The Great Song Dynasty: You were put in charge of teaching, and you produced a whole bunch of prime

On the third day, as the sun set, the afterglow bathed the city walls of Bianjing in a golden-red hue.

Zhao Lingjun was preparing to throw the "waste paper" clue into the moat.

Suddenly, a gong sounded.

A group of yamen runners from Kaifeng Prefecture passed by, holding aloft black and red ceremonial plaques with two large characters prominently displayed: "Silence."

Zhao Ling's hand froze in mid-air.

His gaze swept back and forth between the "Silence" sign and the note in his hand.

"Under the Emperor's feet... a place of solemn silence..."

"ha!"

She slapped her forehead, her previous gloom vanishing instantly, a self-deprecating smirk playing on her lips:

"The darkest place is under the lamp! Turns out, it wasn't referring to my house, but to Bao Zheng's courtroom!"

At the street corner, Su Shi, who was preparing to return to the academy to report, suddenly stopped in his tracks.

"That's... Zhao Ling?"

Among the crowd, Zhao Lingjun, who was thin and had been silent all along, was quietly pushing his way out.

"Huh? Where's that kid going?"

Su Shi's curiosity was piqued, and he called out, "Hey! Zhao Ling! Where are you going? That's not the way back to the academy!"

Zhao Lingjun ignored him, not even turning his head, and walked straight in the opposite direction from the palace.

Su Shi scratched his head, puzzled, and said, "That's... the direction of Kaifeng Prefecture? That place is even more terrifying, it's Bao Zheng's territory!"

"Even the King of Hell wouldn't dare cause trouble there, what's this kid doing there?"

He thought for a moment, then his mischievous spirit kicked in, and he threw down the sunflower seeds in his hand and quietly followed them.

Kaifeng Prefecture has a majestic and imposing gate.

As the capital city government office of the Song Dynasty, this place was perpetually shrouded in a somber atmosphere. Two enormous stone lions crouched at the entrance, their eyes wide open in anger.

On either side of the gate stood two yamen runners with swords at their waists and menacing faces; their eyes were so fierce they could scare a child to tears.

Several prisoners were squatting at the entrance, waiting to be seen. They were all wearing shackles, trembling, and didn't dare to breathe loudly.

This is the "Quiet Place".

Zhao Lingjun walked to the gate of Kaifeng Prefecture without pausing at all, even more leisurely than when he was returning to his own back garden.

"stop!"

The constable on the left suddenly drew half of his sword and shouted sternly, "What are you doing! This is a restricted area of ​​the yamen; unauthorized personnel are not allowed near! Do you want a beating?!"

This roar was powerful and full of killing intent.

Hiding behind a pillar in a roadside teahouse, Su Shi shrank back in fright, quickly covering his eyes and peeking through his fingers.

"Oh no, this kid's going to get a beating. He's one of Lord Bao's personal guards; his blows really hurt."

However, the expected screams did not come.

Not only was Zhao Lingjun unharmed, but he also walked slowly over with his hands behind his back and said in a voice that only the three of them could hear:

"Thank you for your hard work, brothers. I've come to... retrieve that brocade pouch."

"A secret pouch?"

The two constables exchanged a glance, their expressions instantly turning strange.

It seems that yesterday when Judge Bao was holding court, someone did indeed throw a red brocade pouch in from outside.

At the time, Judge Bao thought it was an assassin's hidden weapon and almost beheaded the man.

When it was opened, it turned out to be a blank sheet of paper, which was then regarded as an "inauspicious object" and thrown into the storeroom to gather dust.

Is this kid here to pick up this unlucky thing?

"Get out of here! This is the evidence room, a sensitive area. How dare you touch it?" The dark-faced constable was about to yell at him and chase him away.

Zhao Lingjun suddenly smiled, took out an inconspicuous little plaque from his sleeve, and casually tossed it in his hand:

"What if I said... my elders at home asked me to pick it up?"

The sign was small and even a bit old.

But when that word "order" flashed by in the sunlight.

The two constables froze instantly, as if struck by lightning, their eyes nearly popping out of their sockets.

Order to travel within the inner court!

Those were plaques reserved only for the emperor's closest confidants or a very small number of imperial relatives! Seeing the plaque was like seeing the emperor himself!

"thump!"

The stern-faced constable's knees buckled, and he immediately slid to his knees, the movement so smooth it looked like he'd practiced it ten thousand times.

The constable next to him reacted a beat too slow and was kicked in the back of the knee by the dark-faced man, and he also knelt down.

"grandfather!"

The stern-faced constable's voice trembled, and cold sweat instantly soaked his back.

"I'm a damned wretch! I'm blind! Please... please come in! I'll clear the way for you right away!"

Su Shi, watching from afar, was dumbfounded.

He rubbed his eyes, staring at the scene in disbelief.

How did that vengeful demon who was about to draw his sword and kill people suddenly turn into a groveling lapdog?

To show his respect, the dark-faced constable even knelt down and wiped the steps in front of Zhao Lingjun with his sleeve!

Zhao Lingjun put away the sign, strode across the threshold, and headed straight for the storage cabinet where miscellaneous items were kept.

Inside the storeroom, a plump clerk in charge of guarding it was sitting with his legs crossed, humming a little tune as he shelled peanuts.

Seeing someone barge in, the fat clerk frowned and spat the peanut shells onto the ground:

"Where did this brat come from? Don't you know the rules? This is where evidence is stored, get out of here!"

Zhao Lingjun was not annoyed and said calmly, "I've come to get the red brocade pouch from yesterday."

"A secret pouch?"

The fat clerk glanced at her sideways, chuckled, and rubbed his thumb and forefinger together in an extremely lewd gesture as if counting money.

"Want something? Sure. Do you have Lord Bao's written order? No? Then do you have this... 'writing fee'? If not, then don't blame me for being official..."

"Smack."

A crisp sound.

Zhao Lingjun didn't take out any money, but instead gently patted the jade pendant onto the oil-stained table.

"I don't have a writing fee, but... is this enough?"

The fat clerk was about to get angry and start cursing when he took a closer look.

The next second, he was as if he had been electrocuted, and he jumped up from the chair. Because he jumped up so suddenly, he fell flat on his back, chair and all.

"Ouch!"

Ignoring the pain, he scrambled to his feet, his fat face trembling with fear, and began kowtowing to the sign. The noise shook the teacups on the table, causing them to overturn.

"I had no idea you were coming! I deserve to die! I'll find it for you right away!"

He rushed frantically to the pile of clutter in the corner, scattering the dusty files everywhere.

"Here it is! Here it is!"

The fat clerk finally dug the brocade pouch out from under a tattered table leg—it turned out he had used it to prop up the table.

He was terrified when he saw the dust and oil stains on it.

He quickly wiped the paper with the sleeves of his brand-new official robe until it was spotless, then held it with both hands as if it were an ancestral tablet and presented it to Zhao Lingjun.

"My esteemed guest! Here you go! It's perfectly clean!"

Zhao Lingjun disdainfully picked up the brocade pouch with two fingers, didn't even glance at the fat clerk, and turned to leave.

Behind her, the fat clerk remained kneeling on the ground until her figure disappeared, only then daring to collapse to the ground, panting heavily, as if he had just walked through the gates of hell.

After a while.

Zhao Lingjun, carrying the red brocade pouch, strolled out the door as if he had just finished shopping at the market.

The two guards escorted her for ten paces until she waved her hand to signal "get lost." Only then did the two men feel as if they had been granted a pardon and scramble back to their seats.

Su Shi rushed forward, staring at Zhao Lingjun as if he were a monster, and searched him thoroughly:

"Brother Zhao! Are you...are you alright? What did you do to them? Are you some legendary martial arts master? Did you use a soul-capturing technique?"

Zhao Lingjun tucked the brocade pouch into his bosom and couldn't help but laugh at Su Shi's naive and unworldly appearance.

She sighed, feigning profundity:

"Alas, Brother Su, you are unaware of this. Actually... my second uncle is the creditor of that yamen runner chief."

"Creditor?" Su Shi's eyes widened.

"Yes, they owe quite a lot of money. The registrar inside also owes my family money. They're being polite to me because they're afraid my second uncle will come to collect the debt."

Zhao Lingjun was talking nonsense with a straight face.

Su Shi scratched his head, looking doubtful: "Really? I saw that fat clerk was so scared he almost peed his pants. Is he after his money or his life?"

"Pretty much. Not paying back debts can sometimes be fatal."

Zhao Lingjun patted Su Shi on the shoulder: "Let's go back to the academy. We'll miss dinner if we stay any later."

"Goodness..."

Su Shi gazed in the direction Zhao Lingjun had gone, muttering to himself, his initial curiosity transforming into a deep-seated reverence:

"It seems that in the future at the academy, it's better to offend the headmaster than this man."