Female-to-male: I live on farming

After Lihua's description, Lu Youqing had a general understanding of West Sea. In addition to the Zuo family, there are two other prominent families in West Sea, namely the Bai family and the Nan family. The three prominent families support and restrain each other in West Sea.

They are all local bullies with powerful connections and complicated in-law relationships.

A few years ago, the county magistrate Sun sent by the imperial court fell ill and died in office only two years after taking office. Since then, all affairs of Xihai have been managed by the county lieutenant.

When Lu Youqing heard this, she rubbed her fingers. She always felt that there was something strange about County Magistrate Sun's illness.

However, according to Lihua, the wife of this county lieutenant is a girl from the Nan family. Apart from this, all the officials in the county government are locals.

If ordinary people wanted to report to the authorities, they had to first pay a court opening fee of one or two taels of silver. Therefore, ordinary people would not go to the county government to report to the authorities unless they had no other choice.

Over the years, they have had their own rules of conduct. If someone commits a crime, it is usually handled by the head of the family.

Lu Youqing frowned and stared at the sparks rising from the bonfire in front of him.

No wonder the previous county magistrates all failed here. Xihai County is a mess. The county magistrate here is basically a lone commander. The people under him are all locals. The local residents have too much power, and the official authority and laws are not as important as the face of the head of the family.

However, the interests of the world are never indestructible. The three major families are restraining each other, and there must be something dirty involved.

"Is there anything big happening in Xihai County recently?" Lu Youqing asked.

Lihua blinked, and suddenly thought of something. She exclaimed, "I heard that the third daughter of the Zuo family and the Bai family are engaged."

"Besides the Zuo and Bai families, do they have other relatives by marriage?"

Since ancient times, families, countries and even different forces have often used marriages to establish alliances, strengthen ties or obtain more resources and support. Moreover, marriages can also tie several families together.

Lihua scratched her chin. Although she didn't quite understand the other party's purpose of asking these questions, she still confessed, "Yes, there are all of them. However, the only families in our family are the Zuo family and the Bai family. The first one to marry into the Zuo family was the eldest daughter of the Bai family. However, I heard that she died of dystocia last year. So the Bai family wanted the third daughter to marry the young master of the Zuo family as his second wife."

"What do you know about this Third Miss?"

"I only know that the third young lady is a concubine's daughter and doesn't seem to be favored on weekdays." Lihua knew all this from the gossip of the villagers, otherwise how could she, a little country girl, know all this.

Lu Youqing's face looked even more crystal clear in the firelight, and her long eyelashes were stained with a faint light, like a piece of quiet jade.

She thought that she seemed to have found the breakthrough point to break the current three-way situation in the West Sea.

Have a good night's rest.

The next morning, Lu Youqing led his men into the city and headed straight for the government office. Passersby on the road saw them and recognized several people who were tied up and followed behind them with bruises and swollen faces.

"Hey, isn't that Master Ma from the gambling house? How did he get caught?"

"It's him, I'm sure. The guys next to him have been following Master Ma the whole time. The guys in front are strangers. Where are they going?"

"Is this the direction to the government office?"

People who had nothing to do followed them out of curiosity to see where they were going.

Some people even saw this scene and hurried back to report to their master.

When we arrived at the government office, we saw that the two brown-red doors were tightly closed. The red paint on the doors had peeled off in many places, revealing the mottled wood texture underneath.

Seeing this, Li Nanqiao immediately went to knock on the door.

After a long while, there was a noise from inside. A man in police uniform came out and stared at them with a bad look on his face: "Who are you? What's the matter?"

Lu Youqing glanced at his baggy official uniform and said coldly, "I am the new county magistrate of Xihai, and I am here to take up my post."

The man looked at her suspiciously: "You?"

Li Nanqiao was very displeased when he saw his vulgar eyes and disrespectful attitude. He took out the official document and said in a deep voice, "Here is the document. Why don't you open the door quickly?"

The man then hesitantly opened the door and hurriedly asked someone to call the county lieutenant.

Lu Youqing stepped over the threshold and saw a mess inside. The yard was overgrown with weeds and piled with rocks. It was obvious that no one had taken care of it for a long time.

It can be seen that the Xihai government office is in name only, and even the staff employed there are few.

The Xihai County Lieutenant was surnamed He, in his forties. He came hurriedly upon hearing the report from his servants. When he saw Lu Youqing and the others, he thought about it, smiled amiably, bowed and said, "Your humble servant greets you, sir."

"Captain He, please stop being so polite." Lu Youqing also smiled.

"We have not received any notification from our superiors, so please do not blame us for not coming to meet you."

When Lu Youqing heard this, she sighed that this man was indeed a veteran who had been in the West Sea for many years. He spoke and acted respectfully on the surface, but in fact he was confirming her identity.

"Your Highness, this was also a last-minute decision, so we didn't inform you in advance. Now that we're here today, we might as well complete the formalities now so that I can feel at ease." Lu Youqing handed over the transfer document.

County Magistrate He completed the formalities for her and also found out Lu Youqing's background, who was appointed by Her Royal Highness the Princess herself.

Her Royal Highness the Princess is now in charge of Liangzhou. This person is coming with great force and should not be underestimated, but we should not be too perfunctory with him, otherwise it would be bad to offend the Princess.

It seems that the weather in the West Sea is about to change.

He was thinking a lot, but his face remained calm. He turned his head and said, "Master Lu, you have worked hard on the journey, but I don't know what's going on behind..."

Lu Youqing saw that he obviously knew the strong men, so he began to ask about the situation in a roundabout way.

"When I passed by the woods last night, I saw these people trying to do something bad to a decent girl and kidnap her. I couldn't stand it so I intervened. Now is a good time. I am not familiar with the affairs of the West Sea, so why don't you let County Lieutenant He handle it first?"

County Magistrate He roughly understood the cause of the incident, waved his hand, signaling the officers present to suppress the men, and said respectfully: "Don't worry, Lord Lu, I will handle this impartially."

"Your Excellency has worked hard on the journey. Why don't you wash up first? I will ask someone to clean the inner courtyard so that Lord Lu can have a good rest." There was a hint of fawning in County Lieutenant He's tone.

"Thank you for your hard work, County Lieutenant He."

County Magistrate He called over the man who had just opened the door for them and asked him to lead the way: "Take Lord Lu back to the mansion, and by the way, see if there is anything missing." He turned his head and looked at Lu Youqing: "The environment in the West Sea is a bit worse, Lord Lu, please bear with us. Just tell me if there is anything missing."

When Lu Youqing and the others arrived at the inner courtyard and only she was left in the courtyard, Li Nanqiao looked at her in confusion: "This He County Magistrate seems to be very respectful to you, madam?"

Lu Youqing smiled faintly, but there was no smile in his eyes: "He is just a smiling tiger. The more such a person is, the more cautious you need to be when working with him."