Young Master Gao? Call me Little Grand Secretary!

"Young master, please don't joke!" The officer bowed and said seriously, "I am currently handling a case, unlike usual times!"

"Who's joking with you!" Gao Zhao's face darkened, and he said coldly, "You're not arresting these animals that are being slaughtered and mutilated, but instead advocating for them and arresting ordinary citizens who tried to help! You've been bribed, haven't you!"

The magistrate was startled. How could he say such a thing in the street? He quickly turned around and saw that everyone was looking at him strangely.

He hurriedly lowered his voice and said, "Young master, don't cause trouble! This concerns your career!"

Gao Zhao was about to mock him, thinking that a mere Yuhou (a minor official) was nothing in terms of career advancement, but seeing his expression and tone, which clearly indicated a close relationship with the original owner of this body, he quickly changed his tune and whispered, "I'm doing this for your career advancement!"

Seeing that the commander seemed unconcerned, he continued, "If you really take these people back today, you'll incur the wrath of the people!"

The magistrate scoffed, saying disdainfully, "Just a bunch of troublemakers! What's wrong with letting them shout a few words?"

"Foolish!" Gao Zhao hissed, "You don't care about the voices of these people, but don't your superiors care either? If the censors hear these voices, it will be seen as Kaifeng Prefecture colluding with the Beggars' Sect to harm the people with evil practices of mutilation and torture!"

Seeing that Yu Hou still wanted to refute, Gao Zhao waved his hand to interrupt him and continued, "There are two possible outcomes to this matter. One is, as I just said, from your superiors to the head of Kaifeng Prefecture, everyone will be impeached. Even if they manage to escape, what will their impression of you be?"

The officer was taken aback. He had already implicated his superior, so how could he possibly have a good impression of him?

"Secondly, your superior discovered the crisis in this matter and suppressed it in time, resulting in the release of the civilians and your being reprimanded!"

"Young master, you're exaggerating!" The officer came to his senses, smiled faintly, and scoffed at the words of this spoiled brat. "I've been handling cases for so many years, and I was almost fooled by you!"

"Alarmist? Ha!" Gao Zhao shook his head and sneered, "You haven't grasped the situation! It's not just a case, it's public resentment!"

"You may not care about these troublemakers, but if the imperial students cause a disturbance, I ask you if you can handle it! Just say that if the words 'harming children' and 'government protecting them' get out, won't those imperial students explode?!"

"No...it can't be that bad, can it?" Yu Hou's confidence wavered after hearing what he said, and he was somewhat skeptical.

Gao Zhao shook his head and said, "Don't forget that the imperial student just confronted you about the problems with your enforcement process. It's clear he's someone who thrives on chaos! And this is just one example. If he gets involved back home, dozens or even hundreds could come at once... tsk tsk tsk..."

"I've analyzed the situation for you. The specifics are up to you to decide! If you randomly arrest these commoners to take the blame, you might get a promotion, but more likely you'll lose your position, or even your head!"

Gao Zhao leaned closer and said jokingly, "Why don't you take a gamble and use your head to try for a promotion? Maybe you can rise to the top and become a glorious captain!"

Oh, right, and it'll affect your reputation too! It's settled then, since you did this, we're done. Even though my reputation isn't great, I still have my principles!

The officer's expression shifted constantly, his mood changing repeatedly. If what Gao Yanei said was true, then what was the point of all his busy work? Gambling his life on a mere captain was hardly a sure thing; it was just plain crazy!

Anyone who can get by in his position, dealing with all sorts of people every day, is no fool. Today, he was simply blinded by greed and out of habit, and didn't think things through.

At this moment, Gao Zhao pointed it out to him, and he immediately realized that this was an extremely unprofitable deal!

His eyes darted around, and he turned to the guards, shouting, "I have already questioned them. These men are heinous human traffickers who use mutilation techniques to harm young children and then disguise themselves as beggars to swindle them."

Today, during their crime, they were exposed by Gao Yanei. In their hasty escape, they caused a riot, resulting in them being trampled and seriously injured! Come here, seize them and send them to the hospital to await the judge's judgment!

"Yes, sir!" The yamen soldiers responded, released the people, and rushed forward to drag and pull the beggars away.

The officer went over to the disabled child and examined him for a moment, then sighed, "What a pitiful child! Someone, take him to a nursing home!"

Immediately, soldiers stepped forward and took away the uneasy-looking child.

The surrounding crowd watched this scene in silence for a moment, and then burst into enthusiastic cheers!

Yu Hou Chong and Gao Zhao bowed slightly, then turned to face the people, raised one finger, and shouted loudly: "Evil cannot prevail over good!"

"Good!" The people shouted even louder, their voices deafening.

Gao Zhao chuckled. Seeing that the excitement was over, he prepared to leave, but before he could turn his horse around, a series of pop-up windows suddenly appeared in front of him.

[Gratitude points from Zhang Dashan +1]

[Gratitude points from Li Fugui +1]

[Gratitude points from Shi Qian +1]

……

Gao Zhao was stunned for a moment, then summoned the panel again.

Name: Gao Zhao

Gratitude Points: 7

Intelligence: 69+/100

Strength: 43+/100

Physical fitness: 35+/100

Agility: 42+/100

He has already used the gratitude points the little beggar gave him, which means he got 7 points this round!

He's only been busy for the past few days, and he's already made a fortune in this one!

This is so awesome!

If this happens a few more times, it'll probably take off right away!

Overjoyed, he quickly added more points. With each point, a warm current nourished his body, making him feel so comfortable that he almost groaned out loud.

As I increased my constitution to forty, I felt that the feeling of being completely drained from my body had mostly disappeared, and my spirits had improved considerably.

Just as I was feeling happy, another pop-up window appeared: "[Your constitution has reached 40, and you are out of the weakened state. In the next stage, each point will consume 5 gratitude points.]"

Gao Zhao was stunned. This pop-up window had appeared before when he was in his clinic, but how could it suddenly increase the price?

It increased fivefold!

Where is the spirit of contract?!

Will the price increase further?

Undeterred, he clicked on the other options several more times, but none of them produced any response.

He glared angrily at the remaining two points of gratitude, then glanced at the people who were constantly praising and flattering Lord Yu, and cursed inwardly, "The people of this capital city are all ingrates! I saved so many of you, and only seven of you are grateful! No wonder you're bullied by the officials, you deserve it!"

Suddenly he noticed a thin, dark-skinned man in the crowd with shifty eyes. He vaguely remembered something and quickly checked the gratitude points record. Sure enough, he saw Shi Qian's name.

He glanced suspiciously at the thin, dark-skinned man, dismounted, walked to the officer's side, nudged him, and whispered, "There's a thief here!"

The commander paused slightly, but did not look around. He asked in a low voice, "Where?"

Gao Zhao glanced at him, and Yu Hou understood. He turned around and beckoned someone over to whisper a few words to him.

Before long, two soldiers mingled into the crowd and approached the dark-skinned, thin man.

However, just as they were about to get close, the dark-skinned, thin man seemed to sense something was wrong. He ducked down, turned out of the crowd, and leaped over the wall to the side.

Just then, a yamen soldier rushed out from the side and cast a fishing net with a flick of his wrist.

"Bang!"

The dark-skinned, thin man was caught in the net and fell heavily to the ground with a thud. Several other soldiers rushed forward and subdued him.

The people were all frightened by this sudden turn of events. The commander laughed heartily, "Don't panic, everyone! This man is a thief we've been chasing for a long time! I spotted him as soon as I arrived, and that's how I devised this plan to capture him!"

Upon hearing this, the people suddenly understood and then loudly praised it!

Gao Zhao was also very happy, as it was time for him to save people from danger once again.