Cao Baozhu was first startled, then delighted, repeatedly shouting, “It must be them!”

She had thought the people who had colluded with the bandits had come looking for her.

Gu Qingyan glanced back and saw the path behind them was completely blocked. With a flick of his sleeve, a dagger appeared in his hand.

“Catch them! If you catch them, Lord Hong will believe me!” Cao Baozhu shouted as she grabbed a wooden stick leaning against the wall and charged forward.

Gu Qingyan cursed silently and had no choice but to help.

But deep down he suspected: Cao Baozhu had just been crying foul in front of County Magistrate Hong, and now someone was chasing them—wasn’t this basically shouting to the whole world that there were ghosts, proving someone was colluding with the bandits?

How could the White Clerk be so rampant, yet remain hidden for over a decade, without several successive county magistrates noticing?

The man in black resisted a couple of strikes from the stick, grabbed it, and threw Cao Baozhu aside, but did not retaliate.

Before Gu Qingyan could approach, the man in black said in a low voice, “If you want to know the truth, follow me.”

Gu Qingyan forced himself to stop. “Who are you?”

“Don’t waste time, come with me, quickly.”

Noisy sounds came from outside, and the man in black flashed away at the alley entrance.

Cao Baozhu instinctively looked at Gu Qingyan, who hesitated briefly then immediately decided to follow.

If this was someone from the White Clerk’s side, they would have killed them outright—there was no need for this charade.

The two followed, one behind the other, and soon arrived at the back door of a residence.

“Wait here. Someone will come to meet you soon,” the man in black tossed out before disappearing.

[Found the Hong Residence Check-in Point in Lingchuan County. Use 1 point to check in?]

Gu Qingyan’s tense heart finally settled down.

County Magistrate Hong was both negotiating with the White Clerk and leading them here—had he already suspected the White Clerk for some time?

[Successfully checked in at Hong Residence, Lingchuan County. Gained favor with County Magistrate Hong.]

Cao Baozhu, without any special advantage, was extremely nervous: “What place is this? Who was that just now? Why did they bring me here? What if he’s a bad guy?”

Gu Qingyan said quietly, “This is the residence of County Magistrate Hong.”

“What!” Cao Baozhu suddenly realized something, and while sighing with relief, her eyes filled with hope.

They waited a long time until the sound of the midnight drum came from outside, then footsteps approached.

Gu Qingyan looked up—the visitor was indeed County Magistrate Hong.

Having drunk all night, Hong’s face was flushed, his whole body reeked of alcohol, but his eyes were clear and sharp.

When Cao Baozhu saw him, she cried with joy: “County Magistrate, do you believe me? Do you believe there are people in Lingchuan County colluding with bandits?”

Hong replied coldly, “Without evidence, what good is belief?”

Cao Baozhu’s expression stiffened.

Hong sighed, motioned for them to sit, then spoke: “You young people are reckless and don’t understand the dangers. I feared you would talk nonsense and lose your lives, so I had people bring you back to calm down.”

“As for other matters, I’m powerless right now.”

Cao Baozhu understood what he meant and tears streamed down her face.

Hong pondered: “After your father and brother went missing, I sent people to investigate—no leads, neither alive nor dead.”

“I’ve been in office for three years. During this time, bandits in Lingchuan County have been rampant. But every attempt I made to suppress them ended in failure. Do you know why?”

Gu Qingyan answered, “Because someone has entrenched themselves in Lingchuan County for years. The bandits and the officials are deeply entangled and hard to shake.”

Hong’s gaze fixed on him, filled with approval.

Soon after arriving in Lingchuan County, Hong noticed something suspicious between the escort agency and the bandits. But the matter was so deep that after three years of secret investigation, he still hadn’t found solid evidence.

The only certainty was that many in the county government were involved, especially those guarding the city gates—acting as informants for the bandits.

Without evidence, mere suspicion cannot move these people. Hong could only pretend and deceive, trying to make the White Clerk drop his guard.

“You are the Gu family member raised by the Li family,” Hong said, revealing Gu Qingyan’s identity.

Gu Qingyan stood and bowed, “Gu Qingyan of Meiling Village, greeting County Magistrate Hong.”

“No need for formalities.”

“Every time something happens in Lingchuan County, the bandits find out even before the common people. Without someone in the government leaking information, this wouldn’t be possible. Yet we have no leverage.”

The more this went on, the more cautious Hong became, afraid that a wrong move would alert the enemy and endanger his family.

“I heard when you arrived, you were escorted and defeated bandits, capturing them alive and handing them over to officials. Unfortunately, those bandits refused to confess, and the neighboring county magistrate wouldn’t hand them over to me.”

Hong looked at Gu Qingyan a few more times, then said, “You’re lucky to be alive.”

Gu Qingyan frowned slightly, looked up at Hong, but couldn’t tell if there was any hidden meaning in his words.

It turned out that when Pei Xuan suggested reporting to officials, it was to the neighboring county, so Hong hadn’t gotten those people.

Hong then looked again at Cao Baozhu: “I have reported the Cao family matter to Qingzhou Prefecture, but in the past, bandit uprisings reported there always ended with no results.”

In other words, Qingzhou Prefecture might not send anyone to intervene.

Cao Baozhu was overwhelmed with grief, tears falling nonstop.

Suddenly, she thought of something and looked at Gu Qingyan: “Young master, you said you had evidence—show it quickly.”

Two pairs of eyes fixed sharply on Gu Qingyan.

Gu Qingyan looked at Hong: “Sir, do you have paper and ink?”

“Someone, prepare paper and ink,” Hong ordered.

Soon, paper and ink were quietly brought in.

Gu Qingyan immediately realized Hong was clearly prepared in advance and extremely wary of the White Clerk, otherwise he wouldn’t have made such arrangements.

Since they chose to believe and cooperate with Hong, Gu Qingyan stopped hiding anything.

He picked up the brush and began copying down the ledger details.

The ledger given by the system was printed, so he couldn’t explain where it came from, and could only present it this way.

At first, Hong wasn’t particularly concerned, since he knew Gu Qingyan’s background: although he was from the Li family, he was a fake young master and could not use their influence.

Besides, Gu Qingyan had only just arrived, having been in Lingchuan County barely a month.

Hong also knew the White Clerk’s wife, Madam Xu, had some ties with the Li family in Qingzhou, and they socialized occasionally.

Hong’s subordinates had also informed him about Gu Qingyan’s small movements, so he didn’t doubt his motives.

But no matter how clever Gu Qingyan was, it was impossible for him to get evidence about the escort agency and White Clerk easily.

Otherwise, if Hong had been magistrate for three years and still hadn’t found anything, it would mean he was just wasting time, and a young kid would be more effective.

But as Hong watched Gu Qingyan write down the contents line by line, his eyes nearly popped out.

He couldn’t believe it, rubbed his eyes repeatedly, and shakily took the paper: “This is the ledger? The account book of dealings between the Lingchuan escort agency and the bandits?”

“Exactly.”

Gu Qingyan’s hand didn’t stop; he continued copying the ledger, writing out the system-given account book from beginning to end by memory.

The magistrate of Hong County frowned and looked at Gu Qingyan suspiciously.

How was this possible?

The magistrate hadn’t found it in three years, but Gu Qingyan found it within just a month?

At first, the magistrate refused to believe it, even suspected the boy was fabricating the ledger on purpose just to catch the mountain bandits.

But looking up, Gu Qingyan’s expression was calm and confident, with a good appearance that absolutely didn’t look like someone who would make things up.

“Gu Qingyan, can you prove whether this ledger is genuine?” the magistrate still asked.

Gu Qingyan put down his pen and said, “You, sir, have been here for three years and must be very familiar with the cases of the past three years. What I’m writing now is the ledger of the past three years.”

He skipped the earlier years and began writing directly from three years ago.

The magistrate looked down and his expression changed drastically.

[Hong family caravan transported rare mountain products to Lingchuan County, including three hundred-year-old Ganoderma mushrooms and two ginseng roots; robbed but no one was hurt.]

[Guangzhou sugar transport caravan’s goods were precious; involved killing and robbing.]

[Liu family butcher, ungrateful and insisting on going alone, was killed and his body exposed, intimidating the people of Lingchuan County.]

The magistrate’s heart jumped violently — he remembered every one of these.

Especially the Hong family caravan; they were his relatives called over from his hometown in Cangshan.

When he first arrived, seeing Lingchuan County’s poverty, he racked his brain to find ways to earn money, eventually discovering the county’s mountains were rich in medicinal herbs and mountain goods.

But the Hong family caravan was robbed empty on their return trip; though no one died, they never dared come again.

The magistrate had no choice but to abandon that route.

As for the Liu family butcher — originally the county’s top expert, towering over door frames and stronger than a black bear.

But on the way to send his wife back to her family, one died and one was injured; the butcher’s wife still went mad to this day.

It was from that case onward that the people of Lingchuan County no longer dared take risks.

The magistrate’s expression was serious as he looked at Gu Qingyan with scrutiny.

Where exactly did he get such a ledger?!

[Captured the four Cao family men, obtained 100 taels of silver, four men were burly, sold for 40 taels.]

Gu Qingyan put down the final stroke.

The magistrate was still studying it carefully, while Cao Baozhu was moved to tears by the last line, repeatedly asking, “My father and brothers are still alive. Young Master, are you sure? Where were they sold?”

Gu Qingyan shook his head. “I got the ledger by chance. I don’t know more than you.”

Hope burst on Cao Baozhu’s face. “They must still be alive. My father and brothers are very capable; they will find a way to escape.”

Then she knelt before the magistrate. “Sir, please save them.”

The magistrate’s expression shifted as he reached out to help her up. “Miss Cao, if they are still alive, I will do everything I can to rescue them.”

Then he looked at Gu Qingyan. “Young Master Gu, where did you get the ledger? Was it from the Li family?”

Gu Qingyan shook his head. “It has nothing to do with the Li family. I got it by chance, but please, sir, don’t ask where.”

The magistrate frowned, suspicious.

Other than the Li family, where else could this young man have gotten such an important ledger?

Gu Qingyan changed the subject. “Sir, the urgent matter is to find those still alive. With their testimony, we can catch all the bandits.”

“You’re right. We must find them first.”

The magistrate pondered. “But finding their whereabouts will take time.”

He didn’t hide his concerns. “A year ago, I discovered several cases of mountain bandit attacks where people went missing — young beautiful women, strong men — no bodies, no traces.”

“I suspect these people weren’t killed but abducted and sold. We searched all nearby prefectures but found nothing — they seemed to have vanished into thin air.”

Cao Baozhu turned pale hearing this.

Gu Qingyan frowned. “Sir, let me say this — the Cao family men are burly and fierce middle-aged men. Unless they were poisoned, maimed, and then sold, they would definitely resist.”

“No one sells deaf-mute people who won’t obey, and even if they did, the price would be very low.”

Cao Baozhu nodded repeatedly. “My father has a spirit that would rather die than submit.”

The magistrate thought for a moment. “You mean…?”

“Maybe they are still in the mountains,” Gu Qingyan pointed toward the peaks of Lingchuan.

“There must be their old hideout. It requires able-bodied men to do labor, so that’s why the Cao family men were taken.”

The magistrate’s heart jumped. “A mine.”

His voice then turned rough. “But Lingchuan has no mines reported to the court.”

“Illegal mining — whether gold, silver, or iron — is a far worse crime than officials colluding with bandits!”

A vein throbbed on the magistrate’s forehead. “But where is that mine? If a large force went searching, the bandits would definitely get wind and disappear without a trace.”

Gu Qingyan looked up. “Sir, I have a plan.”

“Since they took the Cao family men, they must have taken others as well. One person risking it can find out their hideout.”

The magistrate shook his head. “No good. Bai Yu has been operating in Lingchuan for years. He knows all my men well and won’t fall for a trap.”

Gu Qingyan smiled. “Your men can’t do it, but I can.”

“If I make a big show of returning to Qingzhou Prefecture, he will act immediately. He won’t let me live to return.”