"My dear parents, I have no grievances and I will not sue anyone." Unexpectedly, the plaintiff shouted.
"Then he is..." Zhao Shouzheng pointed at the defendant curiously and said, "Is he here to watch the monkey show?"
"We are not here to complain, we just want to see our parents, kowtow to them and say thank you!" After they finished speaking, they knelt on the ground and kowtowed to Mr. Zhao. "Thank you for your hard work, old parents!"
"Nonsense! You will be beaten with a stick if you ask for leave!" Wu Cheng'en scolded.
"Go ahead and hit me. It's worth it to be able to say goodbye to my parents in person!" They said, and each took out a paper box wrapped in oil paper from their arms and said, "Oh, yes, there are also some sock bottom cakes that I made myself. Don't break them. Please accept them first."
"This stuff can be kept for a long time, and my elderly parents can eat it on the road."
Mr. Zhao's eyes turned red immediately. How could he bear to beat them? He asked them to accept the gifts from the two, and thanked them personally, then let them go.
After the two men went down, looking back every few steps, the bailiffs brought in a pair of plaintiffs and defendants.
Seeing the two people looking at him eagerly, Mr. Zhao asked first: "Is the lawsuit also an excuse?"
"No, we are here to visit our elderly parents, and we also have a lawsuit to fight." The two of them answered in unison:
"But our parents are about to pass away, so how can we not give you peace of mind? We will do whatever you decide, without hesitation."
"It's okay if you don't judge. We can come back later..."
"That won't do. It will affect the county's case settlement rate." Mr. Zhao felt a surge of warmth in his heart and quickly looked down at the plaintiff's petition. Over the past year or so, he had been forced to personally investigate and judge cases, and now he was an old hand at it. He could quickly weigh a verdict that both parties could accept.
As expected, the two of them did not hesitate to press their fingerprints on the verdict, kowtowed three times to Mr. Zhao, presented a parting gift, and then left in tears...
As a result, the whole day, the county hall was like a farewell party. Almost all the plaintiffs and defendants temporarily put aside their grudges, greeted Mr. Zhao with tears in their eyes, kowtowed to him and gave him gifts.
In their words, the lawsuit can be filed at any time, but the opportunity to visit their elderly parents at such close range may never come again in this lifetime.
Which one is more important? At least in the hearts of Kunshan people, the balance is inclined towards the latter.
As a result, when he returned to the signing room, the sentimental Mr. Zhao's eyes were swollen like peaches due to tears.
"What happened? Who beat him?" Xu Wei looked up from a roster.
"Don't talk nonsense, Dong Weng is so moved that he is crying." Wu Chengen was filled with emotion, obviously thinking of himself back then, "The common people are so lovely, but Dong Weng deserves to be treated like this."
"Don't say anymore, or I'll start crying again..." Zhao Shouzheng picked up a handkerchief and wiped his tears, saying, "I've never had so many people like me in my life."
"That's just the beginning." Xu Wei said with a teasing smile, "If you like, when you leave tomorrow, have them organize a county-wide farewell party with hundreds of thousands of people crying together. That would be a grand occasion!"
"Don't do that. That's too disturbing, too deliberate, too cliché! I don't want any umbrellas for the people, or any monuments of merit, and I don't want anyone to stop my sedan chair or take off my boots." Mr. Zhao waved his hand and said, "I think we should openly repair the plank road and secretly go through Chencang the day after tomorrow, leave the government office through the back door, and quietly leave the county town without alarming anyone."
"Yes, sir." Wu Cheng'en responded.
"Okay! This time I'm going to prove to that brat that his father is now independent. I can be a good official even without his help!" Master Zhao cheered himself up and pounded his chest to encourage himself.
Wu Cheng'en turned a deaf ear to it and turned to ask Xu Wei, "Has the list of people who will go south with Mr. Dong been released?"
"Here they are." Xu Wei saw the roster thrown in front of the two of them and laughed:
"There are a total of fifty teachers and students from Yufeng Academy, including four Jinshi, ten Juren, and thirty-six Shengyuan. There are also fifty managers who are familiar with government affairs. They are all loyal and reliable people trained in recent years. There are also thirty medical staff from Jiangnan Hospital, fifty teachers and students from the Agricultural College, two hundred guards from the Security Department, plus the housekeeper, servants and maids, oh yes, and us two poor old people, so there are exactly five hundred people, and we will set off in two batches."
"Good fellow." Wu Cheng'en also gasped and said, "This is too much, even if he becomes a prefect, isn't it?"
"More than that, when Hu Meilin took office as the Governor-General of Zhejiang and concurrently the Governor of Zhejiang, he only brought 400 people with him, but he was already very powerful for a while and attracted a lot of attention from both the government and the public." Xu Wei chuckled.
"It's really too exaggerated. I'm going to be a co-magistrate. Why do I need so many people? How will the prefect see me?" Master Zhao couldn't help but said with some fear.
"Hehe, do you think the Tongzhi over there is as cowardly as the one in Jiangnan? Let me tell you, the Tongzhi there is in charge of coastal defense, issues defense orders, builds government offices, and is allocated land. He manages money and grain, builds ships and manufactures equipment, dispatches and commands, supervises officers and officials, records merits and examines faults, plans for the aftermath, suppresses local affairs, and collects foreign taxes. The prefect is nothing, and no one cares about him!" Xu Wei laughed strangely and said, "It is a blessing for him to have a subordinate like you in his eight lifetimes. He just needs to wait for the benefits."
"What he said may be a little rough but his logic is sound. This is basically the case. Since the Jiajing period, pirates in Fujian and Guangdong have been rampant. The imperial court had no choice but to set up coastal defense offices in various prefectures along the coast. The Tongzhi was in charge of coastal defense, and the entire coastal areas of the prefectures and counties under his jurisdiction were within his trusted territory. Therefore, there is a saying in Fujian and Guangdong that 'there is a great magistrate on land and two magistrates on the sea.'" Wu Cheng'en also explained.
As a qualified aide to a boss who doesn't care about anything, the writer can only force himself to know everything.
"Is that so? Then we need to bring more people." When Mr. Zhao heard this, he thought it was quite dangerous and immediately stopped complaining about having too many people. "But, we don't need to let the Jinshi serve as our staff?"
"Oh, those scholars went to Chaozhou to set up schools, and the medical staff also went to build hospitals, and they just helped out." Wu Chengen smiled and replied: "As for what the people from the Agricultural College went there for, it's hard to say."
"Chaozhou is a poor place with many people and little land. How can we build a farm like Kunshan?" The painter scratched his head and said, "That guy actually dared to keep me in suspense. How abominable!"
"My son has his own ingenious plan. Let's just wait and see." Mr. Zhao said confidently, "Since he has already made all the arrangements, we don't have to worry. We can just go south easily."
"Well……"
The writer couldn't help but secretly shook his head, but the painter just laughed and said, "That's not what you just said."
"Didn't I think that brat would ignore me?" Zhao Shouzheng touched the back of his head and smiled happily:
"It turns out he didn't."
~~
On the second day of April, the first group of people heading south set off.
Early in the morning on the third day of the Lunar New Year, the second group of people heading south set out from the main gate of the government office, marched out of Chaoyang Gate in a mighty manner, and boarded the ship at the official ship dock.
Yu Men and his cousin were also in this group of people. Although Yu Xu wanted to stay and see if he could be a gatekeeper, it was a pity that the emperor changed his officials, and the county magistrate He had to use his own family to guard the gate.
Yu Xu carried the bag for his cousin and looked at the gatekeeper with whom he had fought with reluctance. However, Yu Men was not reluctant to leave and kept urging him to catch up.
"Brother, don't you miss this place?" Yu Xu followed helplessly, asking in confusion: "Everyone who sees you has to call you uncle and give you red envelopes. You have never been so majestic in your life."
"Look at how little you have accomplished!" Yu snorted and said, "Brother, is this all I have?"
As he spoke, he looked far to the south, full of longing, "Because I know there is a bigger government office waiting for me to guard it..."
"What's the difference?" Yu Xu muttered.
"How can there be no difference? There is a seventh-rank official in front of the prime minister!" Yu Men said, clenching his fist and said, "Brother, my ambition is to be the best official in the world! When the master becomes the prime minister, I will also have a taste of what it feels like to be a seventh-rank official!"
Yu Xu thought, the best gatekeeper in the world, shouldn't he be the eunuch guarding the palace gate? It is said that the word "粵" in "粵" means the eunuch guarding the palace gate. This ambition of yours is really unlucky...
But he never dared to say this out loud.
At the same time, Wu Cheng'en did as Mr. Zhao had instructed and arranged for him to sit in an inconspicuous sedan chair and leave the county government office through the back door.
Compared to the front door where people are bustling and lining the aisles to see people off, the back door is much quieter.
Mr. Zhao opened the curtain of the sedan chair and looked at the deserted streets outside. He couldn't help but complain secretly, "Old Wu is good in every way, but he is too honest. I said I wanted to go through the back door, and you really let me go through the back door?"
I also said that I wanted to take in some beautiful concubines, but I never saw you do it!
"Get down from the sedan!" Mr. Zhao felt more and more uncomfortable the more he thought about it. After enduring for a long time, he finally couldn't help but knock on the sedan.
"Get off the sedan chair," said Fan Datong, who was accompanying him, and then he lifted the curtain of the sedan chair and asked, "What do you want, brother?"
"I want to..." Master Zhao managed to hold back a sentence: "Go to the toilet!"
Feeling that this was too undignified, he added: "Go and inspect it!"
"Oh, oh, it's my honor." Fan Datong quickly lifted the curtain of the sedan chair, helped Master Zhao get out of the sedan chair and said, "Thanks to you, the people of Kunshan can finally defecate and drown in the toilet!"
"Well, my dear brother, come with me to visit." Zhao Shouzheng looked up and saw a square thatched house made of blue bricks not far away. The word "male" was written in white lime on the left side and "female" was written on the right side.
"Uh, I don't feel like going to the bathroom." Fan Datong said.
"Me neither." Mr. Zhao rolled his eyes at him.
"Oh, okay." Fan Datong had no choice but to follow him to the toilet door.
"Shit or piss?" The old dung worker sitting at the door handed them two pieces of straw paper, each with a dung ticket sandwiched on it.
"Let's take a look." said Mr. Zhao.
"Ah? You are not allowed to enter the women's restroom!" The old dung worker glared at him.
"We don't want this stuff," Fan Datong pointed to the men's restroom and explained, "We'll leave after we use the toilet."
The old dung worker was of course happy, and the two dung tickets became his.
The two of them went into the men's restroom. It was clean inside, but there was no good smell.
Several men squatting in the toilet were working hard, and Mr. Zhao walked past them, but none of them stood up excitedly to call their parents and ask why he came to the toilet in person. Not to mention saying goodbye reluctantly...
Soon, the two of them came out holding their noses.
Mr. Zhao got into the sedan chair in a depressed mood, but no one recognized him until he got on a boat at a small pier.
He looked at his reflection in the water and suddenly realized that he was wearing an ordinary straight gown.
Only then did he realize that people only recognized him when he was wearing the official robe, but no one would recognize him if he changed into ordinary clothes.
"This guy shouldn't take himself too seriously." He laughed at himself, and then said with relief: "The person he respects is the magistrate of Kunshan. What does it have to do with me, Zhao Shouzheng?"
"Hehe, anyway, you will always be my fan...brother!" Fan Datong said with a smile.
"Let's go, brother. Let's go to Chaozhou!" Master Zhao finally put aside his official airs, and the complicated emotions that had lingered in his heart for many days finally disappeared.
For the first time in three years, he and Fan Datong walked arm in arm, standing relaxedly at the stern, watching Kunshan County go away with a smile.