The child, tricked by Lin Xue, blurted out everything.
"I'll leave the rest to you. I don't think I'll need to lift a finger!"
Having gotten the answer she wanted, Lin Xue glanced at Constable Zhang, then jumped back onto the wall and returned to the front yard.
"So, have you found any clues?"
Upon seeing Lin Xue return, the county magistrate glanced at her curiously.
The two men had been acting mysteriously behind him, and no one knew what they were doing. When Lin Xue returned, Zhang, the head constable, couldn't see her. The magistrate was bound to ask her about it eventually.
"The suspect has been found, and Officer Zhang is leading his men to arrest him!"
"Sir, why don't we go back to the county office first? We don't know when they'll catch the man. We don't need to keep waiting here!"
The suspect has been identified; all that's left is the arrest operation. Who knows when the police will be able to bring him back? Waiting here won't do any good.
"Oh? You found a clue so quickly?"
The magistrate never expected that Lin Xue and her team would find clues and even identify suspects simply by taking a stroll around the backyard.
"It's such a small place, and the time is so short, so it's relatively easy to investigate!"
"The other party probably didn't intend to murder, so the preparations were rather rushed. Even though they tried their best to cover up the clues, they still couldn't escape the sharp eyes of the constables!"
Since there was nothing more to do here, the magistrate ordered the body to be taken back to the county office, while he left with his men.
The deceased's family was told to wait at home for news, and that once the perpetrator was apprehended, a trial would be held.
When the time comes, officials will come to summon them.
Upon returning to the county government office, Lin Xue greeted the magistrate and then went home.
"It smells so good! What are you making?"
As soon as she approached her own yard, she smelled a strong fragrance. Lin Xue knocked on the door, and someone quickly opened it for her.
"This morning, the magistrate's wife sent some food and grain. We had a lot of lamb chops left over from last night, so we stewed them with potatoes!"
"Sister-in-law, you're so lucky! We just finished stewing the lamb chops and you're back!"
It was Zhou Xiaomei who opened the door. She had followed Lin Xue's instructions and only opened the door after confirming that it was a family member.
Then they reported to Lin Xue what they had done at home that day, and finally talked about the food stewing in the pot.
"The magistrate's wife has delivered something?"
"This person seems easy to get along with. I'll be working for the magistrate's wife tomorrow, so I'll see if I can find you some work to do!"
They're over 10 years old; they can't stay locked up in the house forever.
They're unfamiliar with the town and won't be able to integrate quickly. It would be better to find them something to do so they won't feel panicked.
After dinner, Lin Xue called all the children to the study, took out the writing brushes, ink, paper and inkstones she had bought from the bookstore, and began to teach the children to read.
The aversion to school that Lin Xue had imagined did not occur in these children; each of them absorbed knowledge like a sponge.
Lin Xue only intended to teach them five words that night, but they begged her to teach them ten.
"Learning to read takes time. Learn a few characters each day, and over time you'll learn many!"
"You don't have much of a foundation, and I'm afraid that if I teach you too much at once, you won't be able to remember it, and you'll get confused later on!"
Lin Xue patted the five children who were still eager to continue, advising them that haste makes waste.
Watching the children write characters on the paper stroke by stroke, even though the characters looked crooked and messy, if it weren't for the fact that the characters Lin Xue taught on the first day were extremely simple and had few strokes, she would have been really worried that these children wouldn't have been able to write them properly at all!
Thinking back to my school days, we didn't start by learning to write characters; we all began with a, o, e.
After learning pinyin, you still need to learn strokes: horizontal, vertical, left-falling, and right-falling strokes...
Finally, we begin learning simple characters, such as one, two, three, four, five, six, seven...
Then we get to the size, quantity, and dimensions (up, down, left, right).
Looking at the five children of the Zhou family, they skipped the previous steps and started learning directly from top to bottom and left to right.
Worried that the children would study very late, they set a bedtime for the five Zhou children and then went to sleep first.
The next morning, Lin Xue packed her things and went to the county government office.
Led by the servants of the county government, they soon arrived at the residence of the women in the back office.
"You're Lin Xuelin's bodyguard?"
The magistrate's wife was a woman with a cool and dignified appearance. She wore her hair in a high bun and had two beautiful maids by her side.
She looks like a cool and aloof beauty, but when she speaks, you'll find that she's a very kind and straightforward person.
"Reporting to Madam, it is indeed my daughter!"
Lin Xue cupped her hands in greeting to the county magistrate's wife, displaying a graceful and poised demeanor.
"Yes, I've heard about your skills from the master. From now on, you'll stay by my side!"
"I don't usually need you here. I only need you to accompany and protect me when I go out. Otherwise, you can go to the front yard and see if the magistrate has any other instructions!"
"If you have nothing to do, I'll allow you to go home, but you must inform the steward of your whereabouts so that we can find you promptly if needed!"
The magistrate's wife did not require Lin Xue to protect her 24 hours a day, unless something major happened in Qingshan County that would threaten the safety of the county government, in which case she would ask Lin Xue to protect her closely in the county government.
Normally, these adults are quite tolerant of talented and extraordinary people.
"Thank you, Madam. I will definitely protect you if I go out!"
Lin Xue thanked the magistrate's wife and then inquired about her morning and evening get off work hours.
According to the magistrate's wife, she would come over every morning to check in and see if the magistrate's wife needed to go out. If she didn't have any missions to go out, she could come and go freely within the county government office.
She hadn't expected the magistrate and his wife to be so trusting, giving her so much freedom and power so soon after she started working.
Since there was nothing to do in the back courtyard, Lin Xue went to the front yard.
This is where the officials work, and several rooms are offices for the staff.
Soon, Lin Xue found the place where the constables usually worked.
This is a large room with many tables inside.
Several constables were flipping through case files, some were sitting in chairs with their legs crossed, drinking tea, some were sleeping, and one was wiping his sword with a rag.
Surprisingly, the place is quite casual. However, there aren't many people in this room, so most of the constables must have gone out to handle cases.
Lin Xue glanced at each room and left. She looked at every room to make a mental impression so that it would be easier to find people in the future.
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