My Husband Comes from the Future

by Usui Takumii

not mine, shangai fantasy. After chapter 94 is MTL. Also at ao3.

9. 81 to 90

Chapter 81: Separation

Despite their anger, Jin Xiaoye and Jin Xiaoshu still waited until they finished their meal before going to the Jin family's house.

On the way there, Jin Xiaoye said to Li Qingzhi and Fang Jinniang, "You two go to the new house, boil some water, and have some tea. You don't need to come with us."

The so-called new house was the two rooms newly built by Jin Xiaoshu.

Jin Xiaoye and Jin Xiaoshu had decided to cause a scene, and Li Qingzhi and Fang Jinniang were better off not getting involved.

In a way, they were all surnamed Jin, and blood ties ran deep. Even if they argued fiercely, things would still return to normal eventually.

But if Fang Jinniang and Li Qingzhi went along, they might incur the grandmother's resentment.

And then there were their parents; these two were accustomed to being placid. They might not want to split the family, and seeing their daughters-in-law interfering might cause some trouble.

"Alright, we'll wait for you in the new house," Li Qingzhi said, leading Li Damao and Li Ermao.

These days without smartphones, computers, or televisions, the two children were bored at home. When they learned their parents were going out, they insisted on coming along.

Li Qingzhi and Fang Jinniang entered the new house built by Jin Xiaoshu with their two children.

It was quite cold that day, so boiling water would provide some warmth. The charcoal left from the previous fire could be put into the stove later for heating.

While Fang Jinniang was heating water, the sound of an argument came from next door.

By the time Jin Xiaoye and Jin Xiaoshu returned, the atmosphere in the Jin family was already tense. The village head, along with Jin Dajiang, had arrived at the Jin family's house and informed them about the need for another person to be sent away.

"We've already sent someone away from our family, why do we have to send another?" Aunt Jin was not pleased upon hearing this.

"Dajiang is past the eligible age, so he doesn't count," the village head explained.

"How come he doesn't count? Aren't there enough people being sent away like this? Didn't Jin Biantou at the village entrance send his underage nephew to serve as a substitute for his own son?" Aunt Jin retorted.

Jin Biantou's sister's husband had fallen ill ten years ago. Not wanting to die, he sold their land to afford treatment for himself, but in the end, he passed away and they lost their land.

Jin Biantou's sister had to return to her parents' home with her son. Later, she remarried, but her son stayed with Jin Biantou.

Jin Biantou didn't drive away his nephew; he provided him with food, but he wasn't particularly kind to him. This time, when the government conscripted laborers, he sent his sixteen-year-old nephew as a substitute for his own son.

The village head was aware of this matter and said, "Regardless, you have to send someone else! The county magistrate has instructed Dajiang to help in the kitchen. Now our village is short of one laborer."

The village head briefly explained the situation during the day, intending to use Li Qingzhi and County Magistrate Gou to pressure the Jin family.

This made Aunt Jin even angrier. "Alright then, so it's Li Qingzhi's doing! What have we done to offend him? Why does he want to harm us like this?"

Li Qingzhi was definitely targeting them intentionally!

As the argument continued, Jin Xiaoye arrived with Jin Xiaoshu. As soon as Jin Xiaoye arrived, she said, "I want to ask, where did my father offend you? He's already so old, and you still let him go and build the dock!"

Building the dock! Although they were only digging mud these days, soon they would be moving stones!

"He volunteered himself; nobody forced him with a knife!"

"If you don't want to go, just pay up. Why bully my father?"

"We've paid up! We contribute to the communal fund every month!"

…

The argument escalated with neither side backing down.

Jin Xiaoye and Jin Xiaoshu were both upset, as was Aunt Jin's family.

Every month, they had to pay a bill to the public office, and that was no small amount!

If they could spend that money themselves, they could afford to eat meat every day.

When Jin Dajiang saw his family quarreling, he was frantic and wanted to intervene with Jin Xiaoye and Jin Xiaoshu. However, he had no authority in front of his children and couldn't control them at all.

The village head stood calmly beside me, watching. He had seen plenty of such quarrels before. In some families, with many siblings, they would even come to blows.

There were four brothers surnamed Wang in their village, all quite poor and often unable to get enough to eat. Coupled with the favoritism their parents showed to the youngest son…

After their mother became unable to work, none of them wanted to support her, so they fought.

Later, the old lady went to live with the youngest son, but not long after, she died. She died of skin and bones from hunger. Then the three older brothers went and beat up the youngest son again.

To the village head, the situation in the Jin family wasn't much.

But the Jin family should have split up long ago. It was just that Grandma Jin was so formidable, she could keep both sons in check.

The village head smiled as he watched the commotion. When Grandma Jin saw her family making a scene in front of outsiders, she was furious: "Jin Xiaoye! You're already married, why do you come back home to cause trouble?"

"Even if I'm married, Jin Dajiang is still my father. Can't I speak up if he's being treated unfairly?" Jin Xiaoye asked.

"How is he being treated unfairly?"

"He's so old, yet you make him go work at the dock. Isn't that unfair? Aside from this, when the government used to conscript labor, it was basically always my father who went. Their family never got any compensation, why is that?" Jin Xiaoye was very angry.

She remembered when she was young, one summer her father was accidentally hit by a passing boat while dredging mud from the river. He nearly lost his life… her grandmother was especially stingy, she didn't even want to spend money on her father's medical treatment…

She was strong-willed, but it was forced out of her.

"We have to pay bills to the public office every month, and now we have to work at the dock. Isn't that unfair?" Jin Liushu also chimed in. This time, he didn't want to go. Just paying one or two silver coins, barely over a thousand wen, would suffice!

"You paid the money, and we didn't spend a penny of it. If you're not satisfied, go ask Grandma for the money!" Jin Xiaoye retorted.

In fact, Uncle Jin's family also had plenty of grievances.

When Jin Liushu and his two brothers were younger, Jin Dajiang could work, so they endured.

But this year, during the busy farming season, Jin Xiaoshu didn't want to work in the fields, and Jin Dajiang, being older, couldn't do as much work… they felt very unfair.

"You've gone too far!" Grandma Jin angrily exclaimed.

"What do you mean we've gone too far, Grandma? Clearly, you've been too biased, tipping the scales in one direction!" Jin Xiaoye exclaimed.

Jin Liushu looked at Grandma Jin. "Grandma, I want to split up the family!"

Jin Xiaoshu added, "Yeah! I want to split up too!"

In fact, Jin Liushu and the others had wanted to split up for a long time. After the split, they could live however they wanted. It would be great!

They hadn't split up before because Uncle Jin was afraid of what people in the village would say about him favoring his brothers.

Anyway, now that there was a chance, everyone wanted to split.

Aunt Jin said angrily, "Jin Xiaoye is here complaining that we don't give her father any money, so why should we give any money? I, for one, won't pay the public office anymore!"

Aunt Jin's three sons all stood by her side and said, "Yeah! We won't pay either!"

Jin Xiaoshu retorted, "It's not like anyone's desperate for your money!"

Grandma Jin stared blankly at her four grandsons in front of her. She suddenly seemed much older. Finally, she said, "Then let's split up."

"Great! Let's split up the family quickly!" Jin Xiaoye said.

Grandma Jin glared fiercely at Jin Xiaoye.

The village head chimed in, "Yes, let's split up soon. Big sister, you've been refusing to split the family for so long; be careful not to turn the younger generation against each other."

"I've already figured out how to split it up a long time ago. We'll wait for Dahai to come back before we split," Grandma Jin said.

"No need to wait for Dahai to come back; we can split now!" Aunt Jin interjected. She was afraid that if they didn't do it today, Grandma Jin wouldn't want to split up the family anymore.

Aunt Jin usually didn't like Jin Xiaoye much, but what she really couldn't stand was Grandma Jin. Apart from anything else, the fact that Grandma Jin made them eat brown rice every day was unbearable.

And besides… who wouldn't want to be in charge?

"The other day, Xiaoshu's father-in-law came back, and who knows when he'll come back again… Let's split now!" Jin Liushu added.

Jin Xiaoshu and Jin Xiaoye also wanted to quickly settle things, looking at Grandma Jin together.

Grandma Jin looked even more despondent.

Grandma Jin was getting old. She knew that her two sons would have to split up eventually, and she had long thought about it. In fact, she had even figured out how to split things up. If they didn't split up soon, her two sons would probably become enemies… "So, you want to split, huh? Then let's split today!"

Grandma Jin explained her plan for the split that she had already worked out: "We have two acres of land fields bought with the money earned by the eldest son. The eldest son has more children, and I'll be living with the eldest son's family in the future… In the family, there are twelve acres of land fields, three mu for the second son's family, and nine acres for the eldest son's family."

With Grandma Jin's proposed division, she actually intended to give one of her grandsons three acres of land fields.

Hearing this, Jin Xiaoye sneered, "Grandma, you always say Uncle earns more, that my parents have to rely on Uncle. Is this what you call relying?"

Originally, the Jin family had twelve acres of land fields, more than the Yao family's original ten acres.

Of course, because the Jin family had more members, before Yao sold his land, the villagers considered the Yao family to be wealthier.

Out of the twelve acres of land fields in the Jin family, ten acres were originally theirs, and Grandma Jin had bought two acres a few years ago.

Jin Xiaoye knew that Grandma Jin favored her Uncle's family, which had always been obvious, but she hadn't expected Grandma to only give them three acres of land fields.

Usually, in the village, when there were two sons in a family and both had families of their own, the property was divided equally, and the elderly couple rotated between the two households for meals.

But now? Uncle's family got nine acres of land fields, while their family only got three!

Her father had planted so much land in previous years, not only to feed their family but also to sell the surplus crops for money, yet they hadn't received a penny… Now, after the split, her father was getting such a small share. It was quite interesting.

Even Jin Dajiang was dumbfounded.

Grandma Jin had previously said that the two acres of land fields bought later would go to Jin Dahai, and Jin Dajiang had no objection to this. But he thought he would get five acres of land fields.

Grandma Jin also seemed a little uneasy. "I will give you money! The four acres of dry land in the family will be equally divided between your two families!"

In Miaoqian Village, dry land was far less valuable than land fields, but Jin Xiaoye didn't argue endlessly. She just looked at Grandma Jin, waiting to see how she would distribute the money.

The Jin family had a bit of savings, and Grandma Jin was especially frugal—clearly she had wood at home, but she always put in less straw when cooking rice, serving everyone half-cooked rice.

Plus, Uncle Jin paid twelve tael of silver to the family every year, and they also made money from selling grain, vegetables, and eggs… She could save at least fifteen taels of silver a year.

Before, she had spent some money on Jin Liushu, Jin Mulangshu, and even on Jin Xiaoshu's wedding expenses, but she hadn't spent much. In the end, she had even taken out over two hundred taels of silver.

Jin Xiaoye was a bit surprised, and Jin Liushu and the others were even more shocked.

With so much money in Grandma Jin's hands, what had they been eating all this time?

Grandma Jin said, "Some of this money I will keep as a private reserve, and the rest of the two hundred taels will be divided equally between you two families, one hundred taels each. Since Xiaoshu has already built a new house and prepared for the family, the old house and belongings in the family will go to the eldest son's family…"

"Grandma, based on the money Uncle has contributed to the family over the years, it's less than twelve taels per year in silver, and he's only been a soldier's servant for sixteen years, meaning he's only contributed about a hundred and fifty taels of silver to the family. If you want to give them an additional six acres, those six acres of land are already worth a hundred and fifty taels! Now you're still favoring them when dividing the houses, and I won't accept it!" Jin Xiaoye looked at Grandma Jin. "Why should all the houses and belongings in the family go to Uncle's family? Over the years, my parents have worked both inside and outside the family, and Uncle's family has eaten much more of the grain my father grew, and when there was extra, the money went into your pocket. My father was also conscripted to do hard labor every time… If this goes on, when I get married, you won't give any money but will take ten taels from my bride price, and what about Jin Moli? You gave her dowry to the Yao family! Moreover, when Big Brother and Second Brother got married, you spent a lot of money, but what about Xiaoshu? You calculated and only gave him ten taels of silver!"

Grandma Jin had always felt that her youngest son was taking advantage of her eldest son, after all, the eldest son could earn money.

But with Jin Xiaoye's words, Grandma Jin's face turned ugly. "So what do you want?"

Jin Xiaoye said, "My parents want one hundred and twenty taels of silver! The house, hoe, stone mill, rice bucket… and even the bowls, chopsticks, tables, and chairs in the house, totaling at least forty taels in value. Since these have been given to Uncle's family, you should give my parents an additional twenty taels of silver."

The Jin family had quite a few possessions, with many rooms in the house. Not to mention other things, iron tools like hoes and pots were quite valuable, and items like water jars and stone mills were not cheap.

When Grandma Jin heard Jin Xiaoshu's words, she instinctively looked at Jin Liushu and the others.

Jin Dajiang's family had always felt unfair before, but now that Jin Xiaoshu had spoken up, they carefully calculated and found that they hadn't actually been disadvantaged.

The money their father contributed to the family made up for the six acres of land fields they received!

Over the years… their family members ate more and did less work, taking advantage of the situation.

In the end, Aunt Jin said, "Twenty taels is too much…"

"Then my parents would get too little with only three acres of land fields!" Jin Xiaoye retorted.

"Twenty taels is twenty taels," Aunt Jin agreed without further thought. She had thought they would get at most seven acres of land fields, and with other things to be divided equally, she hadn't been happy. But now they were getting nine acres of land fields!

And with their family's house and belongings, which totaled around fifty taels in value, giving out twenty taels of silver meant that the house would become theirs. That was great!

Aunt Jin was afraid that if she hesitated, Jin Dajiang would not agree to the split.

The Jin family split up very quickly. Grandma Jin distributed the silver, arranged where Jin Dajiang would live, and decided that the grain and firewood in the house would be distributed per person. The split was complete.

Jin Xiaoye and Jin Xiaoshu went straight to the house to help Jin Dajiang and his wife pack their things.

"Father, mother, you can stay in the main hall for a few days. I'll find someone to build two more rooms, and you can live separately," Jin Xiaoshu said.

Jin Dajiang had been silent all along, but now he said, "There are only three acres of land left in the family…"

"The grain from three acres of land fields will be enough for us to eat," Jin Xiaoshu replied.

"Yeah, as long as it's enough to eat, that's fine. Now that Xiaoshu can earn money, and you can too, our family's days will get better and better," Jin Xiaoye added.

If her parents stayed in the Jin family, they would definitely get sick from overwork, but if they split up… with only three acres of land in total, what was there to fear?

In the future, they could even hire people to farm the land!

Although they got less in the split, Jin Dajiang didn't feel too bad, but he felt sorry for Jin Xiaoshu.

Now that Jin Xiaoshu doesn't care about this matter anymore… Jin Dajiang breathed a sigh of relief.

Jin Xiaoshu's things had already been moved to the new house. In the house where Jin Dajiang and his wife currently lived, there were only a few things left for them.

Seeing these old and broken things, Jin Xiaoye didn't even want to help them pack, but Jin Dajiang and his wife were unwilling to throw anything away… Jin Xiaoye and Jin Xiaoshu could only help them move their things to the new house's main hall.

"Split up?" Li Qingzhi asked.

"Yes, we split up!" Jin Xiaoye was very happy.

"I'll help you move your things," Li Qingzhi offered, and Fang Jinniang quickly stood up as well.

But Jin Xiaoye refused, "You both sit and rest. There's hardly anything to move, we'll finish it in one trip."

Jin Dajiang's family also hurriedly said, "Yes, yes, just sit down!"

Seeing this, Li Qingzhi didn't go to move their things, but just helped tidy up what they had brought over.

The bed of this couple was just a few wooden planks, and there weren't many other things, their clothes were all tattered.

They had not lived well in the Jin family before.

But it would definitely get better in the future. Jin Xiaoshu and Fang Jinniang could both earn money, and their days would only get better and better.

Jin Xiaoye helped Jin Dajiang and his wife tidy up and set up their bed before leaving the Jin family with Li Qingzhi and their two children.

It was winter now, and the intermittent croaking of frogs and chirping of cicadas had disappeared. It wasn't easy to encounter snakes either. Li Qingzhi let the two children walk behind him, while Jin Xiaoye walked at the back.

Usually, by this time, Li Damao and Li Ermao would have already gone to sleep, but today they were still awake… Both of them were quite excited and asked, "Dad, what does splitting up mean?"

Li Qingzhi explained briefly.

Li Damao and Li Ermao exclaimed, "We don't want to split up!"

"We've never split up!"

"Alright, you don't have to split up," Li Qingzhi smiled. He had already made up his mind that when the two children got married and had children of their own, he would give them some money to start their own households.

People who were married should shoulder their responsibilities. If they were always suppressed and controlled by their parents, they probably wouldn't achieve much.

The four of them returned home, and Jin Xiaoye turned on the light. She asked the two children to go to bed first, and then she and Li Qingzhi went back to their room and recounted everything that had happened today. "Although we suffered a bit of a loss, in the future, Xiaoshu's life will be easier, and my parents will have less work to do. It's quite good."

Li Qingzhi also said, "Yes, your father will have to go to the dock to cook now. After this is over, I'll ask him to go to the county town with me for tea. He's getting old and should enjoy some leisure."

"Alright, I'll tell Xiaoshu later," Jin Xiaoye said.

Jin Dajiang, who was mentioned by Jin Xiaoye and Li Qingzhi, was still a little dazed at the moment.

Today, he had encountered too many things.

And… how did the family suddenly split up? Jin Dajiang lay on the bed for a long time, unable to fall asleep. Then he suddenly remembered something and got up to check the pocket of his cotton jacket.

"What's wrong?" Jin's mother hadn't fallen asleep yet.

Jin Dajiang handed her two cold eggs. "I brought back two eggs and forgot all about them… You can have them."

"You eat them. You have to work, so you should eat more," Jin's mother said.

After a moment of silence, Jin Dajiang said, "Actually, I didn't do much work today. I just helped with cutting some vegetables, but I ate a lot of meat…"

Today's experience in the kitchen was too special for Jin Dajiang!

On his way home, he kept thinking about having a good talk with his wife, but he didn't expect that as soon as he got home, there would be a quarrel.

It wasn't until now that Jin Dajiang explained everything, finally saying, "I didn't expect Ah Qing to actually know the county magistrate, and the county magistrate even calls him 'nephew'…"

Jin's mother was stunned too. Wasn't her son-in-law too amazing?

Jin's father muttered again, "I didn't expect to earn two taels of silver in a month and also have to divide the family… Mother gave me one hundred and twenty taels of silver, and I don't even know where to put this money. It would be great if I could buy land fields…"

As they spoke, Jin's father and mother fell asleep involuntarily.

That night, the other villagers who went to build the dock also mentioned the situation over there to their families, saying they ate well and that Li Qingzhi actually knew the county magistrate.

"This Li Qingzhi is extraordinary!"

"He used to just copy books for Mr. Zhu, but he could bring home delicious food every day. He's really amazing."

"We can't afford to offend him in the future."

"We can't offend Jin Xiaoye either."

…

After working all day, those villagers were not so averse to building the dock anymore, but nobody in Jin Dajiang's family wanted to work.

The village chief did mention that those who worked could have meat today.

But while the poor cared about that piece of meat, Jin Liushu and his family didn't care. Although Grandma Jin didn't usually give them good food, they would secretly buy meat and cook it. They weren't as eager for meat as Jin Dajiang.

Like Jin Liushu, when he used to work in the county town, he could earn thirty to forty wen a day. Since he didn't have a family to support, he would spend all that money on good food. It was definitely better than working at the dock.

"I can contribute money, but I won't go to work at the dock," Jin Liushu said.

Jin Sangshu glanced at his elder brother and said, "I've already been a few times. It's your turn, eldest brother."

Jin Zaoshu immediately said, "Mother, I'm still young! Eldest brother hasn't even worked yet, why should I go?"

They were all unwilling to go and were eager to find someone else to replace them, but the village chief said they had to send one person.

In the end, it was Aunt Jin who made the decision, "This time, the eldest will go. Eldest, I'll give you one tael of silver."

Jin Liushu: "…"

Early the next morning, the villagers of Miaoqian Village gathered at the village entrance. When they saw Jin Dajiang and Jin Liushu coming together, they approached Jin Dajiang one by one, asking about Li Qingzhi's situation and the division of the Jin family.

Jin's house was quite lively last night. Some nearby families heard the noise, and besides, there was the village chief…

After deciding to divide the family, Grandma Jin was afraid that outsiders would know about their assets, so she asked the village chief to leave. However, even so, the village chief knew about the division of the Jin family. Before Jin Dajiang arrived, he had already told others about it.

Jin Dajiang wasn't a talkative person; he just smiled and said, "I don't know much about Ah Qing's situation, as for the division… it's already done."

He didn't say more.

Although Jin Liushu was lazy, he was clever, so he didn't mention the specific amount of money they got. However, he did mention things that the villagers would inevitably know, such as them getting nine acres of land fields and, after compensating with silver, their old house was given to them.

The villagers looked sympathetically at Jin Dajiang.

Previously, they thought Jin Dajiang was lucky to have a capable brother like Jin Dahai. But their sympathy disappeared quickly when they realized that Jin Dajiang only got so little from the division.

However, soon, their sympathy vanished.

Jin Dajiang's son, daughter-in-law, and daughter can all earn money, and even the son-in-law knows the county magistrate. Why should anyone feel sorry for him?

Before the family split, there was plenty of work for the Jin family to do, but now that they've split up… in the future, who knows, maybe Jin Dajiang could live as comfortably as Li Laogen did!

As soon as Jin Dajiang left, Jin Xiaoshu and Fang Jinniang got up.

Jin's mother had been waiting at the door and walked over to them when she saw them, handing them a heavy cloth bag and two eggs. "Xiaoshu, this is the silver our family got. Take it. Your dad brought back two eggs yesterday. Each of you take one to eat…"

Jin Xiaoshu didn't know what to say for a moment.

After thinking for a moment, he took the silver and hid it in the house, then said to his mother, "Mom, I'll take the silver. I want to buy a boat of my own. You keep the eggs. I don't need them! Oh, my sister said earlier to invite you to dinner at her place."

"Huh?" His mother quickly refused, "I'll eat at home. How can I go to my daughter's house for a meal?"

"If my sister wants you to go, then you should go. When the rations are distributed, I'll bring our share over." Jin Xiaoshu said.

"But… your sister's family eats so well…"

Jin Xiaoshu thought for a moment and said, "Mom, my brother-in-law is going to see the county magistrate today. He's too busy to watch the house, so he wants you to come over and help cook and look after the kids."

Hearing this, Jin's mother said, "Then let's go quickly? I'll go cook for him."

Li Qingzhi knows the county magistrate, and he found such a good job for Jin Dajiang… Jin's mother really wanted to do something for her son-in-law.

"Let's go," Jin Xiaoshu said.

"Alright!" Jin's mother happily followed behind Jin Xiaoshu.

Before getting married, Fang Jinniang hadn't interacted much with Jin's mother, and after getting married, she was out every day… She and Jin's mother weren't really familiar.

She had been worried all along, afraid that Jin's mother might have some opinions about her.

But now… her mother-in-law was really easygoing, totally different from her own mother.

When the three of them arrived at Li's house, Li Qingzhi was frying eggs.

He had pulled some garlic sprouts from the field and made a large bowl of garlic leaf fried eggs.

In addition to this, he also steamed pickled vegetables and salted fish.

Eating white rice early in the morning, plus three dishes… Jin's mother was amazed!

When Li Qingzhi saw that she wasn't taking any vegetables, he served her some eggs. Then Jin's mother was a bit unsure, thinking about giving the eggs to the two children.

"Mom, you eat by yourself. They don't lack food," Li Qingzhi said.

This was someone who knew the county magistrate! Jin's mother lowered her head obediently and ate. After finishing the meal, she eagerly started to clean up…

Li Qingzhi asked Jin's mother to make fried rice with vegetables for lunch. While making the fried rice, he added some vegetables and said, "Mom, thank you."

"Not a problem at all," Jin's mother immediately responded.

So Jin's mother stayed at Li's house, while Li Qingzhi and the others took a boat to the county town.

Li Qingzhi didn't go to see Magistrate Gou today. Instead, he went to see Zhu Qian. Yesterday, Zhu Qian was a bit busy, and they hadn't had much chance to talk.

Today, he went to see Zhu Qian to ask him to pay more attention to those laborers.

"Uncle Zhu, Hong Hui told Wu Baichuan to target my wife. You know about this. Now that the magistrate is building the dock, he and Sun Juren will probably do something. We must be careful."

Zhu Qian nodded. "I've arranged for quite a few people to keep an eye on the dock, and my men are in charge of the mess hall. It shouldn't be a problem."

"Uncle Zhu, we still need to be careful… How about this, Uncle Zhu, when they're eating, you arrange for someone to read Magistrate Gou's stories to those laborers, and then tell them the benefits of building the dock for Chongcheng County. Let these laborers feel like they're doing something good…" Li Qingzhi slowly explained.

At this time, ordinary people were living aimlessly. If you provide them with some entertainment, let them eat a little better, and tell them that they are doing something very important…

In this way, these people wouldn't reject building the dock. And when they all stand with Magistrate Gou, it would be difficult for Hong Hui and Sun Juren to find someone to infiltrate.

And if Zhu Qian really did this, those laborers would surely be very happy.

This was also him fighting for their benefits.

Li Qingzhi discussed with Zhu Qian for a long time and didn't leave until after lunch. When he left, he took several books from Zhu's house that he hadn't read before.

After leaving Zhu's house, Li Qingzhi went to Sister Wang's house to find Jin Xiaoye.

Jin Xiaoye had received a new order, so Sister Wang's house was very lively. There were many women waiting for Jin Xiaoye and Sister Wang to cut the fabric.

Fang Jinniang's eyesight was poor, so she cut the fabric slowly and didn't go up to help. Instead, she sat on the side, doing needlework. Li Qingzhi glanced at her and noticed that she wasn't working on products from the Jin Xiaoye Embroidery Workshop, but rather on ordinary clothes.

Judging by the color of the clothes, they were probably for Jin Dajiang and his wife.

"You finished so quickly?" Jin Xiaoye saw Li Qingzhi.

"Yes," Li Qingzhi replied.

Jin Xiaoye said, "We need to buy some things for the house. Can you go buy them?"

Jin Xiaoye listed several items, both food and household items. After she finished, Li Qingzhi said, "I'll go buy them now."

Jin Xiaoye knew that Li Qingzhi had a good memory and wouldn't forget her instructions, so she continued to work busily upon hearing his words.

Li Qingzhi carried a basket and bought a lot of groceries, like oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar. When he had bought almost everything, he saw Jin Xiaoshu coming out of the carpenter's shop carrying some wood.

Li Qingzhi asked and learned that Jin Xiaoshu and Fang Jinniang didn't plan to continue earning money these days.

Jin Xiaoshu planned to tidy up the house and buy some things. As for Fang Jinniang, she wanted to make two sets of clothes for Jin Dajiang and his wife.

Jin Dajiang and his wife's padded jackets were no longer warm. Now that they had money after the split, they definitely needed to buy some new clothes for them.

"I bought a bed for my parents, and there are still some things missing at home. Tomorrow, I'm going to find someone to build a house. I plan to build two more rooms so that we can live more spaciously…" Jin Xiaoshu was full of excitement and hope for the future. "Brother-in-law, I also ordered a boat. Now I have my own boat!"

Before the split, Mrs. Jin was stingy and restricted everything, so Jin Xiaoshu never thought about improving the living environment.

But now that he had built a new house and started a new family, he was the pillar of the household…

Li Qingzhi thought this was quite good.

However, they bought quite a lot of things, so they probably needed to take some back first and then come back to the county town to get the rest.

In Miaoqian Village,

These days, there was no shortage of topics in Miaoqian Village.

The heat of Jin Xiaoshu's marriage and the recruitment of laborers by the county government had not yet subsided when there were several consecutive incidents.

"This time they're giving meat for building the dock, did you know?"

"I know! Jin Biantou regrets letting his nephew go there."

"Yesterday, even the magistrate went to the dock!"

"The most important thing is that Li Qingzhi actually knows the magistrate!"

The villagers in Miaoqian Village couldn't figure out how Li Qingzhi, who had been idle at home after breaking his arm, could know the magistrate? They had many speculations but no definite answer, so they started talking about the split of the Jin family again.

"The Jin family shouldn't have let Jin Dajiang go to build the dock."

"That's right, Jin Dajiang is already so old! How can Jin Xiaoshu bear to let him go?"

"Did you hear? Out of Jin's family's twelve acres of land fields, Jin Dajiang only got three acres."

"His old mother is really biased."

"Fortunately, Jin Dajiang's children are promising."

…

Many people also approached Jin's mother to inquire about the split of the Jin family.

Jin's younger sister even went to Li Qingzhi's house: "Second sister-in-law, your mother is so biased. She gave you only six acres of paddy fields, aren't you angry?"

Jin's mother said, "That land belongs to our parents…"

"You are just too easy-going, that's why you are always bullied by your elder sister-in-law!" Jin's younger sister chattered on.

Jin's mother didn't respond. She knew she had been doing quite a lot of work, but she didn't mind.

Jin's mother's family was very, very poor. After her parents passed away early, her sister-in-law even treated her poorly, making her live with the family's sheep.

After she married into the Jin family, although she had to work hard, she could eat well and dress warmly. Jin Dajiang was also very kind to her. In fact, Jin's mother was quite content.

With these thoughts in mind, Jin's mother looked up at Li Damao and Li Ermao. Seeing the two children playing happily, Jin's mother couldn't help but smile.

Having experienced hardship during her own childhood, she tended to spoil the children a bit and didn't want her own children to suffer even a bit of grievance.

Previously, when she wanted to give some eggs to Jin Xiaoshu and Fang Jinniang, the two eggs that Jin Xiaoshu and Fang Jinniang didn't want were given to Li Damao and Li Ermao.

After Jin's younger sister talked about some things related to the Jin family, she began to complain about her husband and son, and she complained about the Yao family.

Jin's mother didn't pay much attention; her focus was mainly on the two children.

"Sister-in-law, how did Li Qingzhi meet the magistrate?" Jin's younger sister asked.

"I have no idea," Jin's mother said, looking puzzled.

Jin's younger sister: "… " This sister-in-law of hers was completely clueless; she deserved to be bullied.

In the village, news spread quite quickly. Li Qingzhi's acquaintance with the magistrate and the Jin family's split were soon known to the Yao family.

The Yao couple thought highly of Li Qingzhi's abilities, but Yao Zhenfu was furious.

How could Li Qingzhi know the magistrate?

Since Li Qingzhi broke his arm, his mood had been quite good, except for the few days when he learned that Jin Xiaoye wanted to sponsor Li Qingzhi's education. But later, Li Qingzhi didn't go to study, did he? Yao Zhenfu thought that Jin Xiaoye was just casually saying it, so he completely relaxed.

But now… Li Qingzhi actually knew the magistrate?

"It must be Jin Xiaoye spending money to help Li Qingzhi establish connections, otherwise how could he know the magistrate?" Yao Zhenfu complained at home, blaming his parents for not giving him money to establish connections.

Yao's father said, "Our family's money has all been spent by you. Where would we have money?"

Yao Zhenfu fell silent.

Yao Zhenfu was very unhappy, but the one who was most unhappy was Jin Moli.

She never expected that Li Qingzhi would know the magistrate.

Li Qingzhi… how could he have such abilities?

With this in mind, Li Qingzhi would be more capable than Yao Zhenfu, wouldn't he?

And then there was the matter of the Jin family splitting.

Jin Moli wanted to marry her cousin to Jin Xiaoshu, but it failed. After that, she wanted the Jin family not to split.

In the previous life, at this time, the Jin family had not yet split. After Jin Xiaoshu married Jiang Chunfeng, they had considered splitting the family, but Jiang Chunfeng disagreed, so the family remained undivided.

It wasn't until Jin's mother broke her leg and passed away from fatigue that Jin Xiaoshu couldn't bear it anymore, and the two families finally split.

During the previous split, her parents took advantage of the situation. However, even after the split, when Jin Xiaoshu became prosperous, her family didn't benefit much.

Not long ago, she had even advised her mother to be kinder to Jin Dajiang and his wife, but in the blink of an eye, they split up?

Jin Moli hurriedly returned to her mother's house and became increasingly irritated after learning the reason for the split.

She felt her mother was too foolish!

In the previous life, due to Jiang Chunfeng's reasons, there were many conflicts between the two families. However, even so, her mother didn't let Jin Dajiang go to build the pier.

No, it should be said that in previous life, there was no pier in the county at all.

At that time, when the county government conscripted laborers in the dead of winter, they were either sent to repair the old pier in the county or to do other tasks. Because her second brother didn't become Yao's apprentice, it was all her second brother who went…

A lot has changed in the past six months.

"Jin Dajiang's family is not a good thing. Why should I tolerate them?" Jin's aunt was annoyed at Jin Moli for trying to make her tolerate them, especially after Jin Liushu was forced to go and build the pier today. She felt Jin Moli was being hypocritical.

While the mother and daughter were in conflict, Jin Zaoshu came in from outside. "Mom, Jin Xiaoshu and Li Qingzhi bought a lot of things back. Have they never seen money before? They just spend it recklessly."

Jin Zaoshu said that Jin Xiaoshu and the others were buying things recklessly, which was completely unfounded.

What Jin Xiaoshu bought was actually affordable, and he bought so much at once because Jin Dajiang and his wife had very little in terms of household items.

Back in the village, after docking the boat, Jin Xiaoshu began unloading the goods one by one.

He didn't ask Li Qingzhi for help. In his and Jin Xiaoye's eyes, Li Qingzhi was quite weak.

Because of this, Jin Xiaoshu thought it would take him a long time to finish unloading the goods. However, after he had just unloaded a few items, some idle villagers came to help. In addition to helping, these people also curiously asked Li Qingzhi, "Li Qingzhi, did you go to the new pier with the county magistrate yesterday?"

"How did you get to know the magistrate?"

"Li Qingzhi, did you already know the magistrate before you came to our village?"

…

Li Qingzhi was surrounded by villagers and felt quite good about it.

He had anticipated this situation when he followed the county magistrate to the pier yesterday. As for the answer…

Li Qingzhi said, "I didn't know the magistrate before, but I'm the one who wrote the stories about the county magistrate in Chongcheng County, such as 'Magistrate Gou Punishes Zhang Chuqian.'"

These stories were written by him, and this was known by the people in Li Xiucai's school, as well as many people in the government office. It would spread sooner or later.

The villagers looked at Li Qingzhi in shock.

Many people in the village had gone to the teahouse in the county to listen to stories. Even if they hadn't heard them all, they knew how much they liked these stories.

And Li Qingzhi wrote them?

Li Qingzhi was so talented! No wonder Magistrate Gou valued him!

Furthermore, they hadn't heard all these stories… Could Li Qingzhi tell them?

More and more people surrounded Li Qingzhi, and this news spread farther and farther.

The villagers felt that Li Qingzhi was particularly talented to write such stories, unlike some of the scholars in the county.

Although Hong Hui's reputation wasn't very good now, he still had some friends. At this moment, they were drinking and chatting, criticizing the person who wrote these stories.

"The person who wrote these stories is excessively flattering to Magistrate Gou."

"He wrote these stories just to please Magistrate Gou, right? I wonder what his intentions are!"

"I'm ashamed to associate with someone like him!"

…

As they continued, someone else said, "This person even blackened Mr. Hong in the book, which is too much."

Hong Hui had been silent before this, but now he spoke up, "My brother accidentally injured him before, so it's natural for him to hate me."

Upon hearing this, everyone immediately realized something, "The one who wrote this book is Li Qingzhi?"

"Yes," sighed Hong Hui.

People began to express their hatred for Li Qingzhi.

"He was unwilling to reconcile privately back then and insisted on going to court. Now, he's blackening Mr. Hong in the book. His intentions are despicable."

"He relied on flattery to participate in the Mid-Autumn Poetry Gathering with Zhu Xunmiao before, and now he's flattering Magistrate Gou… That's all he's capable of."

…

Just then, someone previously arranged by Hong Hui spoke up, "I heard that Magistrate Gou went to the pier yesterday, and he followed along. Magistrate Gou now holds him in high regard."

Following that, the person mentioned other things related to Li Qingzhi, such as how he hadn't read many books before and had allegedly only recently read the "Three Character Classic." Another example was the ugly handwriting in Li Qingzhi's previously circulated manuscripts.

The crowd became filled with indignation, all condemning Li Qingzhi.

Hong Hui was very satisfied with the situation.

He was now planting a seed in the hearts of these people. In the future…

According to what he had learned, Li Qingzhi intended to participate in the county exam. With Magistrate Gou's high regard for him, he would likely receive a good ranking in the county exam.

Based on his investigation, Li Qingzhi's own academic qualifications weren't that great. Once the results of the county exam were out, he would publicly accuse Li Qingzhi of cheating and then give him some difficult questions, surely causing Li Qingzhi's downfall.

Of course, before that, he would first cause trouble for Magistrate Gou. However, although the matter of labor conscription to build the pier couldn't bring Magistrate Gou down, it would definitely make him face some blame.

Moreover… Li Qingzhi could write articles, and he could write poems too. He wanted to write some works to spread around, making Magistrate Gou's reputation disappear!

With these thoughts in mind, Hong Hui began to talk about Magistrate Gou's construction of the new pier.

Throughout history, the common people have always been oppressed. They recited some poems to accuse the oppression and then cursed Magistrate Gou, feeling that Magistrate Gou had caused suffering to the people.

Hong Hui knew that Magistrate Gou had given meat to the laborers yesterday, but he believed that it was just a show for the first day and that Magistrate Gou couldn't possibly give meat to the laborers every day.

Furthermore, even if they could eat meat… the forced laborers must be unwilling due to the arduous work.

Sun Juren will try to get the magistrate to come to Chongcheng County to inspect. When the magistrate arrives, they will incite the laborers and arrange for people to lodge complaints before the magistrate. At that time, Magistrate Gou will certainly be unable to defend himself.

The more they talked, the more excited they became. Some even wrote poems cursing Magistrate Gou on the spot.

After reading them, they were particularly satisfied with their own compositions.

What Li Qingzhi wrote lacked any literary grace, but theirs were different, all filled with literary elegance.

Once their poems spread, the people of Chongcheng County will surely know that Magistrate Gou is not a good person!

Now, some scholars who are still on good terms with Hong Hui are either Sun Juren's students or have local influences opposing Magistrate Gou. They all loathe Magistrate Gou.

In Miaoqian Village.

The villagers helped Jin Xiaoshu carry the things he bought back home, and someone asked, "Xiaoshu, do you want us to help you set up the bed?"

The bed Jin Xiaoshu bought hadn't been set up yet.

"That would be troublesome for uncles and elders." Jin Xiaoshu smiled.

"It's not troublesome at all." The villagers stepped forward to help Jin Xiaoshu set up the bed and tidy up other things for him.

At this point, Jin Xiaoshu suggested finding someone to help build the house.

Previously, whether it was Li Qingzhi or Jin Xiaoshu asking for help to build a house, the food they provided was very good. Now, hearing Jin Xiaoshu's words, many people were willing to help.

Jin Xiaoshu was eager to settle matters at home quickly so he could go out and earn money. He immediately made an appointment with these people to help build the house tomorrow.

Just as they were talking, Jin's mother, who had heard the news, came back and saw the bed in the hall, as well as various other things placed aside. She couldn't help but feel distressed, "Xiaoshu, we used to sleep well on the wooden planks…"

"Mother, you've worked hard for so many years, how could I let you sleep on wooden planks all the time?"

"Then… we don't need to build another house. We can sleep in the hall…"

"Mother, the hall is where we eat. I don't want anyone to sleep here." Jin Xiaoshu said.

"But…" Jin's mother hesitated.

"Mother, just listen to me!" Jin Xiaoshu said firmly.

Once the money was in his hands, he could spend it however he wanted!

Jin Xiaoshu made a decision, and Jin's mother had nothing more to say. The villagers flattered even more:

"Xiaoshu's mother, Xiaoshu really cares about you!"

"He bought a lot of things, all for your use."

"Xiaoshu's mother, your son is really filial."

…

Hearing this, Jin's mother couldn't help but smile.

Meanwhile, Jin Xiaoshu went with a few people to the Jin family to move their grain.

Last night when they divided the family property, he didn't take things like tables, bowls, or pots, but he did take the grain. They had eight chickens at home, and he took four of them.

In addition, the Jin family had four ducks and two pigs… After discussing it, Jin Xiaoshu didn't want the ducks, and the pigs were temporarily kept by the Jin family. He would take one during the New Year.

Jin Xiaoshu didn't want to raise pigs, as for the four chickens… he planned to send them to Li Qingzhi's house along with the grain.

When it's time to slaughter the pig, he could also give Li Qingzhi half, after all, they would be eating at Li Qingzhi's place next.

The group arrived at the Jin family's house in a grand procession.

Yesterday, after dividing the family property, Grandma Jin stayed in bed and didn't move. She hadn't even gotten up to eat today.

Of course, when Aunt Jin brought her food, she ate it all, then scolded Aunt Jin for wasting food, complaining that she had made white rice.

Now, hearing the commotion indicating that Jin Xiaoshu was coming to move the grain, Grandma Jin leaped out of bed and went to the warehouse to watch, afraid that Jin Xiaoshu would take away too much grain.

Jin Xiaoshu felt particularly speechless, but he had long stopped caring about his grandmother. After she finished her portion, he simply packed up the remaining grains and carried most of them to the Li family's house.

Some of the villagers who came with him helped carry the grain, and some caught chickens for him. Everyone left, chatting and laughing.

When leaving the Jin family's house, Jin Xiaoshu felt much lighter.

His father was irresponsible, so from now on, he would be the head of the household!

Jin Xiaoshu was especially happy. Seeing him like this, Aunt Jin couldn't help but feel angry: "A barking dog doesn't bite, and the Jin family is not a good bunch either. They've taken away our precious willow tree to build a dock…"

Jin Liushu was Aunt Jin's firstborn. He was sweet-talking and persuasive. Aunt Jin couldn't bear to see him suffer even a little bit.

Jin Liushu was indeed tired now.

He usually lazed around at home. Although he didn't completely avoid work, he did very little!

That was one thing, but at the dock construction site, the officials saw he was tall and strong, so they assigned him the heaviest tasks!

Jin Liushu was digging mud to the point of tears.

The people around him, seeing his troubled expression, couldn't understand: "What's wrong with you? How can you complain about such a small task?"

"Yeah… I never expected you, looking so strong, to be so weak."

"Young man, this won't do. You need to practice more!"

The people working with Jin Liushu really couldn't understand him.

After all, in their eyes, the work they were doing was already quite easy.

They were used to the exhaustion of farm work at home, and the work they were conscripted for by the government before was much harder than now.

Most importantly, this time, they were given meat!

They thought they were served meat yesterday because Magistrate Gou was present. They didn't expect to have meat again today, and they didn't even get less than yesterday!

"The taro stew with meat at noon is so delicious."

"I agree, it's really fragrant!"

"Magistrate Gou is indeed a good person, actually giving us so many delicious things to eat."

"I wonder what we'll eat next."

As everyone was chatting, someone came to fetch them: "Food is ready!"

Their eyes lit up immediately.

Everyone grabbed their portion of food, about to start eating, when someone approached them: "I have good news for everyone! Magistrate Gou has arranged for doctors from the medical hall to come. If anyone feels unwell, they can go to the doctor, and if they get injured while working, Magistrate Gou will pay for their medicine! Of course, if it's another illness, they'll have to pay for it themselves."

Such good news? Everyone was overjoyed.

You see, when they were conscripted in the past, it was truly a matter of life and death!

Even when they felt unwell, they were forced to work. Many people ended up dead.

"Magistrate Gou is truly benevolent!" Everyone exclaimed.

The surprises didn't end there! At this moment, someone else came and said they wanted to tell them stories.

Zhu Qian was a proactive person, and since he had previously arranged for people to spread stories about Magistrate Gou… After discussing with Li Qingzhi in the morning, he had these people come to tell stories to the laborers in the afternoon.

Many people in the county had heard these stories about Magistrate Gou, but most of the laborers who came to build the dock were from the countryside, and poor countryside folks at that. Most of them had never heard these stories; at most, someone had mentioned a few words to them.

Now, someone was reading stories to them… Everyone listened obediently.

Li Qingzhi's stories were already good, and coupled with the fact that these people had no entertainment activities before… Everyone listened with rapt attention. Unfortunately, the stories weren't finished yet, and they had to continue working.

But the storytellers also told them that they would continue with the rest of the stories tomorrow.

"These stories are so enjoyable."

"Someone from our village went to the teahouse in the county town and heard them before, then told me about them, but the person who told us didn't tell them as well as the storytellers today."

"I can listen to stories tomorrow… I wish tomorrow would come sooner."

Just as they were talking, the bailiff came over: "From now on, those who work diligently, besides getting eggs, will also get to sit at the front to listen to stories!"

The laborers: "!" They must work hard!

Jin Liushu: "…" He had heard some of these stories before, but never finished them.

He was quite happy to be able to listen to stories while working, but the work was really too exhausting!

And he definitely couldn't work fast… Jin Liushu grimaced and bit down, working hard.

On the other hand, Jin Dajiang ate until he was full again, and the chef praised him for his performance, giving him an egg.

Jin Dajiang put the egg in his pocket, intending to take it back to his wife.

His wife always left him some delicious food, but he had never eaten anything really good.

Jin's mother, whom Jin Dajiang thought hadn't eaten anything good, was staring blankly at her son-in-law's stewing meat.

Jin Xiaoshu finally divided the family, and Li Qingzhi planned to make something delicious to celebrate.

So today, he specifically bought six pounds of meat. He rendered the fat, used the residue to stir-fry garlic shoots, minced some lean meat and steamed it, and the rest he sliced and braised with dried tofu.

These six pounds of meat were all cooked by him.

Mrs. Jin's heartache reached its peak, especially during the meal when Li Qingzhi kept serving her more dishes.

She wanted to give her portion of meat to her two children, but at that moment, Li Qingzhi said, "Mother, do you dislike my cooking?"

"No, no." Mrs. Jin hurriedly denied, quietly eating her meal.

Because there were so many people eating, Li Qingzhi didn't let Li Damao and Li Ermao join them at the table. He served them their meals and some vegetables, then let them sit on the doorstep to eat. The two children were quite happy, chatting and eating. Zhao Xiaodou saw this and also sat on the doorstep with his bowl.

On the other hand, Jin Dajiang, who was carrying the egg home, was a little confused—where was his wife?

As for Jin Liushu… as soon as he got home, he went straight to bed and didn't want to move.

He was really exhausted!

Most of the laborers who went to build the dock were accustomed to hard work, and there were very few like Jin Liushu.

Plus, those who were short or elderly were assigned lighter tasks… the others didn't feel tired at all.

Before dawn the next day, the villagers of Miaoqian Village were eager to set off.

They were going to listen to stories!

And these stories were written by their own Li Qingzhi!

Li Qingzhi was really amazing! Before, Yao Zhenfu said he wasn't well-educated, but they believed that anyone who could write such good stories must be very knowledgeable.

The people going to build the dock were very happy and were thinking about bragging about their village's Li Qingzhi to the people in the neighboring village.

Li Laogen was also very excited. Before going out for tea in the morning, he couldn't help but ask Li Qingzhi, "Ah Qing, you wrote those stories, why didn't you tell me?"

"Father, I did tell you before, but you didn't believe me," Li Qingzhi said.

Li Laogen: "…" It seemed that Li Qingzhi did say it, and he didn't believe him.

But no matter what, he could brag about it when he went to drink tea today. These stories were written by his son! He would definitely become the most talked-about old man in the teahouse!

Li Qingzhi didn't plan to go to the county town today. He wanted to finish writing Ding Xi's autobiography as soon as possible.

After Li Laogen and the others left, he opened the door to his study and started writing at the doorway.

In the winter of Chongcheng County, if there was sunshine, it wouldn't be too cold. Sitting at the doorway, one would even feel warm when basking in the sun. But if there was no sun and there was wind, it would be bone-chilling cold.

Today's weather wasn't very good. Li Qingzhi sat at the doorway, feeling like he was sitting across from a refrigerator.

But if he didn't sit at the doorway and closed the door… he might not be able to see the words clearly.

Fortunately, he had his abilities, so his hands and feet wouldn't freeze.

Li Qingzhi wore two padded jackets and folded a thin blanket over his legs, concentrating on writing his book.

On such days, people in the village generally didn't like to go out. However, today, there were always people peeking their heads out curiously at the door, watching Li Qingzhi.

However, despite watching, they didn't dare to approach and disturb Li Qingzhi.

Li Qingzhi must be writing stories, and if they disturbed him, what if he couldn't write good stories anymore?

The uncles and aunties who had chatted with Li Qingzhi about family matters in the past few months were particularly pleased now. They kept telling people how good their relationship with Li Qingzhi had been.

"Li Qingzhi praised the cucumbers I grew as delicious before!"

"He also said my son is filial!"

"He likes to talk to me the most!"

When people specifically came to see Li Qingzhi, Li Damao and Li Ermao, who were playing nearby, were also showing off their father to the village kids: "My dad can write stories and tell stories!"

The children in the village had heard about this from their families these past few days, and coupled with seeing Li Qingzhi often buying treats for Li Damao and Li Ermao, and leading them around…

Li Qingzhi was already recognized as a good father in the village, and now he could write books and tell stories, and he even knew the county magistrate…

"If only my dad were like yours."

"Damao and Ermao, your dad is really good!"

"Yeah, unlike my dad, my dad just knows how to beat me…"

As they spoke, another child suddenly had a whimsical idea: "What if my dad, like yours, was taken away for a few years? Would he come back as good?"

Another child thought it was a good idea: "Maybe he'll become better! I wish my dad would be taken away for a few years!"

A passing villager who happened to hear this said, "…" These two kids, they're asking for a beating!

Braving the cold wind, the villagers lingered at Li's door for a while before leaving.

With Li Laogen not at home to chat with, the old ladies went to find Yao's mother next door.

"Li Qingzhi is really hardworking. It's so cold today, and if you leave your hand out for too long, it'll get numb. Yet he can keep writing for so long."

"I used to think Jin Xiaoye would suffer marrying him… but now I think, where else could you find such a good man!"

"No wonder Jin Xiaoye wanted to support him to go to school!"

As they chatted, they naturally talked about Yao Zhenfu, and someone asked Yao's mother, "Your son doesn't go to the dock, he says he wants to study at home… but I haven't seen him reading!"

Yao's mother said, "It's too cold outside, he's reading inside."

"In such a dark room, can he even read?" It was so gloomy today; the room was very dark!

Yao's mother didn't say anything more. She didn't know if her son was really studying.

Sometimes when she went in, she saw her son lying on the bed. She would ask him to get up and read a book, but her son said he was memorizing silently…

Just then, Yao Zhenfu came out from next door, with a sour face, saying, "You people really don't know what's what! Li Qingzhi only wrote a few tasteless stories to please the county magistrate, and you think he's knowledgeable! A real scholar doesn't write such things at all!"

Li Qingzhi's stories were indeed written in plain language, without any good sentences. What kind of good scholarship was that?

Moreover, writing such stories… Li Qingzhi was taking a crooked path!

Actually, what Yao Zhenfu said was correct.

When Li Qingzhi wrote stories, he aimed to make them understandable to the common people, so he wrote them in plain language. And indeed, he wrote these stories to gain favor with the county magistrate.

But the villagers didn't see it that way. The old lady asked, "Can you write the stories he writes?"

Yao Zhenfu really couldn't. He had wanted to write last night, but after thinking hard for a whole night, he couldn't come up with anything to write.

Seeing Yao Zhenfu like this, the old lady said, "You said his scholarship is worse than yours, but he can write what you can't…"

The disdain in the old lady's eyes was so clear that Yao Zhenfu was infuriated and couldn't help slamming the door and leaving.

He must perform well in the county exam and do better than Li Qingzhi!

But now Li Qingzhi had gained the attention of the county magistrate, and most likely he would pass the county exam. What about him? He had taken the exam several times before and failed every time…

If Li Qingzhi held a grudge against him and spoke ill of him in front of the county magistrate… The more Yao Zhenfu thought about it, the more anxious he became, and he had no mood to study at all.

His day passed in a haze like this again.

But it was different for the villagers from Miaoqian Village who went to the dock.

They felt that their day was completely different from before!

After arriving at the dock today, they immediately told others about Li Qingzhi's situation. When people from other villages learned that those nice stories were written by someone from their village, they were envious.

The people from Miaoqian Village were in high spirits, full of energy for work, and then they had meat to eat and stories to listen to again!

Someone even taught them how to sing!

After this day, they did indeed work hard, but everyone felt that compared to before, being conscripted by the county government as laborers this time was not tiring at all!

Li Qingzhi: "…" Not tiring? Were these people out of their minds?

After working all day yesterday, his whole body was aching today!

During busy farming seasons in the past, his body would ache too, but it was definitely not as severe as this time.

But he still liked listening to stories, as for singing, forget it, he had no strength.

When Li Qingzhi returned home that day, he felt like a dead dog again. As for Jin Dajiang, he brought eggs for Jin Mu again.

Jin Mu felt a bit overwhelmed by the way things were going… They made her a bit uneasy.

They said it was for her to watch the children, but Li Damao and Li Ermao were very well-behaved, and there was also Zhao Xiaodou to keep them company. She didn't need to watch them at all. So, after arriving at Li Qingzhi's house, she only had to cook.

But this cooking…

Her mother-in-law used to calculate everything carefully, not allowing her to use more firewood than necessary. But here with Li Qingzhi?

Li Qingzhi took out big chunks of meat and large fish for her to cook!

Now she was eating three meals a day at Li Qingzhi's house, and each meal had meat… Jin Mu felt that even landlords couldn't eat like this!

But Li Qingzhi insisted on her cooking, and she had no choice.

Li Qingzhi even separated the vegetables for her. If she didn't eat them, they would go to waste… Jin Mu had no choice but to eat them all.

After eating so well… Jin Mu said, "Dajiang, you have the egg. I've eaten a lot of meat today."

"I also ate a lot of meat in the mess hall…" Jin Dajiang also felt that he was eating too well. Well, no matter what, he never felt hungry while working in the mess hall.

The two looked at each other, and finally split the egg.

The eggs from before were given to Li Damao and Li Ermao, but tomorrow they would be busy building their house, so she wouldn't go to Li Qingzhi's house.

Jin Xiaoshu was eager to start building the house. Originally, he wanted to start construction today, but then he found out that there were still some things to purchase, so he postponed it for a day. They would start building the house tomorrow. Thinking of this, Jin Mu began to worry again: "Xiaoshu bought so much meat today… Will he spend all that money?"

"It shouldn't, right?" Jin Dajiang hesitated.

The next day, Jin Xiaoshu started building the house again. This time, not only the people he hired came to help, but also other villagers came to help, and then they asked Jin Xiaoshu about Li Qingzhi.

Li Qingzhi was now a "big shot" in their village!

Li Qingzhi's days in Miaoqian Village returned to normal. A few days later, the villagers' attitudes towards him became much more natural.

After all, he didn't look down on the villagers just because he knew the county magistrate.

He still wrote at home, taught children to read, went for walks as before, and even when he saw vegetables in the fields, he would still pick them and taste them.

He was the familiar Li Qingzhi!

Time flew by, and Li Qingzhi finally finished writing Ding Xi's autobiography and copied Zhu Qian's autobiography.

At this time, Jin Xiaoshu's house was also completed. Jin Dajiang and his wife finally didn't have to live in the main hall anymore. Instead, they had a room of their own.

The couple had been living under Grandma Jin's control, and for many years, they had been sharing a room with their children…

Now they had a new room, with a new bed, a new quilt made by their daughter-in-law on the bed, and a brand new wardrobe beside the bed…

Jin Dajiang and his wife felt like they were living in a dream!

Not only that, probably because they were eating well and not doing much work, but in just half a month, their complexion had improved a lot.

Their changes were huge, and when the villagers saw them, they couldn't help but congratulate them. These congratulations made them even happier and filled them with hope for the future.

Early the next morning, Jin Dajiang got up and put on the new cotton coat made by Fang Jinniang.

"You're going to work, why wear a new cotton coat…" Fang Mother couldn't help but say.

"I don't want to wear it either, but didn't they tear up the old cotton coats?" Jin Dajiang said.

The old cotton coats and quilts of the couple had been torn up by Jin Xiaoshu, saying they were going to be used as diapers.

The children were nowhere to be seen, but the diapers were already prepared!

Although Jin Dajiang and his wife often grumbled about their son's wastefulness in private, they didn't dare say it in front of him. And they also knew that their son did it out of concern for them.

After putting on the new cotton jacket, Jin Dajiang hurried to gather at the village entrance.

He was eager to go to the mess hall to work.

As soon as Jin Dajiang left, Jin Xiaoshu's couple also got up. After getting dressed, they called Jin Mu, "Mother, let's go."

They were going to have breakfast at Li's house.

They had porridge at Li's house this morning.

It had been a long time since they had porridge, and Li Qingzhi missed the taste of it a bit. Plus, he had bought some salted duck eggs, so he cooked a large pot of rice porridge and steamed the duck eggs.

After being marinated for a long time, the salted duck eggs would release oil, and the egg yolks were very tasty but also a bit salty, not suitable for children to eat.

When Li Qingzhi bought the duck eggs, he bought two kinds. He gave one big, oily big duck egg to each adult and gave the three children one freshly marinated duck egg each, which was not salty at all.

In addition to the salted duck eggs, there was also a large bowl of stir-fried vegetables and a bowl of radishes marinated overnight.

Fresh radishes, sliced thinly and marinated overnight, would be ready to eat the next morning. But because they were quite spicy, the children didn't like them.

Jin Mu had never eaten a whole salted duck egg before, but after half a month of good days, she had adapted a bit. She cracked the eggshell and used chopsticks to dig out the egg to eat.

"Xiaoshu, I'm going to the county town today. Can you take me to the county office?" Li Qingzhi said to Jin Xiaoshu.

These days, Jin Xiaoshu has resumed his business of doing business by rowing a small boat as before.

"Brother-in-law, are you going to see County Magistrate Gou?" Jin Xiaoshu asked.

"Yes." Li Qingzhi smiled. County Magistrate Gou had mentioned this to him before, asking him to transcribe Zhu Qian's autobiography and bring it to him first.

"Brother-in-law, you're really amazing!" Jin Xiaoshu exclaimed. His brother-in-law could meet County Magistrate Gou just by wanting to. Ordinary people didn't have this ability.

As Li Qingzhi followed Jin Xiaoshu to the county town, he saw boats transporting people to the new dock.

With a little money from County Magistrate Gou, the laborers from two relatively distant villages were brought over by boat.

It cost almost nothing.

Chongcheng County was a very prosperous county town with a large population, far surpassing Yu County, where the original owner of Li Qingzhi's body lived. However, Chongcheng County had a very small land area.

The population was dense in the Jiangnan region, and the county towns and prefectural cities here also had a small land area.

For example, their current Hexing Prefecture… In some places where the land was vast and sparsely populated, the area of a county was larger than that of Hexing Prefecture!

Hexing Prefecture was tiny in total. On top of that, there were seven counties below it! Chongcheng County had a relatively small area within them…

Because the county town was relatively small, all the laborers who came to work could go home to sleep, allowing the people to rest better.

Speaking of which… even if you walked from Chongcheng County to the prefectural city, it would only take three or four hours. Taking a boat was faster; you could arrive in the morning.

However, at this time, ordinary people rarely traveled far. In front of the temple in Miaoqian Village, besides Mr. Yao, Yao Zhenfu, there was also Jin Dahai. No one else had been to the prefectural city.

The original owner of Li Qingzhi's body used to roam around the prefectural city, so he had no impression of it.

Jin Xiaoshu first stopped the boat near Wang Jie's house, let Jin Xiaoye and Fang Jinniang get off the boat, and then took Li Qingzhi to the vicinity of the county government office.

When Li Qingzhi arrived at the county government office, it was still early, but nowadays no one slept in, and County Magistrate Gou had already finished breakfast.

Upon learning that Li Qingzhi had arrived, County Magistrate Gou immediately had him summoned.

"Sir, it's been half a month since we last met. You seem to have lost some weight. Are you too busy at the end of the year?" Li Qingzhi expressed concern for County Magistrate Gou as soon as he entered.

County Magistrate Gou was very pleased and had tea and snacks served to Li Qingzhi.

At this time, Li Qingzhi handed over Zhu Qian's autobiography to County Magistrate Gou.

After County Magistrate Gou opened Zhu Qian's autobiography, the first thing he looked at was Li Qingzhi's handwriting.

He quite liked Li Qingzhi's handwriting. Those neat characters were a pleasure to look at.

With this glance, County Magistrate Gou was amazed.

From beginning to end, Li Qingzhi's handwriting had actually improved!

The change this time was not significant, but to improve handwriting to this extent, even a slight improvement would be extremely difficult!

"Your handwriting, I can no longer compare to." County Magistrate Gou sighed, then began to praise Li Qingzhi.

Li Qingzhi was very happy to be praised, but on the other hand, Sun Juren was a bit anxious.

He contacted his friend, wanting his friend to lodge a complaint in front of Magistrate Zhang in Hexing Prefecture. However, it just happened that Magistrate Zhang was very busy, and his friend hadn't seen Magistrate Zhang for several days in a row.

That's not all. County Magistrate Gou treated those laborers particularly well!

He not only gave them meat to eat but also invited doctors to treat them.

In the past, it was common for laborers conscripted by the government to die, but this time… it had been quite a few days, and not a single person had fallen ill!

Because County Magistrate Gou had people tell the laborers his story, the laborers were becoming more and more fond of County Magistrate Gou…

At first, Sun Juren didn't intend to take action, but now… he couldn't afford not to.

But even if he wanted to take action, he would have to wait until Magistrate Zhang arrived. But where was Magistrate Zhang?

Sun Juren was anxiously waiting when someone rushed in from outside. "Sir, there's a letter from the prefectural city!"

After being bedridden due to anger, Sun Juren's health hadn't been very good. He lay still on the bed all day, but when he opened this letter…

Sun Juren sat up in bed, shouted in joy, and had his steward summoned.

Magistrate Zhang was coming to Chongcheng County!

He needed to make arrangements as soon as possible!

Indeed, Magistrate Zhang was coming to the prefectural city.

With the New Year approaching, Magistrate Zhang has been quite busy lately. It wasn't until yesterday, when he felt like playing chess, that he finally found time to play chess with Sun Juren's friend.

It was during the chess game that Magistrate Zhang learned from Sun Juren's friend about the situation where the county magistrate of Chongcheng had conscripted many laborers to build a new wharf.

Hexing Prefecture is crisscrossed with waterways, and most people travel by boat. The docks are very important to the common people.

Magistrate Zhang had proposed to build more river docks throughout the prefecture to facilitate the people. But building river docks was not the same as building large docks!

Chongcheng County originally had a dock, so why build another one? Building a dock would inevitably involve widening the river channel and moving a lot of stones. Could the people endure such hard work in the dead of winter? County Magistrate Gou, having a dock in Chongcheng County already, wanted to build another one. This was definitely for political achievements… Ignoring the life and death of the people for his own political achievements, Magistrate Zhang immediately became unhappy and decided to go to Chongcheng County to see for himself.

He had planned to visit various places before the New Year, and Chongcheng County could be his first stop.

Magistrate Zhang planned to depart early today, and Sun Juren's friend had written a letter last night, asking someone to deliver it to Sun Juren.

The messenger arrived in Chongcheng County late at night, slept on the boat, and came to Sun Juren's house early this morning to deliver the letter.

Meanwhile, Magistrate Zhang had already set off from the prefectural city.

Magistrate Zhang, nearing fifty, with white hair, had passed the imperial examination at a young age and had once had a successful career due to his family background. Unfortunately, over a decade ago, he accidentally offended the King of Jin, who controlled the court, and was exiled to the northern frontier. Even with the help of relatives and friends, he suffered a lot during his exile and witnessed the hardships of the common people. Later, when the King of Jin died suddenly, the current emperor finally came to power and summoned back those loyal officials persecuted by the King of Jin, and Magistrate Zhang was one of them. After returning to the court, Magistrate Zhang rose rapidly through the ranks and even reached the rank of second-grade official. However, his good fortune didn't last long, as he offended the eunuch Lu Qingxi, who was deeply trusted by the emperor and held great power. Two years ago, he was expelled from the capital and became the magistrate of Hexing Prefecture. During these two years, he had been very concerned about the people and had done a lot for them, focusing entirely on their livelihoods.

When Magistrate Zhang was exiled, his family was not implicated, but he spent several years in the northern frontier. During those years, his only son died of illness, and his wife couldn't bear the blow and also passed away. Now, Magistrate Zhang was alone, without sons or daughters, and he looked much older than his actual age, with wrinkles on his forehead and between his eyebrows.

He had extremely strict requirements for himself and lived a very simple life. This time, he was traveling to Chongcheng County on nothing more than an ordinary canopy boat, accompanied only by Sun Juren's friend and two attendants.

Sun Juren's friend was very uncomfortable with this. He was a local, very wealthy, and lived a luxurious life. Normally, when traveling, he would not only ride a large boat but also have at least two small boats following behind, ready to obey his commands.

But everyone knew Magistrate Zhang's temper. He dared to impeach the King of Jin and scold Lu Qingxi… No one in the prefectural city dared to offend him, so Sun Juren's friend didn't dare to voice any objections.

Sitting in such a small boat was very uncomfortable, and Sun Juren's friend felt uncomfortable all over after sitting for a long time. As for Magistrate Zhang, he sat upright, with a serious expression, giving nothing away.

The prefectural city was to the east of Chongcheng County, while the new dock was to the west. Magistrate Zhang wanted to go and see the new dock, but he arrived at the county seat of Chongcheng County first.

The sampan they were traveling on was rented by Magistrate Zhang with no provisions on board. Sun Juren's friend, feeling hungry and thirsty after the long journey, suggested, "Sir, we've been traveling all morning. Why don't we take a break in the county town and have something to eat?"

Magistrate Zhang, being from the north, never felt comfortable on boats and didn't have much appetite himself. However, he realized the boatmen and servants must be hungry… so he nodded in agreement.

They found a riverbank to stop at. As they disembarked, Magistrate Zhang noticed a group of women passing by, chatting and laughing while carrying some cloth. Sun Juren's friend frowned at the scene, finding it vulgar, but Magistrate Zhang's furrowed brow relaxed slightly.

The river in the county town of Chongcheng was clear, and people were smiling as they passed by… it seemed like everyone was doing well.

However, just as Magistrate Zhang thought this, his expression darkened.

County Magistrate Gou had only been in office for a year, and Chongcheng County's prosperity wasn't because of him.

In fact, Magistrate Zhang had visited Chongcheng County last year, and it was just as bustling then.

It was the laborers who were suffering because of County Magistrate Gou.

With these thoughts, Magistrate Zhang lost his appetite. He found a noodle stall and sat down to eat.

After a while, he suddenly asked the old woman serving him noodles, "Ma'am, how's life treating you?"

The old woman smiled and replied, "Life's been good. My son is filial, and everything's been smooth."

Magistrate Zhang then asked, "Ma'am, what do you think of the county magistrate?"

At the mention of this, the old woman's eyes sparkled. "The county magistrate is a good man! Back then, Zhang Chuqian's people used to come here every day asking for money. They would take away half of what we earned at the noodle stall! But now, things are different. Zhang Chuqian has been thrown into prison by the county magistrate!"

After she spoke, someone else chimed in, "That's right, the county magistrate is a great man!"

And another added, "The county magistrate is particularly adept at judging cases!"

The crowd began to praise the county magistrate one after another.

Magistrate Zhang was stunned. This wasn't what he had expected.

On the other side, Sun Juren arranged for someone to guard the river mouth, hoping to intercept Magistrate Zhang. But his men were only keeping an eye on the grandiose boats, not the simple sampan that Magistrate Zhang was traveling in!

Most of the folks living outside the city haven't heard about Magistrate Gou's story, and they don't feel much about Zhang Chuqian's arrest. At most, they're just happy that the price of fertilizer has dropped.

But it's different for the folks living inside the city.

There are many literate people in the county town, and many of them are willing to tell stories. So basically, everyone has heard Magistrate Gou's story.

Furthermore, even if they haven't been oppressed by Zhang Chuqian's people before, they fear the henchmen from all walks of life under Zhang Chuqian.

Magistrate Gou eradicated Zhang Chuqian, and they were all especially happy!

If anyone dares to speak ill of Magistrate Gou in front of them now, they'll definitely get beaten up.

Magistrate Zhang has an accent that clearly marks him as an outsider.

In front of him, people would only speak well of Magistrate Gou.

The old lady who serves noodles happily said, "This sir, we're in luck to have encountered Magistrate Gou."

Before coming to Chongcheng County, Magistrate Zhang thought that the people of Chongcheng County would complain about Magistrate Gou.

But the result… Everyone's praising him?

Glancing at his chess friend, Magistrate Zhang asked again, "I heard Magistrate Gou is building a new dock?"

The people in the noodle shop started chattering, "Yes, our county is going to build a new dock!"

"I've always felt that the old dock was too small and crowded. It's good to have a new dock!"

"The county magistrate is really considering us!"

…

Magistrate Zhang was puzzled. Wasn't it said that Magistrate Gou was wasting resources and labor by conscripting a large group of laborers to build the dock? Why do these people not only show no resistance to this matter but also seem very happy about it?

After some thought, Magistrate Zhang came up with a possibility.

Most of the conscripted laborers were poor people from the countryside, completely different from the people in the county town who could afford to eat in noodle shops. So these people couldn't empathize with the conscripted laborers.

Anyway, he had to go and see the situation at the dock himself.

With this in mind, Magistrate Zhang asked his chess friend, "Bohan, where did you learn about Magistrate Gou's dock construction?"

Magistrate Zhang's chess friend, also a good friend of Sun Junren, was surnamed Wang, with the courtesy name Bohan.

Wang Bohan was also a Juren (successful candidate in the highest imperial examination) and had once gone to the capital for the imperial examination after passing the Jinshi examination. However, he failed to pass the examination twice and gave up on further attempts. He spent his days playing chess and listening to music, living a leisurely life.

The Wang family had quite a few businesses in Hexing Prefecture, enough to support him.

He and Sun Juren were once schoolmates, and their relationship was good. Sun Juren had mentioned the affairs of Chongcheng County to him.

Although he knew that Sun Juren's intention for him to speak ill of Magistrate Gou in front of Magistrate Zhang was not good… But Sun Juren was his good friend, and he had to mention it.

However, he didn't intend to offend Magistrate Zhang for Sun Juren's sake.

Wang Bohan said, "Sir, Sun Juren and I were schoolmates in Chongcheng County. He mentioned this matter in a letter to me, so I mentioned it to you. I don't know the specific situation."

"I see… Let's go and take a look outside the city," Magistrate Zhang said.

After finishing the noodles, Magistrate Zhang had the boatman who brought them here row the boat to the place outside the city where the dock was being built.

Chongcheng County had about a hundred thousand people, and this time, thousands of laborers were conscripted.

In addition to this, after some merchants in the city learned about the plan to build the dock, they bought the surrounding land to build shops and houses here.

This area has now gathered tens of thousands of people!

With so many people needing food, shelter, and various building materials to be transported… The dock here hasn't been built yet, but there are already quite a few boats coming and going.

Magistrate Zhang and Wang Bohan arrived here and saw the bustling scene.

Seeing so many people working from afar, Magistrate Zhang frowned slightly—did Magistrate Gou really conscript so many laborers?

The small boat stopped by the riverbank, and as Magistrate Zhang got off the boat, a Yiguan (a county official) came up and asked, "Are you Doctor Zhang?"

Magistrate Zhang was stunned for a moment before saying, "I am a doctor. Is there a problem?"

Magistrate Zhang had been exiled to the northern region and worked alongside the common people every day. In the north, there was hardly anything available, and when the common people fell ill, they had nowhere to seek medical treatment and could only endure it… Out of pity, Magistrate Zhang began to study medicine.

He had already read some medical books and found a teacher. Coupled with the fact that there were many patients in the place of exile for him to practice on, he had developed quite a decent medical skill.

"No, but I guessed you'd be coming soon, so I've been waiting here," the Yiguan said.

There were two medical clinics in their county town, and in the past few days, both of these clinics had people coming for free consultations.

But these days, the doctor from Huichun Hall is marrying off his daughter, so he didn't come over, but yesterday someone from Huichun Hall came and told them that the doctor's senior brother, surnamed Zhang, who lives in the provincial capital, knows about the free clinic and wants to help.

The senior brother of the doctor from Huichun Hall, surnamed Zhang, lives in the provincial capital. He should have arrived by now, since he came from there. This official is waiting here by the dock. It is said that Doctor Zhang has white hair and is around sixty years old… As soon as Magistrate Zhang appeared, he came over.

Magistrate Zhang knew that this official had mistaken him for someone else, but upon hearing that someone was looking for a doctor, he became somewhat worried and anxious to see the patient.

Moreover, this was actually an opportunity to inquire about the situation inside… Magistrate Zhang said, "Quickly take me to see the patient."

"It's over there." The official immediately led Magistrate Zhang forward.

As Magistrate Zhang followed the official, he pondered over the patient's condition. Most likely, accidents occurred during work here…

Thinking so, Magistrate Zhang saw the official standing in front of a grass shed with a sign saying "Huichun Hall Free Clinic" and said to Magistrate Zhang, "Doctor Zhang, your junior brother's things are all here, feel free to use them."

Magistrate Zhang looked inside the shed and saw some simple medicinal herbs, paper, and a pen for writing prescriptions. Basically, everything needed was there.

So… did this official mistake him for the doctor who came for the free clinic?

The doctor from Huichun Hall was quite considerate to actually come to the free clinic.

Just as he was thinking this, someone came in: "Doctor, Doctor, I sprained my waist just now; please take a look."

Magistrate Zhang looked up and saw a tall and sturdy young man with a ruddy complexion entering from outside.

After working for half a month at the Jinliushu, digging mud no longer made his whole body ache.

But he still didn't want to work… Hearing that people diagnosed by the doctor as unwell could go back to rest, Jin Liushu seized the opportunity and came over.

If the doctor asked him to rest, that would be best. If not, it didn't matter; he would go back to work, anyway, stealing a moment of laziness when he could.

Upon hearing Jin Liushu's words,Magistrate Zhang immediately said, "Lie down on the bed; I'll examine you."

Jin Liushu quickly complied and laid down on the bed.

Seeing this, Magistrate Zhang went up to Jinliushu and started examining his waist.

Wang Bohan and Magistrate Zhang's attendants followed along. The attendants were fine, but Wang Bohan couldn't help but speak up, "Zhang… Magistrate Zhang, you've been tired from the journey, should you rest a bit before attending to this laborer?"

How could a dignified prefect help a common laborer with an injury?

Magistrate Zhang replied, "No need."

Wang Bohan looked conflicted, but Magistrate Zhang had already begun examining Jin Liushu's waist.

There was nothing wrong with Jin Liushu's bones, but back pain didn't necessarily indicate a bone issue…Magistrate Zhang asked some questions.

Jin Liushu said he accidentally twisted it.

Magistrate Zhang could only say, "Your bones are fine, rest for a while, and you should be fine!"

"Then I'll rest for a while!" Jin Liushu was overjoyed.

Magistrate Zhang had seen many ups and downs and realized something as he observed Jinliushu's attitude.

This person seemed quite well-built, and his family situation should be decent, so… was he trying to slack off?

However, Jin Liushu looked young, so Magistrate Zhang wasn't angry. He asked, "Is the work very hard?"

Of course it was hard! But it wasn't polite to say so in front of outsiders. Jin Liushu replied, "Not hard, not hard."

"Do you think building a new dock is a good idea?" Magistrate Zhang asked again.

Jin Liushu didn't hesitate, "Yes!" Before, when the family hadn't split, Jinliushu just wanted to live a comfortable life at home.

But after the split, realizing he would only inherit three acres of land, Jin Liushu became uneasy.

Added to being forced to work here and realizing how hard it was… now Jin Liushu just wanted to find another way out.

His plan was to come to the dock and sell food.

His father worked as a cook in the army, and he was quite skilled. Jin Liushu could learn from him and sell food at the dock later.

Even if he didn't make much money, it would be better than farming!

Magistrate Zhang was puzzled, but at that moment, someone else came to him for medical treatment.

With thousands of people working here, accidents happen every day. In the past, they would have just endured it, but now, with the free clinic, they all came for treatment, and some even sought Magistrate Zhang for other ailments.

Magistrate Zhang was kept busy for a while, but because he had treated many poor people before, he could solve most of their problems.

However, during the treatment, he couldn't help but ask some questions.

"Building the dock this time is really great; we can eat meat every day."

"Before, some people didn't want to come and even paid money to avoid it. Now, they regret it so much!"

"This morning, someone sneaked in wanting to work. Hahaha!"

Magistrate Zhang's forehead smoothed out, and a smile played at the corners of his mouth.

He was now certain that Magistrate Gou had done well.

This could be seen in the spirit of the laborers working here.

In the North, the government often drafted laborers to build roads, and he had been there. At that time, the people around him were all numb, and there were occasional deaths.

He had once complained bitterly, feeling that heaven was unfair to him, but looking at the people around him, he felt he was already living quite well.

The laborers in Chongcheng County were different from those he had seen before; they had smiles on their faces, and some even pretended to be sick to avoid work… With these thoughts, Magistrate Zhang glanced at Jin Liushu, who was still lingering.

Jin Liushu had a feeling that the doctor had seen through him, but he had thick skin and still didn't leave. He continued to clutch his waist, groaning, "Ouch, ouch."

Magistrate Zhang: "…"

It was at this moment that the drums for lunch sounded. The second meal of the day had begun!

It's time to eat! Jinliushu jumped up and dashed out.

Magistrate Zhang couldn't help but bang the table, "You rascal!"

"Liushu, why are you here? Are you sick?" Jin Dajiang came to deliver the meal and couldn't help but ask when he saw Jin Liushu.

Jin Liushu said, "Uncle, I'm fine."

Before Jin Dajiang could finish speaking, Jin Liushu had already disappeared.

Jin Dajiang glanced around and walked towards Magistrate Zhang. "Doctor, I've brought the meal."

Previously, when Magistrate Gou came over, they all ate the same food as the laborers. Naturally, the doctors and officials who came to the free clinic couldn't have special treatment.

They ate the same food as the laborers.

However, these meals were cooked in many pots, so the doctors and officials got a bit more meat.

For convenience, the meat in these meals was cut into small pieces. Today's meal was stewed pork with soybeans. Ordinary people only had pork and soybeans in their pots, while doctors, officials, and the like could also have pork trotters and pig heads.

Among the meals brought to Magistrate Zhang, there were pork trotters.

Magistrate Zhang had just eaten noodles an hour ago, but now seeing the pork trotters, he felt like eating again. He immediately invited Wang Bohan and his attendants to eat together.

Wang Bohan looked bitter; he really didn't want to eat this stuff!

Who knew who had prepared it? Just looking at the person delivering the meal, he seemed like a common laborer.

But since the prefect had eaten, he felt embarrassed not to.

While they were eating, Li Qingzhi arrived at Wang's house.

He had first gone to Magistrate Gou's place today, handed over Zhu Qian's autobiography to him, and then went to Ding Xi's place and gave Ding Xi his autobiography.

Ding Xi had given Li Qingzhi money a few times before, totaling sixty taels, but this time, he gave Li Qingzhi another hundred taels.

This amount was a bit much, and Li Qingzhi knew he was benefiting from Magistrate Gou's influence.

Considering Magistrate Gou's favor, Ding Xi would always give him a bit more money!

Not only did Ding Xi give him money, but he also treated him to a meal at a restaurant and even had the waiter pack some dishes for him when he left.

The restaurant's dishes weren't cheap, and they even provided bamboo baskets for takeout. Li Qingzhi, holding the basket, arrived at Sister Wang's house.

Jin Xiaoye and the others were busiest in the morning, and the afternoon would be a bit easier. However, when Li Qingzhi arrived, Sister Wang's house was still crowded with seven or eight people, and various fabrics were stacked in layers.

A melodious "meow" sounded, and a cat came to Li Qingzhi's feet, rubbing against Wang had brought back a cat to prevent mice from damaging the fabrics.

"Xiaoye, don't feed it too much. It's been eating well these days and doesn't catch mice anymore!" Sister Wang said.

Li Qingzhi smiled and took out an oil-paper package. "I've got some good stuff here. Won't give it to the cat… Why don't you try it?"

Inside the oil-paper package were pine nut cakes filled with red bean paste. Sister Wang took a piece and praised its deliciousness, then couldn't help sighing, "My darn husband used to buy me pine nut cakes all the time. It's a pity he went out six months ago and hasn't returned since…"

Traveling merchants often traveled around, buying and selling goods, and it was common for them to return home at the end of the year. But by this time in previous years, they should have been back…

In previous years, Sister Wang would be worried, sometimes even crying all day, thinking about what to do if something happened to her husband.

When Jin Xiaoye first met Sister Wang, there was sorrow between her brows.

But when people have things to do, they won't worry about unnecessary things. Sister Wang was busy from morning to night and didn't have time to think about her husband, at most, she worried a bit before going to bed.

Sister Wang's husband, surnamed Qu, was named Qu Yunqing. Sister Wang liked to talk to familiar people, so Li Qingzhi knew some things about Qu Yunqing.

At this moment, Sister Wang complained again, saying how Qu Yunqing still hadn't returned.

Qu Yunqing, whom Sister Wang was concerned about, was actually already in Chongcheng County.

This time, he stayed outside for a while to earn more money, which delayed his return home. He only arrived in Hexing Prefecture yesterday.

Qu Yunqing was a man who cared about his reputation. He worked hard outside to earn more money, so that when he returned home for the New Year, others would envy him. So early this morning, he spent a couple of silver to hire a large boat to take him home.

This kind of large boat was very comfortable to ride in and came with various snacks. After Qu Yunqing boarded the ship, he began to eat heartily. Any leftovers were stuffed into his luggage.

He had brought back quite a lot of things from outside during the year, totaling about two hundred kilograms when combined with his luggage.

After boarding the ship, Qu Yunqing had already planned how to disembark in front of his neighbors' envious eyes when he arrived home, and then distribute gifts. His wife and children would surely rush towards him…

However, halfway through the journey, Qu Yunqing encountered a problem.

The boat sprang a leak halfway to Chongcheng County, where Dr. Zhang from Hexing Prefecture was heading for a medical mission. Although Dr. Zhang wasn't in danger thanks to the timely grounding of the boat, they were still far from Chongcheng County. Dr. Zhang had no choice but to seek help from passing boats.

Seeing that Dr. Zhang was well-dressed, Qu Yunqing decided to give him a ride. However, Dr. Zhang showed no intention of paying Qu Yunqing, instead, he kept talking about the medical mission.

Qu Yunqing was usually very calculating in his business dealings, but in Chongcheng County, he started showing off. He felt embarrassed to ask Dr. Zhang for money, and he ended up giving him a free ride reluctantly.

Fortunately, the one or two silvers he spent could cover the cost of the boat for the whole day without the need for extra money. However, taking Dr. Zhang to the west of Chongcheng County would delay Qu Yunqing's show-off return home!

Qu Yunqing was torn the whole way, and the boat finally arrived in Chongcheng County.

Having eaten his fill on the boat, and with Dr. Zhang rushing to the new dock, they didn't stay in the county and went straight to the new dock.

Qu Yunqing planned to drop Dr. Zhang off and then return home to show off.

Sun Juren's people had been watching the passing boats. Whenever a boat came from the direction of the prefectural city, they would take a closer look and search for a middle-aged man with white hair.

Although Sun Juren had seen Magistrate Zhang from a distance once, he couldn't personally come out to wait for him due to his illness. The others… they didn't know Magistrate Zhang.

Helplessly, they had to look for someone based on Sun Juren's description.

Sun Juren knew that Magistrate Zhang lived a very simple life, but in his opinion, Magistrate Zhang wouldn't be riding a shabby boat.

But unexpectedly, Magistrate Zhang arrived on a shabby boat, dressed plainly, and looked old… Sun Juren's people didn't even notice him.

However, they did notice the boat hired by Qu Yunqing.

The people arranged by Sun Juren immediately followed the boat, and then they saw the boat heading straight for the new dock, with an old man in his fifties wearing a long robe walking towards the bow…

This one, must be Magistrate Zhang!

The people arranged by Sun Juren immediately spread the news.

At this moment, Magistrate Zhang had finished his meal and began to wander around.

During his stroll, seeing the laborers eating similar food to him, albeit without pork trotters… Magistrate Zhang stroked his beard and became even more satisfied with County Magistrate Gou.

Before taking office in Chongcheng County, County Magistrate Gou had visited him and brought generous gifts. At that time, Magistrate Zhang didn't have a good impression of County Magistrate Gou, but now it seems that although their styles were different, County Magistrate Gou was a good official who loved the people like his children.

Just then, someone suddenly shouted, "Someone's been killed! The government officer killed someone!"

What's going on? Magistrate Zhang hurriedly rushed to the source of the voice, only to see a yamen runner standing there, at a loss. "I didn't even touch him!"

These government officers had it tough recently!

After the incident with Zhang Yunquan, the county magistrate punished several government officers, and then their requirements became very strict.

During the construction of the dock, they were forbidden from beating the people and even required to help with some tasks.

It wasn't a big deal for them not to beat the people, as they didn't actually like doing it, but helping with the work was quite tiring.

Just now, he had finished eating and was resting when suddenly a few people came over and started attacking him. He instinctively resisted, and then these people started shouting that someone had been killed by him, and there was even someone lying on the ground, gasping for breath.

The government official was only in his twenties. He used to patrol the streets with an air of authority, casually taking things from the common people, but at most, he would shove or push them and had never resorted to violence. Now, with someone dead before him, he was utterly at a loss.

Just then, some ragged-looking people rushed out from the side and started accusing him, "You beat him to death!"

"Poor old Zeng, you died so miserably!"

"There's no justice; the government official killed someone!"

…

Magistrate Zhang arrived at this moment. "Step aside and let me take a look."

However, the people surrounding Old Zeng wouldn't let Magistrate Zhang approach. Instead, the government official shouted, "You should take a look. Maybe he's not dead yet. How did he die all of a sudden?"

However, Magistrate Zhang was blocked by people and couldn't approach to check.

Not only that, but those troublemakers also started attacking the government official and Magistrate Zhang.

The attendants brought by Magistrate Zhang quickly moved to protect him and were grabbed and beaten by these people several times.

After the chaos subsided, Magistrate Zhang finally got a look at the dead man.

The man's complexion was waxy, his belly was swollen, and he appeared close to death, but in this state… he didn't seem to have been beaten to death; it looked more like he was at death's door due to illness.

In addition, the troublemakers also looked emaciated and ragged, unlike the other laborers.

Among the laborers brought in this time, the weak ones had all been sent to the brick kiln by County Magistrate Gou to make bricks. The strong ones were all working on the dock. Now, suddenly, a group of skeletal-looking people appeared, looking out of place.

Having witnessed too many plots and schemes,Magistrate Zhang immediately realized what was going on. "Who are you people? What do you want?"

But these people kept causing trouble.

Magistrate Zhang continued, "The man on the ground died of illness, not from being beaten."

"You're just the lackeys of the government, speaking up for these government officials!" someone accused Magistrate Zhang, while others rushed forward to shove him.

They were afraid that Magistrate Zhang would say too much and ruin their plans.

Magistrate Zhang was pushed around and accidentally fell to the ground.

At that moment, a large boat pulled up nearby, and Dr. Zhang stepped off the boat.

Dr. Zhang was a very special doctor in the prefectural city.

He had a soft heart and spent his days traveling to various villages to help the poor with their illnesses, earning a great reputation among the common people. But the wealthy in the city would never seek treatment from him.

They might not even be able to find him.

This time, he came to Chongcheng County for a medical mission to help the laborers who had been conscripted, but he encountered a situation where someone had been beaten to death as soon as he got off the boat!

Dr. Zhang was furious. "This is outrageous!"

Hearing this, the troublemakers cried out even louder, and some opened their tattered clothes to reveal wounds on their bodies. "These people don't treat us like human beings. They beat and scold us at the slightest provocation!"

Dr. Zhang became even angrier.

The government official and several nearby laborers finally realized, "Who are you people? You're not even here to work!"

However, these people were all labeled as lackeys of the county government office by the troublemakers.

Amidst the commotion, some of the troublemakers fell to the ground.

By this point, if Magistrate Zhang still didn't understand what was going on, then he would have lived in vain for so many years!

Magistrate Zhang got up from the ground and wanted to say something. At that moment, Jin Liushu shouted, "These people are here to cause trouble. They must be trying to tarnish County Magistrate Gou's reputation. Let's arrest them and take them to the county government office!"

Jin Liushu might seem lazy, but he was actually quite clever. At this moment, he was urging the laborers around him to go and arrest people.

Having heard so many stories recently, he really wanted to go and see the county government office, and also… If he went to the county government office, would he still have to work?

However, although Jin Liushu was urging others to move forward, he himself was afraid of getting hurt and didn't go up. Instead, he helped Magistrate Zhang up. "Dr. Zhang, are you okay?"

Feeling a bit sore in his waist, Magistrate Zhang remained silent for a moment before replying, "I'm fine."

Sun Juren brought people from the Sun family village to complain and act in front of Magistrate Zhang. They were all tenants of the Sun family village.

Whenever there is chaos in the world, households are left empty and people are displaced, causing the fields to become barren.

Thus, at the beginning of a new dynasty, most people generally had land.

But as time passed, land consolidation became more severe, and the number of landless people increased.

In Chongcheng County, as long as the common people had land, most of them could live fairly well, but if they didn't have land… their lives would definitely be difficult.

Some people would work as laborers at the docks to make a living, while others would become servants in wealthy households. Of course, the most common option was to become a tenant farmer and lease land from wealthy landowners.

There were many tenant farmers living in the villages near Chongcheng County. Some of them didn't even have household registration and had been living in the villages for a long time.

Some families treated their tenant farmers well, so their lives were relatively decent, but some treated them poorly, causing these tenant farmers to often suffer from exhaustion and hunger, and many of them died young.

But it didn't matter; as long as the wealthy households had land, they could always find people willing to cultivate the land for them.

Sun Juren himself didn't have the intention of mistreating the tenant farmers, but the managers under him always wanted to make money. As a result, the tenant farmers of the Sun family lived very poorly, each one looking emaciated.

Bringing this group of people to cause trouble could indeed show Magistrate Zhang the plight of those who wanted to build the dock, but… these people really didn't have much fighting power.

The coolies who were digging mud were much stronger than them, and they quickly subdued the tenant farmers.

Dr. Zhang, who had just come down from the boat, and Magistrate Zhang, who had injured his waist, came to the side of the fallen old Zeng together.

This old Zeng was actually a tenant farmer from Sun Juren's village who had fallen seriously ill and was not expected to survive. Sun Juren had others bring him over to create a scene and perhaps even cause someone's death.

Old Zeng was already critically ill, and amidst the chaos earlier, he had been kicked a few times. Now, he couldn't be saved anymore. However, Magistrate Zhang and Dr. Zhang examined his condition and determined one thing — this man hadn't been beaten to death; he had died from an internal abscess.

His abdomen was swollen like that of a woman about to give birth, indicating he had been sick for a long time.

"He wasn't beaten to death," Magistrate Zhang declared, clutching his waist.

Dr. Zhang nodded in agreement.

"I told you I didn't hit him!" the young constable, who had been framed, breathed a sigh of relief.

At that moment, Jinliushu interjected, "Regardless, a life has been lost. These people still want to frame the county magistrate… Let's quickly take the body to the county office."

With that, Jin Liushu looked towards the large ship in the river.

The constable also noticed Qu Yunqing's rented boat by the river and immediately called out to Qu Yunqing, who was standing at the bow, enjoying the spectacle, "We need to use your boat; quickly lower the gangplank!"

Qu Yunqing, who was about to leave after watching the commotion, hesitated. Normally, common folks wouldn't dare to offend a constable, and Qu Yunqing was no exception.

He forced a smile and instructed the boat owner to lower the gangplank. Soon, the boat was filled with people.

In the midst of winter, nobody had bathed, and the smell emanating from this group was imaginable. Although Qu Yunqing was rough around the edges, he had spent a silver coin last night to take a bath in the city's public bathhouse, leaving himself clean and fresh.

Sitting in a corner, Qu Yunqing opened a window. As the cold wind blew in, he felt like shedding tears.

Meanwhile, the tenant farmers had fallen silent, but among the troublemakers were some close associates of Sun Juren, who continued to curse County Magistrate Gou.

Although Dr. Zhang had confirmed after examining the deceased that he hadn't been beaten to death, seeing someone vehemently badmouth County Magistrate Gou, who had mobilized so many laborers to build the dock, made him feel uneasy.

If County Magistrate Gou wasn't a good official, wouldn't these people be walking into a trap by going to the county office?

He wanted to reassure these people, but he was afraid of being seen as siding with them and getting into trouble himself…

After some contemplation, Dr. Zhang gave a reassuring look to one of the men.

If County Magistrate Gou turned out to be corrupt, once he escaped, he would go to the prefectural capital and report to Magistrate Zhang!

Magistrate Zhang was known to be a good official, and he would definitely punish County Magistrate Gou!

Receiving Dr. Zhang's reassuring gaze, Sun Juren's associate breathed a sigh of relief internally — Magistrate Zhang seemed to believe them, which was good!

Although it was the laborers who had apprehended the man earlier, not all of them had boarded the ship. Most of them were too timid to go to the county office.

However, Jin Liushu boarded the ship. He wasn't afraid to go to the county office; he just didn't want to work.

At this moment, Jin Liushu asked Magistrate Zhang, who had also come aboard, in a low voice, "Magistrate Zhang, why are you here too?"

"I came to see," Magistrate Zhang replied.

Originally, Magistrate Zhang had planned to quietly leave after the free clinic, but now that such a thing had happened…

Someone was definitely targeting County Magistrate Gou, and he intended to catch the mastermind behind it!

With these thoughts in mind, Magistrate Zhang subconsciously looked around him but realized Wang Bohan was not there. Only one of his two attendants had followed him aboard the ship.

Although the ship was quite large, it couldn't accommodate too many people, so Wang Bohan hadn't managed to get on.

Well, it didn't matter that Wang Bohan wasn't there. Magistrate Zhang already knew where Wang Bohan's information had come from!

Upon hearing this, Jinliushu's eyes lit up with excitement. "Dr. Zhang, I also want to go to the county office to see. I heard County Magistrate Gou is exceptionally strict in handling cases. This time, I can witness it firsthand!"

Magistrate Zhang asked Jin Liushu, "Is your waist better?"

Jin Liushu grinned, "Magistrate Zhang, let's not talk about that. It's rather embarrassing to mention!"

Magistrate Zhang: "…"

He couldn't see why this person would be embarrassed.

This man in front of him seemed like a little rascal who was pampered at home.

The large boat sailed away, leaving Wang Bohan stranded, feeling miserable.

He couldn't stand the smell emanating from those people and didn't want to get too close to them, which is why he hadn't followed Magistrate Zhang closely.

But just because of this… as the boat filled up, he couldn't get on!

He had spoken ill of County Magistrate Gou to Magistrate Zhang, only to have it proven false within a day, and he had inadvertently caused Magistrate Zhang to get beaten up…

Wang Bohan took a deep breath, wishing he could curse "Thief Sun has mistaken me" to the heavens.

The large boat finally stopped near the county office.

Seeing the constables disembark with people, Qu Yunqing breathed a sigh of relief. He was planning to have the boatman take him home when the boatman said, "Sir, we agreed on one or two silver coins to rent my boat for most of the day. It's already time."

This boat was usually used for pleasure cruises on the lake, and he didn't want to row too far out.

It was only because business was slow in the winter that he had agreed to come to Chongcheng County, but he had already specified the time and couldn't stay too late.

"Wait a bit longer; I'll pay more!" Qu Yunqing said.

"Even if you pay more, it won't work. I need to go back," the boatman replied. "With so many people just now, they've dirtied my boat. I accept that, and I won't ask you for much more money, but I really have to leave. I still need to clean the boat." Seeing Qu Yunqing's expression, the boatman knew he didn't have much money. Even if he was willing to pay more, it wouldn't be much.

He couldn't afford to neglect his customers for the next day.

Qu Yunqing could only watch helplessly as the boatman carried his luggage off the boat, and then the boat he had hired disappeared from his sight.

With things having come to this, Qu Yunqing could only shoulder his burden and walk home.

As for watching the spectacle… he decided to give the county office's commotion a miss, lest he accidentally get involved.

Since giving Zhu Qian's autobiography to County Magistrate Gou this morning, County Magistrate Gou has been reading, not even putting the book down during meals.

He admired Zhu Qian while marveling at Li Qingzhi's talent.

Li Qingzhi's calligraphy already had a distinguished style, but beyond that… some of the sentences in this book deeply resonated with him.

The book was written in vernacular Chinese, but even so, its straightforwardness had a direct impact on people's hearts.

For example, the sentence he was currently pondering — "Some people see difficulties in opportunities, while others see opportunities in difficulties…" was indeed true!

As he mulled over this sentence repeatedly, someone came to find County Magistrate Gou, saying that a group of people had gathered at the dock…

County Magistrate Gou attached great importance to the construction of the new dock. He didn't go there every day, purely to avoid interfering with the laborers.

Now, upon hearing that something had happened there… he immediately headed out.

But as soon as he stepped out, he was accosted and berated: "You scoundrel! We would tolerate your demands for labor, but allowing your constables to beat us…"

County Magistrate Gou was bewildered.

And as if that wasn't enough, County Magistrate Gou also spotted Magistrate Zhang. What was going on? Was someone plotting against him? County Magistrate Gou's nerves tensed up in an instant.

After all, when he first took office and visited Magistrate Zhang, Magistrate Zhang hadn't shown him a friendly face. And now, someone was openly insulting him…

However, even so, remembering the autobiography's account of how Zhu Qian remained calm in any situation and how he always sought opportunities in difficulties…

He believed he was in the clear. Perhaps he could use this incident to change Magistrate Zhang's opinion of him.

County Magistrate Gou took a few steps forward and said, "Magistrate, why are you here?"

Sun Juren's close associate, who had been cursing County Magistrate Gou, was actually feeling quite flustered. If he hadn't felt that Magistrate Zhang was on their side, he wouldn't have dared to curse anyone.

Now, when County Magistrate Gou spoke… he immediately looked at Dr. Zhang and said, "Magistrate, are you going to intervene for us?"

Magistrate Zhang glanced at the bewildered Dr. Zhang and then at the person kneeling in front of Dr. Zhang, and said to County Magistrate Gou, "Wen Zheng, these people want to frame you. You must interrogate them thoroughly!"

County Magistrate Gou was stunned — Magistrate Zhang was actually siding with him?

Sun Juren's close associate was dumbfounded — the person they had pushed down and even beaten a few times was actually the magistrate?!

Jin Liushu's legs went weak. He had dared to be lazy in front of the magistrate and even joked around…

Regardless of what everyone else was thinking, County Magistrate Gou began interrogating them swiftly.

But in reality, there was no need for him to interrogate them much; they all confessed.

Realizing that they had actually assaulted the magistrate, Sun Juren's close associate was terrified, let alone the tenant farmers Sun Juren had brought… They answered every question County Magistrate Gou asked, detailing everything they had done.

In this way, the situation became very clear — it was Sun Juren who wanted to frame County Magistrate Gou!

After hearing the confessions, County Magistrate Gou immediately ordered someone to summon Sun Juren. At the same time, he felt extremely fortunate that he had followed Li Qingzhi's advice and treated the laborers exceptionally well!

If he hadn't been attentive to this matter and had treated it like previous years, conscripting laborers to repair the old dock, and then Sun Juren had caused trouble…

Magistrate Zhang's impression of him would have definitely worsened!

Fortunately, Li Qingzhi had helped him! Thinking that the laborers had actually helped him apprehend the culprits and bring them to the county office, County Magistrate Gou was deeply moved.

County Magistrate Gou was very pleased, but Sun Juren was a different story!

Sun Juren's plan was actually quite good.

He planned to incite trouble when Magistrate Zhang arrived, stirring up the laborers who were working.

He knew County Magistrate Gou treated the laborers working on the dock very well, feeding them meat every day. But he had never interacted with the common people and didn't think that just this could make them have no complaints about the construction of the dock.

That was hard labor!

And throughout history, common people have never liked forced labor.

In his view, as long as someone incited them by claiming that the constables had beaten someone to death, there was a high probability that the oppressed laborers would join in the troublemaking. Even if those laborers didn't cause trouble, they definitely wouldn't side with the constables.

In addition to inciting trouble, he had also bribed several constables to secretly assist.

Sun Juren's plan was good, but plans couldn't keep up with changes.

And they changed fast.

First, this matter took a while to reach Magistrate Zhang's ears. But when Magistrate Zhang finally learned about it… he unexpectedly arrived the next day, catching him off guard!

Then… after he arranged for people to cause trouble, the laborers unexpectedly rushed forward and apprehended the troublemakers he had arranged, sending them to the county office.

All day today, Sun Juren had been waiting for news from the dock. And when the news finally arrived…

Sun Juren couldn't believe it and looked incredulously at the messenger. "What did you say?"

The messenger had to repeat what had happened at the new dock.

Sun Juren covered his head with his hands, feeling waves of pain and dizziness.

And at this moment, someone else entered from outside. "Sir, some constables are here, asking you to go to the county office…"

Sun Juren couldn't bear it anymore and collapsed backward…

At the same time, Qu Yunqing finally returned home carrying the heavy burden.

As he saw his home getting closer and closer, Qu Yunqing felt excited.

It had been ten months since he last saw them, and he missed his wife and children terribly.

His wife must have been in tears these days, waiting for him.

And his children must have been longing for their father.

When he reached home, they would surely rush out of the house. When he presented the gifts he brought, they would surely be overjoyed.

Finally at the doorstep, a smile spread across Qu Yunqing's face as he prepared to call out his wife's nickname.

Wait a minute, something seemed off with his home!

The door of the Qu family's house was open, and many people had gathered inside. His wife was laughing heartily, saying, "Jinniang, your little husband has been eagerly anticipating your return. You should go back soon! Ah, I envy you. My husband has been leaving me a widow!"

Qu Yunqing: "…" This wasn't quite what he had imagined!

At that moment, Sister Wang noticed Qu Yunqing.

In the past, she would have burst into tears without saying a word, but this time… Sister Wang stood with her hands on her hips and said, "Qu, you finally came back! Why are you two months late?"

Meanwhile, Li Qingzhi and the others were about to go home when they saw Sister Wang's husband.

Peddlers like them usually bought goods from one place, then rented a boat or a cart to transport them to another place for sale. After selling the goods, they would buy more and move on to the next destination.

These people often worked hard, and many even carried and transported goods themselves to save labor costs.

Apart from that, they also faced dangers while traveling… If they were robbed, losing money and goods was one thing, but losing their lives would be disastrous!

As a result, most of the peddlers in Chongcheng County did not venture too far, unlike Qu Yunqing, who had been away for almost ten months.

Sister Wang's husband had returned, and Sister Wang must have had a lot to say to him… Li Qingzhi held Jin Xiaoye's hand and left.

Seeing this, Jin Xiaoshu followed suit and took Fang Jinniang's hand.

A faint blush spread across Fang Jinniang's face as she smiled and followed behind Jin Xiaoshu.

She had dared to bring a man she barely knew home before, so holding hands now wasn't a big deal.

However, before Li Qingzhi could board Jin Xiaoshu's boat, a servant from the Zhu family hurried over. "Mr. Li, Master Zhu is looking for you!"

If Zhu Qian was looking for him, it must have been something important. Li Qingzhi quickly asked, "Where is he?"

The servant replied, "Master Zhu went to the county office!"

Zhu Qian went to the county office? Li Qingzhi hurriedly headed there.

The servant who came from the Zhu family didn't know the details well, only telling Li Qingzhi that someone had died at the dock.

Li Qingzhi was worried when he heard this. Fortunately, before he reached the county office, Zhu Qian came over with a smile. "Nephew, there's nothing to worry about. Sorry for making you run around!"

"What happened?" Li Qingzhi asked.

Zhu Qian immediately explained the whole story.

Li Qingzhi was surprised after hearing it. "What a coincidence!"

Zhu Qian said, "Indeed. Who would have thought that Magistrate Zhang actually knows medicine? He held a medical clinic at the dock all day, and no one noticed anything unusual."

Li Qingzhi nodded. "Magistrate Zhang is really something."

Before Li Qingzhi guided Magistrate Gou to become a good official, he had learned about the former Magistrate Zhang's experiences.

If that magistrate hadn't been good, Li Qingzhi wouldn't have allowed Magistrate Gou to be so high-profile.

As for Magistrate Zhang's words… After learning about Magistrate Zhang's past experiences, Li Qingzhi developed a favorable impression of him.

Speaking of which… Magistrate Zhang had once opposed the previous Kin Jin, and the stone quarry that had led to the death of the original owner belonged to the Prince Regent.

King Jin had once controlled the court, and even though the current emperor was in power, he didn't dare to recklessly investigate… The King Jin's mansion was still intact, and the eldest son of the previous King Jin had become the new King Jin.

From the situation at the stone quarry, it seemed that this King Jin was still greedily amassing wealth.

Li Qingzhi had always wanted to shut down that stone quarry, but he didn't know if he would have the opportunity this time.

Magistrate Zhang… It was too late today; he would go visit him tomorrow.

"Magistrate Zhang is indeed remarkable. Mr. Sun fainted, so he didn't go to court today, but Magistrate Zhang said he would write a report to revoke Sun Juren's title," Zhu Qian said.

"It should be done!" Li Qingzhi agreed.

When Li Qingzhi was studying in his previous life, he had read "The Story of Fan Jin Passing the Imperial Examination".

Fan Jin was particularly excited after passing the imperial examination, acting wildly, because things were really different after becoming a juren (a successful candidate in the highest imperial examinations).

At this time, a juren could enjoy various privileges, and could even become an official directly. Passing the imperial examination meant entering the ruling class.

There was never a lack of poor scholars, but there would never be poor juren.

If a juren committed a crime, it could always be mitigated. If Sun Juren lost his status as a juren…

The local power in Chongcheng County would no longer be able to compete with the magistrate of Gou County.

When the magistrate of Gou County received Magistrate Zhang, Li Qingzhi did not go, and Zhu sent someone to send him back home.

When he returned to Chongcheng County, it was already dark. Today was the seventh day of the twelfth lunar month, with a thin waxing crescent moon hanging in the sky.

Under the moonlight, the river shimmered faintly, while the mud road was dark black. When Li Qingzhi returned home, he found that no one was there.

"You're back, Xiao Li?" Mr. Yao asked.

"Uncle Yao, do you know where my family went?" Li Qingzhi asked.

"They went to the Jin family. Jin Liushu saved the prefect, so everyone went to hear him talk about what happened to the prefect." Mr. Yao said.

"Aqing, you're back?" At this moment, Jin Xiaoye's voice also sounded.

After Li Qingzhi was called away by Zhu, Jin Xiaoye had been worried. Just then, Jin Liushu returned and immediately started boasting about saving the prefect.

Jin Xiaoye wanted to inquire about the situation.

She originally wanted Li's father to wait at home for Li Qingzhi, but Li's father didn't want to miss out on the excitement and insisted on going. So they went together. However, after learning what happened from Jin Liushu, Jin Xiaoye brought the two children back. However, she walked slowly and fell behind Yao Shao.

"I'm back."

"Is everything okay?" Jin Xiaoye asked.

Li Qingzhi briefly explained the situation and then asked Jin Xiaoye, "What's the matter with Jin Liushu?"

Jin Xiaoye said, "My cousin saw those people causing trouble, so he went up to arrest them and even took them to the county yamen… After Magistrate Gou finished the case, he found a boat to send him back."

Jin Liushu tended to brag a bit, making himself sound heroic, as if he were extraordinary. But based on Jin Xiaoye's understanding of him, his words were somewhat exaggerated, and he might not have actually fought or arrested anyone.

Jin Liushu was actually quite clever; not only was he good-looking, but he also had a silver tongue, which made him greatly favored in the Jin family.

In this situation, the children raised… Jin Xiaoye dares to fight with people, but Jin Liushu doesn't.

Before, Jin Xiaoye didn't like Jin Liushu very much; after all, he was lazy and gluttonous. But now that they've separated households, she finds Jin Liushu more pleasing to the eye.

In the future, if Jin Liushu is lazy, it will be her uncle's family who suffer. It has nothing to do with her maternal family!

Li Qingzhi didn't expect Jin Liushu to be involved in this matter; he could only sigh that it was too coincidental.

Jin Xiaoye said, "It's fortunate that Magistrate Gou wasn't framed. That Sun Juren is really despicable! Husband, I think this incident could also be written into a book. Do you want to write it?"

Li Qingzhi has written books that Jin Xiaoye has read. She doesn't know all the words, and reading the Four Books and Five Classics makes her dizzy. But she can read the books written by Li Qingzhi. By reading them more often and asking Li Qingzhi about unfamiliar words, she can even learn to recognize them.

Li Qingzhi said, "Certainly, it must be written!"

He had already started thinking about whether he should write more about Magistrate Zhang.

To be honest, there wasn't much material to write about Magistrate Gou, but Magistrate Zhang was different. He had experienced too many things, enough to fill a lengthy novel of several million words.

After some thought, Li Qingzhi decided to abandon this idea. Magistrate Zhang's experiences were quite sensitive, so it was better not to write about them for the time being, lest he offend a large number of people.

For now, he'd better soak up the ingredients for making Laba porridge tomorrow.

Probably because it wasn't easy to gather the ingredients, the villagers in Miaoqian Village didn't have the habit of cooking Laba porridge, but the people of Chongcheng County did.

Now that Jin Xiaoye had money and was willing to make an effort, she bought some ingredients.

Rice was essential, which didn't need to be soaked in advance, but red beans, lotus seeds, soybeans, and peanuts all needed to be soaked beforehand.

Li Qingzhi and Jin Xiaoye soaked them in water, and the next day they began to cook Laba porridge.

In addition to rice and soaked ingredients, they also added some dried longans.

Li Damao and Li Ermao had never seen such porridge cooked at home before. They stood on tiptoe, peering at the stove with their small hands gripping its edge.

Li Qingzhi just stuffed two dried longans into their mouths.

The sweet dried longan was an absolute delight for the children. Li Damao and Li Ermao happily ate it, their eyes squinting in happiness.

While cooking the porridge, Li Qingzhi told stories to Jin Xiaoye, who listened attentively, carefully deciphering the words on the paper as she listened.

After Li Qingzhi finished reading two paragraphs, she even copied them down and read them back to him to see if she had made any mistakes.

"You're really amazing, Xiaoye," Li Qingzhi praised her.

Jin Xiaoye replied, "I don't know what's happening, but my memory has improved a lot lately."

Li Qingzhi chuckled, "Reading does make your brain sharper. Keep learning, and you'll become even smarter. I'll teach you Mandarin in the future." In fact, Jin Xiaoye had recently felt this way because he had used his abilities to help Jin Xiaoye develop her brain while she slept at night.

He didn't overdo it, but even so, Jin Xiaoye's memory had improved significantly.

Jin Xiaoye believed him and said, "I should learn Mandarin. It would be convenient for doing business with people from other places."

The dialect in Chongcheng County was incomprehensible to people from farther away.

In the past, Jin Xiaoye wouldn't have thought that far ahead, but hadn't she read the autobiographies of Zhu and Ding recently?

Before, Jin Xiaoye had no idea what the outside world was like, but now she did, and she wanted to go out and see it.

Jin Xiaoshu stood behind Jin Xiaoye, listening attentively to her reading.

Before, he simply listened to her stories, but now it was different; he was starting to learn how to read.

He was married now, and in the future, he would have children. If he learned to read, his children would be proud of him, and he could even read stories to them.

As for Jin's mother… she watched proudly from the side—her child was so amazing, already learning to read!

Jin's maternal family was still very poor, and she even had a sister who was struggling even more.

Before, she had already lived a better life than her siblings at Jin's house, but recently, her life has been even more like that of a fairy.

Making porridge took longer than making rice, and Laba porridge required even more time to cook. It wasn't until the daylight shone brightly that the porridge was ready.

Jin's mother hurried to serve the porridge, then diligently added the dried longans to Li Qingzhi, Jin Xiaoye, Li Damao, and Li Ermao's bowls.

She felt that since her daughter and son-in-law had bought the ingredients and cooked the porridge, they should eat more.

Li Qingzhi and Jin Xiaoye accepted her kindness.

After eating, Li Qingzhi went to the county with Jin Xiaoshu.

He had to go to the county office today to see Magistrate Zhang.

Jin Xiaoshu took off his padded jacket and paddled the boat towards the county, while at the new pier, the conscripted laborers were enjoying Laba porridge.

Previously, Magistrate Gou had them eat two meals a day, partly because it was common for rural families to eat twice a day, and partly because cooking was troublesome.

But today was different!

After yesterday's events, Magistrate Gou was deeply moved. He specifically took out some silver and had his men buy Laba porridge ingredients to be sent to the kitchen, so that the laborers could have an extra meal of Laba porridge today.

Last night, the kitchen staff had already soaked all the ingredients like red beans. As soon as the sky began to lighten, they started cooking the porridge, and by now, everyone had already enjoyed their Laba porridge at the new pier.

The Laba porridge here didn't have dried longans. It mainly consisted of rice, soybeans, red beans, and a small amount of lotus seeds and peanuts.

So those who could eat peanuts and lotus seeds felt very lucky.

Of course, in the porridge the constables drank, there were more peanuts and lotus seeds. In Jin Dajiang's bowl, there were several peanuts and lotus seeds.

Jin Dajiang had never eaten lotus seeds before and found them especially delicious. Just then, Chef Zhou took out a packet of brown sugar and gave him a big spoonful.

In Chongcheng County, some families would grow sugarcane, and some wealthy households owned vast fields of sugarcane.

Brown sugar is made from sugarcane juice. In Chongcheng County, bringing a packet of brown sugar when visiting a patient was considered generous.

"I… I couldn't possibly…" Jin Dajiang felt very embarrassed.

Chef Zhou said, "Go ahead and eat quickly. I have plenty."

Only then did Jin Dajiang take a sip of the porridge. It was really sweet!

Meanwhile, Jin Liushu was drinking porridge and talking about his heroic deeds from yesterday.

At that time, the prefect almost got beaten, and he saved him!

Jin Liushu tried hard to speak, finishing one part before moving on to another.

The constables didn't stop him from doing so, but they were a bit speechless.

At first, they thought Jin Liushu was just bragging, but then they realized… Was this guy just trying to slack off?

But not everyone followed to the county office yesterday and knew about the interrogation. It was quite nice to hear Jin Liushu talk about it… so they just listened.

Jin Liushu's eloquence was better than others', and what he said was good.

Jin Liushu even knew how the prefect treated patients: "The prefect is very skilled in medicine. Yesterday, someone went to him for treatment, and he…"

The magistrate, who was being praised profusely by Jin Liushu, was currently lying in bed unable to get up. Doctor Zhang was helping him recuperate.

He had suffered a lot. He had a bad back from overworking, and when he twisted it yesterday, he could initially bear it, but after a night's sleep, it became uncomfortable.

Fortunately, Doctor Zhang often helped the poor treat their illnesses and was good at treating this kind of ailment. He heated up a plaster and applied it to the prefect's back, making him feel much better.

The magistrate didn't like eating in bed. After the plaster was applied, he got out of bed. Then, he saw that County Magistrate Gou had prepared a table of breakfast, including both salty and sweet Laba porridge.

The prefect didn't quite like County Magistrate Gou's style, but considering all the things County Magistrate Gou had done for the people, he didn't mind much.

After finishing breakfast, the magistrate asked, "Why do you want to build a new dock?"

When County Magistrate Gou heard the magistrate's question, he immediately had someone bring the plan written by Li Qingzhi and started explaining it to the magistrate.

He spoke about the things Li Qingzhi had told him earlier. The prefect listened with fascination, finding it very reasonable.

The person who proposed this was someone who got things done!

"Who wrote this? A clerk from the county office?" The prefect looked at the writing on the paper in front of him and thought it must have been written by a clerk who understood the people's suffering.

County Magistrate Gou said, "This was written by a scholar from Chongcheng County. He is very knowledgeable."

County Magistrate Gou was very grateful to Li Qingzhi and wanted to do something for him.

It wasn't appropriate to give Li Qingzhi money, nor did he want to… but he could recommend Li Qingzhi to the prefect.

"A scholar? He's very knowledgeable?" The prefect looked at the words in front of him with disbelief.

Although the writing looked impressive, it was actually quite ugly, and one could tell that the person who wrote it didn't put much effort into it; it was done casually.

"You may not know, sir, but Li Qingzhi had a serious illness a few years ago, and even this year, he broke his arm during the Mid-Autumn Festival. He wrote this with his left hand. Now his right hand is almost healed, and I'm not even close to his skill in writing." County Magistrate Gou began to praise Li Qingzhi, mentioning that he was born into a poor peasant family, but he persisted in studying for ten years, understood the people's livelihood, and his suggestion to build the dock was all from the perspective of the people.

The magistrate couldn't help but be curious. Just then, a servant came to report that Li Qingzhi had arrived.

County Magistrate Gou immediately let him in and said to the magistrate, "The one who persuaded me to build the dock is Li Qingzhi."

Li Qingzhi was led inside by the servant of Magistrate Guo's mansion. As soon as he entered, he saw Magistrate Guo and another person, around fifty or sixty years old, with gray hair, standing together.

This must be Magistrate Zhang. Li Qingzhi immediately bowed and saluted.

Magistrate Zhang said, "I heard from Wen Zheng that you write very well. How about writing a passage now? How about 'Song of the Broken Cottage in Autumn Wind'?"

"In that case, this humble one will show his lack of skill," Li Qingzhi said, and without much hesitation, after picking up the brush, he began writing.

Most people would feel nervous writing in front of a magistrate, but not Li Qingzhi. Before he even started writing, he already had the ideal layout of the poem in his mind. Once he began writing, he followed the mental image he had prepared without pause.

Magistrate Guo knew that Li Qingzhi wrote well, but he hadn't expected him to write so fast.

The sight of him writing with such earnestness was pleasing, and when one looked at his words… it was even more commendable.

Magistrate Zhang remained silent, purely out of fear of disturbing Li Qingzhi.

"Can I build a thousand mansions to shelter all people under heaven, bringing joy to the poor of the world…" Li Qingzhi quickly finished the entire poem.

"Excellent words!" Magistrate Zhang now believed that Li Qingzhi's knowledge was indeed impressive. At least, his handwriting was better than his own.

He hadn't practiced much in recent years, and his handwriting wasn't very good.

With this in mind, Magistrate Zhang asked, "How many words do you write daily?" Words like these required a lot of practice to master.

"If there are no other tasks, I write over five thousand words every day," Li Qingzhi replied. He used to write many words every day when he wrote stories.

Magistrate Zhang didn't know that Li Qingzhi wrote stories and asked, "Does writing so many words every day interfere with your studies?"

"Sir, this humble one has already memorized the Four Books and Five Classics," Li Qingzhi replied.

Magistrate Zhang became interested and asked Li Qingzhi some questions. He only asked questions that could be found in books, not requiring Li Qingzhi to come up with anything on the spot. Li Qingzhi answered them fluently.

Afterward, when Magistrate Zhang began asking about matters related to the common people…

Both Li Qingzhi and the original host had considerable knowledge, so naturally, Li Qingzhi could respond well.

As they chatted, it unexpectedly went on until noon.

Magistrate Zhang still seemed somewhat unsatisfied: "When you come to the capital in the future, you must visit me."

Li Qingzhi immediately agreed.

With the approaching New Year, there were many matters in the capital that Magistrate Zhang needed to attend to. Therefore, despite his back injury, that afternoon, Magistrate Zhang still left Chongcheng County and returned to the capital.

However, when he returned, Magistrate Guo had arranged a large boat for him and had even arranged it with comforts so he could lie down during the journey.

Magistrate Zhang once again felt that Magistrate Guo's lifestyle was somewhat extravagant, but he suddenly remembered his own youthful days.

Back then, he had been extravagant too.

With this thought, Magistrate Zhang lay down.

Wang Bohan had accompanied Magistrate Zhang. He sat in the corner, looking embarrassed.

He hadn't expected that Sun Juren would arrange such a spectacle for Magistrate Zhang to witness. What's more, not only had the performance been exposed on the spot, but it had also resulted in Magistrate Zhang's injury.

It was he who had brought Magistrate Zhang to Chongcheng County… Even though it was winter, Wang Bohan couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat.

The boat moved very slowly, and by the time they arrived at the capital, it was already evening. With the help of his attendants, Magistrate Zhang got up and walked towards the government office. Upon returning to his residence, he had his attendants help him tidy up his belongings.

His back… It would probably take several days to heal.

As the attendants were tidying up, one suddenly said, "Sir, there's an extra letter in your parcel."

"What letter?" Magistrate Zhang asked, and then the attendant handed him a white envelope.

It couldn't be called a white envelope… It was actually a folded envelope made of rice paper, with the words "For the Magistrate's Eyes Only" written on it in print-like handwriting.

Because Magistrate Zhang had difficulty moving, Magistrate Guo had arranged for someone to help tidy up Magistrate Zhang's belongings. Now, this letter was found inside… Who put it there?

Regardless of who put it there, they must have wanted him to see it.

Magistrate Zhang opened the letter and saw that the writing was identical to the printed text.

To the north of Hexing Prefecture, there is a lake called Li Lake.

Li Lake produces Lihu stones, which are highly sought after. The nobles in the capital particularly love to use Lihu stones to decorate their courtyards.

Lihu stones are divided into dry stones and wet stones, with those in exceptional shapes being quite valuable.

Since the previous dynasty, people have been mining Lishu stones. After the founding of Daqi, because the mining of Lihu stones harmed the people and wasted resources, the founding emperor once ordered a ban on mining.

However, as Daqi grew older and the nobles became wealthier, the mining of Lihu stones resumed over the past few decades.

This was a trivial matter that Magistrate Zhang had never paid attention to before, but the letter mentioned that someone was trafficking people and forcing the common people to mine stones.

Magistrate Zhang was stunned.

On the other hand, Li Qingzhi, who had written the letter and placed it in Magistrate Zhang's parcel, had already returned home.

In modern times, there are also cases of people being detained in coal mines or factories and forced to work. In ancient times, such incidents were even more common.

The stone quarry, managed by King Jin, was such a place.

The overseer of the stone quarry didn't regard those bought from various places to work as human beings at all. He fed them the worst food, even in the dead of winter, and forced them to dive into the water to mine stones or chisel stones by the lakeside…

Even if they were physically strong when they entered, they would be worked to death in a few years.

Those fortunate enough to be worked to death were the lucky ones. There were plenty of cases where people were crushed to death by stones.

Li Qingzhi didn't know if this letter would help those people, but for now, it was the best he could do.

He didn't even dare to speak directly to Magistrate Zhang, fearing retaliation from King Jin's mansion.

This era was not one of equality for all. When Magistrate Guo interrogated Zhang Yunquan earlier, he discovered that Zhang Yunquan and his men had killed many people. Once, when someone wanted to go to the capital to file a complaint against Magistrate Zhang, Zhang Yunquan found out and sent his men to kill the person.

If Zhang Yunquan could do this, it would be very easy for King Jin's mansion to make him disappear!

At this moment, Li Qingzhi felt extremely fortunate that he had timely removed Zhang Yunquan. Otherwise, with Hong Hui's intense hatred towards him, who knows, Zhang Yunquan might have been ordered to kill him.

Now… with Zhang Yunquan gone, Sun Juren's influence would no longer stir up trouble, especially since the Hong family had already declined. He didn't have to worry too much about his own safety in the future.

As for any potential tactics Hong Hui might employ, when the time came, he could face them head-on or find ways to counteract them.

Over the next few days, life in Miaoqian Village continued as usual. While Li Qingzhi studied, he also wrote five thousand words of a new story every day with his right hand.

The story he wrote this time was titled "Magistrate Zhang's Secret Investigation Reveals Sun Juren's True Colors".

Magistrate Zhang's visit to Chongcheng County to investigate this matter was indeed perfect material for a story. The villain's attempt to frame Magistrate Guo only to face his own downfall… After reading it, the people would surely cheer!

In the blink of an eye, it was already the fourteenth day of the twelfth month, and Li Qingzhi's story was finally complete.

Since the story was finished, Li Qingzhi specifically went to the county yamen and handed it over to Magistrate Guo.

"Nephew, have you heard the news?" Magistrate Guo asked as soon as he saw Li Qingzhi.

Li Qingzhi was puzzled. "What news?"

Realizing that Li Qingzhi was unaware, Magistrate Guo said, "Sun Juren has passed away."

Sun Juren was already advanced in age, and after Zhang Yunquan's incident, he fell seriously ill and had been bedridden ever since.

This time, his plot to frame Magistrate Guo was exposed, which terrified him so much that he fainted. Afterward, he remained unconscious, and yesterday, he passed away.

Upon hearing this news, Magistrate Guo couldn't help but feel a bit rueful.

When he first arrived in Chongcheng County, the local forces and many of the yamen's officials were gathered around Sun Juren, forming a powerful interest group that marginalized him.

He had always thought he could only be a nominal magistrate, but he hadn't expected Sun Juren to meet such an end.

However, for Sun Juren, this might be considered a good thing. The magistrate couldn't revoke Sun Juren's status as a juren, so stripping him of his title hadn't been accomplished yet.

Sun Juren passed away with the status of a juren.

Although Magistrate Guo harbored resentment towards Sun Juren before, now that the man was dead, he didn't hold onto that grudge. He merely sighed at Sun Juren's self-inflicted demise and asked Li Qingzhi why he had come.

Li Qingzhi immediately presented the newly written book he had.

Magistrate Guo took it, and as he read, his expression grew increasingly delighted. "What a splendid story!"

Many people had already heard the previous stories numerous times, so they were in need of a fresh tale! This story in front of him couldn't have been more appropriate!

Magistrate Guo praised Li Qingzhi's excellent handwriting once again, then instructed some fast writers from the government office to come over and copy the manuscript into several parts.

After that, Magistrate Guo discussed the matters concerning the dock with Li Qingzhi.

The labor-intensive work required for building the dock was nearly completed. The brick kilns had been constructed, and the necessary clay had been dug up. The river channel near the port needed to be dug deeper, but that could wait until the dock was almost finished and the weather turned warmer before hiring people for it.

Li Qingzhi suggested, "Sir, the bailiffs and clerks watch the laborers work every day. You can have them select strong and hardworking individuals among them and reward them with some money for their efforts. Then you can ask them to come back next year to work again, while the rest can stay home. Building the dock requires many people, but not thousands. Next year, you can afford to hire two or three hundred laborers; paying them one or two taels of silver a month for food should be enough. You can definitely afford it."

Magistrate Guo thought it was a great idea. Currently, there were too many people, and just feeding them all cost a lot of money every day. If he only hired two or three hundred people next year, the expenses might be lower than they were now.

Li Qingzhi also proposed some other suggestions. For example, once these laborers became proficient, Magistrate Guo could have them help those who had bought land and intended to build houses, thereby earning more money.

This was akin to forming a construction team. If executed well, Magistrate Guo might make a profit.

The more Magistrate Guo listened, the more feasible he found it.

Li Qingzhi stayed at the yamen until the afternoon before heading to Sister Wang's house to find Jin Xiaoye.

As soon as he arrived at Sister Wang's house, he saw Wang Jie's husband helping to move goods. When the man saw him, he greeted him warmly, "You must be Mr. Li! I've heard so much about you."

Li Qingzhi quickly responded, "Hello, Brother Qu, just call me Xiao Li."

Facing Qu Yunqing's enthusiasm, Li Qingzhi couldn't help but smile. Mainly because Jin Xiaoye had told him quite a bit about this person recently.

When Qu Yunqing had just returned home, he had been somewhat cold toward Sister Wang because she wasn't enthusiastic enough, and then he had thrown a tantrum and slammed chopsticks on the table at home because the house was filled with goods. He even wanted Jin Xiaoye to move all those goods out.

This led to a big fight between him and Sister Wang, and she demanded that he bring out the money he had earned.

In a year, Qu Yunqing had earned about sixty taels of silver, but he wanted to keep thirty taels for himself as his own spending money, meaning he could only give thirty taels to Sister Wang.

This amount of money wasn't little, as he had given Sister Wang about the same sum in previous years.

But truth be told, with two boys in the family needing education, and the family needing to eat and drink, not to mention his habit of hosting guests at home during the New Year, demanding that Sister Wang prepare good food and drinks… this money was barely enough to cover all these expenses.

If this were in the past, Sister Wang would have had to endure such situations, but now she earns money!

Sister Wang had an argument with him, saying that she earns more than three or two taels of silver a month…

Learning that Sister Wang actually earns so much money, Qu Yunqing was greatly surprised, and then… he became attentive to Sister Wang and even started helping with the work.

Of course, in addition to working, he also constantly inquired about the market for the things Jin Xiaoye made, hoping to buy a batch of goods from her at a low price.

Truly showing his merchant nature.

However, most of the traveling peddlers are like this; if they want to succeed in business, they have to have a thick skin.

Li Qingzhi chatted with Qu Yunqing for a few sentences before going to find Jin Xiaoye.

Since Qu Yunqing came back, Jin Xiaoye has been thinking about renting a shop to open an embroidery workshop and moving out of Sister Wang's house.

Working at Sister Wang's house all the time really isn't ideal. It's a bit cramped here, and having so many things piled up at Sister Wang's house also affects her daily life.

Unfortunately, the county town is very crowded, and it's not easy to find a suitable place. So until now, she still hasn't found a shop that she really likes.

Jin Xiaoye is even thinking about building a shop on the new pier, but she has always had the women in the county town help with the work. If she goes to the new pier, which is a bit far away, it won't be convenient for these women to come and get work.

Jin Xiaoye was thinking about this when a woman in her forties came up to her and asked softly, "Shopkeeper Jin, I heard you're looking for a house. Would you consider my family's shop?"

The woman asking Jin Xiaoye about the house is fair-skinned with deep eye bags.

Seeing this woman, Jin Xiaoye paused and asked, "Auntie Zhao, is your shop up for rent?"

"Yes, the person renting my shop refuses to pay the rent, so I want to rent it out to someone else." Auntie Zhao smiled wearily.

Auntie Zhao often comes to Jin Xiaoye's place to get work done. Jin Xiaoye knows her, and after getting to know her more, she found out that she's from the neighboring Zhao family village, the same village as Zhao Xiaodou.

She had also heard people mention Auntie Zhao's situation.

Auntie Zhao is the third daughter in her family and doesn't have a proper name; she's always been called "Sanni" by people.

Zhao Sanni's parents got very little land, but they still had a lot of children. With so many children, their food became scarce.

Zhao Sanni has older siblings and younger siblings, and being stuck in the middle, she often couldn't even get enough food to eat.

Growing up hungry like this, when she reached marriageable age, she just wanted to marry someone who could provide enough food for her to eat. Coincidentally, her parents also thought that being able to eat enough was more important than anything else.

Coincidentally, at that time, there was a simpleton in the county town who wanted to marry. This simpleton's family also had a shop… Zhao Sanni's parents asked Zhao Sanni, and she agreed. So her parents happily married her off.

For about seven or eight years, Zhao Sanni was actually the envy of many rural girls.

Although her husband was simple-minded, unlike the young master from the Hong family, not to mention hitting others, her husband was particularly timid. Clearly, he was a plump and strong adult, yet he could be bullied by nearby children.

Of course, this was also taught by Zhao Sanni's in-laws. They were afraid that their own children would annoy others, so once their own children and outsiders started fighting, regardless of right or wrong, they would ruthlessly punish their own children. After a few beatings, the children would behave.

Although the simpleton was simple, he could still handle some simple tasks at home. Plus, Zhao Sanni's in-laws ran a shop and earned money, treating Zhao Sanni well. At that time, Zhao Sanni could eat meat every day and make several new clothes in a year.

How could the women in the village not envy her?

However, the good times didn't last long. Five years after Zhao Sanni got married, she gave birth to a son. After raising him for a few years, everyone discovered that this child was also simple-minded.

At this point, people began to sympathize with Zhao Sanni. Another ten years passed, and Zhao Sanni's in-laws grew older and weaker…

Zhao Sanni had to take care of her in-laws, look after her simple-minded husband and son, and manage the family business, leaving her exhausted.

Later on, they stopped doing business and rented out their own shop. Although the rent was less, at least it was stable.

Now… Jin Xiaoye asked around and found out that the people renting Zhao Sanni's shop were taking advantage of her soft personality and lack of support, giving her less rent every year.

Recently, it had become even worse. Two months had passed since the rent was due, and they still hadn't paid.

Zhao Sanni had tried to ask for it, and her husband's relatives and neighbors had also tried to reason with them on her behalf, but those people either cried poverty or smiled and said they would pay tomorrow, but they never did.

Originally, the rent from the shop was enough for their family's livelihood, but now that those people weren't paying, her life became difficult. She came to Jin Xiaoye to do some work to supplement the household expenses.

Jin Xiaoye knew that Zhao Sanni's family had a shop, but she didn't know where it was. This time, after asking around, she realized that the location of that shop was quite good for her.

The shop wasn't far from here, not on a bustling main street, but in a small alley. However, it was quite spacious, with two floors.

Most importantly, one side of the shop faced the alley, while the other side faced the river. On the riverside, there was even a small courtyard, and stone steps extended into the river. In other words, this shop had its own exclusive riverside.

"My in-laws used to sell funeral goods. They used the front for business and lived in the back. Later, when they were too ill to manage, they rented the shop to my father-in-law's apprentice, and we moved out and rented a house separately. Who would have thought…" Zhao Sanni smiled bitterly.

Zhao Sanni's father-in-law used to make coffins, wreaths, and paper figures for funerals. Since their son couldn't inherit the craft and Zhao Sanni wasn't strong enough, making coffins was too much for her, so they took on an apprentice.

Unexpectedly, that apprentice turned out to be a wolf in sheep's clothing, refusing to pay rent and wanting to take over the shop.

Although Zhao Sanni's husband's shop was a bit out of the way, it was quite spacious, and most importantly, Zhao Sanni offered a low price!

Jin Xiaoye immediately expressed her intention to see it tomorrow.

Today, it was a bit rushed in terms of time, and the shop was currently rented out to someone else. She would need to bring along more people to "inspect" it properly.

Qu Yunqing naturally noticed Jin Xiaoye's conversation with Zhao Sanni and couldn't help but show some impatience.

He glanced at Li Qingzhi before restraining himself from saying anything. But as soon as Zhao Sanni left, he said to Jin Xiaoye, "Shopkeeper Jin, isn't my house good enough? If you move your embroidery workshop to another place where no one knows you, it might be better not to change…"

Sister Wang, seeing this, quickly pulled her husband to stop him from speaking.

Jin Xiaoye had mentioned to her before that she wanted to move out, and she was actually a bit reluctant to give up the rent Jin Xiaoye was paying. But seeing her husband's recent behavior, she felt that Jin Xiaoye should move out.

Her husband really embarrassed her too much!

Jin Xiaoye glanced at Qu Yunqing, who was tugging back and forth with Sister Wang, and said, "It's okay, I'll just inform the people who come to pick up the goods."

"Shopkeeper Jin, do you want to use our house as a warehouse? You have a lot of stuff; some of it can be stored here…"

"The place over there is quite spacious; it can accommodate…" Li Qingzhi smiled and looked at Qu Yunqing, then brought up the incident when Zhang Magistrate came to Chongcheng County, mentioning that Qu Yunqing was also present. Li Qingzhi also talked a bit about Zhang Magistrate's situation, saying that he had eaten a meal with Zhang Magistrate before and even accompanied him together with Magistrate Gou to see Zhang Magistrate off…

Qu Yunqing had heard from Sister Wang that Li Qingzhi knew Magistrate Gou, but he didn't take it too seriously.

Li Qingzhi had just flattered Magistrate Gou by writing articles… He didn't think Magistrate Gou necessarily valued Li Qingzhi very much.

But then… Li Qingzhi had such a good relationship with Magistrate Gou? He even had dinner with Zhang Magistrate? Qu Yunqing didn't dare to pester Jin Xiaoye anymore. He complimented Li Qingzhi a few times, then made an excuse to leave, planning to ask some familiar government officials about Li Qingzhi.

Although he wouldn't stay in Chongcheng County for more than a few months in a year, he had many friends and knew quite a few people.

After Qu Yunqing left, Sister Wang said, "Finally, he's gone. I really can't stand him!"

With Qu Yunqing gone, the women working were much more relaxed and started gossiping.

Yeah, they didn't mind Li Qingzhi being there at all; after all, Li Qingzhi loved to listen to their gossip. Sometimes he would even tell them things they didn't know.

Since Zhao Sanni had just been there, the women mainly talked about her family.

"That apprentice that Old Yang took in is really not human. If Old Yang hadn't taken him in, he might have starved to death by now."

"Yeah, his parents don't care about him at all."

"I think it's just bad luck, being born into his parents' family…"

…

Zhao Sanni's husband's surname was Yang, and everyone called her father-in-law Old Yang.

Li Qingzhi asked, "What is the situation like in that person's family?"

Sister Wang and the others then told him about the situation in the family of that wolf in sheep's clothing. The man's parents were both from the county town and were well-known eccentric characters.

Both families were relatively wealthy, but after marriage, they only cared about their own enjoyment, neglecting their children. They left their children at home to suffer while they went out to enjoy themselves.

That wouldn't have been so bad, but later on, the man squandered all his family's wealth, and they continued to borrow money everywhere to keep up their extravagant lifestyle…

Eventually, when people came to collect debts, the couple fled together.

That wolf in sheep's clothing was almost starved to death, and it was Old Yang who took him in. Unfortunately, he showed no gratitude.

The group scolded him for a while, then praised Zhao Sanni, saying that Old Yang and his wife were old and in poor health, relying entirely on Zhao Sanni's care.

Sister Wang said, "Old Yang took in a bad apprentice, but found a really good daughter-in-law. They treat her like their own daughter."

Mrs. Xu added, "Yes, Sister Zhao is a good person."

Sister Wang continued, "But she's a bit too good. She even had a child with the simpleton… At that time, Old Yang and his wife didn't expect her to give birth to a child, and they even wanted her to find someone else to have a child with. But she appreciated Old Yang and his wife so much that she insisted on giving them a grandson."

Mrs. Xu sighed, "Ah… it's not easy."

Mrs. Xu and Zhao Sanni both married in the city from the countryside. Mrs. Xu married a man twenty years older than her as his concubine, while Zhao Sanni married a simpleton.

Mrs. Xu felt she was luckier than Zhao Sanni. Her son was so smart, but Zhao Sanni's son… She reportedly wasn't even as good as her husband.

Li Qingzhi also felt that Zhao Sanni had it tough. But in the end, in this era, life was too hard for the poor. So much so that, for a meal, a good girl was willing to marry a simpleton.

Thinking of this, Li Qingzhi thought of those tenant farmers who had caused trouble before, and the stone miners from the quarry.

Their lives were actually worse than Zhao Sanni's.

Magistrate Gou originally despised those tenant farmers, but during the interrogation, he found them so pitiful that he didn't do much to them in the end. He even sent them to work at the new dock.

A few days ago, Li Qingzhi heard a lot of news about those tenant farmers from people in Miaoqian Village. He heard that they were working particularly hard now and praised Magistrate Gou every day, even asking someone to carve a longevity tablet for Magistrate Gou. A group of people went to pay their respects every day.

Li Qingzhi was quite speechless upon hearing this news, but unfortunately, some people in Miaoqian Village were planning to follow suit.

People these days really like to follow trends.

Just then, Sister Wang spoke mysteriously, "By the way, Xiaoye, I heard that someone recently asked a carpenter to carve a longevity tablet for Magistrate Gou to worship… Do you want to worship one too?"

Li Qingzhi: "…"

Sister Wang continued, "I heard that worshipping more can turn bad luck into good fortune and bring wealth!"

Jin Xiaoye didn't say anything, but the others became interested, "Is that true?"

As they spoke, Sister Wang also mentioned another thing, "Tomorrow is the fifteenth, there will be a temple fair in the city, are you going to see it?"

Talking about this, Jin Xiaoye said, "Isn't there a temple near my house? There will also be a temple fair there, but it can't compare to the one in the city."

So they started talking about the temple fair again and planned to go to the temple to pay their respects.

It was said that just paying respects at the end of the year wasn't enough; you had to pay respects on the first day of the new year as well.

Jin Xiaoye said, "I also plan to go and pay respects. I'll come a little later tomorrow, and then go see the Yang family's shop." The big order was almost done, and once the goods were shipped out, she wouldn't be as busy as she was a few days ago.

"How much incense money are you planning to donate, Xiaoye?" Sister Wang asked.

Jin Xiaoye said, "I'll just pray, no need to donate money." Praying to Buddha was fine, but donating money wasn't.

Li Qingzhi couldn't help but smile when he heard Jin Xiaoye's words.

This was the Jin Xiaoye he knew!

While they were chatting here, on the other side, Qu Yunqing went to find a government official he knew, only to find out that the person had gone to the new wharf.

However, he soon struck up a conversation with another yamen runner. He first talked about what happened when he escorted Doctor Zhang to the new wharf that day, and then gradually shifted the topic to Li Qingzhi…

"Brother Qu, your wife has such a good relationship with Li Qingzhi? You're really lucky!" The government official looked at Qu Yunqing with envy. "The magistrate really values Li Qingzhi, always invites him for meals…"

The government official talked about some things regarding Li Qingzhi, and after listening, Qu Yunqing immediately realized that his previous behavior was somewhat inappropriate.

Luckily, he hadn't gone too far!

Qu Yunqing said, "Brother, do you want to do a favor for Li Qingzhi?"

The government official asked, "How?"

Qu Yunqing said, "Li Qingzhi's wife is going to look at a shop tomorrow. You can have someone follow her and give her some support." Qu Yunqing also knew about the things happening in Zhao Sanni's family. He felt that it wouldn't go smoothly for Jin Xiaoye to go see the shop tomorrow.

The government official was grateful when he heard Qu Yunqing's words. "Brother Qu, thank you for telling me about this! I owe you a favor. If you ever need help in the future, just find me."

Qu Yunqing quickly responded, "No problem, we're good brothers."

After they finished their drinks and meal, the yamen runner insisted on paying the bill.

Qu Yunqing was in a great mood as he hummed a song on his way home.

By the time he arrived home, it was almost dark. Jin Xiaoye and the others had already left, and when Sister Wang smelled the alcohol on him, she couldn't help but complain, "All you know is to drink every day! You've only been back for a few days? How much money have you spent?"

"You don't understand; this isn't just simple drinking; I'm doing big things!" Qu Yunqing said.

Sister Wang rolled her eyes. "There's hot water in the kitchen; go wash up."

"Xiao Wang, let me tell you, I'm not just an ordinary person, you know? Today, even the government official invited me to dinner!" Qu Yunqing spoke excitedly.

Sister Wang: "…" Her man, he always boasts when he's drunk.

On the other side, in the Li family, everyone was discussing the temple fair.

The reason why the village was called Miaoqian Village was because there was a temple to the north of the village.

The temple was quite small, with only two monks inside. Whenever someone from Miaoqian Village or nearby villages held a funeral, they would invite these two monks to chant sutras. The villagers would also bring offerings to the temple, and on the first and fifteenth days of every month, the old ladies in the village liked to go to the temple to chant sutras.

The two monks in the small temple weren't very knowledgeable about Buddhist scriptures; they could only recite them. However, they were very familiar with the funeral customs and could even play suona.

When Li Qingzhi strolled around, he often passed by the temple and chatted with the monks.

Li Qingzhi didn't expect that such a small temple would also have a temple fair.

However, after listening to Jin Xiaoye and the others, he realized that the temple fair was not exactly what he had imagined.

In fact, it was close to the New Year, and people were idle, so many people set up stalls near the temple to sell things.

It was more like a market than a temple fair, and it would continue until the fifteenth day of the first lunar month.

Of course, if it rained, then there would be nothing.

Jin Xiaoye said, "I used to love going to temple fairs when I was a child. Tomorrow, I'll take Damao and Ermao to see it, and I'll go to the temple to offer incense."

"Xiaoye, can you buy some spring roll wrappers? I want to eat spring rolls," Li Laogen quickly added.

Jin Xiaoye readily agreed.

Li Laogen then asked, "Xiaoye, can we eat fried spring rolls?"

"We can," Jin Xiaoye looked at her mother, "Mom, tomorrow you make two kinds of spring rolls, one with leftover oil, tofu, and pickled vegetables filling, and the other with pork filling."

"Isn't it too early for the New Year…" Her mother hesitated. Such good food should be saved for the New Year's Eve dinner, shouldn't it?

"Mom, Damao, and Ermao have never eaten fried spring rolls before!" Jin Xiaoye said. She had been too poor in the past few years to afford to fry spring rolls.

Her mother had to agree. When they got back home that night, she couldn't help but complain to Li Laogen.

"We're eating too well here, eating meat every day…"

The couple sighed, and Li Laogen gave her a chicken egg and handed her a greased paper bag. From it, he took out a piece of a pig's tail and stuffed it into her mouth.

They weren't allowed to take food from the kitchen, but it was fine to take a bit of their own food from their meals.

Talking quietly, the couple felt that their relationship had improved a lot.

Before, Jin Xiaoshu lived in the same room with them, separated only by a straw curtain, and they wouldn't talk to each other at night.

The next morning, when Li Qingzhi woke up, he cooked as usual and taught Jin Xiaoye to read.

But when they were having breakfast, someone came over to invite them to the temple fair to buy things.

Li Qingzhi and Jin Xiaoye were fine, but Damao and Ermao were eager to go!

Even Li Laogen didn't go to the teahouse in the county town today.

Although the temple fair in their area would last for quite some time, except for a few special days, it wasn't as lively on other days.

Today is the first day, so it's a bit livelier.

After dinner, the whole family set out together to go to the temple fair.

In previous years, if so many people from the village had been conscripted, everyone would have been too preoccupied to enjoy the temple fair. But this year was different.

Those who went to build the wharf were eating meat every day, so there was no need for them to worry!

Moreover, with the favorable weather this year, everyone's harvest was good, and smiles adorned every face.

Soon, they arrived near the temple.

From a distance, Li Qingzhi saw many stalls set up at the entrance to the small temple. As he approached, he realized that the items being sold were quite diverse.

For example, some people had set up oil pans to sell fried dough sticks and radish cakes; some were selling steamed buns; while others sold dried bamboo shoots, seaweed, dried shrimp, and salted fish. There were even stalls selling clothes and fabrics…

The liveliest stall at the moment was the one selling fried dough sticks. With modern amenities being abundant, people had no resistance to fried foods, especially at a time like this.

Although there were stalls selling fried dough sticks in the county town, Li Qingzhi had never bought from them because the oil in their pans looked like it had been used for a long time. But today… this oil looked new!

Li Qingzhi immediately took Li Damao and Li Ermao to join the line.

Li Damao and Li Ermao were extremely excited; their eyes were practically glued to the oil pan.

In fact, Jin Xiaoye had already let Li Damao and Li Ermao taste fried dough sticks before, but they had long forgotten the taste!

Li Qingzhi bought ten fried dough sticks and ten radish cakes in one go, attracting envy from the people around.

Jin Moli, holding little Yao Xiaobao, couldn't help but salivate.

Seeing her son's reaction, Jin Moli also joined the queue to buy fried dough sticks.

At this moment, everyone started chatting, and the conversation naturally turned to the death of Sun Juren.

The people from Miaoqian Village already knew about Sun Juren's framing of County Magistrate Gou, and they felt relieved about it.

Only Jin Moli sighed again at the extent of the changes.

In her previous life, Sun Juren hadn't died until over ten years later!

At this time, Sun Juren should have been quite prestigious. It was because of his knowledge that Fang Zijian wanted to apprentice under him. Fang Zijian even went as far as marrying his sister to Sun Juren.

After the incident involving Fang Xiuniang, Sun Juren even married another young girl!

Then there was Magistrate Zhang… In her previous life, Magistrate Zhang failed to govern Chongcheng County properly, which led to County Magistrate Gou not being able to become the county magistrate. But this time… it was said that Magistrate Zhang praised County Magistrate Gou endlessly.

Jin Moli became more and more agitated as she thought about it, taking a deep breath.

This was just too fragrant!

Li Qingzhi also found the fried dough sticks particularly fragrant.

High-calorie treats like these, as soon as they entered the mouth, made people feel incredibly happy.

And then there were the radish cakes, where the collision of radish and dough created a magical taste…

Li Damao loved radishes, but Li Ermao didn't. These days, Li Qingzhi had been making radish dishes at home, but Li Ermao wouldn't touch them.

However… seeing his father's expression, Li Ermao tentatively took a bite.

Although there were radishes in the radish cakes, they didn't taste as bad as he had expected!

Each of them ate one fried dough stick and one radish cake, putting the leftovers in a bamboo basket before going to buy other things.

To Li Qingzhi's surprise, he saw someone selling sugarcane! Sugarcane was probably harvested in the ninth lunar month, and it should have gone bad by now… Li Qingzhi asked around and learned that sugarcane was wrapped in straw and buried in mud, which could preserve it for a long time. However, when spring came next year, the sugarcane would sprout.

In addition to sugarcane, there were also people selling water chestnuts. Some families in Miaoqian Village grew these. They were usually grown in rice fields or shallow ponds. A plot of land the size of a table could yield quite a few water chestnuts.

People in Miaoqian Village usually ate them raw, but Li Qingzhi knew from his research that it was best to cook them thoroughly to avoid parasites. But with his abilities, he wasn't afraid!

He just bit into them raw, but didn't give any to Li Damao and Li Ermao.

Fortunately, the two children weren't very interested in this common village food. They had been staring at the stall selling maltose.

Maltose wasn't as sweet as cane sugar, but for children at this time, it was still a top delicacy.

Li Qingzhi took them to buy some maltose.

Winter maltose was hard. The seller used a chisel to chip it off and sell it. Li Qingzhi bought some and gave each of them a piece. The two children were too busy sucking on the sweetness in their mouths.

As time passed, more and more people gathered here. Not only did people from Miaoqian Village come, but also people from nearby villages.

At this moment, Li Qingzhi also clearly realized that it was almost New Year's.

After buying some snacks, Li Qingzhi bought some spring roll wrappers, tofu, and pork.

Many families had started to slaughter pigs recently, so there were more people selling meat. Even at such a small market, there were vendors selling meat.

Spring roll wrappers were only sold during the New Year's period. The woman making them was middle-aged. She set up a small stove and placed a thick, round iron plate on top. She kneaded the sticky dough in her hands and spread it on the iron plate, producing a spring roll wrapper.

Li Qingzhi thought this process was similar to making pancakes, but spring roll wrappers were usually peeled off when they weren't completely dry. As for the filling, it was sold by weight. The woman's husband sat on the side, occasionally adding firewood to the stove. When someone wanted to buy something, he was responsible for weighing it.

They used a scale with stone weights. The weights were stones that had been polished and drilled with two holes, making them into scale weights.

Li Qingzhi really liked the atmosphere here, especially the smiles on people's faces.

After Li Qingzhi bought the spring roll wrappers and finished praying in the temple, Jin Xiaoye came out with some candles and firecrackers in her hands. "I bought some candles and firecrackers for the New Year. The monks here are quite smart. They said their candles were used in front of the Buddha, and everyone rushed to buy them. The prices for candles here are the same as in the county town, so I bought some too."

Jin Xiaoye kept muttering about what preparations were needed for the New Year.

In their village, it was best to buy a pig's head for the New Year. If a pig's head was offered on the table on New Year's Eve, it would be very dignified!

This resulted in the price of pig heads remaining high for a month before the New Year.

Jin Xiaoye didn't want to be a sucker and buy an expensive pig's head. She planned to buy some pork ribs when Jin Xiaoshu slaughtered the pig. As for the rooster they needed for the New Year, she had already made a deal with a household. They would just go to their house on New Year's Eve to grab it.

Jin Xiaoye had already arranged everything for their family's New Year celebration.

Li Qingzhi looked at her with a smile, feeling particularly good, and reached out to touch her.

Jin Xiaoye gave him a glare and then extended her hand to him.

Li Qingzhi held Jin Xiaoye's hand in his palm and used his abilities to help improve her blood circulation and prevent blood stasis, so she wouldn't get frostbite.

Few people in Miaoqian Village didn't suffer from frostbite. Those with mild cases had a little on their hands or earlobes, while those with severe cases had them on their legs, which could become ulcerated.

Li Laogen's frostbite would ulcerate, and even though he had been careful to keep warm, it still occurred after many years.

The two children were still young and wore more clothes this year. Jin Xiaoye even made gloves for them, so they didn't suffer from frostbite.

But Jin Xiaoye had frostbite herself. She didn't wear gloves for convenience while working, and one day, when she came back at night, Li Qingzhi felt a lump on her little finger.

That night, he helped her treat it, but it reappeared after two days…

What else could he do? He would treat it slowly!

Jin Xiaoye was unaware of this. She saw Li Qingzhi touching her hand with special affection and said, "We're eating well and dressing warmly this year, and I'm not getting frostbite on my hands anymore. It's great!"

Li Qingzhi: "…You're not getting frostbite? Your frostbite was clearly stifled in its cradle by me!"

"Let's go; let's find some helpers," Jin Xiaoye said, taking Li Qingzhi's hand and walking forward.

Li Damao and Li Ermao, seeing this, hurried to catch up, wanting to hold Li Qingzhi's hand, but Li Qingzhi was holding things in one hand and Jin Xiaoye's hand in the other…

The two children glanced at each other and simply held hands, following behind.

Jin Xiaoye was looking for helpers to take with her to the county town to accompany her to look at houses.

As for who to find…

There were plenty of people in Miaoqian Village!

Jin Xiaoye had a good relationship with most of the people in the village, and now it was the off-season… She walked around with Li Qingzhi and found four strong men.

She asked them to accompany her on a trip and said, "When we get to the county town, I'll treat you to noodles!"

These four men all declined, saying, "That's not necessary, no need!"

"Yeah! We're just accompanying you for a stroll, not doing anything else."

"No need to spend that money."

…

Although they said so, their enthusiasm was clearly higher now. Jin Xiaoye said, "Noodles are a must; I can't let you guys go for nothing."

After Fang Jinniang came to Miaoqian Village, she didn't move around much in the village. Today, with the temple fair, Jin Xiaoshu took her for a walk and bought some snacks.

Now that Jin Xiaoye had found some helpers, Jin Xiaoshu took them on a boat to the county town.

Jin Xiaoye didn't want Li Qingzhi to go, but Li Qingzhi still followed along. There might be conflicts today, and he thought it would be better to go with her.

"I'll protect you if you go." Jin Xiaoye pinched Li Qingzhi's restless hand.

Li Qingzhi said, "Then I'll stay outside and watch, not going in."

"Okay." Jin Xiaoye found it feasible.

Jin Xiaoye didn't dare to let Li Qingzhi follow along, knowing that there might be a conflict today over the disciple of Zhao Sanni's husband occupying the shop. Many people knew about it, and she didn't want Li Qingzhi to get involved. After all, last time Li Qingzhi had his arm broken by a child!

Seeing Jin Xiaoye's expression, Li Qingzhi knew what she was thinking and couldn't help but say, "Actually, I'm quite good at fighting."

Jin Xiaoye said, "I believe you're good at fighting, but your body… still needs more rest."

Li Qingzhi had traveled a long way to escape to Miaoqian Village, so he wouldn't be completely incompetent in a fight, but with his current body…

Jin Xiaoye sighed inwardly.

Li Qingzhi said, "…" His body had actually improved somewhat recently!

As for his fighting skills… In the last life, he wasn't particularly strong, surviving mostly due to his abilities. But considering the circumstances at that time, he inevitably had to face zombies.

His fighting skills in the apocalypse weren't strong, but in this world, he was definitely considered strong.

Even if his body wasn't completely recovered now, his combat power was still not weak.

When he broke his arm before, that was entirely intentional!

But Jin Xiaoye thought it was fine for him to be weak. Li Qingzhi liked being protected by Jin Xiaoye.

He was no longer alone.

After arriving in the county town, Jin Xiaoshu first found a place to store his boat, then the group went to Sister Wang's place together.

Zhao Sanni was already waiting there. Seeing Jin Xiaoshu bring five big and tall young men, she smiled.

Hmm, she ignored Li Qingzhi.

"Let's go see the house," Jin Xiaoye said.

"Okay." Zhao Sanni smiled faintly and led Jin Xiaoye to their shop.

Jin Xiaoye actually knew where the shop was, but Li Qingzhi hadn't been here before and looked around curiously, wondering who was following them.

Li Qingzhi sensed someone following them, but since they didn't seem hostile, he ignored them.

Before long, they arrived at the entrance of the shop.

It was a funeral goods shop, marked by a wreath placed at the entrance. Jin Xiaoye saw it and said to Li Qingzhi, "Wait outside and be careful. We'll go in and take a look."

"Okay," Li Qingzhi replied.

Upon hearing this, Jin Xiaoye turned and led the group into the shop.

The disciple Zhao Sanni's husband took in was named Shen, a shopkeeper in his thirties who seemed quite kind. No one would have suspected that he would do something as audacious as occupying his master's shop.

As soon as Jin Xiaoye entered, the shopkeeper Shen, greeted them with a smile. However, when he approached, he saw Zhao Sanni and the five men behind Jin Xiaoye, including Jin Xiaoshu.

The smile on shopkeeper Shen's face disappeared instantly.

Ignoring him, Jin Xiaoye led the group inside.

The shop was a bit remote, but it was quite spacious. There were many coffins inside, and not only that, but the shop also had two floors and a backyard!

In addition to being used for business, this shop could also accommodate a family.

Jin Xiaoye said to Zhao Sanni, "Auntie Zhao, this shop is good."

"Yes, this shop is excellent."

"How much is the rent?" Jin Xiaoye asked.

Zhao Sanni replied, "Thirty-two taels of silver per year."

Nowadays, renting a boat in the county would cost a tael of silver per year. Considering the size of this house, thirty-two taels of silver per year was really not expensive.

But bargaining was still necessary: "Can it be cheaper?"

Zhao Sanniang said, "How about twenty-five taels of silver per year?"

Such a good bargain? Jin Xiaoye looked at Zhao Sanni in surprise.

Zhao Sanni looked at Jin Xiaoye hopefully.

Originally, their shop could be rented for thirty taels of silver per year, but because shopkeeper Shen was her husband's disciple, her husband hoped that shopkeeper Shen would take care of their family in the future. So, the shop was rented to shopkeeper Shen for twenty-five taels of silver per year.

Who would have thought that shopkeeper Shen would only give them twenty taels of silver per year for various reasons?

Their family had to pay a lot of money to rent a house in the county, plus living expenses… it simply wasn't enough!

Jin Xiaoye said, "Then it's settled, twenty-five taels per year!"

Shopkeeper Shen didn't say anything at first, but when he heard the conversation between Jin Xiaoye and Zhao Sanni, he immediately said, "What are you talking about?"

"Nothing; the landlord rented this shop to me," Jin Xiaoye said.

"This is my shop. Why did he rent it to you?" Shopkeeper Shen retorted.

"Your shop? Do you have a deed?" Jin Xiaoye asked.

"This shop was given to me by my master. It's my shop!" Shopkeeper Shen said.

"When did your father give you the shop?" Zhao Sanni asked.

"My master gave me the shop in the beginning, and I paid for it. There's a contract as proof!" Shopkeeper Shen argued.

"You're talking nonsense. That contract only gave you the wooden materials in the shop!" Zhao Sanni countered.

The two sides argued like this, and Jin Xiaoye roughly understood the situation.

When Zhao Sanni's father gave the shop to shopkeeper Shen, he wrote a contract stating that the things in the shop were worth one hundred and twenty taels of silver, which he gave to shopkeeper Shen.

At that time, Shopkeeper Shen had no money, and Zhao Sanni's father-in-law asked him to pay later when he earned money.

As a result, not to mention the money, shopkeeper Shen didn't even want to pay the rent!

Even

Forget it; now Shopkeeper Shen says that the original contract was for him to sell the shopfront for one hundred and twenty taels of silver, and he even produced some receipts signed by the Yang family when he paid the rent, saying that the one hundred and twenty taels of silver had already been given, so now the shop was his.

Zhao Sanni's face changed drastically.

She had hoped to reclaim the one hundred and twenty taels of silver after Jin Xiaoye rented the shop, but who would have thought that this person in front of her would be so shameless…

"My father treated you so well…" Zhao Sanni struggled to speak after a long time.

Shopkeeper Shen sneered, showing a disdainful look.

Jin Xiaoye said, "Shopkeeper Shen, your master treated you with great kindness, yet you scheme to take away his family's business. Aren't you afraid of retribution?"

"What kindness? He just treated me like a little worker to boss around? And he expects me to support his stupid son and grandson for a lifetime!" Shopkeeper Shen chuckled coldly.

Everyone says his master treated him well, owed him gratitude, and urged him to repay his master… He had been working hard with his master since he was a teenager, but after twenty years of hard work, he was still constantly scolded.

And now they say they'll give him the shop, but in the end, he has to pay for the things inside the shop, and he has to pay rent for the shop too.

Does he have to support that family for a lifetime?

Zhao Sanni said, "You… you…"

Jin Xiaoye looked at Zhao Sanni. "Aunt Zhao, this person is crooked from the core. Since he's like this, why not report him to the authorities?"

"Report to the authorities? You go ahead and report! Even if it's the county magistrate, he can't take away my shop with a clear contract." Innkeeper Shen looked confident.

The original contract was written by him with a little manipulation.

His master intended to sell him the unsold coffins and wood in the shop for one hundred and twenty taels, but he changed it to selling the shop to him.

With the contract, even the county magistrate couldn't do anything to him!

Moreover, this matter might not even escalate to the county magistrate's attention. With a little money, he could settle it with the lower-ranking officials and yamen runners.

Of course, shopkeeper Shen didn't want it to escalate. He softened his tone and said to Zhao Sanni, "Sister-in-law, it's better for you not to make a fuss about this matter. As long as you don't make trouble, I will still support Master's retirement. Rent in the city is expensive. You can move to the countryside. I will give you ten taels of silver a year. How about it?"

Zhao Sanni was already at a loss. At this moment, Li Qingzhi walked in from outside the door and said, "You only said you would support your master in his old age… but after your master passes away, will you still give them those ten taels of silver?"

Upon hearing these words, shopkeeper Shen felt a bit embarrassed and angry. He was about to explode, but he saw that the person who came this time was even more formidable than Jin Xiaoye.

Jin Xiaoye was only accompanied by a few men, but this person had a government official behind him!

Seeing those government officials, Shopkeeper Shen couldn't muster his anger anymore.

After Jin Xiaoye and the others entered the house just now, Li Qingzhi inquired about Shopkeeper Shen's situation with the neighbors.

This Shopkeeper Shen… was probably a case of "malice from the one who received help."

This was a common situation where most people, after helping others, expected gratitude in return, but sometimes the recipients didn't respond with gratitude but with strong malice.

In fact, if it weren't for Shopkeeper Yang, Shopkeeper Shen would probably have starved to death on the streets long ago. Shopkeeper Yang picked him up, raised him, and even taught him a craft.

According to people around, Shopkeeper Yang treated Innkeeper Shen like his own son, wholeheartedly caring for him and even arranged a marriage for him.

Unfortunately, the more Shopkeeper Yang helped Shopkeeper Shen, the more malicious Shopkeeper Shen became towards him.

Five years ago, after obtaining the shop, Shopkeeper Shen, who used to be very courteous to Shopkeeper Yang, no longer paid any attention to him. Not only that, he divorced his wife, who had borne children for him, and was planning to marry another woman.

Actually, the people nearby looked down on Shopkeeper Shen, but since it didn't concern them, most people wouldn't confront Shopkeeper Shen for the sake of Shopkeeper Yang.

At most, they would just ignore Shopkeeper Shen and his family.

When Li Qingzhi learned about this situation and was silently lamenting Shopkeeper Shen's shamelessness, the person who had been following him all along came out. Surprisingly, it was several government officials.

Those government officials had a "coincidental" appearance, as if they had casually encountered him and were asking if he needed help…

Of course, he would ask for help. Li Qingzhi then led them into the shop.

After looking at Zhao Sanni and then at Shopkeeper Shen, Li Qingzhi said, "I think it's better to report this matter to the authorities."

He had originally thought that this matter with Shopkeeper Yang was just a case of a disrespectful apprentice owing rent. He had thought to help Zhao Sanni drive away this apprentice and recover the shop, but he hadn't expected this apprentice to also owe Shopkeeper Yang one hundred and twenty taels of silver and even intend to usurp the shop.

This matter had become serious, and it was better to let the county magistrate handle it.

Shopkeeper Shen was now in a panic.

But even if he panicked, it was useless. Those government officials stepped forward and directly took Shopkeeper Shen away, bringing Zhao Sanni along too.

"Xiaoye, you go and attend to your tasks. I'll go to the county office." Li Qingzhi said.

This matter had nothing to do with Jin Xiaoye. She didn't need to go to the county office, but Li Qingzhi intended to go.

This matter… he thought it was another good story.

There was still some time before the New Year, and he could write another story.

Shopkeeper Shen was clever, but he hadn't studied. He didn't understand the laws of Daqi.

In Daqi, there was a strong emphasis on respecting teachers and following moral principles. With Shopkeeper Shen's behavior, he would end up in prison!

So, even if he went to the county office, he would still insist that Shopkeeper Yang sell the shop to him. But when the county magistrate summoned Shopkeeper Yang and even the wife who had been divorced by Shopkeeper Shen, the truth would be revealed.

Actually, in the past, this matter wouldn't have escalated to the county magistrate. Shopkeeper Shen could have possibly gotten away with taking the shop by greasing the palms of the minor officials, and the Yang family would have been forced to move to the countryside… But now, Li Qingzhi has intervened.

After witnessing the entire process, Li Qingzhi now understood Shopkeeper Shen's mindset.

Shopkeeper Yang treated him like his own son, but he perceived Shopkeeper Yang's strictness as abuse and coercion to work.

When Shopkeeper Yang proposed a marriage to a virtuous girl for him, he interpreted it as Shopkeeper Yang forcing him into marriage; thus, he married with resentment.

In Shopkeeper Yang's shop, there were not only various tools but also valuable wood, worth at least one hundred and thirty taels of silver. Yet he sold it to him for one hundred and twenty taels and rented the shop to him at a low price. Instead of seeing it as Shopkeeper Yang's goodwill, he believed Shopkeeper Yang intended for him to help earn money for the Yang family.

…

In the end, it was his selfish desire to seize the Yang family's assets.

On the other hand, Shopkeeper Yang initially didn't want to escalate the matter. It was only later, realizing that not escalating might result in losing the shop, that he tearfully reported his apprentice.

"I can't believe there are such shameless people in this world!" The county magistrate, after hearing the case, was quite angry and couldn't help but scold Shopkeeper Shen.

Li Qingzhi said, "Sir, don't be angry. He's now facing retribution… And this incident could also be turned into a story…"

The county magistrate immediately forgot his anger. "Indeed!" Not only could this case be turned into a story, it could also be performed on the stage!

Wait, the previous stories could also be performed on stage!

The county magistrate became excited at the thought. "Nephew, what do you think about turning these stories into plays and having a troupe perform them?"

Li Qingzhi was momentarily stunned, then said, "That's a great idea!"

Li Qingzhi, being a modern person, hadn't thought about theatrical performances since he traveled to ancient times. But now that the county magistrate has mentioned it… he recalled from the original host's memories that people in this era loved listening to operas.

If these stories were adapted into plays, they could spread throughout Chongcheng County and maybe even across the country, reaching future generations. Then everyone would know about "Gou Qingtian" from Daqi.

Ahem, the county magistrate's surname wasn't really impressive.

But didn't the county magistrate feel embarrassed?

If someone sang about his deeds on stage, wouldn't he feel embarrassed?

The county magistrate didn't feel embarrassed at all. Who wouldn't want fame? The thought of his deeds possibly being sung on stage made him excited.

At the same time, he resolved to be a righteous official in the future, so as not to accidentally do something wrong and be criticized.

As the county magistrate contemplated turning the stories into plays, in a tavern in Chongcheng County, a storyteller had already begun narrating the story of "Magistrate Zhang's Secret Investigation Reveals the True Nature of Sun Juren"!

This story was truly fascinating, with its elements of the real and fake Magistrate Zhang and the punishment of evildoers… Everyone who heard this story, whether commoners or scholars, became engrossed.

"So there are such things happening!"

"Magistrate Zhang is indeed a good official!"

"Sun Juren deserved his fate!"

…

Hong Hui walked into the tavern and heard the story being narrated, along with the discussions of others.

Those people were outrageous. His teacher had already passed away, yet they still wanted to fabricate stories about him!

What infuriated Hong Hui even more was that they had previously written some poetry, accusing County Magistrate Gou of seeking fame and reputation, but those poems hadn't gained any traction!

Their poems were written so beautifully!

If Li Qingzhi knew what Hong Hui was thinking, he would surely be speechless.

Those people's poetry was too literary; ordinary people couldn't understand it, so how could it spread?

In fact, they should be thankful that the common people didn't understand. Otherwise… the people spreading the poems might have been beaten!

As soon as Hong Hui entered the tavern, he went straight to the second floor, where he saw Fang Zijian.

Hong Hui asked, "Did you bring what I asked for?"

Fang Zijian took out some papers and handed them to Hong Hui. "I've brought them."

Hong Hui glanced at the papers and gave Fang Zijian a silver ingot. "Don't speak of this matter to anyone!"

"Don't worry, Young Master Hong," Fang Zijian said.

Fang Zijian had always felt that Li Xiucai was too fond of money, not like the demeanor a scholar should have. He was quite dissatisfied with the fact that he could only study under Li Xiucai.

He had always thought that only people like Sun Juren were worthy of teaching him.

Therefore, he had been in contact with Sun Juren's students voluntarily for a long time, but unfortunately, no one had paid him any attention back then.

More than two months ago, Hong Hui approached him, inquiring about Li Qingzhi's affairs.

Half a month ago, Hong Hui even asked him to fetch some of Li Qingzhi's manuscripts from the school, saying that if he could get things done, he would take him to meet Sun Juren. However, not long after that, Sun Juren encountered trouble, and later he died… But Hong Hui still contacted him and asked for Li Qingzhi's manuscripts.

However, now, Hong Hui couldn't take him to see Sun Juren anymore, so he could only accept a silver ingot.

Fang Zijian didn't like the smell of copper in the silver ingot and didn't really want it, but when he thought of his mother's hardships in supporting his education… he still pocketed the silver.

On the other side, Li Qingzhi, who had been discussing opera with County Magistrate Gou for a long time, arrived at Sister Wang's house. He heard Wang Jie and others excitedly talking about the temple fair yesterday, and today they were discussing the arrival of a troupe to Chongcheng County to perform operas.

Chongcheng County indeed had a troupe. Wealthy households in and around the city would invite opera troupes to perform during major celebrations or funeral events.

Of course, the funeral had to be for someone who had died of old age. Previously, when a Mr. He in the county passed away, the opera troupe performed for three days and nights.

But there weren't many members in Chongcheng County's opera troupe, and their performance was average. This new troupe, however, was different. It was said that they would bring many new plays.

In short, outsiders were always better at certain things, just like how monks were better at chanting sutras.