Chapter 88: Finding a House 2/3

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!