The Great Detective of the Song Dynasty

  Jingyou third year, midsummer, noon.

  The streets of Tianchang County were sparse with pedestrians, and although the shops along the street were open, they had no customers. The shop assistants also knew that there would be no business at this time, so they either dozed off in front of the counter or gently fanned themselves to drive away mosquitoes.

  The sound of cicadas in the distance is faintly transmitted, and it sounds a bit noisy, but it doesn't make people feel annoyed.

  A man of medium build and handsome appearance, wearing a coarse linen garment of pale blue color, had been hesitating for some time under the willow tree opposite the county yamen in Tianchang County, seemingly undecided whether to enter the yamen or not.

  Two bailiffs stood at the gate of the county government office, chatting occasionally and bursting into loud laughter from time to time.

  "Isn't that Hualang, the son of Butcher Hu from East Street, standing under the willow tree?"

  "Don't you know? The butcher's wife, Hua Xiangyi, has fallen ill and can't slaughter dogs anymore. Now they don't even have money for medical treatment. It seems that Hua Lang has come to beg our county magistrate to take pity on him and lend them some money to treat Hua Xiangyi's illness!"

  "This Hua Xingyi can't butcher dogs anymore, isn't there still a dog-butcher's son Hua Lang? Why doesn't he butcher dogs to sell and give the money to his old man to treat his illness?"

  "He? Hua Lang? Ha ha, you don't know the situation. I heard he only reads books of sages and hopes to achieve great success and return home in glory one day. You want a bookworm like him to slaughter dogs? Aren't you joking?"

  Two bailiffs made a joke, seemingly saying that Xiaohualang was the son of a butcher, and also seemingly teasing him for not knowing how to butcher dogs. In any case, they didn't take this matter to heart.

  What's their pain got to do with them? It's just a topic of conversation when they're bored.

  The two bailiffs were talking about him, but Hualang didn't know that. He broke off a willow branch and listlessly whipped the tree trunk with it, thinking of his experiences over the past half month, which made him feel deeply moved for a moment.

  He was not a flower boy, but a private detective in the 21st century. During an investigation, he unfortunately died and his soul crossed over to find himself in the Northern Song Dynasty during the reign of Emperor Renzong. He possessed the body of a man named Hua Lang, who was a bookworm with little interest in anything else, and was very dull and uninteresting.

  Now, Hua Xingyi has contracted a serious illness, and Hualang is trying to find a way to borrow money to buy medicine. However, the neighbors all know that he is a bookworm and think that he will never amount to anything in his life, so they are unwilling to lend him the money. In desperation, he decides to go to the county yamen to seek help from County Magistrate Zhou Siping.

  Logically, the county magistrate should not be involved in such penniless medical matters. However, Hualang, who had traveled through time and space, heard from his sister Huawan that he was engaged to Zhou Ting, the daughter of County Magistrate Zhou Siping. But why would a butcher's son like him be engaged to the county magistrate's daughter? Hualang didn't know.

  No matter how he and Zhou Ting got engaged, now that Hua Xingyi is ill, it shouldn't be a problem for him to go ask his future father-in-law for some silver.

  When Hua Lang arrived at the county government office, he didn't dare to go in. Firstly, because he wasn't familiar with the situation here and at home, he was afraid that if he went in, Zhou Si Ping would ask him questions that would reveal his ignorance. Secondly, he himself wasn't clear what kind of person Zhou Si Ping was, if he was like those people on the street who refused to help, wouldn't it be too humiliating for himself?

  No matter how he put it, he was a detective with a good reputation, and he had never done anything lowly or begged for help from others before. Now that he had to do such things, it was really somewhat difficult for him.

  Ke Nian and his family's elderly father fell ill, Huā Láng was not feeling well in his heart. Although he himself was not the son of the Huā family, since he had occupied someone else's body, he should do some things that a son should do!

  The weather was so hot that the back of Hualang's clothes was already wet with sweat. He wiped his sweat with his sleeve, threw away the willow branch in his hand and thought to himself: "Damn it, I'm going all out today."

  Thinking so, Hualang hastened to the county government office. Upon arriving at the entrance of the county government office, Hualang bowed his hands to the two gatekeepers and said: "Would you please inform County Magistrate Zhou that I wish to see him?"

  After listening to Hualang's words, the two bailiffs looked at each other with great interest, and then one of them asked Hualang, "Do you have a grievance?"

  Hualang was puzzled for a moment and said, "There is no injustice."

  The bailiff sneered coldly: "Since there's no injustice, can the county magistrate be seen just because you want to see him?"

  Hualang was taken aback for a moment, he didn't think it would be so difficult to see the county magistrate, but since he had already decided to go all out, he wouldn't give up halfway. So he took a step forward and said with righteous indignation: "County Magistrate Zhou is my father-in-law, can't I even see my own father-in-law?"

  As soon as the words were spoken, the two bailiffs immediately cheered up. They had been serving for so long, but they had never heard that their county magistrate's daughter was engaged to anyone before. Now this foolish flower boy actually said that County Magistrate Zhou was his father-in-law, how could they not be happy?

  The two saw them like this, and they were very angry in their hearts. So when the two bailiffs were still ridiculing him, he suddenly said coldly: "Since you two don't believe it, why not go to the county government office to report this matter to County Magistrate Zhou? I and Miss Zhou Ting have a marriage contract or not, it will be clear immediately. If there isn't one, you can drive me out. But if there is, what about you two?"

  The words hadn't been finished, but the meaning was already very clear. If what Flower Lad said was true, then these two gatekeepers had offended the county magistrate's maternal uncle. Although the county magistrate's maternal uncle wasn't a powerful person, offending him would be equivalent to offending the county magistrate. They were just gatekeepers and didn't dare offend the county magistrate.

  After hearing this sentence, the two bailiffs suddenly stopped smiling. They did not expect that this bookworm flower boy could say such a thing. They had also seen the flower boy before, and in their eyes, the flower boy was just a fool, a book fool.

  But today's words aren't something a bookworm can say.

  Two bailiffs hesitated for a moment before exchanging a glance, whereupon one of them hastily ran into the county yamen.

  Before long, the bailiff ran out of the county government office. He came to Hualang and said, "The county magistrate wants to see you, follow me into the government office!"

  Seeing the expression of that official, Hualang was very disappointed in his heart. However, the county magistrate agreed with him and also made him a little happy, so he hurriedly followed into the reception hall in the backyard of the county government office.

  When Hua Lang arrived at the living room, there was already someone sitting and waiting for him. The person looked slightly chubby with a stern expression. Upon seeing Hua Lang, he did not stand up but instead coldly said: "Hua Xian nephew has come to find this county magistrate, what business do you have?"

  The tone was not very kind, but after hearing this, Hualang's heart was still filled with hope, because from these words, it could be heard that Zhou Ping had already acknowledged his engagement to Zhou Ting. Since he had acknowledged it, then the matter of borrowing money would be easy to handle.