Seeing that Zhao Yi truly had no such idea, the Emperor gave up on the idea.
He asked, "Do you want to become an official in the imperial court?"
Zhao Yi hesitated for a moment.
He has already refused the Emperor once; if he refuses again, it won't be easy to explain.
Emperors are ruthless.
Thinking of this, Zhao Yi nodded and knelt down again: "I will leave it to Your Majesty's arrangement."
The Emperor nodded in satisfaction.
When Zhao Yi returned to the county town, he did so as the newly appointed magistrate. General Lin Yong had served as prefect for a year, leaving the border vulnerable. Now that Zhao Yi had raised the necessary funds for the army, it was natural for him to send Lin Yong back to fight.
The position of prefect was vacant, and the original county magistrate—who was also the third master of the Ren family—took up the position, which was exactly the vacancy for a county magistrate.
Zhao Yi became a low-ranking official, a mere ninth-grade magistrate.
He didn't feel any change. After all, the Third Master of the Ren family was used to being a county magistrate. Although he had been promoted, he still had to do these tasks. Zhao Yi was just taking on a nominal position to reduce the emperor's suspicion.
-
Jiang Bai's carriage swayed and rattled back to the village.
The village chief was waiting at the village entrance. He seemed to have heard the news that Jiang Bai had changed milk suppliers, and his face looked very grim.
Knowing he couldn't avoid it, Jiang Bai got out of the car and greeted the village chief.
The village chief sneered, "You actually dare to come back?"
Jiang Bai smiled and said, "Village chief, this is my home. Why wouldn't I dare to come back?"
The village chief said, "Look at what you've done, you've really disgraced our village."
Actually, he completely lost face.
Seeing this, Jiang Bai pretended to be nonchalant and asked, "Did Boss Zhao consult with the village chief before threatening me to raise the price?"
The village chief was shocked: "How could they have consulted me about these things!"
"Since there was no discussion, how dare he raise the price on his own? Isn't that putting our village's face on the ground?" Jiang Bai said calmly. "Furthermore, his act of abandoning his wife and children shows that we are not on the same page."
Upon hearing the phrase "abandoning one's wife and children," the village chief felt somewhat guilty.
This Mr. Zhao was a distant relative of his, and also related to Zhao Yi's family. After all, in the countryside at that time, families living close by could be related by some degree.
So when the village chief suggested that Jiang Bai and Boss Zhao cooperate, he was very confident that it would be better to benefit his own relatives than to benefit others.
I never expected the other party to do something so foolish.
Even nowadays, while many wealthy men have multiple wives and concubines, women are a scarce commodity in rural areas. Marrying just one woman means the family is living a comfortable life; let alone two or three, that's just wishful thinking.
The couples around them are mostly monogamous and support each other. Although rural people are not well-educated, they still know the saying that one should not abandon one's wife who has shared hardship.
There's no way to deny what happened to Boss Zhao.
The village chief even went to inquire about it. It turned out that the woman Zhao had remarried used to be a courtesan in a brothel, making a living by selling her charms and smiles. Presumably, after Boss Zhao made money, he went to drink and hire prostitutes, and the two of them got together.
Now that courtesan is pregnant, the situation is completely beyond repair, and the village chief can only sigh.
He asked, "Where do you buy your milk from now?"
Jiang Bai said, "Since I'm buying from someone else, I'm always at risk of being threatened, so I naturally won't make the same mistake twice."
"This time, Zhao Yi paid for me to buy a small cattle farm so that we can be self-sufficient."
She didn't forget to use Zhao Yi's name to intimidate others.
Upon hearing the name Zhao Yi, the village chief nodded and said nothing more.
He apparently didn't know that Zhao Yi had left.
Jiang Bai chatted with him for a few more minutes, and then the village chief suddenly rushed towards another group of people.
The newcomers were several burly men with thick stubble covering their faces, obscuring their features. Their eyes were fierce, and they never smiled; they were clearly not to be trifled with.
Jiang Bai felt that these people exuded a faint aura of bloodshed, unlike ordinary people, and couldn't help but move closer.
The village chief was smiling and greeting people.
Jiang Bai interrupted, asking, "I've never seen these guys before, Village Chief, what brings you here...?"
The village chief smiled and replied to Jiang Bai, "These leaders want to contract our mountain forest, and they've come to check out the terrain."
"Contracting the mountain forest?" Jiang Bai asked doubtfully. "Excuse me for asking, but what kind of business are you planning to do with the mountain forest?"
This mountain forest is quite large. When Jiang Bai bought the hillside for grazing, he had considered it, but after asking around about the price, he found it was simply not worth it.
This mountain forest is particularly pristine, with uneven ground and few large wild animals, making it an unsuitable choice for farming, hunting, or herb gathering.
The men stared at Jiang Bai for a moment, then said gruffly, "It's none of your business."
The village chief didn't care what the other party wanted to do after taking over the lease. As long as they paid on time, he wouldn't report them even if they rebelled inside.
This money, once distributed, is enough to allow everyone in the village to have an extra meal of white flour buns.
Seeing the men in front of him with unfriendly expressions, he immediately shooed Jiang Bai away: "Aren't you going back to the Zhao family? Why aren't you leaving?"
Jiang Bai knew he wouldn't get any more information from her, so he sighed and left.
When she arrived at the Zhao family's new house, only Old Mrs. Zhao and her third brother's wife were at home.
When the third sister-in-law saw Jiang Bai come in, she hurriedly went to the door and called to the children: "Go to the field and tell your grandfather and father that your aunt has come back."
"Okay." The children skipped and hopped away.
Jiang Bai entered with a smile and greeted Grandma Zhao: "Mother, as soon as I heard you called me over, I dropped what I was doing and rushed over."
Based on the time she arrived, it was indeed because she set off early the next morning. After thinking about it, Grandma Zhao nodded in satisfaction.
Jiang Bai didn't wait for anyone to invite her to sit down, but instead sat down on the stool next to her. After sitting down, she tilted her head and asked Old Lady Zhao, "Did you call me here for something?"
"Where is Zhao Yi?" Old Mrs. Zhao asked in return.
Jiang Bai said, "Zhao Yi has some business to take care of and isn't home right now."
Upon hearing this, the third brother's wife was about to say something when several panting people entered through the door.
The whole family who were working in the fields ran back home.
Old Master Zhao was probably getting on in years, and he was breathing heavily, so he rested in his chair for a while before he could speak.
He didn't speak, and the younger generation didn't dare to speak first either. They stared straight at Jiang Bai, looking him up and down as if he were a pig waiting to be slaughtered.
After catching his breath, Old Master Zhao asked in a stern tone, "I heard you let your younger brother take over the milk tea shop?"
"Who told you that?" Jiang Bai asked in surprise. "How could you lie like that?"
"You dare say no?" The second brother's wife was rather stunned and asked directly, "Everyone in the village saw it. Your brother's new wife was showing off at the milk tea shop, and all the employees listened to her."
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