Allure of a Country Maiden-Chapter 857 - 855_1

Early the next morning, Gong Qinghua personally led a group to the suburbs to transport the grain from two granaries back to the city.

He was heartbroken. Handing over this grain meant his years-long plans were suddenly ruined, but the fear of the Emperor’s suspicion and rejection was even more terrible.

In order to demonstrate his loyalty, he had no choice but to transport the grain early in the morning.

The rising sun had not been aloft long when the granary doors were knocked upon.

Upon hearing the noise outside, hundreds of wolfdogs ran swiftly in the direction of the entrance, barking as they did.

Seeing that it was Gong Qinghua who had arrived, the granary manager hurriedly stopped the wolfdogs, then opened the gate and respectfully greeted Gong Qinghua, "Your Lordship."

Gong Qinghua nodded his head and entered, "Bring out all the rice and load it onto the carriages."

Gong Qinghua pointed towards the caravan that had followed him.

As soon as the wolfdogs saw Gong Qinghua stepping in, they promptly ran away. To them, this master was a bit terrifying.

"Yes, my lord, how much grain do you intend to move?"

"All of it!" With these two words leaving his mouth, a pang of pain struck Gong Qinghua’s heart. This was the grain that he had spent several years growing! The grain, which was supposed to serve a significant purpose, was now all gone!

"All of it?" The granary manager was taken aback when he heard this.

"Yes, hurry up! Pack everything; we’ll strive to transport it all by tomorrow morning!" Gong Qinghua was slightly impatient, and his face darkened.

The amount of grain in the granary was substantial. He had arranged for twenty carriages for transportation, but they likely wouldn’t finish by sundown.

Seeing this, the granary manager dared not say anything more, he promptly went to make the arrangements. However, he couldn’t help but mumble to himself: Was there a war breaking out that required so much grain to be transported at once?

The granary manager led the men to the storage area. With a large set of keys, he opened the door to the first granary. He then instructed the men behind him, "Hurry in and move the grain out. Don’t waste the master’s time."

Having delivered his instructions, he went to open the doors of the next room.

Halfway through his task, the granary manager heard a shriek, "Manager! The grain is gone!"

The granary manager quickly turned around, "What happened? How much is missing? Was it stolen by rats?"

Gong Qinghua, who had been standing outside, felt a surge of dread upon hearing the shout from inside. He quickly walked forward, pushing past the people blocking the doorway, and entered.

"It wasn’t eaten by rats, there’s not a single grain of rice left in the granary!" The same person spoke again, but this time his voice wavered slightly, clearly he was frightened.

Gazing at the granary, which was empty without even a single grain of rat feces, Gong Qinghua quickly turned to look at the granary manager. With a loud voice unlike anything they had heard before, he roared, "Manager Ma, what the hell happened here?!"

Manager Ma glanced back at the empty granary and stood dumbfounded. Gong Qinghua’s booming voice startled him, and he stuttered, "My...my lord, I...I don’t know! Yesterday, I...I even ordered the rice to be turned and dried in the sunlight, and it was all moved back into the granary in the evening. So, where...where has all the rice gone?"

"You..." Gong Qinghua turned pale with rage. He thought of something and held back his words of reprimand, instead demanding, "Quickly open the doors to the other rooms, and see if the grain is still there!"

The Granary officer, hearing this, quickly rushed out. He was so agitated that he tripped over the threshold and nearly fell.

Gong Qinghua followed behind him and seeing his clumsy demeanor, couldn’t help but curse, "Good for nothing!"

The granary manager was so frightened that his legs were shaking, but he still sped toward the next storage room with all he had.

The second granary door was opened — completely empty.

The third granary door was opened — completely empty.

...

The last granary door was opened — and it was completely empty!

Ten granaries in total, all completely empty!

The granary manager collapsed onto the ground, his face filled with disbelief, "How is this possible? Where has all the grain gone? I checked every granary just yesterday, all the grain was there!"

Gong Qinghua was so furious that his lips were trembling and he was momentarily speechless!

Seeing the master in such a state, no one dared to even breathe heavily.

Everyone fell silent. freēnovelkiss.com

This was too bizarre!

The door wasn’t broken, the wolfdogs didn’t bark, and hundreds of thousands of pounds of grain vanished overnight without a trace!

Not a single grain was left!

After a long while...

No one knew exactly how much time had passed when someone glanced at the sun in the sky, then at the shadows of the people under the sun, and couldn’t help but say, "Could it have been stolen by some monster or ghost?"

Upon hearing these words, Gong Qinghua finally found his voice again and for the first time in his life, he cursed, "Bullshit!"

The man was so scolded he dared not utter another word. His face flushed red, and he couldn’t help but take another glance at the sun, hoping more sunlight would spill onto him.

Gong Qinghua turned to look at the granary manager. His anger made his face contort and his voice was filled with confrontation: "Manager Ma, where has the grain gone!"

Manager Ma quickly knelt down, "My Lord, this servant truly doesn’t know. Yesterday, I and Manager Tong sent people to check the storage condition of the grain in every granary. We even took out the slightly damp grain to air, to prevent it from becoming moldy or being eaten by insects."

Manager Tong was the deputy manager of the granary, and the two of them alternated guarding the granary.

Upon hearing Manager Ma’s words, Manager Tong nodded, "My Lord, the grain was truly here yesterday. We moved quite a lot of rice out to dry, only returning them to the granary after the sun set. Many people here can attest to that!"

Gong Qinghua stared at them, his eyes menacing. "Are you saying the grain was still here yesterday, but it was stolen overnight?"

"It seems like it!" He couldn’t think of any other explanation.

"But who has the ability to not raise the alarm of any wolf, not disturb any person, not damage a single lock, and quietly remove hundreds of thousands of pounds of grain overnight?" Only Gods could do such a thing, thought Manager Ma, but he dared not say it out loud!

"Manager Ma, Manager Tong, think about any suspicious occurrences last night! At the same time, find out who the mole is! Without an inside job, this much grain could not have just disappeared like that! Once you have thought things through, report back to me!"

Gong Qinghua’s expression changed as if he just remembered something. He quickly issued a few orders and then rode away.

The other granary was not far from here. If one rode quickly, one could reach it within the time it took for an incense stick to burn.

Upon arriving at the other granary, Gong Qinghua without uttering another word, directed the granary manager to open the doors to all rooms storing grain.

Similarly, all ten rooms were empty, even devoid of dust, as if they had just been swept clean.

"Ah!" Gong Qinghua couldn’t help but scream out loud.