Traveling through the farm, I just want to earn money by farming

Wu Qingming hosted a banquet for Tang Jue and others at his house. The food and drinks were very ordinary, and the only meat dish was a can of chicken soup.

"Prefect, please don't be mean to me. You can't buy good food on the street these days. I'm not afraid of you making fun of me. This chicken is raised by my wife in the backyard. Please don't be mean to me if I'm not treating you well enough."

All the dishes on the table are vegetarian, and even the rice is brown rice. A county magistrate is so poor, who wouldn't call him an honest official?

Tang Jue and the others were not the pretentious type, so they were not particular. The meal was a very enjoyable one for both the host and the guests, and after the meal they were arranged to rest in a courtyard.

After the others left, the confidants were on guard at various places, and Tang Jue sat opposite Old Man Yu.

"Prefect Tang, do you see any difference?"

"Even though the damage to several counties wasn't severe, none of them were managed as well as the Wuming Prefecture. It seems the Wuming Prefecture has some unusual methods!"

"Not only that, the streets are deserted, but the victims are also interesting."

Old Master Yu chuckled as he spoke, then continued, "Look at those disaster victims. They haven't shown any grief or sadness from beginning to end. If their homes were truly destroyed by a disaster and their loved ones had passed away, how could they not show any sadness?"

"Although the clothes of these disaster victims look tattered, they are too torn. They have suffered a disaster, not robbers. Moreover, those people look like disaster victims, but they are all in good spirits." Tang Jue followed up the conversation.

The two looked at each other and their faces darkened again.

"Wu Qingming has been entrenched here for a long time, and it's not easy to move him with the support of the Wen family. But my spies reported that Qingyun County might have suffered a fundamental blow this time." Old Man Yu said in a deep voice.

Tang Jue sighed, "To be honest, I received a letter shortly after I took office as prefect. It was a complaint against the Qingyun County Magistrate, Wu Qingming. However, the messenger was very cautious and never revealed his name. I think he was worried about the officials getting involved and wanted to testify against them. I've been sending people to investigate Wu Qingming for the past two years, and every case terrifies me. However, the people here have been oppressed by him for so long that no one dares to come forward to testify. So, I'm taking advantage of this epidemic to investigate it myself."

Old Master Yu gave him an approving look and called over his personal guards. "Yu Jin, tell Prefect Tang in detail what you've learned. Yu Shen, go to the Wu residence tonight at midnight to investigate. I've already sent guards to the disaster area; they should be back soon."

Yu Jin told Tang Jue everything he had investigated. Tang Jue's face grew darker with each story he told. In the end, Tang Jue wished that the villain would die right now.

"This is more detailed than what I have investigated. There are some hidden malpractices he has done that my men have not discovered. Wu Qingming has regarded Qingyun County as his own world. I find it strange. Even though Wu Qingming has no obvious faults, he has been working here for more than three years. Why doesn't he move? It seems that he is unwilling and unable to move. The Wen family is stretching their hands too far." Tang Jue's face was extremely ugly, and the fire in his eyes seemed to be turning into substance.

Old Master Yu poured him a cup of tea and handed it to him. "That's not necessary. Since we're here, we must destroy this thief. I've arranged for people to look after these victims, so as not to alert Wu and kill him."

Tang Jue frowned and said, "If we can use this to implicate the Wen family, even if it doesn't damage their foundation, but getting their name in front of the emperor will be enough to make the Wen family suffer."

"There's no need to rush. This Wu has a secret relationship with the Wen family except for the fact that he married a girl from the Wen family's branch. But as the saying goes, if you walk by the river often, you will get your feet wet. Although it's secretive, it's not without flaws." Old Man Yu chuckled and took a sip from the cup.

“This tea is quite good.”

Seeing that Mr. Yu was still in the mood to enjoy his tea, Tang Jue suddenly had a glint in his eye: "Has Mr. Yu obtained evidence of communication with the Wen family?"

Old Master Yu didn't say anything and just asked him to drink tea. Tang Jue's heart was like a mountain monkey climbing a wall for a long time without being able to land.

It was still early before midnight and both of them were not sleepy at all, so they decided to play chess. They fought back and forth for a long time, and in the end Tang Jue won a small victory with a best-of-five result.

After losing the piece and leaning back, Old Man Yu smiled and said, "You are indeed worthy of being the last disciple of the Go Master. It is really a pleasure to play a few games with you!"

Tang Jue put away the chess piece and replied, "Mr. Yu, thank you for your praise. I have benefited a lot from playing chess with you."

"That's right, not like your master." The more Mr. Yu looked at Tang Jue, the more he liked him.

A sound of 'dong dong hu' fell, and a man came in quickly, bowing and saying, "Master, prefect, Yu Shen is back."

Yu Shen, still in his nightgown, went straight into the inner room with a brocade box in his hand.

"Master, prefect, when I was investigating the Wu residence, I saw that Master Wu Ming had Madam Wen hide this brocade box in a dark room, and waited until they fell asleep before sneaking in and stealing it." As he spoke, he handed over the brocade box.

The two took the brocade box. It looked ordinary, but the lock was interesting. It was not an ordinary silver or copper lock but a mechanical lock.

"Look at what kind of mechanism lock this is? Do you know how to unlock it?" Old Master Yu threw the box directly to Tang Jue.

Tang Jue looked around, at a loss as to where to start. He didn't dare to move, fearing that the mechanism would lock if it was misplaced.

"Mr. Yu, I am stupid and I am really not familiar with the art of mechanical devices." Tang Jue handed the box back to Mr. Yu.

"This mechanism lock looks ordinary. If you try to solve it casually, it can be considered as training." He looked up at Yu Jin, who understood and went out. After a while, he brought people back.

"Master, Yang Liu is here." A young man stepped forward and saluted. "Yang Liu greets Master, and greets the prefect."

Mr. Yu handed the box to him and asked, "Do you know how to unlock this mechanism?"

Yang Liu took it and looked at it carefully: "I can solve it." Then he concentrated on it. After a few tries, he heard a slight "click".

"Okay, master." He handed the box back and went out.

Tang Jue said enviously, "Mr. Yu, you have so many talented people under you. I'm really jealous."

Old Man Yu smiled and said, "Then you can only envy them. These children are all doing very well."

When they opened the box, they saw that it was full of letters. They looked at each other and each took a letter to read.

"Why are these all gift lists for various festivals?" Tang Jue looked at two of them and saw the same thing.

"Don't you think these gifts are too many?" Old Master Yu held the gift list thoughtfully.

Tang Jue took another closer look. Yes, it was a bit much. In previous years, the gifts from the family during festivals were never this heavy.

"This is giving money under the guise of the New Year! And it was all done by Madam Wen. If we hold him accountable, he can really get away with it." Tang Jue admired Wu Qingming's prudence.

Old Master Yu said, "That's true, but these gifts sent to various places are all well documented and have names and surnames. This is beyond my expectation. I didn't expect there to be so many people related to it."

"Yes, look at the ones sent out two days ago? It says gift on it? It was sent directly to the Wen family's head family in Shangjing. Humph! Look at what they are doing today, and then look at the items on the gift list. Which one is not precious?" Tang Jue sneered and threw away the letter.