The daughter of a noble family is reborn, and she is doted on by her godmother.

"No, no, no, that's not how it is." Officer Li and the others shook their heads desperately, but they couldn't directly say that there was something wrong with the purpose of the money. They could only watch as Zhu and Xing went to each merchant's shop, and Xing Xiaoyu recorded the amount for each piece of silver they took.

Soon, Zhu and Xing finished looking at the situation of all the merchants in this area.

"That girl from Yunji? I'll borrow your little girl for a bit. After we've registered our marriage, I'll send someone to return the child to you."

"Yes, Qingqing, you stay with Lord Zhu and don't cause any trouble."

Yuan Chen believed in the power that Zhu Ling's current identity represented, and also believed in Yun Qingjin's martial arts skills.

In Changgan City, when it comes to escape skills alone, no one can compare to Yun Qingjin's abilities.

Zhu Ling gave a few instructions, then waved his hand, "Girl, I'll trouble you to keep providing Xing Wenshu with inkstones for a while longer."

In this way, Zhu and Xing took the opportunity to inspect all the businesses in the area.

Zhu Ling's face didn't show much expression, but he was shocked and became more and more astonished the more he looked.

This area is the East Market of Changgan City, encompassing nearly one-third of the merchants in the entire city.

After this round of visits, we only went to about a hundred shops, but the consultation fees we collected were quite substantial, nearly 1,800 taels of silver.

For example, Yunji's shop, which has three shops, each costs twenty taels.

Some small shops, like tofu stalls, only cost two taels of silver.

It's obvious that even merchants are divided into different levels.

Even so, the amount of money collected was astonishing. After this round of transactions, a rough calculation showed that there were approximately two thousand taels of silver.

"Utterly shameless! Utterly shameless!" Zhu Ling could not calm down, but since he was in the government office of the prefecture and county, and there were other people around, he did not dare to speak too loudly. He could only grit his teeth and say his anger.

Xing Xiaoyu held the accounts she had recorded that day in her hand, and she herself was quite shocked.

"The written records we saw in the capital only mentioned various situations in different places, but we never expected this place to be such a den of iniquity. It's infuriating."

"I only looked at a portion of the shops in Changgan City today. If you were to count all the shops in the city, and if you were to include all the shops during the previous prefect's entire term..."

"An immeasurable number."

The candlelight between them flickered, but neither of them spoke.

Suddenly, several knocks came from the window of the room where the two were.

"Thump, thump thump thump"

Zhu Ling felt something was off, but after thinking about it carefully, she immediately guessed what it meant.

I walked over, opened the window, and sure enough, I saw two figures, one big and one small, outside.

Zhu Ling pushed the window open completely, letting the two people outside in.

"Sister Yun, Qingqing, why are you two here in the middle of the night?"

The Yun mother and daughter, dressed in black, nimbly climbed in through the window without making a sound.

"Huh? I didn't even realize it." Xing Xiaoyu looked at the two "uninvited guests" with some shock.

Xing Xiaoyu was originally a secret guard trained by the Empress. She was highly skilled in martial arts and had excellent individual combat ability, so she alone was able to protect Zhu Ling's safety.

Such a person didn't realize there were people outside until the two knocked on the window. Xing Xiaoyu was extremely shocked; these two were definitely not ordinary people.

"Fortunately, Qingqing can keep up with my pace now, so it's not too hard for me." Yun Yuke lowered her voice and spoke softly.

"You rascal, you didn't even tell me about your assigned post. If I hadn't run into you guys today, when were you planning to tell me about your situation?"

Zhu Ling led the two to sit down on the couch, and said apologetically, "Sister Yun, I was ordered by the Emperor and was suddenly assigned this task. I really didn't have time to inform you."

"Yes, I understand," Yun Yuke patted Zhu Ling's arm, her eyes full of relief.

“Great! I was worried when you said you passed the imperial examination but hadn’t been assigned a position yet. Now that I see you here, I’m very pleased.”

Yun Yuke didn't rush to talk about anything else. Seeing the pile of papers on the table in front of Zhu and Xing, she said, "I came here overnight for these. There are many dangerous things in Changgan City. You can easily run into trouble if you're not careful."

Although Zhu Ling was unwilling, she nodded resignedly, "Yes, I didn't realize it would be like this at first."

He tapped the table with his hand. "Sister Yun, a few years ago, you told me that to be a good official, the first thing is not to be greedy. But this consulting fee... haha. This afternoon alone, I made nearly two thousand taels of silver."

"It's unimaginable."

Yun Yuke glanced at it but didn't say anything more.

"Teacher Zhu, I didn't ask you during the day, are you the new prefect?" Yun Qingjin asked her mother when she saw that her mother didn't speak.

"Yes."

"Just a prefect?" Yun Yuke, who hadn't spoken before, suddenly asked, her tone questioning.

These words made Zhu Ling and Xing Xiaoyu's eyelids twitch. They didn't answer immediately, but exchanged a glance. "Sister Yun, why do you ask that?"

“I didn’t mean anything by it. In fact, when I returned to the city today, I saw a special group outside the city. They weren’t wearing any special official robes, but were dressed as ordinary people. They didn’t seem to have anything special about them.”

Yun Yuke took a breath and stared at her friend.

"But those people were clearly professionally trained; their manner of doing things wasn't casual at all. They were obviously professionals disguised as ordinary citizens, more like military personnel. After I returned to the city, I heard that a new prefect had arrived..."

"Sister Yun... this..." Zhu Ling's expression had calmed down considerably by now. "I don't know either."

"It's okay, I basically already know," Yun Yuke waved her hand, no longer dwelling on her friend's words.

"Just listen to what I'm saying. I know some things need to be kept secret, it's alright. Ling, if the imperial court sends you to deal with the situation around Changgan City, I want to advise you to be careful. The forces in this area are deeply entrenched, so don't provoke them easily. If you really want to do something..."

Yun Yuke's eyes were clear as she tapped the stack of ledgers on the table.

Do you think all that money ultimately ended up in the prefect's pocket?

Sister Yun is reminding me that there are many people involved behind this, and the connections are very complex. Zhu Ling thought to herself.

Then he nodded, "I guessed it. Looking back now, I was indeed a bit impulsive today. Luckily, we didn't leave your Yun Mansion's shops. If we had been involved in too many things, it wouldn't have been good for our future plans."

Yun Qingjin chimed in, "Teacher Zhu, if you need my help, I can help you too. Although I'm young, I know most of the wealthy families in this city."

"You little rascal." Zhu Ling had finally witnessed the tremendous changes in her former student.

"Teacher Zhu, let me tell you, there is a retired official from the capital, two wealthy people who do good deeds, and three elderly people over eighty years old in this city. These are all stubborn old men in this city."