Soon it was time for the magistrate's inspection tour. Fu Man'er and her friends ran to the village entrance early in the morning to wait. Besides being curious about what the new magistrate looked like, the main reason was that her uncle, Xu Genshan, would also be coming with the magistrate.

This inspection was the magistrate's final assessment of these four scholars. If they passed, they would become officials in the county government, which would be incredibly prestigious.

However, not many people in the village knew about this, otherwise the Xu family's wooden door would have been torn down.

Fu Man'er would play for a while and then run to the intersection to check, wondering when her uncle would arrive.

The children who had come with her couldn't wait and ran off, leaving only Wang Erni to accompany her. The two little girls simply found a large rock to sit on, propped their chins up, and looked towards the main road.

"Oh, whose child is this? He's so handsome." An old man stopped in front of the two of them.

Fu Man'er looked up and saw an old man with white hair and a white beard. He looked very kind and had a bamboo pole in his hand with a piece of cloth hanging from it.

"Fortune telling and divination," Fu Man'er read out the four large characters.

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The old man was none other than the long-lost Chosen Master. Upon hearing Fu Man'er recite these words, he asked in surprise, "The child knows these characters?"

Fu Man'er nodded gently. Her uncle and several older brothers studied and practiced writing at home every day. As long as she put her heart into it, she would basically never forget the characters that had been taught to her.

"Looking at such a young age, I didn't expect her to be so smart." Master Tianxuan looked Fu Man'er up and down; she looked to be only four or five years old.

This child is already so adorable, and so smart too...

"Little girl, do you like candy? Grandpa has some candy here." Master Tianxuan bent down and said to Fu Man'er in a tempting tone.

Wang Erni, who was standing nearby, looked over and asked, "What candy?" Like Fu Man'er, she was not allowed to eat candy at home, and her teeth had been itchy these past few days. When she heard about candy, her eyes were glued to it.

Master Tianxuan glanced at her; the girl was dark-skinned and, although not as pretty as the other one, she looked quite sturdy.

"Let me see what kind of candy it is?" He pretended to reach into the cloth bag on his shoulder. "Oh dear, I must have forgotten to bring it from the carriage over there. I think I bought peanut candy today."

Peanut candy? Wang Erni straightened up; she had never eaten this kind of candy before.

"Why don't we go with Grandpa to the carriage to get it?" Master Tianxuan looked around, but no one was looking at him, and the two children had been sitting there for a while without seeing any adults.

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Seeing Wang Erni's greedy look, he felt he had a chance, but there was another girl...

Fu Man'er acted as if she hadn't heard what they were saying, staring longingly at the road ahead with her doe-like eyes. Wang Erni tugged at Fu Man'er's hand; she wanted some peanut candy.

"Erni, the magistrate and the others will be here soon." Fu Man'er pursed her petal-like lips. She didn't want to leave, in case she didn't see her uncle later.

Moreover, the village chief had promised her that if the county magistrate agreed today, he would buy her candy. She hadn't told Erni the good news yet.

Because telling Erni would mean telling their whole family, and if their family knew, the Xu family would know too, and then they wouldn't be able to eat the candy.

Master Tianxuan thought he had misheard. "You just said the county magistrate is coming? How did you know?"

"Our village chief said that the county magistrate is coming to inspect the village today," Wang Erni said. Otherwise, she and Fu Man'er wouldn't be here guarding the place.

A flicker of panic crossed Tianxuan's face, followed by hesitation. But before he could make a decision, Fuman'er cheered, "The magistrate is here!"

She had never seen the county magistrate before, so she naturally didn't know what he looked like, but she did see Xu Genshu and Xie Ming following behind him.

Master Tianxuan turned his head to look, and although there was still some distance, a group of people were walking towards them.

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"The magistrate is here! The magistrate is here!" Wang Erni cheered just like Fu Man'er, standing on the rock and shouting. People looked over when they heard her.

Master Tianxuan realized that things were probably not going to work out today, so he quietly retreated while the two children were not paying attention to him.

"Hey, where's that old man? He said he'd give us peanut candy!" By the time Wang Erni remembered, Master Tianxuan was already gone.

Of course, she wouldn't mention such a thing to her family, since she hadn't even gotten to eat the candy, and the county magistrate had already diverted their attention.

The newly appointed magistrate's surname was Song, given name Kangcheng. He was nearly thirty years old, but looked like he was twenty-four or twenty-five. Perhaps he came from the capital, as his face was very fair. At first glance, he did not look like an official, but rather like a scholar.

However, whether a person is as kind as they appear on the surface remains to be seen.

"Is Village Chief Zhao having someone greet me at the village entrance?" Song Kangcheng noticed several people standing at the village entrance from afar.

"No, no." Zhao Yongkang quickly waved his hand. These village chiefs had been following the county magistrate on his inspection tour from the beginning. Don't be fooled by the county magistrate's smiling face; it's all an act. He can be quite ruthless when he starts scolding people. Just now, the village chief of Qingshan Village was so scolded that he couldn't even lift his head.

"It must be that the villagers knew you were coming, sir, and spontaneously came to the village entrance to greet you." Fortunately, he didn't do that. When he went to Qingshan Village, they did the same thing and he got a lecture from Lord Song.

Song Kangcheng glanced at him, and he didn't seem to be lying. When he got closer, he saw that there weren't many people around. Everyone was quietly observing him and didn't make any big moves, so he didn't say anything more.

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"Sir, the crops grown in the villages around here are all pretty much the same..." Once they arrived at his own territory, Zhao Yongkang began to introduce the area. Having learned from the experience of Qingshan Village, he knew what he should and shouldn't say.

In short, just don't talk nonsense, and tell the truth about the situation in the village.

Xu Genshu, who was following behind, spotted his little niece at a glance, smiled at her, and didn't say anything more.

They're here today to assess us, so every move we make is crucial and we can't afford to be careless.

Fortunately, Fu Man'er understood the gravity of the situation and simply followed behind them slowly, without rushing up to talk to Xu Genshu.

"You mentioned before that the method of using fertile soil seems to be very effective." Song Kangcheng stopped in front of a plot of land where potatoes were planted. He had seen the same kind of potatoes in Qingshan Village, but they were not as good as those here.

When talking about the crops in the field, Zhao Yongkang's tension disappeared. "The land here is relatively barren, and the grain yield is not very high. Only when the soil is fertile can these crops be well-fed, and only then will there be a good harvest in the autumn."

He has lived here for over fifty years and knows what the soil is like. He was eager to do something about it, but he had no idea how. Now, he has finally found something useful.

After learning about this method of fertilizing the soil from the Xu family, he was the first to follow suit. Later, he and Old Man Xu went from house to house, encouraging everyone to fertilize the soil together.

It's not that their two families are doing well; it's that the whole village is doing well, that's truly good.

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Fortunately, after much persuasion, the two of them managed to achieve some results.

The village chief of Qingshan Village was surprised that the grain from Dashi Village was better than his own, and immediately raised questions about it.