Although Zhuang Guoqiang felt guilty, he nodded repeatedly.
"Yes, the people of Yong'an City are all living in prosperity and have no grievances to appeal, which makes my job as the prefect much easier..."
As he said this, Zhuang Guoqiang was secretly pounding with anxiety.
Last night, Xiaomei came to tell him that his uncle had arrested Young Master Chu and Luo Zhiwan and taken them to the government jail. This morning, he was thinking that he should get Sun Dachuan to close the case as soon as possible, because the government jail doesn't keep idle people.
Unexpectedly, before he could even handle the matter, the censor arrived. If the two families were to beat the drum and appeal for justice at this time, the matter would become very difficult to resolve.
Thinking of this, he waved to Zhuang Wu, who was standing not far away. Zhuang Wu blinked a few times, understood, and turned to leave.
When Hu Ke and Li Ping led the Luo family toward the government office, they were blocked by Wang Wu and his men.
"Gentlemen, where are you headed?"
Seeing this, Hu Ke seemed to understand something.
He took two steps forward, and without saying a word, grabbed Wang Wu by the collar and shouted angrily.
"Where are we going? We're going to the government office to beat the drum and appeal for justice. What? You think you can stop us?"
The officers following behind Wang Wu saw that Hu Ke had grabbed Wang Wu by the throat and drew their weapons. However, Hu Ke did not let go of Wang Wu's neck. Instead, he carried him straight to the government office. The officers could only watch helplessly as Wang Wu struggled in Hu Ke's hands, and none of them dared to step forward.
Although Wang Wu was shrewd, he was not skilled in martial arts. Especially when he encountered someone as skilled as Hu Ke, he was like a lamb to the slaughter.
He was dragged to the entrance of the government office. The officials guarding the entrance had already received orders that no one was allowed to beat the drum and appeal for justice today.
However, the officials standing at the entrance of the government office were not only government officials, but also people brought by Lord Zhu.
Therefore, they dared not act rashly, but only stepped forward to reprimand them.
"Who are you people? Don't loiter around the government office if you have nothing to do. The Censor is inside. If you offend him, you'll be in big trouble."
Upon hearing this, Li Ping pointed at the official and gave a disdainful snort.
"We know the Imperial Censor is here, that's why we came. Please make way."
Seeing this, Sun Dachuan, who was hiding not far away, dragged his obese body over quickly and threatened Hu Ke and the others:
"The Imperial Censor has come from the capital; he has no time to concern himself with your trivial matters. I will resolve any issues for you tomorrow. Now, hurry back."
Lord Zhu's personal bodyguard, Duan Jun, had already noticed the situation. When he recognized the newcomers as Hu Ke and Li Ping, he quickly stepped forward, exchanged glances with them as a greeting, and then instructed Sun Dachuan:
"Lord Sun, since they want to see the Censor, why are you stopping them? Could it be that there's something in your office that you're afraid the Censor will find out?"
Upon hearing this, sweat instantly beaded on Sun Dachuan's forehead. Although he was terrified that the Luo family would beat the drum to appeal for justice, he dared not forcibly stop them in front of Duan Jun.
He shook his head hastily, "No, no, they're just troublemakers who often come to the government office to cause trouble."
Hearing this, Zhiruo was displeased. She took two steps forward and raised her voice to rebuke him angrily:
"Who are you calling a troublemaker? If I didn't have a grievance, who would want to come to your dilapidated government office?"
"you……"
Sun Dachuan wanted to curse Zhiruo, but seeing Duan Jun's face growing increasingly gloomy, he swallowed back the words he was about to say, then wiped the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve and made way for her.
Hu Ke threw Zhuang Wu, whom he was dragging, to the ground. Zhuang Wu's face had turned pale, but he was afraid that these people would cause trouble at this critical moment, so he still tried to stand up to stop them. However, he was stopped by the guards next to Duan Jun with swords.
Seeing the gleaming sword flashing before his eyes, even if he wanted to move, he was afraid that the sword would be blind and hurt him. So he fell to the ground again, watching helplessly as Hu Ke and Li Ping led the Luo family to the grievance drum and beat it.
"Thump...thump...thump..."
The sound of the grievance drum rang out, startling Zhuang Guoqiang, who was serving tea and water to Lord Zhu. He trembled slightly, then gave an awkward laugh.
"It's probably some kid playing the drum. Our little town isn't like the capital. Some mischievous kids have nothing else to do, so they come here to play the drum. Please sit for a while, I'll go take a look."
Seeing that Zhuang Guoqiang was about to leave, Lord Zhu quickly raised his hand to stop him.
"Anyway, I'm new to Yong'an City and want to get a feel for the local customs. Since it's just children playing drums, I'd really like to go and see what's going on."
Upon hearing this, Zhuang Guoqiang immediately panicked.
He knew better than anyone else that in Yong'an City, not only children, but even ordinary people rarely dared to strike the grievance drum. Yet today it suddenly sounded, which startled him greatly. He silently cursed Zhuang Wu and Sun Dachuan's ancestors for eighteen generations.
Although he was unwilling, he dared not disobey Lord Zhu's orders.
He immediately nodded, his heart trembling.
"Alright, Lord Zhu, this way please."
After speaking, he bowed and carefully followed Lord Zhu. Outside, the drums were beating loudly, and the little drum in his heart never stopped beating.
When they arrived at the main hall and saw Li Ping beating the drum, Lord Zhu frowned slightly, then looked at Zhuang Guoqiang.
"Lord Zhuang, is this what you call children playing around?"
Zhuang Guoqiang swallowed hard and raised his voice to stop him:
"What are you doing? If you want to play, go somewhere else. You can't play the big drum in this government office today."
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