The Devil's Tribulation

County Magistrate Wu nodded and said, "Don't make too much noise. Our goal is the medicinal herbs. We will let them go after we get them. Remember to give them the silver!" Young Master Wu was a little confused as to why his father was so timid. In Li County, his father was the local parent official, the highest official! As a result, everyone in Li County knew Sun Dutou, and no one was afraid of him, the son of the county magistrate. Otherwise, how could that old man in the pharmacy dare not give him the medicinal herbs? ! Young Master Wu certainly didn't understand his father's intention, but it didn't stop him from being greedy for money. The ten taels of silver would definitely go into his pocket.

The father and son of the Wu family were planning to steal other people's medicinal herbs, and Sun Dutou had already come to steal his own medicinal herbs. The father and son were just about to continue dancing and drinking when they heard a servant come to report: "Master, Sun County Lieutenant is outside asking for a meeting." After that, the servant handed over a visiting card. Magistrate Wu was a little surprised. Sun Erleng would not come to see him if there was nothing wrong, so he asked curiously: "Did he say what he wanted?" The servant replied: "He didn't say what he wanted, but he said he had something urgent to see you." Magistrate Wu thought for a while and said to his son: "You go and do your business. I'll see what's the urgent matter that Sun Erleng has that makes him want to see me." Master Wu nodded and left.

Sun Dutou waited at the door for a while, and just as he was about to knock on the door again, the door opened: "Sir, the master invites you." Sun Dutou followed the servants to the backyard of Wu County Magistrate's house. When he saw the fat man on the chair, disgust appeared in his eyes, but he quickly put it away. When he arrived in front of Wu County Magistrate, Sun Dutou bowed and said, "Your humble servant greets you." Wu County Magistrate finally stood up from the chair, walked in front of Sun Dutou, and then smiled and said, "Why are you so polite, Sun County Magistrate? You and I are colleagues, so polite." Sun Dutou was not polite and stood up directly. He knew that this fat man was a smiling tiger, and he was greedier than anyone else. If he hadn't given him gifts during festivals, he would have been impeached by him long ago. County Magistrate Wu knew that Sun Erleng had suffered a loss a while ago and had been humiliated by someone, so he thought to himself, "Is he trying to get me out of this?" He also knew that Sun Erleng had no good intentions towards him, so he did not point it out. He returned to his chair and sat down, then asked, "Please take a seat, County Magistrate Sun. What's the urgent matter that requires you to see me?"

The two of them were not on good terms with each other. When Sun Dutou came, he was ready to bleed heavily and was unwilling to waste time. If this matter was not resolved quickly, he would always be worried. So, he got straight to the point and said, "I heard that Your Excellency got a vintage medicinal herb a while ago?" County Magistrate Wu became alert, but his face did not change. He said lightly, "Where did you hear this rumor, County Lieutenant Sun? I don't run a pharmacy, what would I do with those medicinal herbs?" Sun Dutou was a military man, and he didn't speak in a roundabout way like those civil officials. He said directly, "In the past two years, Your Excellency has secretly collected some medicinal herbs. I also know about it, but I don't want to get involved. Since you have come to me today, it is something that can be confirmed. Why should Your Excellency deny it? Besides, I am willing to buy it at a high price!" County Magistrate Wu thought to himself, "It turns out that this Sun Erleng knew it a long time ago! In that case, he must know the reason why I am looking for medicinal herbs, and he knows that it is impossible for me to sell it easily." Seeing that County Magistrate Wu did not speak, Sun Dutou continued, "I am willing to pay one thousand taels of silver!!" County Magistrate Wu was even more surprised now. One thousand taels of silver was not a small amount of money in this remote county!

County Magistrate Wu still didn't say anything. He was thinking about what was wrong with Sun Erleng, why he was willing to spend such a large sum of money to buy the herb. Sun Dutou didn't have that patience. Seeing that County Magistrate Wu didn't say anything, he thought that County Magistrate Wu was greedy. He sneered and said, "Sir Wu, one thousand taels of silver is already my limit. Although I am only a county lieutenant, I have more than a thousand brothers to support. If there are more, I can't afford it." The threat in this sentence was already naked. County Magistrate Wu was angry in his heart: "You crude warrior!" But he smiled and said, "County Magistrate Sun misunderstood. It's not that I don't want to give up this herb. It's just that Immortal Master Lu of Fancheng also needs that herb. I have already agreed. How can I go back on my word?" They are all old hands in the officialdom. As soon as Sun Dutou said this, he knew that County Magistrate Wu was using the immortal master to pressure him! He had naturally heard of that Immortal Master Lu, who was an immortal worshipped in the residence of Prefect Lu in Fancheng, and was said to be somewhat related to Prefect Lu. However, Sun Dutou was in a hurry now and could not care less. He did not know Immortal Master Lu over there, but there was an ancestor in front of him who needed to be served!

Seeing that Magistrate Wu still refused to give in, Captain Sun lost his patience and stood up with a swish: "Sun, let me be frank. This herb is for my life-saving! If Magistrate Wu can oblige me, I'll just consider it as a favor to you. Otherwise..." Magistrate Wu was not someone to be trifled with. He stood up slowly and said: "I've already said that this herb has been taken a fancy to by the immortal. I'm sorry that I can't obey your order!" After saying that, he slowly sat down again and picked up the tea bowl. Captain Sun snorted coldly and left the county government office.

Pan Chengfeng didn't know that two powerful figures in Li County had a quarrel because of him. He was thinking about how to transport the tripod out in the dark. Pan Chengfeng stood beside the big tripod, reached out and touched the body of the tripod. Feeling that there was no one around, he lifted the big tripod with one hand and weighed it: "It's about four thousand pounds. I can jump onto the city wall with it." Pan Chengfeng observed the city wall of the county town. It was less than four meters high, so he could jump up without any problem. He was just afraid that the noise would attract the attention of the soldiers guarding the city: "It seems that I have to go out and find a section of the city wall with fewer people." He looked at the sky, which was probably the Shen time, that is, three or four o'clock in the afternoon. He thought to himself: "Let's go check it out now, so that we can leave in the middle of the night. I'm already hungry, oh~"

Although Li County is a small county, it has a population of more than 100,000. The imperial court has standards for local population. If the population of a county is less than 100,000, the highest administrative chief is guilty of a serious crime! The entire Great Zhou has more than 10,000 counties with a population of several billion! Pan Chengfeng couldn't understand how such backward productivity could feed so many people? Although there is no shortage of land, it is not a bumper year every year. On the contrary, there are many bad years, so food is particularly expensive. Just look at Panjia Village and you will know that the villagers may not be able to drink wine once a year.

Pan Chengfeng walked around the city wall and finally found a good spot: "Let's go out from here at night. Move quickly and it shouldn't alarm other people." After choosing a spot, he was walking towards the inn when he heard a commotion in front of him and a group of people watching. Pan Chengfeng didn't intend to get involved and turned around to leave when he heard a familiar voice coming from the other side: "Wu Tianliang, you are wronging me! I am wronged! Is there any justice in the world!!" Pan Chengfeng frowned, he recognized that the voice was the voice of the old owner of the drugstore. So he walked through the crowd and saw that the door of the drugstore was sealed and the old owner was tied up and pushed away. A young man smiled and said, "Old thing! Your medicinal materials almost killed people. People went to the county government to sue you and now they are taking you for questioning. What the hell are you screaming about?!"

Looking at the old shopkeeper being taken away, Pan Chengfeng sighed: "Ninety-nine percent of the time, they framed him on purpose, probably because of that medicinal herb. Why does the son of Magistrate Wu insist on having that medicinal herb?" He couldn't figure it out, so he stopped thinking about it. Pan Chengfeng said to himself: "Master told me not to deal with the government, so I'd better not get involved." Although he really wanted to help the stubborn old man, he finally held back and sighed: "There are so many injustices in the world, how much can I control? I'd better improve my strength as soon as possible." He shook his head and left the pharmacy.

As soon as he returned to the inn, he saw Sun Dutou standing at the door of the inn. Pan Chengfeng walked up to him curiously and asked, "Sun Dutou, do you want to see me for something?" When Sun Dutou saw Pan Chengfeng coming, his legs almost went limp, and he looked like he wanted to say something but stopped. Pan Chengfeng immediately understood, looked around and said, "Come up with me." Pan Chengfeng walked in front, and Sun Dutou followed behind him with his head down and bent over. As soon as he entered the door of Pan Chengfeng's guest room, Sun Dutou knelt down with a plop: "Immortal, please spare my life! Immortal, please spare my life!!" Pan Chengfeng was really dumbfounded. How could another person think of himself as an immortal? Just when he didn't know what to do, Sun Dutou immediately said, "I don't know that the immortal is traveling in the mortal world, and I have offended the immortal. Please treat me as a fart!" Pan Chengfeng understood, and after knowing that he was an "immortal", he was afraid that he would deal with him when he finished his business and left Li County.

Since he had pretended once, he was familiar with the situation this time. Pan Chengfeng said calmly, "Tell me how you figured it out." Sun Dutou lowered his head to the ground, thinking tremblingly, "Really! It's really the immortal!" He was both scared and excited, but more scared. Sun Dutou didn't dare to look up, and replied tremblingly, "The immortal is here in person, I'm slow, and now I can feel the immortal's aura and extraordinary bearing..." Pan Chengfeng interrupted impatiently, "Speak human language! Raise your head!" He didn't believe these nonsense, he had to know where he had revealed his flaws. Sun Dutou rolled his eyes and knew that he had to tell the truth. This immortal was not easy to fool. So he slowly raised his head, but he only dared to look at Pan Chengfeng's feet, and replied carefully, "That day I bumped into the immortal, so I, I, I asked someone to accompany the immortal to see if the immortal had any instructions, so that he could serve at any time." Pan Chengfeng covered his face with one hand. Sun Dutou was a talent for being able to say this about tracking.

In Sun Dutou's intermittent narration, Pan Chengfeng finally realized that Sun Dutou had misunderstood him in the direction of leaving the city, thinking that he went to Fancheng. He came back from Fancheng in a few days. This speed is not something that ordinary people can do. He was just suspected when he dealt with them before, but then he was completely exposed by his own suicidal actions. Pan Chengfeng thought to himself: "I just didn't want to reveal that I came from Panjia Village, but I didn't expect to expose another secret of mine. Alas, I play tricks on them all day long, but I can't beat them."