The little heroine investigates a mysterious case

Ma Baoguo was thinking about good things when he heard a gentle knock on the door outside the courtyard.

Boom, boom, boom

Ma Baoguo looked at his daughter who was eating a pancake with big mouthfuls, then at his son-in-law who was rolling another pancake, and then at Li Cuihua who was stirring the stew with great enthusiasm as if she had been injected with chicken blood.

Boom, boom, boom

Ma Baoguo asked, "The eldest and second sons' wives are back from their parents' home. Shouldn't they be back today?"

"You're really getting old and confused. They've saved our family a lot of money by bringing their children back to their parents' home. I've already told them not to come back until the end of the month."

Boom boom, boom boom!

Ma Baoguo asked again: "Where's Ma Wu? Shouldn't he be out of school at this time?"

Li Cuihua pointed at Ma Baoguo with a shovel.

"You, you have amnesia, don't you? Ma Wu made an appointment with his classmates to go out and play, and agreed not to come back today. This will save you several meals."

dong dong!dong dong!

Now Li Cuihua heard the knock on the door and glared at Ma Baoguo.

"Why don't you open the door? See who's coming?"

Ma Baoguo, still throbbing with pain in his back, had to stand up, holding his waist. He thought, as the Imperial Censor of the Great Xia Kingdom, he still had to open the door himself. When would he find a chance to ask the emperor for a salary increase? But his salary had been tightly controlled by Li Cuihua for years. What good would a raise do? Would it buy him an extra maid or servant?

Ma Baoguo walked slowly to the door and reached out to open it.

"Who is it?"

After asking this question, Ma Baoguo was stunned on the spot. Who else could the handsome young man standing outside the door be but Guan Liushui?

Guan Liushui bowed deeply to Ma Baoguo.

"I apologize for the intrusion of your visit, Master Ma."

Ma Baoguo hurriedly reached out to help Guan Liushui up, smiling so much that his eyes narrowed into slits.

"Brother Shui, your presence has brought honor to my humble abode. I, Ma, could not be more pleased. Come in, please!"

Ma Baoguo took Guan Liushui straight to his small study. After they sat down, Ma Baoguo looked at Guan Liushui with a serious face and asked hurriedly.

"Brother Shui, do you have something important to talk to me about?"

"To be honest, Master Ma, the principal culprit in the case that His Royal Highness Prince Cheng concluded two days ago, Hu Yiba, is my father."

Ma Baoguo's eyes widened. "How could Hu Yiba give birth to a son like you? That's outrageous, isn't it?"

After saying this, Ma Baoguo realized that he had lost his composure.

"Haha, just a casual remark. Don't mind it. My sons are not like me either."

Guan Liushui tried hard to force a smile.

"My father and other important criminals will be taken to Tagan City on the border of the Tagan Desert tomorrow. I heard that you served as a county magistrate in Tagan City when you were young. Do you have any acquaintances there? If so, I would like to ask you to write a letter to that person, asking them to take care of my father for me. Money is not a big deal. After all, my father is old, and as his son, I can't serve him by his side. I just want to do my best to help him."

Ma Baoguo thought for a moment and said, "That's easy. The current Tagan County Magistrate is a down-to-earth man with a good reputation. Although I don't know him personally, I can still write him a letter and ask him to follow the law and keep an eye on things. He shouldn't allow his subordinates to abuse the exiled prisoners without authorization. What do you think? No need for money, just a matter of impartiality!"

Guan Liushui immediately bowed deeply to Ma Baoguo again.

"Thank you very much, Master Ma."

Ma Baoguo spread out the rice paper on the table, quickly wrote the letter, put it into the letterhead, wrote the heading, and handed it to Guan Liushui.

"I suggest you give this letter to the yamen runners escorting your father and his men to Tagan County, and have them deliver it to you once they arrive. When these runners see that I wrote this letter to the Tagan County Magistrate, they'll naturally be wary and won't criticize your father too harshly on the way."

Guan Liushui took the letter and was so excited that he couldn't express it in words. With this letter, his father had another life-saving talisman.

"Master Ma, as soon as we get back to the Moon Tower, I'll tell our boss that you can come to the Moon Tower anytime to have fun, and all expenses are free!"

"That won't work. I can't do anything to help you. The Moon Landing is open for business, and we can't let them make a loss."

"I just don't want you to pay. I'll cover all the expenses. We internal employees can get a 20% discount. I'm the top star in the Moon Landing Building, so I enjoy a special discount of 50% off. This way, it's good for you, me, and everyone, and no one loses out."

"Fine!"

Ma Baoguo patted Guan Liushui's shoulder.

"Don't pay me, just give me your 50% discount. My wife is very strict, so I don't have many opportunities to go to the Moon Tower. Also, keep the money and give it to the escorting officers tomorrow. Money makes the world go round, don't you understand?"

Suddenly, Li Cuihua's loud shout was heard outside the door.

"Ma Baoguo! Where the hell were you while we were eating? What the hell were you doing hiding in that little dark room?"

Ma Baoguo shuddered and whispered to Guan Liushui.

"Just say you're my colleague's son and you've come to me for advice, but don't tell me you're from the Moon Tower and that you're such a good friend and are offering me a discount. If my wife finds out, she'll bring the whole family to the Moon Tower to feast on you and eat you to the bone!"

Looking at the flowing water, I also shuddered.

"Okay, Master Ma, I'll remember that! That Hedong Lion's Roar just now sounded incredibly powerful!"

Guan Liushui escaped safely from Ma Baoguo's home.

Early the next morning, he waited at the Ten-Li Pavilion in the suburbs. Not long after, he saw several yamen runners escorting prisoners towards the Ten-Li Pavilion.

Guan Liushui weighed the bag in his arms. In addition to the cash, there were ten silver notes, each worth three hundred taels of silver. This was all his family fortune.

Guan Liushui went to meet the escort team, took a look, walked up to the leading yamen runner, and stuffed the bundle into his hand.

"It's just a small token of my appreciation, nothing special. I'll buy you some food and wine on the way. There's also a letter in the bundle, written by the Imperial Censor Ma Baoguo to the Magistrate of Tagan County. I'd like to trouble you to pass it on."

The leading yamen runner was used to this kind of thing. He weighed the bundle, opened it and took a look inside, then quickly tied the bundle, walked up to Hu Yiba, took out the key and unlocked the shackles on Hu Yiba's neck.

"If you have something to say, say it quickly. Don't delay your journey."

Guan Liushui helped Hu Yiba to sit down in the pavilion.

"Dad, I've made all the arrangements. Don't worry, you won't suffer any hardship on the way. Once you get to Tagan City, the county magistrate will take good care of you. Once I've finished my business in Liyang City, I'll definitely come to Tagan City to visit you."

Hu Yiba glanced at the yamen runners not far away and lowered his voice.

"There are two things I need to make clear to you. One is about the Tiandao League. You must find your cousin as soon as possible and have him return to the league to take charge and take over the leadership. The Tiandao League is my years of hard work, and we can't let it fall apart."

"Okay, Dad, I'll remember that."

"There's one more thing."

Hu Yiba hesitated for a moment and stared at the flowing water.

"That's Huang Huacai, the head of Jiaoyang Valley. She has another identity, and it's very dangerous!"