Records of Mysterious Things in the Southern Dynasties

Chapter 335 Lantai Connections
"Nonsense, what a trivial matter!" He said with a stern face, "Just sentence him to be shackled for a few days? Such a heavy shackle will cripple him!"

"Don't worry, Governor. The common people are fighting hard." The squad leader smiled and said, "Isn't this also in line with what the Governor wants? The more cases, the better, and the smaller the better?"

"That's right. Too many cases makes us look busy. Small cases will save us trouble." The officer next to him whispered, "The prince doesn't know anything anyway, so it's enough to just pretend."

"What nonsense! You are just trying to fool fools!" Ren Yuan blew his beard and glared, "Release all the people!"

"Ah? Then how are we going to deal with the prince's inspection?" the squad leader asked hurriedly.

"Simple. It's just for show anyway. Why bother arresting ordinary people? Just put the shackles on yourself and squat there." Ren Yuan said calmly.

Such an absurd suggestion was a sudden enlightenment to several officials. They clapped their hands and said, "It has to be the governor. This will save us a lot of trouble."

So they actually opened the shackles and released the people, then put the shackles on themselves and squatted under the eight-character wall.

This scene attracted many people to stop and watch. Although they did not dare to cheer, they all covered their mouths and pointed and gloated. There were officials who were not affected by the magic power and hurried in to report. Ren Yuan did not stop them.

Chen Baxian couldn't help but exclaimed: "Brother, your magical power is too powerful. People are playing with them as fools, but you just turn them into fools."

"Otherwise how can it be called great supernatural power?" Yang Zhong was getting more and more accustomed to flattering Ren Yuan.

"They are just a few ordinary people who have not practiced cultivation. It's not worth making a fuss." Ren Yuan said without any pride: "It's useless against a great supernatural power. Well, there is still a long way to go, so practice..."

"Yes." Chen Baxian and Yang Zhong agreed deeply.

After the eye-opening experience on New Year's Day, everyone is now extremely humble...

As they were talking, a middle-aged man wearing a lacquered gauze hat and a wide-sleeved official robe came out of the yamen with a group of soldiers.

"It was them who pretended to be the prefect and fooled Hu Ban and his men!" The messenger pointed at Ren Yuan and his four friends and reported loudly to the genuine prefect of Guangling County.

"Bring them to me..." The governor was furious when he heard this and was about to order his men to arrest Ren Yuan and the others. But when he saw his face, he was suddenly stunned and hurriedly stopped his men and asked Ren Yuan:
"You are...nephew Ren Xian?"

"That's right." Ren Yuan smiled and crossed his arms, "Meet Uncle Fu Shi."

"Please come in quickly." The Magistrate Fu immediately changed his attitude and invited him warmly.

~~
In the back hall.

"Back then, I was just a student from a humble background. Fortunately, your grandfather favored me and invited me to join the Lantai Club. I became famous and was selected as a middle-ranking official in the township examination. Otherwise, I would have never made a name for myself." County Magistrate Fu put on his home robe with wide sleeves and made tea for Ren Yuan himself while saying cordially:

"All of our old friends at Lantai Gathering have received a letter from Prince Consort Yin. Prince Consort Yin said that as soon as he sees you, he will know your identity. As expected, you look exactly like Brother Ren. Uh no, the disciple is better than the master."

"Uncle, you are too kind." Ren Yuan smiled and said, "It was only when my husband told me that I knew that uncle was in Guangling to guard the pasture."

This was the first time he had left Beijing for work, and it was such a big case with such a large scale, so of course he had to collect intelligence in advance and get to know the various gods in Guangling City.

Naturally, I also know that Fu Ting, the governor of Fu County, was one of the members of the Lanting Gathering back then...

"My dear nephew, you are too kind." County Magistrate Fu said with a wry smile, "County magistrates in other places can be said to be acting as governors for the emperor. Here, we live in the same city as the provincial capital, and the governor is even a prince. How can I be the one to whip him?"

"We all feel sorry to hear from the Prince Consort that our nephew is unwilling to leave the Gou Chen Division. The descendants of Lord Ren should be the leaders of the literary world." After serving tea to Ren Yuan, the Magistrate Fu asked in confusion, "How did the flood flush the Dragon King Temple? What brought our nephew here?" "To be honest," Ren Yuan said straight to the point, "I came here on the order of the Emperor."

"Oh, so my dear nephew is the imperial envoy?" Fu Ting asked in surprise, "I wonder what the imperial order is?"

"The Emperor has lost something very important and sent me to find it." Ren Yuan said as he produced a gold medal that said 'As if I were present in person' and an imperial edict appointing an imperial envoy to act at his discretion.

Fu Ting hastily straightened his clothes and sat upright, then he took the gold medal and the imperial edict with both hands, checked them and handed them back to Ren Yuan.

"Don't worry, nephew. I will do my best to help you get your things back." Fu Ting expressed his attitude first, and then asked, "Why did you come to Guangling to look for it? Do you have any clues?"

"The things were most likely stolen by Prince Yuzhang." Ren Yuan nodded and said in shock.

"Ah?" Fu Ting was startled and immediately lost his confidence and said, "Nephew, are you kidding me?"

“……”Ren Yuan looked at him silently.

"Really?" Fu Ting asked in a low voice, "Did Prince Yuzhang really take it?"

"It's him." Ren Yuan nodded.

"If that's the case, why doesn't the emperor just go back?" Fu Ting asked puzzledly: "For the prince, no matter how valuable the things are, they are not as important as the emperor's favor."

"It is more valuable than the emperor's favor." Ren Yuan said, looking at Fu Ting and said, "Don't try to find out what it is. I can only say this much. If you ask more, you will be implicated."

"Hiss..." Fu Ting couldn't help but gasp.

Ren Yuan’s words were actually very clear. If Fu Ting still couldn’t understand them, he would be a fool.

For an official like him who came from a humble background to become a county magistrate, he obviously couldn't be a fool.

So I just followed the advice and stopped asking questions.

"What do you want me to do, nephew?" He was not so confident. "I will try my best to do it if I can."

"Don't worry, uncle. I won't let you get into danger." Ren Yuan comforted him and said, "After the mission is accomplished, the credit will definitely go to you."

"What's the matter with merit or not? No problem, it's all easy to say." Fu Ting wiped the sweat off his forehead, feeling a mountain of pressure coming towards him.

"Uncle, could you please tell us about Prince Yuzhang's behavior over the past year or so since he took office?" Ren Yuan asked a simple question first to get him into the mood.

"Well, good." Fu Ting nodded and organized his words: "To be fair, the prince is still very diligent in government affairs. In the more than one year since he took office, he has cleared up all the backlogs of cases over the years and recovered all the taxes owed by the gentry."

"But young people are sometimes too idealistic and want to govern the state according to the words of the saints. They are also a little impatient and hope to see results as soon as possible, so their policies and punishments are inevitably a little harsh..."

"These have nothing to do with my job." Ren Yuan shook his head slowly and said, "I won't help my uncle pass on the message. If my uncle wants to change the governor, or just take the position himself, it's better for him to do his best to help me get the things back, then we'll all be happy."

(End of this chapter)