'Beep, beep, beep...'

The county government's warning bamboo whistle sounded, and the citizens couldn't help but look in the direction of the sound.

Then they saw a team of policemen accompanying a mud-stained blue wool sedan chair, hurrying over from the direction of Yuzhenfang.

Before the sedan chair came to a stop, two hairy legs wearing wooden clogs and covered in yellow mud appeared from behind the curtain.

Mr. Zhao finally arrived.

He was wearing an official robe that was also covered in mud and whose original color could no longer be seen. He also had a bamboo hat on his head and it was obvious that he had just come down from the embankment.

"Master, boots, boots!" Fang Wen appeared and chased after him holding Zhao Shouzheng's official boots.

The situation was urgent, but Zhao Shouzheng didn't bother to put on his boots. He simply threw away his two clogs, ran barefoot to the south of the bridge, and bowed deeply to the noisy crowd.

"I am Zhao Shouzheng, the magistrate of Kunshan. Elders, please listen to me!"

"The master is here!"

The people who were making trouble suddenly became quiet, and many of them secretly hid the debris they were about to throw behind their backs, just like the students who were fighting and saw the awed head teacher.

"The master is coming, stop, stop." The people on the bridge shouted to the people below, and people stopped fighting one after another. Even the children stopped making noise and dived away.

“……” Zhao Shouzheng was also surprised when he saw this, and thought to himself, where does I get such a high prestige?

This is unscientific...

"Don't blame us, we took action because we were so angry at the slander against us."

"Yes, they burned the granary and spread rumors that half of the food the master got was rice and the other half was sand!" The citizens hurriedly explained indignantly: "Fortunately, the noble master and President Liu came to clarify, otherwise we would have been fooled by them!"

"That's right. Life in Kunshan is already miserable enough, and they want to stab us in the back! Don't they deserve to die?!"

The common people were talking at once, and their anger grew stronger as they spoke.

"Alright, alright, everyone, calm down." Zhao Shouzheng waved his hands, signaling everyone to make way for him, saying, "I understand your feelings, but don't be impulsive. Originally we were in the right, but now we are in the wrong."

The common people nodded one after another, saying, "You have high prestige and a big nose, so everything you say is right."

Zhao Shouzheng walked through the passage made by the crowd.

Looking at the mud spots on the county magistrate's face, beard, and body, the citizens were moved to tears.

Today they finally understood what a "honest official" meant.

That is not just an empty title, but more like real parents, providing a blue sky for the people of Kunshan.

The citizens lowered their heads in emotion, only to see bloody smears on the bare feet of the elderly parents caused by the clogs...

The ordinary people with shallow eyes began to sob immediately.

Zhao Shouzheng looked down at his feet and said with a smile: "Excuse me, I've never worn clogs before. I'll just need to rub them a few times to get them right."

"Old parents..." The citizens cried even more.

~~

As he spoke, Zhao Shouzheng arrived at the halfway bridge and took a look at the dock under the bridge.

He saw the mess on the ground and rice scattered everywhere, which made him feel very distressed.

"Who did this? How could they waste so much food?" Mr. Zhao's face darkened and he shouted, "Do you know how many people in this county are still hungry?!"

Zhao Shouzheng was really angry. Although he gave the dike workers two meals a day and never deducted any of the food, most of the people were reluctant to finish the food themselves and would always leave half of it and take it home to feed their families at night.

He asked his subordinates and found out that after the work-for-relief program was implemented, women, children, the elderly and those who had lost their ability to work had to do light work in exchange for food rations.

But the county had limited food, so they could only halve the supply to ensure that people would not starve to death.

Mr. Zhao was very distressed, but there was a food shortage in Kunshan at that time, and even if he had money, he could not buy extra food. Xu Wei was forced to play the game of "singing and measuring sand", and Zhao Shouzheng could only sigh helplessly.

So when he saw someone wasting food like that, the good-tempered Mr. Zhao couldn't help but get angry.

"It's them!" The citizens pointed at the Xu family gentry swimming in the river.

"They are just spies and spies! Are they inspecting the grain? They are just deliberately causing trouble!" In the years of famine, food is life! The people were naturally furious, and they cursed them with the most unpleasant words and even threw them into the water!

"Alas, what a sin!" Zhao Shouzheng groaned, slapped the railing, and shouted, "Inspector Zheng!"

"I'm here!" Zheng Qian quickly pulled himself together and responded, trying to restore his image in front of the elders.

"Pull those guys out of the water and send them back to the government office to be shackled and put in public for display!" Master Zhao gave the order in a deep voice.

"Understood sir!" Zheng Qian put his legs together exaggeratedly, turned around and signaled his men to do as he was told.

The archers used the net bags used to catch debris on the dock to pull the drowned dogs out one by one, then tied their hands behind their backs, strung them together and took them away.

The drowned dogs were naturally sent off by the general public, and I don’t know how many spit and punches they received...

The Xu family gentry are so wronged.

They never expected that they would be punished for "wasting food".

Oh my god, there is only so much food. How much can they bring out after poking around?

How much money can each person get?

But no one dared to protest, fearing that if they said one more word, they would be beaten again...

~~

After dealing with the Xu clan gentry, Zhao Shouzheng shouted to the people gathered at Banshan Bridge:

"Everyone, don't worry about food. Starting from three days later, all grain stores will reopen, and there will be price limits but not quantity limits! We will set the same price as Suzhou City!"

"That's great! Thank you, elderly parents!" The citizens cheered.

"More!" Zhao Shouzheng raised his hand and continued to distribute the gift packages, saying, "As for what to do during these three days? I will give ten kilograms of rice to every household in the county. Is that enough for everyone to eat?"

"Enough! Enough is enough! Our parents are truly the second parents of the people of Kunshan!"

The excited citizens rushed towards Zhao Shouzheng. If the guards hadn't tried their best to stop them, they would have lifted Mr. Zhao up high and tossed him a few times to satisfy their desire.

"Okay, everyone go back and ask your village chiefs to come and get the food." Zhao Shouzheng was almost pushed off the bridge just now, and he shouted in fear: "Don't gather anymore, the bridge is going to collapse!"

The people of Kunshan felt relieved, gained benefits, and saw hope. Naturally, they became as docile as a group of little sheep. They kowtowed to the master and soon dispersed.

Seeing the empty space, Mr. Zhao heaved a sigh of relief. This was his first crisis management since he became an official.

And this time, there was no script, it was all up to him to improvise.

Zhao Hao stood up, gave a thumbs up towards the bridge and smiled with satisfaction.

The hardship of the past half month has finally paid off. My old father has finally matured...

Zhao Shouzheng also gave Zhao Hao a thumbs up, finally not letting his son down this time.

ps. Please vote for the third update! There will be more in the evening!