Zhao Guihua took the jade pendant, a look of surprise flashing across her face. This jade had always been kept by Xingxing, and she had almost forgotten about its existence. Now that Xingxing had suddenly taken it out, she remembered that when the person gave her the jade, he had indeed said that she could take the jade pendant to the prefect.
“We can’t be sure of that person’s identity. Although this jade looks very valuable, who knows if the prefect will recognize it? If that person is lying to us, wouldn’t we offend the prefect?” Zhao Guihua was very cautious and dared not take any risks.
"No, Mother, don't worry. We'll take the jade pendant to the yamen, and the prefect will definitely see us," Xingxing said confidently.
Since her daughter had said so, Zhao Guihua decided to believe her. However, she would have to wait for Boss Zhou to return before discussing it further. Boss Zhou was assisting the government with a case today and would definitely be busy until very late.
Zhou Laoda did not return home until dusk. He was exhausted after a long day. He wolfed down his dinner, took a bath, and then went to bed.
"Don't rush to sleep, sir. I have something to tell you." Zhao Guihua nudged him.
Old Zhou was so sleepy he could barely lift his eyelids. He mumbled, "Can't we wait until tomorrow to talk about this? Okay, go ahead and tell me, I'm listening."
"Do you remember that man with the child? He gave us the jade pendant, saying we could use it to go to the prefect. I was thinking that since we were going to stay in Nanyang Prefecture for a while, some men in black might come looking for us, and we definitely couldn't fight them off, so we went to the prefect for help..."
Before Zhao Guihua could finish speaking, Zhou Laoda turned around and looked at her, somewhat amused, and said, "You want the prefect to send officials to protect us? Isn't that a bit too far-fetched?"
Zhao Guihua was taken aback, her mood instantly turning from sunny to gloomy. "It should be fine, right? My daughter told us to go find the prefect."
Hearing that it was Xingxing who asked him to find it, Zhou Laoda thought for a moment and said, "Then let's go tomorrow and show the jade to the prefect. If he wants to repay us, we can tell him about our current predicament. If he is not willing, then we can just return the jade pendant to him and forget about that favor."
Are government officials so easy to befriend?
The gap between them, commoners, and the prefect was too great; the prefect might just give them a few dozen taels of silver and that would be it.
Zhao Guihua didn't say anything more. They had no status or background, so they didn't dare to negotiate with officials. They could only see if the other party could act with a clear conscience.
After breakfast, Xingxing kept pestering Zhou Laoda and his wife to hurry up and go to the yamen. "Dad, Mom, what are you doing in the room? Let's go find the prefect!"
The thought of meeting the prefect, and the feeling of taking advantage of his kindness, made Zhou Laoda and Zhao Guihua's palms sweat and their hearts pound with fear. They even considered backing out.
"What are you afraid of? We have the jade pendant." Xingxing looked completely naive.
“Let’s go. We did save that child, so the guard shouldn’t be trying to cheat us. This jade pendant is useless to us anyway, so we might as well return it.” Boss Zhou seemed to have made up his mind.
“Yes, let’s just say we’re going to return the jade pendant.” Zhao Guihua took a deep breath, picked up Xingxing, and left.
Half an hour later, the three arrived at the yamen and handed the jade pendant to the guard, asking him to pass it on to the prefect. The guard asked Zhou Laoda where he got the jade pendant, and Zhou Laoda said it was given to him by an old friend. The prefect knew what was going on as soon as he saw the jade pendant.
Yesterday, Boss Zhou came to report the case and gave a statement. The government officials not only brought back the bodies of the masked men in black, but also retrieved the black stones.
According to the officials, the black stone should be a meteorite, which fell from the sky. There have been previous examples of meteorites falling from the sky, but this is the first time that a meteorite has killed someone, hitting one person with a single hit.
Therefore, the officials had a deep impression of Zhou Laoda. When they saw him bring the jade pendant to the prefect today, they did not make things difficult for him. After asking a few questions, they delivered the jade pendant to the prefect.
Zhou Laoda and Zhao Guihua waited nervously outside the door, rubbing their hands together and peeking inside every now and then.
"Don't worry, don't worry, it's nothing serious," Xingxing comforted her.
But in the eyes of the two men, the little girl was just a newborn calf that was not afraid of tigers and did not know what fear was. She told them not to be afraid, but they were so nervous that they could not be afraid.
Fortunately, they didn't have to wait too long. The prefect summoned them to the government office for a detailed discussion. An official led them to the backyard, where the prefect was in a pavilion. Next to him stood a tall and upright guard. Zhou Laoda mustered his courage and glanced at him. He immediately recognized the guard. Wasn't he the one who had given them the jade pendant?
"This humble citizen, Zhou Laoda/Zhao Guihua, kowtows to Your Excellency." Zhou Laoda and Zhao Guihua knelt down before even getting close.
"Oh dear, what's wrong with you, child? Kneel down! This is the Prefect, you can't be rude!" Zhao Guihua gently tugged at Xingxing's arm and spoke in a low, anxious voice.
Xingxing scratched her head, looked at the sky again, seemingly not having heard what Zhao Guihua said. She looked lost in thought, completely unaware of what was going on. The little pink dumpling was quite adorable, but she didn't quite understand manners.
"No need for formalities, please get up and have a seat." The prefect was an elderly man in his early fifties with a somewhat serious expression, but he deliberately softened his tone when he spoke.
Zhou Laoda and Zhao Guihua stood up, but they didn't dare to sit on equal footing with the prefect. They stood aside with unusual restraint, not daring to speak casually.
The prefect didn't press the two. Holding the jade pendant in his hand, he recounted, "This jade pendant originally belonged to my grandson. Back then, my son offended someone in the capital and was demoted to a poor, remote place in the northwest as a county magistrate."
My son couldn't bear to see his wife and children suffer, so he thought of having someone escort them to my place. However, on the way, they were chased by our mortal enemies and almost died at the hands of those bandits. It was only thanks to you two that my grandson was saved..."
This chapter is not finished yet. Please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
