Chapter 367: Obsessed
Translator: c.o.keZero Editor: Rainystars
Lu Jiao gave Xie Yunjin some fever-reducing medicine, wiped his body, and tidied up. Xie Yunjin’s fever subsided, and Lu Jiao laid down next to him and fell asleep.
At dawn, when she was sleeping soundly, she felt someone staring at her.
Lu Jiao groggily opened her eyes, took a glance, turned over, and continued to sleep. But soon, she had a realization and turned her head to look at the bedside.
She saw the four little ones standing in front of the bed, staring at her and Xie Yunjin.
The four little faces were as happy as blooming flowers. When they saw Lu Jiao waking up, they each asked one after another. “Mommy, you slept with daddy.”
“Does this mean you won’t leave anymore?”
“Mommy, are you going to give us a little sister?”
“We will love and take care of our little sister very much. I’m going to start saving money now because we have to support mommy and our little sister, and that takes a lot of money.”
The four little ones began to worry about how to save their money.
Listening to the words of the four little ones, Lu Jiao felt her cheeks burning hot and felt embarra.s.sed. Thinking of last night when Xie Yunjin insisted on her sleeping on the bed, she turned her gaze to the person in the bed with an annoyed look.
Unexpectedly, Xie Yunjin, who was on the bed, had already woken up. He was looking at her with a pair of eyes full of overflowing tenderness.
That gaze seemed like an unfathomable abyss, wanting to pull her in. Lu Jiao’s heart couldn’t help but beat faster. She quickly averted her gaze and looked at the four little ones by the bedside.
“You guys, stop thinking nonsense. Your dad was sick last night, and I was taking care of him. Your dad had a fever in the middle of the night.”
The First Born quickly spoke up, “Mom, you’ve worked hard.”
Xie Yunjin followed suit and said, “Thank you, Jiaojiao. Jiaojiao, you’ve had a hard time.”
As soon as Xie Yunjin finished speaking, the Second Born exclaimed, “Daddy, you finally learned how to coax mommy. This is how you should coax mommy, and then mommy will be happy.”
Lu Jiao was getting increasingly agitated by the presence of the four little ones. She quickly rolled out of bed and muttered, “Alright, I’m going to wash up in the back courtyard.”
The four little ones sensed that Lu Jiao was feeling shy and burst into laughter while covering their mouths. Xie Yunjin raised his hand and made a shushing gesture towards his sons, indicating not to tease their mom anymore, as she would get angry if they continued.
The four immediately covered their mouths and shook their heads.
Lu Jiao went to wash up in the backyard, and she calmed down. She regained her previous calm and indifferent demeanor and walked with Feng Zhi and Ruan Zhu toward the front courtyard.
Due to Xie Yunjin’s injury, she decided to have their meals in the front courtyard for the next few days.
Just as Lu Jiao brought Feng Zhi and Ruan Zhu into the main hall of the front courtyard, she heard footsteps behind her. Lu Gui hurriedly ran over to report, “Sister, Magistrate Hu and Commander Xu, as well as Officer Zhao from the arrest office, have arrived.’
Lu Jiao knew that they had come at this time for the matter concerning the Yang and Peng families. She immediately instructed Lu Gui to quickly invite them in.
She took Feng Zhi and Ruan Zhu to the east bedroom, where the four little ones were talking to Xie Yunjin by the bed.
Lu Jiao asked Feng Zhi to take the four little ones to have their meal in the backyard.
“Your dad and I have something to do later, so we won’t have our breakfast together today. Let’s have lunch together.”
The four little ones immediately nodded vigorously to indicate their agreement, and Feng Zhi took them to have their meal in the back courtyard.
Just as they left, Magistrate Hu, Commander Xu, and Officer Zhao entered the east bedroom.
Magistrate Hu excitedly exclaimed, “Yunjin, last night we confiscated over two hundred thousand taels of silver from the Yang and Peng families. Some of it is even gold, the rest is silver.”
Commander Xu quickly followed, “I arrested Yang and Peng. They actually asked us why we were arresting them and cried and claimed innocence. It was really funny.”
Officer Zhao interjected, “We have also transported the batch of illegal salt from Black Wind Mountain to Qinghe County.”
Magistrate Hu quickly asked Xie Yunjin, “How should we handle the
confiscated silver?”
“Someone will come to handle it later. Don’t worry, no one can erase your contributions,” Xie Yunjin replied.
Magistrate Hu nodded eagerly, “Okay, okay.”
Then he said in a solemn tone, “I have decided to immediately open a court session to interrogate Yang and Peng.”
Xie Yunjin agreed and said to Magistrate Hu, “You should handle this case openly in front of the county government office. Let the people see how these two major corrupt officials in Qinghe County accepted bribes. Show others how you, as the county magistrate, conduct a fair and strict trial.”
Magistrate Hu was thrilled. This was his opportunity to make a name for himself, and he was naturally excited.
“Good, I will go back and handle the case immediately.”
Xie Yunjin didn’t stop him. Then Commander Xu turned to Lu Jiao and said eagerly, “Madam Lu, I went to great lengths to capture Yang and Peng. Do you think my efforts count as meritorious service? When can you arrange the surgery for me?”
In the room, everyone turned their heads to look at Commander Xu. Was this guy obsessed with having children?
Commander Xu noticed the gazes but didn’t care. He bought his way up the ranks and at the very most, he will get promoted once more. Going from the seventh rank to the sixth rank didn’t make much of a difference, so he decided to peacefully have his own child.
Lu Jiao didn’t know what to say. This guy had gone crazy. If she didn’t arrange the surgery for him, he would probably go insane.
“Alright, after this case is concluded, I will discuss it with Dr. Qi to determine the timing of your surgery.”
Commander Xu was pleased and nodded repeatedly, “Okay, that’s settled.” Afterward, he turned and happily walked away.
Officer Zhao followed Magistrate Hu and left. Then Xie Yunjin called Li Nantian in and instructed him to immediately go and ask Zhao Lingfeng how they planned to handle the more than two hundred thousand taels of silver.
They couldn’t delay this matter. If the Prefect of Ningzhou knew about this batch of silver, he would quickly rush over to seize it and pin the case on Xie Yunjin’s head. So their actions had to be fast and prompt.
Li Nantian received Xie Yunjin’s order and immediately went to handle the matter. Based on their investigation of Yang and Peng, Li Nantian and Zhou Shaogong knew that the master and madam had affirmed their abilities, so from now on, they would be the master and madam’s trusted aides.
This also confirmed their ident.i.ties. They would now belong to the Xie family.
Magistrate Hu conducted a public trial of a.s.sistant Magistrate Yang and Administrator Peng for bribery and embezzlement in front of the county government office.
The entire Qinghe County was in an uproar. When the onlookers heard that these two individuals had accepted over two hundred thousand taels of silver in bribes, they all exclaimed in shock. Many people cursed these two individuals for their madness. Some families even thought of their own deceased relatives who had committed crimes and suspected that Yang and Peng had wrongly accused and sentenced their loved ones for money.
The curses filled the air, and the scene became chaotic.
Officer Zhao quickly intervened to restore order, and finally, Magistrate Hu invited a person to come forward. That person was MO Bei.
“Thanks to Prince Yan, this case could be successfully investigated. When Prince Yan pa.s.sed through our Qinghe County and learned about this case, he made it his duty to uncover the truth behind these two corrupt officials and restore peace to Qinghe County.”
After Magistrate Hu finished speaking, he immediately knelt down gratefully and said, “Prince Yan cares about the people of Qinghe County. On behalf of the people of Qinghe County, I express my grat.i.tude to Prince Yan..”