Chapter 111: Gift 1/2

Li Qingzhi felt they could eat the same food as the female workers, but it wasn’t necessary.

He planned to order extra dishes for himself.

Their family now had four pots: two used for cooking regular meals, one used for making large dishes, and one was empty, which he could use.

Li Qingzhi had the recipe book from the Chang family, but those dishes were too complicated to make, and he couldn’t find all the ingredients… So he decided to cook some simple home-cooked stir-fries.

He stir-fried a dish of leeks and eggs. Leeks were a common vegetable in Chongcheng County, also known as wild leeks. Every spring, leeks would grow, and people would use them to stir-fry eggs, cook fish, or make dishes with broad beans, bamboo shoots, and salted meat.

After finishing the leek and egg stir-fry, Li Qingzhi sliced some bamboo shoots and pork, added soaked black fungus, and cooked another dish.

By the time he finished cooking, the rice was ready to eat, and Chang Zhan had also returned after buying clothes.

The female workers had stir-fried pork slices with bamboo shoots for dinner, and Li Qingzhi also served a plate of it along with the two dishes he cooked. So, they had three dishes on their dining table.

Li Damao and Li Ermao ate especially well, although they didn’t like leeks and only picked out the eggs from inside.

After dinner, Li Qingzhi said to Chang Zhan, “I have a guest room here. You and Cui Cui can stay there for the night and rest well. Tomorrow, we’ll go see Magistrate Gou together.”

The ground floor of their house had a small room that had been converted into a guest room. Jin Xiaoye’s idea at the time was that if Jin Parents or Jin Xiaoshu needed it, they could stay here.

Now, it was just right to let Chang Zhan and Chang Cui stay.

Chang Zhan was leaving for the provincial capital tomorrow. Li Qingzhi instructed him to take good care of Chang Cui, and he did just that.

That night, he talked to Chang Cui a lot, continuing until she fell asleep drowsily.

The next morning, after breakfast, Li Qingzhi took Chang Zhan to the county government.

After Chang Zhan tidied up, he looked quite decent. Nowadays, wealthy people could generally marry a beautiful wife, so unless there were exceptional circumstances, their children wouldn’t be ugly.

When Li Qingzhi brought Chang Zhan to the county yamen, Magistrate Gou had just finished breakfast and was having someone prepare things to be sent to Magistrate Zhang.

This time they were going to Linhu County, where they received some excellent white tea from the locals. Magistrate Gou planned to give half of it to Magistrate Zhang. Besides that, he also added some miscellaneous items, such as dried bamboo shoots and soybean paste, local specialties.

Knowing that Magistrate Zhang didn’t accept valuable items, he didn’t include any gold or silver that he liked.

“Zixiao, why are you here?” Magistrate Gou asked curiously. Li Qingzhi rarely came to him for no reason. Why did he come so early today?

“Sir, I have a request for you,” Li Qingzhi said.

Magistrate Gou chuckled. “If you have something to say, just say it. No need to ask me.”

Magistrate Gou liked Li Qingzhi very much. It was not only because Li Qingzhi had given him helpful advice, but also because Li Qingzhi was exceptionally knowledgeable and had a high chance of passing the imperial examinations in the future.

When they both became officials in the same court in the future, Magistrate Gou might have to rely on Li Qingzhi… As long as Li Qingzhi didn’t do anything too outrageous, Magistrate Gou wouldn’t get angry with him.

Li Qingzhi smiled and said, “Sir, it’s like this. There’s a foolish child in my relative’s family who recently threw a tantrum and even ran away from home. I want to find him a job at the government to discipline him a bit.”

After Li Qingzhi finished speaking, he pulled Chang Zhan in front of him. “It’s this child. He unexpectedly rushed out of the dock yesterday.”

Chang Zhan was dirty yesterday, quite different from today. So when Magistrate Gou first saw Chang Zhan, he didn’t recognize him as the person who had suddenly run out yesterday.

Obviously, he was a clean child. How did he make himself look like that before? It seemed that teenage boys were not easy to manage.

Magistrate Gou said, “This is a small matter! What does he want to do at the county government?” Arranging a job for Li Qingzhi’s relative at the county yamen was nothing complicated.

Li Qingzhi was just too sensible. All the tasks he came to Magistrate Gou for were such small matters.

Li Qingzhi said, “Sir, there’s no need to rush to assign him a task. Just let someone guide him for now. Brother Liu is supposed to help you deliver letters to the prefectural capital today, right? Let him help Brother Liu carry loads when the time comes.”

This time, the person from Chongcheng County going to the provincial capital to deliver official documents was a government official who had a good reputation in front of Magistrate Gou, named Liu Binghai.

Li Qingzhi brought Chang Zhan here just to let him go to the prefectural capital with Liu Binghai to deliver the letter to Magistrate Zhang.

Originally, he planned to wait until he participated in the provincial examination before delivering the letter. After meeting Chang Zhan, he decided to do it earlier.

“Alright, it’s good for the young lad to see the world in the prefectural capital,” Magistrate Gou said.

A seventeen- or eighteen-year-old child would definitely be particularly interested in going to the prefectural capital. Li Qingzhi probably just wanted him to have some fun there.

This was not a big deal, so Magistrate Gou readily agreed.

Things went exceptionally smoothly, and Li Qingzhi immediately expressed his thanks.

After Magistrate Gou finished packing, he had someone fetch Liu Binghai. Liu Binghai was then instructed to take the official documents and gifts and accompany Chang Zhan to the prefectural capital.

Before they departed, Li Qingzhi specifically had a few words with Liu Binghai, asking him to take good care of Chang Zhan.

Although Liu Binghai was well-regarded in front of Magistrate Gou, he couldn’t compare to Li Qingzhi. Naturally, he readily agreed and promised to take good care of Chang Zhan.

The two of them hired a boat and left Chongcheng County. Li Qingzhi watched them depart until they were out of sight before returning home.

As for what would happen in Linhu County next, it depended on Magistrate Zhang. As an ordinary person who wasn’t even a child, Li Qingzhi had no say in the matter.

Next, he would go to study with Li Xiucai to better prepare for the provincial examination.

The exam questions in the prefectural capital were different from those in the county examination.

With these thoughts in mind, Li Qingzhi went straight to Li Xiucai’s school to study.

While he was studying diligently, Chang Zhan and Liu Binghai had already arrived in Hexing Prefecture.

After chatting with Li Qingzhi yesterday, Chang Zhan felt hopeful about life.

He could seek revenge! His brother might still be alive!

Feeling the thick letter in his arms, Chang Zhan made up his mind to make this happen.

Because of this determination, he was very enthusiastic towards Liu Binghai on the way and asked him many questions.

At first, Liu Binghai was worried that Chang Zhan might be difficult to get along with. However, after chatting with him for a while, he found that Chang Zhan didn’t have a bad temper at all, so he relaxed.

Liu Binghai was actually just an ordinary government official who had been marginalized by the county government.

It was because he had been marginalized that he had early on attached himself to Magistrate Gou, which led to him being highly valued.

His abilities were actually quite average, and he barely knew any words. The reason why he was highly valued by Magistrate Gou was simply because he had attached himself to Magistrate Gou early on. However, this didn’t stop him from bragging about how great he was in front of Chang Zhan.

“Brother Liu, you know so much,” Chang Zhan said as they chatted. He then thought of his father’s situation and asked, “Brother Liu, how do you file a complaint in the prefectural capital?”

Liu Binghai said, “The county yamen is small, so the county magistrate will personally handle the case. But it’s different in the prefectural capital. Ordinary cases are usually handled by the prefectural magistrate. There are many cases in the prefectural capital, and the prefectural magistrate might not be available every day. Sometimes, minor officials will handle the case first… In the courtroom of Hexing Prefecture, there are two minor officials from the penal department on duty every day. Most of the time, the complaint papers are given to them. After receiving the complaint papers, they will gather the relevant parties and then let the prefectural magistrate handle the case…”

Sometimes the prefectural magistrate might directly handle the case, but for the most part, this was the procedure.

Chang Zhan sighed inwardly after listening.

Magistrate Zhang was a good official, but filing a complaint was such a hassle… No wonder so many things happened in Linhu County, and Magistrate Zhang knew nothing about it.

People who were literate like his father and dared to file complaints in the prefectural capital were already rare, and after arriving, they might even be intercepted…