As an official, what's wrong with raising a few monsters?

Chapter 13
"Sir, they are chasing me."

As I walked, I heard a message from a bird.

Mingchen deliberately slowed down his pace upon hearing this.

quickly,

"grown ups!"

"grown ups!"

"Please stay!"

"Please stay!"

There was a quick shout from behind.

Mingchen and Lingyu looked at each other.

I stopped and looked back, only to see a man chasing me quickly, attracting curious glances from passers-by.

It wasn't the second son of the Li family who was so scared that he doubted his life and crawled to find his father to clean up his mess.

The man who came was a scholar, about twenty-eight or twenty-nine years old, with thick eyebrows and big eyes, a handsome face, wearing a yellow robe and a jade pendant around his waist.

"Is it him?"

"Hmm? Who is that?"

"You forgot, it's..."

"Oh! It's him! Tsk, tsk, tsk, what does he want to do?"

"Who are those two people? They don't look simple!"

……

He seemed to have some fame. When some passers-by saw him, their expressions changed and they whispered to each other.

However, he didn't care about it. He chased after the two of them, propped up his knees, and kept breathing heavily. He looked at Mingchen with a very eager look: "Sir, I want to report. Wangyang is suffering! Now only you can save him. I hope you will show mercy!"

"Sir? Report?"

Mingchen glanced at the jade pendant dangling from his waist with interest and asked, "What do you want to report to me? Do you know who I am?"

The words seemed natural, without any guilt in fabricating a false identity.

"Your Excellency is so imposing and majestic. He must be of a very high status to be able to handle that dandy young man from the Li family."

"I want to report that Zhang Boxing, the magistrate of Wangyang County, has been involved in corruption, bribery, abuse of power, and corruption..."

The scholar looked excited, as if he had grabbed a life-saving straw, and spoke urgently to Mingchen.

He had just seen his enemy, the dude, running out in a dishevel in the tavern. After asking around, he learned about Mingchen.

He knew that Mingchen must be of an extraordinary identity, so he hurriedly chased after him. Fortunately, he was lucky enough to catch up with him.

This is an opportunity.

He was depressed all day long and encountered setbacks everywhere, but today he finally got a chance.

"Reporting on an official appointed by the imperial court? That's not something you can just do casually! Do you have any evidence? Who are you? Once words are spoken, they can be taken back. Can you take responsibility for what you say?"

Judging from the way this man is dressed, speaks and behaves, he doesn't seem like a lower-class citizen.

Mingchen didn't comment, but just looked at him and asked back.

"Evidence...responsibility..."

Mingchen's identity is fake, but he has an inexplicable aura and a sense of oppression when he is held up.

The scholar lowered his head, not daring to meet Mingchen's gaze. He pursed his lips and said, "Sir, I am the evidence! I can take responsibility for what I said!"

"I am Zhang Li, son of Zhang Boxing. I witnessed him embezzling and accepting bribes with my own eyes. I witnessed him spreading rumors and currying favor with the powerful... Isn't that enough? How can an official like this be worthy of the emperor's grace, and how can he be worthy of the people of the dawn?"

"I couldn't bear the suffering of the people, so I tried to persuade him to change his ways, but he wouldn't listen."

The scholar's face was filled with indignation, and he spoke with a righteous voice, "I am willing to sacrifice my own family for the sake of justice, drive out the corrupt officials, and restore a bright and clear sky to the hundreds of thousands of people in Wangyang County. I hope you will understand!"

"Oh?"

Mingchen raised his eyebrows and looked at the upright young man with a half-smile: "Is there such a thing?"

Somehow, the young figure's casual gaze made Zhang Li feel a little nervous. Zhang Li clenched his fists and said seriously, "It's absolutely true. Your Excellency will know once you investigate. Zhang Li is absolutely not lying!"

"Master Zhang is truly selfless! He's even reporting his own father."

The whole family was very happy.

Mingchen's words sounded like praise, but his tone was tinged with sarcasm. Zhang Li twitched his lips, but still gritted his teeth and said, "Sir, people have both great and small righteousness. Since ancient times, loyalty and filial piety cannot be achieved at the same time. Zhang Li does not want his father to continue to be stubborn and bring disaster to the world, causing the 100,000 people in the county to live in dire straits."

"Hahahaha~"

Mingchen couldn't help but smile, clapped his hands lightly, and praised: "Young Master, you are so righteous!"

"Your Excellency, you are so complimentary."

Mingchen pretended to be serious and said, "Well, since Master Zhang is so sincere, I will investigate this matter thoroughly. If everything is as Master Zhang said, I will report it to His Majesty and punish the perpetrators severely."

Zhang Li stuck his butt out, bowed his head and said, "Sir, you are standing up for the people. You are so noble!"

Mingchen looked at Zhang Li with what seemed to be admiration, and said, "Our dynasty is in need of young men like Master Zhang. If this matter is resolved, I will petition the Emperor to appoint you as the successor to the position of magistrate of this county. How about that?"

"What?! Seriously..."

Happiness comes too suddenly!
Zhang Li suddenly raised his head, and the joy in his eyes was hard to suppress.

After ten years of hard study, his talent was finally discovered.

He has unlimited talent and enthusiasm, he is selfless and serves the country and the people. He will definitely do better than his greedy father!

He immediately regained his composure and said in a serious tone, "If necessary, I will definitely live up to your trust, my Lord."

"Good good!"

"Mr. Zhang, do you have anything else to say?"

"Uh... no more."

After finishing his explanation, Mingchen waved his hand and said, "I have important matters to attend to. Master Zhang, please leave first."

Zhang Li actually wanted to say a few more words to Mingchen. It was rare to meet such a person, so he must hold on to him tightly.

But he was unsure of the other person's thoughts and afraid of offending him, so he could only nod and say, "Yes!"

He was about to leave, but Mingchen stopped him: "Wait."

"After all, our words are just words, and there's no proof. How about giving me a token of my love, Master Zhang?"

"what?"

Mingchen pointed at the jade pendant on Zhang Li's waist and said, "Sir, how about you give me this jade pendant first? Don't worry, I'm not trying to steal your things. I will return it to you after this matter is settled."

Zhang Li lowered his head and glanced at his jade, seeming a little embarrassed: "Ah, this..."

I don’t know if it was Zhang Li’s illusion, but since the two met, the other party seemed to have been observing his jade pendant vaguely.

Mingchen's words sound nice, but after he really gave it to the other party, how could Zhang Li ask for it back given the other party's noble status?
Even if Mingchen really doesn't return it to him, he won't be angry.

This jade pendant means a lot to him.

He can't be casual with others.

"Hahaha, if you don't want to, then forget it."

"No no no!"

After a brief hesitation, Zhang Li untied the jade and handed it to Ming Chen: "Zhang Li is willing, please keep it."

The soft jade felt slightly cool to the touch, and had two lines of small characters engraved on it.

'Mandarin ducks and wild geese fly together, never abandoning each other, regardless of life or death.'

A gentleman is like jade, beautiful jade nourishes people.

Ling Yu stood beside Mingchen, without saying a word, acting as a guard.

But when she saw Zhang Li take off the jade pendant, she inexplicably felt that the generous and awe-inspiring scholar seemed to have become a little ordinary.

……

(End of this chapter)