Chapter 87: A New Story 3/3

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.