Liu Ji had already prepared himself mentally to go out alone, feeling very sad and miserable.

He never expected that just before he left, his wife actually arranged for him to have an Awang as his follower.

Liu Ji was flattered, and felt that his efforts to pick out the fishbone two days ago were not in vain.

When traveling far away, you cannot save money. Qin Yao not only gave Liu Ji half of the burial fee, fifteen taels of silver, as promised, but also gave Awang another fifty taels of silver note to keep in case of emergency.

Together with the dry food and meat strips that Awang had packed up last night, the two of them had no problem eating all the way to Yingtian Prefecture.

"Master, let's go!" Awang shouted outside the door.

Liu Ji then reluctantly withdrew his gaze from Qin Yao, who was eating with big mouthfuls of food, and waved to the four children, "Dad is gone, don't make mom angry, okay?"

Dalang was doing morning exercises. He raised a heavy wooden stick and waved it vigorously twice to show that he understood.

Erlang ate a few bites of breakfast and went back to his room to read. Now he barely raised half an eye from the window to watch.

Sanlang and Si Niang were mixing rice bran and chopped vegetable leaves for the chickens in the yard. Mother was not like father, so she let them do whatever they wanted as long as they washed their own clothes. The two of them had a lot of fun.

By the time they remembered to see their father off, Liu Ji had already been dragged onto the carriage by Awang who couldn't wait any longer.

The wheels whizzed forward. Qin Yao stood up and walked to the dam in front of the yard to watch the carriage all the way. As she watched the carriage disappear into the valley, she suddenly turned back to the river bank. Two rough men dressed in workers' short shirts looked straight into her sharp black eyes.

The two men were startled for a moment, but soon recovered and nodded politely at her, just like the workers from the village.

But when the two turned around to leave, they found that the sharp gaze behind them had not gone away.

A murderous intent that was not strong but not to be ignored lingered behind them. A chill rose from the soles of their feet, and they both shivered.

Has it been discovered?

The two men looked at each other, and one of them pretended to turn back and look towards the hillside, and the woman was still looking at them.

But when she saw him looking back, she showed a bright smile and waved at them generously, with a friendly gesture to welcome them to Liujia Village for development and construction.

This is something Qin Yao is used to. When she was patrolling the village these days, she would do the same thing whenever she met workers from other villages. It made people feel good about her and she was very popular.

The two of them had been keeping an eye on her for several days, so they were naturally well aware of her methods.

At that moment, she felt relieved again, thinking that she must have just noticed their prying eyes, but did not suspect that they were unusual. She just didn't like being peeped at by such curiosity.

The two of them exchanged glances secretly again. One of the targets had already left, and they had to report it to their superiors.

Originally, each of them was watching one person, but now that the man had left, whether one of them stayed behind and the other left, or whether they left together, or whether they stayed at the same time, all of these needed to be determined by their superiors.

Therefore, the two were busy passing on the message and did not notice that Qin Yao left the village alone.

Qin Yao wore Li's indigo and white floral dress, wrapped her hair with a cloth of the same color, and came to the water mill at the entrance of the village carrying a load of unhusked rice.

Once the rice was placed in the ground, it didn't come out for two hours.

Old Huang at home was taken away by Awang. Qin Yao found a horse from the stationery factory and followed Liu Bo's delivery team out of the village.

When they turned to the official road, they left the team and went straight into Kaiyang County.

In just a few days, the news of the Inspector's arrival had spread throughout the city.

Qin Yao didn't care whether this was information revealed by Wang Jin himself to scare others or leaked deliberately by his opponent. She just wanted to meet Wang Jin in person.

According to reports, he is still in the city.

Qin Yao tied up the horse and headed straight for the Song Mansion.

After all, she and Song Zhang are now in a cooperative relationship. It would be easier to meet Wang Jin through him, and it would also save her time in searching.

It was Mrs. Song who received Qin Yao. Song Zhang was neither at home nor in the county government office.

When asked where he went, Mrs. Song also shook her head, "He didn't tell me."

Seeing that the worry in Mrs. Song's eyes did not seem fake, Qin Yao calculated the time at the mill in her mind, exhaled deeply, and asked again: "When will the master come back?"

Madam Song said uncertainly, "Maybe I can be back before dinner. Madam Qin, if you have something urgent to do, why don't you stay overnight?"

Qin Yao waved her hand, "No, it's fine as long as the master can come back today. Since he is not here, how about I write a letter and ask Madam to pass it to the master for me?"

Mrs. Song nodded and quickly asked her trusted maid to fetch paper and pen.

Qin Yao used two pieces of paper and wrote a few simple words.

One was written to Song Zhang, asking him to help convey his words to Wang Jin.

One of them was to tell Wang Jin: I am in trouble now, I hope the employer will remember the promise made that day.

Qin Yao didn't write anything else.

Someone who can get things done will do it well without much writing.

No matter how many threats you write to someone who doesn't want to get things done, it will be useless.

For Song Zhang's sake, Qin Yao decided to give Wang Jin another chance.

After the envelope was ready, Qin Yao handed it to Mrs. Song with both hands. She smiled slightly, turned around and left.

Mrs. Song wanted to see her off, but she couldn't catch up.

Looking down at the thin letter in her hand, Mrs. Song's eyes became more worried. Ever since the arrival of the inspector, not only did her husband go out early and come back late every day, but even the atmosphere in the city became weird.

Madam Qin never came to the mansion on her own initiative unless there was something important, but she came today. With so many things happening at the same time, Madam Song suddenly felt a sense of solemnity as if a storm was about to come.

Qin Yao rushed back to Liujia Village just before the millstone stopped, carrying the hulled white rice back home.

That evening, after the stationery factory workers and migrant workers left, they immediately rang the gong and summoned the villagers to the ancestral hall to discuss matters.

Many workers whose homes were far away still stayed in Liujia Village, but because they were outsiders, they could not get close to the ancestral hall, so the two spies could only watch from afar.

Qin Yao is never the kind of person who passively waits for others to rescue her. She will only take the initiative to save herself first.

Since she is the village chief now, she naturally has to make good use of her identity.

During the meeting in the ancestral hall, Qin Yao fabricated a story and said that she had received a report from a villager about a theft in her home and she suspected that it was done by the outside workers who had recently come here.

She didn't say who reported it, nor did she specify which worker it was. The villagers would just make up their own stories anyway.

"I know that no one wants this to happen again, so starting tomorrow, I hope everyone will check the identities of the workers they hire. If you find any abnormalities, please report to me immediately and have them escorted to the authorities!"

Qin Yao arranged with a serious face: "The village has sold five abandoned residential lands. Liu Yang, you will be responsible for checking the identities of the workers there."

Liu Yang was stunned for a moment when he was called, and then he stepped forward to answer at the invitation of his father, the clan leader. (End of this chapter)