General, you should rest now; the lady is even more ruthless.

Although it was daytime, Nineteen's lightness skill was so excellent that he was almost invisible when he moved through the air.

He first went to the government office, but after looking around, he only saw two sickly-looking gatekeepers sitting on the ground at the entrance of the main hall.

Apart from that, the entire county government office was completely deserted.

Seeing this, he did not linger and went straight to the governor's mansion.

Cui Zhi, the prefect of Longcheng, was forty years old. He had previously served as the magistrate of Liyuan County, a county under the jurisdiction of Longcheng. Five years ago, after the previous prefect was imprisoned for corruption, he was promoted to prefect of Longcheng.

Even in broad daylight, the governor's mansion, like all other houses in the city, had its gates tightly shut.

Nineteen climbed over the courtyard wall and landed on a large tree in the front yard, using the leaves to conceal himself and observe the situation.

There were people in the main hall, and it was quite lively.

He adjusted his angle to get a clearer view of the whole picture.

There were four people in the room. One person was sitting facing the door, while the other three were standing with their backs to the door.

"Lord Cui, cough cough, there are hardly any able-bodied people left in our county, even the doctors in the clinic have collapsed," someone said anxiously.

Another person stepped forward: "Lord Cui, we are the same. When we came, we couldn't even gather a few sedan chair bearers. We all came to the governor's mansion on horseback."

The man sitting there was Cui Zhi, the prefect of Longcheng. He took a sip of tea and looked calmly at the people in front of him: "The imperial medicine will arrive soon."

"Really?" Hope ignited in their eyes.

"Lord Cui, this medicine should be given to our county first."

"Ahem, give some to us, we need it more."

"Lord Cui, please give it to us first."

......

"Alright!" Cui Zhi tapped his hand on the table. "What kind of behavior is this, gentlemen? The court has sent down a lot of medicine this time, and everyone will get a share. Just go back and post notices telling the people to prepare their money and wait."

"Sir, how much is this medicine priced?" a county magistrate asked cautiously.

"Lord Zhao, what do you think is a suitable amount?" Cui Zhi asked in return.

"This... ten coins?" Magistrate Zhao asked tentatively.

Cui Zhi sneered, "This is a life-saving medicine. Isn't Lord Zhao underestimating it? How about this, the price is three hundred coins per dose."

"What! Three hundred coins!"

Their county magistrate's annual salary was only thirty taels, yet this one dose of medicine cost the common people three hundred coins!

"Lord Cui, this is too expensive. Even with the medicine, the common people probably can't afford it."

Cui Zhi looked over disapprovingly: "Lord Sun, you are mistaken. This medicine sent by the imperial court is a divine favor. Since it is a divine favor, we certainly cannot ask for too low a price. After all, the crime of disrespecting divine favor—" He slowly glanced around, "...is something none of us can afford."

"As for those lowly people who cannot afford medicine, they are not fortunate enough to receive the grace bestowed by Heaven, so it has nothing to do with us."

The standing magistrates looked at each other, speechless, and finally could only bow and say, "Your Excellency, we will follow your advice."

"Alright, it's getting late, gentlemen, you should all head back. By the way, where's Lord Ma?" Cui Zhi then realized that only three people from the seven counties had come.

"Your Excellency, last night a servant from Lord Ma's household came to my residence to report the death of Lord Ma. He... contracted the plague and died."

Cui Zhi looked regretful: "What a pity, Lord Ma could have held on for a few more days."

"By the way, sir," Lord Sun took out a memorial from his sleeve, "this is today's memorial. Please help me submit it to the court. I'll take my leave now."

Cui Zhi took the memorial and placed it on the table: "Don't worry, Lord Sun, I will definitely deliver it."

Lord Sun nodded slightly to him, and then, like the shop owner whom Nineteen had seen, hunched over and moved away step by step.

Seeing this, the other two also put down their memorials and left.

"Lord Cui, I shall take my leave."

"Ahem, I shall take my leave now."

Cui Zhi remained seated in his chair, only saying, "Please take care, gentlemen."

Watching those people leave the governor's mansion, Cui Zhi got up and went to his study.

Nineteen leaped forward to catch up.

In the study, Cui Zhi entered and threw the few memorials he had just received into a corner, where a large pile of memorials were already scattered.

"Heh." He chuckled and kicked the memorials together. "Fool, how could I possibly report all these things to the court?"

After saying that, he didn't look at the pile of documents again, turned around, closed the door, and left.

After Cui Zhi walked away, the study window suddenly opened silently, a dark shadow flashed by, and then the window closed again.

Nineteen checked the room to make sure no one was inside, then began to look through the pile of folded documents in the corner.

Those memorials were submitted by the magistrates of the various counties under the jurisdiction of Longcheng, detailing the daily situation from the discovery of the plague until now.

Furthermore, three counties requested troop support to repel the rebels.

So many important memorials were suppressed by the Prefect of Longcheng.

The master was right after all; the truth was indeed much worse than they had heard.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

One day ago, at the General's Mansion.

Jiang Qiqi whispered to Shen Luo, "I have a way to get the Emperor to agree to send troops, but it requires some flexibility."

"What kind of workaround is that?"

“If I were the governor of Longcheng, and such a great disaster and chaos occurred under my jurisdiction, exceeding my ability to resolve it, I would certainly report it to the imperial court,” Jiang Qiqi said.

"But the court only needs to know about this matter. As for how far this matter has developed and how big the hole is, it's up to me to say."

Shen Luo seemed to understand what she meant: "You mean, the Prefect of Longcheng is hiding some problems?"

"So clever." Jiang Qiqi gave him a thumbs up. "Hiding the truth makes him seem less incompetent."

Unfortunately, while the situation can be concealed, his incompetence cannot be hidden.

"What do you want to do?" Shen Luo asked.

"It's simple, just find someone to investigate the real situation."

"that's it?"

"that's all!"

Shen Luo was about to call for help, but then stopped: "Even if we find out the truth, the Emperor may not believe it."

Jiang Qiqi chuckled: "You people in positions of power would never understand the suffering of those at the grassroots level."

When working at the grassroots level, the main focus is on leaving a trace, like a goose leaving its cry in the sky.

"If I'm not mistaken, those county magistrates would never report to their superiors verbally; they would at least write it down in a report, and some might even have written a document."

Shen Luo had no idea what this had to do with those in power, nor did he understand how Jiang Qiqi had come to this conclusion.

but.

Looking into her bright eyes and the confidence emanating from her entire being.

He inexplicably wanted to believe her.

"Alright. Then I'll have Twelve search the governor's mansion and steal back all the documents, no matter what they are."

"Wait a minute." Shen Luo was about to speak when Jiang Qiqi interrupted him, "Go call Nineteen."

"Why is that?" Shen Luo thought there was a deeper meaning behind her words.

"Isn't it said that the nineteenth level of lightness skill is the best? This matter definitely needs to be done as soon as possible," Jiang Qiqi said.

Actually, one day, she overheard Nineteen muttering to herself, "When will this housekeeper job ever end?"

Shen Luo thought about it for a moment and felt that it made sense: "Okay, I'll listen to you."