Fifty. It is all over!

"Investigate! We must thoroughly investigate! Our Longcheng County is definitely no land beyond the law!"

Ouyang Rong slammed the Phoebe zhennan wood official desk, producing loud, rhythmic thuds.

The eyelids of Wang Chaozhi, Manager Ma, and other grain merchants twitched in sync with the brush holder resting on the desk.

It was the same familiar place.
It was the same familiar face.
It was the same familiar tone.
The only problem was that it was a bit hard on the desk.

However, the young magistrate was actually holding the gavel hidden inside his sleeve when he slammed the desk; otherwise, bare palms could never produce such a loud sound on Phoebe zhennan wood. He found that this gadget was quite handy. No wonder he had often seen the county magistrates in TV dramas slamming them—it was truly a first-rate stress-relieving artifact.

"This is utterly outrageous! Setting fire to boats openly within our Longcheng borders—is there no justice left? Are there no laws?"

Ouyang Rong suddenly raised his hand, looking poised to slam the desk down once more. All the grain merchants in the hall subconsciously leaned back slightly in unison. Yet this time, after waiting for a long while, the expected sound never came.

Taking a peek, they saw the young magistrate's right hand raised high, only to gently lower it again. He turned his head and began to question the blue-robed chief constable... What a top-tier feint.

"Chief Constable Yan, were there any casualties this time?"

"Reporting to the Magistrate, only two boatmen suffered minor burns. Everyone else was a good swimmer and managed to jump ship and escape in time. Fortunately, the cargo boats hadn't traveled far, and our men arrived early, so there were no other casualties."

"That's good. Of all the misfortunes, this is the greatest blessing. As long as people are safe, that's what matters."

"My Lord, but my grain is gone!" *It would have been better if people had gotten hurt instead.*

Manager Ma gritted his teeth and tightly clutched his Buddhist prayer beads, his heart bleeding.

Wang Chaozhi and the others noticed that the string of the prayer beads in Manager Ma's hand had snapped from the excessive pressure, yet they felt little empathy; instead, their faces harbored a trace of schadenfreude.

"Manager Ma, do not be impatient," Ouyang Rong consoled him before turning back to the blue-robed constable. "Two cargo boats catching fire simultaneously is far too much of a coincidence to be mere chance. Have you found out who set the fires?"

"The boatmen who were rescued all said they didn't see how the vessels caught fire. The flames first spread from the grain storage holds, and when they realized the fire couldn't be put out, they abandoned the ships and jumped into the river..."

Manager Ma interrupted, gnashing his teeth: "They didn't even try to put out the fire, only knowing how to run for their lives! They're a pack of ungrateful wolves!"

Wang Chaozhi sighed and offered a fair comment: "Manager Ma, perhaps they did their best after all. After all, anyone placed in that kind of environment with their ship on fire would panic..." Pausing for a moment, as if recalling something, he added, "Besides, they hadn't even eaten."

"Did their best my foot!"

Manager Ma sprang violently to his feet, scattering his prayer beads all over the floor, his face filled with bitter grievance:

"Not a single person died, and you dare say they did their best?! The people from both boats ran back, yet only my grain is gone. There's definitely something fishy going on, absolutely fishy!"

With reddened eyes, he looked up toward the dais: "County Magistrate, you must seek justice for this humble citizen! You must investigate this thoroughly to the very end."

Ouyang Rong raised a hand in a downward pressing gesture and said solemnly, "Manager Ma, do not be hasty."

Turning his head toward Yan Liulang, he continued, "To be able to set fire to the grain without a sound, either there is a traitor among the boatmen, or... someone with exceptional swimming skills slipped onto the boats under the cover of night and did the deed."

"It's also possible there was an inside accomplice!" Manager Ma chimed in as the veteran interrupter.

Ouyang Rong glanced at him and nodded, "Hmm, that is indeed a possibility. We must investigate both angles. Chief Constable Yan, this matter concerns the navigational safety of Butterfly Creek, so we must handle it with the utmost seriousness!"

"Understood!"

Yan Liulang cupped his fists with his usual expressionless face. However, just as he retreated, a commotion suddenly arose from the outer courtyard of the county yamen. Moments later, Yan Liulang returned to the main hall, escorting a haggard, goat-bearded old merchant.

It was Manager Li, who had been absent today.

Wang Chaozhi and the minor grain merchants beside him craned their necks with curious gazes.

Over the past two days, the granary warehouses of Manager Ma and Manager Li had been inspected first. Both men had been busy transporting their grain and had cut off contact with their colleagues—nor was there any reason to maintain ties, seeing as they had only recently torn off their masks and openly competed against each other before the young magistrate.

Manager Ma's dock warehouse had been cleared first, and he had been so impatient that he loaded his boats and departed yesterday evening.

As for Manager Li, his warehouse holding over nine hundred piculs of grain had finished inspection only last night. However, having apparently heard of Manager Ma's mishap and learning his lesson, Manager Li chose not to transport grain in the middle of the night. Instead, he opted to leave the city in broad daylight, abandoned water transport in favor of land routes, and even supervised the transport personally...

"Ah, Manager Li, didn't you lead men to transport grain out of the city? How did you end up in this state..."

Wang Chaozhi looked at the goat-bearded old merchant, who had even lost his hat, and asked cautiously.

Manager Li's beard was disheveled, his gaze dazed and absent, and he muttered indistinctly to himself, paying no heed to Wang Chaozhi.

Led into the main hall by Yan Liulang, he would have tripped over the high threshold at the entrance had the latter not warned him to "watch the threshold."

The young magistrate on the dais raised an eyebrow at Manager Li's disheveled appearance and whispered to the clerk beside him: "Nobody should be stealing the stone covers of our city's drainage ditches... We really need to tighten up road safety."

"..." The clerk was speechless.

"...They're all robbers... They're all robbers... They're all bandits..."

Reaching the center of the hall, Manager Li muttered with sorrowful grief.

Ouyang Rong cleared his throat and asked in puzzlement, "Manager Li, have you... fallen into a well?"

Manager Li opened his mouth, remaining speechless. Seeing this, the young steward trailing behind him cried out with lingering fear:

"Reporting to the Magistrate, this morning the manager hired a group of dock coolies to escort the grain out of the city. But when we passed the fields in the suburban area, that mob of refugees and vagrants hiding in the dilapidated sheds on both sides of the road suddenly swarmed out. Like starved wild dogs, they tore open every bag of grain on our carts! Hundreds of bags of top-grade rice—all stolen by those wretches! What a sin!"

"Bandits... they're all bandits..." Manager Li dropped to his knees with a thud, sobbing tearfully: "Upright and Honorable Judge, you must avenge this humble citizen!"

Ouyang Rong sprang up from his chair in a single bound.
*Thud, thud, thud!* The gavel echoed through the entire hall.

"Lawless rioters, absolute rioters! Committing daylight robbery in broad daylight! The road security in our Longcheng County has deteriorated to such a wretched state!"

The young magistrate looked grief-stricken and indignant:

"Those rioters in the suburban disaster camp must have eaten the heart and gall of a leopard! Just who gave them the audacity to rob in broad daylight? It's not like this official hasn't distributed rice to them; I even gave them half a zongzi each for the Dragon Boat Festival! What are they robbing for?

"Don't they know that even the glutinous rice for those zongzi was painstakingly transported to Longcheng by all you virtuous managers? What if it's a bit expensive? If not for all of you gentlemen, they wouldn't even have a zongzi to eat for the festival! Not only do they fail to show proper gratitude, but they even dare to bite the hand that feeds them!"

Seeming consumed by fury, the young magistrate hurled down his gavel, swept back the hem of his robes, and stormed out of the main hall, ready to deliver a righteous and scathing lecture to the ungrateful rioters.

This passionate outburst left both the wailing Manager Li and Manager Ma stunned, while Wang Chaozhi and the other onlookers watched with grave expressions.

"My Lord, calm down! My Lord, please calm down!" Thanks to Yan Liulang, the clerk, and others who threw themselves in his path with all their might, they managed to hold him back just in time.

"You expect me to calm down? What is there to remain calm about?" Ouyang Rong said righteously, "Manager Ma and Manager Li have suffered such a grievous wrong, and the people under our administration are so utterly devoid of gratitude—how do you expect me to remain calm?!"

Yan Liulang wore a bitter expression as he said, "Whatever the matter is, just leave it to us subordinates to handle. How could we ever let Your Honor go in person? You are the magistrate of an entire county; if any mishap were to befall you, the skies would collapse for us folks."

"Fine then! You investigate, investigate thoroughly, and leave no stone unturned!"

Ouyang Rong pointed his finger from beneath his sleeve at Manager Ma and Manager Li, his face stern as he set the tone:

"Put aside what you're currently doing. Send out all available manpower—first go to the suburban disaster camp to recover the rice, and then investigate the burned cargo boats. We must secure justice for the two managers!"

Manager Ma and Manager Li looked at the young magistrate, feeling a small surge of genuine gratitude. Truly, there was nothing to find fault with.

"Understood, Your Honor!"

As Yan Liulang received the order and turned to leave, Manager Ma hesitated before calling him back in a flurry:

"Wait, Chief Constable Yan! If you all go off to investigate cases, what about the grain inventory?"

Yan Liulang replied offhandedly, "Naturally, we'll have to put that aside for now. Official business comes first; my brothers and I have to go secure justice for the two of you!"

Manager Ma opened his mouth, wanting to say more.

Manager Li's lips grew dry, and he could not help blurting out, "Constable, taking inventory of the grain is official business too."

Yan Liulang frowned, tucked the sabre in his hand against his chest, tilted his head, and asked:

"Then what should we do? Both tasks involve a massive workload, and our small yamen simply doesn't have the manpower to handle them simultaneously. Usually, my brothers and I patrol the suburban disaster camp frequently, and security has always been fine. It was only these past two days, because we let our guard down to inspect your granaries, that such a vile incident happened right under our noses, sending His Honor into a rage..."

"This..." Manager Ma and Manager Li hesitated.

Yan Liulang sighed: "Well then, shall we resume inspecting your granaries instead? Come to think of it, the two managers have tens of thousands of piculs of stored grain at the docks; losing a couple of thousand piculs to fires and robberies is nothing anyway—a mere triviality."

"No, no, no!" Manager Ma waved his hands frantically and said, "One thousand piculs were burned this time, but what if ten thousand are burned next time? Chief Constable Yan must apprehend the real culprits immediately and uncover the truth. This is a major matter!"

Manager Li nodded vigorously like a pestle pounding medicine, his face wincing in pain: "The grain robbed by those wretched paupers must be recovered immediately, and... the truth must be found out as well! This old man suspects that someone among those rioters instigated and led the robbery. The constable must capture them, otherwise who would ever dare to transport grain out of the city?"

Yan Liulang spread his hands in speechlessness: "Then you tell me, which task should our constabulary handle first?"

Manager Ma said in a low voice, "Why not push yourselves, split into two groups, and handle both concurrently..."

The blue-robed chief constable remained silent. However, judging by the way he hugged his sabre and stared expressionlessly at Manager Ma, his attitude was abundantly clear.

Manager Ma and Manager Li felt somewhat guilty.

Yan Liulang suddenly nodded:
"Very well, we'll split up. Although the brothers in the constabulary are used to operating together, who are we to argue when the two managers are the masters? We'll split into two groups, then. However, if it turns out we lack sufficient manpower, fail to solve the cases in time, and the grain isn't recovered... the two gentlemen had better not blame me and my brothers again. As for the grain inventory, expect it to take even longer. Please bear with us, gentlemen..."

"That's enough!" The young magistrate, who had returned to his seat on the dais and was massaging his temples, suddenly cut in with a soft reprimand. "What is all this talk of resentment when things are going well?"

Ouyang Rong shook his head, turned to Manager Ma and Manager Li, and frowned:

"Gentlemen, this official knows you are anxious, but the safety of Longcheng takes precedence over counting grain warehouses. We must prioritize accordingly. Just let Constable Yan and his men investigate with all their might for now; the matter of inventorying the grain can wait until later."

He made the executive decision right then and there.

Manager Ma and Manager Li were struck dumb, unsure how to retort, caught in an awkward dilemma where advancing or retreating brought no relief.

Why did it feel like the situation was standing completely still, and the doors to hoarding and transporting grain out of Longcheng had just slammed shut once more with a heavy thud...

The two wealthy grain merchants could not help but turn their gaze toward Wang Chaozhi and their other colleagues and merchant friends, wishing to rally them to pressure the yamen once more.

Yet faced with their pleading gazes, Wang Chaozhi and the minor grain merchants remained as motionless as clay statues in a temple—some averted their eyes, while others pretended not to notice.

Manager Ma and Manager Li's hearts instantly plummeted to rock bottom...

The unity had fallen apart.

Before long, a yamen runner cried out, "Court is dismissed!"

No matter how unwilling they were, everyone in the main hall had no choice but to disperse one after another.

Wang Chaozhi walked at the very back of the grain merchants leaving the yamen. Before stepping out the door, he couldn't help but look back. On the high dais, that "convenient brother-in-law" casually brushed off his wide sleeves with an air of complete ease, then calmly turned and walked toward the inner courtyard.

The short-stately young man narrowed his eyes, a thoughtful look crossing his face.

...

By the courtyard pond in the back residence, Xie Lingjiang was once again tossing food to the fish with her head bowed.

Ouyang Rong walked over with his hands behind his back.

"Done with your busywork?" she asked with mild curiosity.

"A besieged army must be left an outlet..." He nodded. "It's all over."

The young magistrate's lips curved into a smile as he turned around first: "Let's go. As I promised earlier, I'll take you somewhere—we'd better go take a look before it goes out of business."

Xie Lingjiang stared blankly.