Carrying the little lucky star, leading the villain on the road to exile

Although her parents coaxed her, Gu Xingyang still insisted on going out.

After tidying up briefly, Bai Suihe and his wife, along with their child, strolled around the county town without anyone following them.

To make things easier for Gu Xingyang, Gu Kaiyuan tilted his head at a 45-degree angle so she could see more clearly.

This is to show that he, as the father, really didn't lie to his child; apart from two rather dilapidated streets and drab houses, there really wasn't much else in this county town.

Bai Suihe had already circled around twice, but this time her attention was focused on the pedestrians.

The passersby here seemed to have no sparkle in their eyes, rushing by. Even though they were two unfamiliar faces, no one gave them a second glance.

"How exactly did the previous magistrate cause such trouble?" Bai Suihe knew the proverb, "A magistrate ruins a family, a prefect wipes out an entire clan," which was a stark reflection of the fact that imperial power did not extend to the county level and that the emperor was far away.

If the local magistrate is willing, even a lowly seventh-rank official can ruin an ordinary family.

She was powerless to do anything about it, since these things had existed since ancient times, and the sky had always had three colors: black, gray, and white.

This made her eager to find a way out, but all of this required planning.

"It all comes down to greed," Gu Kaiyuan said in a low voice. "The magistrate here was one of the Third Prince's subordinates. This time, he caused a big commotion in order to cooperate with the Third Prince, which attracted the attention of the higher-ups. It was his fate to die."

"Has it been dealt with already?" Bai Suihe made a gesture.

Gu Kaiyuan shook his head, "No, but he has already been escorted to the capital, and I'm afraid he will be sentenced soon."

Do you know who's in charge of this?

When Bai Suihe heard him ask this, she had a guess in her mind, "Is it Chen Dafu?"

Gu Kaiyuan gave a thumbs up, saying, "He's a smart wife who gets things right away. It's him. He's in charge of Lingnan now and he's going to clean up the officialdom here."

After finishing his business here, he has already headed to other counties and towns.

"I'm afraid that once he finishes dealing with all this, he'll go back and get a promotion."

Bai Suihe: "I had suspected this before, but his main task is to keep an eye on Lingnan. Why would he be keeping an eye on the Gu family?"

Judging from Chen Dafu's appearance, he wasn't the type to take on trouble. Back then, he even risked his whole family's lives to keep an eye on the Gu family.

"This might be related to the fact that so much silver is missing, and the emperor is afraid that Gu Baijiang will embezzle it all."

At this point, Bai Suihe's expression turned somewhat strange. "You said you've been back for so long, your father should have already discovered that the silver is missing. I hope the Third Prince hasn't dealt with him."

“Not really,” Gu Kaiyuan hesitated for a moment before speaking. “Actually, my father hid the silver in more than one place. There was another place, which I knew about, but I didn’t take you there.”

He found all of this out later.

Bai Suihe raised an eyebrow, trying hard to recall. It seemed that she had indeed seen it when she was a ghost, but she hadn't regained her memory at that time. "A cunning rabbit has three burrows. Your father is quite shrewd."

Did you foresee this?

Gu Kaiyuan said, "I didn't take you there at first because that place was really inappropriate, and I was afraid it would scare you and the child."

That place has a lot of yin energy, which is bad for you and your child.

"Besides, we can't take everything, or we'll all end up getting caught in the crossfire." The reason I didn't say this before, besides the fear that Bai Suihe might take a risk, was this: if the Third Prince really didn't get anything, he wasn't the kind of person who would let others play with him. The Gu family and their clansmen would probably all end up badly, not to mention him, a member of the Gu family.

"He made two preparations, one of which was to keep it for his own use. Now that path is gone, he must be having a very difficult time."

Bai Suihe thought to herself, it was more than just sad; the Third Prince wasn't a magnanimous person, and even if he did offer help, it would be limited.

This whole family wants to eat and drink in the capital and also wants to squeeze back into the imperial court. Without money, they're bound to be worried.

Seeing something but not being able to have it is probably more painful than a fatal blow.

Thinking about it this way, Bai Suihe was no longer so regretful about the money. "Madam Xu and her daughter should have arrived by now. With Gu Kaichen also here, the Gu family will be very lively from now on."

Gu Kaiyuan nodded in agreement, and the topic turned to Chen Dafu again. Knowing that their family had already returned to Beijing, while Chen Dafu was still here handling official business, the two decided to follow Chen Dafu and try to find some bargains.

True to their word, the couple sent a letter to Zhang County, asking Granny Pang to help look after the house while they took charge of their purchasing business.

They didn't meet with Chen Dafu, but waited until he left before going to take advantage of the situation. Surprisingly, this was more profitable than following those generals.

Because wherever Chen Dafu went, the county officials would suffer misfortune, and it was also the time when people were most panicked, so they would buy things at extremely good prices.

Bai Suihe sometimes couldn't help but sigh, "I used to think Lord Chen was a bit of a chatterbox, but I never expected him to be such an upright and honest official."

"He's a rare good official in the court," Gu Kaiyuan added, praising him for upholding his principles despite his family's poverty.

This was an obvious opportunity to make money, yet he didn't take a share for himself, which shows his high moral character.

The couple decided that they would speak to Chen Dafu in a better manner the next time they encountered him.

Because of him, they were able to achieve such a great result this time.

Little did they know that Chen Dafu was currently extremely depressed.

He worked like an old ox, clearing the land, but the harvest he reaped had nothing to do with him.

He knew he could easily make a fortune here by simply doing something, but unfortunately he had no money.

As for the suggestion that he should find someone to accept bribes, Chen Dafu had never even considered it.

He has some principles; he knows what he should and shouldn't take.

Looking at the guards following behind him, he almost cried. These were all sent by the emperor to protect him. Even if he had some ulterior motives, he wouldn't dare to do them.

Silently releasing the case files of this county, it was simply too horrible to look at. I don't know how these people became officials. How could such a lowly seventh-rank official cause so much trouble?

If these people were actually promoted, would there be any justice left?

Looking at this confession, which is clearly a miscarriage of justice, it's hard to put into words. They didn't even bother with superficial falsehoods; there are so many loopholes.

"Send someone to double-check these files," he said. He was now the main person in charge of cleaning up the officialdom in Lingnan, and he had a group of people under his command. Why not use them now?

As soon as he finished speaking, he sneezed several times. Chen Dafu looked around speechlessly, guessing that he had probably been cursed by someone again.

His Majesty assigned him this arduous task, which caused him to completely offend a large number of people. (End of Chapter)