CH 161

Inside the study room, Senior Officer Zhang Feng retracted the amiable and delighted expression he displayed during the banquet and exchanged it with a solemn look instead.

The other people sitting in the room did the same as well, and after exchanging a few glances with each other, they all waited for the senior officer to start this serious discussion.

Zhang Feng lifted the palace report from the table and threw it in front of them.

Shen Zhen knew the contents of that report and quietly explained it in Chu Jiao’s ear.

It was an imperial edict detailing that Emperor Xie Yu had sacked Yang Zhou’s provincial governor while replacing him with a new provincial governor.

Wu County belonged to Yangzhou, and as a foreign official, many were late to obtain the big news that struck the imperial court. However, the sensitive and keen Zhang Feng was able to detect the Emperor Xie Yu’s rage towards Yangzhou’s mishandling of the relief funds from just a few words in this palace report.

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“Even though our Wu County hasn’t encountered any disasters yet, but under the current government of the Son of Heaven, we also ought to give something to the common people….” Zhang Feng said faintly, “Thanks to the Emperor’s compassion as well as the silver provided, everyone needs to help each other and provide grains and asylum for the disaster victims…”

“While this Official is still taking office, I would not forget everyone’s contribution…However, in areas that are still lacking, I also hope that everyone can properly reflect on these…”

Zhang Feng said this as though he was needling a riddle. Chu Jiao didn’t understand the entire development, her eyes darkening the more she listened.

“He’s currently warning and reminding these people to deal with the reparations…”

Shen Zhen explained in her ear softly, “First, he is stating that everyone had a share in the silver that was embezzled, and that he, Zhang Feng, did not treat them unfairly. Second, he is warning them that he has the account book and private information that can be used against them, lest they think of betraying him. Third, the new official is about to come, so those, who run around exploiting the common people, should clean up their act and hide whatever tracks they left, so as not to let the new official have something to use against them.”

“What a wily old fox,” Chu Jiao puffed out in anger, “I wonder how many misdeeds he has committed under his belt!”

“Relax. We’re currently luring the snake out of its hole,” Shen Zhen carefully remembered the faces of the people inside the room, “We’re just waiting for them to give themselves away.”

Soon, everyone had left.

Zhang Feng cautiously closed the windows and walked towards the bookshelf in his study room. Reaching towards the censer on the third level and turning something left then right, the mural on the wall stationed at the side had slowly begun to curl up, revealing a small hidden door! Carrying a lit candle, he quietly stepped inside.

Chu Jiao exchanged an excited glance with Shen Zhen. “A secret room!” Shen Zhen nodded. “There’s definitely something important inside.”

Zhang Feng stayed inside the hidden room for approximately five minutes before coming out empty-handed and leaving the study room.

Shen Zhen carried Chu Jiao while leaving and discovered that the room had already been locked shut. However, how could such a trivial thing stop him from knowing what was inside? Taking the hairpin from Chu Jiao’s head, he fiddled it inside the keyhole and was able to open the door.

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After replicating the methods that they had seen earlier to open the secret room and upon seeing what the room contained, Chu Jiao felt as though she was about to turn blind from sheer shock.

Shen Zhen had only lit a small kindle, but it was enough for this dark room. Large chests of gold that stacked upon each other occupied their whole view. Pieces of gold and silver jewelry, antique calligraphy and paintings, and countless other valuable treasures filled the room to the brim, and apart from where they stood, only the niche of a statue in the middle was rather empty.

“He’s just an insignificant senior provincial officer… to have actually embezzled this much!” Shen Zhen also did not imagine that Zhang Feng’s guts were this big. He had raked in so much money as if he were a madman.

“Working as an honest prefectural magistrate for three years yet earning ten thousand snowflake silver1Working as an honest prefectural magistrate for three years yet earning ten thousand snowflake silver (三年清知府，十萬雪花銀): This is a proverb that is used to describe corruption back in ancient times, where officials pretended to be honest on the surface but were in truth, squeezing the wealth out of the common people. Source: https://kknews.cc/zh-hk/history/vepp2j2.html….This saying really does hold true.” Chu Jiao walked around the small room in a circle and stopped at the feet of the niche statue.

This niche looked normal. It was of a Maitreya that was lying on the side and had three incense sticks stuck on the burner, probably from when Zhang Feng entered.

However, Chu Jiao discovered something odd.

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Translation status of advanced chapters:

4th and 5th world Completed

6th world Ongoing