Chapter 201 [VIP]

Prefect Xu asked, "Have you settled into your lodgings yet?"

"I just arrived yesterday and haven't had time to arrange accommodations yet. My family and I are currently staying at an inn in the city."

“That’s perfect. If you don’t mind, you can move to the government office. Lord Chen Jing used to live here, so it will save you the trouble of finding a place to live.”

Xu Mao is a native of Shanzhou, and his home is in the prefectural city. So he did not move here after taking office, and the back courtyard has always been empty. We might as well do him a favor.

"How could I dare?"

Prefect Xu smiled and waved his hand, "We don't have so many formalities here. We're all working for the imperial court. As long as we do our job well and don't cause any trouble, that's fine."

"Thank you, sir! Then I will stay here."

"For matters in the government office, you can handle them directly if you can make a decision. If there's an emergency, then send someone to find me." This old man clearly intended to be a hands-off manager.

Chen Qingyan was at a loss for a moment. He had thought that the Shanzhou government office would be just like the imperial court, full of intrigue and backstabbing. But to his surprise, the prefect not only arranged his accommodations but also handed over power to him.

Prefect Xu put away his documents and had his servants bring over the seal and dispatch token used by the sub-prefect. The previous sub-prefect had been transferred away last month, so the official duties were handled by the clerk surnamed Cao.

After exchanging a few pleasantries, Prefect Xu and Governor Feng got up to leave, but Chen Qingyan remembered the letter he had brought and quickly called out to Governor Feng.

"Lord Zhou Mu, please stay."

Feng Zhien paused, his face stern, and asked, "What do you want?"

Chen Qingyan quickly took out a letter from his pocket and handed it to him, "This, this is a letter from my...uncle, who asked me to give it to you when I get to Shanzhou."

Lord Feng took the letter with some doubt, thinking to himself which of his acquaintances had a nephew surnamed Chen. When he opened it, he was surprised to find that it was a letter written by Boss Qin.

The two had met in the military years ago and were considered good friends, but they hadn't corresponded for many years due to the distance between them.

After reading it, Feng Zhimu patted Chen Qingyan on the shoulder and said, "Good lad, so you have a connection with the Qin family. Since you are Qin Laoda's nephew, you are also my nephew. If you encounter any trouble in the future, just ask your uncle!"

"Yes, thank you, Uncle Feng." Chen Qingyan grimaced as he was patted on the back. He hadn't expected to find a distant uncle in Shanzhou, but being related was better than being a stranger.

"Hahahaha, come to my place for dinner tonight, I'll have someone prepare a feast to welcome you!"

"Thank you very much, Uncle. However, we are new to this place and our family and belongings have not yet been settled. Please allow your nephew to rest for a few days before we visit again."

Feng Zhien didn't insist. "Okay, come to my place whenever you're ready."

After the two officials left, Chen Qingyan breathed a sigh of relief. The two officials, Cao and Zhang, who were standing next to him, became even more respectful towards Chen Qingyan.

"Does Your Excellency need any manpower? I will send someone to fetch your family immediately."

"Find a few servants to tidy up the backyard first, and I'll go pick them up."

"yes."

*

Back at the inn, Chen Qingyan recounted the morning's events to Wang Ying. "I originally thought the officials in this government office would be difficult to get along with, and I was even prepared to be harassed. But I didn't expect them to be so understanding. They even delegated all the administrative matters to me."

Wang Ying laughed and said, "That's great! Now we can finally show our skills in Shanzhou."

"I'm afraid it's easier to deal with Yama than with his underlings. I wrote to my fourth uncle more than a month ago, and I reckon he'll reply soon. I'll see what he says in his letter."

Since the post station was not a place to stay for long, the group went to the government office in the afternoon and entered the backyard directly through the side gate.

Before we arrived, Lord Zhang had already sent his servants to clean up the backyard. The yard was spacious and had several trees planted in it. The weather was cold and all the leaves on the trees had fallen off, leaving only bare branches that were unrecognizable.

The main house has five rooms, with two side rooms on the side, three wing rooms on the east and west sides, and five rear rooms. There is no back room, but there are not many people in the family, so these rooms are enough for them to live in.

The room was fully furnished, and these things were originally from the government office. When my fourth uncle and his family came, they only brought some small items, and the rest were left by the previous prefect.

The furniture is made of good quality old oak and pine. Although it has some wear and tear, it is still usable. Wang Ying plans to continue using the furniture.

However, the windows need to be repaired. The weather is getting colder every day, and the house is drafty and uninhabitable.

Then the underfloor heating system in the house needs to be rebuilt. The previous one had been burning for many years, and a lot of charcoal had accumulated inside, so it wouldn't heat up properly.

With more people, the work gets done faster, and everything was tidied up in just one afternoon.

Wang Ying took out everything stored in the experimental field, and that night the family lay in their familiar bed and finally got a good night's sleep.

They will spend at least the next three years here.

The next morning, Chen Qingyan began to familiarize himself with official duties.

Let's start by understanding the counties. Shanzhou has eleven county towns, namely Sitong County, Zhaonan County, Zhaodongxian County, Zhaobei County, Lang'an County, Dafeng County, Gaopeng County, Yangqiang County, Lanqiang County, Changrong County, etc. From the place names, it can be seen that the latter few county towns are mostly inhabited by the Qiang and Rong ethnic groups.

Of these eleven counties, only Zhaosan County can collect enough tax revenue every year; the others basically cannot. If they encounter natural disasters such as drought, hail, or frost, they cannot collect even 10% of the tax revenue.

Poor mountains and bad waters breed unruly people. Because of the poor environment here, bandits are particularly rampant in the mountains. If it weren't for my fourth uncle's strict control over the area for three years, I don't know how many bandits would have robbed me on this journey.

Chen Qingyan specifically picked up the county magistrate's file of Sitong County and looked at it. The man's name was Ding Changsheng. He was a Juren (successful candidate in the imperial examination) in the seventh year of Wuping. He came to Sitong to fill a vacancy and had been the county magistrate here for seventeen years.

During his tenure in Sitong County, his administration appeared flawless. Had I not encountered his nephew committing a violent act in the street while passing through Sitong County, I would hardly have known he was such a person.

However, to severely punish this person, it's not enough for his nephew to commit the crime; at most, he can be made to restrain his son and nephew, which won't have much impact on him personally. Once I'm transferred, I'm afraid the Ding family will intensify their exploitation of the local people.

Although the other party almost detained them, they escaped with the help of the Qiang people. This incident was not enough to bring down the other party.

Chen Qingyan rubbed his fingers together, trying to figure out a way to catch this bookworm.

*

Meanwhile, Wang Ying began arranging her life in Shanzhou. Now, in addition to Chen Ju, Chen Zhandong, and the two brothers Huang Jia, there were also two servants sent by the government.

They were a married couple. The man was named Cui Da and the woman was named Gui Yi. Both of them were born servants. Cui Da used to work as a steward for a wealthy family, so he was very serious about his work. Gui Yi was also a master cook, and her dishes tasted better than those in restaurants.

Wang Ying then kept both of them on the job, and they received the same monthly wages as everyone else, plus an extra bonus at the end of the year.

Yuanbao needs to continue his schooling, and we originally thought of finding a tutor to teach our son at home, but after searching around, we couldn't find anyone.

In Shanzhou, even scholars who passed the county-level imperial examinations were rare, let alone those who passed the provincial-level imperial examinations. There were a few decent teachers, but they were all kept in the homes of noblemen and never came out to teach.

In the end, Wang Ying decided to send Yuanbao to a private school to study with the local children. Once he had memorized the Four Books and Five Classics, she would find someone else to teach him more advanced material.

Looking back now, my husband was incredibly lucky. If it weren't for Master Liang teaching him back then, even with his own hard work, he probably would have only managed to pass the imperial examination at best.

Secondly, there's the matter of business. The advantage of being appointed to a post outside the capital is that you don't have to worry about your secrets being exposed, because he is now the wife of a prefectural judge. As long as he doesn't say anything, no one in Shanzhou Prefecture will dare to ask where the dish came from.

Wang Ying asked Chen Zhandong to find two shops in the city. One would be an agricultural products shop selling seeds from the experimental fields and homemade fertilizer, and the other would be a vegetable shop. He would be in charge of all the business matters, and the accounts would be settled monthly.

In addition, Wang Ying also finished organizing the second volume and prepared to find a bookstore to print it.

After settling in, I quickly wrote a letter home and sent it back. If the journey is not delayed, the letter should arrive by the end of the year.

At the end of October, Shanzhou welcomed its first snowfall of the year.

As snowflakes drifted down from the sky, Chen Qingyan and Wang Ying walked out of the house at the same time and looked up at the sky.

They had never seen such large snowflakes in Jizhou Prefecture. It was as if someone in the sky was tearing cotton apart, throwing down one by one. They reached out and caught a snowflake, which melted into water in their palm in no time.

The ground was quickly covered with a white blanket of snowflakes, and the distant mountains also turned white.

Yuanbao ran home with Qianguan after school, exclaiming, "Father, Father, it's snowing heavily! The snow is so big!"

"Yes, hurry inside and finish your hot soup, be careful not to catch frostbite."

A yamen runner rushed over from the front yard, saying, "Young master, there is a letter from home for you."

Wang Ying stepped forward and took it, saying, "Thank you for your trouble."

Two letters were sent in total, one from my fourth uncle and the other from Chen Qinghuai in Beijing.

Wang Ying first opened Qing Huai's letter and read it. In the letter, Qing Huai kept expressing his longing. In summary, he said that after his elder brother left, he had no one to confide in. He was unhappy with his work in the new department. His boss spoke sarcastically and was always making things difficult for him. He didn't want to work there anymore. He really missed the days when he was in the Hanlin Academy.

The letter also mentioned many things that happened in the imperial court, but Wang Ying couldn't understand it and skipped over it.

Then he changed the subject, mentioning that his wife, Bai, was more than six months pregnant, and that his mother-in-law had come to the capital to take care of her, which put his mind at ease.

At the end of the letter, Qinghuai wrote: Shanzhou is bitterly cold. I hope that my elder brother and sister-in-law can take good care of their health and return to the capital to reunite as soon as possible.

After reading it, Wang Ying sighed, folded the letter, and placed it on the table, planning to read it again when Qingyan returned that evening.

It wasn't until almost dark that Chen Qingyan hurriedly returned from the front, his brows furrowed and his face ashen.

"What happened?"

Chen Qingyan stamped the snow off his feet and said, "Something happened in Sitong County. Do you remember those Qiang people who escorted us last time?"

Wang Ying nodded. "I remember. What happened to them?"

"The magistrate of Sitong County just sent someone to report that the Qiang people are rebelling and burning, killing, and looting in the county town. He earnestly requests the governor to send troops to suppress them!"

"How could that be? Those Qiang people don't seem like the kind of people who do evil. It must be Magistrate Ding's doing!"

Chen Qingyan said with a gloomy expression, "I already told the governor about this this afternoon, but this is a very important matter, and I may have to go there in person."

"Don't worry, I'll go pack your things right away!"

A note from the author: