Taming beasts starts with understanding bird language

Seeing his desperate look, Gu Chan rolled her eyes and said cunningly, "Let me ask you, do you really think that it doesn't matter if you don't become the county magistrate, but you just don't want that kind of despicable person to become the county magistrate?"

"Of course. You see, I'm only over 40 years old, but I'm already so haggard. To be honest, I haven't wanted to be an official for a long time. Now I'm retiring to the countryside with my family. Isn't it wonderful? It's hard to be an honest official in this world, and I'm already tired of it." Gu Qifeng said sincerely.

"Then you must outwit King Nanxian now. Hand over your official hat, official uniform, and official seal to me immediately, and then take all the valuables in the yamen and leave. Oh, and empty the yamen's treasury. Tell others that the higher-ups sympathize with your efforts for Nancheng over the years and reward you specially." Gu Chan said with a smirk.

Gu Qifeng was stunned on the spot, he was really confused.

Having served as an official for so many years, he was incorruptible and dared not embezzle any money from the government office. Most of the money was spent on the construction of South City and the people, and he himself lived a very poor life.

Now Gu Chan actually wanted him to empty out the government office, and he felt a little guilty about it.

Gu Chan said angrily, "Even if you retire to the countryside in the future, you will still need money to support your family. I can't let a good official like you have no money for retirement. Now this little money in the government is what you deserve. Who dares to say anything wrong about you?"

"But……"

"Stop talking. I'm the imperial envoy. My words represent the emperor's words. Go and pack quickly. We'll eat here and wait for you." Gu Chan didn't give Gu Qifeng a chance to speak and interrupted him.

After hearing this, Gu Qifeng reluctantly got up and left, then took his wife and maids and servants to pack their luggage.

Gu Chan told Ma Zheng to sit down, and the two of them ate, chatted and waited.

About an hour later, Gu Qifeng brought all the family members of the yamen, a total of more than 20 people, to wait outside the pavilion.

Then he took an account book to Gu Chan and said, "Master Gu, this is the account book of the government office. During my tenure, I have not lost a single tael of silver. I have also made up for the deficit of the previous county magistrate. The things I took away are all recorded in the book. Please examine it carefully."

"Okay, let me take a look." Gu Chan said with satisfaction.

After saying that, she reached out to take the account book, opened it, and looked down at it carefully.

Just after this check, she suddenly felt heartbroken!

Every account in the account book was recorded very clearly, and at the end of the account book, it was recorded that in addition to taking away some furniture and quilts, Gu Qifeng took away a total of 9,325 taels of silver.

This means that after serving as an official for so many years, he did not even have a savings of 10,000 taels of silver. You have to know that in Tiancang, a small country with such high prices, a county magistrate did not even have 10,000 taels of silver in the end. What kind of concept is this?

Gu Qifeng quietly folded the three-piece set of official hat, official uniform and official seal, which was the county magistrate's suit, and placed it on the stone table in front of Gu Chan.

Then he looked at Gu Chan and sighed, "Master Gu, after I leave, I hope you can choose a talented person to be the new county magistrate. I will leave the people of South City to you in the future. For the safety of my family, I can only make this choice."

"Ma Zheng, go to Yuanlai Inn and bring back 50,000 taels of silver." Gu Chan put away the account book and gave the order with a serious face.

Ma Zheng nodded, quickly got up and ran out.

Seeing this, Gu Qifeng couldn't help but ask, "Master Gu, what are you doing?"

"Don't worry about it, just sit down and wait! It's a good opportunity for us to chat. Tell me more about the specific situation in Nancheng so that I can see how to deal with King Nanxian and his son." Gu Chan said with a smile.

Gu Qifeng quickly sat down and kept telling her many details about South City.

It was through his narration that Gu Chan finally learned about many unknown details about Nancheng, including some shameful deeds done in private by the Nanxian King and his son.

In the end, Gu Chan could only come to one conclusion.

That is, King Nanxian and his son could definitely not be called good people, but from another perspective, they were not unforgivable evildoers.

After all, everything they did here was just to consolidate their position. If you really want to talk about harming the people, they did not do such things. On the contrary, they have made certain contributions in dealing with those evil people.

As Gu Qifeng finished speaking, he sighed and said, "Although I had a disagreement with them before, I also know that as royal relatives, it is normal for them to consolidate their position here. As long as they don't do anything to harm the people, I can still understand it. But now they want to take action against me, which really makes me feel uncomfortable."

"Everything has two sides, which is normal. No matter how great a person is, he will never make mistakes. This is also the most direct reason why I didn't really want to get rid of them when I was at the Seven Stars Gate yesterday." Gu Chan also said with emotion.

Gu Qifeng nodded without comment.

Gu Chan was just about to speak when Ma Zheng, who had gone out to get the banknotes, finally came back.

Running into the pavilion, Ma Zheng handed the small brocade box containing 50,000 taels of silver to Gu Chan.

Gu Chan opened the small brocade box and counted it. After confirming that it was the full amount of 50,000 taels of silver, she handed it to Gu Qifeng and said, "Master Gu, this is a reward from the emperor. He already knew that you have been in Nancheng for so many years and have made contributions to the people, so he specially asked me to bring this money to you."

"Oh my God! Could it be that the emperor has been secretly keeping an eye on me from a long time ago? Now Lord Gu, you want me to resign and defeat Prince Nanxian. Is it also the emperor's intention?" Gu Qifeng said in surprise.

Gu Chan laughed, hiding her embarrassment, and said, "Of course, the emperor knows which honest officials there are in Tiancang Country. I made a detour to come to Nancheng because the emperor secretly asked me to protect the lives of your family, so don't think too much about it now. Thank the emperor for his grace, take this reward, and leave with your family!"

"Your Majesty, I thank you for your grace. Long live the emperor." Gu Qifeng was so moved that he burst into tears. He knelt on the ground holding the small brocade box and kowtowed to Gu Chan repeatedly to express his gratitude.

Gu Chan hurriedly reached out to help him up and comfort him.

After he calmed down, she took Ma Zheng and sent their entire family quietly away from the back door of the county government office.

After they left, Gu Chan and the other person returned to the pavilion in the back garden and sat down. They both felt that it was really not easy to be an honest official in this world.