"Don't worry about that, sir. The Emperor has punished those people." Xu Qing said patting the old man's hand. He did not know how to explain to those villagers. He could not tell them it was the Prime Minister, the Empress's father, who embezzled the funds for the dam and only lost his position as punishment.

Thinking that those villagers might lose hope after knowing the truth, he just said those words.

"Mr. Xu, is it true that the Emperor appointed you as the prefect of Jiandu?" A woman interrupted when the old man was about to ask something else.

Xu Qing nodded at the villagers.

After confirmation, all the villagers felt quite happy and said in the crowd, "We feel quite assured to have you as our prefect. The Emperor shows his great discernment in the choice of you."

"That's right! Under the leadership of Prefect Xu, our life will be better and better."

All the villagers were talking about this.

Hearing their words, Xu Qing's smile turned frozen.

He knew that the Emperor was not like the person the villagers had thought him to be. Although tens of thousands of people lost their lives in the flood of Jiandu, the Emperor only dismissed Prime Minister Lan from his post.

Moreover, the dam was all funded by Marquis Shuo. Although the Emperor appointed him as the prefect, he neither took any follow-up measures nor mentioned the disaster relief fund.

However, seeing that all the villagers were delighted, he could not bear to tell them the truth.

Then they could only rely on the harvest of potato. Hope they could survive this winter.

At this moment, a sound came from the crowd, "Everyone, please be quiet."

Hearing that, all the people looked back and saw Li Ming, Xu Qing's right hand.

Seeing that people gathered here, many others also came. They did not know Xu Qing had come back until getting closed. It was good news for them that Xu Qing had become the prefect.

As all the people were quiet, Li Ming walked up to Xu Qing, "Your Excellency." He said arching his hands.

Then he turned to the villagers, "My dear folks, Prefect Xu has been on the way for several days. Please let him go back and have a rest."

Hearing that, those people patted their legs and said, "That makes sense. We only focus on our own pleasure!"

Then someone said to Xu Qing, "Your Excellency, you must be tired after such a long journey. Please go back and take a rest!"

"Then I will go back." Xu Qing said with a smile.

Then Xu Qing got on the carriage and went back to the residence of the prefect.

When he reached the destination, Li Ming came up and said, "Your Excellency, we arrive."

"Fine," replied Xu Qing, opening the curtain and getting off the carriage.

Then he looked at the gate, finding that the previous plaque was still hanging on it and the door was covered in cobwebs. It was quite desolate.

Then Li Ming walked to Xu Qing and said, "Your Excellency, the previous prefect's wife and children might think that they would be killed, so they left that very night after knowing you went to Jing City."

"Fine, let's go in." Xu Qing nodded and walked in.

After entering the courtyard, he found it quite different from what it used to be. Xu Qing walked straightly to the prefect's court without staying in the courtyard for too long.

Before he entering the court, he found that the plaque with the characters "Clear Mirror Hung on High" (which meant an impartial and discerning judge) hanging high in the middle of the hall had fallen and was covered with a thick layer of dust.

Xu Qing walked to that plaque and stopped to flick the dust off it, which caused him to cough.

Seeing that, Li Ming hurriedly walked up and said, "Your Excellency, let me do that."

Xu Qing raised his hand to refuse.

Then Li Ming stepped aside.

Then Xu Qing went on cleaning the plaque. In a few moments, the characters could be seen clearly.

Li Ming and some others hung up the plaque again.

After that, they started to tidy up the court.

The court soon became clean and tidy.

Xu Qing walked forward to the plaque. Seeing the plaque with the characters hanging above him, he finally sat under it.

Then he gently touched the gavel on his right.

His title as a prefect was acquired at the cost of tens of thousands of lives in Jiandu.

Although he was dissatisfied with the Emperor's behavior, he knew that as an ordinary person he was too weak to fight against the Emperor. Therefore, he accepted the job as a prefect.

He knew that the Emperor just wanted the whole thing to end by doing this. After all, this matter was a family scandal.

Now that he was in this position, he knew the burden on his shoulder was very heavy. The only thing he could do now was to remain true to his original aspiration and do more for the people so that the people of Jiandu could survive this disaster year.

Thinking of this, Xu Qing put the gavel in place and beckoned Li Ming over.

"Your Excellency." Said Li Ming, arching his hands.

"What about others?" Xu Qing asked.

Li Ming replied, "Zheng Qiu is on the dam and others are helping those elderly villagers do farm work."

Xu Qing nodded and continued, "OK, what about the dam?"

Li Ming replied, "With Master Liang Cheng supervising the work in person and Marquis Shuo's subordinate Young Master Xiao coming to pay the helpers on time every day, all the people are full of energy, and the construction is nearly completed."

Hearing that, Xu Qing smiled and stood up, "Good, let's go to have a look."

However, Li Ming quickly said, "Your Excellency."

"Anything wrong?" Xu Qing frowned and asked.

Then Li Ming replied, "You must be tired after such a long journey. So I think you'd better have a rest at first."

"Ha-ha, it doesn't matter. I was so bored on the way. I just go to see what is going on." Xu Qing smiled.

Li Ming wanted to say something else but was interrupted by Xu Qing, "Let's go. Be quick."

"Yes, Your Excellency." Li Ming nodded and followed Xu Qing.

Those subordinates sent by the Emperor looked at each other and walked to the inner hall.

It needed a thorough clean-up!

On the dam of Jiandu

"Be quick. Carry these things there. We must finish the work here today. Hurry up!" Liang Cheng was directing the workers.

It was not he who was in a hurry. Although the temperature of Jiandu was much warmer than that of Jing City, it was now in late autumn. According to his previous experience, it would rain in a few days and the rainy days might continue for some time in late autumn.

Therefore, he wanted to take advantage of the good weather to get the dam completed before the rain came so as not to delay the project.

Xiao Mu beside him received Shuo Ling's letter, saying that he should hand over this matter to Xu Qing after he arrived in Jiandu and went to the border directly.

Seeing that, Xiao Mu frowned and thought that there must be something wrong with the border.

However, he had not heard of Xu Qing's return from Jing City.

Xiao Mu put the letters away and went out of the tent. He decided to ask Zheng Qiu on the dam.

At that time, Zheng Qiu was helping carry the things. Then he saw Xiao Mu beckoned him over.

Seeing that, Zheng Qiu waved his hand, meaning that he would come over right now.

Then he put down the things and said to the people beside him, "I'll go back soon."

Then he ran to Xiao Mu.

Zheng Qiu flicked the dust off his body and came up to Xiao Mu, "Young Master Xiao, what's up?"

Xiao Mu smiled, "Nothing special. Did any of you receive Community Head Xu's letter? Or do you know when he will come back to Jiandu?"

"No, we didn't. But as the Community Head has left for such a long time, he might come back very soon." Said Zheng Qiu, shaking his head.

Xiao Mu nodded.

Then Zheng Qiu asked, "Anything wrong?"

"It's not a big deal. Just go ahead with your stuff." Xiao Mu patted Zheng Qiu's shoulder and said.

At this time, Zheng Qiu saw Xu Qing behind Xiao Mu. He pointed with his finger and said, "Young Master Xiao, Community Head Xu is back."

Then he ran to the back of Xiao Mu.

Xiao Mu turned back and found that Xu Qing and Li Ming were walking here.

"Mr. Xu, you are back. Young Master Xiao just now asked me when you would come back." Zheng Qiu came up to Xu Qing and said with a smile.

Li Ming coughed slightly behind Xu Qing and then whispered to Zheng Qiu, "Now His Excellency was no longer the Community Head. The Emperor has appointed him as the prefect of Jiandu."

Hearing that, Zheng Qiu did a double-take and asked doubtfully, "Prefect? Appointed by the Emperor? Does that mean His Excellency gets a promotion? The prefect?"

Xu Qing nodded to him.

Seeing that, Zheng Qiu put on a happy face and then quickly knelt on one knee, arched his hands, and said, "Your Excellency."

"Get up quickly. Just avoid those mere courtesies." Xu Qing said to Zheng Qiu.

"Thanks, Your Excellency." Zheng Qiu stood up.

Xiao Mu came over. Hearing Zheng Qiu's words, he smiled, arched his hands, and said to Xu Qing, "Your Excellency, congratulations! That's good news for the people of Jiandu with you being the prefect."

Hearing that, Xu Qing waved his hand and said, "Young Master Xiao, you are flattering me! That's my job to seek happiness for the people."

Xiao Mu continued, "You are too modest."

"Young Master Xiao, you must be troubled these days." Xu Qing said.

Xiao Mu shook his head, "I just do some arrangement and supervision work."

"I heard that Young Master Xiao asked if I came back to Jiandu. Is there anything wrong?" Xu Qing remembered Zheng Qiu's words and then asked Xiao Mu.

Xiao Mu nodded, "Yes. Could I have a word with you?"

"OK." Xu Qing nodded and followed Xiao Mu to the tent.

Entering the tent, Xiao Mu beckoned Xu Qing to sit down and showed him those letters.

Xu Qing took over those letters and read them. Then he frowned and asked Xiao Mu, "Anything wrong with the border?"

"I don't know. It isn't mentioned in the letters. But I think it will not be something good." Xiao Mu shook his head and said to Xu Qing.