They learned from the storyteller that a few days after they left, the imperial envoy sent by the court arrived. After an investigation, the county magistrate was stripped of his official hat and his home was confiscated. Originally, the county magistrate was to be beheaded, but because he had become mentally impaired, he was not punished. The male members of the family were exiled to the frontier, and the female members were demoted to prostitutes.

The magistrate's family's fate was not worthy of sympathy, but Song Tantan felt it was quite unfair that the women had to be forced into prostitution. Why should women have to suffer such humiliation? It was too tragic.

However, she only muttered a few complaints in her heart, then ate a pastry and a cup of tea and forgot about it. No matter how miserable they were, they were not as miserable as the oppressed people, and there was really no need to sympathize with them.

They also learned that not only Qingshan County, but also Changye City had been rectified. The original prefect was dismissed, and the current prefect had only been in office for less than a month. It seemed that the imperial court was carrying out a major overhaul of local officials this time.

However, the damage to the Great Jin Dynasty was too severe. Not only were resources scarce, but talent was also scarce. So unless the crimes were truly unforgivable, the capital would turn a blind eye and not dismiss all local officials at once. Local areas still needed corresponding officials to govern and maintain order.

There is no news yet about the resumption of scientific expeditions, but it is estimated that they will resume by next year at the latest, and perhaps even open special expeditions.

These were not things that Ye Moxun and Song Tantan had to worry about. After leaving the teahouse, they strolled around the streets. Song Tantan saw a stall selling embroidered shoes.

This is quite strange, because cloth clothes and shoes are usually sold in shops, unlike nowadays where so many people set up stalls outside to sell clothes and shoes.

For some reason, Song Tantan had the illusion of being back in a modern pedestrian street. She hesitated in front of the shoe stall for a long time. To be honest, she didn't really like wearing embroidered shoes, even though they looked pretty and handmade items were generally more valuable.

But when she was little, she remembered watching certain movies with her grandmother and aunt, such as "A Piece of Scissors" and "A Billion Embroidered Shoes". Those movies were a nightmare for her childhood. She was afraid to sleep alone at night, and even when she slept with her aunt, she would still tremble with fear.

After coming into this world, she wore simple cloth shoes with dark colors, and never dared to embroider flowers on them.

Ye Moxun, who grew up with her, obviously knew this as well. He found it strange to see her lingering in front of the shoe stall. She looked at the shoes from left to right, and examined all the dozen or so pairs of shoes on the stall, but she didn't seem to want to buy any.

"Young master, who are you buying this for? Tell me, and I'll give you some advice." The vendor was a middle-aged man with a square face, dark skin, and a burly build. Surprisingly, he was a seller of embroidered shoes.

It's so jarring.

But we can't blame someone for not being qualified to sell embroidered shoes just because they don't have delicate features, can we?

Song Tantan is now dressed as a man, holding the embroidered shoes with obvious affection like a woman, which looks quite incongruous. She also said, "I want to buy them to admire. I think these embroidered shoes are very beautiful, and I'm thinking about whether I should buy a pair to take home."

The burly vendor didn't show any strange expression. Instead, he winked and made faces at Song Tantan, conveying some kind of message. Song Tantan stared at the vendor's bull-like eyes for a moment, seemingly reading something special from them.

"Brother, I understand you. Don't feel ashamed."

Song Tantan: "..."

"What does he mean?" she asked Ye Moxun in a low voice.

The latter also lowered his voice, "This guy has something wrong with his head. If you really want to pay up, hurry up and buy it, don't dawdle."

After hesitating for a moment, looking at more than a dozen pairs of shoes in different colors, Song Tantan picked out a pair of light blue embroidered shoes. She didn't dare to buy any of the bright red, dark red, pink, or light pink ones, because red embroidered shoes played a key role when the scary scenes on TV appeared.

"How much?" Song Tantan asked.

"Two taels of silver," the peddler said.

"Why don't you just rob someone? It's easier. No shop sells it for this much. You're ripping people off." Bargaining is a must; it's the law of saving money.

“Young master, you are being biased. Although I am just a street vendor, the things I sell are no worse than those in a shop. Embroidery is all about skill and materials. Look at how sturdy the soles are, how fine the workmanship is, and the fabric and thread used for the uppers are all the best... In short, it would be worth any less. It’s worth the price.”

The big man looked rather rugged, but he seemed to have a rather professional understanding of embroidered shoes, which was quite impressive.

After listening to the other party's flowery self-praise, Song Tantan flicked her bangs and calmly said, "One and a half ounces. Sell it if you're willing, otherwise forget it."

The vendor took a deep breath, gritted his teeth, and said, "Add ten more coins, that'll make it sixty coins for one tael. Take it or leave it."

Because it was so rare, Song Tantan didn't bother to argue about the ten coins anymore. She paid the money and left with the embroidered shoes.

Afterwards, the two found an inn to stay at. By the time they finished their trip, it was almost dark, so they decided not to go out today and would wander around and ask for directions tomorrow.

The two were sitting in Ye Moxun's room when he chuckled and asked, "Want to wear those embroidered shoes?"

Song Tantan shook her head. "I won't wear them. I just bought them to admire because they are so exquisite. They'll be considered antiques in later generations."

"That would only be worth a pair of slightly more expensive shoes if you could travel back to the future," Ye Moxun said truthfully.

"Well, we've already bought them, so let's just leave them. If Auntie likes them later, we'll give them to her." Song Zhuiyan was clearly bolder than her and didn't have any trauma related to embroidered shoes; in fact, she quite liked wearing them.

In the middle of the night, Song Tantan sat up in bed, still half asleep. She thought she had heard someone talking to her, but she remembered that she was sleeping and there was no one else in the room. What a strange thing it was in the middle of the night.

"Girl, I'm here. I'm right here."

Um?

I heard it again. It sounded like a middle-aged woman's voice. When did someone enter her room?

Where is Ye Moxun? Why isn't A-Xun here?

"Who, who's there?" The room was too dark. Song Tantan tried to open her eyes to see, but found that she couldn't open them no matter what she did. But the voice kept coming and kept talking to her.

"Little girl, I'm here. Look at me, I'm right in front of you." The voice was mournful and desolate, faint and ethereal, like a ghost from a ghost story.

"Get out of my way! I don't care if you're human or ghost. If you dare to scare me, you're no good. I'm not someone to be trifled with. If you dare to play tricks again, I'll take you down."

How to take her in? Naturally, we'll put her in the supermarket and make her look like a fool.

But the voice seemed not to hear her threat and kept telling her to open her eyes and look at her. Song Tantan even felt that the other person had walked up to her. In the darkness, it seemed that a dark shadow was leaning down in front of the bed, not knowing what it wanted to do to her.

Song Tantan instinctively wanted to kick it, but found that her feet were as heavy as iron blocks, and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't lift them. Her feet were frozen in place.