Recently, observant people in the food street area have noticed a new storm brewing.

"Damn it, we can't eat local pork anymore, there's been a swine fever outbreak..."

"What's going on? The weather isn't that hot anymore, is it?"

"Generally speaking, the hotter the weather, the more likely it is to cause swine fever, but who knows, it's really strange."

Some pig farm owners are also annoyed.

"We finally saw pork prices climbing steadily, but now they've dropped from 24 coins to 20 coins per pound..."

"Business is getting harder and harder."

"I don't know if it's true or not, but when I saw that man being carried over, his face was pale, which was obviously not an act, and he looked like he was about to die."

I don't have that ability to calmly handle things when they get into trouble.

I'm an honest man. If any pork shows even the slightest sign of disease, I take it out and bury it alive. I don't want to sell it without knowing the reason, because if someone dies from eating it, that's no small matter.

I was hoping to pass on my skills in slaughtering and raising pigs to my son.

Hey, buddy, come back! All the meat at my house is good quality, come back...

I suddenly remembered something while sitting at a meat stall near the food street.

"Do you think the Chen family knew the pigs were getting sick and sold them off prematurely?"

"That's not right. It's been almost forty days since they sold the pigs. There's no need to sell them so many days earlier, is there?"

"Maybe so. His pig farm has some skilled pig handlers, like Yang Xiaoshu. Maybe that kid discovered it beforehand."

Some people sighed with regret.

"Yes, it's been a long time since the Chen family has set up a stall here. I really miss their food."

"That's right, now it's all messed up. If they want a bite, they have to go all the way to Baiweilou, where a serving costs seventy or eighty coins—nothing compares to the Chen family's cheap prices."

"Sigh, I don't know when they started setting up a stall. That damn bastard, I wonder who's deliberately causing trouble for them."

His stall was doing just fine before, how could anyone have died from food poisoning? Could it be that someone is deliberately faking it to extort money?

"Maybe his business is booming and someone is jealous."

July 16th.

The capital city, the Zhou residence.

Zhou Yuan was in his thirties, holding two letters in his hand.

One of the letters was from my second brother, Zhou Xun.

One of the letters was from the eldest brother, Zhou Yu.

After reading it, he handed the letter to Zhou Jin.

Zhou Yuan smiled faintly: "Brother, it's been almost a year since you wrote home. I thought this was a letter from home."

Zhou Jin chuckled after reading it.

"I never imagined that such a small county could produce such a talented person. It seems that my brother is truly impressed by this man. My brother has always been old-fashioned and principled, and he has always believed in fairness when it comes to matters. It's rare that he informed us in advance this time."

Zhou Yuan said calmly, "Fourth brother, when we go to court tomorrow, I will proceed in the normal order and, based on the impeachment by the Provincial Surveillance Commissioner, impeach Xu Guang."

Once this matter is exposed, you can then impeach Xu Guang, giving him more weight in his reputation.

"Okay, I'll listen to Third Brother."

...

Zhou Mansion.

The old man was in a calm mood, drinking tea and listening to his concubine sing, when he suddenly received a letter from home and a message from the Ministry of Personnel.

With a stiff expression, he said, "You good-for-nothing, you can't even make a living off this." He then got up and placed the letter he had just received on the candlelight.

Instantly, smoke and flames filled the air.

The next day.

Great court meeting.

Emperor Jin Luo sat upright on the dragon throne. He was over thirty years old, clearly in the prime of his life, when a person should be at their most energetic, yet his temples were beginning to show signs of gray.

The voice was calm: "Do you all still want to stay in the Great Gan Dynasty?"

The officials below were suddenly dumbfounded.

I don't know why.

The emperor slammed the memorial in his hand onto the dragon throne.

"The Prefect of Yingzhou submitted a memorial to defend himself, stating that a seventh-rank county magistrate and an eighth-rank acting county assistant could each spend five hundred taels of silver to obtain an official position."

I know that a seventh-rank county magistrate can receive an annual salary of ninety shi of rice.

Five hundred taels of silver can buy a thousand bushels of rice. For ordinary people, a family of three would struggle to save up even two bushels of rice if they didn't eat or drink.

"But if the family is of modest means and has no ancestral inheritance, I would like to know, where did the five hundred taels come from?"

The officials remained silent, terrified, wondering what they had done to offend the emperor.

Xu Guang trembled and knelt down on the ground with a thud.

"This old minister is guilty and has nothing to say. I beg Your Majesty to remove my good-for-nothing nephew from his position as instructor. He is not qualified to continue in this post."

Upon hearing this, the assembled officials were slightly taken aback.

Even the emperor was slightly surprised.

"Xu Qing, is this matter somehow involving you?"

"I am guilty!"

Among the officials in the Ministry of Personnel, one stepped forward.

"Your Majesty, in Yingzhou Prefecture, the Provincial Surveillance Commissioner Zhou Xun has impeached the Prefect of Yingzhou, Zhu Sheng, for accepting bribes and using them to promote others for personal gain."

He had barely finished speaking when another official stepped forward to speak.

"Your Majesty, I impeach Xu Guang, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, and his nephew Xu Pingchao, along with Yang Yuanxi, the Prefectural School official of Yingzhou, and Huang Yuning, the Instructor, for their scheme to facilitate the promotion of Yang and Huang."

Everyone has figured out what it tastes like.

Xu Guang took money to do things, giving favors to some officials who wanted to get promoted.

His nephew was a middleman, an intermediary.

It was exposed by the censors.

Clearly, the Yang and Huang families were preparing for both possibilities, in case Xu Guang's connections didn't work out, they could ask the Prefect of Yingzhou to make some adjustments.

A simple relationship.

Someone smiled to themselves.

He whispered, "This is interesting. One is Zhou Xun, the provincial inspector."

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