Start with acting, and you'll achieve immortality!

"Are you born in the year of the cat?"

Li Ping placed his hand on the handle of his wood-chopping knife and asked through the paper window, "..."

"Brother Li has truly been awakened."

An old man's low voice drifted in from outside the window, accompanied by the faint sound of shoes scraping against the sand.

"Scaling into someone's yard in the dead of night is hardly the proper way to treat a guest."

"I'm here to sell a car, young man, would you like to open the door and have a chat?"

"Forget about the sale. If you've come for the list, please leave."

A soft chuckle came from outside the window, the voice dry.

"Brother Li is a sensible man, but no one in Xiyun County dares to challenge the Bai family's business."

Li Ping sighed, put away his wood-chopping knife, and unlatched the door.

The moonlight outside the door was dim, illuminating an old man dressed in a gray satin robe, his gaunt face resembling a dried orange.

Bai Sheng, the steward of the Bai family

"It is an honor to have Steward Bai grace my humble abode with his presence."

Li Ping leaned against the doorframe and pointed to the ground.

"Next time, let's use the main entrance; climbing over the wall can easily strain your back."

Bai Sheng glanced at the collapsed pigsty in the corner of the yard, a forced smile on his face.

"Although Hu Guan has fallen from power, some of the amounts recorded in the ledgers he left behind are incorrect."

"Our master wants to make some changes for him."

Name your price.

"Steward Bai is joking. I'm just a lowly clerk who copies official documents. I don't even have a chance to get my hands on the inventory list. How could I possibly have anything to sell to your master?"

Bai Sheng took a step forward, a fierce glint flashing in his eyes.

"Registrar Zhao searched the entire document room, but the most important book was missing."

"Young Master Zizhi, carrying such a dangerous item will easily attract thieves."

"The Bai family can help you deal with the thief from last night, but who knows about future thieves?"

Li Ping picked up the half-finished cold tea, took a sip, and smacked his lips.

"Is this meant to scare me?"

"This is good advice."

Bai Sheng pointed in the direction of the mountains.

"The Bai family has three trade routes in the Wanzhong Mountains, and the Black Wind Village in the mountains is also an old acquaintance of our Bai family."

"This small town, in the end, belongs to the Bai and Chen families."

That's really unfortunate.

Li Ping put down his teacup and tucked his hands into his sleeves.

"I'm a very timid person. If I were to step in dog poop and slip and fall, or get bitten by bandits on the street, who knows, that copy of the book might grow wings and fly to the desk of the Jiangning Prefectural Governor's Office."

"My mentor, Chen Boyong, is currently struggling to find a pretext to rectify the situation in Xiyun County."

"The Bai family is large and powerful; they must be quite happy to go to the county town to catch up with their teacher?"

Bai Sheng's face fell, and the flesh at the corner of his mouth trembled.

Chen Boyong had just been promoted to prefect and needed to make an example of someone to scare others.

If the evidence of the Bai family's human trafficking and collusion with bandits is truly submitted, the Bai family will be severely punished, if not wiped out.

"Brother Li has guts."

Bai Sheng took a step back and disappeared into the darkness.

"Let's see how long you can hold on."

"Walk slowly, don't fall."

Li Ping slammed the door shut.

Back in his room, he sat down under the oil lamp and once again opened the musty-smelling parchment book.

This booklet is indeed a hornet's nest.

He traced the lines on the table with his fingers, outlining the veins into three distinct patterns.

Magistrate Chen Rang

This seemingly respectable county magistrate, for three consecutive years, switched the disaster relief wheat bran allocated by the imperial court with inferior sand and gravel, forcing the mountain people to become refugees.

Registrar Zhao Heng

He controlled the household registration system, secretly withholding the quotas of those who died of illness and turning them into "dead households," while selling living refugees as "illegal laborers" to the mines as slaves.

Bai family

This local powerful clan went even further, using merchant caravans heading into the mountains to regularly kidnap young mortals from the county and send them deep into the mountains to be used as "medicinal firewood" for certain unknown cultivators.

Three, each stained with the blood and bones of mortals, piled high with the spiritual sand from their cultivation.

Li Ping closed the booklet and tucked it into a hidden compartment under the bed.

What he wanted was not to act on behalf of Heaven.

In this cannibalistic world, justice is worthless; only a firm foothold can save your life.

The next morning, in the county government's document room

Registrar Zhao Heng was rummaging through the wooden box with a dark face, while several clerks stood trembling beside him.

"Good morning, Registrar."

Li Ping strolled in leisurely, carrying a neatly stacked folded official documents.

Zhao Heng looked up, his triangular eyes filled with sinister intent.

"Zizhi, are all the old files we sorted out yesterday here?"

"It's all here."

Li Ping stepped forward, casually placed a stack of old documents on the table, and pointed to one of the pages.

"However, when the senior examines the place last night, he discovers something strange."

"Two years ago, the county reported that a laborer named Sun Er had died suddenly from an illness, and his household registration had been cancelled."

"But the ruthless bandit leader who robbed my yard last night is also called Sun Er."

"Such a coincidence! Can the dead really come back to life?"

The vermilion brush in Zhao Heng's hand stopped in mid-air, a drop of crimson ink falling onto the white paper, exceptionally glaring.

"There are many people in the world with the same name, which is not surprising."

Zhao Heng lowered his head, trying to conceal his true feelings.

"Yeah?"

Li Ping leaned closer, his voice extremely low.

"But the county reported 3,000 absconded households the year before last. According to the laws of the Great Qian Dynasty, the grain records of these absconded households should be returned to the granary."

"But I did not find a single grain of wheat returned to the public treasury in the warehouse register."

"Could it be that Lord Zhao also turned this grain into a dead item, letting it float away with the stream?"

Zhao Heng gripped the pen tightly, his knuckles turning slightly white.

"Li Ping, what exactly are you trying to do?"

"Lord Zhao is too kind. I am but a mortal; what thoughts could I possibly have?"

Li Ping patted his sleeve with a smile.

"But with County Magistrate Hu gone, the keys to the treasury and the patrol registers for each ward in the city have been left unorganized."

"I've been in this office for too long, and my hands are itching to do something. I'd like to help you out."

Zhao Heng's beard trembled violently.

The storeroom keys and patrol logs have always been a source of illicit income for the county magistrate.

Li Ping, a lowly clerk with no official title or position, dared to ask for these...

"The warehouse is a sensitive location, and the key is in the hands of the magistrate. I have no authority to entrust it to anyone else."

Zhao Heng's voice was dry.

"Then I'll trouble you, Registrar, to inform the County Magistrate."

Li Ping smiled, took two steps back, cupped his hands in a respectful gesture, and left the duty room.

He was certain that Zhao Heng was more anxious than he was.

Sure enough, less than an hour later

Lin Bing, the head constable of the county government, strode into the duty room with a forced smile and stood in front of Li Ping.

"Li Wenshu, the county magistrate requests your presence in the back office to discuss the inventory of remaining grain in the granary."

Li Ping straightened the collar of his long robe and slowly stood up.

"Lead the way, Lin, don't keep Lord Chen waiting."