Fix Smile Order

Li Dawang dashed into the courtyard like a cannon, crying and howling as he ran. He completely destroyed the atmosphere that Tang Tianyuan painstakingly created.

That ‘cannon’ slammed onto the door, turning his face into a flat biscuit. Only then did he realize that the door was locked from the inside, he was unsure of what the County Magistrate was doing inside.

"Sir, something happened!" Li Dawang shouted as he furiously knocked on the door.

‘Something happened, something happened–’ Just say what happened! Tang Tianyuan's face was gloomy and his eyes were fierce. Holding the lid of the box, he snapped it shut, covering the golden light.

Tan Lingyin didn't know why he was suddenly in a bad mood. She got up to open the door and let Li Dawang in.

Li Dawang gasped. "My Lord! Sun– Official Sun's family was robbed by bandits!"

Tan Lingyin was bewildered. "Robbed by bandits? When? Why did no one hear any movement at all? Any casualties? To rob things in broad daylight, how daring!"

She was an impatient person so her series of questions were thrown out like small firecrackers. Li Dawang was slow to react, so he only grabbed her last question and answered, "Ah, it was last night."

Tang Tianyuan quickly discovered something suspicious, "The incident that happened last night was only reported now? Also, how did the bandits get in when the city gate was closed at night?"

"No, those bandits robbed one of Official Sun's buildings that’s outside the city."

Oh, that explains everything. Otherwise, the city would be in chaos if a bandit robbery happened in the city. It would be impossible for them to only find out about it now. 

Tang Tianyuan sat down and pointed to the tea set on the table. "Drink first, and then tell this official what's going on."

Li Dawang downed two cups of water and then explained the matter in a few words.

It was very simple. Last night, Official Sun's largest farm outside the city was ransacked by bandits. During this time, with the new grain just harvested, it would be impossible to transport all of it to Official Sun's home in the city. So most of the new harvests were hidden in the closest granary. There were always people guarding the outside of the granary. This was to prevent any burlguaries and also any fires.

At the third night watch period (11pm-1am), while everyone was deep in sleep, a group of bandits came down from Phoenix Mountain. They were quite familiar with the path and made their way to the farmhouse, found the granary, and took all the grains. Like ants grabbing from their own homes, they moved very quickly and ruthlessly, taking everything that was stored. The people guarding the granary tried to stop them, but whoever stopped them were beaten. But fortunately, no one didn't dared to resist too much, and no one was killed. A few dogs barked fiercely, but were quickly killed and taken away by the bandits.

Almost as soon as he heard it, Tang Tianyuan straightened his thoughts and asked, "How can you be sure that the bandits came from Phoenix Mountain?"

"This humble one does not know either."

Tang Tianyuan threw out a couple more questions. "How long did it take the bandits to find the granary after reaching the farmhouse? How much grain did they rob? Which direction did they go after?"

"This humble one doesn't know."

Tang Tianyuan asked again, "It's obviously what happened last night, why did they delay the report until now?"

"This humble one……"

Li Dawang felt that he was not to blame. He was just entrusted by the Sun Residence to report the case to the County Magistrate, and he didn't know much of the details. Oh, he did know how many dogs were killed, but the County Magistrate didn't ask.

Tang Tianyuan waved his hand. "Forget it, call a few witnesses to come." After a pause, he added, "You need to be a little bit more thorough."

Li Dawang left a little heartbrokened.

Taking advantage of this free time, Tang Tianyuan asked Tan Lingyin to take the gold back first. He advised her to hide it well. 

Tan Lingyin went back to open the box and took out all the gold. She saw that there was a layer of a smaller wooden box at the bottom; the small wooden box was empty. When held together, the weight of the small wooden box was much heavier than that of gold.

Tan Lingyin was a little puzzled. Was the County Magistrate deliberately putting on a facade? This method was just too amateur-like. But on second thought, she understood his actions…

Tan Lingyin was a little puzzled. Was the County Magistrate deliberately putting on a facade? This method was just too amateur-like. But on second thought, she understood his actions.

As everyone knows, a piece of gold is always heavier than anything of the same size. An experienced person can identify the purity of gold just by looking at the size and weight. Of course, this was the practice of insiders. Even if one knows the method, it’s hard to put into practice; one must have to have vision and feeling. Tan Lingyin herself has been weighing gold for so many years, but she still did not dare to guarantee that she would always be accurate.

However, once one knows the method, they could undoubtedly avoid other people's inspection.

If the person lifting the box full of gold was an expert, they would easily notice the particularity of these gold bars. Therefore, the County Magistrate filled a large box with other things, in order to confuse the public and to allow the gold to not sway in the empty box.

Tan Lingyin squeezed the gold and sighed. The County Magistrate was really turning to an expert himself.