Transmigrated into a minor official in a county government, with children at home waiting for rice t

Xu Kai shook his head. "Wu Yan is in the barracks. Have him take a few men to Chenjiazhuang. Investigate the scene, ask the neighbors, and see if anyone saw anything."

Zhang Sanlang stood up. "Thank you, Magistrate Xu."

Xu Kai waved his hand, pulled a piece of paper from the corner of the table, wrote a few lines and handed it to him, "Hey, if I'm not mistaken, it really was Chen Youde who did it, I'm afraid we won't be able to find any witnesses or physical evidence."

Zhang Sanlang took the order, left the county magistrate's office, and headed towards the archers' barracks.

Wu Yan was squatting by the well washing his face when he saw Zhang Sanlang. He stood up, shook the water off his hands, and asked, "Sanlang? What's wrong so late?"

Zhang Sanlang handed over the warrant. Wu Yan took it, glanced at it, and frowned. "Ma Dashou is dead?"

"It disappeared this afternoon. I suspect it was Chen Youde who sent someone to do it."

Wu Yan tucked the order into his pocket, turned around and shouted towards the barracks, "Old Liu, Little Zhao, grab your weapons and come with me."

Old Liu came out of the house, carrying a short stick in his hand and a tinderbox at his waist. Little Zhao followed behind, yawning, but Old Liu patted him on the head, making his eyes brighten.

When I returned to the old house, the light in the east wing was still on.

Qingge'er sat at the desk in the outer room of the east wing, with an old book spread out in front of him. It was a piece of scrap paper that Zhang Sanlang had brought back from the clerk's office, and you could write on the back of it.

happy Mei'er and Lin Qiao'er sat on the edge of the bed in the inner room, each holding a shoe sole in their hands. Their needlework was slow, but each stitch was steady.

Lin Xiuer was already lying on the bed in the inner room, curled up in the quilt, with half of her face showing. Her eyes were closed, and her eyelashes were still trembling. It was unclear whether she was asleep or not.

When Qingge saw Zhang Sanlang come in, he looked up and grinned, "Dad, you're finally back."

"You're back." Zhang Sanlang walked to the table and sat down, glancing at the characters on the calligraphy practice paper. "This character '人' (person), the left-falling stroke is short and the right-falling stroke is long. The right-falling stroke should be written with a smooth, flowing motion. Your right-falling stroke is too short, making it look like someone with a limp."

Qingge pouted and traced it again on the paper with a pen.

Zhang Sanlang stood up, walked to the door of the east wing, and knocked on the doorframe. happy Meier looked up, and Lin Qiaoer also looked up, stopping the needlework in her hand.

"Ximei, go borrow two quilts from Aunt Sun. The two older sisters just arrived, don't let them get cold."

happy Mei nodded. "Dad, there's still some porridge warming on the stove. Have a bowl."

Zhang Sanlang responded. The fire in the stove had gone out, but the embers were still glowing red, casting a dark red light on the stove.

He ladled out a bowl of porridge, placed it on the table, and slowly drank it. The porridge had cooled slightly and was too thick to stir. He was too lazy to heat it up again, so he just drank it as is.

The embers in the stove were dark red, casting flickering light on the stovetop.

The courtyard was quiet, with the occasional soft voice of Lin Qiao'er coming from the inner room, as if she were coaxing her younger sister to sleep. Qing Ge'er was already asleep on the table, still holding a pen in his hand.

Zhang Sanlang carried him to the bed, took off his shoes, and covered him with a blanket. He sat on the edge of the bed for a while, looking at Qingge'er's face. The child was sleeping soundly, a slight smile still on his lips, probably dreaming about something wonderful.

At three quarters past 9 PM, Zhang Sanlang still couldn't fall asleep.

He stood up and walked to the window; the courtyard was pitch black.

Ma Dashou is dead.

He knows without even thinking who did it.

Chen Youde, having suffered repeated setbacks at Ma's hands, dared not touch him and instead vented his anger on Ma Dashou. Ma Dashou was a pushover, destitute and alone; his two daughters had just returned, and before he could even rejoice, he was beaten to death.

Old Zhao recounted the two girls' origins and Ma Dashou's predicament in detail, not in a verbose manner. He subtly pointed out that sending them to the Sun family was probably Ma Dashou's own idea.

Firstly, his family was poor, and secondly, his two daughters were growing up, making it inconvenient for him, an old man living alone, to take care of them. This is why Chen Youde took advantage of the situation, but ended up losing more than he gained.

Adding to the matter of Zhou Qing and the three young ladies, Chen Youde, who was used to being domineering, had nowhere to vent his anger, so it's not hard to guess that he ordered someone to take revenge.

In his view, he was partly responsible for Ma Dashou's death.

So when Old Zhao threw two hot potatoes at him, he hesitated again and again before finally accepting them.

They already have two children to support, so adding two more mouths to feed would be a real strain.

Zhang Sanlang closed his eyes, a dull ache throbbing in the back of his head.

He reached out and touched it; the old wound was still there, the scar had flattened, but it still ached when pressed.

That was Feng the Scarface who knocked it.

He was hit hard in the dark alley and lay there for three days.

Who is Feng Bazi?

He was a dockworker, one of Qian Laohei's men, and a lackey of Kong Youan.

He does the dirty work for him.

He framed Old Sun for smuggling salt; he was the one who did it.

He was also the one who knocked people unconscious twice.

Now that Ma Dashou has been beaten to death, it's most likely that he was the one who did it.

Donkey Three is also one.

Qian Laohei's deputy, who followed Qian Laohei in extorting money and engaging in bullying and monopolistic practices.

Xu, the county magistrate, revealed that the former steward of the Chen family was drowned, and he suspected that this group was responsible.

Qian Laohei is the middle line.

What Kong You'an wanted to do, and what Chen Youde wanted to do, were all communicated and arranged through Qian Laohei. Feng Bazi took action, and Lv San cleaned up the mess.

Zhang Sanlang gritted his teeth, his cheeks taut, and gradually figured out the division of labor among the group.

He wanted to uproot Chen Youde, watch Kong Youan be arrested and brought to justice, and make them pay the price for what they had done.

However, his position in the county government was merely that of a staff member in charge of household registration and accounts, not criminal investigation or arrest.

He has no power to arrest people, no power to try cases, and not even the power to investigate cases.

All he could do was bring Ma Dashou's two maids home, so they would have food to eat and a bed to sleep in.

That's it.

He felt humiliated.

Chen Youde has been running his business in Juancheng for generations, and his influence is deep and widespread.

Kong Youan came from a family of clerks and officials, and had been entrenched in the criminal justice department for decades, with his men working for him from top to bottom.

Zhang Sanlang is just walking along his own house, what makes him think he can fight with others?

All he can do now is wait.

We'll wait for news from County Magistrate Xu and for Wu Yan to return from Chenjiazhuang to see if we can find any clues.

We'll see if Qian Laohei loosens his grip on things. He has so much leverage over us, it'll all come out eventually.

Zhang Sanlang opened his eyes and looked out at the dark courtyard.

"Chen Youde! Kong Youan!" He uttered these two names softly, as if speaking to himself, "What you owe, you will pay back sooner or later. Those who do many evil deeds will surely perish!"

Just then, a muffled groan came from outside.

It was very light, like something squeezed out of someone's throat after someone covered their mouth.

Zhang Sanlang suddenly opened his eyes wide and held his breath.

There was no sound from the courtyard. He listened intently for a moment, thinking he had misheard.

Suddenly, another sound came from the other side of the wall.

This time it wasn't a muffled groan, but the sound of broken porcelain shards scraping against something. With a crash, several pieces of porcelain fell from the wall and landed on the ground, making a clattering sound as they collided with each other.

Someone's using a VPN!

The hairs on Zhang Sanlang's back stood on end, and a thought flashed through his mind:

A dark and stormy night for murder!