At the hour of Mao, as the sky began to brighten, Lin Ji had a rare good night's sleep.
After a long period of seclusion, he was summoned to Liang City as soon as he came out of seclusion, and he had not rested well for a long time.
Although his body was not tired, his mind was always busy.
Last night, he had used a lot of energy using the Thunder Sword Technique, but surprisingly, he slept soundly after returning home.
Walking out of his room to the main hall, in the garden outside the hall, the steward, Old Li, was directing a few maidservants to take care of the flowers and plants.
Normally, this kind of work should be done by an experienced gardener.
But the previous owner of this mansion was a whimsical person. Apart from the steward who managed the affairs of the mansion, all the other servants were beautiful and graceful maidservants.
"Living in luxury and extravagance, it seems like living life to the fullest. Even if one dies in the end, they would have lived their life to the fullest," Lin Ji couldn't help but sigh.
Seeing Lin Ji had already woken up, Steward Old Li quickly put down his work and came over.
"Master, I didn't expect you to wake up so early. Breakfast has not been prepared yet."
"Then prepare it quickly," Lin Ji dismissed Old Li and yawned deeply.
Not long after, Lin Ji heard Old Li say that breakfast was ready.
Entering the dining room, in the middle of the table was a pot of seafood congee, steaming hot and fragrant.
Next to a large pot of congee were four cold dishes and four hot dishes, all presented in delicate small plates, with both meat and vegetarian options.
Lin Ji suddenly felt that his usual pride in the authentic and exquisite donkey meat fire-baked bread at home was nothing compared to this.
"Is this what we usually have for breakfast at home?" Lin Ji asked Old Li.
"If you feel it's not enough, the kitchen still has more dishes prepared," Old Li quickly replied.
Lin Ji fell silent for a moment, then somewhat boldly asked, "This meal costs quite a bit of silver, do I have to pay for it?"
Although he had saved quite a bit of silver in Qingyang County due to Song Da's filial piety, his meager savings of over a thousand taels of silver would probably not last long at this consumption level.
Old Li lowered his head and said, "According to Master's instructions, your predecessor died suddenly. When the family left, they didn't take anything, it was taken by the officials. Therefore, there is still over twenty thousand taels of silver in the mansion, enough to support for a few years."
Saying this, Old Li cautiously glanced at Lin Ji.
"If you have something to say, just say it," Lin Ji said as he sipped his congee.
"Yes."
Old Li nodded quickly and asked, "May I ask, the previous Chief Constable, he didn't die at the hands of the monsters outside the city, did he?"
"Yes, you guessed right," Lin Ji smiled, "The silver in the mansion was not taken away, which is normal. His family members are probably in Yunzhou by now."
Yunzhou, the northernmost land of the Nine Provinces, bordering the snowy region.
When the court exiles the families of criminals, they often send them to Yunzhou.
Anyway, Lin Ji had heard people say that the potatoes there were grown well.
Upon hearing Lin Ji's response, Old Li dared not ask further and left with his head down.
After having breakfast, Lin Ji changed out of his original cotton robe under the service of the maidservants, put on a silk robe, and left home for the Liang City Prefectural Government Office.
Although it was only his first day in office, it was clear that Lin Ji's appearance had already been spread. After all, he was the ruthless person who had dealt with Wu Fei, so such news was hard to conceal.
Upon entering the government office and passing through two or three inner gates, Lin Ji was stopped by someone.
This person was in his early thirties, with a scholarly air about him, always wearing a smile on his face.
"Chief Constable, I am Tian Wenliang, the deputy official document of the Chief Constable who just took office."
After exchanging greetings, Tian Wenliang led Lin Ji to the Chief Constable's office.
It was a side hall in the yamen, a small hall for receiving guests, and a study, that was all.
After looking around for a moment, all in the study, before he could sit behind the desk, Tian Wenliang suddenly said, "Chief Lin, the Chief Constable is in charge of the affairs of the entire province, the promotion of demon hunters in various places, the assessment of head hunters, and handling difficult cases all need to be handled by you. Please move to the file room."
"The file room?" Lin Ji was puzzled.
A major case could be recorded in just a few sheets of paper, and even the compilation of cases in Qingyang County over three years would only be the thickness of a book.
Did they really need a file room for this?
But when Lin Ji followed Tian Wenliang to the file room, he fell silent.
It was a large room, with thirty-six bookshelves, each filled with countless files.
"On each bookshelf corresponds to a county under the jurisdiction of Liangzhou, and the deepest bookshelf is the file of Liang City."
Tian Wenliang explained calmly, "Chief Lin, as the Chief Constable, you should have some understanding of the situation in various places, right?"
"Yes, I should." Lin Ji nodded subconsciously.
But Tian Wenliang smiled.
"Then please read all these files thoroughly first. Otherwise, when people come to handle things in the future, and you don't know anything, it won't just be a loss of face for you alone."
Upon hearing this, Lin Ji looked at Tian Wenliang.
"Do I have to read all these files? Many of them are not recent, right? Do I have to read old cases as well?"
"You have to." Tian Wenliang nodded.
Lin Ji squinted at Tian Wenliang.
He sensed something was amiss.
"Did the previous Chief Constable read all these files?"
"He did." Tian Wenliang replied.
Lin Ji casually pulled out a file that had been piled under the bookshelf.
He flipped through it for a moment.
"This is the file of Emperor Jian who ascended the throne not long ago, the third year of Emperor Jian! How many years have passed?"
"Several decades, you tell me how the previous Chief Constable managed to read all these files?" Lin Ji asked.
"Your predecessor was in office for nearly ten years, so naturally, he had time," Tian Wenliang said with his head down.
Upon hearing this, Lin Ji yawned.
"Tian Wenliang, how long have you been a deputy official document for the Chief Constable?"
"It's been seven or eight years."
"Then you must have followed the previous Chief Constable and cherished these files as well, right?"
Before Tian Wenliang could reply, Lin Ji sneered, "Spend three days to go through all these files for me. If I, as the Chief Constable, have to do everything, what do I need you, my subordinate, for?"
"Three days?" Tian Wenliang suddenly raised his head, looking directly at Lin Ji for the first time.
"If you can't do it, then get lost. I don't mind finding another official document. I'm leaving now, you can stay in this file room."
Completely ignoring Tian Wenliang's displeased expression, Lin Ji turned and left.
But just as he took a few steps, he stopped in his tracks, turned around, and patted Tian Wenliang's shoulder.
"Don't be a pawn for others. I know that my sudden appointment as Chief Constable will make many people unhappy, but coming to trouble me, are you underestimating me, Lin Ji?"
With that, Lin Ji laughed heartily and left the file room.
Back in the side hall, not long after he entered the study, a yamen runner came to report.
"Chief, Head Hunter Sun is here."
Lin Ji immediately remembered Sun Hai, whom he had met briefly last night.
"Let him in."
Wishing everyone a happy weekend~
(End of this chapter)