Qin Tai and his wife returned to the inn, fortunately, this place is not big, and there is only one relatively old inn in the town. Qin Tai and his wife immediately found the inn, and saw Lao Xu, who was maintaining the carriage at the inn. Lao Xu told Zhan Xiaoxiao that Qiu Xiaoqiu went out shopping with the child in his arms, and it is estimated that he will come back soon. Just as Lao Xu was talking, Qiu Xiaoqiu returned to the inn with Xiao Ping'an in his arms.

Qin Tai and his wife didn't stay in the courtyard of the inn for long, because they saw that Qiu Xiaoqiu's face was not good. Qiu Xiaoqiu also made a gesture that outsiders didn't understand, reminding Qin Tai and his wife to enter the room immediately. Qiu Xiaoqiu's gesture was taught by Zhan Xiaoxiao, when Zhan Xiaoxiao and the other five people were outside to handle the case, they were worried that their conversation would be known to outsiders, so they invented this kind of gesture that only they themselves could understand. Qiu Xiaoqiu held Xiao Ping'an in one hand, and made a few simple gestures in the other. It means three meanings: "Danger, beware." "There is important information that needs to be added up privately." "Something happened to the target."

Qin Tai and his wife walked into the room one after another without a trace, and Qiu Xiaoqiu also went in with Xiao Ping'an in his arms. Zhan Xiaoxiao closed the door with her hand, leaning against the door while watching the outside environment. This is Zhan Xiaoxiao's habit for many years, and when it comes to analyzing the case, Zhan Xiaoxiao's task is to be vigilant and safe. Qiu Xiaoqiu handed Xiao Ping'an to Qin Tai, and Qin Tai listened to Qiu Xiaoqiu's report while coaxing his son. Zhan Xiaoxiao also listened to it on the side, lest Qin Tai or Qiu Xiaoqiu repeat the content.

Qiu Xiaoqiu used the local dialect taught by the old drunkard master to inquire about the residents' affairs with a similar local accent. The locals began to suspect Qiu Xiaoqiu's identity, and Qiu Xiaoqiu made up a reason. Qiu Xiaoqiu lied that he was here to visit relatives, and the child in his hand was his nephew, and he visited the child's aunt, that is, his eldest sister. His eldest sister married here seven years ago, so he doesn't know much about things here. The residents were very simple, and as soon as they heard that it was the neighbor's uncle, they told Qiu Xiaoqiu about it. Qiu Xiaoqiu finally understood the truth about the white flags hanging in every household here.

Two big things happened here a year ago that changed everything here. It turned out that it was very poor, and although there was good land, it was all owned by the landlords, and the lives of the common people were not good. Eleven years ago, there was a strange county magistrate who couldn't even afford shoes. But it is this county lord who everyone is not optimistic about, so that everyone can live a good life. This county magistrate is Duan Xingao, which is what everyone calls the "barefoot county order". After Duan Xingao came here, he didn't immediately make decisions for the people. While trying the accumulated cases, he also made overt and covert investigations. Finally, after two months in office, he did good deeds for the people for the first time. He demanded that the land be re-measured, that the land occupied by the landlords be divided and returned to the people in need. Soon after, Duan Xingao canceled a number of yamen expenses to reduce the burden on the people. Only then did everyone know that Duan Xingao was a rare good official.

Because of the redivision of the land, because of the elimination of tips from the yamen, Duan Xingao offended the local landlords and the yamen's officials. These people wanted Duan Xingao to be unable to do it, so Duan Xingao had to do everything himself. Everyone saw it in their eyes and felt pain in their hearts, and they came out to do things for Duan Xingao for free. Some young people who were unwilling to be government officials, under the persuasion of their parents, entered the yamen to help Duan Xingao do things. Duan Xingao told the people in the yamen that if you want to get rich and be comfortable, don't come here. Not only does the yamen here have no oil and water, but also the work is very tiring, and when the farm is busy, it has to help the common people do farm work. Therefore, the people who stayed in the yamen were either Duan Xingao's people, or people who still had a conscience in their hearts. Everyone works together to govern the local area and do the most with the least amount of money. In just three years, the environment here has been greatly changed, and the lives of the people have basically been fed and clothed.

After everyone learned that Duan Xingao was asked to leave, they asked Duan Xingao not to leave. Duan Xingao said that he didn't count this matter, and he had to ask the officials above to agree before he could stay. Everyone found the prefect's yamen, and the people from the yamen told everyone that the prefect was unwilling to stay in Duan Xingao, and if they wanted to keep Duan Xingao, they could only go to the tall yamen. Everyone came to the governor's yamen in the province, knelt for three days and three nights, and finally met the representative of the governor. Everyone said their thoughts, and the master said that this matter was not easy to do, and the only way was for the local people to jointly write a letter of guarantee. When they returned, they went door-to-door asking for autographs, and those who couldn't write put their fingerprints on them, and finally collected the signatures of most of them in three days. Everyone put this 170-meter-long guarantee at the door of the governor's yamen, and even surrounded the governor's yamen. After reading this guarantee, the governor's representative knew that he could no longer refuse, and if he objected, the common people would make trouble. In this way, the governor personally went to the prefect's yamen and blamed the prefect in public for driving away this good official who was so loved by the people. Duan Xingao finally stayed in Yamen and continued to be his county master. Four years ago, the people petitioned again to keep Duan Xingao. The new prefect was very simple and agreed.

Thanks to Duan Xingao's efforts, the environment here is getting better and better. The people were well fed and slept well, and there were more shops. At this time, there were two things related to the major changes in the Yamen, and not too many people paid attention to them at that time. The first thing was that the little son of the governor's family came here to play, and when he left, he wanted a little "filial piety", but was rejected by Duan Xingao. The second thing was that at the end of last year, 1,000 households came to inspect the war readiness granary.

As an important grain-producing area in the two lakes region, Hubei has long had the saying that "the two lakes are ripe for the world". In other words, if there is a bumper harvest in Hunan and Hubei, the people of the world will not be hungry. Although it is an exaggeration, it also shows that this is a major grain-producing area. As a major producing area, grain reserves are of course important. According to the regulations of the imperial court, the county-level yamen in each major producing area needed to build a granary for war readiness. Although the granary is managed by the county yajian, the yamen has no right to use it privately. Their direct managers are local thousand-household or hundred-household offices, and they need to check every year before they can pass the customs. This kind of granary is generally rotated every three years, that is, every three years, the old rice in the warehouse is replaced with the new rice of the year. The replaced old rice was handed over to the local yamen and sent to the governor's yamen for unified processing. The new rice collected in the granary of war readiness offsets the state tax revenue for the year. This will not affect the daily life of the common people, nor will it affect the taxes and daily expenses of the imperial court. Duan Xingao has already handled it three times, and of course he understands the process of this matter. Unexpectedly, there was a big problem in this inspection.

The grain was put into the granary at the beginning of last year, and the rice was the new rice of the year before. At the beginning of last year, Duan Xingao, together with the officers of the Thousand Households, put the grain into the granary for war readiness. Chen Mi was handed over to the officers according to the procedure, escorted by the army to the province, and handed over to the governor's yamen. However, something went wrong last year, and the officer who sent the Chen Mi receipt to the governor's yamen forgot to send it. said that when the year-end verification was done, it would bring a new high to Duan by the way. Because Duan Xingao was not familiar with the military personnel, he had to allow the officers to bring them over at the end of the year. Unexpectedly, at the end of the year, not only did the officers not bring it over, but they also had to seriously check the quality and quantity of grain in the war-ready granary. As a result, major problems were found, not only was the amount of grain wrong, but the new rice in the warehouse became even older than the previous batch of old rice. The amount of grain was deducted, shoddy, and the grain was not handed over in time to the governor's yamen warehouse, and these three charges alone could make Duan Xingao die three or four times.

Duan Xingao went to the prefect and the governor, but it was useless. went to find a thousand households, and the officer didn't even let Duan Xin see him. The prefect reported the matter to the Yamen of the Inspectorate and the Yamen of the Political Envoy, and the Thousand Households reported to the General Military Office and the Military Department. Duan Xin Gaoming knew that this was a trap for himself, but he had no way to do it. Even if the people in the yamen were willing to testify, the effect would not be great.

Duan Xingao knew that he couldn't get by, so he simply drove away all the people from the yamen. Then he took all the blame and drank the poisoned wine he had concocted. This poisonous wine was prepared by Duan Xingao himself when he was an official, and the purpose was to remind himself not to do things that were sorry for the people, but to be a good official. Now, in order not to implicate everyone, in order not to let this matter affect the local people, he decided to sacrifice himself in exchange for not pursuing this matter.

Duan Xingao's death did not bring peace, and the imperial court still held Duan Xingao responsible. Although Duan Xingao was nominally spared, he was allowed to die in the line of duty and be buried in exhaustion. But in fact, Duan Xingao still has to be held responsible, and Duan Xingao's family is asked to repay Duan Xingao's debts. Duan Xingao's parents died of anger on the spot, and Duan Xingao's wife also hanged herself after hearing the news of her husband's death. Duan Xingao's only piece of land and a house were also confiscated by the imperial court. Someone reported that Duan Xingao distributed the grain to the local people, and the court forced the people to hand over all the grain. Duan Xingao's peaceful life, which he had built with great difficulty, was destroyed like this.

Although the common people hated the imperial court and the people of the local yamen, there was nothing they could do. On the contrary, they felt even more that they had lost a good parent, and everyone spontaneously kept filial piety for Duan Xingao. Every household hangs white flags and acts as the family members of Duan Xingao, and even the seventy or eighty-year-old people wear linen and filial piety for Duan Xingao. With this silent grievance, they expressed their dissatisfaction with the imperial court and their sorrow for Lord Duan Xingao.