The First Volume of Jiangnan's Good Dream is Long Chapter 28: The Imperially Appointed County Magistrate

  Bao Zheng listened to Hualang's words and then gazed at Hualang and Wen Meng again, finally smiling: "The two of you are indeed a match made in heaven."

  Hualang saw Bao Zheng speaking, and hastily smiled: "Brother Bao is overpraising, it's just that looking at Brother Bao's appearance, you don't seem to be a person from our Tianchang County. I wonder if Brother Bao has come here with some important business?"

  Bao Zheng's face changed slightly, and he hastily smiled: "I am a man from Luoyang, I have indeed come to Tianchang County on business. Brother Hua, if you are not in a hurry to leave, why don't we drink a cup together?"

  This was exactly what Hua Lang had been unable to obtain, so Hua Lang hastily cupped his hands and said: "Brother Bao's banquet invitation, I naturally won't be in a hurry to leave." As he spoke, Hua Lang pulled Wen Meng down to sit.

  After sitting down, Hua Lang first toasted Bao Gong with a cup of wine and then asked: "These two scoundrels robbed people's money and just held you hostage. I wonder how Brother Bao plans to deal with them?"

  At this time, the two scoundrels were already tied up, with fresh blood still flowing from their hands. As soon as they heard that they were going to be dealt with, the two of them knelt down and kowtowed, begging for mercy: "Spare our lives, sirs! We won't dare again, please let us go!"

  Bao Zheng took a sip of wine and gazed coldly at the two scoundrels, saying: "You rob people's money and hijack me. Let you go? Maybe. When the constables arrive later, I'll have them take a trip to the outskirts of Tianchang County to see if it was you who committed murder and robbery."

  When Hua Lang heard Bao Gong say this, he was suddenly full of admiration. Could it be that the more than 1,000 taels of silver were just something someone had lost? It seemed that this silver must have been stolen by these two scoundrels after they killed someone, and judging from their behavior when they took Bao Gong hostage earlier, they were indeed capable of doing such a thing.

  The color of the flower gentleman's face is not to be spoken, but those two scoundrels heard Bao Gong's words and suddenly changed their faces. The cries for mercy grew even louder, but at this time, no matter how they begged for mercy, Bao Gong was unmoved.

  After the wine had gone around three times, the owner of the inn finally led the county yamen's catchers to arrive late. Those catchers entered the inn and first saw Hualang, they were shocked in their hearts, but did not show it. Then one catcher looked at the inn owner and asked: "Are these two scoundrels picking up people's money and then robbing others?"

  The inn owner nodded repeatedly: "It's these two people, they...they really are bold and daring!"

  The catcher couldn't bear to listen to the innkeeper's words, he waved his hand to stop the innkeeper's speech, and then coldly ordered: "Take these two scoundrels away, as well as that over a thousand taels of physical evidence."

  At this time, the physical evidence was placed on the table of Bao Gong and Hua Lang. A catcher went to fetch it, but at this moment, Bao Gong suddenly pulled in the over 1,000 taels of silver and said: "The physical evidence is also very safe here, now I need to go to the small road outside the county to take a look. I suspect that these silvers were obtained by killing people and robbing goods, not picked up from the road."

  Bao Zheng said this at the time, unangrily yet authoritative, but those bailiffs weren't pushovers either, why should they listen to a black charcoal head's words?

  "Who are you, you black-hearted person? What right do you have to order us around? Hand over the evidence quickly, or we'll take you in too!" As he spoke, two of the constables were about to pounce on him.

  Just then, Bao Zheng slapped the table and said coldly: "How dare you! As constables, you eat the salary of the imperial court. Now, it is very likely that a murder case has occurred in the suburbs. You do not think about collecting evidence, but instead handle affairs based on speculation. This is truly deceiving the people of the Song Dynasty."

  Bao Zheng's words sounded majestic, but to the few bailiffs who heard them, they seemed overly ridiculous. If an official said these words, they would still think that this official was a good official, and he wanted to devote himself to the people. But if a black-headed person said these words, they would think it was just a young punk talking nonsense.

  "Who do you think you are? How we handle the case is our yamen's business, what's it to you, a commoner?" As they spoke, the two bailiffs were about to reach out and snatch the silver from Bao's side.

  Just then, Bao Gong's follower suddenly stood up and shouted loudly: "Stop it! Do you know who my master is?"

  The catcher sneered and said, "I don't care who your family's old master is. Since you're interfering with our work today, we won't give you good fruit to eat."

  Just as the catcher finished speaking, Bao Zheng's follower suddenly pulled out a yellow cloth from his bosom and said: "My master is the imperial-appointed magistrate of Tianchang County, and he has come to take office today. This is the imperial edict."

  Those catchers were stunned when they heard this, they had been following Zhou for a long time, but they hadn't heard that the imperial court had appointed a new county magistrate. But looking at the imperial edict, it didn't seem to be fake.

  Wen Meng saw Bao Zheng was the appointed county magistrate, and for a moment she was stunned. However, when she looked at Hua Lang, she found him unusually calm, as if he had known all along that this Bao Hei Zi was the county magistrate of Tian Chang County.

  The bailiffs were stunned, and Bao Zheng immediately ordered: "This official will go to the county government to take over all matters later. After you escort these two scoundrels away, hurry up to the small path on the east side of the city suburbs to check carefully and see if there are any corpses."

  The catcher at this time felt Bao Zheng's majesty and for a moment did not dare to disobey, hastily obeying the order.

  After the bailiffs left, Hua Lang said to Bao Gong: "Bao... it should be Lord Bao..." Before Hua Lang finished speaking, Bao Gong suddenly grasped Hua Lang's hand and said: "Brother Hua calls me like that, it's just being distant from me. Brother Hua is a talented person, you are not ordinary in the future. We were friends just now, and we will still be friends later. Don't use the title of 'Lord', or it would be looking down on me."

  Hearing Bao Gong say this, Hua Lang hastily agreed. With this relationship established, it would be much more convenient for him to become a private detective in the future. Seeing Bao Gong's heroic spirit, Hua Lang felt that he also had the demeanor of a chivalrous hero; otherwise, how could he possibly subdue Nan Ke Zhan Zhao in the future?

  After they had talked for a while, Bao Zheng was about to go to the county government office to take over all the affairs of Tianchang County. Hua Lang saw this and hurriedly said: "Brother Bao is going to the county government office to take over the affairs, I don't know if it's possible for me and Wen Meng to follow you to see what's going on?"

  At this time, Wen Meng didn't understand what Huā Láng meant, but she believed that Huā Láng must have had a reason for doing so. So she also hurriedly followed along and said: "Yes, we common people haven't been to the county government office yet, I wonder if it's allowed?"

  Hualang and Wenmeng said, Bao Zheng's face showed a difficult expression, saying: "Although you two are my friends, it's not easy to bring friends to the county government office."

  Hualang saw this and hastily said: "Since it's inconvenient, then I and Wenmeng will not go to trouble Bao brother. Let's part ways here."