9 sweet cherries
◎Xie Linchuan personally obtained the certificate for Jiang Qinglan◎
After Xie Linchuan left the Lin'an Prefecture Office, he did not go to the Xishan Cuju Field, but went to Biyun Ridge in the north.
He rode very fast and left early, so although he returned to the palace a little later than his next shift, he could still get away with it.
He thought to himself: Going on duty has its advantages. No one is watching me. Today, I kicked the osmanthus tree in the government office, and the strength of my calves and toes was trained. When I get off duty and do other things, no one will know.
After dinner, he went to pay his respects to his grandmother. Old Madam Xie was holding a wooden box, her face beaming with joy. Seeing him coming, she pointed to it as if presenting a treasure and said, "Come quickly, Sanlang, look at how lovely these cherries are."
Cherries at this time of year are difficult to store. Besides being eaten fresh when in season, they're often made into candied fruit. They taste quite good, but they don't look particularly appealing. The fruit has lost its moisture and been preserved in sugar for so long that it's become a dark, stale fruit.
These cherries are different. The small, delicate fruits are neatly arranged in the box, all a vibrant red.
In particular, the cherries were covered with a layer of glittering jewels that sparkled in the sunlight. Their delicate appearance and solemn packaging made them look more like gems than food.
Moreover, there is a small bamboo stick under each cherry, which is polished smooth and has no burrs, which should be used to make it easier for people to eat.
Madam Xie picked one up and gave it to him: "Not only does it look good, it tastes good too."
Xie Linchuan didn't like sweets, but he tried one after hearing what he said.
It turns out that the shiny layer on the surface of the cherry is actually solidified sugar juice.
No matter how red the cherries are, they still have a tart taste, are soft and juicy. The solidified sugar juice not only adds sweetness, but also enriches the taste - when you chew them, they are slightly sticky, but also have a crisp sound like chewing thin ice.
Xie Linchuan said: "It is really a clever idea."
Madam Xie ate another one:
"Yes, Xia Yin bought it at Zhongwa."
"She had heard a while ago that a few days ago, there was a girl selling these fruit skewers at Jianlong Temple, but she had been looking for them for days and couldn't find any. But she never expected to find one today in Zhongwa, and it was cherry—if it was green plum, my teeth wouldn't be able to handle it."
Xie Linchuan said in a loud voice: "Recruit her in, whether it's cherries or lychees, let her make whatever grandma wants to eat."
Mrs. Xie replied, "I'd like to, but Xia Yin said the girl sells them with a winnowing basket and doesn't have a fixed stall. I'm afraid it won't be easy to find her anytime soon."
Speaking of the stall, she remembered her grandson's new job and asked, "By the way, how about you go to the Finance Department today?" She was not worried that her grandson would be bullied, but that he would bully others.
Xie Linchuan took off the bamboo stick, tossed a candied cherry high in the air, swallowed it in one gulp, and wiped his fingers with a handkerchief. "Not bad. There are a lot of merchants coming here to do business, so it's quite noisy."
He thought about it and felt that he needed to add some more details to make it seem more realistic. "There is also a woman who brought a little girl to get... a dental certificate."
"Oh?" Old Madam Xie became interested. "Did you do it with her?"
Xie Linchuan said shamelessly: "Yes!"
Madam Xie put down the cherries and said, "Then let me ask you, how much silver would it cost to open a shop selling drinks in Zhongwa?"
Xie Linchuan picked up another bunch of cherries and played with them. Money? Getting a dental certificate required money? He had lived for over a decade and never cared about such things.
Throwing the cherry into his mouth, he randomly said a sum that he thought was very small: "Fifty taels."
Madam Xie laughed heartily, holding her stomach and inhaling.
"Alright, alright, just say it in front of me." He then gave his grandson some advice, "If your father asks about this, just say one out of a hundred of the numbers you have in mind."
"One out of a hundred?" Xie Linchuan counted on his fingers. "That's only five... five cents of silver?"
“Almost.”
Old Madam Xie started from scratch when she was young, and she knows the lives of the lower classes better than the Prince of Dongping and his son.
"Your father may not know the exact number, so just fool him."
Sure enough, after sitting for a while, Xia Yin came to report: "Grandpa, the prince wants to see the prince."
Xie Linchuan clapped his hands, stood up, and winked at his grandmother slyly.
——
Jiang Qinglan made full preparations for going to the Lin'an Prefecture Office today.
First of all, the doctor’s post is opened.
Secondly, Baoshu, after selling cherries at Zhongwa last night, she went to Wulin North Road to find Wang Huiniang and brought her some beautiful cherries as a gift. Wang Huiniang was generous and didn't even look at the note.
At this time, she left Tuantuan at Qinglian Temple and came to the government office alone, hoping to move faster on her own. Quick victory, quick decision, early license, early opening, early profit!
When we arrived at the Finance Department of the government office, the yard was still as quiet as yesterday. The few osmanthus trees were bare, with even fewer leaves on them.
When we got to the room, we saw a few more staff members, all sitting behind their desks, busy working in an orderly manner.
There was only one person, sleeping on his stomach, with his two long legs still hanging down.
Yang Langjun was in the corner over there, and Jiang Qinglan hurried over there. She was here to do business, not to see a handsome guy, so of course she had to find Yang Langjun to do business.
"Stop!" But someone didn't do what she wanted.
She had no choice but to turn around and saw that her sleeping relative had stood up and was blinking hard, as if he was confused in his sleep, with his thick eyelashes fluttering up and down.
He was keeping a low profile today, wearing the same green robe as Yang Langjun and the others, and a black topknot—probably work clothes. But he had an upright posture, and his clothes looked better than Yang Langjun's.
He frowned and said, "Are you here to do...?"
"Tooth strips." Jiang Qinglan kindly reminded.
"Right, right." Xie Linchuan remembered, rolled up his sleeves, and took the responsibility, "Come here, I'll do it with you!"
Jiang Qinglan glanced over there and stammered, "I want Mr. Yang to..."
Yang Song, who was sitting over there, stretched his neck and looked over here.
Xie Linchuan was furious when he saw the two of them agreeing to this. He said in a harsh tone, "He can do it, but I can't? Come here!"
In his previous life, Jiang Qinglan dreaded going to any bureau or office to get things done. Not only did he have to go so often, but some of the staff were so rude, as if you owed them money. And if you had to do something, you had no choice but to listen to them and get whatever you wanted.
She had finally relaxed after meeting Yang Langjun last time, but she had no idea that she would be targeted by this person with connections again today.
Jiang Qinglan sighed inwardly and accepted his fate.
Xie Linchuan opened the copy and dipped his brush into ink: "Name."
"Jiang Qinglan."
Xie Linchuan didn't rush to write. He raised his head and looked at her with a serious expression: "You have a good surname." After that, he wrote three big words on the notebook with a few strokes.
Jiang Qinglan had no idea what was so good about her last name. In Lin'an City, there were many people named Jiang. Before she could think about it, she saw the handwriting and burst out laughing.
Xie Linchuan was surprised: "Is it written wrong?" That's how it was written. Although he was not good at reading, he would not make a mistake in writing.
Jiang Qinglan suppressed his laughter and quickly denied: "No, no, it's written correctly."
She was laughing at the man's reckless handwriting. The space was so small, it was meant for writing in small calligraphy, but this man had just written three large characters, "steel cross," not only exceeding the space but also blacking out the two lines of characters below.
Moreover, what he wrote cannot be said to be ugly, it just doesn’t look like writing, it looks more like sword dancing.
Xie Linchuan was working with great interest: "What's the purpose?"
"diet."
There are two big characters written in iron-painted and silver-hooked style.
After Xie Linchuan finished writing, he went to the cabinet in the middle of the room to get the list of "tooth certificates" that the merchant had in stock. Seeing that there were several types, he picked up a nice-looking one at random - the one with lotus flower patterns.
He returned to his desk, wrote down his name and purpose, and then casually handed the list over and said, "Here you go."
Jiang Qinglan took it and asked cautiously, "Is it done?"
"It's done." Xie Linchuan said confidently, "You can leave now."
Jiang Qinglan took out some small change and said, "Yesterday, Mr. Yang said that the cost of setting up a compact mobile stall is four taels of silver."
Xie Linchuan crossed his arms and glanced sideways: "Oh, yes." He took the money without any shame.
Jiang Qinglan then took out the doctor's certificate and Wang Huiniang's letter of guarantee: "Yesterday, Mr. Yang said that he still needed these two things."
"Oh, really?" Xie Linchuan frowned.
Jiang Qinglan affirmed: "Yes."
…
After leaving the Finance Department, Jiang Qinglan thought to herself: What a fool... Fortunately, she finally got her certificate. From now on, she is a legal businessman and can make a lot of money.
When she thought of the money, she ignored everything else and her heart was beating wildly like a deer.
——
At the Lin'an Prefecture Office, several men were working on their accounts, matching the certificates with the silver. Once today's accounts were aligned, they could proceed with the distribution.
However, the accounts just wouldn't add up. No matter how much they counted, there was always one tael and six qian of silver missing.
Someone suddenly had an idea: "Could it be that they charged the wrong amount? They were charging the price of a low-end dental plaque for a high-end one?"
Several people flipped through the book again and began to check each entry in a frantic manner. When they reached the entry for "Jiang Qinglan," they were dumbfounded.
He collected four taels of silver, but what he was missing was a lotus-patterned ivory plaque worth two taels of silver. The large characters on the original, written with silver hooks and iron strokes and steel forks, were definitely not something that those who had passed the imperial examinations could write.
One person said: "That's what I said..."
Upon hearing this, Yang Song coughed suddenly:
"What's the point of saying something? We made a mistake in our accounts today. I'll pay one ounce of silver to cover the shortfall, and the rest will be divided equally among the rest of your salaries. The matter is settled now, and no one is allowed to tell anyone about it."
"I understand." These people were specially transferred by the director, so they were very reliable, although they all looked worried.
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