"Sir, this is the case file submitted by Xiahe County this month. Please take a look."
Pei Che sat on a chair, looking at the pile of things in the hands of the yamen runner in front of him. He had to move the missing case files that were originally piled on the table away and let him put the things in his hands on the table.
"Sir, I'll take my leave now." The runner put the things away and left.
Pei Che looked at the pile of things on the table, rubbed his tense forehead, and couldn't help but sigh. He felt useless a few days ago, but now he began to feel a little overwhelmed.
Those missing cases were shrouded in mystery. When Pei Che thought that the missing people might still be alive and just trapped somewhere, he wanted to solve the case immediately and rescue those innocent people.
But some of the cases happened too long ago, so Pei Che could only send people to inspect all the places where people had disappeared in the past year, but he didn't find any clues at the scene, so solving the case was naturally a long way off.
Pei Che found that he couldn't help but think about it again. He shook his head and opened the case file that had just been presented to him. He was ready to deal with the official business first, and then think about the case of multiple disappearances.
Xiahe County is a small county town. Like most of the counties in Cangzhou, it is also very poor. The people living there struggle for food and clothing every day, and rarely make trouble in the government office. However, some wealthy families in the city would make trouble and go to the government office from time to time. In this file, seven or eight out of ten cases are about them.
Pei Che flipped through the books with a gloomy face. Seeing trivial matters such as the cow of the east family running to the vegetable field of the west to eat grass, or the chicken of the west family running to the east to lay eggs, he wanted to call the county magistrate over to ask him why he had to file a case for investigation when such a matter could be solved by sending people to mediate
"What's going on?" A voice sounded outside. Pei Che's mind moved, and he quickly stood up, walked around the table, and took the food box from the visitor.
"A Miao, why are you delivering food again today?" Pei Che asked.
Jiang Miao said, "Could you please go outside and check the time yourself? You forget to eat and sleep when you are dealing with official business. How much money does the court give you to work so hard for them?"
He placed the food on the small table beside him while complaining. If he hadn't been afraid that Pei Che would get sick from hunger after waiting for him for so long, why would he have made this trip
Pei Che awkwardly stuck his head out to look at the sky outside, only then did he realize that it was really late.
"Well, thank you for your help, A Miao. I will go back as early as possible tomorrow." Pei Che promised.
Jiang Miao rolled his eyes: "Come on, didn't you say the same thing yesterday and the day before yesterday? I might as well deliver it to you every day from now on, so you don't have to run back and forth and eat irregularly. Sit down and eat, the food will get cold easily in cold weather."
Pei Che sat down obediently. If someone cares so much about your health, what does it matter if what he says is not so pleasant to hear? He picked up the chopsticks and put the food into his mouth. The moment he swallowed it, he realized that he was really hungry. He increased his eating speed. Jiang Miao sat opposite him and looked at him. He couldn't help but think of Pei Che in the past. At that time, he always ate slowly and looked very elegant. I don't know if it's because they have been together for a long time and influenced each other. Jiang Miao felt that his eating manners had improved, but Pei Che was becoming more and more like him.
"What's wrong?" Pei Che swallowed the last bite of food and saw Jiang Miao staring at him strangely. He couldn't help but want to look in the mirror to see if there was anything on his face.
Jiang Miao came back to his senses and shook his head, "Nothing. By the way, you looked a little unhappy when I came in just now. What's the matter?" He cleverly changed the subject. Pei Che was a serious person. If he heard him say that his eating habits had changed, he would definitely think about it for the whole afternoon.
Pei Che did not doubt him and replied, "The magistrate of Xiahe County is too incompetent. He has to record every trivial matter in the case file and hand it to me for review."
Jiang Miao scratched his head: "Doesn't this show that he is diligent? If he only handed in two or three books a month, you would think he didn't work hard." In modern times, no matter what work you do, you have to leave traces. Pei Che should be glad that there are no group chats here, otherwise there would be more trivial matters.
So that's how it is. Pei Che understood. He was in a high position, so naturally he didn't know what the people below him were thinking. He said, "It seems I have to make it clear to the people below. Tell them not to be so cautious, and let those who should be handed over be handed over, and teach them a lesson if they shouldn't be handed over."
Jiang Miao nodded. The people below were just afraid of being criticized by their superiors. Otherwise, who would be willing to do these things
After Pei Che finished his meal, he put the used bowls and chopsticks into the food box and put them away. If you just look at this skillful action, others will definitely not guess that Pei Che was born in the Duke's Mansion.
Jiang Miao sat in his previous seat and read. He casually pulled out a case file from the table, wanting to see how bizarre the case presented by Xiahe County was. Unexpectedly, this look made his eyes widen.
"Hurry, A'che, look, someone's missing again!" Jiang Miao called out quickly and threw the case file to Pei Che.
Pei Che was shocked. What? He reached out to take the case file and scanned it. He found that this was indeed a missing person case. The missing person was a villager from Guihua Village, Xiahe County, who disappeared two days ago. After the disappearance, his family reported it to the government and the county government sent people to search the mountains. However, they only found torn pieces of clothes and pants with bloodstains on them. It looked like a beast had bitten and dragged him away.
When encountering such a case, the Xiahe County Magistrate directly closed the case as wild animal wounding. Because he had just submitted other cases, he inserted the case that had just been closed into it.
"I'm going to take some people to check it out. He's been missing for a short time, so maybe there are some clues left behind!" Pei Che made the decision immediately and called someone to count the number of people so that he could go there later.
"Well, then you guys go look for it. Be careful on the mountain." Jiang Miao instructed.
Xiahe County is not far from Cangzhou. If you take a horse carriage, you can get there in less than an hour. If you are not in a hurry, you can get there in an hour and a half.
The group set off in a hurry and arrived at the Xiahe County Office in less than an hour. The Xiahe County Magistrate didn't understand why, but when he saw his superior walking down with a dark face, he couldn't help but have a bad premonition in his heart, thinking that he would be in trouble soon.
Pei Che left, so Jiang Miao naturally couldn't stay here. He picked up the food box and walked back.
As soon as he entered the compound, he heard the sister-in-law of a neighboring family talking excitedly with the families of several officials. Anyone could feel the excitement in their tone.
“… There are so many things here, including a mirror that allows you to see clearly. I didn’t buy it last year, so I must go earlier this year.” The person who spoke was obviously determined to get the mirror.
Jiang Miao couldn't help but feel a little curious, so he looked over there a few times. His action was seen by one of the women. The woman poked the eldest sister-in-law who was talking, and nodded her chin, indicating that Jiang Miao was also there.
The eldest sister-in-law received the hint and looked over here, and her eyes met Jiang Miao's. Jiang Miao smiled at her awkwardly.
The eldest sister-in-law came over and said enthusiastically: "Brother Jiang, are you going to go shopping with us later?" This title was only reached after Jiang Miao corrected him many times. Before, they always called him the wife of the prefect, and Jiang Miao couldn't react several times.
When Jiang Miao heard that he was going to buy something, he was a little confused. He thought about it and realized that there didn't seem to be any festivals coming up recently. What kind of things did he need to buy? So he shook his head.
"You're not going?" The eldest sister-in-law seemed a little surprised. "Those merchants only come once a year. The goods they bring are all from places further south. Those good things are hard to find here. Are you really not going to take a look?"
Coming from the south? Jiang Miao suddenly had an idea and asked, "Are they the ones who came to buy the mountain products from the people?"
The eldest sister-in-law was at a loss for a moment, then nodded and said, "That's right. They bring a lot of things here every year, and after selling them, they buy mountain products from the people. I guess they can make a lot of money."
"Then I'll go take a look. Please call me when you're leaving." Jiang Miao said with a smile. The eldest sister-in-law nodded quickly, indicating that everyone would call him later.
Jiang Miao carried the lunch box back to his home. Chan Yi and Wen Jing were sitting in the main room mending clothes. When they saw Jiang Miao come in, they stood up to greet him.
Chan Yi put the things in her hand aside, stood up and took the food box from Jiang Miao, and said jokingly: "Master Jiang, why did you come back so early today? Didn't the prince ask you to read a book there?"
Jiang Miao had a cheerful personality, so the two girls dared to joke with him normally. But it was different in front of Pei Che. They immediately turned back into their smart and capable appearance, looking very intimidating.
"Your prince has taken people out, so I came back naturally. By the way, you two should go out with me later. I want to go out and buy some things."
"Buying things? Are you talking about those merchants from the south? We heard about it when we left home this morning. The people were talking about it." Chan Yi was very surprised. "The arrival of just a few merchants could make the people so happy. What amazing things did they bring to sell?"
Wen Jing said, "They are not just selling things. In addition to selling things, they seem to be buying mountain products. Cangzhou is surrounded by mountains on three sides. People can always pick up some mountain products when they go to the mountains. It's just right to sell them to them and exchange them for money to buy rice and flour." Wen Jing was more observant. When he went out in the morning, he heard it and asked about it carefully.
Jiang Miao nodded: "That's right. Go change your clothes quickly and we'll go out together later." As he said that, he went back to his room and changed his clothes.
"Mr. Jiang, why are you dressed like this?" Chan Yi shouted as soon as she saw Jiang Miao.
It turned out that both of them had picked out new, bright clothes to wear when going out, but their Mr. Jiang deliberately wore a coarse cloth dress, dressed in a gray manner, and looked like he was going to sell mountain products instead of shopping.
Just as she was thinking this, she suddenly saw Jiang Miao take out a basket from somewhere and hold it in his hand. The basket was filled with some dried pine mushrooms that Jiang Miao had picked from the mountain before.
Could it be that Mr. Jiang is really going to sell mountain products
The two girls' eyes went dark. It was true that the prince's monthly salary was a little less, but it shouldn't be that serious, right
(End of this chapter)