There's a fee to enter the city?

The master and servant stepped down from the carriage and looked around.

A brick and stone building stood blocking the middle of the road.

Horse-drawn carriages lined up in front of the metal bar.

As the bar was raised, a horse-drawn carriage drove into the tollbooth.

Chen Qingwan was completely bewildered. She stood on tiptoe to look at the situation ahead.

The coachman on the carriage stretched out his hand, holding a small booklet about a few inches square and some loose silver coins.

The person at the toll booth window took the item, stamped it in the booklet, and handed it back to the driver.

The driver, despite being charged, showed no anger. Instead, he cheerfully exchanged a few pleasantries with the staff before continuing on his way.

"Our Great Ning has been established for two hundred years. When has it ever stipulated that there should be a fee to enter the city?"

"Lu Yan is setting up roadblocks without authorization and exploiting the people!"

Qiao'er said unhappily.

"Please don't say that, young lady!"

Upon hearing this, the old coachman immediately spoke up.

"Lord Lu charges a fee to maintain this road."

"The adults said that this road is always busy with people and exposed to the wind and sun, so it will eventually break down. Repairing it will cost money, so this money is being saved up for future road repairs."

The old coachman explained.

He turned his gaze and gave a meaningful look.

"In addition to collecting road maintenance fees, passing vehicles must also be weighed and are not allowed to overload. If they damage the road surface, they will be fined and imprisoned!"

Chen Qingwan turned her head, following the driver's gaze.

On the wall of the tollbooth, I saw a line of large characters written on it.

"All vehicles must be weighed! Overloaded vehicles will be severely punished!"

I saw this line of text.

Overload, Chen Qingwan muttered this novel word.

At that moment, two people wearing gray uniforms and red armbands walked over.

"Is this your car? What license plate does it have? Is it for carrying goods or people?"

One of them looked at the old coachman and asked.

The old coachman immediately led his men to the front of the carriage.

"I got the license plate in the county two years ago, specifically to pick up people."

He explained.

The young staff member opened the workbook and looked for it against the license plate hanging on the back of the carriage.

"Found it. It has a legitimate license plate and belongs to Dingding Taxi Company, owned by Lord Lu. The license plate number is 186. It is a horse-drawn carriage and its operating area is Shannan County and neighboring counties."

Another person asked, "Has it been inspected for the year? Last month at the city gate, Liu the rich man's eldest nephew hit someone with his carriage and shouted that my uncle was Liu the scholar! His carriage hadn't been inspected for the year, and it was still on the road with a broken wheel. Lord Lu was furious about it and scolded our boss. Now he's sweeping public toilets on the street!"

"Oh, I see. That explains why I haven't seen him for so long. His car just had its annual inspection done after the Chinese New Year, and it passed."

"That's what the staff member replied."

The other person nodded and looked at Chen Qingwan and Qiao'er.

"Lord Lu has decreed that all passing vehicles, whether carrying goods or passengers, must be weighed! The maximum load limit cannot be exceeded, otherwise a heavy penalty will be imposed!"

"I know!"

The old coachman quickly replied.

The man pulled back the carriage curtain, looked inside to make sure no one was there, and then walked towards Chen Qingwan and her companion.

"Follow me!"

Upon hearing this, Qiao'er immediately became nervous.

"How dare you... what are you trying to do?"

The man looked puzzled: "Weigh it!"

Weigh it!

Qiao'er and Chen Qingwan exchanged a glance, their faces showing embarrassment.

Do I have to hang myself up like a pig being weighed at a slaughterhouse?

"you……"

Qiao'er felt increasingly distressed and couldn't help but have a fit of rage on the spot.

Chen Qingwan immediately spoke up: "Brother, look, we are two women, and we are so light, we definitely won't be overloaded, so let's skip the weighing."

The staff member shook his head: "These are Lord Lu's regulations, there's nothing we can do about it! Work must be meticulous, following rules and procedures, how can we rely on visual inspection?"

After he finished speaking, he waved his hand, and someone carried out an iron scale.

This iron scale is quite strange.

There is a wooden block at the bottom, with an iron bar across it, and a large tray on each side of the iron bar.

Who wants to go first?

"I asked the staff member."

Qiao'er glanced at Chen Qingwan, and seeing that the latter was still unwilling to reveal her identity, she blushed and said, "I'll go first!"

The staff member nodded and said, "Stand inside the tray on the left, put both feet in and press them down firmly, but don't use force, just keep a natural position."

Qiao'er listened to his words and found it strange. This didn't seem like weighing pigs. What kind of tricks were these people up to?

She walked to the iron scale and, as instructed by the staff, stepped onto the tray and pressed it to the ground.

The tray on the other side immediately tilted up.

The staff then directed others to press the large, square iron blocks onto the opposite tray.

The tray was pressed down, all the way down until it rested against the ground.

Finally, the two sides were aligned.

"Eighty-five catties."

Someone reported this.

The staff immediately wrote down the data.

"Next."

He looked at Chen Qingwan.

Chen Qingwan was shocked by this move.

There's no way such a scale exists in the world. How did the person who came up with this idea even have a brain?

Chen Qingwan also stepped onto the tray, watching the other person load the iron block, and couldn't help but ask, "I've never seen this kind of scale before, where did it come from?"

"This scale? It was invented by Lord Lu and is called the balance scale. The two ends of this scale are like heaven and earth, or like the emperor and the people. Only when the two sides are in balance will there be no more natural disasters and man-made calamities in the world."

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!