Chapter 104: Acquiring the Letter 1/2

Magistrate Zhang felt particularly uneasy while watching the play, but the others in the theater were different.

These days, it was always the same few plays being performed. Now, a new play had emerged, and its plot was still so interesting…

At the beginning, when they saw Sun Juren planning to cause trouble, they gnashed their teeth.

Later, when those who accused Sun Juren realized their mistake, they couldn’t help but laugh.

When all the truths were revealed, they even applauded one after another. “What a great play!”

“This play is great!”

“The magistrate and the county magistrate of Chongcheng County are both excellent officials!”

People were still discussing: “Do you know? County Magistrate Gou’s play doesn’t stop at just this one act. I heard there’s another new play in the lineup.”

“Another new play? I’ll definitely come to see it!”

“Count me in too.”

Inside the theater, everyone was very excited, but Magistrate Zhang was somewhat at a loss.

He wanted to leave discreetly, but with so many people around, sneaking out would surely attract attention…

Magistrate Zhang could only sit awkwardly in his seat, waiting for the others to leave before making his own exit.

“Sir, are you okay?” Someone looked at Magistrate Zhang with concern.

Seeing his white hair and advanced age, they thought perhaps he wasn’t feeling well.

“I’m fine,” Magistrate Zhang hoped these people would leave soon, but they seemed in no hurry to depart.

The person continued, “Sir, did you know? I’ve seen Magistrate Zhang before.”

Magistrate Zhang felt as if he were facing a formidable foe.

The person went on, “I once caught a glimpse of Magistrate Zhang from afar. He’s really tall and seems like a good official…”

Magistrate Zhang: “…”

Just as Magistrate Zhang was relieved that the person hadn’t recognized him, he suddenly heard someone calling out, “Your Excellency?”

Magistrate Zhang looked up and saw a court attendant from the yamen standing at a distance, curiously peering in his direction.

Without a second thought, Magistrate Zhang quickly made his way out.

Luckily, his previously strained back had recovered, or else he might not have been able to escape.

But… Thinking back to those commoners praising him as a good official, Magistrate Zhang furrowed his brow and glanced in the direction of Linhu County.

While Magistrate Zhang was grappling with his thoughts, in Chongcheng County, County Magistrate Gou was hosting a banquet.

In addition to the scholars who had passed the county examination this time, he also invited people like Peng Jingliang.

The venue for the banquet was a garden recently built near the new pier, and all the food and drinks were provided by Zhu Qian.

County Magistrate Gou had changed his attitude now, not asking Zhu Qian to prepare too much and even refraining from using expensive ingredients.

But there was still plenty of food to go around. Every time Li Qingzhi finished his pastries, someone would bring him more.

Of course, he didn’t eat too much. On such social occasions, networking was paramount.

Li Qingzhi noticed that County Magistrate Gou’s mood had completely recovered, and the scholars who had been invited after passing the county examination were very respectful to County Magistrate Gou, leading to pleasant conversations between the two sides.

“Nephew, I heard you haven’t chosen your literary name yet?” County Magistrate Gou smiled at Li Qingzhi.

“Yes, sir,” Li Qingzhi hastily replied.

County Magistrate Gou said, “How about I give you a courtesy name?”

“Thank you, sir!” Li Qingzhi bowed respectfully.

County Magistrate Gou had thought about it for a long time last night and had come up with a courtesy name for Li Qingzhi. But at this moment, he pondered for a moment and pretended as if he came up with it on the spot: “Ascending to the highest heights of the sky, how about ‘Zixiao’?”

Li Qingzhi, courtesy name Zixiao… Li Qingzhi immediately thanked County Magistrate Gou.

The word “霄 (xiāo)” is indeed good; in Daqi, it is often used to refer to the court.

Most importantly… “青霄直上 (qīng xiāo zhí shàng)” directly upwards, the original owner’s name was Li Zhi.

The banquet hosted by County Magistrate Gou was indeed enjoyable for both guests and hosts. However, the person who was not invited by County Magistrate Gou didn’t seem very happy.

That person was a student of Sun Juren. After Sun Juren encountered trouble, he had already received some gossip.

Originally, if he had done nothing in this county exam, he could have participated in the prefectural examination in the future. With his knowledge, it was not certain that he could pass the exam to become an official, but passing as a scholar would not be a problem.

But he always stood up for Sun Juren. After the county exam, he was pushed to the forefront by Hong Hui, publicly accusing County Magistrate Gou…

In the future, he might not be able to pursue the imperial examination path.

But Li Qingzhi felt that this person deserved it.

Zhang Yunquan was indeed the target of crackdowns and eliminations in Chongcheng County before. Sun Juren was not a good person either.

Not to mention other things… including Sun Juren, a group of gentry in Chongcheng County that occupied large areas of fertile land in the county but did not pay any grain tax!

The grain tax set by the court for ordinary people was actually very small, but after these gentry figured out a way not to pay taxes, Chongcheng County had to make the common people pay more taxes in order to submit enough grain tax.

And the common people couldn’t resist at all; after all, these gentry colluded with the county government’s runners to collect taxes.

In plain terms, these people were just a group of parasites exploiting the common people, and this person even wrote poetry and lyrics speaking for Sun Juren and Zhang Yunquan before!

If such a person became an official, he would be another Sun Juren.

In Chongcheng County, the main drinks were yellow wine and rice wine. Li Qingzhi drank some, but not much.

He wasn’t very interested in alcohol.

County Magistrate Gou’s banquet was held in the afternoon, and everyone had dinner together. After dinner, Zhu Qian found someone to send Li Qingzhi and the others back.

By the time Li Qingzhi returned home, it was already dark outside, but Jin Xiaoye had not yet gone to bed. She was lighting a lamp and counting the fabrics.

Seeing this, Li Qingzhi stepped forward to help and told Jin Xiaoye about what happened during the day. Naturally, he also mentioned the courtesy name given to him by County Magistrate Gou: “Xiaoye, the County Magistrate gave me a courtesy name, ‘Zixiao’…”

“It sounds nice!” Jin Xiaoye read the name a few times: “Zixiao.”

After Li Qingzhi finished speaking, Jin Xiaoye began to talk about what she had been doing during the day. She was quite busy today; not only did she buy fabrics, but she also went to recruit people in Miaoqian Village.

Speaking of this… Jin Xiaoye suddenly said, “Ah Qing, do you know? Jin Liushu and Jin Moli also plan to do business in the county!”

Li Qingzhi was a little surprised. “What kind of business do they plan to do?”

Jin Xiaoye said, “They want to sell food near the pier.”

Li Qingzhi thought for a moment: “If they work hard and diligently, they should be able to make money, but not much.”

There were already many food vendors near the pier in Chongcheng County, and the market was almost saturated.

In such a situation, selling food…

Setting up a small stall to sell food didn’t cost much; as long as they didn’t make too much food at once, they wouldn’t lose money, but they wouldn’t make too much either.

“I feel the same way. I’ve thought about selling food before, but my family’s vegetable plot is so small, and we don’t have enough grain to eat… I calculated it, and selling food wouldn’t earn much money.”

Jin Xiaoye used to work with Jin Dajiang and learned how to cook big meals, and she cooked quite deliciously.

But selling food near the pier… If she used her own grain and vegetables from her own land, and if there were people to help her at home, then she would definitely make money. However, their family didn’t have land at the time, and no one was available to help her, so she gave up on the idea.

Now Jin Moli and Jin Liushu are doing well in this business. After all, both of their families have plenty of grains and vegetables that they can’t finish eating.

Having land at home is really good!

While Li Qingzhi and Jin Xiaoye were chatting, Jin Xiaoshu’s house was crowded with people.

During the day, Jin Xiaoye went to the temple-front village and discussed two matters with the villagers.

First, the six acres of land they planted last year were all going to be rented out this year.