, with the help of these few people under your command,
Personally, even if you don't eat or drink, you will inevitably be in a hurry and even make some oversights and mistakes.
Wan Sheng heard that Mr. Xia has always been rigorous in doing things and never dared to neglect official matters. Therefore, Wan Sheng thought that in order to live up to the emperor's trust and the people's requests, Mr. Xia should not refuse the help of the Lu Gang Leader!"