A clear mirror hangs high, before the official documents in the courtroom.
Long, slender fingers traced the documents, the supple pen leaving ink marks, the young adult tirelessly sketching out one name after another.
Like Jiang Sheng in the past, they were maliciously abandoned and innocently left behind, forced to wander.
They have no legal status, cannot work, and live by begging.
Pitiful and weak like Jiang Sheng, and domineering and unreasonable like Pang Dashan, they are just children who have lost their choices.
When the government lends a helping hand, most people are moved to tears, and with this assistance, they are able to escape their status as homeless children.
When Xu Mo served as the clerk of Xieyang County, he once implemented this strategy.
Now back in Anshui County, as its governor, he is carrying increasingly sophisticated strategies and is actively implementing them throughout the county.
"Sir, it's already past midnight, you should get some rest." The clerk yawned, his eyes still blurry with tears. "Tomorrow, the people will be bringing up trivial matters to complain to the government office. There's a lot going on."
Xu Mo smiled helplessly and put down his pen.
It wasn't until he actually sat in that position that he truly understood how difficult it was to be a local official and how challenging it was to be a just and upright magistrate.
His excessive cruelty and severity caused immense suffering to the people, who had no recourse for their grievances.
He is too approachable, which pleases the people, but they also come to him with all sorts of minor cases.
Aunt Zhang's chickens were eaten by Uncle Niu's dog, and they were about to have a fight at the government office.
Uncle Liu's daughter-in-law was having an affair with his father's nephew's son, and they also came to the government office to fight.
What should have been a solemn and imposing government office has been turned into a bustling village market.
Speaking of which, Magistrate Xu was the same back then. He was loved by the people, worked hard for them, and devoted himself to their cause.
However, since his father only governed one county, Xu Mo had to manage the entire prefecture, making it impossible for him to do everything personally.
"Master, please stop watching the play." He waved his hand. "The matter of registering the homeless beggars is more important. You should try to avoid going to the government office for trivial family matters."
“That won’t do.” The clerk was a recent graduate who had passed the imperial examinations, and was only in his early twenties. “Everyone specifically requested that Prefect Xu handle the matter.”
Sometimes, the love and respect of the people can be quite heavy.
The guidance left by my father has come to an end; I can only explore the rest of my life on my own.
Xu Mo tried to get the yamen runners to handle it, but the burly brutes were completely unreasonable and at most just raised their long knives to intimidate people.
He then employed scholars as persuaders, whose silver tongues proved very effective, leaving them helpless against the unreasonable woman.
Looking across the entire county, it's impossible to find anyone with both courage and wisdom, who is also reasonable and well-founded.
Not to mention, it was used by the government office.
The prefectural city was ultimately not Fengjing; it could not attract talents from all over the country, nor did it have the imperial examination as a selection method.
Even the fifth brother's talent for governing the country has no room to be used here.
"Never mind." Xu Mo smiled wryly. "Continue the search in the county town. I will handle this personally for now."
The matter of dealing with homeless children requires working late into the night, which is not only exhausting but also physically demanding.
After they finished getting ready, they blew out the candles, picked up their lanterns, and pushed open the door.
Inside the government office, bathed in soft moonlight, stood a graceful young woman, holding two bowls of porridge and tea in her hands.
After finally seeing them, her eyes shone brightly and her voice was clear as a bell, "Big brother, Master, you've finally finished your work. Quickly have some porridge or tea to relieve your fatigue and get some rest."
"Miss Jiang," the clerk said, both surprised and delighted, "how long have you been waiting outside? Why didn't you go in and sit down? It's late and the dew is heavy; you should take care of yourself. You even specially brought me porridge and tea. You're so thoughtful."
He bowed and solemnly accepted the gift, his words filled with gratitude.
Xu Mo, squeezed at the back, was speechless.
"You've all worked so hard for the homeless. I'm just bringing some porridge and tea, it's nothing." Jiang Sheng smiled, gradually revealing her mature demeanor.
The advisor's eyes burned even brighter, and the porridge and tea in his palms became scalding hot.
Xu Mo could no longer hold back and pressed his fist to his lips, letting out a light cough as a reminder: cough cough, cough cough cough.
He stepped forward and stood between the two, his tone leaving no room for argument, "The advisor is leaving, sister, come home with me."
With the lantern leading the way, the two siblings entered the prefectural governor's mansion.
"Big brother, you've been so busy these days. Second brother isn't home either, third brother is guarding the frontier, and fourth brother is always making house calls. I'm the only one left at home." Jiang Sheng dropped her pretense and chattered like a little bird.
"When I had nothing to do, I started two more workshops. But this time, one of the long-term workers I hired was a strange aunt. She was always slacking off, making excuses that her life was hard. She would hide in a corner and cry every day, but she just wouldn't do any work."
“The other aunts and uncles all felt sorry for her and were very tolerant of her. My aunt Cui’er and I secretly discussed it and felt that she was taking advantage of our kindness and the weak, so we decided to fire her. But do you know what, brother? She actually cursed me at the workshop gate, saying that I was bullying the common people.”
Overcome with anger, Jiang Sheng put her hands on her hips and said, "Who bullied her? If I really bullied her, would she still be jumping around at the workshop entrance? I have so many brothers, any one of them could scare her to death."
Xu Mo nodded with a smile, "How was it resolved later?"
"Oh my, how did you know it was resolved?" Jiang Sheng was surprised. "It was Aunt Cui'er who helped. She had suffered enough from her mother-in-law in the past few years and hated it when others acted unreasonably. She rolled up her sleeves and gave her a good scolding at the workshop entrance, and then sorted everything out. That aunt ran away with her tail between her legs."
Indeed, evil people need evil spirits to teach them a lesson.
Just like the trivial matters between neighbors, a burly, strong man can't explain them clearly, and a delicate, gentle scholar can't handle them either. But what if it were a fierce, argumentative woman?
There are many clever women in this world. They can run a shop and make money, and they can also argue and curse in the street. They can handle all kinds of trivial matters with ease.
If women were allowed to participate in the imperial examinations, and if women were allowed to enter officialdom, I wonder what kind of scene it would be.
"It's a pity. Auntie is just an auntie. Sometimes I think if she were a man, she would probably be much more outstanding than Uncle Zhang," Jiang Sheng said with her final sigh.
Xu Mo's eye suddenly stung. He couldn't change the customs of the Dayu Dynasty, nor could he allow women to stand tall in the court. He hadn't even done as much as his sister.
Perhaps this is the difference in thinking between men and women; in different situations, they can never truly understand each other.
But now, he wants to make a bold decision—he wants to give some women real power.
It may be small, it may be hard to notice, but it is the first big step he can take on the difficult road ahead.
“Jiang Sheng,” Xu Mo smiled, “There’s something I need Aunt Cui’er and the aunties and uncles in the workshop to help me with.”
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
