Royal Gold Magistrate

Fang Zheng couldn’t help laughing in spite of himself. He had actually forgotten that the people around him didn’t know about these things at all.

So he explained, “A telescope is similar to a round tube, either single-barreled or binoculars, with lenses arranged in the middle. Through this tube, you can clearly see things a thousand meters away.”

“A microscope also has different lenses arranged, but what it sees are extremely tiny things. Tell the research institute that to be considered qualified, it needs to be able to see bugs in the water that are invisible to the naked eye. Understand?”

“Understood!” Ao Chen didn’t doubt him in the slightest. In Taoyuan County, Fang Zheng’s words were the truth.

If he said there were invisible bugs in the water, then there definitely were!

“Very good. Any other issues?”

“Yes! Recently, a group of unusual people snuck into Taoyuan County and have been asking about you. I thought maybe you offended someone in the capital, Master, so I didn’t dare lock them up.”

“But there was a group of six who seemed to be cult members… We detained and interrogated them for a while, but after getting nothing, we let them all go.”

Hearing this, Fang Zheng immediately perked up.

Interesting. It looks like quite a few people were making moves behind his back.

“Where are those people now?”

“After being sent to the re-education center, they settled down in the county! Rest assured, Master, they’re all quite well-behaved with no problems. Do you want me to bring them to the county yamen for you to see personally?”

Fang Zheng nodded. “Good, bring them all over. I want to see what kind of people they are.”

“Oh right, Master, there’s more. The inspector from Hengjiang Prefecture, Wu Sheng, moved to the county.”

Fang Zheng gave a cold laugh. “Heh, that traitor. We’ll deal with him later. To the county yamen first!”

…

Inside the county yamen, Fang Zheng once again sat in that familiar chair.

Although he used to really hate working here, after not sitting for so long, a hint of affection still welled up in his heart.

Looking at the eleven people standing straight as arrows below the hall, Fang Zheng couldn’t help finding it a bit amusing.

There had been people sent to Taoyuan County to investigate him before, but the standard of living in Taoyuan County was high and the county citizens spoke so pleasantly that they were generally very easily assimilated.

Give them some more pep talks, team building exercises, a few baths, a little brainwashing, and you couldn’t chase them away if you tried!

He didn’t know which two groups of unfortunate souls had sent spies to him this time.

Seeing everyone assembled, Ao Chen shouted, “Stand properly! The Master Fang you’ve been longing to meet is here!”

*Smack!* The eleven people snapped to attention.

“Greetings, Master!”

Ao Chen looked at Fang Zheng with a smug face, then shouted to the crowd, “What is our goal?!”

The eleven people shouted in unison, “To devote our entire lives to building Taoyuan County into the number one prosperous, civilized, harmonious county in the State of Jing!”

The words had just fallen when six people roared out another sentence, “We offer our hearts to Taoyuan County!”

Fang Zheng’s face fell. He turned to Ao Chen. “What’s going on? Did you change the teaching materials while I was gone?”

Ao Chen was dripping with cold sweat and hurriedly said in a low voice, “No, Master! We’re still using the second edition teaching materials. Those six people are the cult members. I don’t know why they’re always especially agitated… I never taught them to say that…”

Fang Zheng rubbed his chin, staring at the six fired-up people, sighing inwardly. This was probably the common affliction of low-level cult members…

Their enthusiasm was quite good; it’s just that their intelligence wasn’t great…

Fang Zheng pointed at the group of six. “I’m asking you, where did you come from, who sent you, and what’s the name of your sect?”

The lead person stepped forward and said, “Reporting to Master, we’re from the Water God Sect. Our superiors sent us to investigate Taoyuan County, but we don’t have specific contacts and they’re rotated irregularly, so we don’t know who sent us either.”

“We only know we’re supposed to stay here and wait for orders to report back!”

The Water God Sect?

Fang Zheng smacked his lips. He seemed to have heard of it somewhere, but didn’t pay it much attention. It was probably some small cult that stumbled into Taoyuan County by accident and took a liking to it…

So he nodded. “Mm, good. Since you’ve come, you’re all Taoyuan people now. This official won’t investigate your past. Since you like it here, live well.”

“If anyone else from the Water God Sect contacts you, remember to report it promptly. Understood?”

“Thank you, Master! Understood!” The cult members shouted fervently, as if they were speaking to their cult leader.

“Mm.. very good! Very good! Work hard, earn more money, pay more taxes! In the future, this official might personally reward you as model taxpayers!”

After Fang Zheng finished, Ao Chen leaned over and whispered, “Master… these few people hand over all their money except for food and rent…”

“What! Aren’t they fucking crazy?” Fang Zheng was furious.

“You six! No more working. Back to re-education. Let me know when you’ve learned to be normal people before letting them participate in work again. Damn, if this continues, won’t it be a bad influence on my Taoyuan people?”

Ao Chen held back a laugh. “Understood, Master.”

“You six! Go back for now. No need to work. The master is giving you vacation time to rest. When arrangements are made in a few days, you’ll be notified!”

The six people *smacked* to attention again, saluted, lined up in a row, and left.

“Make sure to properly train these six. In the future, if this Water God Sect comes again, send them out as moles.”

“Understood, Master!”

Fang Zheng narrowed his eyes, looking at the remaining five people. “Now speak, where are you from?”

The remaining five were much more normal. The lead one stepped out. “Reporting to Master, the six of us came from the capital, sent by the Minister of Revenue Lord Zhang Shi to specially investigate you. He wants to find fault with you!”

*Hiss*… that old fart, so insidious. Wasn’t it just because he beat up his son? His pettiness knew no bounds…

“Wait a minute… six of you? Aren’t there only five of you?”

“Reporting to Master, there were originally six of us. One went back to bring his mother here.”

Fang Zheng nodded. The life in Taoyuan County really was great. Once you come, you don’t want to leave.

“None of you have mothers? Why aren’t you going back?”

“We wrote letters, but his mother is old, sickly, and immobile. He was worried, so he went to get her personally.”

At this point, one of them suddenly started crying. “Master… I don’t have a mother… *wah wah*…”

“Uh… my condolences. So you’ve all decided to settle in Taoyuan County permanently too?”

The lead man said emotionally, “Master, only after coming to Taoyuan County did we realize why we’re alive. Everyone living here is so happy. We’re just Lord Zhang Shi’s servants. There are no good days if we go back. Staying here is great. We won’t leave for the rest of our lives!”

Fang Zheng clapped and laughed. “Great! Wonderful. Realizing and correcting one’s mistakes is the greatest virtue. Do any of you know Zhang Shi’s dirty secrets? Tell your master.”

“This… Master, we really don’t know…”

Fang Zheng was just probing. He didn’t expect to get anything out of the lackeys, so he wasn’t disappointed.

“Alright, it’s fine. You may leave. Go do what you need to do.”

The five thanked him in unison, turned, and left.

After everyone was gone, Fang Zheng’s expression returned to normal. He said lightly, “Keep an eye on them. The two-year probation period isn’t over. Absolutely no slacking.”