New and dark light years

Chapter 160 The Missing Magistrate

Yulin County has ushered in a new day.

Jiang Jili didn't sleep all night, his face full of worry.

He felt strange.

Last night, he sent his spies to the vicinity of Li Lin's house and also sent some men to the Temple of the Tree Fairy.

If anything happens, it can only happen in these two places.

If the Li family had the upper hand, he would send someone to help them, hoping to gain favor.

If the county magistrate's side gained the upper hand, he would pretend he knew nothing about it.

After all, this is a matter between the two sons-in-law of the Huang family, an internal family feud, and has nothing to do with my Jiang family.

But the problem is... the Li family was very calm last night.

The area around the Tree Fairy Goddess Temple is also very peaceful.

Even the county magistrate's house was quiet.

After he finished his breakfast, he sat in the main hall.

After a while, the butler came in.

"How is it?" Jiang Jili asked.

The butler shook his head.

Still no movement.

It's so weird.

According to Jiang Jili's assessment, the two must have had a conflict last night.

Is the magistrate really that calm?

If they were truly patient, they wouldn't have sent assassins in the first place.

It's so weird.

Jiang Jili is increasingly losing confidence in himself.

He had previously misjudged Li Lin's character and abilities.

Now he has misjudged the magistrate's character.

Perhaps I really don't have much ability.

With this feeling of uncertainty and anxiety, he went to work.

Then, the magistrate didn't come the next morning.

The registrar came to ask if he had seen where the county magistrate had gone.

Jiang Jili didn't take it seriously at the moment. He replied indifferently, "How would I know? Perhaps the magistrate is not feeling well and is resting at home."

The registrar left dejectedly.

Jiang Jili handled some cases listlessly and inefficiently.

Around noon, the registrar burst in again in a flurry of activity.

Jiang Jili looked at him with annoyance: "Chen, what's with your rush?"

"County Magistrate, I need to report this to the authorities!" the Registrar said, panting. "Something terrible has happened! The County Magistrate has disappeared."

"How could he be missing? He's the county magistrate, he should be at home... What!"

Jiang Jili suddenly stood up, looking at the county magistrate with disbelief: "How is this possible! You clearly... you searched for him, didn't you?"

The registrar clasped his hands and said, “I have already questioned the servants of the magistrate’s household. Last night, before they went to sleep, the magistrate was still in the main hall of the backyard reprimanding the servants. Because without the magistrate’s order, they dared not enter the backyard. Until noon today, the magistrate did not come out, so the steward mustered up his courage and went there, only to find that there was no one in the backyard at all…and the servants who were being reprimanded were also gone.”

"I gonna go see."

Jiang Jili immediately rushed to the county magistrate's house.

He arrived with several constables and quickly entered the house. After walking around, they found only a broken altar and nothing else.

But this altar speaks volumes.

"To be able to make a county magistrate disappear silently under the watchful eyes of the Great Demon, and to make that county magistrate even support a True Lord, is indeed a bit unbelievable."

Jiang Jili looked up at the sky.

The illusion of peach trees in the air was quite beautiful.

Could it be that the Tree Fairy Goddess made a move...? But then he thought it was impossible.

The Tree Fairy Goddess is now a true temple deity, so when she takes action, the commotion should be quite significant.

The stronger you are, the harder it is to hide yourself.

If they really take action, it's impossible to hide it from others.

Who did that?
Jiang Jili walked around the entire house, and the other yamen runners also went to investigate, but apart from the damaged altar, there were no other clues.

The steward came over, his face contorted with grief, and pleaded, "Your Excellency, please help us find the magistrate..." "I can't guarantee that either. You should send some men out to look for him."

Jiang Jili waved his hand and then left.

He led the constables to the city gate and asked the gatekeeper if the gate had been opened last night.

The junior officer shook his head, saying no.

We did not see any suspicious persons.

Last night was very peaceful.

Jiang Jili suspected Li Lin... but Li Lin's return would have required him to pass through the city gates.

There are patrols on the city wall, and generally speaking, it's quite obvious when someone wants to climb over it. Even if they manage to get over, it will make a commotion.

He simply couldn't understand how Li Lin could have done something so outrageous if he had.

Avoiding everyone's sight, leaving no trace.

In addition, Li Lin has already led the local militia to Tianjin.

This is something that everyone saw in full view of the public.

A thousand-mile raid at night?

He believed in his heart that Li Lin was responsible for this, but upon closer examination, he felt that there were loopholes everywhere.

My intuition told me that this was impossible.

After much deliberation, he also sent his men to gather clues.

By evening, no clues had been found; no one had seen Li Lin return, and no one had seen the county magistrate leave.

Moreover... the county magistrate has been missing for a day.

It seems something serious has indeed happened.

He sighed, wrote the case down in writing, and then sent it to the government office by carrier pigeon.

That is, it was under the control of Huang Yan, the prefect of Tianjin.

It was four days later when Li Lin arrived in Tianjin.

The local militia set up camp outside the city walls, next to the official road.

Li Lin then led the two captains into the city.

The constable went to a brothel to have fun, while Li Lin went to the county government office.

"Prefect, I have come on orders." Li Lin smiled and clasped his hands in greeting.

"Hmm." Huang Yan nodded. "County Commandant Li, you've come a long way and must be tired. Why don't you come with me to the backyard for some tea and rest for a while?"

"As ordered."

The two arrived at the backyard of the government office.

Similar to the backyard of the county government office, the prefectural government office also has a pavilion, but it occupies a larger area and has more willow trees by the lake, making it appear more grand.

The basic structure is pretty much the same.

Huang Yan poured Li Lin a cup of tea and said, "Two days ago, a message was sent by carrier pigeon from the Yulin County government office, saying that Magistrate Zhang Guangqi had mysteriously disappeared without any clues or traces. Are you aware of this?"

Li Lin smiled and said, "I know, because I did it."

Huang Yan remained calm and asked, "Why? He's also a member of our Huang family."

"He wanted the Tree Fairy to leave the temple."

Huang Yan frowned slightly: "This is indeed wrong, but it's not a reason to kill him."

"In addition, this is information that I asked someone to find out."

Li Lin handed over the token and the list.

After reading it, Huang Yan's expression turned ugly.

"Good riddance." After a while, Huang Yan snorted: "Traitor... I'll find a way to cover this up. I'll also take care of things in the capital. Don't worry about what you're doing. If you encounter something like this again, just kill it. I'll back you up."

"Thank you very much, Taishan."

“I must thank you this time.” Huang Yan sighed. “It seems I’ve been away from the capital for too long after all. Some people are getting restless. You should rest in Tianjin for two days, and then bring the Southern Barbarian woman back.”

Li Lin nodded.

After leaving the government office, Li Lin planned to find an inn to stay in.

It's not that there weren't rooms for him to sleep in the government office, but the conditions were very basic. The rooms specifically for government officials were rarely maintained, and some were even moldy.

Staying in a place like that is not as good as finding an inn to stay in; it's not expensive.

On his way to find an inn, he encountered Zhao Xiaohu and Ding Yingqiu.

The two walked together, appearing somewhat intimate.

(End of this chapter)