"The official in Qingcheng doesn't allow us to deliver food to Sheriff Lin."

Yun Qingshui felt goosebumps all over her skin, a chilling feeling crawled up from the back of her neck, making her shudder.

But she still persisted and tried to widen her eyes, making a pitiful expression.

"I, I wanted to express our gratitude to Sheriff Lin, so we insisted on delivering the food. But then they..."

"Enough!"

Lin Wen interrupted her words in time, and both of them let out a sigh of relief at the same time.

"Are you saying that if we drive away the official in Qingcheng, you can resume your business?"

Yun Qingshui couldn't pretend anymore and revealed her true self, speaking coldly, "Yes."

But she still had a strong doubt in her heart. This official didn't even spare her a glance and didn't care about their group's plight. Moreover, he was covered in dust, resembling a laborer on a construction site, far from the extravagant appearance rumored about him.

"Alright."

Lin Wen nodded and signaled for Fang Dashan to unlock her handcuffs.

"You can go now."

Yun Qingshui could hardly believe her ears. She always had a straightforward personality and couldn't hide her thoughts.

"Official! What do you mean? If you think you can play cat and mouse with me, I won't let you succeed!"

Before Lin Wen could speak, Fang Dashan angrily scolded, "You ungrateful thing! Take her away and beat her dog mouth."

Yun Qingshui sneered, revealing her true nature. She was still wearing handcuffs, but she wasn't afraid. She adjusted her breath, staring intently at the official. As long as he made a move, she would kick that official to death first, then kick his dog-like subordinate to death. Even if she was beaten to death afterwards, it would still be worth it.

However, things didn't unfold as she had imagined.

"Fang Dashan!"

As soon as Lin Wen's voice fell, he immediately stopped him, turned his head, and looked at him seriously.

"Have you forgotten what I told you? You need to change all your previous concepts, habits, and behaviors. What kind of feudal bureaucrat are you, sending women to my room as soon as they arrive, dragging people away? You don't resemble a leader of the people's army at all."

Fang Dashan was stunned. "Sheriff Lin..."

Lin Wen looked at him sternly. Fang Dashan was an extremely important assistant to him and also the most powerful potential bomb.

If he couldn't establish the concept of putting the people first and still held onto some old imperial concepts, he would definitely be replaced.

During the riot of the victims, he had already shown a terrifying destructive power. If such a thing were to happen again and Lin Wen couldn't stop it in time, he didn't even dare to think about the consequences.

"Go back and copy the Three Major Disciplines and Eight Points for Attention one hundred times."

"After each copy, think carefully and forget all the garbage you learned before."

"Yes, Sheriff Lin!" Fang Dashan saluted.

A soldier stepped forward to unlock Yun Qingshui's handcuffs.

Lin Wen said coldly, "Go back and remember not to cause any trouble. Otherwise, I will arrest you and deal with you accordingly. Understand?"

After speaking, he turned and left.

Find the original at "pawread dot com".

Yun Qingshui moved her wrists and watched Lin Wen and his group leave, as well as the soldiers who ignored her and returned to their posts. She felt something in her mind shatter.

She shouted, "Official... Sheriff Lin, what are your conditions?"

A cold voice came back, without looking back, as if she was just an insignificant thing.

"Restore the food supply as soon as possible. You can grow your own crops locally if you want. If you have this idea, go find Zhao Minggong or Huang Mingxiao."

Yun Qingshui stood still for a long time, but no one paid any attention to her.

She looked up at the sky and slapped herself on the face.

It hurt.

But she still couldn't believe it.

They let them go just like that?

There was no extortion, no asking her to undress and accompany him, and no harsh conditions like being used as cannon fodder or fighting against the official in Qingcheng.

Was this official out of his mind?

Or were all the rumors false?

Yun Qingshui had never encountered such a situation before. This kind of cold treatment was extremely rare.

Although she didn't care about her appearance, after hearing so much and experiencing so much, her subconscious mind believed that she was extremely beautiful. In this demonic place, this demon must be extremely eager for her beauty. She had even planned out all the steps.

Denial, reluctance, false agreement, luring him into the room, sending away outsiders, using seduction, plotting to kill her husband, no, plotting to kill the official.

But from the beginning, things didn't go according to her plan. This official didn't even spare her a glance, as if she was just a speck of dust on the roadside or something worthless.

This made Yun Qingshui feel very uncomfortable, and even diminished her relief of escaping from the tiger's mouth. It seemed like she had been deluding herself all along.

But this feeling quickly passed, and her concern for her brothers and sisters quickly took over. She urgently wanted to return to her familiar group and not face this strange, chaotic, and incomprehensible situation alone.

However, on the way, Yun Qingshui encountered Butcher, Rock, Red Fox, and Monkey, who were anxiously looking for her.

"Why are you here? Are the brothers and sisters okay? Is Haiyan alright? What about Red Sparrow and the others?"

Before waiting for an answer, Butcher rushed forward and held her, looking her up and down. "Sister Yun, why did you come out so soon? Is that official impotent or a quick shooter?"

Bang! Thump!

Butcher received a heavy blow on the front and back of his head.

Butcher didn't dare to scold Yun Qingshui and angrily said to Rock, "Why did you hit me?"

Red Fox kicked him away. "Idiot! If you can't speak properly, then don't speak!"

Turning her head, she said softly, "Don't listen to him, Sister Yun. You must have deceived that official with a trick to escape, right?"

The redness on Yun Qingshui's face hadn't faded yet, and she didn't have the courage to nod. She just made a vague sound and asked, "Are the brothers and sisters okay?"

Red Fox, Rock, and Monkey all worried, but none of them spoke. They just smiled.

"They're fine."

Red Fox replied, "Haiyan is still in the emergency room, but the doctor said her condition has stabilized and should be fine. On the other hand, Red Sparrow is in a bad state. The doctor said her wound is infected and needs continuous observation. It's best to use the top-grade medicine from Abwehr-Johnson, otherwise it might be dangerous."

"Then use it. Red Sparrow's life is more important than any amount of money."

Yun Qingshui said, "We've used up more than half of the money we had on us to treat the brothers and sisters."

Yun Qingshui's face darkened. She couldn't think of a solution. Previously, Star Platform had always made the decisions for these matters, but now that Star Platform was gone, she realized how heavy the burden on his shoulders was.

"Let's go back to the hospital first. We'll discuss with the brothers and sisters and decide what to do next."

---

On the other hand, Lin Wen returned to the county government office.

One of the reasons he came back this time was because Longying Zhao Minggong had recruited many new officials.

Due to Lin Wen's repeated cleanups, the various levels of officials in the county government were severely lacking. Zhao Minggong had long intended to supplement them, and in the past month, he had promoted many grassroots cadres. But the number was still far from enough.

So he sent a recruitment notice to the imperial headquarters through the state government office.

According to convention, the notice would be displayed to all suitable departments in the area. If there were suitable candidates, the two departments would communicate and arrange for them to be transferred.

However, due to Changshan County being a special-grade impoverished area, the benefits were not very attractive. There were always very few respondents.

Zhao Minggong didn't have high expectations. He was just doing what he could. He didn't expect that the notice would receive a strong response. Within a short period of time, he received a large number of inquiries about transfers.

When he opened them, all the resumes were good, and none of them mentioned benefits. They only requested to be trained as key personnel and prepared for future positions. These were like pie in the sky requests.

Although Zhao Minggong didn't quite understand why, he was busy with work and had many tasks to handle. He was responsible for almost all the affairs of the county government, big and small. The official county magistrate went to the construction site to dig soil, leaving the entire mess to him. He didn't even take on the position of the mayor of Huaizhen Town.

But Zhao Minggong didn't complain much. In his opinion, the reconstruction work of their homeland was indeed the top priority. Sheriff Lin personally went to the site and took the lead, which was completely understandable.

As for him, although he was tired, he considered it a happy annoyance.

The only regret was that it came too late. He had endured for too long in the position of mayor of Huaizhen Town, endured until his ambitions and talents faded away.

Now, when he was already old, he finally had the opportunity to fulfill his ambitions.

Sometimes, Zhao Minggong even had a strange resentment. Why didn't Sheriff Lin come earlier? Why couldn't they meet when they were full of youth and ambition?

If that were the case, how would these two young talents shine in the empire? What kind of epic would they weave?

Just thinking about that scene made people feel refreshed and longing.

But when he came back to his senses, Zhao Minggong also sighed. Perhaps, this was fate. Perhaps, he was really old now, and only the old would often reminisce about the past.

But at the same time, he was also fortunate. In the empire, who knew how many people were like him, never receiving important positions in their lifetime, buried in dust and ashes, and perishing in depression.

At least he could still burn, still have the opportunity to emit light and heat, although he was like a candle in the wind.

But the final brilliance of life was undeniable.