Yun Prefecture.
Longjing City.
Early morning, outside the county yamen.
"My heavens! No way, right? Who's spreading rumors? Lord Zhuo was an incorruptible official who loved the people as his own children! How could he have embezzled and accepted bribes totaling thirty thousand taels of silver? Killed three people and dumped their bodies in a dry well?"
"Was that thing really only three breaths long? His favorite concubine Huang Ying had an affair with his eldest son, Zhuo Yidao? Lord Zhuo's youngest son was actually his grandson? That's incest! I don't believe it!"
"Who was so bold as to slander Lord Zhuo?"
"..."
Nearly a hundred commoners, along with wandering martial artists, stared at a sheet of paper on the wall and talked animatedly.
Over the years, Governor of Yunzhou Lord Zhuo had enjoyed an excellent reputation throughout Yun Prefecture. He was fair and incorruptible. When Yun Prefecture suffered floods, he had rushed to the front of the flood relief efforts, going days and nights without sleep until he collapsed from exhaustion. He dressed very plainly and never rode in a sedan chair when he traveled.
How could such a good official have embezzled thirty thousand taels of silver?
And even killed three people and thrown their bodies into a dry well?
Just then, more than a dozen constables came over, tore down the sheet of paper, and took it away.
The same scene.
Nearly a hundred such notices had appeared in prominent places throughout Longjing City—at taverns, teahouses, crossroads, city gates, markets, and more.
For a time.
The whole of Longjing City was abuzz with discussion, though the vast majority of the commoners refused to believe it.
Yun Tian Prefecture.
Three in the afternoon.
Zhuo Qiuhang, wearing a black gauze official's cap, sat behind his desk handling case files.