Chapter 10: Murder at the County Office

The night sky was washed with stars.

The tallest building in the capital city of Dafeng, the Stargazer Building, the office of the Heavenly Superintendent.

The yellow-skirted girl climbed up with light steps, and when she passed the seventh floor, she heard a noisy clamor coming from the Dan Room.

A group of alchemists in white, arguing.

“Why did it fail again? It’s obviously such a simple step.”

“Like I said, it must be the wrong dose of salt.”

“No, I think it’s water.”

“It’s fire, right? Just now I saw Senior Brother Wan boil the salt.”

“It’s too hard, the alchemical spell of turning salt into silver is too hard, I don’t know it.”

The corner of the mouth of the yellow-skirted girl named Caiwei twitched and muttered, “This group of people are even refining fake silver.”

Two days ago, when she brought back to the Szeto the deed of turning salt into silver, the senior brothers began to disbelieve.

Salt can be turned into silver?

Three year olds don’t believe it.

But soon, the tax silver case was solved, and His Majesty felt that the fake silver was extremely powerful and quite divine, and ordered the Chintian Supervisor to refine the fake silver.

Thus, the alchemists of the Chinatown began their work of exploding their livers, devoting themselves day and night to the blessings of 996.

From two days ago, it’s been a liver that has lost many battles.

“Caiwei, it’s Senior Sister Caiwei.” Someone shouted excitedly.

In an instant, a gaunt face turned, and a pair of eyes suddenly blazed with brilliancy.

“Senior Sister Caiwei, how exactly was this fake silver refined.”

“Senior Sister Caiwei, come over here and help me see if there’s something wrong with the steps? You’re the only one who successfully refined the fake silver.”

Surround the yellow-skirted girl.

Chu Caiwei had no choice but to enter the dan room and watch her senior brothers refine the fake silver.

“Failed again!” A white-clad alchemist operating on the spot lamented.

“Senior Sister Caiwei, what went wrong?” The crowd of white clothes assumed a posture of vainly seeking advice.

There is no problem ah, I was refining this way in the beginning …. Chu Caiwei murmured, “This is an alchemy handed down from the ancient times, profound and obscure, it is not something that can be learned just by saying it, it needs to be taught in depth in order to be deeply rooted. I’ll pass on a mnemonic to all the senior brothers, remember to remember.”

The brothers assume a listening posture.

“Hydrogen, helium, lithium, beryllium, boron, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, fluorine, neon, sodium, magnesium, aluminum, silicon, and phosphorus!” Chu Caiwei’s qi moved through her dantian, and word by word, she spat out this marvelous mnemonic.

“This skill and reconciliation ah?” The senior brothers were unsure and understood every word, and were confused when they were combined together.

I don t know what it is …. Chu Caiwei pretended to smile without saying anything.

“Wizards, wizards, the person who wrote this recipe is truly a wizard of alchemy.” A white-clothed senior brother lamented.

Where are the wizards ah, senior brother, don t think nonsense! Chu Caiwei’s smile remained unchanged.

“Senior Sister Caiwei, who told you this mantra. Did Senior Sister meet a high person in alchemy and receive guidance from him?”

Chu Caiwei said in her heart, “Good question! Dumped the pot lightly.

“That man’s name is Xu Qi’an, the nephew of Xu Pingzhi of the Imperial Sword Battalion’s Seventh Grade Green Robe, you’re just looking for him.”

Upon hearing that it was a martial artist, the whites were not pleased.

“Joke, my Hall of Heaven Supervisor is full of talents, and I need to find outsiders to refine fake silver?”

“And a martial artist.”

“Wouldn’t it be a joke if it got out.”

Depending on the system of cultivation, several very interesting chains of contempt have developed.

The Taoist sect despises the Buddhist sect, and the Buddhist sect despises it in return.

Warlocks look down on sorcerers, sorcerers look down on compulsors, and compulsors look down on warlocks.

Then the Taoist and Buddhist warlocks and sorcerers and compulsors, together, looked down on the martial artist.

As for Confucianism, I am sorry, with all due respect, everyone here is garbage.

But Confucianism has weakened in recent times.

“Senior Sister Caiwei, come guide us.”

Caiwei ‘heh’ed, “Next time for sure!”

She pushed her way hard through the group of white-clad brothers and continued to pick her way up the steps.

In fact, she didn’t understand it.

The last time in the government office, the one-shot refining of fake silver, afterward Caiwei privately tried again and failed.

It replicated the previous process exactly, but it just failed, and she didn’t know why.

The roof of the Stargazer Building, instead of a normal gable roof, is an octagonal platform, alluding to the eight trigrams.

Hence the name Bagua Terrace.

On the edge of the gossip platform, a white-clothed old man, crouching in front of the case, pinching the wine cup in his hand, the other hand on his head, seemingly drunk, looking at the capital below.

The yellow-skirted girl was sensible and didn’t disturb, the master’s father didn’t do anything serious on weekdays, he liked to sit on the gossip platform to drink and look at the scenery.

And don’t like to be disturbed.

Flick a glass of wine and squint your eyes and say concentrate on the earth.

“Caiwei is here?” The white-clothed old man laughed.

“Master.” The yellow-skirted girl blossomed into a smile and trotted over, standing at the edge of the eight trigrams with her skirts flying.

“What’s the emperor’s reward?”

“A few hundred taels of silver and a few pairs of silk.” The yellow-skirted girl said, “Master, what exactly is the fake silver?”

“I don’t know.”

“Is there anything in the world that Master doesn’t know?”

“Too many too many.” The white-clothed old man smiled and said, “Master doesn’t know where those thieves went nineteen years ago.”

“You always say that the little thieves of nineteen years ago were hateful, but you won’t tell me who they were or what they stole.”

The white-clothed old man got up, stood at the edge of the octagonal platform, and sighed, “What was stolen was remarkable.”

“Then do you know who refined the fake silver.” Sitian Supervisor was the birthplace of the warlock system, and the alchemists under the sky, even if they didn’t originate from Sitian Supervisor, they must have a connection with Sitian Supervisor.

Behind the tax and silver case, an alchemist was involved and had refined such a marvelous thing, it was by no means a generalized person.

“The Master naturally knows this.”

…….

Small courtyard, main house.

Xu Qi’an lay on the bed, staring straight at the crisscrossing beams through the white moon coming in through the window.

He was worrying about his future, a little frightened and confused, and a little feverish.

By virtue of the fact that I am a quality product out of nine years of compulsory education, my brain is all hung up on knowledge.

Easily one of the showiest flowers in a backward monarchical society.

However, the supremacy of the emperor’s society, often means that human rights can not be guaranteed, today the club tender model, tomorrow military exile.

This is a phenomenon that would make any modern person doubly sad.

Thinking about it, Xu Qi’an fell asleep, and when he woke up to the light of day, he put on his basilisk-colored official clothes, tied his belt, tied up his long hair, and then hung the plain sword on his waist.

The body is straight and masculine and handsome.

I have to admit that the ancient costumes add to the value and temperament, it’s just too much of a hassle when you go to the bathroom.

Over the wall to the second uncle’s house to rub a breakfast, uncle and nephew went out to work together, Xu Pingzhi official reinstatement, everything as usual.

Changle county office is the capital city’s attached county, the government office is in the city, six or seven miles away from the Xu residence, Xu Qi’an did not have a horse or a carriage, so he had to take the No. 11 bus, and in two quarters of an hour, he arrived at the county office.

Changle County Yamen sits in the north facing south, two stone lions as high as a person in front of the entrance, red and brown paint on both sides of the door, set the paint peeling drums.

The structure of the county office is well worth talking about. The biggest one is of course the governor, called the chief magistrate, who has two deputies, a magistrate and a chief bookkeeper.

These three were court officials with rank, and in Xu Qi’an’s time, they were established.

Below the three courtiers is the canonical historian, also known as the chief officer.

But there’s no class, no entry.

Then there are three classes and six rooms: the three classes are Soap Class, Fast Class and Strong Class, which are responsible for ceremonies, security and arrests; while the six rooms correspond to the six departments of the court.

Xu Qi’an is the errand boy in the fast class, known as the constable in the Ming Dynasty.

Entering the government office, it so happened that the canonical officials were counting the dawn, and standing in front of the hall, Li Dianshi froze when he saw Xu Qi’an, who was wearing a plain sword on his waist.

That expression was as if he had seen a ghost in broad daylight.

The magistrates, sensing that the leader did not look right, turned their heads to look at him, and then, had the same type of damned expression.

“Xu, Xu Qi’an, are you a human or a ghost?!” Someone said in a trembling voice.

Li Dianshi noticed Xu Qi’an’s shadow cast on the ground, his heart slightly relieved, his tone calm: “What nonsense to say above the public hall, do ghosts have shadows?”

The crowd breathed a sigh of relief.

Xu Qi’an thought about it and picked up, “It can’t be said to be the walking dead.”

Li Dianshi was shocked, and the hearts of the magistrates were tightened.

Xu Qi’an hurriedly clasped his fists, “Just kidding, meet your honorary historian, fellow officers, I’m out of prison.”

Lee Denshi asked, “What’s going on?”

They had heard about the Xu family being imprisoned for the tax and silver case.

“Naturally, he redeemed his sins by taking the credit for them, and the saint was forgiving and pardoned the Xu family’s sins.” Xu Qi’an immediately recapitulated the matter again, but shifted the credit to his second uncle and took out the vouchers given by the government offices of Beijing Zhaowu.

At the same time, the heart also has a number, although the tax silver has been found, but the verdict has not come down, that is to say, the tax silver disappearance case has not yet settled, after all, have to go through the process, not so fast.

Therefore, the group of magistrates at the Changle County Office did not yet know about this.

The point of the end, a few familiar constables immediately came up to congratulate and congratulate.

“Ning Banquet, you have to buy the drinks.”

In this day and age, when addressing a friend, use a word not a name. When introducing yourself, use your name not your word.

“Yeah, the big one has to be on the house.”

“I’ve heard that the brothel on Linshui Street has bought a new batch of purveyors… Ning Yan, will you go with us tonight?”

Treating a drink is fine, sleeping with a woman still want me to please, excessive …. Xu Qi’an just wanted to push back and say that he didn’t have any money, but suddenly he stepped on a hard lump under his foot, and when he looked down, it was a grain of broken silver.

It’s really a big deal, isn’t it? He immediately stepped on it and didn’t move, pretending to look around at the scenery.

Waiting for the crowd to take a few steps forward, Xu Qi’an quickly lowered his head to pick it up and put it into his money bag without changing his face.

After walking through the long corridor and sitting in the west side of the side hall for a few minutes, Li Dianshi came in with a grim face and looked over at Sheriff Wang, “Old Wang, the county magistrate’s master asked us to go to the inner hall.”

Sheriff Wang’s face was bitter, and he went out in a muffled voice.

Xu Qi’an watched as Sheriff Wang’s back disappeared and asked, “What’s going on, the chief’s face doesn’t look too good.”

“You squatted in jail these days, Kangping Street had a murder, the death was a quite rich and powerful merchant, the county magistrate master was furious, every day to catch Wang constable scolding.”

“It’s just a dead merchant, there’s no need for the county magistrate lord to be furious.” Xu Qi’an got high on melon seeds.

Since ancient times, all human life is a big case, but as a county magistrate of the capital attached to Guo County, from the fifth rank, it is not like this.

“Hehe, that merchant is related to a certain lord in the Giver, I think it’s that side that’s giving the pressure.” That yamen said, “Moreover, this year is the year of Gengzi.”

“Gengzi year?” Xu Qi’an didn’t react.

“Kyocha!” The magistrate pointed out.