Chapter 267 You Can Fool Around, but You Really Need to Investigate

The four words "Top Scholar" seemed to have magic power, which surprised all the people present. The woman cried with joy, sobbing and wiping her tears, hugging the child tightly.

Only the child stared innocently, holding the few taels of silver given by Zhao Jue tightly in his little hands. He was thinking about what to buy, candied haws? Or the fried peanuts from the grandfather on the corner? There were so many more, what should he do? Is the silver in his hand enough to buy them?

The child didn't know, his eyes were shining, looking at the silver in his hand.

As if seeing through his thoughts, Zhao Jue touched his head and said with a smile: "Tong'er, the world is so big, there are delicious food, fun things and beautiful things everywhere. But, without money, you can't do it."

"Study hard and go see the world, ah."

The woman held the child and said hurriedly: "Son, thank the imperial envoy quickly, quickly."

Zhao Jue didn't say anything, and asked calmly: "How old are you? Have you passed the Tongshi exam?"

"Seven years old, I passed the Tongshi exam, but I haven't taken the provincial exam yet, I'll take it a few years later." The woman replied.

Wow! He is really a good student! Not only Zhao Jue, but even the prefect, Tongzhi and Tongpan who came from the imperial examination system all had a flash of surprise on their faces.

The prefect straightened his clothes and said happily, "Good! Good! It seems that Chuzhou will have another university scholar, hahaha."

The other people also praised a few words, Zhao nodded, stood up and said, "Please come here, just to ask a few questions. Now I have found out that there are indeed criminals who set fire to the government warehouse! Documents, records! I will write to the court and the emperor, and will not let a single criminal go!"

"It's okay, go back!"

Although he finished asking, the expression on his face was not good. Looking at the people walking out of the yamen one by one, his brows gradually frowned, and his eyes were solemn.

His original idea was to guide everyone in the direction of arson, but he didn't want someone to really set the fire. After all, the war was about to start, and if this happened at this time, he would be busy for the next month.

Zhuque walked out slowly from the back hall and asked curiously, "Did you believe what the boy said?"

"Yes, I do."

Ah? No way? The other five people looked at Zhao in surprise, children's words are innocent. I thought they were just fooling around, but I didn't expect that the young imperial envoy actually believed it!

Before they could ask the second question, Zhao Jue waved his hand and ordered: "Prepare the sedan chair, go to the official warehouse to have a look!"

The judge went out to ask people to prepare the sedan chair. As soon as he took the first step, he heard Zhao Jue's voice behind him, "Don't make a big fuss, just a few of us will go."

He had no choice but to have people harness two carriages. Three people in one, without hanging lanterns, and went straight to the official warehouse.

"Stop, the government has ordered: no one is allowed to enter the official warehouse."

As soon as the carriage stopped, before the curtain was opened, the guards stepped forward and stopped. There was no lantern on the carriage, so it was unclear who the person was, so he warned and stopped first to avoid being blamed for dereliction of duty.

Upon hearing this, the three prefects hurriedly got out of the carriage, waved their hands, and ordered: "Make way, the person sitting in the carriage is the imperial envoy, who is here to thoroughly investigate the official warehouse."

The soldier's face changed drastically, and he hurriedly put away his weapons, made way, bowed respectfully and said: "Sir, please come in."

At this time, Zhao Jue had also gotten off the carriage and followed the prefect and the three people in.

The back door was opened, and everything in sight was black, and a faint smell of burning could be smelled in the air. Zhao Jue put his hands behind his back and sniffed the air carefully, but found nothing unusual.

After walking a few steps, the prefect turned around and said: "Sir Zhao, this is the back warehouse that caught fire, thousands of dan of grain, alas!"

Zhao Jue ignored him and walked into the warehouse on his own. Several people looked at each other, not knowing what to say. Suzaku and Baihu followed Zhao Jue closely, and the three of them walked and stopped, and they patrolled the back warehouse.

"Did you see anything unusual?" Zhao suddenly stopped at the door and asked back.

The two shook their heads. After all the smoke and fire, even if there was anything unusual, they couldn't see it. Besides, the two focused on Zhao and didn't pay much attention to the back warehouse.

Seeing this, Zhao pointed at the door, "The door frame here is more burnt than the beams."

"Did the fire start from here?" Zhuque pressed the burnt door frame. Baihu followed suit and kicked it with his toes, but he was a careless person and couldn't see anything wrong.

"No." Zhao shook his head. If the fire started from here, it wouldn't have burned so big. So there is only one possibility: that is, the warehouse and the outside of the door caught fire at the same time.

"It's just that the fire here was bigger than inside from the beginning."

"Kerosene!" The three of them said at the same time.

Sure enough, after sweeping away the black ash at the door, there was a crooked black mark on the ground. It was obvious that this was the mark left after the kerosene caught fire.

Alas. Zhao let out a long breath, his eyes gloomy.

The three prefects behind him came over and saw the black marks on the ground, and they all breathed a sigh of relief. But soon their expressions became gloomy again, troublesome things!

The prefect glanced at the two of them, stepped forward and asked: "Sir Zhao. What should we do about this?"

"What else can we do?" Zhao's tone was not relaxed, even a little reluctant, shaking his head and said: "If it was an accident, we can fool around, but this is real! We have to check it, otherwise we can't bear the consequences."

He closed his eyes, and had some ideas in his mind, but he had to check it himself to see if it was true.

Thinking of this, he sighed helplessly, lowered his voice and told Zhuque: "Write a letter to the Fifth Master, I feel that this fire... is not simple."

Zhuque's thoughts were interrupted, and she nodded subconsciously in response. But she didn't seem to hear the three words "not simple", and only thought that Zhao Jue meant to report it to the higher authorities.

The prefect next to him said cautiously: "I know, I will submit another memorial to the court to explain the situation. Before that, do you want to seal the city first?"

Zhao Jue walked out with his head down, and walked all the way to the door, then turned back and said: "No, so many days have passed, and nothing can be found. It's better to save some energy."

"Send someone to write to other prefectures in my name. Tell them: Keep an eye on the official warehouse. If there is any accident, I will kill them!"

After the voice fell, Zhao Jue got into the carriage and said nothing more. After weighing it just now, he concluded that this fire was most likely not set by Wangshu's people.

In order to verify, he planned to go to Wangshu. If it was really not released by them, then things would be tricky.

After opening the curtain, Zhao turned around and told Baihu: "You go back and wait for me first. Zhuque, come up!"

"Come with me to see someone."