Longevity from Liao Zhai

Chapter 43 Destruction of Evidence
Zhou Ping had a face full of question marks, wondering why these yamen runners surrounded him.

After a while, Captain Leng came to Zhou Ping with the yamen runners and the people from the escort agency.

"Zhou Ping, where were you just now?"

Captain Leng asked in a cold voice.

"I was just here."

Zhou Ping didn't understand.

"What are you doing here?"

Captain Leng asked again.

"Lengtou, don't ask any more questions, it must have been Zhou Ping who set the fire!"

"Yes, yes, yes. We have checked the people from the government office and the escort agency. Only Zhou Ping was not present just now."

"This guy must be a member of the Demon Cult. He wants to burn down the granary and kill the victims."

The bailiffs were very excited.

"It can't be Zhou Ping."

"Zhou Ping had no motive to set the fire."

The people from the escort agency wanted to speak to Zhou Ping, but were interrupted by the yamen runners.

"What motive? I think he is a member of the Demon Cult. That's the motive."

The bailiffs began to throw dirty water on Zhou Ping.

The people from the escort agency have some status in Qinghe County, but they are still inferior to the officials.

What's more, the leader of the yamen runners is Captain Leng.

Captain Leng is a ninth-rank warrior!
Zhou Ping understood. They were planning to make me a scapegoat.

Although it was the people from the escort agency who were on duty when the granary caught fire, it should have been the people from the government office who were on duty.

The main responsibility lies with the yamen runners for dereliction of duty.

This group of yamen runners want to pass the buck.

"When it's time to work, he doesn't want to do it, but when it's time to pass the buck, he's good at finding someone to blame."

Zhou Ping's eyes gradually turned cold.

Just as Zhou Ping thought, the yamen runners were looking for someone to shift the blame to.

Thanks to Xiaoqing, the fire did not cause any casualties or much food loss.

But this was an accident after all, and someone must be held accountable.

It is a dereliction of duty for the yamen runners to be unwilling to be on duty.

The granary is on fire again, which is an even greater sin!

It was normal to deduct one year's salary from the yamen runners or even dismiss a few of them for these two crimes.

So the yamen runners were anxious to pass the buck.

As long as the blame is passed on, the punishment of the yamen runners will be lighter.

It is very normal to accuse people of crimes at random in the county government.

The yamen runners were already familiar with the crime of indiscriminate peace.

So the yamen runners immediately checked the people in the escort agency.

When they found out that Zhou Ping was missing, they immediately prepared to put the blame on Zhou Ping.

As long as someone takes the blame, the matter can be covered up.

"Zhou Ping, what on earth were you doing just now?"

Captain Leng asked with a frown.

Zhou Ping sighed.

"Miss Xiaoqing asked me to borrow something just now, and she has left now."

Zhou Ping explained.

"Where did this girl come from! Where did this girl come from!"

"Find this little girl, Xiaoqing."

The bailiffs shouted one after another.

"Zhou Ping, where does this Miss Xiaoqing come from? How old is she?"

The cold captain shouted.

Zhou Ping opened his mouth and thought for a while.

"Miss Xiaoqing is not from Qinghe County."

Zhou Ping said. Xiaoqing is definitely not from Qinghe County.

"Lengtou, arrest Zhou Ping quickly."

"Yes, yes, it was Zhou Ping. It must have been Zhou Ping who set the fire."

"Lengtou, the case has been solved. It was Zhou Ping who set the fire."

The bailiffs drew their swords and tried to capture Zhou Ping.

"Captain Leng, I have something to say."

Zhou Ping looked at these yamen runners coldly. For their own benefit, these guys wanted to pass the buck without caring about people's lives.

Fortunately it was Zhou Ping today. If it was someone else, he would probably be thrown into jail without a chance to defend himself.

Once you go to jail, even if you come out innocent, you don’t know how much you will be skinned alive in there.

"explain."

Captain Leng stared into Zhou Ping's eyes, as if trying to see through him.

"Miss Xiaoqing is not from Qinghe County. She belongs to Master Fan. If you don't believe me, you can ask Master Fan when he accompanies us on the escort mission tomorrow."

Zhou Ping moved out Fan Shiyi.

"Mr. Fan's people, hahahaha, Zhou Ping, you are really good at making up stories."

"Mr. Fan has been in the county for half a year, and I have never heard of any Miss Xiaoqing around her."

The yamen runners looked relieved, they felt that they had Zhou Ping in their hands.

Captain Leng suddenly opened his eyes wide.

No one knew that Master Fan was going to Qingyuan County with the team.

Captain Leng personally went to ask Fan Shiyi for help in this matter.

Captain Leng was afraid of accidents and wanted to let Uncle Bo take action, but Uncle Bo was unwilling to escort the car.

Captain Leng was afraid that the escort agency and the yamen runners were not strong enough, so he thought of Fan Shiyi.

Captain Leng didn't expect that Fan Shiyi would agree immediately.

Fan Shiyi also wanted to go to Qingyuan County to see what had happened to Qingyuan County after the battle between the Demon Lord and several righteous people.

However, only Captain Leng knew about this matter and he had not told anyone else.

When Zhou Ping said that Fan Shiyi would also go with the team, Captain Leng knew that Zhou Ping was innocent.

"Miss Xiaoqing, Miss Xiaoqing."

Captain Leng is the chief of the Qinghe County constables, equivalent to the chief of public security.

Nothing big or small happened in Qinghe County could escape the eyes and ears of Captain Leng.

Fan Shiyi is naturally the focus of Captain Leng's attention.

Captain Leng knew that there was no girl around Fan Shiyi, but there was a green snake.

This green snake played a great role when the mountains pressed down on Qinghe County.

From this, Captain Leng knew that the green snake was a demon, and it was quite powerful, probably stronger than himself.

In addition, when the granary caught fire just now, the green snake put out the fire.

Captain Leng knew that the young escort in front of him must have some connection with the green snake beside Fan Shiyi.

"What are you doing! Put the knife away."

Captain Leng pushed away the other captains and looked at Zhou Ping with concern.

"Zhou Ping, I'm sorry, the brothers were too nervous just now."

Captain Leng looked very apologetic.

Zhou Ping snorted and said nothing.

Captain Leng pulled Zhou Ping aside and apologized to him softly, saying that the people under him were too nervous and suspected the wrong person.

Zhou Ping didn't expose it and just smiled businesslike.

"Zhou Ping, Master Fan will also go on this mission, so Miss Xiaoqing will go too."

"She can't go. Something's happened."

"what?"

Captain Leng originally thought that Xiaoqing would go as well, but he didn't expect Zhou Ping to directly shatter his fantasy.

Captain Leng was absolutely unwilling to take on this mission.

If something goes wrong in a major event like transporting grain, it would not just be a matter of one person dying, but the entire family would be executed.

Food is so important in such troubled times!

In troubled times, a woman deserves only a bushel of rice.

There are tens of thousands of kilograms of grain being transported on this trip. If something goes wrong, there will be no good consequences.

But the county magistrate insisted on letting Captain Leng go.

Captain Leng had no choice but to persuade the county magistrate to hire an escort agency.

In addition to the escort agency, Captain Leng also found Fan Shiyi.

Captain Leng recruited so many people to carry out this task in order to share the risk if something goes wrong in the grain transportation mission.

Although Fan Shiyi is a fourth-rank official, Captain Leng knows that Confucians are weaklings.

Confucianism has a way to deal with ghosts, but not with people.

The fourth rank Confucian was not someone that Leng the captain had not seen or beaten before.

Therefore, Captain Leng particularly hopes that Xiaoqing can also join this mission.

Xiaoqing is a demon, and she is very powerful.

With Xiaoqing here, this mission will definitely be less risky.

From some perspectives, Captain Leng is similar to Zhou Ping, both of them are risk-averse and pursue absolute safety.

After learning that Xiaoqing would not go, Captain Leng was very disappointed.

Just when Captain Leng was feeling disappointed, Uncle Lame came.

"What's going on here?" It turned out that when everyone surrounded Zhou Ping just now, a smart escort returned to the escort agency to find Uncle Lame.

When Uncle Lame heard that Zhou Ping was surrounded by people from the yamen, he rushed over immediately.

Zhou Ping told Uncle Lame what had just happened.

"Uncle Lame, something is wrong with this mission. The government obviously wants us to take the blame for the problem."

"In this chaotic world, if the food is lost, I'm afraid the brothers will not be happy, and it will also affect the escort agency."

Zhou Ping analyzed the situation to Uncle Bo.

This mission is not like other missions. If other missions fail, the only thing you have to do is lose money.

But this mission concerns the lives of tens of thousands of people in Qingyuan County, it is really too serious.

Once something goes wrong, the people in the yamen will put the blame on the people in the escort agency, and then both the escorts and the agency will be in trouble.

After listening to this, Uncle Lame was silent for a moment and then nodded.

"Captain Leng, the escort agency will not be leaving on this trip!"

Uncle Lame spoke slowly.

Captain Leng was horrified. He had finally managed to persuade the county magistrate to hire the escort agency.

The escort agency is used to share risks, that is, to pass on the blame.

If the escort agency doesn't go, and something really happens, there's no way to shirk the blame.

"Uncle Bo, at this critical moment, even if the escort agency is not doing this for money, it must do this for justice."

Captain Leng began to use moral blackmail.

"At this critical moment of life and death, you even abandoned your wife and children, and you are still talking about righteousness in front of me?"

Uncle Lame sneered.

When the mountains were pressing down on Qinghe County, Uncle Bo also contributed his efforts, but he ran away with Captain Leng at the last moment.

When Uncle Lame was young, he might have been fooled by Captain Leng's words, but now he doesn't buy it at all.

What's more, this mission doesn't earn much money and doesn't make any money.

It's just that the granary caught fire, but the people in the yamen wanted to pass the blame. It's conceivable that if anything happens, the blame will be put on the escort and the escort agency.

The people from the escort agency stood behind Uncle Bo, as a response to his words.

This mission only costs fifty copper coins, and the round trip might take ten days.

Five copper coins a day.

And you have to go through the unknown tunnel.

The risks and rewards of this mission are not proportional.

The escorts were all escorting goods according to their conscience, but they didn't expect that the officials were thinking about how to pass the buck.

The performance of the yamen runners really chilled the escorts' hearts.

The bailiffs looked at each other, all with dissatisfaction on their faces, but they did not dare to say anything.

If the people from the escort agency didn't go, just the night duty would be enough to make more than a dozen people suffer.

Captain Leng's face turned red and then blue.

"Hey, what is this for?"

Just when the situation was at a stalemate, Mao, the magistrate of Qinghe County, arrived.

When County Magistrate Mao arrived, he called Uncle Lame and Captain Leng aside.

After a while, Uncle Lame returned to the escort team.

"The mission continues. I have already made three rules with Captain Leng."

"First, the government is in charge of this matter, and we are cooperating with it."

"Second, if there is an enemy that you cannot resist, you can flee and we will not hold you responsible."

"Third, if something goes wrong during the escort, we will take over after all the people in the government office are killed."

Uncle Lame said.

After hearing this, the people from the escort agency all breathed a sigh of relief.

Just now, the people in the yamen tried to pass the blame to Zhou Ping, and everyone was watching.

So the people in the escort agency were also worried that they would be implicated.

But Uncle Bo's words dispelled everyone's worries.

The three rules put all the responsibilities on the yamen runners, making it impossible for them to shirk the responsibility.

On the other hand, when the yamen runners heard the three rules, their faces turned extremely ugly.

The strength of these yamen runners is not bad.

In addition to Captain Leng, there are two tenth-grade warriors among them, and five or six people who can sense spiritual energy.

After all, the yamen runners are official people, and their overall strength is stronger than that of the escort agency.

The three rules set by the county magistrate forced the yamen runners to show their true abilities and prevented them from slacking off.

the next day.

The grain in the granary was sent to Qingyuan County on time.

There were hundreds of people and nearly a hundred carriages in this group.

At noon, the grain transport team arrived at a cave entrance.

The other end of the cave is Qingyuan County.

There was a little white cat hanging on Zhou Ping's shoulder.

Xiaobai also wanted to follow Zhou Ping on the escort mission this time.

Zhou Ping chased it away several times, but Xiaobai still refused to leave.

The team waited at the cave entrance for a while.

After a while, Zhou Ping saw Fan Shiyi.

Even in the middle of summer, Fan Shiyi was still wearing a white cloak.

"It turns out that I am afraid of cold due to kidney deficiency. Will I become like this in the future?"

Zhou Ping shuddered. Could this be the consequence of having his yang energy sucked away by a demon?

Fan Shiyi did suffer from kidney deficiency after Xiaoqing sucked away his yang energy.

However, Zhou Ping didn't know that Fan Shiyi was mainly a girl, so her body was weak.

When Fan Shiyi arrived, he became the focus of everyone present.

Both the escorts and the yamen runners kept staring at Fan Shiyi.

First of all, Fan Shiyi is too famous.

Fan Shiyi was a fourth-rank official and saved the entire Qinghe County.

Secondly, Fan Shiyi is really handsome.

This kind of beauty can kill both women and men.

"You know what? It is said that there are many good people in Longyang in the capital."

"What does Long Yang mean?"

"That's it."

"Man and man."

"How do you do this?"

"One set on top and one set behind."

The bailiffs began to whisper.

Zhou Ping's mouth twitched slightly.

"set off!"

At a command from Captain Leng, the grain transport team moved towards the cave.

Qinghe County, county government office.

Magistrate Mao paced back and forth in the county government office, sweat dripping down his face.

"Mao County Magistrate, here I come."

A big rat appeared behind Magistrate Mao.

This rat was really big, like a big black dog. It was completely black, and its eyes glowed blood red.

The big rat stood upright on its legs, behind Magistrate Mao.

"Ouch, I'm so scared!"

"Rat spirit, I told you before that you have to transform into human form when you see me!"

Magistrate Mao covered his chest with his hands, almost frightened to death.

The rat demon shook his body and a man with shifty eyes appeared.

The man's image is an illusion and not a real human being.

If a demon wants to transform into a human, it needs to reach the seventh level of cultivation.

The rat demon is only at the eighth level, and is still some distance away from transforming into a human, but it can use illusions.

"You little rat, what are you doing? I asked you to burn down the granary, but you didn't succeed."

Magistrate Mao said angrily.

"It's not my fault. I set the fire, but that snake demon put it out with magic."

The rat spirit said unhappily.

"Okay, okay, it will take another five or six days for the transport team to reach Qingyuan County. During this time, you must steal the food!"

"Otherwise, the fact that there were stones mixed in the grain will be exposed!"

Magistrate Mao said worriedly.

In the official granary of Qinghe County, a lot of grain had long been sold away by the county magistrate and the rat demon.

Seventy percent of those ten thousand kilograms of grain were stones!

That's why County Magistrate Mao and the Rat Demon deliberately set fire to the granary in order to destroy the evidence.

But unexpectedly, Xiaoqing asked Zhou Ping to absorb the Yang energy and suppress it in the granary, so he put out the fire.

"Don't worry, the cave is my territory. I will handle this matter well and will not let it be exposed, let alone lose your official position."

"How to deal with it?"

"Kill them all!"

(End of this chapter)