"Your Highness, please go to bed early. I will retire first."
"Um."
As soon as Shi Kailin and his men left, Liu Qi asked Qin Wei to close the door.
The dinner did not last long, and the food was not sumptuous.
Moreover, unlike other officials, Skelin behaved a bit rigidly at the table and would not say any polite words to make people happy.
"Your Highness, Governor Shi is not a bad person. Not only is he loved by the people, but he is also honest and a good official."
Liu Qi sat on the chair, thinking deeply.
After a moment, he shook his head slightly.
"Something is wrong. I always feel that something is wrong."
Qin Wei glanced at the door and suddenly became alert.
"Your Highness, what's wrong?"
"I don't know. Although all signs indicate that Shi Kelin is an upright official, I always feel that something is wrong."
Captain Qin breathed a sigh of relief. Just now he thought there was something unsafe around him.
"What's wrong?"
"In short, everything is so good that I can hardly find any faults."
"Qin Lieutenant, do you believe there are such incorruptible officials? Look, as a fourth-grade official, he doesn't even have decent furniture."
Hearing this, Qin Wei smiled.
"Your Highness, I will see if you think too much."
"Perhaps you have met so many corrupt officials in the court that the appearance of such an upright official made you a little uncomfortable for a while."
"The general is still willing to believe that there are some different officials in Daqing."
Liu Qi nodded.
"Well, I hope that I am overthinking it. Just step back. If anything happens, I will come back to you."
Qin Wei walked away and closed the door.
But Liu Qi was not in a hurry to rest.
He walked to the side of the room and opened the window. You can see that across the house, there is a horse pen behind.
In the horse pen, there was a groom feeding the horses.
Just in time, someone came in with a horse. It was the horse of the prince and others.
The groom is still mute. The people who came in showed signs with him for a while, and then he led all the horses into a separate pen.
Liu Qi was thinking deeply while watching.
Shi Kailin, is it true that I have mistaken you?
...
Early the next morning, a knock on the door woke up Liu Qi, who was sleeping soundly.
"Your Highness, Chief Registrar Jia He is here."
Liu Qi met this Jia He yesterday. He can be said to be Shi Kelin's right-hand man.
In contrast, this person is actually more trouble-making, saying things that make people happy.
But Liu Qi didn't particularly like such people.
After a while, the prince finally walked out of the room.
Jia Hezheng stood at the door with an attentive look on his face.
"Your Highness, Mr. Shi is in charge of a case in the office, and has specially asked his subordinates to wait on His Highness and go to have a meal."
Handling a case? This reminded Liu Qi of the scene in his previous life on TV where Bao Gong adjudicated the case.
"There's no rush. It just so happens that I also want to see how Mr. Shi resolves the case."
...
Walking from the side door until they arrived outside the government office, Liu Qi and his party deliberately kept silent and stood behind the crowd.
Inside, in the lobby, two common people were kneeling.
Different from his previous amiable appearance, Shikelin's face at this time was majestic and his eyes were like torches.
Wearing a dark blue satin official uniform, the four characters "Justice and Integrity" are embroidered on the chest. These four characters seem to shine with justice in the sun.
In front of the case table, there was a middle-aged man with a face full of pain. His name was Zhang San, and he was the victim of the theft in the case.
On the other side, a young man named Li Si looked terrified because he was accused of being the thief.
Shi Kailin glanced at the two of them, and then he turned to John Si.
"Li Si, can you admit that you stole Zhang San's property?"
Li Si trembled.
"My lord, I...I didn't."
His eyes were firm, and although his face was full of fear, he still had the courage to defend himself.
Shi Kelin was silent for a while, then turned to Zhang San with a stern tone.
"Zhang San, you said Li Si took your money, do you have any evidence?"
Zhang San lowered his head.
"Sir, do you need evidence for this? Si Li's family is poor. Who else could he be?"
Skylin frowned.
"Is a poor family a reason to steal your finances? Ridiculous!"
Shi Kailin then turned to John Doe.
"Li Si, what do you have to say about this?"
Li Si's face was filled with tears.
"Sir, Xiaomin is wronged. I never set foot in Zhang San's room that day. It was not me at all!"
Shi Kelin was silent for a while.
"Zhang San, has Li Si left your house since yesterday?"
"Sir, I never left!"
"Okay, since Li Si denies taking your money, I will now search him and your house. If you don't have your money, what will you do?"
After hearing this, Zhang San suddenly became nervous.
"Sir, maybe I forgot where I left the small one. I'll just let it go."
"Forget it? No, since we have already gone to court, why forget it? Someone is coming..."
"Sir, please tell the truth. I hid the money and my aunt was very strict about it, so I treated it as private money. Today there is less money and my aunt asked me to look for it, so..."
"How dare Zhang San make false accusations in front of this officer, come here! Give him thirty blows!"
Zhang San panicked immediately.
"Sir, I was wrong! Please spare me. I paid for the construction of the East Bridge in the city!"
But Shi Kailin acted as if he didn't hear it and still asked his subordinates to carry out the instructions.
Within a moment, Zhang San's miserable screams rang out in the lobby.
Li Si knelt on the ground and looked at Shi Kailin on the desk, his eyes filled with gratitude.
The people outside also applauded one after another, saying that Shi Kelin was their Qingtian Grand Master, who was fair and selfless and would not bend to power.
It was different from what Liu Qi thought.
Many of the subsequent cases were very trivial matters, such as cock-crowing, dog-robbery, or household chores.
But Shi Kelin did not find it troublesome at all, and his judgment was very fair. He did not favor anyone with any status, nor did he say that he should take more care of any person because of his low status.
Looking at the people again, their eyes were full of respect for Schkelin.
The four big characters on the plaque in the courtroom, "Justice and Integrity", seem to be referring to Shi Kelin.
"Quit!"
With a loud shout, the people applauded and praised Shi Kelin one after another.
Shi Kelin behaved very humbly, smiling and nodding his head, as if he were the same as before.
"Folks, please go back and do your own business."
Starting from seeing this scene.
Liu Qi began to doubt himself again. Did he really think too much? No matter how you look at it, Shi Kelin is a good official.
Well, if this is really the case, when there is an opportunity, we must promote him heavily.
While he was thinking, Qin Wei suddenly came closer and patted his arm.
Liu Qi turned around and followed him away from the crowd.
"What's wrong?"
"Your Highness, General Han Zhong is here."
