Xia Wenjin, with a half-smile, said, "Didn't you not believe it when it was reported to you?"
"I... didn't say I didn't believe it, just that it needed to be investigated. Yes, I said it needed investigation! I was just fooled by that scoundrel Zhang Jiantang."
She glanced at the embarrassed Mayor Wang, "I wonder if the County Magistrate will believe it when it's reported to him? I think a County Magistrate is more familiar with matters of the Capital City, so he might believe it? If the County Magistrate doesn't believe it, then there's still the Prefect. If the Prefect doesn't believe it, there's also the Lord Governor!"
Mayor Wang wiped his sweat.
How could he have ever met the Prefect or the Lord Governor? Even the County Magistrate, he had only seen from afar three years ago. They were figures he could only admire from a distance, lofty and unattainable. Yet, the young man before him mentioned them with such ease.
