Transmigrated into a female county magistrate during a famine, leading her country to prosperity

Chapter 1278 Another Two-Way Trip

"Da da--"

"Da da--"

"Uu——"

Just as Shen Zheng and the others were discussing the details of the road repair in the carriage, the carriage suddenly slowed down.

Xu Yunyan pulled back the carriage curtain and looked at the dark road ahead, asking Hua Duo, "What happened?"

Hua Duo paused, then pointed ahead and said, "There are carriages coming around the corner ahead. We need to pass them."

No sooner had the words been spoken than a cluster of torches appeared in everyone's sight.

Then came a low shout: "There's a car ahead, slow down!"

This voice was quite familiar to Shen Zheng and the others.

They exchanged a glance and exclaimed in unison, "Fang Ziyan?!"

Why would this kid be outside Yonglu County so late at night?

"Who called me?" a puzzled voice came from the car opposite.

Immediately afterward, a round head peered under the torchlight. He rubbed his eyes and recognized the person driving the car opposite him: "Sister Hua?!"

Hua Duo was taken aback and turned to look at the carriage.

The carriage curtain was wide open, and Shen Zheng and the others leaned out, looking at Fang Ziyan in the opposite car, and asked in unison, "Where are you going?"

Fang Ziyan curled his lip and jumped off the car with a "whoosh".

"Sister Shen! Grandpa Yu! Brother Xu! Grandpa Li!" He scrambled onto Shen Zheng's carriage, clinging to the side of the carriage, and said, "Tomorrow... tomorrow is a day off, so Zhao Qi and I wanted to come to the prefectural city to find you. We've missed you..."

Seeing his half-crying expression, Shen Zheng and the others felt a pang of sympathy: "Just you and Zhao Qi?"

"Hmm..." Fang Ziyan nodded, pursing his lips, "We left a letter for our master, and then rented a carriage to go out..."

Shen Zheng and the others exchanged glances upon hearing this.

So they snuck out!

"You brat!" Yu Shizhang gritted his teeth and poked Fang Ziyan's forehead with his finger: "You've really got guts! You even dared to run away from home behind your master's back! You've corrupted Zhao Qi!"

“No, it’s not running away from home…” Fang Ziyan tilted his head back, his lips pursed even more. “Zhaoqi missed you all too. We all wanted to come to the government office to find you… Besides, when Brother Xu was injured before, you wouldn’t let us go with you. Now that we finally have a day off, we were thinking of going to see Brother Xu…”

Xu Yunyan hadn't expected that he had anything to do with this.

Seeing Fang Ziyan's sincerity and aggrieved expression, he couldn't help but speak up for Fang Ziyan and his companion: "Lord, Ziyan and the others' actions are understandable..."

"Mhm!" Fang Ziyan nodded.

"It makes sense?" Seeing Fang Ziyan acting innocent, Yu Shizhang pointed at him again: "In the middle of the night, if you two really got to the prefectural city, you wouldn't even be able to get through the city gates!"

Eh?

Fang Ziyan had never really thought about this.

Just as he was scratching his head, Pei Zhaoqi walked over and whispered, "Uncle Yu, Sister Shen, actually, setting off tonight was my idea..."

"What?!" Yu Shizhang and Shen Zheng didn't believe it at all.

In their eyes, this somewhat bad and impulsive idea could only have come from Fang Ziyan's little head.

"Don't try to exonerate Ziyan," Yu Shizhang said.

Pei Zhaoqi slowly raised his head, his gaze secretly glancing at Xu Yunyan.

After confirming that Xu Yunyan looked no different from before, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief and took out three things from his pocket.

Yu Shizhang took a closer look—the household register, the first batch of examination papers from the prefectural examination, and the official post station pass.

With these three things, even if the guards at the gate don't let them into the city directly, they will send someone to report to the Shen residence. In any case, they won't actually be allowed to spend the night outside the city.

At this moment, Yu Shizhang believed that Pei Zhaoqi had come up with the idea: "...You've prepared quite a complete set of things to get into the city."

Pei Zhaoqi pursed his lips, not daring to reply.

Fang Ziyan's round eyes darted around, and he deliberately changed the subject, saying, "Uncle Yu, Sister Shen, aren't Nan Shu and the others with you?"

In fact, he had already seen the carriage behind him.

“In the carriage behind.” Xu Yunyan unusually continued, “He should be asleep. Ziyan, you and Zhaoqi go back to the carriage first. We can talk about it when we get back to the county.”

Having found a way out, Fang Ziyan immediately pulled Pei Zhaoqi down with him.

Watching them climb back into the carriage, Yu Shizhang shook his head with a smile: "Those two lads..."

......

At midnight, a line of carriages slowly drove into Tongan County.

At a time when all should have been quiet, shouts rang out from the main street.

"Thief! It's definitely a thief! Grab him!"

"Sneaking around in the middle of the night, he must be trying to steal our rice seeds! We must arrest him and send him to the county office to be beheaded!"

"Yes! Behead them and display their heads!"

"Where did you go? Weren't you just here?"

"You all go to the west, I'll take some men to the east to search! We must find this little thief tonight!"

"Bring your kitchen knife and hoe! Don't get hurt!"

"Old Wang has taken some men to find the county soldiers! Everyone, don't rush, just make sure you don't get separated!"

"..."

The shouts grew closer, and Shen Zheng was mostly awake from her drowsiness.

She groggily lifted the carriage curtain, looked at the empty road ahead, and asked Hua Duo, "Are the people saying... there have been thieves in the county?"

Hua Duo nodded: "Master, after I send you back to the county government office, I will go and take a look."

"No need." Shen Zheng yawned and rubbed her eyes. "With the county soldiers here, he's just a petty thief; he can't cause any trouble."

With the current troop deployment in Tongan County, let alone a small thief, even ten or a hundred of them could be wiped out.

Just as Hua Duo was about to reply, his expression suddenly turned serious.

Shen Zheng was all too familiar with this scene.

Last time at the border of Fuzhou, Hua Duo first showed this expression, and then his hand pressed on the hilt of his knife.

As expected, under Shen Zheng's watchful eyes, Hua Duo slowly raised his right hand, moved it back, and then...

He pressed the handle of the knife.

“Master, please return to your carriage first,” Hua Duo said.

Just as Shen Zheng was about to pull her head back, a figure rushing out of nowhere appeared in her sight.

"bass--"

Hua Duo drew his broadsword, its cold gleam causing Shen Zheng to squint.

A large group of county residents also caught up: "He's up ahead! Catch him!"

"Capture him alive and send him to the county government!"

"There are several carriages ahead, could they be his accomplices? Brothers, don't be afraid! Charge with me!"

"Charge!! We'll make sure they never return!"

Torches illuminated most of the street, and a group of people chased after a man until they reached the carriage.

Everyone was stunned when they saw Shen Zheng's head sticking out of the carriage: "Lord Shen?"

They all raised their hands and rubbed their eyes.

A moment later, someone cried out in ecstasy, "It's Lord Shen! Lord Shen is back! Lord Shen has come back to see us!"

Someone exclaimed in alarm, "Stop that thief! We can't let him touch a single hair on Lord Shen's head!"

Instantly, the scene descended into complete chaos.

In a daze, Shen Zheng saw the county residents pull off the mask of the "little thief".

“No, Hua Duo…” She tugged at Hua Duo’s sleeve, pointing at the “little thief” being beaten with sticks, and said, “Is he…?”

Realizing what was happening, she immediately shouted, "Don't hit him! Don't hit him! He's not a thief!"