The Lucky Farmgirl

At that time, Wei Zhi wanted to summon Bai Qi for questioning, only to find out upon inquiry that this scholar, who had passed the imperial examination in the first year of Dazhen, had not been transferred to another location. He had died in the second year of Dazhen.

He died while in office, during a bandit suppression campaign.

Having previously worked in the Ministry of Justice, Wei Zhi’s intuition honed from adjudicating cases told him there was something not normal about it.

Thus, he set aside the investigation on the Jianwei Canal and turned to look into Bai Qi instead.

Two years had passed, and nothing could be discerned from the financial records of the Jianwei Canal. He knew there were issues with it, but without evidence, everything was in vain.

So, he investigated Bai Qi.

Everyone who had been with Bai Qi back then had all died, including not only his servants but also some local government runners. Assistant County Magistrate He Ziyun of that year and his eldest son died together, all in the name of suppressing bandits.

Wei Zhi felt greater resistance when investigating Bai Qi than when he looked into the Jianwei Canal.

For instance, if he requested to see the accounts of the Jianwei Canal at the Yizhou Prefecture, they would hand them over without blinking an eye, and no one stopped him from meeting the laborers who had worked on the construction of the canal.

But when he searched for some former acquaintances to ask about Bai Qi, there were those who persistently obstructed him again and again, and the questioned parties were always elusive in their speech.

He had previously seen the case files and various notes from Bai Qi’s time in office, but overnight, a fire broke out at the Shu County office, burning all those records.