There has been no prefect in Jiangnan, and the people are frightened by the strange things that are spread among the people.

No one would not care about his life, so before the matter was thoroughly investigated, apart from sending a few imperial envoys to investigate the case, Shen Tingsi did not forcibly dispatch ministers from the court to come to Jiangnan to serve as prefects.

He originally wanted to wait until the mysterious death of the prefect of Jiangnan was thoroughly investigated before sending a suitable candidate to take over the position of the prefect of Jiangnan. However, just when Shen Tingsi was about to go to Jiangnan on a secret tour, the newly appointed top scholar recommended himself to him and wanted to be the prefect of Jiangnan.

The new number one scholar was from Jiangnan. Ever since he embarked on the path of imperial examination, he had been thinking that one day he would be able to serve as the governor of Jiangnan.

He knew that he was not qualified enough and might not be able to do the job right away, so he thought about gaining experience in other positions first and then recommending himself to Shen Tingsi when the time was right.

But the post of prefect of Jiangnan had been vacant for a long time, and the new top scholar mustered up the courage to go to Shen Tingsi and recommend himself.

You could say he was a young and inexperienced man who was not afraid of tigers, or that he was skilled and courageous, but when everyone was avoiding the position of prefect of Jiangnan, he rose to the challenge.

Shen Tingsi privately agreed to let him serve as the prefect of Jiangnan, but did not announce the matter to the public. Instead, he ordered him to lead a team of officers and soldiers to quietly go to Jiangnan to take up the post.

The new number one scholar took the land transport and arrived in Jiangnan half a month later than Shen Tingsi and Feng Jue.

Now there is news about Jinse Tower, with witnesses and evidence in hand, it's time to close the net.

After receiving the news, Shen Tingsi and Feng Jue returned to the general's mansion. At that time, Zhou Qingyuan was planning to go to the training ground and continue to play the role of a diligent and loyal minister in front of Shen Tingsi.

When Zhou Qingyuan arrived at the city gate on horseback, he saw a group of soldiers walking towards the city gate from a distance.

"General, who are they?"

The guard following Zhou Qingyuan asked in confusion.

Zhou Qingyuan narrowed his eyes, stopped the carriage in front of the city gate, and quietly watched the team coming in front, wanting to wait for them to arrive before finding out what was going on.

People were coming and going in front of the city gate, and they soon noticed the team slowly approaching in front. They stopped curiously and stood aside to look at the team.

"Who is that? Why is there such a big scene?"

"I don't know. It looks like there are about 20 or 30 people!"

"Hey, why does the person in the front look familiar to me?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the people rubbed their eyes and looked towards the person sitting on horseback in the front.

“Isn’t this Huai’an?!”

Someone exclaimed as they recognized who the man on horseback was.

"Huaian? Let me take a look!"

The man said as he poked his head towards the city gate. After seeing the man on the horse, he slapped his thigh excitedly: "It's really Huai'an!"

"Where's Old Li? Quickly inform Old Li that his son is back!"

"I'll go, I'll go! I can run fast! Old Li was still talking about his son a while ago!"

After the young man finished speaking, he ran back and informed Old Li about the matter.

Zhou Qingyuan extracted two useful pieces of information from the people: the man's surname was Li, and his name was Huaian.

Li Huaian...

Zhou Qingyuan silently repeated the name of the visitor in his mind.

"Li Huaian, isn't this the new No. 1 scholar this year?"

The guard next to him suddenly remembered this person and murmured something.

"Number one scholar?"

Zhou Qingyuan frowned.

The guard nodded, looking at the oncoming team, he guessed, "That's right. I remember that this year's top scholar is Li Huaian from Jiangnan. Now he is coming with officers and soldiers. Could he be here to succeed the post of governor of Jiangnan?"

"Hey, General, where are you going?"

The guard was startled and quickly stepped on his horse's belly to chase after him.

At that time, on the other side.

Based on the descriptions of Master Yu San and the gambling house guys, the painter drew the appearance of Jiang Li and Shen Tingsi.

"Sir, look, this is the man who lost five thousand taels of silver to the gambling house that day!"

Master Yu San walked towards the accountant standing in front of the window holding Jiang Li's portrait. Upon hearing this, the accountant turned around, took the portrait from his hand, and looked at Jiang Li, who was dressed as a man, in the portrait.

It was a stranger, and the accountant had never seen him before.

The accountant narrowed his eyes and ordered, "Send someone to look for the person in the portrait. Even if you have to dig deep into the ground, you must find this person for me!"

Although the person in the portrait did not look like someone who could sneak into the general's mansion and steal, one cannot judge a book by its cover, and the accountant did not dare to underestimate anyone.

"yes!"

After saying this, Master Yu San waved to the guy behind him and said, "Go find someone."

The waiter nodded, casually placed another portrait in his hand on the table beside him, turned around and left the room.

"If you have any news, please let me know as soon as possible."

The accountant came to the gambling house today specifically for the person in the portrait. After confirming that it was a stranger, there was no need for him to stay in the gambling house any longer. After giving instructions, he walked towards the door.

When he passed by the table, he accidentally glanced at another portrait on the table, and his eyes suddenly widened when he saw the person in the portrait!

"Where did this portrait come from?"

"To answer your question, sir, this guy is in cahoots with that kid. If he hadn't stopped me that day, I would have made that kid lose everything!"

Uncle Yu Sanye was still bragging, but the accountant was immediately alarmed after hearing his words! "Go and stop that guy and tell him not to look for him anymore!"

The accountant left this sentence and hurried back to the general's mansion with the portraits of Jiang Li and Shen Tingsi.

Zhou Qingyuan rushed all the way and finally arrived back to the general's mansion in the shortest time possible.

"General? Wasn't the general going to the training ground? Why are you back?"

The servant on duty in front of the general's mansion hurried forward and took the reins from Zhou Qingyuan's hand, and asked subconsciously.

But Zhou Qingyuan was now preoccupied with his affairs, so he had no time to bother with the servant. He strode straight into the mansion.

After returning to the general's mansion, Zhou Qingyuan immediately went to the accounting office, so fast that only a shadow was left behind.

The servants only felt a gust of wind blowing past them, and when they turned their heads to look, Zhou Qingyuan was no longer there.

When Zhou Qingyuan arrived at the accounting office, he found that there was no servant cleaning the place around. His eyes darkened, and without thinking much, he strode straight to the accounting office.

The accounting office was also empty, and Mr. Zhou, who was originally sitting here, had disappeared.

Without thinking twice, Zhou Qingyuan went straight to the desk and moved the armchair aside. He then quickly pushed the button to get the account book from the secret compartment.

He lay on the ground as before and reached his arm into the secret compartment to touch the box underneath, but he fumbled for a long time and didn't find what he wanted.

Zhou Qingyuan's pupils shrank, and he continued to stretch his arms in the secret compartment, not wanting to believe it.

At this time, a sneer came from outside the door.

"Is this what General Zhou is looking for?"

Ex-husband goes offline vs Emperor Chu formally meets his father-in-law and mother-in-law vs the two of them fall in love vs returning to the palace to meet the future mother-in-law. The rest of the storyline has been explained clearly. I'm done 　　 　 (end of this chapter)