At that moment, the magistrate, in an incredibly awkward, unsightly, troublesome, and arduous posture, bent over and pressed his face against the small window.

After looking at the token, he cautiously peered inside.

Inside the small window, Zhu Yunwen was sitting comfortably in a chair.

These officials had naturally seen Zhu Yunwen's portrait, but perhaps many ordinary people were not particularly familiar with it and dared not recognize it upon seeing it.

However, these officials knew Zhu Yunwen's portrait by heart, so when they saw the token in front of them and the image of Zhu Yunwen sitting inside, the magistrate immediately confirmed that the young man sitting behind the counter was none other than Zhu Yunwen, the grandson of the Ming Dynasty.

This is beyond doubt, because absolutely no one in the entire Ming Dynasty would dare to impersonate Zhu Yunwen, especially since there had already been news that Zhu Yunwen and Zhu Yuanzhang were heading north.

Although Zhu Yuanzhang's train did not pass through this route, he had already received news that Zhu Yunwen seemed to have separated from him.

Meanwhile, Zhu Yunwen set off in secret and even killed a county magistrate in Shacheng.

This immediately caused the magistrate of the southern city to break out in a cold sweat. He knew he was in deep trouble today, very deep trouble.

At this moment, the magistrate's trembling voice said:

"Your subject... greets Your Highness the Crown Prince... This subject was rude and begs Your Highness's forgiveness..."

The officials, constables, clerks, and common people around immediately understood what the magistrate meant.

No wonder they thought the boy looked so much like the Crown Prince; it turns out he was the Crown Prince.

And so, all of them knelt on the ground:

"Your Highness the Crown Prince...long live the Emperor!"

Zhu Yunwen spoke:

"Everyone, stand up..."

So everyone stood up, except for the county magistrate and the head of the household affairs office. Zhu Yunwen then said:

“You all stand up too.”

The county magistrate and the head of the Ministry of Revenue were somewhat bewildered, but they still obediently stood up.

The magistrate of Nan County and the head of the household affairs office were both somewhat puzzled. Logically speaking, their disrespect towards Zhu Yunwen, their various schemes and tricks in front of him, and their exposure of the various problems existing in their county government should have earned them Zhu Yunwen's anger and forced them to kneel down.

Isn't this the proper thing to do? Why make them stand up?

Just as they were wondering, they had no choice but to obediently stand up and bring their faces close to the window. Because the window was very low, they had to bend over, and because the window was narrow, they could only speak by twisting their bodies.

They bent over and twisted their heads, looking at Zhu Yunwen inside in an extremely ungraceful and arduous posture.

Zhu Yunwen, however, did not seem particularly angry. He simply sat calmly in his chair and continued speaking:

"What exactly happened with the grain seeds in Nan County? Tell me everything in detail, without any lies. You know that once this matter is investigated, the truth will come out. If you tell even a single lie, you will only suffer more."

Upon hearing Zhu Yunwen's seemingly casual threats and intimidation, the county magistrate and the head of the household affairs office were terrified and broke out in a cold sweat.

So the homeowner spoke first:

“Your Highness, I am merely a minor official in charge of the household registration department. These grain seeds need to be stamped by the county magistrate before I can distribute them to the people. This process is stuck, and there's nothing I can do about it…”

The county magistrate cursed inwardly when he saw that the head of the household affairs office had so quickly shifted the blame to him.

But at the same time, he immediately offered a defense, saying:

"Your Highness, I am also helpless. There are too many such things. I am also busy with the matter of grain seeds every day, so it is inevitable that there will be some oversights, which is why this matter has not been resolved."

But don't worry, I will definitely make time in my busy schedule to resolve this matter as soon as possible. You know, I was busy until 2 a.m. last night and didn't go to sleep until then, and I did remember about this.

But when I woke up this morning, my mind was completely blank; I couldn't remember anything at all.

Zhu Yunwen narrowed his eyes, and the head of the household affairs office next to him also looked at the magistrate of Nan County with a shocked expression.

He thought to himself, "No wonder you're in the position of county magistrate, you're really good at making things up."

If they weren't colleagues, he might have actually believed it.

But the person in charge of this household knows the truth better than anyone else.

As officials of Nanxian County, they felt that their abilities were mediocre after accepting the various new regulations of the imperial court, and that it would be very difficult for them to be promoted.

Moreover, it is too tiring to put so much effort into developing the economy and improving people's livelihoods in a county. In the end, all that hard work will bring is an opportunity for promotion.

Even after being promoted, he still had to repeat these tasks, which he found too arduous.

It would be much more comfortable to stay in my current position and enjoy the peace and stability.

So this is the reason for his inaction; he has even inaction to a terrifying degree.

He avoids doing official business whenever possible, and procrastinates whenever possible; in short, he's lazy.

Zhu Yunwen obviously didn't believe this guy's elaborate description of himself, claiming he had forgotten these things—it was all a lie.

This guy is fair-skinned and chubby, without even dark circles under his eyes. Who would believe he works all night?

If he suffers so much, then there is probably no one in the world who doesn't suffer.

So Zhu Yunwen looked at the head of the household affairs office and said to him:

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!