In fact, Inspector Lin was a little too sensitive.

Wu Cheng'en had no intention of being disrespectful. Except that the county magistrate could not make it back in time, his sedan chair was brought, guards were arranged, and all the necessary ceremonial equipment was also available.

Unfortunately, Inspector Lin had preconceived ideas and was determined to think the worst of Kunshan County. What could Mr. Wu do?

He wanted to get close to the Inspector and explain himself to him, but unfortunately, the Inspector ignored him.

Wu Cheng'en had no choice but to invite the inspector and his entourage to stay in the county mansion first.

The county mansion was located near the county government office and was built only two years ago. Wu Chengen had the main courtyard cleaned up, and all furniture was replaced with huanghuali wood, and the cups and tea sets were replaced with fine porcelain. All other expenses were also provided at a high standard.

These were all taken from the house of the arsonist. Wu Cheng'en found it difficult to sell them, so he used them for the county's public use. Unexpectedly, he used them on the first day.

Old Wu also asked the best hotel in the county, Songhelou, to take care of the meals for the inspector, and also assigned several servants to take turns serving him.

But even after all this, Inspector Lin still refused to meet Old Wu and only let his long-time attendant deal with him.

Wu Cheng'en had no choice but to leave the twenty soldiers behind to take turns on duty in two shifts to protect the inspector's safety, and then he returned reluctantly.

Of course, the soldiers were all reminded to keep their eyes open and keep a close eye on the inspector and his entourage.

They must report in a timely manner who they met and where they went.

~~

Wu Cheng'en returned to the county government office in a depressed mood. Xu Wei was having lunch there. Seeing this, he pointed at him and laughed, "I told you not to put your warm face on others' cold butts, didn't I? You didn't listen. Now you feel satisfied, don't you?"

"You!" Wu Cheng'en was furious at first, but after a while he laughed at himself and said, "You were right not to let the boss come back. He just came here to cause trouble and had no intention of getting along well with the county."

"You just found out about this?" Xu Wei smiled and poured him a glass of old wine, saying, "Drink a glass, calm down, and then watch the show carefully."

"Alas..." Wu Cheng'en picked up the wine glass and drank it all.

~~

The county mansion was a place used for official receptions in the county, similar to the guesthouses of later generations.

In the main courtyard of Kunshan County Mansion, there is a three-bay hall connected to the flower hall.

At this time, outside the window, the shadows of trees were swaying and the cicadas were chirping. Lin Xun'an, who was about 27 or 28 years old, was facing a table full of food and wine alone, but he felt very lonely.

There is always a welcome banquet wherever you go.

Especially as his term of office is coming to an end, Inspector Lin cherishes every time he is invited to a banquet.

Who knows where it will be thrown next year...

But this damn Kunshan County actually let me eat alone!

Without the flattery of officials and gentry to accompany the wine, even the best dishes will taste like chewing wax, do you know?

Although we are here to ask you to release the person, we have not said anything and have not done anything. How dare you humiliate me like this?

This is forcing our hospital to kill!

Inspector Lin became angrier the more he thought about it, and slammed his chopsticks.

"Someone come!"

The attendant who was eating outside quickly took a few bites of the food, put a meat pie into his sleeve, and ran in to wait for orders.

"What are your orders?"

"Retrieve the files from Kunshan County. This court wants to review them!"

The so-called "brushing papers" does not mean "brushing up on past exam questions", but means "brushing up on case papers".

Whenever the inspector arrived at a place, his first task was to review the case files of the county. At the same time, he would examine the prisoners to see if there were any injustices or wrongful convictions.

"Yes!" The attendant responded in a deep voice, and quickly issued a patrol ticket, asking Patrol Inspector Lin to use the seal, and then ran to the county government next door with the ticket to retrieve the criminal case files.

~~

Xing, the clerk in the criminal department, had just been called back from the levee in the morning, and was busy preparing the files for last night's arson case.

In fact, there was no need to be so anxious, but Mr. Qingteng had already put the arsonists in shackles and displayed them to the public, and the Suzhou and Songjiang Inspectorate arrived in Kunshan right after.

If the case file is not completed quickly, wouldn't the county be considered to be "judging without trial"? Everyone from top to bottom will be in trouble.

Before I finished writing my closing statement, the inspector came to retrieve all the case files for the year.

Xing, the clerk, hurriedly asked his clerks to deal with the errands first and hand over the files slowly. He hid in the clerk's room and wrote furiously, finishing his closing statement in a flash.

Unexpectedly, the more he worked, the more confused he became. He found that there was still a fingerprint on the file. He quickly handed the freshly prepared file and a box of ink to his subordinates outside.

The man ran out with the file in his hand and came to the eight-character wall at the entrance of the county government office and asked the arsonists to put their fingerprints on it.

The arsonists had been played to death, their hands were shackled tightly in the wooden shackles, and they could only watch the clerk smear ink on his thumb and then press the file on his finger...

In the criminal chamber of the county government office, clerk Xing had come out as if nothing had happened, accompanying the inspector's entourage to count the files for this year.

"From the 21st day of the first lunar month when the courts were opened, to today, this county has heard a total of 530 cases, both large and small."

"Oh? Much less than other counties." The inspector's attendant was a little surprised. The people of Wuzhong are good at litigation. Other counties start with a thousand. But Kunshan only has half of that.

After saying that, he sneered and said, "That's right, they all went out to beg for food."

Xing Sili was a local, so he was naturally unhappy when he heard this, but he could only smile helplessly.

After all the files had been counted and put into a large wooden box, just as the lid was about to be locked, the registrar rushed in.

"Wait wait wait, there's another case that was just closed today and hasn't been added to the register yet."

"Oh?" The attendant took it, looked at the file with the ink not yet dry, and sneered again, "This job was rushed. The fingerprints were just pressed, right? They are still fresh."

"It's a south windy day, too damp, it's hard to work." Xing Sili laughed dryly and said perfunctorily. "Let's go to the mansion quickly, the lord of the court might be waiting anxiously."

~~

After a cup of tea, two large boxes full of files were delivered to Inspector Lin's study in the mansion, and Clerk Xing also followed him in preparation for questioning.

He sat behind his desk and asked dignifiedly, "Are all the case files in your county this year here?"

"Go back to the court, they are all here." Xing Sili replied with a hunched back.

"Not a single one is missing?" Inspector Lin asked again.

"Uh..." Xing Sili hesitated for a moment and replied, "There are two other special cases. One is the Taihu Lake bandits robbing our county's grain ship, and the other is a group of lawless people attacking our Kunshan gunner camp. Because the parties involved are all out of town and have not returned to the county, we are temporarily unable to obtain the details, and naturally we have no way to compile a list."

"Hmph." Inspector Lin snorted coldly and lost interest in the two boxes of files.

The attendant knew that he came for the second case. If he could neither meet the person involved nor see the case file, how could the judge intervene?

He stepped forward, handed over a file hidden in his sleeve, and reported quietly.

"Oh? There is such a thing?!" Inspector Lin couldn't help but be surprised. He didn't expect that a major case of arson and warehouse burning occurred in Kunshan County last night!

ps. Second update.