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The clerk of Lingchuan County, Bai, was the one who handled the sale of the old Gu family mansion back then. He had a wife surnamed Xu.

Clerk Bai was a local powerbroker, and when he gave orders, several scholars dared not disobey.

When Gu Qingyan mentioned this, the old village chief’s face turned extremely troubled.

The people cannot fight against officials. Although Clerk Bai was a low-ranking official, it was very easy for him to make life difficult for ordinary folks.

The Gu family had nothing left—its only scholar candidate had died, and the only son working as a low-ranking clerk in the county office had no connections.

Seeing the old village chief looking pale and grim, Gu Qingyan tried to comfort him: “Uncle, don’t be so anxious.”

“How can I not be anxious? Now he forbids you from studying. Even if you find a student willing to act as your guarantor, he’ll still sabotage it.”

The old village chief grew more and more worried. “The county exam requires identity verification. As the clerk, it’s easy for him to tamper with your records, claiming you have a medical problem. That would be disastrous.”

Gu Qingyan’s expression changed slightly.

This move by Clerk Bai was meant to completely block his path in the imperial examination system, trapping him in Meiling Village for life.

Was this masterminded by the Li family? Gu Qingyan suspected so in his heart.

But why? The two families had swapped children in a tragic mistake, yet now that he had left the Li family, why would they want to ruin his future completely?

A thought flashed through Gu Qingyan’s mind, recalling that book.

His thoughts turned again and again. Seeing the old village chief’s face redden with anger, Gu Qingyan soothed him: “Uncle, we’ll find a way. He’s just a clerk, he can’t control everything.”

The old village chief quickly asked, “Qingyan, do you know any important officials or dignitaries in Qingzhou Prefecture? One word from them would surely solve this problem.”

Gu Qingyan didn’t know anyone; all he knew were Li family people.

But he only said, “I have a way to handle this.”

The village chief heard this and felt slightly relieved, thinking Gu Qingyan really had a plan.

Because of this incident, the old village chief couldn’t smile on the way back, his expression somber.

Gu Qingyan remained calm. “Uncle, don’t tell anyone about this. I’m afraid the family will worry.”

“Uncle knows.” The old village chief wouldn’t say anything. Being rejected from studying, if the news spread, others might think something was wrong with Gu Qingyan.

Mother Liu and the others were waiting eagerly, craning their necks for their return.

As soon as they saw him, Mother Liu asked repeatedly, “Did you see the teacher? What did he say? When can you start studying?”

Gu Qingyan only said, “The teacher said to apprentice before the New Year, and start studying after. It’s better not to go now since I can’t catch up with the lessons halfway through. We’ll go at the end of the year.”

Before Mother Liu could ask more, Gu Qingyan complained about being hungry.

After eating, Gu Qingyan said, “Mom, I’ll study at home first and go to the private school at the end of the year. The county exam is next year anyway, there’s still time.”

Mother Liu didn’t question further and instead advised him not to rush.

Gu Qingyan went inside and didn’t read but took out the county records.

Clerk Bai making things difficult was a ticking time bomb. The old village chief was right: not being allowed to enroll now was just the appetizer. If Clerk Bai sabotaged the registration for the county exam next year, that would be a real problem.

He had to think of a way to deal with him.

As he took out the county records, a wooden token fell out with them.

Gu Qingyan picked it up—it was the token Pei Xuan had left him, carved with a snake, looking quite ordinary.

Pei Xuan had said that if he ran into difficulties, he could use this token at the county office.

Gu Qingyan was tempted but suppressed the thought of using the token.

He and Pei Xuan were just casual acquaintances. He had already benefited enough from signing in with him and shouldn’t rely too much on that.

Gu Qingyan looked at the county records, sure he could find some dirt on Clerk Bai.

【Lingchuan County Clerk: Bai Yu, originally from Qingzhou, married to a woman surnamed Xu, with one son. Smooth-talking and greedy.】

Gu Qingyan stared at this line and kept reading it over and over until his eyes landed on the two words: greedy.

Clerk Bai was greedy, but the county magistrate was strict and upright, not a corrupt or lustful man. He would not allow his subordinates to extort money in Lingchuan County.

Could a greedy person in such a position really resist taking bribes?

Gu Qingyan immediately formulated a plan.

That night, he went to speak with his cousin Gu Dashan, who worked as a low-level clerk at the county office.

“Cousin Dashan, you work at the county office. Are you familiar with Clerk Bai?”

Gu Dashan already knew Clerk Bai was deliberately making things difficult.

Once outside, Gu Dashan cursed the Li family harshly, thinking their actions were too ruthless—people had left, yet they still wanted to ruin their younger cousin’s future.

His expression was also unpleasant. After cursing, he whispered, “Clerk Bai often likes to make trouble and is hard to talk to. You have to grease his palm if you want things done.”

“Bribery works?” Gu Qingyan was surprised.

Gu Dashan shook his head. “Most times, even if you pay, it doesn’t guarantee anything.”

“Doesn’t the magistrate care?” Gu Qingyan frowned.

Gu Dashan whispered, “Officials are all like that. As long as Clerk Bai doesn’t cross the line, the magistrate won’t intervene—and even if he wanted to, it’s difficult.”

“Other than that, Clerk Bai handles things properly enough.”

This made Gu Qingyan’s heart heavy.

If that was the case, trying to catch Clerk Bai taking bribes and asking the magistrate to punish him wouldn’t work.

Seeing Gu Qingyan’s sour expression, Gu Dashan scratched the back of his head and comforted him, “Don’t worry, cousin. Tomorrow I’ll ask around to find out why Clerk Bai is making things difficult for you. Hopefully, it can be solved with money.”

He feared that even money wouldn’t solve the problem or that Clerk Bai’s price would be exorbitant.

Gu Qingyan thought that if the Li family was involved and Clerk Bai wanted to curry favor with them, this matter wouldn’t end well.

He held Gu Dashan’s arm and said, “Dashan, you just started at the county office. Don’t act rashly. If you lose your job because of me, I’d feel terribly guilty.”

Gu Dashan patted his chest and said, “I’m your brother. It’s only right that I take care of you.”

He and the old village chief were from the same lineage, and both thought that since Gu Qingyan came without parents to look after him, it was only natural for them as his elder uncles and cousins to keep an extra eye on him.

Gu Qingyan asked again, “Brother Dashan, what does Registrar Bai usually like to do?”

“Doesn’t seem like he has any particular hobbies. I’ve heard that Registrar Bai has worked in our Lingchuan County for over ten years — even longer than the county magistrate.”

“More than ten years?” Gu Qingyan was surprised.

Gu Dashan nodded, “Yeah, more than ten years. So even though he’s an outsider, he carries a lot of weight at the office. Sometimes the magistrate is willing to listen to him.”

That meant he was a local power — even harder to deal with.

Gu Qingyan frowned. “Then what’s his reputation like?”

“Not good, not bad,” Gu Dashan thought for a moment and said, “About the same as the other officials.”

But Gu Qingyan felt something was off. A system-judged greedy person who’s entrenched in a remote place like Lingchuan for more than a decade — how could he not be skimming off the top?

Either Registrar Bai was very good at keeping up appearances so the common folk didn’t notice,

Or he had some secret ways of amassing wealth behind the scenes.

Either way, Gu Qingyan had to find out. “Brother Dashan, think carefully. Is there nothing strange about Registrar Bai?”

“Well, there’s one rumor I heard,” Gu Dashan lowered his voice, “I heard from some old-timers at the office that the county’s escort agency was started by Registrar Bai, but for some reason, it was later handed over to someone else.”

“That was many years ago, and not many people know about it now.”

Gu Qingyan’s brow twitched — something suspicious.

After persuading Gu Dashan not to ask around at the office, the next day Gu Qingyan found an excuse and went alone to town.

Lingchuan County had only one escort agency, so it was easy to find.

Before he even got close, he saw the escort agency’s sign from a distance.

What surprised him was that the sign-in spot wasn’t at the entrance but inside the escort agency itself.

Gu Qingyan narrowed his eyes, becoming even more certain that something was wrong with this escort agency.

He sat down at a nearby wonton stand, ordered a bowl, and deliberately said with some admiration, “Lingchuan County is so small, but this escort agency is quite large.”

He wasn’t exaggerating — the agency’s courtyard was grand, the biggest and most luxurious place he’d seen since arriving in Lingchuan.

The wonton vendor laughed heartily, “Young master, you must be from out of town, right?”

“How did you know?” Gu Qingyan feigned surprise.

The vendor explained, “If you were a local, you wouldn’t be so impressed. Everyone knows Lingchuan is surrounded by bandits. If you don’t hire the escort agency when you go out, you’re not safe coming back.”

Gu Qingyan was surprised, “Is that so? There are that many bandits, and the officials don’t do anything?”

He had encountered bandits on the way here and thought it was just bad luck.

“Of course they try, but Lingchuan is full of mountains. When officials go to crack down on bandits, they just slip into the hills and come back after the officials leave. It’s a never-ending nuisance.”

The vendor sighed, “After several attempts, the government spent a lot of money on anti-bandit campaigns, but caught no bandits and only caused trouble for the people.”

“So we figured, since we’re paying anyway, might as well pay the escort agency. It’s safer to go with them.”

Gu Qingyan quickly asked, “Is it really safe if you hire the escorts? What if they can’t defeat the bandits?”

“Don’t worry, young master. The escorts are all trained fighters, each skilled in martial arts, capable of keeping everyone safe.”

The vendor added, “Young master, since you’re from out of town, you didn’t hire escorts and yet didn’t meet bandits?”

Gu Qingyan smiled. He did run into bandits, but Pei Xuan’s combat skills were incredible — he took down the whole group alone.

He didn’t answer directly and instead asked, “Since there are so many bandits and the escort business is good, why is there only one escort agency in the county?”

“Lingchuan is small. There’s just no room for a second one,” the vendor said with a smile.

“What’s the price to hire an escort? Is it expensive?”

“Of course it’s expensive. Escorting is a risky business — the price has to be high. Usually we join caravans, so we just pay a share, and the big merchants cover the rest. That makes it more affordable.”

Curious, Gu Qingyan asked, “How much for a trip to Qingzhou Prefecture, per person?”

“Only one or two taels of silver.”

One or two taels of silver?

Gu Qingyan was startled. One or two taels per person — if you took a hundred people, that’s a hundred taels for a single trip.

It only took five days to get from Lingchuan County to Qingzhou Prefecture, so the price was indeed steep.

Seeing his thoughts, the vendor laughed, “It’s expensive, but better than losing your life.”

He added, “Next door, there was a family who didn’t believe it — said their luck wouldn’t be that bad. They went out with three sons, and all four were unlucky enough to be killed by bandits. Now the widow and family have a hard time.”

“Ah, if only they’d spent those three taels. That’s money well spent to buy a life.”

Several customers eating wontons around them chimed in.

“That’s right. One tael is expensive, but cheap compared to life.”

“With the escorts, even walking at night is safe.”

“Every year, someone refuses to listen and ends up dead.”

“Funny thing is, when the escorts are with us, we rarely meet bandits. Those without escorts always do.”

“Not surprising. Bandits see escorts and run away. They only target unprotected travelers.”

“I see.”

Gu Qingyan said nothing more, lowered his head, and finished the delicious wontons happily.

The escort agency was indeed booming.

After sitting at the entrance for a while, Gu Qingyan saw several merchants going in and out to book escort services.

He even saw a caravan depart — one escort in front, one behind, just two men.

Gu Qingyan felt puzzled. Two escorts only? Even if they looked burly, could they really protect the whole caravan?

Could it be, as the vendor said, that the escorts were all highly skilled fighters?

After finishing his wontons, Gu Qingyan stood up and headed straight toward the escort agency.

If the sign-in was inside, so what? He could openly enter the place.