Chapter 299: The County Magistrate

Chapter 299 The Magistrate

"Do we need to thank each other? If not for you, I would have died long ago. Your affairs are my affairs. Stop crying, wait for my news."

Li Huowang patted Bai Lingmiao's handback with his hand, prised her fingers open, and walked towards the outside.

He was not good at expressing love, but he did not want the things he experienced to happen again on Bai Lingmiao; that feeling was truly too painful.

Bai Lingmiao hurriedly followed up, asking with worry in her voice: "Senior Brother Li, do you know where my father and mother went?"

"I don't know."

"Then how to find them?"

"Don't rush, I am someone with status now, there will be a way." Li Huowang took out the Sky Monitoring Bureau's waist token and waved it towards Bai Lingmiao.

A whole village of people suddenly disappeared, which could not be considered a small matter no matter how you looked at it; the magistrate governing Niu Xin Village must know something, so he could start from there temporarily.

Li Huowang led out a horse, glanced at the map, and mounted it.

He wasn't very good at riding horses, but it didn't matter; fall a few more times and you learn. Others would hurt their tendons and bones falling, but he had no such concern.

Stumbling along, a day and night passed. When the sky gradually brightened, Li Huowang finally arrived at the largest county town nearby.

Glancing at this not-so-big-not-so-small county town before him, the dusty Li Huowang held the reins and walked inside.

Magistrate Wang woke up. Without opening his eyes, he kicked lightly under the quilt, and the concubine sleeping at the other end immediately got off the bed, kneeling on the floor with her forehead pressed against it. "Begging Master to change clothes."

Magistrate Wang slowly opened his eyes, sat up with the support of his wives' soft palms, stretched out his hand, and a willow branch already peeled of its bark was sent to his side.

Using the willow branch, he lightly dipped it into the fine salt in the maid's hand, stuffed it into his mouth, and scraped back and forth against his teeth.

Seeing Magistrate Wang scrape enough, the maid quickly picked up the sandalwood spittoon prepared beforehand.

He drank a mouthful of warm water, puffed his cheeks and swished it around, then lowered his head and spat into the spittoon.

Seeing Magistrate Wang close his eyes slightly, the maid holding the towel carefully began to wipe him meticulously with a face cloth.

The face-wiping maid retreated, and the maids holding the official robes slowly surrounded him.

After seven or eight maids stepped down, he, dressed in a navy blue official robe, walked gracefully out of the bedroom.

Just as he stepped out of the room, a wave of heat hit him in the face. He looked up at the high-hanging sun and instantly showed a trace of displeasure on his face.

"Today is such a big sun again; there are hardly any days that are comfortable."

After speaking, he walked forward, and two maids holding fans hurried their steps to follow.

Not walking many steps, he arrived before the large wooden table where he usually worked; his capable assistant, Mr. Hu, had been waiting for a long time.

"Speak, has anyone beaten the drum to lodge a complaint recently?"

The advisor with a handlebar mustache on his lips showed a fake smile on his face. "Replying to Master, just one today; the accuser slipped ten taels of silver."

"Oh?" Magistrate Wang picked up the crystal-clear jelly noodles, ate a few bites, and said leisurely: "Who is the defendant?"

"The defendant is a horse trader who traded horses in Qingqiu. He gave one tael, but that one tael is gold."

"Hmm~! Today's jelly noodles are nice! Pity the portion is a bit small."

Hearing this, Mr. Hu immediately understood and said: "Understood, Master, I know how to talk to them privately."

Having said that, he took out a piece of paper from his bosom and began to read the indictment.

While shaking his head listening to the indictment, Magistrate Wang saw a man actually drill out of the ground diagonally.

Seeing this bizarre scene, Magistrate Wang was first stunned, then his face panicked, and finally he stood up abruptly, spilling the bowl of jelly noodles all over the table.

"Who... who comes! You dare kill an official appointed by the court! The Sky Monitoring Bureau will never let it go!"

Li Huowang looked at the trembling man before him, too lazy to waste words with him, took out the token, and displayed it before him. "Ask you some questions."

Seeing the waist token in Li Huowang's hand, Magistrate Wang immediately poked his body out from behind the advisor, putting on a sycophantic smile on his face.

"Ah~ It's an expert from the Sky Monitoring Bureau. Advisor, why not serve tea quickly!"

"No trouble needed. I ask you, how did those people in Niu Xin Village disappear? People have been gone for so long, you wouldn't not know, right?"

Hearing this, the other party was obviously stunned, then whispered quietly to the advisor. "Advisor, what happened to Niu Xin Village?"

"Master, did you forget? All the people in that entire village disappeared somehow. You asked Captain Cao to investigate this matter. He wanted to tell you something before, but you were busy then and didn't listen."

"What are you standing there for? Quickly bring Cao Xin back!"

"This time Captain Cao went to patrol the streets! I really don't know where he is."

Hearing this, Magistrate Wang showed an embarrassed smile to Li Huowang. "Expert, shall I take you to find Captain Cao? This matter falls under his jurisdiction."

"Go, hurry, I have no time to waste." Seeing Li Huowang go out, Magistrate Wang and Mr. Hu hurriedly followed.

"Clang~" A piercing gong sound rang out.

"Ma~gis~trate~ Sir~ Go~es~ Out~"

Under this deliberately drawn-out sound, Magistrate Wang wearing the official hat bent down and sat towards a blue sedan chair.

Just sitting halfway, he turned around again, smiling and saying to Li Huowang: "Expert, why don't you sit?"

"Get in the sedan quickly, I have no time to waste."

"Ai ai ai." Magistrate Wang, secretly laughing in his heart, sat on the sedan chair, but before he could settle comfortably, one sentence from Li Huowang scared his soul almost out.

"So many people are gone, haven't you reported it to the Sky Monitoring Bureau?"

Hearing this sounded like blame, Magistrate Wang panicked immediately, pulled open the sedan curtain, and started shifting the blame.

"Expert, isn't this matter still being investigated? Reporting without finding anything out, if wrong, me getting in trouble doesn't matter much, but causing you to run in vain, isn't that a big delay?"

"Oh dear, truly sorry, it's all because my subordinates aren't useful, dragging their feet investigating a case, causing the expert to come personally."

"When finished, I will definitely hold a banquet at Fubai Tower to apologize and punish myself with three cups!"

Li Huowang waved his hand forward impatiently, "Move."

If not for hearing that this captain had some discovery, he would truly be too lazy to converse with such a chatty person.

Moving synchronously with the sedan bearers, the sedan shook up and down with creaking sounds.

The whole county town was not big; finding the patrolling captain was not difficult. Soon Li Huowang saw him, standing at the door of a brothel, laughing with the women inside, the green-clad captain.

Seeing the magistrate lord's sedan chair, that captain and the constables immediately became solemn in expression, quickly straightened their hats, and began to seriously patrol the street with square steps.

"Ah, Magistrate Lord." Captain Cao clasped his fists and bowed to the sedan beside him.

"Magistrate Lord, you came out so early to inspect the people's conditions, please do not exhaust your body for the sake of the common folk."

"Sigh, suffering a little for the people is nothing." Seeing Li Huowang's face darken, he immediately asked seriously: "Captain Cao, regarding the disappearance of the villagers of Niu Xin Village, have you found anything?"

"You boy think before answering, this one is an expert from the Sky Monitoring Bureau who came personally to handle this matter!"

"Ah?" Captain Cao looked at Li Huowang in bewilderment.

"But the ones who took away the whole village of Niu Xin Village were the Sky Monitoring Bureau."