Late Song Dynasty: From Imposter Magistrate to Emperor Donning the Imperial Robe

Chapter 87 Deception

Li Chong was not surprised that Zhong Mei had revealed his identity so readily.

He had already considered this when he decided to hand Deng Meng over to Zhong Mei for disposal.

A person at the end of their rope will stop at nothing to survive.

When Deng Meng sees hope, he will naturally keep quiet; but when he is desperate, he will stop at nothing.

Zhong Mei wanted him dead, so in order to survive, he didn't care whether he kept it a secret or not.

But the outcome remained unchanged: Zhong Mei killed Deng Meng, avenging his father's death.

But for Li Chong, it didn't really matter.

With Deng Meng, the primary source of information, dead, and without corroborating evidence, what can anyone do even if they know he's an imposter?

Without any evidence, who can identify him as the county magistrate who has just made a great contribution?

However, Li Chong had already made arrangements regarding Zhong Mei's knowledge of his identity.

Li Chong pulled her to the edge of the field, further away from the crowd, to prevent others from hearing them.

Li Chong raised an eyebrow: "It seems Deng Meng really did tell you. What? You believe him?"

Zhong Mei remained silent.

When she dragged the half-crippled Deng Meng aside like a dead dog, Deng Meng realized what was going on.

He began to plead frantically, trying to shift all the blame.

Only when Zhong Mei pulled out a dagger and pointed it at him did Deng Meng hysterically shout out a single sentence.

"That man surnamed Li isn't a county magistrate at all! If you believe him, you'll be dead sooner or later!"

Zhong Mei's dagger stopped in front of Deng Meng's neck, his expression stunned.

Deng Meng then quickly explained the whole story, and Zhong Mei finally understood what had happened.

"Good niece, listen to me," Deng Meng continued to plead. "That Li's identity is fake. How could he possibly trust the people in our village? If you keep me alive, you're giving him leverage so you can control him in the future."

"If he really wants to eliminate you completely, you can't just stand there defenseless. Besides, I'm already like this; I'll be a cripple for the rest of my life. Killing me won't do you any good..."

Before the words were finished, a burst of blood appeared.

Zhong Mei, expressionless, plunged the dagger into Deng Meng's neck without the slightest hesitation.

She naturally trusted Li Chong more than Deng Meng.

Moreover, Deng Meng is a venomous snake; even if he were crippled, Zhong Mei wouldn't believe he would behave.

More importantly, her father died at Deng Meng's hands, so how could she possibly let him go?

However, although she had killed him, a sense of emptiness welled up in her heart after taking revenge, causing Zhong Mei to subconsciously start thinking about Li Chong's identity.

Looking back on their time together, Li Chong was indeed unlike any other scholar she had ever met; he was more like an oddball.

To say that he wasn't the real magistrate of Yanggu County would be plausible.

"But does that mean his wife wasn't his first wife?"

For some reason, Zhong Mei felt a surge of joy, but then she suppressed the matter in her heart.

......

Snapping out of his reverie, Zhong Mei's expression turned somber.

She had never intended to use Li Chong's identity as a pretext, but now that she saw Li Chong was truly determined to dismantle the village where she grew up and still want her to continue serving as his maid, she was deeply moved.

This inevitably reminded Zhong Mei of Deng Meng's dying words.

Could it be that Li Chong is really going to completely silence everyone and get rid of anyone who might know his identity?

If that's the case, she absolutely cannot agree!

Thinking of this, Zhong Mei resolutely raised her head: "If you weren't an imposter, why did you go to the trouble of helping them settle down and even allocating land to them? What kind of official are you in this world?"

These days, the prevailing attitude is "to become an official for wealth." Someone like Li Chong, who, after suppressing bandits, still had to find ways to resettle the people and distribute land to them, would be incomprehensible to anyone, let alone Zhong Mei.

The only explanation is that Li Chong has ulterior motives.

Others might think that Li Chong was ambitious for a career in politics and wanted to get promoted through his achievements, but Zhong Mei didn't think so.

After observing for so many days, Zhong Mei was certain that Li Chong was not the kind of person who was obsessed with officialdom. Apart from that, the only other purpose left was to deceive others.

There are quite a few people living in the mountains, and if we act directly, it will inevitably attract attention.

Therefore, Zhongmei could only guess the worst.

Hearing her question, Li Chong couldn't help but smile wryly: "Is it so hard to do a good deed these days?"

He genuinely pitied the people in the mountains. Since there was such an opportunity, and he didn't have to spend any money himself, but let the Zhu family provide the land, it would be perfect for him to improve his reputation.

But in Zhong Mei's eyes, it became circumstantial evidence of her own ulterior motives.

Where can he go to seek justice?

"So what? You suspect I have ulterior motives towards you?" Li Chong looked at Zhong Mei seriously.

After a moment of eye contact, Zhong Mei avoided Li Chong's gaze.

Deep down, she wanted to believe Li Chong and felt that he wasn't that kind of person, but reason told her that she had to be responsible for everyone in the mountains.

"Alright." Li Chong put his hands behind his back and slowly said, "Since that's the case, I'll tell you the truth. That's right, I'm not the real magistrate; I'm an imposter."

Zhong Mei stared at him blankly.

After a long pause, she asked blankly, "And your wife...?"

Seeing her appearance, Li Chong suddenly felt a pang of self-reproach.

"Is it somewhat unethical of me to fool a young girl like this?"

But thinking about what might happen in the future, Li Chong could only harden his heart and continue to sigh.

"That's right, she was the former magistrate's wife. I am indeed an imposter."

"So you want to demolish our village because you're afraid someone in the village will still remember that robbery and expose your identity?"

Li Chong wondered if it was just his imagination, but he felt that Zhong Mei's tone had suddenly become more relaxed.

He shook his head and continued, "When did I ever plan to demolish your village? As for your identity, you say I'm a fake, do you have any proof? So, I don't care about you at all."

"Not demolishing the village?"

Zhong Mei was somewhat surprised: "You've distributed land to everyone, who would still want to live in the village?"

"Of course there are, like your two uncles." Li Chong turned and put his hand on Zhong Mei's shoulder, looking at her as he said, "In your village, there are law-abiding villagers, but there are also unstable elements like your third uncle. If we let them come down the mountain to forage for a living, I'm afraid he'll run back to the mountains sooner or later!"

"In that case, why not simply leave your village as it is, let the elderly and weak go down the mountain to live as civilians, and let the rest of you stay in the village!"

Zhong Mei was completely dumbfounded: "Stay in the village? What will they do then? Will they continue robbing?"

Could it be that Li Chong's whole ordeal was just to change the owner of the village?

Li Chong's purpose was certainly not that simple.

"Of course I'm not asking them to become bandits. I'm an official appointed by the imperial court now; how could I openly support lawbreakers?"

After a pause, Li Chong asked in a seductive tone, "Little Mei, have you ever heard of a security escort agency?"