Fix Smile Order

The County Magistrate shut himself in the room while contemplating this matter. Once he decided on his plan, Tang Tianyuan called a convener to gather everyone for a meeting.

Mei Laowu was also invited to attend the meeting. He has already met the County Deputy and the Head Commissioner of this county. The County Deputy was working undercover for the prefect, and the Head Commissioner was simply a little girl. Having seen such a ‘unique’ combination, Mei Laowu began to worry about the reliability of this County Magistrate.

Sure enough, the County Magistrate only said one simple sentence. "We need to suppress the bandits."

Mei Laowu sighed, thinking to himself: these were just superfluous words. To suppress bandits, we must have soldiers to do so. That uh... Mei Laowu wanted to complain again, but shut his mouth when he saw Zhou Zhengdao.

Tan Lingyin was unaware of the messy tangle underneath. She asked, "Then when should we start? Do we need to go to the Prefecture Magistrate to ask for the deployment of troops? Also, Lord, what did you say last time..."

Tang Tianyuan was afraid that she would reveal what happened before, so he waved his hand to interrupt her. "What you want to say is not urgent, we can discuss it later. Now, we need to send someone to plead the prefect for assistance."

As for who to send... Tan Lingyin, Mei Laowu, and Cong Shun all looked at Zhou Zhengdao in unison.

These young people were just not subtle enough; what they wanted to say and do were clearly written on their faces. Zhou Zhengdao coughed dryly, "This humble official..."

"County Deputy Zhou is still busy with other matters. There is no need to bother him with such trivial matters. This official has a suitable candidate in mind."

Everyone was a little confused, and even Zhou Zhengdao thought this was unexpected.

"Cong Shun."

"Here."

"Go and invite Official Sun here."

Tan Lingyin immediately understood his intention. 

Nanling County was also troubled by bandits before, but these bandits were never suppressed. It was difficult to not connect this matter to Zong Yinglin. If this was the case, then Tongling County would also be unable to suppress the bandits. 

The suppression of the bandits will need the permission of Zong Yinglin. As for who should go to persuade him… Zhou Zhengdao was a dog, so naturally he couldn't persuade his own master; it was best to use money to appeal. 

To invite Official Sun over and tell him that it wasn't our county government being negligent. That it was because the Lord, Prefect Magistrate, won’t allow it, so we are helpless... By then, Official Sun would probably go to Chizhou Prefecture Mansion with a monetary ‘gift’.

After everyone else dispersed, Tang Tianyuan noticed Tan Lingyin was still stuck to her chair, with a stunned expression on her face. He laughed, walked over, and poked her in the face lightly. "What, are you reluctant to leave?"

Tan Lingyin came back to her senses and praised him sincerely. "Sir, you are so smart!"

Tang Tianyuan has been praised by many people before, so he no longer takes it to heart anymore. But now, the feeling of being praised by Tan Lingyin, was completely different. If he had a tail behind him, it would definitely be wagging wildly at the moment.

Sitting next to Tan Lingyin, Tang Tianyuan simply explained everything to her.

Tan Lingyin's eyes widened. "Re–Really?"

"It's just a speculation, you don't have to look at me like that."

Genuinely, the heart is about to thump wildly again.

"Oh." Tan Lingyin also had a similar thought. She lowered her head, blushing.

Tang Tianyuan kept looking at her secretly. Seeing that her face was as red as a ripe apple in mid autumn, her eyes nervously twitching, causing her eyelashes to flutter, Tang Tianyuan felt that Tan Lingyin was indescribably cute. He suddenly remembered something, so he took out a small cloth bag; the crimson silk cloth wrapped an elongated thing. He opened it carefully, and picked up the item lying in the cloth: it was a hairpin.

"Here." Tang Tianyuan handed the hairpin to Tan Lingyin.

Tan Lingyin was stunned. "For me?"

"Hmm." He smiled and nodded.

Tan Lingyin took the hairpin. The whole hairpin looked to be made of pure gold. The handle of the hairpin was thin and tapered. The tail was expanded into a fan shape. Small gems were embedded on the fan’s surface: red, green, blue in color, there were seven gems intotal.

Tang Tianyuan pointed to the handle of the hairpin and specially emphasized, "The core here is silver."

"It's not pure gold..." Her tone sounded slightly disappointed.

Tang Tianyuan helplessly held his forehead. "Are you really unaware of what this insinuates?"

"I don't know." After Tan Lingyin finished speaking, she grabbed the hairpin and was ready to leave.

Tang Tianyuan knew she was shy, so he also got up to follow her. He held the door frame and smiled. "What do you plan to give me?"

Her response was an ever-faster stride, as if fleeing for her life.

Tang Tianyuan smiled even more, he shouted at her back, "I don't like toads!"

Feeling as if a torch was held at her face, Tan Lingyin headed straight back to her residence. She closed the door tightly, sat down, and took a sip of water.

She looked at the hairpin in her hand. Her palms were sweating from nervousness, so the handle of the hairpin was quite slippery. Tan Lingyin wiped the hairpin carefully.

This type of hairpin was called the ‘Seven Treasure Tongxin Hairpin’. To combine the gold on top of the silver core inside was not to save money, but to signify togetherness, or in other words, ‘tongxin.’ How could she not understand?

Tang Feilong gave her a Seven Treasure Tongxin Hairpin.

Tan Lingyin was full of sweetness. She turned the hairpin over and over, admiring its beauty. She looked at the patterns on the hairpin and then watched the gems glisten in the sunlight; in short, Tan Lingyin couldn't put it down.

After admiring it for a while, Tan Lingyin felt a little melancholy again. Tang Feilong was about to be engaged to the daughter of the assistant minister of the Ministry of Rites, so why did he give her this? Could it be that he found out that she liked him a little, so he deliberately was playing with her?

Considering Tang Feilong's character, it was very possible for him to do such a thing. Besides, didn't she just beat him a few days ago? What if this was part of his revenge...

No, no, no, Tang Feilong wouldn't be so tasteless. And didn't he tell her the other day that he liked a girl? How many girls were there in the county government office? Except for his few maids, it seems that she was the only one left...

What if it's a girl from elsewhere? Before he came to Tongling County, he may have already been acquainted with another girl?

Tan Lingyin's brain was about to burst from all her speculations.