Chapter 29 My junior sister really doesn't treat me like an outsider.
"Your Excellency... Your Excellency, please wait!"
County Magistrate Diao chased after him and finally managed to stop the decisive man.
"What are your orders, Lord Diao?"
"I dare not accept your orders..."
Panting, Magistrate Diao adjusted his askew official hat and said helplessly:
"How can we let the magistrate spend money to entertain us? The magistrate has come all the way to Longcheng to take up his post. It should be the local gentry who should show their hospitality and let them treat us. How can we trouble the magistrate?"
Ouyang Rong thought for a moment and asked, "You mean I'm the guest, and they're the hosts?"
"No...no, no." Magistrate Diao quickly waved his hand. "What I meant was that it's a fine tradition of our county for the gentry and elders to welcome their magistrate. Previous magistrates all followed this procedure. Your Excellency doesn't need to be so polite and pay for it out of your own pocket..."
Ouyang Rong shook his head, "I didn't stand on ceremony at all, just tell them not to be too polite."
He glanced at the indecisive-looking Magistrate Diao and said softly:
"To be honest, Lord Diao, the reason I invited everyone to dinner at Yuanming Tower this time is not only to get to know the local gentry and respected elders, but also for the sake of the country and the people... for their own good."
"Your Excellency means..."
"That's right. After the banquet that day, I will hold a water conservancy fundraising event, and I will take the lead in donating grain."
County Magistrate Diao hesitated, as if he wanted to say something but then stopped.
Ouyang Rong said calmly:
"You saw the official document and the court's suggestion that Jiangzhou sent that day, and I have been thinking about it for several days."
"The current food supplies for disaster relief are roughly sufficient, and with the additional 3,000 shi of rice transported from Jiangzhou, maintaining the stability of the 24 disaster relief camps on the outskirts of the city for three months should not be a problem..."
"But there is still an urgent matter at hand - the water conservancy project, including the Di Gong Sluice Gate, must be built as soon as possible, otherwise, as I foresee, the floods during the plum rain season will soon bring another tragedy of flooding the city."
“Lord Diao, this matter is not just about the tens of thousands of disaster victims in the suburbs, but concerns the safety of everyone inside and outside Longcheng. You are the magistrate of Longcheng County, the most senior official in the yamen, and more familiar with the local gentry and wealthy people. Please go and clarify these interests for me, and tell them about the difficulties faced by the court and Jiangzhou.”
Magistrate Diao sighed, "Your Excellency has truly devoted himself to the people of Longcheng."
"It's just my duty."
Magistrate Diao hesitated for a moment, then couldn't help but remind him, "Your Excellency, the suggestion I gave you the other day is something you could consider... Holding a fundraising banquet isn't out of the question, but if you want the fundraising to be more effective, Your Excellency should probably host a separate banquet for the Liu family beforehand to discuss it properly..."
Ouyang Rong suddenly interrupted, "Lord Diao has a very good relationship with the Liu family? He has always spoken up for them."
Magistrate Diao said solemnly, "Your Excellency misunderstands. I am not speaking on behalf of the Liu family, but on Your Excellency's behalf, which is why I made these shallow suggestions."
Ouyang Rong looked at him for a while before nodding and saying:
"Thank you, Lord Diao, but no need. This fundraising banquet is open to all the gentry and wealthy merchants of Longcheng County. I am not begging for food; I am treating you with sincerity and honesty."
"Go and tell them about the tax benefits after the donations mentioned in the official documents of the court. Although I am stubborn, I am not an unreasonable person. I will implement them as appropriate, as long as they donate enthusiastically... This merciless natural disaster can be overcome by the unity of officials and the people. This is not just a matter for one family or one household."
With his last words, Ouyang Rong gave Magistrate Diao a meaningful look before turning and leaving.
Magistrate Diao sighed and watched his retreating figure, saying:
"Your humble servant... obeys."
...
Just as Magistrate Diao was visiting households in Longcheng County to reach out to local gentry and influential families, conveying the young magistrate's invitation and promises to them one by one.
Ouyang Rong silently entered the government office of the Registrar and retrieved the county's financial and tax records from previous years.
He had already made arrangements for today's disaster relief camp yesterday, so he could go later today and take care of something more important at the county government office first.
The young magistrate dismissed the respectful clerks standing by and sat alone in his small room, quietly turning the pages of his book.
When Xie Lingjiang arrived carrying a small, two-tiered box, Ouyang Rong was still looking down and carefully examining it.
"Senior brother."
"Um."
"I brought you some pastries; Aunt Zhen asked me to bring them."
"good."
Seeing that he was still focused on the official documents without looking up, Xie Lingjiang quieted down, put down the pastry box, and sat down to wait, glancing at him from time to time.
Xie Lingjiang has always felt that men look better when they are serious and focused, and her father is a prime example.
After a short while, Ouyang Rong temporarily closed the book, rubbed the bridge of his nose with two fingers, and looked up to look at the white clouds and blue sky outside the door to relieve his fatigue. But his junior sister suddenly stood up, handed him the open pastry box, reached out and bent down, leaning forward...
Caught off guard, Ouyang Rong suddenly felt that his eyes were no longer tired.
Slender branches hang heavy with fruit.
This phrase suddenly popped into my head.
And perhaps because he had just been reading too many densely packed small prints, his eyes were starting to feel blurry, as if everything was appearing different sizes... This combination was a bombshell.
"Why are you leaning back, senior brother?" Xie Lingjiang asked crisply.
"No...it's nothing, just stretching," Ouyang Rong said calmly.
He wasn't the type to lose control of his eyes, but his junior sister was indeed too wealthy, and her decisive and efficient behavior was constantly flashing before his eyes. Even if it were a muscular man of similar weight in front of Ouyang Rong, he would still be unable to resist taking a look; it was just a subconscious reaction.
Moreover, it's clear that she must have wrapped her breasts very tightly, and she usually pays great attention to this, keeping them very secure, because when she moves around, the bulging fabric doesn't make any exaggerated waves.
"What are you looking at, senior brother?"
Ouyang Rong was momentarily flustered, but quickly realized that this wasn't the question.
"The financial expenditures of Longcheng County government in the past two years, and the tax collection situation of some wealthy households."
"This is what a virtuous and upright senior brother said solemnly."
"oh."
Xie Lingjiang nodded, reached out and took a piece of pastry, then bent down and leaned closer to look curiously at the books on his desk.
She seems quite interested in everything this senior brother does lately, I wonder if it's because of that "spirit".
"Did you make any discoveries, senior brother?"
Ouyang Rong nodded and picked one example, saying, "In the first half of this year, the Longcheng County government only had a little over fifty strings of cash in savings from last year, while its expenditures amounted to over two thousand strings. The year before last was similar; the fiscal surplus was only a little over forty strings of cash in savings..."
Xie Lingjiang frowned more and more as she listened. "Doesn't this mean that every year's income is spent exactly as planned, leaving very little? What a coincidence!"
Ouyang Rong glanced at the clerks and yamen runners coming and going in the distance outside the door, "Moreover, every expenditure item of the year is very detailed, even the number of door gods and couplets that the yamen needs to put up on the first day of the Lunar New Year is written clearly... If you count it, it is indeed spent this much, with no error."
Xie Lingjiang frowned even more.
He smiled and said, "Let's not worry about that for now."
The young magistrate casually closed the finance book and tossed it aside as if nothing had happened. He shook a bell on the table, which immediately summoned several respectful clerks. He instructed them to take the books about the county's finances back for filing.
After the clerks left, Ouyang Rong remained calm. Xie Lingjiang couldn't help but ask, "Are we just going to let this go like this? Aren't we going to investigate the yamen?"
He said calmly, "Let's leave that for now. There are more important things to do now."
Ouyang Rong gestured to the thick book on the table that was left, which concerned the taxes of Longcheng. This was the main purpose of his visit today.
Xie Lingjiang remained silent for a while, then nodded slightly. He turned to curiously look through the remaining notebooks on the table, as if trying to figure out his senior brother's intentions. He even forgot to eat the pastries in his hand.
At the same time, because she was so focused, her upper body unconsciously leaned forward even more...
As a beautiful woman approached, Ouyang Rong, who was about to taste the pastries, suddenly smelled a fragrance even more delicious than the pastries.
Although he knew that his junior sister's action was unintentional, he still silently avoided suspicion and moved back a little to accommodate her leaning forward.
Ouyang Rong picked up a piece of pastry, took a small bite, and thought to himself:
"Junior Sister really doesn't treat me like an outsider."
She has absolutely no respect for her upright and virtuous senior brother... The feeling of being trusted by his junior sister made him quite gratified, and he silently decided to keep his eyes to himself from now on.
However, Ouyang Rong suddenly noticed something: sometimes when his eyes wandered and he accidentally looked somewhere, it seemed that no merit points were deducted. He wondered if it was because the other party hadn't noticed...
He was simply curious about this, and couldn't help but turn around to check the verification.
Just then, a dull clang rang out, and the sound of a wooden fish drum filled the air.
One point is deducted from the merit.
Before Ouyang Rong could even frown, Xie Lingjiang, who had been leaning forward and carefully examining the documents on his desk, suddenly stood up. Holding a pastry in her left hand and grabbing her sword hilt with her right, she turned her back to him and strode towards the door without looking back.
It was less a "fast pace" and more an escape.
However, Ouyang Rong still noticed with his sharp eyes that the small patch of fair skin exposed between his junior sister's collar and her hair was now flushed red, like a maple leaf drunk by the warm breeze.
However, the Xie family noblewoman, who was about to flee, seemed to realize something. When she reached the door, she quickly stopped, as if pausing to admire the scenery. With her back to the "improper" senior brother inside, she shook her head, looked around, and after a while, her expression could not be seen. Only her voice was heard as she said, "It's too hot in the room... I'm going to get some fresh air," and her figure disappeared through the door.
The junior sister ran off with the pastries in her hand.
"..."
Only Ouyang Rong, who seemed to want to say something but couldn't, remained in the room... Um, could you let me explain?
"It's over, my image as a gentleman in my junior sister's eyes is ruined."
A senior student was saddened.
However... although it was a misunderstanding, to be honest, he never expected that his usually stern and serious junior sister would look so cute and silly when she blushed shyly.
This trend, I think, is called "gap moe" (or "contrast cuteness").
Don't worry, guys, yesterday's update will be made up!
(End of this chapter)
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