Once I enter the pass, great Confucian scholars will surely debate the classics for me.

In the council chamber, Butler Qiu, eyes downcast and seemingly lost in thought, waited patiently for a long time.

The First Lady, dressed in a white robe with gold trim, her long hair casually draped over her shoulders, sat barefoot on a tiger-skin-covered couch. Holding a file in her hand, she asked with a light laugh, "Chengde."

“Yes, Madam, Chengde is here.” Butler Qiu immediately bowed in response.

What are your thoughts on this case?

After a moment's consideration, Steward Qiu replied truthfully, "To kill three warriors with one plan is truly the work of a peerless genius."

The First Lady said casually, "Is that so?"

Butler Qiu cupped his hands and said, "Madam, when I saw the case file, I was also extremely surprised by Zhou Qingfeng's audacity. A forged autopsy report caused three cultivators at the Food Fiend Realm to fight and die."

"But it must be said that Zhou Qingfeng did not hide his mistakes, nor did he deliberately exaggerate his achievements."

"Although there are many reports against him and the evidence is conclusive, it doesn't matter."

“A genius like Zhou Qingfeng is too perfect and cannot be controlled. He should be nipped in the bud and never allowed to grow up. Otherwise, he will surely become the biggest threat to my family in the future.”

"But Zhou Qingfeng has revealed a lot of shortcomings. As long as you give him what he wants, he will do his best to serve my company. Therefore, we should give him more important responsibilities and allocate more resources to cultivate him."

The First Lady flipped through the case file and agreed with Butler Qiu's words.

A person without flaws is not worth employing; as long as they are capable and obedient, they are not suitable for important positions.

Then rights, status, money, fame, women, and power can all be satisfied.

"Yes, those who achieve great things do not concern themselves with trifles. This young man is capable of great things. He will be ranked first in this assessment."

Upon hearing this, Butler Qiu clasped his hands in a fist and said, "Madam is wise."

It has to be said that Zhou Qingfeng has successfully built up his relationships and broadened his career path.

Butler Qiu's words were all aimed at protecting Zhou Qingfeng's future.

If it were anyone else, Butler Qiu would at most say, "It's up to Madam to decide."

This meeting not only exempted Zhou Qingfeng from punishment, but also earned him even more favor from his wife.

Even before the performance review began, his wife had already decided that he would be ranked first.

Butler Qiu paused for a moment, carefully choosing his words, then bowed and asked, "Madam, what is your plan regarding Yuanmeng?"

The First Lady closed the file: "Kill them. If they dare to touch my people today, they'll dare to touch me tomorrow."

Butler Qiu hesitated slightly: "Madam, last year Yuanmeng paid 100 million coins to destroy Yuanmeng's stronghold. I'm afraid there will be a large shortfall in our finances every year from now on."

The First Lady raised an eyebrow, weighed her options, and then, for the sake of money, changed her tune: "Notify the head of the Dream Fulfillment Organization's stronghold that this year's taxes will be increased by 10%. If he dares to object, just send troops to wipe him out."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Has the real culprit who destroyed Fish and Rice City been found?"

"Reporting to Madam, we are investigating and have already found some leads."

"Well, back off."

"Yes." Butler Qiu clasped his hands in a fist salute, bowed, and stepped back to leave.

In the Tower of Swords, the lady is everything.

Even if Yuanmeng is a dragon crossing the river, he still has to honestly pay taxes when running his business. If he dares to bare his teeth, we will destroy him.

At worst, the Dream Fulfillment headquarters can send people to establish a new base, but they will still have to pay huge amounts of taxes.

……

The following day, the city lord's mansion sent men to arrest Zhou Qingfeng and bring him back to the mansion for questioning.

Jin Wei panicked and rushed to the archives to ask Zhou Qingfeng for instructions.

Zhou Qingfeng waved his hand calmly: "Don't panic, I'm sure I'll win this round!"

My father often said that if you want to be valued and trusted by your superiors, you must appropriately show your shortcomings in front of them. Otherwise, your superiors will not dare to use you because if you have no shortcomings, you will be difficult to control and easily backfire.

Now that he has made such a great contribution, demonstrated his ability to handle affairs, and most importantly, appropriately exposed his shortcomings, and with Steward Qiu in the mansion to look after him, this questioning is just a formality.

It is anticipated that there will be no punishment, or if there is, it will be a high slam and a light thud.

Zhou Qingfeng went to change into a servant's uniform.

This was an outward display of his loyalty, and he had to change into it before entering the city lord's mansion.

After leaving the Night Patrol Office, Zhou Qingfeng felt more at ease seeing that only a servant from his household had come to invite him. However, just to be on the safe side, Zhou Qingfeng still cast a divination on the way to see whether the trip would be auspicious or inauspicious.

[Auspicious divination slip: You have been arrested and taken to the city lord's mansion for questioning. Good fortune.]

When Zhou Qingfeng saw the auspicious fortune slip appear, he couldn't help but feel overjoyed. He had finally drawn an auspicious fortune slip!

After so many draws, the most frequent results were "medium-auspicious" and "neutral," but I've never seen "superior auspicious" or "superior superior."

The fact that the fortune stick has been drawn means that this trip will definitely be very auspicious!

This feeling is hard to describe in detail. It's like scratching lottery tickets every day, and then one day you scratch a big prize, become rich overnight, and your life is turned upside down.

This is roughly how Zhou Qingfeng felt at that moment.

"Brother, you were arrested and brought back to the manor for questioning, why are you so happy!?" The servant from the manor who came to invite Zhou Qingfeng saw that Zhou Qingfeng's mouth was stretched to the back of his ears, and couldn't help but ask out of curiosity.

Zhou Qingfeng chuckled: "Brother, misfortune may be a blessing in disguise, and a blessing may be a misfortune in disguise. Why do you think I'm laughing?"

The servants in the manor twitched their lips, assuming that Zhou Qingfeng was just talking nonsense out of fear.

Upon arriving at the City Lord's Mansion, Zhou Qingfeng was led to the council hall, where many people were already waiting. Xiao Hongyun and Ye Tingxiu were among them, and most of the people who had entered the mansion at the same time were present, although it felt like there were fewer people.

Of the nineteen people, only twelve remain besides myself, and most of them are injured, some with limp legs, some with broken arms, and others with bandages on their faces; they are all in terrible condition.

The most tragic cases were Xiao Hongyun and Ye Tingxiu.

The two men, leaning on canes and swaying unsteadily, could barely stand. They were wrapped up like mummies, clearly having been dragged from the clinic. Their pitiful appearance was truly laughable.

Zhou Qingfeng bowed and clasped his hands in greeting, expressionless: "Greetings, colleagues."

Right now, he's not a captain, just a servant of the first family.

They are no different in status from the people around them now.

"Greetings." The group returned the greeting with difficulty, seemingly indicating that they had not been having a good time lately.

Zhou Qingfeng walked to the queue, looked down at his nose, and waited quietly.

A moment later, Butler Qiu stepped into the hall. Everyone hurriedly greeted him, but Butler Qiu merely nodded, put his hands behind his back, and walked to the front of them, saying calmly, "Three things!"

Upon hearing this, everyone immediately pricked up their ears to listen to what followed.

Butler Qiu glanced around, his gaze lingering on Zhou Qingfeng's face. He paused briefly, a look of approval on his face, before continuing to scan the others. He held up one finger and said, "First, determine the crime; second, reward the offender; third, assess the offender."

"This assessment will be a major screening process, and those who are not selected will be directly assigned to other cities."

Everyone's hearts skipped a beat, knowing this was no joke.

Being eliminated is not a matter of performance, but a matter of survival.

These refugees, fleeing famine, knew better than anyone how many demons and monsters roamed the wilderness. They could barely sleep with their eyes open, let alone sleep peacefully like they did in the city.

"Alright, let's begin." Butler Qiu started with the section on determining guilt.