The next morning, Zhang Hulan and Zhao Guoliang went to the county town.
Arriving at the county government office, Zhao Guoliang approached the guard at the gate and asked, "Excuse me, sir, is Chief Clerk Xiong in the county government office now?"
The yamen runner asked, "What do you want to see Chief Xiong for?"
Zhao Guoliang pointed at Zhang Hulan and said, "A villager in our village divorced her husband's family and wanted to set up a female household in the village."
The bailiff nodded and said, "Wait a minute, I'll go and report."
"Okay, thank you for your help."
The bailiff came out quickly and said, "You guys go in. Chief Clerk Xiong happens to be free now."
Zhao Guoliang cupped his hands and said, "Thank you, sir."
Zhao Guoliang took Zhang Hulan into the county government office. When passing by a yamen runner, Zhang Hulan grabbed a handful of copper coins and stuffed them into the runner's hand, "I'm here to treat you guys to a drink. Don't think it's too little."
The bailiff was stunned for a moment, then took it with a smile.
After entering the county government office and finding the office of the chief clerk, Zhao Guoliang knocked on the door. The clerks in the office all looked up at the door. Chief clerk Xiong also looked up at the door. He said, "You are the ones who want to establish a female household?"
Zhao Guoliang walked into the office with a smile and said, "Yes, Chief Xiong."
"Which village are you from?"
Zhao Guoliang replied: "From Daping Village."
Xiong Zhubu asked the clerk to find the household registration book of Daping Village, and then asked: "Name, why do we need to set up a female household?"
Zhang Hulan said: "My surname is Zhang, and my name is Hulan. I married to Legong Village a few years ago, and now I have divorced my ex-husband and returned to my parents' home. But my parents have an older brother and a younger brother, and they separated a few days ago. I am now staying at my eldest brother's house, which is inconvenient, so I want to set up a female household and build my own house."
When Xiong Zhubu heard Zhang Hulan's name, he looked at her for a second and asked, "Did you bring the divorce papers?"
"I brought it." Zhang Hulan immediately took out the divorce and severance letters and said, "Master, I have both. I have three daughters and they have already severed their ties with my ex-husband's family, so I want to change their surnames. I wonder if it's possible?"
Chief Secretary Xiong took Zhang Hulan's divorce letter and severance letter and looked at them, then nodded and said, "As long as there is a severance letter, it can be changed."
Xiong Zhubu asked the clerk to find the household registration book of Legong Village. He found Zhang Hulan's name in the book and pointed to the name and said, "Check to see if it is your name."
Zhang Hulan looked at it and saw her name next to the Chen family members. She nodded and said, "Yes, that's it."
Zhang Hulan also pointed at the names of Chen Daya, Chen Erya, and Chen Sanya and said, "These three are the daughters of the common people."
Chief Clerk Xiong flipped through the household registration book of Daping Village and asked, "What's your father's name?"
Zhang Hulan replied: "My name is Zhang Dahe."
Xiong Zhubu found Zhang Dahe's name and also saw Zhang Hulan's original record. He said, "Please check if this is the name and whether the names of your parents and brothers are correct."
Zhang Hulan nodded again, "That's right."
Chief Clerk Xiong nodded, took a pen and crossed out the names of Zhang Hulan, Daya, Erya and Sanya from the household registration book of Legong Village, and made a record: on a certain day of a certain year, and for what reason the household registration was moved.
Then Zhang Hulan's name was written back on the household registration book of Daping Village.
"Your three daughters changed their surnames to Zhang?"
Zhang Hulan said, "Master, I have named my three daughters. The eldest daughter is Zhang Xinyao, the second daughter is Zhang Xinyi, and the third daughter is Zhang Xinyue."
"Zhang Xinyao, Zhang Xinyi, Zhang Xinyue, you are good at naming."
Xiong Zhubu said something and wrote down the three names. Then he wrote a household registration card for Zhang Hulan, stamped it with the official seal, and asked Zhang Hulan to pay ten coins. Then Zhang Hulan's female household registration was established.
Zhang Hulan didn't expect things to go so smoothly.
"Thank you, thank you! Sorry to bother you, Master Xiong." Zhang Hulan thanked him repeatedly.
Xiong Zhubu smiled and said, "You're welcome. I know you. You found a lot of food for the villagers in each village. You saved a lot of people."
"Ah? Chief Xiong knows about this girl?"
Xiong Zhubu said: "The wages and rewards given to you by the county magistrate must all pass through my hands."
"I'm sorry to have embarrassed you, Chief Xiong."
"Hey, how can this be embarrassing? You are doing a good deed. Because you have helped the villagers find food to eat these days, the villagers in the villages are no longer fleeing the famine, and you have helped the county retain a lot of people. This is a great contribution."
Xiong Zhubu then said, "When you return, ask Zhao Lizheng to divide your land into five acres of good farmland and five acres of mountain land."
As they were talking, a yamen runner came to report: "Boss Xiong, the relief grain from the imperial court has arrived. The county magistrate asked you to check and hand it over as soon as possible."
"The relief food has arrived?" Xiong Zhubu showed a look of joy on his face. "Let's go, let's go and take a look."
Zhubu Xiong took his men to the outside of the county government office immediately, and Zhang Hulan and Zhao Guoliang followed them out.
Outside the county government office, there was a long line of mule carts, each loaded with grain.
There was also joy in Zhao Guoliang's eyes.
Wu Deyong was stunned when he saw Zhang Hulan and Zhao Guoliang, and asked, "Why are you here?"
Zhang Hulan bowed and said, "Your Excellency the County Magistrate, I am here to register as a female resident in the county government office."
Xiong Zhubu briefly explained the matter, and Wu Deyong nodded and said, "I heard the yamen runners talk about you. Since you have established a female household, you should live a good life with your child in the future. If you have any difficulties, you can come to the county government to see me."
"Thank you for your concern!"
Wu Deyong waved his hand and said, "Okay, I'm busy now, so I won't say any more to you."
"Then I won't delay your work, sir. I will take my leave now."
Zhang Hulan and Zhao Guoliang left the county government office. Zhao Guoliang said happily, "We found a lot of food in the mountains. Now the relief food has arrived. Now everyone can rest assured."
"Hu Lan, do you have anything else to do? If not, I'll go to the grain store to buy some food."
Zhang Hulan said, "That's great. I also plan to buy some things to take back."
When I arrived at the grain store, the price of rice was still the same as last time, 60 wen a dou of rice and 35 wen a dou of brown rice. The price of grain had not increased.
Zhao Guoliang bought ten dou of brown rice. Although the relief grain had arrived, Magistrate Wu had said last time that each person would not receive much grain, so he still had to buy some grain to store for peace of mind.
Zhang Hulan did not buy brown rice, as there was still a lot of brown rice at home, so she bought some more rice and then bought 300 kilograms of wheat.
Zhao Guoliang asked in surprise: "You bought so much wheat?"
Zhang Hulan said, "I am going to build a house, so I will definitely need help and food."
Zhao Guoliang nodded. If you hire someone to help build a house, you don't have to pay them, but you still have to provide them with two meals.
After buying food, Zhang Hulan bought some cotton cloth, three catties of meat and some bones. The meat was cut into two strips, one weighing two catties and the other one weighing one catty.
After buying things, I returned to Daping Village.
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