Chapter 4

There was a cool breeze, willows were green by the pond, the moon was already at its zenith, and the summer night was exceptionally quiet. Xie Chen had returned from riding a horse, and the servant quietly opened the back door and slipped in.

"Madam, have you gone to bed?"

"Today, the wife of Ji Sikou celebrated her coming of age. The madam went to attend a banquet at Sikou's home and went to bed early after returning." The servant replied.

Xie Chen raised his eyebrows and smiled, which meant that his mother definitely couldn't take care of him today.

The Xie family has a strict family tradition, and young men and women must return home early at night. Xie Chen invited a group of friends to go horse racing today. They had so much fun that they forgot the time.

But since my mother has gone to bed, everything should be fine today. While thinking about this, Xie Chen walked quickly towards his yard.

"Hello, Erlang." A gentle but stern female voice sounded. It was Madam Xie Wei.

Xie Chen's scalp tingled. His mother was the strictest with him. Normally, he was fearless except for his mother. After all, when his mother got angry, even his father had to temporarily avoid her.

"Mom, I was wrong." Xie Chen has been competing with his mother in wits and courage in the past few years. No matter what trouble he has caused, he will always admit his mistakes first.

"I wonder what mistake Erlang made." Mrs. Xie sat in the first seat and asked slowly.

Xie Chen knelt down at lightning speed, winked at the servant behind him, and hurried to call for help. The servant understood and ran out.

"Let's see who dares to go." Madam Xie slammed the table, frightening Xie Chen so much that the servants around him dared not breathe, and the waiter didn't even dare to move.

"Thank you, Erlang, for your progress. You came back almost at midnight. It would be fine if you were fooling around on weekdays, but there have been frequent movements inside and outside the palace recently. I told you to be careful with your words and actions, but you took a group of people out to race horses," he said, glancing at the servants who were kneeling on the ground around him, "Erlang, kneel in the ancestral hall for me tonight, and no one is allowed to beg for mercy." After saying that, he left in a huff.

It was past the hour of Chou, and Xie Chen felt sleepy and hungry. He rubbed his sore legs, wondering when his mother would calm down.

"Erlang."

Xie Chen turned around and saw two people standing behind him, one was tall and slender with a gentle temperament, and the other was bright and beautiful with an immortal appearance and jade-like complexion. It was Xie Yi, the eldest son of the Xie family, and his young mistress Yu.

"Brother and sister-in-law, hurry up, I'm starving to death."

"It's too late today. We only have yokan and cloud cake." Xie Yi said in a gentle voice.

"Brother and sister-in-law, thank goodness for having you." Xie Chen said while eating pastries.

Suddenly there was a cough, and a man in a dark robe with a resolute face strode into the ancestral hall, followed by Madam Xie.

"Father and mother."

Xie Yan glanced at the three of them, then turned around and pleaded with Madam Xie, "Madam, Erlang has already knelt, and it's not a big deal anyway, so just let him get up."

Mrs. Xie couldn't bear to embarrass her husband in front of her, so she frowned and said, "Erlang, you must be calm and steady in the future and think twice before you act, do you understand? Otherwise, if I, your father, your great grandfather, and your brother and his wife are all gone, what will you do?"

Xie Chen disagreed, "Mother, you are worrying about nothing."

"But Erlang, aren't you the only one left now?" Mrs. Xie's eyes were full of sadness.

Xie Chen was shocked and said in fear: "No, mother, you lied. You said that our family would be healthy and happy, and you would watch me achieve great things."

"Erlang, live well." Mrs. Xie's voice disappeared with the wind, and the figures of several people also disappeared, leaving only Xie Chen's shrill cry.

"Mother, mother..." Xie Chen woke up in shock. The scene in his dream was vivid in his mind, and all he could see was bitterness.

Seeing Xie Chen wake up, Lin Qingyuan shouted: "Brother, he is awake."

After a while, Lin Shuge came in with medicine, "How do you feel? Drink the medicine first, and I'll change the dressing on your wound later."

Xie Chen has a gentle, gentle and handsome face, with a hint of smile on his lips. His voice is like the sound of metal, stone and string instruments, warm and clear. He doesn't look like a bad person.

He looked around and then glanced at Lin Shuge, with a questioning look in his eyes: "Where is this? Who are you?"

Lin Shuge smiled and said, "This is Ganzhou County in Dingyuan Commandery. You were injured and my three brothers and sisters saved you. Have you forgotten?" Lin Shuge put a spoonful of medicine to his mouth and said, "My name is Lin Shuge. I am a minor official in this county. They are my brother and sister-in-law, Lin Qingyuan and Lin Xuan."

"No, I can do it myself."

"Let me feed you. It's not good to have the wound split open."

After feeding him the medicine, Lin Shuge casually asked, "What about you? You look young, how come you were injured so badly?" If they hadn't passed by, he would have frozen to death instead of dying from his injuries on such a cold day in the northwest winter.

Xie Chen said with difficulty: "My ancestral home is Longxi, I am fourteen years old, my name is Wei... Wei Zhongxuan, I was captured by the Qiang people in my early years, I escaped when they were not paying attention, but I was discovered and stabbed, so I fled here."

Xie Chen concealed his background because his family was accused of treason, and he avoided people with old ties to his family for fear of implicating himself. If he revealed his family's name, he would implicate his savior.

Secondly, Lin Shuge was still an official in the county, and he was afraid of being reported to the government. After all, such a thing had happened before.

Lin Shuge looked at him for a moment and said with a smile: "Zhongxuan, you are the second child in your family."

People at that time continued to use the ranking order of the pre-Qin period, with the order being Bo, Zhong, Shu, and Ji.

"You should rest at home for the next few days. I will take you to register your household registration after you recover."

"Thank you very much."

The sun was setting. After Lin Shuge changed the medicine, he came to the kitchen. Lin Xuan was lighting a fire inside. When she saw Lin Shuge coming in, she asked, "Brother, what did he say?"

"They said they escaped from the Qiang tribe. This did happen a few years ago. The Qiang were very powerful at the time and abducted a large number of people."

In recent years, there have been refugees who have fled back from other ethnic groups. As long as their identities are ascertained, their household registration will be registered and they will be allowed to settle here.

"Brother, but he appeared here alone and was injured by swords. I am worried that his identity is not simple." Lin Xuan said distressedly.

Lin Shuge comforted him, "Don't worry, he's just a kid, about the same age as you guys, even if he has any status, he can't use it here."

Lin Shuge had noticed his chest when changing the dressing. There was no black wolf totem specially printed by the Qiang people, so it should not be a Qiang spy. As for other identities, we need to think carefully about them. If you really have bad intentions, Lin Shuge will not let you off easily.

Seeing Lin Xuan's thoughtful expression, Lin Shuge said with a smile: "Brother is here, what are you afraid of?"

"How about we have braised lamb tonight? I made chicken soup for Zhongxuan."

Lin Xuan looked at her elder brother and had no choice but to get up and get the mutton.

Lin Shuge chopped the lamb bones into small pieces, cut the lamb into pieces, added onions, ginger and garlic to remove the smell of mutton, and then blanched the lamb and bones in hot water, added pepper and salt and simmered for one stick of incense, and the braised lamb was ready.

Lin Shuge served a few servings and added noodles to the soup.

"Ayuan, is the kang ready? It's time to eat." Lin Shuge said to Lin Qingyuan while holding the mutton.

"Okay, okay, I'll be right there."

Lin Shuge served a bowl of braised mutton and said, "Zhongxuan, eat a small bowl first, and then drink a bowl of chicken soup later. You need to replenish your body since your injury is serious." He picked up the chopsticks and prepared to feed him.

Xie Chen hurriedly said: "I'll do it myself."

Seeing that he insisted, Lin Shuge handed him the bowl and said, "Be careful of the heat. Tell me if it's inconvenient."

Xie Chen nodded, and considering his injury, he carefully picked up a piece of mutton and put it into his mouth. The mutton was tender and fresh, without any smell, and it left a lingering fragrance on his lips and teeth. There were noodles in the soup, and Xie Chen ate up all of it, including the meat and the soup.

Lin Shuge looked at the empty bowl, knowing that he was probably not full yet, "There will be chicken soup later, and eating too much will cause indigestion." A slight blush appeared on Xie Chen's handsome face.

Seeing his reaction, Lin Shuge knew that he was embarrassed, so he didn't tease him. He just let him lie down and rest while he went to eat.

The next day, Lin Shuge got up at noon to prepare for duty, and Lin Qingyuan and Lin Xuan also got up to study. They had prepared pancakes with vegetables last night. Among the five hu of rice, one hu was wheat flour, which was just right for making pancakes. They also fried some pork and cabbage and rolled them into the pancakes. The fragrance filled their mouths when they took a bite.

After Lin Shuge heated up the pancake, he told Lin Qingyuan to remember to change the medicine and then set off to go on duty.

As the year draws to a close, the government has a lot of things to do. Since Lin Shuge is a newcomer, he was arranged to learn from other clerks yesterday and started his official work today. Ganzhou County has five townships, and he was assigned to organize and register the household registration population and taxation in Nanxiang.

In the performance appraisal before the New Year, population and taxation are the key points of the assessment.

"Lingshi Lin, the county magistrate said that you are very talented, so this little thing must be no problem for you." There was a hint of sarcasm in his tone.

Lin Shuge smiled and said respectfully, "Everyone can see how well Cui Lingshi does things. When it comes to his outstanding talents, who can surpass Cui Lingshi?"

"You, don't think I can't hear you mocking me. Just wait and see. If you can't finish it, don't blame me for not reminding you." Cui Yan's eyes were filled with warnings, and his face looked particularly ferocious.

Lin Shuge looked indifferent and didn't take him seriously at all.

This man is a relative of the county chief clerk. He relies on being the nephew of the county chief clerk and is very arrogant. He cannot accept that a commoner like Lin Shuge has suddenly become a county clerk, so he is determined to make things difficult for him.

In fact, this guy is strong on the outside but weak on the inside, bullies the weak and fears the strong. He thought that Lin Shuge was new here and had no background, so he would definitely let him bully him. But it turned out that he was a tough guy.

He was furious for a moment, but he couldn't do anything to Lin Shuge, so he could only say a few harsh words and leave in anger.

After taking him away, Zhou Du, who was standing next to him, slowly walked over and said, "Are you really not afraid that he will go to Cui Zhubu and trip you up?"

"If an enemy comes, we will stop him; if a flood comes, we will block it with earth."

Zhou Du looked in awe, "What about the work he assigned you? You know, he dared to ask you to do it so blatantly, it must be Cui Zhubu's intention."

"The mountain man has his own clever plan."

Zhou Du was surprised and said, "The registered population and tax revenue of a township, this county has 2,400 households and the southern township has 500 households. If you can't finish it, I can help you."

While Lin Shuge was sorting the bamboo slips, he said, "Thank you Erlang for your kindness, but I won't use it for the time being."

"Okay, if you need anything, you must tell me."

Lin Shuge nodded and sorted the books by li. The previous Lingshi was old and not serious and responsible in his work, so many books were not classified. Lin Shuge hurried to sort the books of ten li.

Then he found ten wooden tablets, each one foot square, and while he was writing, he drew tables on the side. He used tables to record data. In fact, the ancients also used tables, but they were only used by senior state officials. For a remote small town in that era, there were very few people who could use them.

Lin Shuge was so absorbed in his work that he did not realize it was already past noon. "Brother Huai Ting, it's noon, let's go have lunch."

"Okay, wait till I finish this."

Zhou Du glanced at his desk and asked, "What kind of method is this?" Shock was written on Zhou Du's face.

"Tabular induction method, isn't this very eye-catching?"

"Of course, hahaha, Cui Yan will definitely be pissed to death." Zhou Du couldn't help but laugh when he thought of Cui Yan's expression.

Lin Shuge thought that paper was convenient and easy to use. If there was a mistake when writing on bamboo slips, they could only scrape it off with a knife, which meant that they had to carry knives and brushes with them.

We have to put papermaking on the agenda as soon as possible.