Chapter 210 Funeral County Magistrate
Seeing that Lord Su from the capital had stopped, Qi Sijin quickly knelt and crawled over, "Lord... Lord Su, my father was murdered. Please help my father."
murder?
Su Yanli was horrified. He thought the magistrate of Yuzhou County was killed by the rioters and bandits. Was he murdered? He looked at his daughter.
The daughter seemed not to hear the young man's cries. She glanced at the people who had not dispersed. Most of them were old, weak and sick. Some seemed to be too hungry to walk and collapsed on the ground. Some had dull eyes and seemed stupid, not knowing how to go outside the city to grab the porridge.
some……
Su Ruojin's eyes fell on the middle-aged man sitting on the curb. He had his back to the county government gate, looking at the empty but cluttered street, motionless.
"Ajin..." Su Yanli walked to his daughter's side and followed her gaze. "What are you looking at?"
She glanced at Su Yanli and did not answer him. Instead, she asked Hu Dianli, "Who is that person?"
Hu Dianli hid his disdainful look and said, "An old scholar who came from nowhere has been making a living by fortune-telling and writing letters for people on the street."
Seeing the young lady about to go over, he stopped her and said, "People on the street call him the old scholar, and I don't know if he is a real scholar or a fake one."
Probably hearing someone talking about him, the middle-aged man turned and looked at them with a pale face and a cold expression. When he heard Hu Dianli's words, he sneered with disdain and turned to look at the empty street.
Su Yanli saw his daughter staring at this person and asked, "Ajin, what's wrong with this person?"
She shook her head and turned her gaze to the kneeling Xiao Langjun, "Dad, let's help County Magistrate Qi with the funeral first."
"How to cure it?"
Hu Dianli just wanted to hear how Lord Su from the capital would deal with the matter of Magistrate Qi, but he didn't expect to hear him asking his daughter how to arrange the funeral of an official appointed by the court.
He was completely speechless:...What a crap lord coming from the capital.
Could it be a liar? Want to cheat money by organizing funerals? If it were normal times, he would never believe that someone would dare to impersonate an official, but after the rioters and bandits passed through the border, even the county magistrate and others could abandon the county government, so what else would the rioters not dare to do?
Once he became suspicious, Hu Dianli immediately bowed and asked, "I wonder what position Lord Su holds in Beijing..."
Su Yanli returned the greeting: "I am Tai..."
Su Ruojin interrupted his father, "Hu Dianli, please look over here."
The young lady pointed at Su Yanli's belt. When Hu Dianli saw the silver buckle, he immediately understood that this was a belt that only officials of the seventh rank were qualified to wear. It seemed that his identity as a Beijing official was real, but the young lady did not let her father tell her what his official position was.
He couldn't help but guess, the Prince's Minister of the Imperial Household? ...The Minister of the Imperial History Bureau...The Imperial Household Department?
In ancient times, officials of different ranks had strict requirements for their uniforms and belts. Princes to the third rank used purple Da Ke (large flower pattern) silk and their belts were made of jade belt hooks. Officials of the fifth rank and above used red Xiao Ke (small flower pattern) silk and their belts were made of grass gold hooks. Officials of the sixth rank used yellow (lemon yellow) Shuang Chuan (geometric pattern) silk and their belts were made of rhinoceros hooks.
The seventh rank is made of green tortoise shell, double giant, and ten flower (all with geometric patterns) silk, and the belt is made of silver buckle (ring buckle). The ninth rank is made of blue silk and mixed silk, and the belt is made of jade stone belt hook.
Su Ruojin didn't care what Hu Dianli guessed. As long as he was made to believe that Su Yanli was a seventh-rank official, equal to the county magistrate and older than him, he would be obedient.
Su Yanli was just afraid of things and troubles, but he was not pedantic and dull. He immediately understood what his daughter meant. While Hu Dianli was guessing, the father and daughter looked at each other, and Su Ruojin looked at the old, weak and young people in the Qi family.
He would understand and nod.
Suddenly, the official shouted with great authority: "Hu Dianli——"
"The little one is——"
"You are an elder in this county and a subordinate of Magistrate Qi. You will be in charge of the funeral arrangements. Please get it done quickly in the middle of summer."
"Sir... It's not that I don't want to, it's really..." Hu Dianli knelt down and almost shouted, "You can't just ask me to do something without any words."
As the name suggests, funeral arrangements are about handling funeral affairs, including the arrangement of the mourning hall, the funeral procession, the burial, etc., all of which require money.
The old official stared at Su Yanli with his eyes fixed.
Su Yanli understood his look and looked at his daughter embarrassedly.
Su Ruojin really wanted to slap herself on the head to see what she could do with this artistic otaku!
"Master Shangguan..."
Shangguan Yu, who had been like an invisible man, was suddenly called by Miss Su. He was frightened and trembled. He thought he had committed a serious crime and looked at her blankly.
"You can settle the accounts, right?"
“A little bit.”
"That's good." Su Ruojin thought she just heard the word "understand", "Have you seen a funeral?"
Shangguan Yu nodded.
"Do you understand the funeral process?"
“A little bit.”
Su Ruojin ignored the word "omitted" again, "Write out the process and let Hu Dianli read it. If there are any differences from the customs you have seen, follow the local customs. After you have checked, Shu Tongshu will follow you. You should write down every penny I ask him to take. Is that ok?"
"No." He didn't know why, although she was just a young lady, he didn't hesitate at all when she asked him to do something. His whole body even exuded a sense of joy and excitement. He knew that this was a funeral and it was inappropriate to have such emotions, but he couldn't help but feel secretly happy.
He was very happy that someone found him useful.
Shu Tong looked at his young mistress in disbelief, "Second Madam, you mean to use the Su family's money..." to hold a funeral for the Weizhou County Magistrate?
Su Ruojin nodded.
Shu Tong took a deep breath. Why? They didn't even know Magistrate Qi, so why should they pay?
Su Ruojin glanced at him and signaled him to be obedient.
Shu Tong walked to Hu Dianli with emotion, "Hurry up and discuss with Master Shangguan so that I can know how much silver to take."
Hu Quli: ...Is this the problem?
How could it be so simple? Is there really someone willing to take the money for free? Why does he not believe it?
"Hu Dianli, where is your eldest son?"
Here it comes... here it comes... He said, how can I take the money for nothing, no, why is the young lady looking for my son?
Hu Dalang took a step forward strangely and unconsciously, "Dad..." came to the door automatically.
Su Ruojin turned to her father and said, "Dad, you personally write notes to the gentry, landlords, and court officials in Weizhou County, asking them to express their condolences to County Magistrate Qi. The written notes should be delivered to the door by Hu Dianli's eldest son. If anyone dares not to come, they will be treated as suspects of murdering the county magistrate."
The angry family of Magistrate Qi: Hiss…
Hu Dianli and his family: Hiss…
The middle-aged man sitting on the curb turned around and looked over again with a complicated look in his eyes.
"Hey, that uncle with the mustache, come here!"
Who to call?
The middle-aged man subconsciously touched his mustache and his eyes widened instantly. "Young lady, what did you call him?"
"I'm calling you!"
Hey! He really called him.
The middle-aged man with a moustache stood up suddenly. Who is the young lady so vulgar and uneducated? He took a few steps and walked quickly to the front of everyone, "What did you call me just now?"
Su Ruojin said in a very conscientious manner: "I help people write letters on the street, so I think your handwriting is pretty good. I'll let you write the condolence gift book."
"I...I..." He was so angry that he couldn't even utter a word.
Su Ruojin seemed not to have seen it, and she found Hu Dianli's wife and asked her to be responsible for all logistical matters such as funeral meals and tea, and asked Qiuyue to work with her to mobilize all the wives of the minor officials in the yamen to complete this task together.
Seeing that the group was really about to leave this time, Qi Sijin, the eldest son of Qi County Magistrate, hurriedly stopped them and said, "Sir, my father was murdered. Please help me."
Lord Su glanced at his daughter and saw her nod. He thought that being able to arrange the funeral for Magistrate Qi was already a righteous act, and finding the murderer was a matter for the court, not the responsibility of a Taichang Doctor, so he wanted to refuse.
But my daughter never does anything without thinking. If she asks me to nod, there must be a reason. Otherwise, why not nod first?
Thinking of this, he nodded, but said, "Young Master Qi, murder is a serious matter, I will report it to the court..." At this point, he suddenly understood that this was what his daughter meant when she asked him to nod. He looked at his daughter again, and sure enough, seeing the corners of her mouth slightly raised in agreement, he was also happy in his heart, thinking to himself, it turned out that she was his little cotton-padded jacket, and they were in sync.
Although Qi Sijin was disappointed, someone finally helped the Qi family report to the court. The first step was finally taken. They just had to wait for the court to arrange people to investigate the case after receiving the report.
The matter finally came to an end. Su Ruojin asked Shi Er to take his son to send the Qi family to where the Qi family lived behind the county government office.
"Master Hu, you have until the sun rises tomorrow to set up the mourning hall."
With money and connections, Hu Dianli had no complaints and immediately went about making arrangements.
Su Ruojin asked his father to live in the place where the clerks in the county government worked, and then went through the same procedures and completed the tasks one by one.
Maybe it was the first time that Su Yanli was in contact with county government affairs. He was more flexible and energetic than when he was doing things in Beijing. Although he had not slept for nearly a night, he not only handled the funeral-related matters his daughter mentioned, but the clerks in the Gongcao also took the opportunity to ask him to solve trivial matters. He was able to reply to four or five out of ten matters. For those that he could not reply to, he replied to one or two after learning about them through Hu Dianli. The remaining one or two were all difficult and complicated cases. Not to mention that he was in charge of a county halfway through, even if the county magistrate himself was there, he might not be able to handle them.
After pointing out the general direction to his father, Su Ruojin asked him to find an experienced clerk to understand and arrange the specific matters. Unexpectedly, when he woke up in the morning and brought breakfast to his father, his father had actually handled the trivial matters of the county government.
The Weizhou County Government Office started operating without anyone noticing.
She gave her father a thumbs up and said, "Dad, it's not that you don't know how to do it, it's that you lack the opportunity to practice."
"I..." Su Yanli still couldn't believe that he was the one who handled the matters on the desk. He felt doubtful, excited, and all kinds of emotions. He was filled with emotion.
"I believe in Dad."
Shangguan Yu came in from outside and said, "Sir Su, the funeral has started at Qi's residence. I'll go there first. If there's anything I need, please let someone call me."
Su Yanli nodded, "Please trouble you, Master Shangguan."
"You're welcome, sir." Shangguan Yu left in a good mood.
Su Yanli was not the only one who was recognized. Shangguan Yu, who had always been frustrated, had been writing and buying paintings. Was he willing to do that? Of course not. Although he was just helping with funeral arrangements and keeping accounts, he was happy with the job.
After three days of mourning, according to the rules, Magistrate Qi's official coffin should have been buried, but he was not from Weizhou County, and Qi's family had to carry the coffin back to his hometown Chuzhou for burial. The journey was long, so they first stored the coffin in a temple and waited for the court to find the murderer.
When the new emperor ascended the throne, there was a national mourning to be held and there were rebellions to be suppressed. The memorial that Su Yanli submitted to the court took three days to reach the Ministry of Personnel, which then transferred it to the Dali Temple, and finally the Dali Temple transferred it to the emperor's desk.
There were so many matters that the new emperor had no time to approve. Three days later, he found out that there was no county magistrate in Weizhou and there was no one to choose from. So he directly appointed Su Yanli, a doctor of Taichang Temple who had written the memorial, as the county magistrate of Weizhou and ordered him to find out the murderer who murdered his predecessor.
that's all?
When the Su family received the imperial appointment document, they were all stunned. How could they avoid a difficult situation and get a county magistrate? This was a real job with real benefits!
"Ah... Ah Jin... Dad... Can you do it? Su Yanli couldn't believe the county magistrate's document with the seal in his hand.
Su Ruojin smiled and said, "Of course it's true."
During the ten days of waiting for the court documents, Weizhou County was not peaceful.
That night, Su Ruojin used all the grain she bought from the landlords to cook porridge and gave it away. The next morning, she used the trick of not asking the landlords to come to pay their respects. She first tricked all the gentry, landlords and wealthy businessmen to come. Then, in front of Magistrate Qi's official coffin, she asked these people to donate a certain amount of grain each, and then promised to open for sale of grain that day. Those who refused to sell would be suspected of stealing the county government's granary and not daring to sell it.
This unexpected move immediately restored the local grain market in Weizhou.
On that day, all the gentry, landlords and wealthy businessmen who came out of Lord Qi's mourning hall cursed Su Yanli for being treacherous. Some secretly went to Beijing to look for a way, but were inexplicably rejected. Almost no one dared to accept the gifts they sent and everyone avoided them.
Until then, these gentry, landlords and wealthy businessmen realized that it was no wonder that Su dared to be so treacherous. It turned out that there was someone behind him. After three or five days, they all behaved well and opened their shops as usual.
When Hu Dianli's family saw that the Su family was spending huge amounts of money to organize the funeral for Magistrate Qi, they thought that the Su family was a fool for seeking fame and reputation. However, they did not expect that after the condolence money was over, they would take back all the money and give the rest to the orphans and widows of the Qi family. The Hu family only got some money for running errands.
Hu Dianli's beard twitched in an orderly manner, but he said nothing.
His wife was not convinced: "If you hadn't been holding the county government, it would have been gone long ago. Our family only got 20 or 30 taels of errand fees. How dare the Su family? Our ancestors were all minor officials in Weizhou County. Be careful that our Hu family will make things difficult for him."
Hu Dalang frowned, "Dad, the court hasn't sent a county magistrate yet, nor has it tracked down the county magistrate and others. Does that mean they really don't want the county government anymore?"
"How is that possible?" Hu Dianli sighed, "Our Hu family's ancestors are locals. We are different from those officials who came from other places. They can abandon the county government and ignore it, but my Hu family can't. Without the county government, we are nothing." Without the iron rice bowl and the connections, how can he survive?
Hu Dalang asked worriedly, "Dad, do you think the man surnamed Su is the new county magistrate sent by the court?"
Hu Dianli remained silent for a long time. If the person sent by the court was someone named Su, he would not be someone who could be easily fooled. It would be difficult to make money working under him.
(End of this chapter)
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