Chapter 595: Chapter 595: Why Is Ji Yun Here Too?

“My lord, my lord, you’ve finally arrived!” A few of them, knowing they were in the wrong, hastily knelt on the cold ground.

“What exactly happened here, who hit you?” County Magistrate Wang’s expression was furious.

The leading guard shifted his eyes and said, “My lord, just a moment ago someone forced their way into the city. Their martial arts were extremely formidable; even though we gave it our all, we couldn’t defeat them.”

Just a moment ago, they discussed among themselves that if County Magistrate Wang were to blame them for negligence, it would be better to shift the blame onto those people.

It was dark, and he couldn’t see clearly. Now he realized they might have been duped. Those people must have used a fake Qilin Token to falsely gain entry into the city.

The emperor had just ascended the throne not long ago, and they had only received the order to allow the bearer of the Qilin Token to pass a few days ago.

Those people must be in cahoots, and had planned this long ago.

Otherwise, why did that person initially try bribing them with silver, only to later come up with a Qilin Token!

The brothers among them concluded that those people must have played a double act to deceive them all!

Another guard respectfully said, “Yes, my lord, and they even threatened to have you…”

“Have me what!” County Magistrate Wang’s eyes widened somewhat.

“They said to have you roll over to meet them!”

The guards nodded like pounding garlic, as they had all heard it.

County Magistrate Wang squinted his eyes; his fists clenched, cursing, “Ah, they must be traitors or Eastern Wei spies, quickly notify the garrison to come and search the city!”

Behind County Magistrate Wang came the sound of hooves; County Magistrate Ji Yun approached on horseback, bringing with him a chill. He dismounted, eyes resting on the guards kneeling on the ground.

“My lord.” He first bowed to County Magistrate Wang, and after understanding the events, he walked step by step to the lead guard.

“Zhao Jiu, what have you done?” His voice lacked any emotion.

When the lead guard heard County Magistrate Ji call his name, he shivered in fright, raising his head, clutching his injured face with grievance, “I didn’t do anything!”

County Magistrate Wang squinted at this poor scholar assisting him in managing county affairs, voice full of disdain, “What could he do?”

Ji Yun suddenly bent down and grabbed a money pouch from Zhao Jiu’s arms, “Then tell County Magistrate Wang, what is this!”

Zhao Jiu defended himself, “This is just a money pouch! It’s from my sweetheart!”

He often visited the brothel, so it was normal for a woman to embroider a money pouch for him.

“Does your woman have the surname Jin?” Ji Yun’s eyes darkened a bit.

Before Zhao Jiu could defend himself further, Ji Yun slammed the money pouch onto Zhao Jiu’s face.

Zhao Jiu’s expression changed immediately; he never took this County Magistrate seriously. This man was obstinate and inflexible in his actions, clearly just a fallen scholar assisting the magistrate, yet he styled himself as upright and uncorrupted, impartial and strict.

They had clashed more than once before; previously, he had exhausted all means to win Ji Yun over.

Such as monetary bribes, having brothel women seduce him, secretly targeting his family to have hooligans harass his sister, or ambushing and beating him in a deserted alley, etc.

Despite using both coercion and incentives, this guy never fell for it. Ji Yun couldn’t tolerate any sand in his eyes and opposed him time and again.

He himself was so poor that he could barely make ends meet, yet he used his meager salary to help those even poorer than him.

Ha, pretending to be noble. Does he really think his good reputation would reach Ding’an City from the remote Shuiyu City!

Ludicrous!

Zhao Jiu touched the spot on his face that was hit, looking at the guards behind him, “Wasn’t I right? This money pouch is a gift from my sweetheart, right?”

“Yes, yes, County Magistrate Ji, this money pouch is from the boss’ woman!”

Zhang Erqiang defended Zhao Jiu, and several others nodded repeatedly.

Ji Yun let out a cold chuckle, “What is the name of his woman?”

“How would we know!” The men continuously waved their hands.

“Since you’ve seen the woman, isn’t she a girl from Baihua Building?” Ji Yun followed up.

“Yes, yes!” The men didn’t know how to further defend Zhao Jiu and decided to go along with it; after all, everyone knew Zhao Jiu constantly fooled around with girls from Baihua Building.

Zhao Jiu squinted his eyes, these fools didn’t even realize they were being led into Ji Yun’s trap!

A bit more talk and they’d be exposed.

“Then tomorrow I’ll go to Baihua Building and check one by one. If I don’t find a Miss Jin, you’ll be accused of giving false testimony and be punished with him!”

Zhang Erqiang quickly reacted, “Lord Ji, we don’t quite remember, the boss is promiscuous, and there are many women, we can’t keep track!”

Ji Yun watched them closely, “You all, open your money pouches!”

Zhang Erqiang, full of righteous indignation, “What do you mean by this? There aren’t many Copper Coins in our money pouches either.”

Ji Yun’s assured gaze swept over each of their faces, “You have Eastern Wei’s fragmented silver inside, spherical shaped silver beads, I just felt them inside Zhao Jiu’s money pouch.”

“Therefore, as accomplices, each of you certainly carries at least one silver bead!”

As soon as Ji Yun finished speaking, Zhao Jiu’s face turned pale; he didn’t know the differences between Eastern Wei and Dayu’s fragmented silver.

With Ji Yun’s inquisitive nature, he would investigate to the end.

The guards panicked too; they always committed crimes together in a gang, with Zhao Jiu taking the lion’s share and everyone else getting a little piece.

If investigated, none of them could escape the blame!

What a misfortune today, why did Ji Yun have to come!

A timid guard, frightened by Ji Yun, immediately knelt down and handed over his money pouch, “My lord, my lord, we confess, we acted on Zhao’s boss’s word!”

Immediately, the second one confessed, kneeling and handing over his money pouch, pouring out a piece of fragmented silver, “We didn’t do this many times, only a few!”

In the firelight, Zhao Jiu saw the fragmented silver wasn’t truly spherical, he closed his eyes, those fools were tricked by Ji Yun!

Ji Yun respectfully addressed the County Magistrate Wang behind him, “My lord, actually Eastern Wei’s fragmented silver is very similar to our Dayu’s, but these men were guilty and nervous, forgetting the shape of the silver. These people have abused their power and engaged in extortion; I urge you to investigate thoroughly.”

County Magistrate Wang’s gaze was firm, “Investigate we certainly must!”