231 Stopping the Censor
The two of them started to quarrel. Zhao Zhitong smiled apologetically at the maid, saying, "They are always like this, fighting like cats and mice whenever they meet. We'll go ahead, Sister Chun Hua. You don't have to see us off. We remember the way."
Having said that, she took Wei Shulan's hand, Qiao Muchen took Zhao Yue's, and the group of children quickly ran away.
Chun Hua hadn't even had time to call out to them when the children had disappeared from sight.
After they had walked for a while, Zhao Yue looked left and right, his face full of doubt. "Hey, Zhao Zhitong, this doesn't seem to be the way out of the County Government Office, does it?"
Zhao Zhitong glared at him. "No tacit understanding at all."
Qiao Muchen smugly walked beside Zhao Zhitong, also glaring at Zhao Yue and shaking his head. "Yeah, no tacit understanding."
Although Wei Shulan didn't quite understand what Zhao Zhitong and Qiao Muchen were up to, she had always followed Zhao Zhitong's lead. Wherever Zhao Zhitong went, she would follow.
Zhao Yue was dumbfounded. Looking at the two who were perfectly in sync, he felt angry. Then he looked at Wei Shulan and asked suspiciously, "Do you know?"
Wei Shulan shrugged at him.
Zhao Yue struggled to accept it. "So, I'm the only one who doesn't know?"
Wei Zijian, who had been silent for a long time, spoke up quietly, "You're not alone."
"Oh, then I'm relieved. Haha," Zhao Yue said.
Wait... Zhao Yue suddenly stopped laughing. He felt something was wrong with their words, as if they were mocking him.
Before he could figure it out, a voice filled with authority and anger came from not far away, catching everyone's attention.
"Magistrate Li! Do you have any idea what's going on? The lifeblood food of thousands of people is at stake, and you still have the mood to think about eating and drinking?"
Then came the trembling voice of Magistrate Li, "Censor, I beg your pardon. The subordinate knows his mistake. The subordinate only feared not being hospitable enough for the Censor, hence prepared a feast. The subordinate knows he was wrong."
Again, a voice of authority followed.
"Such arrogance and evil!"
As Zhao Zhitong and the others approached and saw clearly, they saw a man dressed in a silver-green official uniform, wearing an official hat, and slightly plump. He turned and left with a sweep of his sleeves.
The man's aura left Zhao Zhitong and the others stunned.
Magistrate Li remained kneeling on the ground, constantly kowtowing and admitting his wrongdoing, even after the official had left.
When his servants helped him up, his legs were weak, and he had to adjust his crooked hat as his face was pale.
At that moment, Zhao Zhitong and the others came running out.
Zhao Zhitong called out cheerfully, "Lord Li!"
Hearing the children calling for him, Magistrate Li appeared bewildered and asked, "What are you doing here?"
After asking that, he suddenly remembered. "Ah, ah, I remember now. What do you need from this official?"
Qiao Muchen immediately took out the envelope. "Sir, we are here about the locust plague. This is our plan to deal with it. Here you go!"
Upon hearing the words "locust plague" again, Magistrate Li's brow furrowed, and he felt quite unhappy.
He was on the verge of getting a promotion at this crucial time. Everything had been going well, and if there were no errors in his work this year, he could have been promoted.
But now, at this very moment, a locust plague had struck!
His promotion this year was probably impossible. And now, he had offended the censor as well. His career was most likely doomed.
When he heard the words "locust plague" again at this moment, Magistrate Li naturally became irritable. "All right, stop it. Go home quickly."
He didn't even bother to take the envelope from Qiao Muchen's hand, waved his hand, and told them to go back home.
He didn't believe these little children could come up with any good ideas for dealing with the locust plague, so he simply ordered them to leave.
Qiao Muchen was reluctant. "Sir, don't you want to take a look? We came up with this. Maybe it could help."
Magistrate Li's face was unpleasant. If it hadn't been for Prince Liang's involvement, he would have driven these young kids away long ago.
At this moment, he still had to be patient and said, "Okay, don't make trouble in the County Government Office. This official is busy enough. You guys should go back quickly!"
"Guards, escort these children out."
Having said that, he turned and left.
"Hey, why didn't the County Magistrate take a look? We wrote for so long," Zhao Yue said, very anxious. "Then didn't we waste our efforts?"
At this point, the servants had already come forward to escort them out of the County Government Office. Left with no choice, the children were driven out of the main gate.
「Outside the County Government Office gate.」
Zhao Yue looked at the direction of the County Government Office and said dejectedly, "What should we do? Go home?"
Zhao Zhitong and Qiao Muchen didn't say a word.
Qiao Muchen hesitated before saying, "Why don't we try to find the censor directly?"
Zhao Yue looked terrified. "Ah? Qiao Muchen, you're really daring! Didn't you see the County Magistrate kneeling before the censor? The censor must be a high-ranking official. How could we possibly see him?"
However, Zhao Zhitong nodded in agreement. "I think we can give it a try. The censor is here to deal with the locust plague, so if we provide a solution to the problem, he will certainly see us."
Qiao Muchen nodded. "We must try, right?"
Zhao Yue then raised his question, "So where do we find the censor?"
Zhao Zhitong thought for a moment and said, "The censor should be staying in the Managing Government Office, which is within the County Government Office."
Grandpa Bai had just told her that.
However, the censor had just left, so he should be coming back, right?
So, Zhao Zhitong said, "Why don't we wait at the gate? The censor will definitely come back. When he does, we'll stop him!"
Qiao Muchen nodded in agreement.
With their plan decided, the young kids began guarding the entrance to the County Government Office. Just as they were about to doze off from waiting, suddenly, a sedan chair appeared, escorted by a pair of bodyguards.
Zhao Zhitong, who was smart and alert, woke up in an instant and shook Qiao Muchen while exclaiming, "Qiao Jiaojiao, wake up! The censor is coming!"
Qiao Muchen was also quick-witted and shot to his feet. The two little ones, fearless as newborn calves before a tiger, rushed straight over.
The chair bearers didn't expect a pair of children to suddenly charge at them at the entrance of the County Government Office, and they were startled, immediately stopping the sedan chair.
"How dare you stop the censor!"
The sword-wielding bodyguard at the front roared in anger.
"What's going on?"
The imposing voice rang out again, and then the curtain was lifted to reveal the person inside the sedan chair.
The official had slightly dark skin and a long, slightly graying beard. His voice carried authority without anger, yet his face wasn't menacing. Instead, it exuded a sense of kindness, perhaps due to his slightly plump appearance.
However, his eyes, although not very big, were not cloudy and instead exuded a clear and penetrating light, as if they could see through all the deceit in the world.
Zhao Zhitong stared in awe.
The word "judge" suddenly appeared in her mind, lingering and refusing to leave.
Qiao Muchen hurriedly pulled on the dumbfounded Zhao Zhitong, and the two children knelt in front of the sedan chair.
Qiao Muchen said loudly, "Censor, please forgive us. We have something to give to the Censor, so we had no choice but to stop the sedan chair."
Usually, those who stopped sedan chairs were crying out about an injustice. This time, however, was peculiar.