Chapter 182 Returning the silver, the child falls into the water. ...

Following the fame of poetry and storytelling, the magnificent scenery of Zhangzhou has become known to all, attracting a continuous influx of tourists and greatly boosting the local cultural and tourism industry.

The people, who were content with poverty and prepared to work hard to build up their wealth for their descendants, were all smiles as they entertained guests every day. They had never imagined that making money could be so simple, and the dreams they had never dared to dream of before seemed to be within reach.

They were so close to happiness.

As the prefect's palanquin passed through the streets, the people stopped what they were doing and knelt down to watch her procession disappear into the distance.

Some of them burst into tears, saying, "Everyone says that officials are like parents, but only today do I realize that these officials are truly like my own father and mother, always concerned about whether their children are well-fed and clothed, and doing everything they can to take care of them."

"If it weren't for the Prefect, we..." He choked up, "we would have died long ago."

"In my next life, I would gladly be reborn as a humble servant to repay your kindness," he said, sobbing and weeping as he lay prostrate on the ground.

The autumn wind is bleak, yet it cannot penetrate the warmth of human relationships.

Inside the dimly lit sedan chair, Zhang Ting gently fiddled with the jade thumb ring on her hand, her expression unreadable.

After a while, a clear breeze lifted the sedan curtain, and one could vaguely see a smile on the lips of the person inside, but a slight moisture in their eyes.

...

Before we knew it, three autumns had passed.

A few scattered sycamore leaves lay on the steps. Zhang Ting stood by the window, holding half a scroll of bamboo slips. Suddenly, a little girl with her hair in a topknot darted out and shouted, "Mother!" Her bright eyes darted around, her intentions clear.

Zhang Tingkong reached out and pinched her cheek. "You little rascal, weren't you supposed to be learning calligraphy from your dad? What are you doing here?"

Seeing that her plan had failed, Shile pouted her round lips and said, "The gatekeeper delivered a letter, saying it was for you. Father asked Shile to deliver the letter to Mother."

Her dark eyes were bright and clear, just like Zong Suyi's.

Zhang Ting rubbed her head, carried her in from outside the window, and carefully placed her on the desk.

"What letter? Can you read the words on it?"

"What nonsense are you talking about, Mother? Of course Shile doesn't know." Shile put her hands on her hips; she was still a three-year-old baby.

Zhang Ting took the letter from her hand and teased her, "Shi Le has been studying hard with your father for a month, and he's still a little illiterate?" He pretended to be troubled.

Shile was getting anxious, thinking that he was just slow-witted and that's why he hadn't learned it yet. He grabbed her clothes and pleaded, "Mother, please give me a little more time. I'll go and practice calligraphy right now." As he spoke, he stretched out his legs and tried to get off the table.

Fearing she might fall, Zhang Ting simply picked her up and put her on the ground.

Watching the little girl run out excitedly, her little legs moving incredibly fast, but she could be pulled back in just half a step.

She smiled, shook her head, and looked away.

My gaze fell on the envelope; it was a letter from my senior sister.

Zhang Ting raised an eyebrow, sat back down, and began to read and study the letter.

The gist of it is that when the senior sister was governing Qiuyu County, she was shocked to find that the county's granary had been robbed. She tracked down two bandits and then traced them to Hu Die, the magistrate of Qishan County in Yinzhou Prefecture. She accidentally discovered that this magistrate was a murderer who had committed many evils and had embezzled public funds from Yinzhou Prefecture for disaster relief, causing the people to suffer.

She also said that she had secretly reported to her teacher and Prime Minister Han, and that after they discussed it, they would set out to capture the corrupt official.

The purpose of the letter was that she had heard that Magistrate Hu had a past relationship with her, and she wanted her to sever ties with him as soon as possible to avoid being implicated in the future.

In the quiet study, she tapped her fingertips lightly on the table, feeling that the letter carried a hint of warning and indifference.

Never mind, perhaps she's overthinking it.

She added a brief two-word note and then sent the letter away.

However, Magistrate Hu was wicked and vicious, and the evil deeds he committed were even worse than those of Mi Fu, to the point that they were too numerous to recount.

She deserved her fate perfectly.

Zhang Ting called Zheng Er over, took a contract from the box, and handed it to her.

"This is a contract for 100,000 taels of silver from a money exchange. You exchanged the gold for gold in multiple places, and when Qishan County is in chaos, you secretly put it in a corner of Magistrate Hu's backyard." This is the silver money that was swindled from Magistrate Hu. This money was obtained through corruption, from the people's hard-earned money, and stained with the blood of the common people.

Zheng Er took the silver note. She vaguely knew about this matter, but said, "Master, as the prefect, you should know better than me... The dirty silver that is extorted will not end up in the hands of the people."

The character for "official" has two mouths under it, both of whom need to eat. The higher-ups eat meat, the lower-ups eat vegetables, so what chance do ordinary people have?

"We need to return the money to the owner." He lightly punched Zheng Er's shoulder with his fist and smiled. "We'll do our best."

Zheng Er immediately straightened her expression and said, "Yes, sir." She took the task and went out, then suddenly turned back to look at her employer and gave him a simple, honest smile.

The owner hasn't changed at all.

As winter approached, a snowfall blanketed Zhangzhou Prefecture, with heavy snow falling in abundance.

A timely snowfall promises a bumper harvest.

It's a good omen.

However, several officials on duty caught a cold, and Zhang Ting was called in to fill in.

She's in good health; even on icy days, she can keep warm by wearing a fur coat.

Nothing much happened that day, but her eyelids twitched uncontrollably, and she felt inexplicably panicked. She rushed home when it was time to leave, not even bothering to be polite to her colleagues.

The mansion was eerily quiet, deathly silent.

She rushed to the backyard without regard for anything, and the servants kept their heads down and dared not look up.

A faint sobbing could be heard coming from inside the house, a sound that was utterly heartbreaking.

It was Zong Suyi's voice.

An inexplicable fear gripped Zhang Ting's heart. She swallowed hard and, supporting her weak legs, rushed inside in a few steps.

The servants inside turned pale and hurriedly retreated.

She heard herself speak: "What's wrong?"

Upon hearing the commotion, Zong Suyi scrambled over in a panic, raising her face, which was as white as paper and covered in tears. "Zhang Ting... my wife... Shile has fallen into the water, and the doctor said... said she can't be saved."

Zhang Ting nearly stumbled and fell, barely managing to steady herself. Looking over, she saw a little baby lying on the bed, still as soft and adorable as ever, but the rise and fall of the baby's chest was so small that it was almost invisible. She felt like she was suffocating, and her heart ached as if it were being crushed by an invisible hand.

He nervously muttered to himself, "No, no, how can he not be saved? The quack doctor lied to me, he must be a quack doctor."

His hands, gripping her clothes, trembled as he pleaded, "My lady, my lady, please save her... please save her! She's so young, she hasn't even learned the Three Character Classic yet, she's so small, she hasn't even grown up to my knees..."

"That was my precious baby, whom I carried for ten months and gave birth to... Why did God do this to her? Why did He take away my baby..." His heart was breaking, and he cried out loud.

Zhang Ting's mind went blank; she stood there dumbfounded, completely unsure of what to do.

After a couple of moments, she staggered over and fell to the bedside, her fingers trembling as she checked the baby's breath.

Cold.

My heart felt as if it had fallen into an endless abyss.

No, no, no, it's still breathing.

"He's still breathing! He's still breathing!!" She mustered her strength to stand up and shouted, "Quickly, bring all the doctors here! Hurry!"

What's next?

What do we need to do?

She suddenly snapped out of her daze, took off her own clothes, then the child's clothes, held the child to her chest, wrapped her body in a quilt, and used her own body heat to warm the baby while quickly rubbing her limbs.

"Cook some thin porridge and brown sugar ginger tea!"

Zong Suyi seemed to wake up suddenly, and stood up with renewed vigor, shouting, "Quickly, bring the brazier over! Quickly, bring the brazier over!"

Zhang Ting told him to pinch Shi Le's philtrum and Baihui point.

Zong Suyi was at a loss. "Where is the Baihui point on the philtrum?" He knew perfectly well that he knew.

Seeing that he was terrified, Zhang Ting had no choice but to suppress her panic and force herself to calm down, otherwise there would be no one else to take charge.

After pinching him once, he couldn't wait to ask, "Is Shile alright now? Is Shile alright now?"

Zhang Ting felt that the small body in front of her chest was still cold, so she pressed it even closer to her and rubbed it faster. She was so frightened that she broke out in a cold sweat on her back.

"Xiaoyi, go and see if the doctor has arrived yet."

He responded hesitantly, "Yes, yes, see a doctor... find a doctor..." He twisted his stiff limbs and ran outside, tripped, got up and continued running.

"Shile, wake up! Your parents are terrified..." she murmured.

Soon, all the doctors in the city were summoned.

Several doctors examined the child's pulse, looked at each other, and shook their heads helplessly, saying, "The winter is cold, and body temperature is being lost. Plus, the child is so young, I'm afraid... I'm afraid we can't hold him. Sir, please accept my condolences."

For the first time in his life, Zhang Ting wanted to curse and drive these people out.

One person hesitated and said, "Your daughter's temperature and breathing have improved considerably. If she can hold on until she wakes up tonight, there might be hope."

This person was the doctor who initially diagnosed Shile.

Zhang Ting asked her to explain in detail, and she and Zong Suyi would work together on it.

In the dead of night, the candlelight flickered.

Zhang Ting had dark circles under her eyes, and her hands kept rubbing the child. Zong Suyi wanted to help but was worried that letting the wind into the bedding would worsen the child's condition.

Baba stared at his son's pale, purplish face, his heart clenching as if it were about to burst.

He collapsed to the ground, tears streaming down his face. "Why wasn't it me who got sick? If God wanted to take someone's life, it should be mine..."

"Gods and Buddhas in the heavens, Yama on the earth, if you want to take my soul, take my child's life!"

Zhang Ting's eyes stung, she sniffed, and said in a hoarse voice, "Our child will be alright, don't cry. Let the ground cool down."

She coaxed him, "We haven't had our evening meal yet, have it? When you come back after you've eaten, Shile will be awake."

Zong Suyi stared at her blankly, tears streaming down his face. Her words were like a lifeline to him.

"Really?" He had been in a daze all day and could no longer make sense of things.

"Go on. Finish your meal quickly and come back to see the children."

As her husband's figure disappeared through the doorway, Zhang Ting bent down and touched her son's cold face. An unprecedented sense of powerlessness spread through her heart, her eyes filled with tears, and she said hoarsely, "You little rascal, wake up quickly. Mother will never force you to study again, don't scare your mother."

In a corner she couldn't see, a little finger twitched.

"From now on, you can eat whatever you want, and Mom will never stop you."

My little finger twitched twice.

"You can sleep whenever you want, and your mother will never interfere."

My little finger twitched three times.

"Even if you do something wrong or do something bad, your mother will never scold or punish you."

My little finger twitched four times.

"My dear Shile, wake up!"

After a long while, a dry, indistinct child's voice came from beside her ear: "Mother, is it true?"

At that moment, she felt as if she had heard heavenly music and her life had been saved.