Chapter 201

Chapter 201

Prefect Xu asked, "Have you settled into your accommodation yet?"

"This humble official just arrived yesterday and hasn't had time to arrange a place to stay. My family and I are currently lodging at an inn in the city."

"In that case, if you don’t mind, you can move directly into the prefectural yamen. Vice-Prefect Chen Jing used to live here, and it would save you the trouble of finding a house."

Xu Mao was a native of Shanzhou, with his home in the prefectural city. He hadn't moved into the yamen after taking office, so the rear courtyard had been vacant. He saw an opportunity to do Chen Qingyan a favor.

"This... how could I presume?"

Prefect Xu waved his hand with a smile. "We don’t stand on ceremony here. We’re all serving the court. As long as you perform your duties well and avoid causing trouble, that’s what matters."

"Thank you, sir! Then I shall accept your kind offer."

"As for matters in the yamen, you can make decisions directly on anything within your authority. If there’s an urgent matter, send someone to find me." The old man clearly intended to be a hands-off manager.

Chen Qingyan was momentarily at a loss. He had expected the Shanzhou prefectural yamen to be as full of intrigue as the imperial court. To his surprise, the Prefect not only arranged his accommodation but also immediately delegated authority to him, completely washing his hands of it.

Prefect Xu collected Chen Qingyan's appointment papers and had a servant bring over the seal and assignment tokens for the Vice-Prefect. The previous Vice-Prefect had been transferred last month, so official matters had been handled by Clerk Cao in the interim.

After exchanging a few pleasantries, Prefect Xu and Governor Feng rose to leave. Chen Qingyan remembered the letter he had brought and quickly called out to stop Governor Feng.

"Governor Feng, please wait a moment."

Feng Zhien paused, turning with a stern look. "What do you want?"

Chen Qingyan hurriedly took the letter from his pocket and handed it to him. "This... this is a letter from my uncle. He asked me to deliver it to you when I arrived in Shanzhou."

Governor Feng took the letter with some puzzlement, wondering which of his acquaintances had a nephew surnamed Chen. When he opened it, he was surprised to find it was a letter from Old Qin.

The two had served together in the military years ago and were good friends, though they had lost touch over the years due to the distance.

After reading the letter, Feng Zhien clapped Chen Qingyan on the shoulder with a large hand. "Well, well! So you’re connected to the Qin family. Since you’re Old Qin’s nephew, you’re my nephew too. If you run into any trouble in the future, don’t hesitate to ask your Uncle for help!"

"Yes, thank you, Governor Feng... Uncle." Chen Qingyan grimaced in pain from the slap but was inwardly pleased to have gained an unexpected uncle in Shanzhou. Having connections was always better than being a stranger.

"Hahaha! Come to my place for dinner tonight. I’ll have them prepare good wine and dishes for a welcome feast!"

"Thank you, Uncle. But we’ve just arrived, and my family and our belongings aren’t settled yet. Wearied from travel, please allow me a few days to rest before visiting."

Feng Zhien didn’t press further. "Alright, come over whenever you’re ready."

After the two officials left, Chen Qingyan breathed a sigh of relief. Clerks Cao and Zhang, who had been standing nearby, treated him with even greater respect.

"Do you need assistance, sir? I can send someone to fetch your family right away."

"Please find some servants to clean up the rear courtyard first. I’ll go fetch them myself."

"Understood."

*

Returning to the inn, Chen Qingyan recounted the morning’s events to Wang Ying. "I thought the officials at the yamen would be difficult to deal with, and I was even prepared for challenges. To my surprise, they were all so understanding and reasonable. They’ve even handed over all administrative authority to me."

Wang Ying smiled. "Isn’t that good? Now you can truly make your mark in Shanzhou."

"I’m just worried that while it's easier to deal with the higher-ups, the subordinates might be troublesome. It’s been over a month since I sent the letter to Fourth Uncle. I expect a reply soon. We’ll see what he says."

A courier station was no place for long-term stay, so that afternoon, the family moved to the prefectural yamen, entering the rear courtyard directly through the corner gate.

Before their arrival, Clerk Zhang had already sent servants to clean the rear courtyard. The courtyard was spacious, with a few trees planted. Due to the cold weather, the leaves had already fallen, leaving bare branches that made it hard to identify the tree species.

The main house had five bays, with two side rooms attached. There were three wing rooms on the east and west sides, and five back rooms. There were no reception rooms, but with their small family, these rooms were more than enough.

The furniture in the rooms was complete and had originally belonged to the prefectural yamen. When Fourth Uncle and his family had come, they had only brought some valuables and soft goods; everything else had been left by the previous prefect.

The furniture was made of good materials, old oak and pine wood. Though somewhat worn, it was still functional, and Wang Ying decided to keep using it.

However, the windows needed repairs. With the weather growing colder each day, drafts would make the rooms uninhabitable.

Additionally, the underfloor heating system needed rebuilding. The old one had been fired for too many years, and carbon nodules inside prevented it from heating properly.

With many hands, the work went quickly, and everything was settled by afternoon.

Wang Ying brought out the items stored in the experimental field. That night, the family slept soundly in familiar bedding, finally enjoying a peaceful rest.

For the next three years at least, this would be their home.

The next morning, Chen Qingyan began familiarizing himself with official duties.

He started by learning about the counties. Shanzhou had eleven counties: Sitong County, Zhaonan County, Zhaodong County, Zhaobei County, Lang’an County, Dafeng County, Gaopeng County, Yangqiang County, Lanqiang County, Changrong County, and others. From the names, it was clear that the latter few counties were predominantly inhabited by the Qiang and Rong ethnic groups.

Among these eleven counties, only the three Zhao counties managed to collect their full annual taxes. The others often fell short, and in years with natural disasters like drought, hail, or frost, they couldn’t even collect ten percent of the taxes.

Harsh lands breed unruly people. Due to the poor geographical conditions, banditry was rampant in the mountains. If not for Fourth Uncle’s strict governance over the past three years, their journey to Shanzhou would have been plagued by bandit attacks.

Chen Qingyan specifically looked up the records of the magistrate of Sitong County. His name was Ding Changsheng, a juren from the 7th year of the Wuping era, who had filled a vacancy in Sitong and had served as magistrate there for seventeen years.

On the surface, his administration showed no flaws. If not for witnessing his nephew committing public violence during their passage through Sitong, it would have been difficult to uncover his true character.

However, to punish him severely, his nephew’s misconduct alone was insufficient. At most, it would only force him to keep his nephew in check, without significantly affecting him personally. Once transferred, the Ding family would likely redouble their exploitation of the local common people.

Although Ding had nearly detained their group, the Qiang people’s help had allowed them to escape. This incident alone wasn’t enough to bring down this corrupt official.

Chen Qingyan rubbed his fingers thoughtfully, pondering how to expose and remove this parasitic official.

*

On the other hand, Wang Ying began arranging their life in Shanzhou. Besides Chen Ju, Chen Zhandong, and the two Huang brothers, the government had assigned two additional servants to their household.

They were a married couple: the man was called Cui Da, and the woman was called Auntie Gui. Both were born into servitude. Cui Da had previously worked as a steward for a wealthy family, so he was exceptionally diligent. Auntie Gui was skilled in the kitchen, her cooking even better than that of local eateries.

Wang Ying decided to keep both, offering them a monthly wage of one guan each, with additional bonuses at the end of the year.

Yuanbao needed to continue his studies. Initially, Wang Ying had considered hiring a tutor to teach his son at home, but after searching, he found no suitable candidates.

In Shanzhou, even possessing the rank of xiucai was rare, let alone that of a juren. There were a few good tutors, but they were all retained by wealthy families and did not teach publicly.

In the end, Wang Ying decided to enroll Yuanbao in a traditional tutor hall where he could study alongside local children. Once he had mastered the Four Books and Five Classics, they would find someone else to teach him more advanced subjects.

Reflecting on it, Wang Ying realized how fortunate his husband had been. If Old Liang hadn’t come to teach him all those years ago, no matter how hard he worked, he might have only achieved the rank of juren at best.

Next were matters of business. One advantage of serving in a remote post was that he didn’t have to worry about his secrets being exposed. As the Vice-Prefect’s male spouse, no one in Shanzhou would dare question where the produce came from as long as he didn’t volunteer the information.

Wang Ying had Chen Zhandong look for two shopfronts in the city. One would be a farm supply store, selling seeds from the experimental field and homemade fertilizers. The other would be a vegetable store. He entrusted business matters to Chen Zhandong, who would submit accounts monthly.

Additionally, Wang Ying finalized the second volume of his book and prepared to have it printed by a publishing house.

Once settled, he promptly wrote a letter home. If there were no delays, it should arrive by year’s end.

At the end of October, Shanzhou welcomed its first snowfall of the year.

Heavy snowflakes fluttered down from the sky, and both Chen Qingyan and Wang Ying unprompted stepped out of the house almost simultaneously, looking up at the sky.

They had never seen such large snowflakes when they were in Jizhou Prefecture—it was as if someone up in the sky were tearing apart cotton and tossing down handfuls. Catching one in his hand, it soon melted into water in his palm.

The ground was quickly covered with a white blanket of snow, and the distant mountains also turned white.

Yuanbao came home from school, excitedly trotting all the way home with Qian Guan. "Father, Father! It’s snowing heavily—the snow is so big!"

"Yes, come inside quickly and have some hot soup. Be careful not to catch a cold."

A yamen runner hurried over from the front courtyard. "My lord, there’s a personal letter for you."

Wang Ying stepped forward to take it. "Thank you."

There were two letters in total—one from Fourth Uncle and another from Chen Qinghuai, sent from the capital.

Wang Ying opened Qing Huai’s letter first. In it, Qing Huai expressed how much he missed them, summarizing it as: since his elder brother left, he had no one to talk to; work in his new department was not going well, his supervisor often spoke sarcastically and made things difficult for him, making him miss his days at the Hanlin Academy.

The letter also mentioned many court affairs, which Wang Ying didn’t understand and simply skipped over.

Later, the tone shifted as Qing Huai mentioned that his wife, Bai Shi, was more than six months pregnant, and his mother had come to the capital to take care of her, which he felt reassured about.

At the end of the letter, Qing Huai wrote: Shanzhou is bitterly cold—I hope elder brother and sister-in-law take good care of yourselves and return to the capital soon so we can reunite.

After reading it, Wang Ying sighed, folded the letter, and placed it on the desk to show Qing Yan when he returned in the evening.

It was nearly dark when Chen Qingyan finally hurried back from the front, his frowned deeply and his face grim.

"What happened?"

Chen Qingyan brushed the snow from his boots. "Something’s happened with the Sitong County Magistrate. Do you remember those Qiang people who saw us home last time?"

Wang Ying nodded. "Of course. What about them?"

"Just now, the Sitong County Magistrate sent a message saying the Qiang people have rebelled—rampaging in the county town. He’s urgently requesting the Governor send troops to suppress them!"

"How is that possible? Those Qiang people didn’t seem like troublemakers. It must be County Magistrate Ding’s doing!"

Chen Qingyan’s expression darkened. "I already raised this concern with the Governor this afternoon, but given the seriousness of the situation, I may have to go there myself."

"Don’t worry—I’ll go prepare your luggage right away!"