Chapter 104 Chapter 104 Can you be more normal? ...
Inside the carriage, Zhang Jingxian hadn't spoken a word since she got in. In order to calm the depression in her heart, she simply closed her eyes again.
When the eyes are closed, the body's senses become particularly clear.
Her fingers were being kneaded one by one, and with each pinch, Zhang Jingxian's eyelashes trembled. As if in retaliation for her turning away, a burning breath gradually approached.
The moment her fingertips were gently bitten, a blush appeared on Zhang Jingxian's face. She half opened her eyes and looked over. Xie Yun's thin lips were holding her finger, but his black eyes were slightly raised, staring straight at her face.
His first-rate handsome appearance was fully demonstrated at this moment, as he was deliberately seducing the simple and honest peasant girl in front of him.
The carriage happened to pass through the market town in Changling City. There was a lot of noise, but the air inside the carriage seemed to be frozen, quiet and no longer flowing.
Xie Yun bit her fingers slowly and methodically, from the fingertips to the thin calluses on the fingertips and then to the whitened joints, his deep gaze did not change at all.
The sounds outside the carriage seemed to be blocked out, blurry and unclear, but Zhang Jingxian could hear the alluring, ambiguous and intimate sucking sounds clearly.
Tucking sound.
"Xie Yun, can't you be more normal?" Finally, she bit her lip impatiently and called his name with anger and shame.
She deliberately lowered her voice, fearing that people outside would hear her.
Xie Yun shook her head as a matter of course, a faint smile spreading across her face that was captivating. She casually took out a bow and arrow and handed it to her, "You can't use it against Ah Xian."
Zhang Jingxian was distracted when she saw the smile on his face, but she quickly regained consciousness. After a moment of silence, she said that they should find a doctor for him in Changling City. "I think you are ill."
His illness was not mild. Not only did he have inexplicable nightmares at night, but he also looked so scary every time he woke up. If she had not been very courageous, she would never have been able to bear sleeping with him.
In addition to at night, some of his actions during the day are also puzzling, like now, he is grabbing her fingers and kissing and biting them... Returning her bow and arrow to her cannot explain his abnormal behavior.
"Well, I started taking medicine after returning from Yanping County." It was rare that Xie Yun did not refute her words this time. He admitted that he was indeed sick and was willing to take medicine for treatment.
But Zhang Jingxian still felt weird, because his eyes were always staring at her darkly, especially when he answered and asked her to take the medicine.
It was as if the medicine he was talking about was... her, a living person.
Zhang Jingxian couldn't help but shudder, forcing a cold expression and asking him to let go of her hand immediately. "You are the envoy of Changling. You must behave properly and seriously when you are outside. You must not do anything that will cause chaos."
Even if he can't control himself, don't pull her.
Zhang Jingxian considers herself a serious and normal person, and her scalp tingles when she thinks of the weird looks others will give her when they discover the dense marks on her hands.
Hearing this, Xie Yun suddenly burst into laughter, and his extremely happy look was completely different from his usual self.
The accompanying official heard the loud laughter coming from the carriage and could not believe it for a moment. He confirmed it several times with doubt.
Until the window of the carriage was suddenly pushed open by someone, he took a quick look and his expression was frozen. It turned out to be the envoy with a cold nature.
With a "click", Zhang Jingxian pushed the car window open with force, and the smile on Xie Yun's face disappeared instantly.
He glanced out the window coldly. They were about to leave the city and speed up. It would only take half a day to reach Yanping County.
"Go slowly along the way."
Xie Yun instructed the charioteer to arrive at Yanping County the next day or a day later. The later it was, the more this peasant girl would understand the joy of power.
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Yanping County is a well-behaved place in all aspects, but because it is close to Changling County, it gives the first impression of being more prosperous than Wuyang County.
When they arrived at the gate of Yanping County, Zhang Jingxian didn't feel tired at all. It took them two days to get there, stopping and resting along the way.
She was originally anxious and urged to hurry on, but the official told her that the Yanping County Magistrate needed time.
Zhang Jingxian didn't understand what these words meant at first, but when she entered the city and saw a little old man in coarse linen clothes kneeling down to her with excitement and knelt for a long time, she suddenly understood.
This little old man who looks even shabbier than the common people is the magistrate of Yanping County, Shen.
He needed time to find out who was coming from Changling, and he also needed time to fool himself.
It was probably because of her background that County Magistrate Shen pretended to be frugal, but Zhang Jingxian felt that he was pretending too much, which made her suspicious.
Seeing him kneeling trembling on the ground, Zhang Jingxian's face remained calm. She walked forward and calmly asked him to stand up.
Magistrate Shen responded, stood up, swayed unsteadily, and his old body fell back.
At this time, Envoy Xie was not there. He said he would not interfere. After entering the city, he took a carriage and two of his followers to the guesthouse in the city.
Without him, Zhang Jingxian felt more relaxed. She looked at County Magistrate Shen's rosy cheeks and the back of his hands with few wrinkles, and walked past him indifferently.
Behind County Magistrate Shen is an official residence. It is not luxuriously decorated, but it has everything that is necessary.
When the officials of Yanping County saw that she ignored their own county magistrate, they were all shocked as if they had seen a ghost, as if they had never considered such a situation at all.
When she sent someone to send County Magistrate Shen back to his house to recuperate on the grounds that he was old, weak and confused, all the officials were stunned.
"Madam, is what you said inappropriate?" someone asked.
Zhang Jingxian stroked her short bow with ice silk strings. When she heard this, her reaction was even stranger than theirs. "Coarse linen is what ordinary people wear. Lord Shen should know this. I'm here to investigate the autumn taxes under the orders of the envoy. As the magistrate of Yanping County, he should be in his official uniform. If he's not wearing his uniform, he's muddle-headed. If he can't even stand steadily, what else could it be but old age and frailty?"
She said this with a look of pity in her eyes, "If you hadn't been to Yanping County, you wouldn't have known that Lord Shen had reached this point. Don't worry, Lord Shen can no longer serve as the magistrate of Yanping County. There are others who can take his place."
Upon hearing her words, County Magistrate Shen's face turned pale and almost unbearable to look at. The officials below laughed awkwardly a few times. Their plan had failed. This wife of the envoy, who came from a humble background, was not someone who could be easily fooled.
Of course, they had thought of this response long ago. The county magistrate wore coarse linen clothes because everyone in the county was very poor. The magistrate's wife was also from a commoner family, so she could understand why the autumn tax was not high.
Furthermore, a respectful, enthusiastic, elderly, and frail old man would instinctively arouse sympathy. If something really happened, the lady would be embarrassed to blame him, right?
However, who would have thought that she would ask for someone else to be the magistrate of Yanping County.
It was said that she was lucky enough to marry the envoy because she saved his life. Now it seemed that this woman was quite scheming and embarrassed them on their first meeting.
"Slow down, slow down! Madam, I have prepared all the tax accounts of these years for you to check." Seeing that the situation was not good, County Magistrate Shen did not dare to pretend anymore and stood up nimbly.
He first apologized to Zhang Jingxian, and then asked his subordinates to submit the tax bill without any hesitation.
This extremely refreshing action made the official who came from Changling City frown. It was not like this in previous years. The county magistrate and others had to drag people to drink and complain before they were willing to cooperate.
As for Zhang Jingxian, it was impossible for her to drink with these people and complain. She was much more miserable than these people, and went straight to the point, making County Magistrate Shen and others' eyelids twitch.
The tax bill was handed over straightforwardly, and other calculations were temporarily shelved.
They seemed to understand the difference between the wife of the envoy and ordinary officials. A word she blurted out could really make Yanping County change the county magistrate.
This is the effect of power. Giving them time to plan will not help.
Zhang Jingxian had a sudden realization. After eating two pieces of bean cake, she immediately ordered people to go with her to the villages under Yanping County and investigate every household.
"This...isn't it a little late?" County Magistrate Shen smiled apologetically, trying to stop her from going in person.
"It's not too late. There are no mountains blocking the way here. It only takes an hour or two to ride back and forth." Zhang Jingxian thought of Xishan Village, which was the more troublesome place.
After she finished speaking, she rode on her pony and went to a village near Yanping County with more than ten people.
The head of the village and the elders had received the news long ago and had thought of a countermeasure. However, they were dumbfounded when the envoy's wife, who they considered noble, ignored the dirt and looked at the fields of each family.
"No, he has two sons and one daughter, two adults, so why is there less land?"
"And this family, one of their sons was taken away and exempted from the Ding tax, so why did they still collect a share?"
"If I remember correctly, there are nine women who have reached adulthood. Where are the fields they are supposed to have?"
"The fields of the village head and the village elders are vast, stretching as far as the eye can see. You say these fields are not yours, so why do the millet and wheat grown on them go into your homes?"
Zhang Jingxian's questions left them speechless and sweating profusely.
The more speechless they were, the angrier Zhang Jingxian became. They were all weak, yet they had to bully those who were even weaker.
In anger, she asked Yi Yu and others to take the village head and the village elders away, and did not punish them, but locked them up in the jail.
At night, Zhang Jingxian sat in the bathtub, using hot water to wash away the sweat and dirt on her body, and one hand lifted her wet long hair from behind.
She knew who was coming without turning around, and she lowered her body silently.
"Why didn't Ah Xian punish them? There is no room for mercy for those who deceive their superiors and subordinates." Xie Yun leisurely held a hairpin in her hair and gestured, then asked her.
When she went to the village outside the city, he did have some free time. He took a short rest in the guesthouse and also went for a stroll in other places in the county town.
He was very picky and after going around the market he only bought a hairpin carved with jade leaves.
Zhang Jingxian pondered for a few breaths and shook her head. She couldn't explain the reason clearly. The accompanying official told her that the actions of the village elder had constituted a serious crime, and it would not be excessive to confiscate the entire family and make them slaves.
But her heart trembled before she made the decision, as if as long as she took this step, she would no longer be the same person.
She will change, but no one knows how.
"Ah Xian, don't be afraid, I'm here." Strangely, she didn't say a word, but the man behind her instantly understood the fear in her heart, smiled and kissed her earlobe.
Zhang Jingxian shuddered, turned her head and looked up at him warily, "I don't understand what you are saying. I'm not afraid, I just don't know enough about the law."
Once she has a thorough understanding of the law, she will know what to do.
"I've told you before, the so-called laws and rules are nothing but tricks to fool people, you no longer need to abide by them." Xie Yun stood up straight, with drops of water hanging on his thick black eyelashes from her clapping. He lowered his eyes and the water drops fell.
Zhang Jingxian's heart tightened. When he lowered his eyes, she stood up from the water and asked, "Why?"
"Why don't you believe it?"
The question that had been lingering in her mind was inexplicably asked by Zhang Jingxian at this moment.
She had wanted to ask this question in Jiankang City: why did he, who was personally taught by Prime Minister Xie, not become a gentleman? Why did he insist on having an ordinary peasant girl like her? Why did he become such a cold and cruel person?
And her past life... Many, many questions were hidden deep inside her body, but in this strange room, after she felt that he was sick, some of them were revealed.
There was a warm charcoal fire burning in the room. When Xie Yun heard her question, his expression turned as cold as ice.
After a long while, he said calmly, "Because I had never met Ah Xian before."
Once upon a time, he was also a weak person.
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The author has something to say: Muah, here I come.
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