The house was tall and imposing, with many exquisite mother-of-pearl inlays carved on the beams, a sight to behold. Silk tapestries hung on the walls, and woolen cloth transported from the grasslands covered the floor...

Xu Yuehuai was astonished when she saw this place. "It's just like a palace. It's really magnificent."

"How can such a petty thing compare to the imperial palace?" Qi Guze said with the air of someone who had been through it all.

Xu Yuehuai asked in surprise, "You've been to the palace, sir?"

Before Qi Guze could answer, a group of people escorted a fat, robust middle-aged man over. This man, as fat as a pig, walked to the center of the crowd with a ruddy complexion.

Everyone's attention quickly turned to that direction.

Qi Guze: "It's Lord Wang Ping'an."

"He is safe and sound, but the people of Wuming County are not safe and sound."

She was indignant.

After Wang Ping'an arrived, everyone stood up one after another, and some people started cheering again.

It was incredibly lively for a while.

They were practically shouting "Long live Lord Wang!"

Xu Yuehuai and Qi Guze looked at each other, "This place is so dirty."

The two spoke almost in unison.

Next, the best man invited everyone to take their seats.

Immediately afterwards, the best man began to sing, his voice melodious and pleasant.

"Master Zhang from Wuming County presents a pair of jade ruyi scepters, wishing you a long and healthy life."

"Liu Kai, the village chief of Qingshui Village, presents Gu Kaizhi's 'Admonitions of the Instructress to the Court Ladies' painting, wishing the gentleman boundless happiness."

“Zhang Fugui from Heping Town presents thirty taels of silver, wishing you, sir, many more such days to come.”

It's noisy here.

Xu Yuehuai glanced at Qi Guze, "It's boring here. Let's focus on eating first. Once we're full, we can investigate the clues and hopefully steal this roster. Then we can catch them all in one fell swoop. But unfortunately... officials protect each other. Someone as capable as Wang Ping'an must have used money to settle everything. I don't believe that no one has filed a complaint over the years..."

"Of course there are, but it's not that there are no good people in Hongdong County. It's just that this place is far from the capital, so the imperial censors and governors can hardly come here."

"really?"

It seems that the other party is fully aware of everything about the imperial court.

"Of course it's true."

Xu Yuehuai glanced at the Dongpo pork knuckle and other food on the table, her mouth watering. While everyone was listening intently to what Wang Ping'an was saying, Xu Yuehuai picked up her chopsticks and began to savor the food.

"It's not bad, you should eat some too."

Xu Yuehuai not only ate herself, but also served food to Qi Guze.

After eating, the two prepared to explore other areas.

“I think that since people send him things every year, he must have a huge warehouse. Let’s go and take a look.”

"This warehouse must be in a remote place, how could it be here?"

“No, finding peace and quiet amidst the chaos is the safest thing. The more dangerous it is, the safer it is, isn’t it?” Qi Guze looked at Xu Yuehuai.

The two quickly arrived at the backyard.

The group of Thousand Yuan was large and noisy, but there were only a few maids behind them. The two men were highly skilled in martial arts and easily avoided the maids' sight.

Soon they arrived at a lakeside, and Xu Yuehuai was still in shock, "This government office is so big?"

It's not just big, it's practically the size of a giant football stadium.

"He's quite superstitious about feng shui. Do you know what water represents?"

"Make money." Xu Yuehuai snapped his fingers.

Qi Guze nodded. "This lake is shaped like a silver ingot, which means there's probably something big underneath. Let's take a look around."

Anyway, Xu Yuehuai didn't know anything about Qimen Dunjia.

But Qi Guze seemed to know a lot, and the two strolled around one after the other.

After walking for a while, Qi Guze said, "It's probably around here."

"here?"

The two were standing in front of a large rock.

Qi Guze looked around, seemingly trying to confirm something. Then, he moved a few of the small stones exposed on the ground. Immediately afterward, he heard a series of low creaking sounds, and then the huge stone actually moved.

Xu Yuehuai's eyes immediately lit up with admiration, and she clicked her tongue: "You also know Qimen Dunjia?"

"That's easy, but getting inside is much harder; the gates are locked tight."

After the huge rock was moved, a dark tunnel appeared.

The tunnel was empty, and there were crystals on the walls.

Although it was pitch black at night, the light from the crystal was still bright, illuminating the entire cave as if it were daytime. But soon the two of them saw a wall.

It was a huge stone wall.

On the stone wall was a strange compass with five locks hanging on it.

As you can see, five different keys are required to open it.

Just as Qi Guze was about to give up, Xu Yuehuai laughed. She breathed on her palm and said, "This is child's play. Watch me open it."

"you……"

Qi Guze pondered for a moment, "You know how to drive this?"

Xu Yuehuai kept everyone in suspense, saying, "Of course I will. Just now I was envious and jealous of you, but now it's your turn to be envious and jealous of me. Just wait and see."

This lock-picking technique was taught to me by Ah Qi.

That's pretty impressive.

Qi Guze stood behind watching as Xu Yuehuai approached with an air of importance. She held her breath, then plucked a strand of hair and used it to easily open the locks one by one. Her skill was truly masterful and astonishing.

The two quickly went inside.

The place was filled with dazzling jewels and precious stones, making one's eyes dazzled.

Qi Guze clenched his fists, his heart still unable to calm down.

"Back in the capital, I heard that 'a clean prefect can earn 100,000 taels of silver a year,' and now it seems that it is indeed true."

"That's a lot of money, but it's all hard-earned money from the people."

Xu Yuehuai was taken aback.

Before entering, she had predicted that there would be a lot of gold and silver jewelry inside, but after walking in and taking a look, she found that there were an unbelievable amount of things inside, which were clearly the county magistrate's amazing collection. She couldn't help but be surprised when she saw this.

"Didn't the imperial court investigate these corrupt officials at all?"

"The imperial court..." Qi Guze seemed to be taking sides, "After all, it's too far away, so it's understandable that they missed something."

Xu Yuehuai went inside and found the table piled high with gold.

There were gold ingots everywhere, and not far away was a list. The thick layer of dust on the list showed that no one had been here for a long time, and the list had probably not been looked at in a long time either. "Let's take this. There are quite a few names on it. We'll hand it over to the imperial court and let them find the people by following the map."

"Ideally, someone like Bao Zheng (a famous judge in Chinese history) would come and take a look at this place. It would be outrageous!"

This list is actually also a list of gifts.

Every name on this list is clearly visible.

Moreover, they are arranged in order; in other words, every year on Wang Ping'an's birthday or during holidays, these sycophants would send him gifts.