Chapter 324: Plague ( 5 )
Chapter 324: Plague ( 5 )
Noticing his wife’s tired face, Fu Chen’an prepared food and waited for her. After Yao Zhi took a quick shower in the shared manor, she told her husband about the information she had heard from Xue Ya’er while eating.
Fu Chen’an knew the horror of plague and asked, "Wife, do you have a way to solve the plague?"
"My master did give me a medicine that could treat dysentery. But I don’t know if the Duke of Zhenguo’s people will trust me."
"How about you give the medicine to Madam and ask her to hide your identity? Since the General has a close relationship with the Duke of Zhenguo, he would trust them more," Fu Chen’an suggested.
Yao Zhi didn’t have any intention of snatching merit or causing trouble for herself and her husband. All she wanted was to do good deeds and earn more merit points from her system.
So, she agreed immediately. "Okay. I will listen to you, Husband."
Fu Chen’an smiled and rubbed his wife’s head gently. His wife was indeed one of a kind.
If it were other people, they would insist on letting others know what they did and ask for something in return. But his wife was different.
Even after doing so many good deeds, she kept a low profile and focused only on helping people. Fame and fortune meant nothing to her.
Not knowing what her husband was thinking, Yao Zhi let out a yawn and said, "Husband, I’m tired. I want to sleep for a while."
Fu Chen’an nodded and said, "I will accompany you."
With so many people supervising the work, they had more free time and could take a nap now.
Meanwhile, in Zhu’an town, the new magistrate was wiping his cold sweat as he stood in front of the young man.
As the magistrate of Zhu’an town, he was a seventh-rank civil official. Although it was the lowest of the seventh rank, he was appointed far from the Capital. As the local snake, even the son of the dragon had to be careful when coming to his territory.
However, this common sense didn’t apply to the Magistrate of Wei County. As a fifth-rank civil official, he shouldn’t come to this secluded town. But here he was, drinking his tea leisurely.
Zhao Xian was the previous magistrate of Zhu’an town. After he was promoted to become the county magistrate of Wei County, he no longer had to take care of things personally in this town.
But he owed the General’s wife a favor. So, he freed his schedule and made this trip.
He placed the teacup on the small table and said, "I heard that Magistrate Zhang was busy promoting new regulations as soon as he took office."
Zhang Mu wiped the cold sweat from his forehead before he replied, "Lord Zhao is well informed. This subordinate is indeed promoting the new regulations in order to keep better watch on illegal practices among merchants."
Zhao Xian nodded and praised, "Magistrate Zhang is wise." After a moment of pause, he added, "I wonder if I have the honor to see the regulations and learn from them."
The moment he heard this, Zhang Mu’s heart trembled. He quickly bowed and replied, "This subordinate is unworthy of Lord Zhao’s praise."
Even though he was unwilling, he still had to take out the booklets recording the new regulations and hand them to Zhao Xian.
In terms of age, he could be his father. But in terms of rank, he was two ranks below this young man. Despite his jealousy and anger, he still had to swallow them and smile politely.
Zhao Xian didn’t care about what he was thinking and checked the new regulations.
It was as the Madam said in her letter. While these regulations seemed to be protecting the merchants, they were actually a scheme to steal their families’ secret recipes.
Fifteen minutes later, he closed the booklets and threw them at Zhang Mu’s feet. "Magistrate Zhang is really good. You can even come up with these kinds of regulations just to snatch people’s secret recipes!"
As soon as he heard this, Zhang Mu knelt down with his forehead touching the ground.
He didn’t even dare to raise his head and replied tremblingly, "Lord Zhao, please investigate! This subordinate never had any intention of snatching people’s belongings!"
"Never had any intention? Then what’s the meaning of these regulations?! Who ordered you to do it?!" Zhao Xian asked sternly.
Zhang Mu’s heart sank at his question. These regulations were handed to him by the Jin family under the Empress Dowager’s order.
Although he knew that he was a pawn and could be discarded by the Jin family at any moment if he followed their instructions, he still didn’t dare to go against them.
Seeing that he was unwilling to confess, Zhao Xian sneered. "You are still unwilling to confess? Very well." After a moment of pause, he called out, "Guards! Throw him into the dungeon and wait for trial!"
The moment he finished his words, two guards entered the room and grabbed Zhang Mu’s arms. As they dragged him out, he finally realized that this young man was serious about his words.
Fearing that he would be killed and implicate his family, he quickly shouted, "Lord Zhao, this subordinate is willing to confess! Please spare this subordinate’s life!"
Hearing this, the corner of Zhao Xian’s lips lifted. He raised his hand, and the guards stopped immediately. They dragged him back and threw him to the ground.
Zhang Mu no longer had time to bother with the pain in his buttocks and crawled to Zhao Xian’s feet. He kowtowed to him three times before he said, "Lord Zhao, the one who gave this subordinate these booklets is a man sent by the Jin family."
When he heard this, Zhao Xian narrowed his eyes and said, "Without evidence, what you said is slander."
With a pale face, Zhang Mu took out a token from his sleeve and handed it to him. "Lord Zhao, this subordinate has evidence. This is the token of the Jin family."
"They promised me that after this subordinate handles this matter, they will promote this subordinate to the fifth rank and give me 1,000 taels of gold."
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