Chapter 112: Return Gifts 1/2

After getting to know Magistrate Gou, Li Qingzhi specifically looked at some petitions at Magistrate Gou’s place. He roughly knew how to write a petition and wrote one for Chang Duan.

The Chang family’s plight was indeed miserable. Seeing this petition and the person kneeling in front of him, Magistrate Zhang became even more determined to eradicate the Lou family.

Since Chang Zhan was a victim, Magistrate Zhang couldn’t let him leave. Otherwise, if something happened to Chang Zhan by accident, what would he do?

Magistrate Zhang said, “You can stay in my house. I will give you an explanation, but it will have to wait until after the provincial exam.”

He had collected almost enough evidence, but there were still many preparations to be made, so he couldn’t take action immediately.

“Thank you, sir.” Chang Zhan kowtowed heavily, but after just two knocks, his head was already bleeding.

Magistrate Zhang quickly helped him up, feeling increasingly heavy-hearted. “Tell me about your family’s situation and what’s happening in Linhu County.”

“Yes, sir,” Chang Zhan replied.

Chang Zhan had previously told Li Qingzhi about his family’s situation, and now he recounted it again, tears streaming down his face as he spoke.

Chang Zhan was still young, and seeing a teenager like him cry like this… Magistrate Zhang couldn’t help but feel moved. He asked, “And your niece?”

“She… she…” Chang Zhan hesitated.

“Is she in Chongcheng County?” Chang Zhan had come from Chongcheng County, so his niece should be there, right?

“Yes, sir,” Chang Zhan confirmed.

Magistrate Zhang’s favor for Magistrate Gou deepened, and he turned back to the papers with evidence of crimes.

The information in these papers was very detailed, including the detailed information of people who were sold or forced to work at Lihu Lake. Magistrate Zhang wondered how Magistrate Gou had managed to gather all this information.

This seemingly ordinary county magistrate was truly hiding his capabilities!

When Chang Zhan’s father had his accident, Chang Zhan was only fourteen years old. In the following years, their family kept a low profile, so there weren’t many people in Linhu County who knew Chang Zhan.

Magistrate Yen and most of the officials and servants didn’t recognize Chang Zhan.

Despite this, for safety reasons, Magistrate Zhang still asked Chang Zhan to stay at his residence and not go out.

As for Liu Binghai, he specifically sent a guard to inform him.

Chang Zhan stayed, and since Magistrate Zhang couldn’t return the gifts from Magistrate Gou, he had to pick out some food and supplies from his own home to send back as a return gift with the guard.

Fortunately, the gifts from Magistrate Gou were inexpensive local specialties. Otherwise, Magistrate Zhang might not have been able to afford to return them.

It was getting late, so after settling Chang Zhan, Magistrate Zhang returned to his room and started writing letters to old friends in the capital.

As he wrote, Magistrate Zhang paused, letting out a long sigh.

He didn’t know what the future of Daqi would be like.

The current King of Jin was the uncle of the current emperor. He used to control the court, wielding great power and eliminating dissidents. Magistrate Zhang was exiled because he offended him.

During those years, even the current emperor was bullied by him.

Therefore, after the current emperor ascended to the throne, he purged the King of Jin’s faction and reinstated officials like Magistrate Zhang, who had been persecuted by the King of Jin.

During that time, the current King of Jin had to behave himself, always being submissive.

If that’s the case, why was the current King of Jin’s influence gradually increasing again, with many courtiers flocking to him?

Because the current emperor had no sons.

Before the current emperor ascended the throne, he had been poisoned by the former empress, and since then, his health has been deteriorating. There were no more children born in the palace after that.

Before being poisoned, the emperor had only two daughters.

Now both princesses were married, and the emperor had no other children. The only brother he had was the son of the former empress, who poisoned him…

Plus, the royal family has always had a shortage of heirs, and the late emperor’s only brother was King of Jin. Therefore, courtiers had no choice but to bet on King Jin.

King Jin had ambitions for the throne, so naturally, he had to accumulate wealth everywhere to win over courtiers, leading to Linhu County being plagued by corruption…

After finishing his letter, Magistrate Zhang lay down to sleep, but he couldn’t fall asleep no matter how hard he tried.

On the other hand, Liu Binghai was also unable to sleep.

That relative of Li Qingzhi named “Xiao Zhang” was really amazing. Magistrate Zhang clearly refused to accept gifts, but Xiao Zhang insisted on sending them, and not only that, but he also caught Magistrate Zhang’s attention and stayed by his side!

Magistrate Zhang even sent a return gift!

The next time they met, he had to ask “Xiao Zhang” how he did it.

In Chongcheng County…

Li Qingzhi and Jin Xiaoye were also up late that night.

After Chang Zhan left in the morning, Chang Cui had been crying for a long time before she calmed down. By nightfall, her fever had risen again.

In such a state, Jin Xiaoye naturally didn’t dare let her sleep alone, nor did he dare let the other girls take care of her. So, he let her continue sleeping in their room.

Then… Li Damao and Li Ermao became unhappy.

Li Damao and Li Ermao didn’t mind where they slept, and they also liked their little sister, Chang Cui, very much. But suddenly, there was a new little sister sleeping with their parents… They were not happy about it.

On the first day, they didn’t react because Chang Cui was ill, and they didn’t realize it.

Of course, they were very well-behaved and didn’t make a fuss. They just refused to return to their room to sleep, eagerly watching Li Qingzhi and Jin Xiaoye.

Jin Xiaoye wanted to send them back to bed, but Li Qingzhi said, “How about this? I’ll bring another bed over, and you two can stay in our room. But, at night, your sister might cry, which might disturb you…”

“Dad, I want to sleep with you!”

“I want to too! I’ll help dad take care of my sister.”

Li Damao and Li Ermao were extremely excited.

But Jin Xiaoye felt a little helpless. “You’re spoiling the children too much!”

“It’s just a small matter,” Li Qingzhi replied.

Li Damao and Li Ermao hadn’t grown up in a pampered environment.

They were twins, born small and thin. Jin Xiaoye had to feed both babies alone, and her breast milk was barely enough…

That was not all. Jin Xiaoye also had to work, so she didn’t have the energy to take care of them.

Jin Xiaoye had mentioned some things about their childhood, saying that when she went to work in the fields, she left the two children at home and only came back to check on them occasionally and breastfeed them.

At that time, the two children couldn’t walk yet and just lay there for hours.

Once, when Jin Xiaoye came back home, she didn’t see them on the bed and was startled. Later, she found that they had fallen off the bed, crawled under the bed to hide, and fallen asleep.

Li Damao and Li Ermao grew up in harsh conditions.

Life was already hard enough, and they didn’t have a father. They were often teased.

Fortunately, this was ancient rural life, where many families raised children like this. Relative to others, Jin Xiaoye was considered to be attentive to his children, and the fact that they were twins provided them with companionship… Otherwise, their psychological well-being would certainly suffer.

Li Qingzhi felt that, as a father, he needed to provide them with enough security.

He quite liked Zhao Xiaodou. In terms of food and clothing, Zhao Xiaodou was treated the same as Li Damao and Li Ermao, but Li Qingzhi wouldn’t get too close to Zhao Xiaodou.

Now, it was the same with Chang Cui.

Chang Cui was indeed pitiful, but Li Qingzhi couldn’t neglect Li Damao and Li Ermao just because of her plight.

There are too many unfortunate people in this world.

Li Damao and Li Ermao’s original bed was a bit large and not easy to dismantle, so Li Qingzhi pulled Jin Xiaoye over and brought the guest room’s bed over.

Their room was quite spacious and could accommodate this extra bed.

Next to their large bed was a couch, and another bed was placed outside… So, that night, five people slept in one room.

Li Damao and Li Ermao were very excited, calling “Dad” and “Mom” alternately while lying on the bed.

But their excitement didn’t last long before they fell asleep. Later that night, Chang Cui suddenly started crying, but it didn’t wake them up.