Along with the "rumbling" thunder, the rain poured down from the sky, fast and fierce. In the blink of an eye, the sky and the earth were covered with white, giving a hazy beauty.
The weather in Changsha changes all the time. The sun is still shining brightly during the day, but it suddenly begins to rain heavily in the evening. Liu Jing originally planned to visit his brother Liu Pan's residence and identify the door, but now he cannot go.
Trapped in his room, Liu Jing had no choice but to pick up the "Book of Han" again and read ten chapters in a row. When he finished reading Huo Guang and Jin Rixi's biography, he realized that the night was already dark.
Feeling sleepy, Liu Jing blew out the lights, undressed and lay down on the bed, falling asleep to the sound of rain hitting the roof tiles.
The next day, as usual, he woke up on time at Mao Shi (five o'clock). The rain outside had stopped at some point, but the dark clouds had not yet dispersed.
Liu Jing had long been accustomed to the cloudy and rainy weather in Changsha. After washing, he used the leftover rice and deer breasts from yesterday to make a pot of deer breast porridge.
Most families in the Han Dynasty ate two meals a day, and breakfast was probably between seven and nine in the morning. But after all, he was not from this era, and he was only seventeen years old. It was the time for his body to grow. He is currently seven feet four.
inch, and may have the opportunity to grow to eight feet in the future.
He is not short of money and food now, not to mention three meals a day, even four meals a day. Therefore, as soon as the deer breast porridge was cooked, he drank it all like a storm.
On Pingdan, Li Li arrived as promised, and Liu Jing was already ready. His long hair was tied up, and he wore a black silk turban on his head. He wore a white silk lining with red edges, and a chicken heart-style gray cloud-patterned official robe.
Wearing red silk trousers and brown square-toed cloth shoes, he stood tall and graceful, making Li Li secretly admire him.
It rained all night yesterday, and the ground was a bit soft and muddy, making it difficult to walk on foot. Fortunately, Li Li was prepared and summoned an ox cart to take the journey.
The bullock cart rolled slowly out of the county government and headed west until it reached the east gate of the West City.
Liu Jing's heart was moved, and he looked outside and happened to see a tall city soldier with an unruly expression. This man was a desperado and had a conflict with the men of Changsha hero Ou Xiong, which left a very deep impression on him.
impression.
Due to a heavy rain, the originally noisy market became slightly deserted.
When they arrived at the gate of the market building, Liu Jing and Li Li got off the car one after another. The latter's identity as an official made the guards guarding the market building frightened, so they did not dare to stop him and allowed him to go in and out.
Entering the market building, Li Li walked straight in with great swagger. Almost no official in the building dared to step forward to ask questions. This shows the majesty of the meritorious officer.
It was not until they reached the second floor that Li Li restrained his behavior. No matter how downcast Huang Qiu was, he was still an official with hundreds of stones. He was a big shot who was qualified to participate in the (county) court meeting. He, a junior official, could never afford to offend him.
A city official who was about thirty-seven or seventy-eight years old, with dark complexion and a stern face came forward and greeted Li Li. Li Li introduced him that this person was Xie Liang, the right historian of the city.
Li Li took out the wooden slip from his arms and handed it to Xie Liang, briefly describing his purpose.
After Xie Liang read the wooden document, he glanced at Liu Jing again. Although he had received the news in advance, looking at Liu Jing, who was about the same age as his son, he felt a trace of bitterness in his heart, sighing how unfair the sky was to him!
Just because he was born into a poor family, he worked diligently for more than ten years to reach the position of "Historian". He doesn't know if he will ever have the chance to become a Hundred Stone Lord.
As for the other party, he was born in a prestigious Guan clan and was younger than the weak Guan. As soon as he entered the county government, he was on an equal footing with him, and it would not take long for him to surpass him.
He had suffered countless hardships and endured countless crimes to achieve his status, but to the people in front of him, it was just the starting point. How could Xie not feel desolate in his heart?
Li Li asked: "I wonder if Mr. Huang is here?"
Xie Liang stopped his distracting thoughts in time and replied: "Pun Jun has not arrived yet, please wait for a moment. Jun Jun has been looking forward to Liu Jun for a long time and ordered an empty room to be vacated early as a place for Liu Jun to listen to things in the future. You two
Please come with me."
Liu Jing's office is located on the second floor, on the same floor as Xie Liang. Due to the limited area of the market, the room is naturally not big, but it is not cramped either. Looking out the window, you can have an unobstructed view of the city scenery.
The three of them sat down, and Xie Liang briefly introduced the daily work of city officials to Liu Jing.
The main responsibility of the city officials is to "balance the balance and do justice", that is, to inspect and test weights and measures to ensure that transactions are fair and just, so as to stabilize the market order.
But in fact, the powers of city officials are very broad, involving all aspects of market affairs, including the management of market location, time, goods, contracts, taxes, craftsmen, merchants, etc., as well as combating illegal activities, such as profiteers, theft, etc.
Of course, "Historians" are already at the top of the pyramid of city officials. They don't need to do everything themselves. The people below are in charge. They only need to make decisions.
Time passed quickly while several people were talking. It was past midnight and Huang Qiu was still missing. Xie Liang's expression gradually became anxious.
Huang Qiu knew that Liu Jing took office today and had a meritorious official to accompany him, but he was actually late at this critical moment? If this matter was reported to Cao Huanjie by Li Li, it doesn't take much to think about it, Huang Qiu would definitely not be able to take advantage of it.
Xie Liang was as anxious as an ant on a hot pot, and he was looking forward to it. Finally, Huang Qiu came. The omissions in the market clearly showed that he was more than three quarters of an hour late.
The first impression given to people of Huang Qiu is that he is thin. His cheeks are sunken and fleshless, and his figure is also extremely thin, which is not enough to hold up the large official uniform. He has a funny feeling of wearing a crown like a monkey.
"On the way here, the carriage shaft may have been in disrepair and suddenly broke, which delayed the time." After meeting, Huang Qiu explained to Liu Jing and Li Li why he arrived late. His reason was quite reasonable.
, however, his red and swollen eyes, pale complexion, smell of alcohol all over his body, and his whole person looked like he was still hungover, making his explanation unconvincing.
However, the people present, including Li Li, obviously would not expose Huang Qiu's lies. In the final analysis, offending a hundred-stone official for no reason would be harmful but not beneficial. Since Huang Qiu gave a legitimate reason, Li Li was happy.
Pretending to be confused.
In order to wait for Huang Qiu, Li Li sat in the market building all morning. Now that he saw people, he could finally leave and immediately said goodbye to them.
Huang Qiu nodded when he heard this, and his reaction was slightly cold. Although the meritorious officer was powerful, he still didn't pay attention to a small subordinate.
In comparison, Liu Jing was much more enthusiastic. Li Li had been busy working on his affairs for the past two days, with no credit but hard work, so he sent him off again and again.
Huang Qiu's face was slightly impatient. When Liu Jing returned, he immediately took his arm and invited him into the third floor to talk. Whether intentionally or unintentionally, Xie Liang was turned away.
Huang Qiu'an sat at the main seat and said to Liu Jing with a smile on his face: "I learned from a meritorious official that Liu Zhongda, who "works hard to support customers" and "qualifies books to save neighbors", is coming to the city to take up a post. I almost doubted my ears.
Something is wrong, and until this very moment, I believe it.”
Liu Jingsu bowed his head and said, "I didn't expect that I would be so favored by the emperor. I don't dare to accept it." Huang Qiu was not a good person and had a very bad reputation. He was afraid that the other party would be a weird and difficult person to get along with. Now, looking at him
Attitude, I can finally breathe a sigh of relief.
Huang Qiu added: "Liu Pingjun is also cruel. In order to gain experience, he assigned you to serve in the city. Doesn't Liu Pingjun know that the market has not been a place for gentlemen since ancient times. In this city building, except for you and me, the rest of the people
They are all vulgar and ignorant people.”
Huang Qiu obviously regarded Liu Jing as one of his own, so he had no scruples and spoke freely.
Liu Jing was speechless for a moment. From the few words he said, he could conclude that this person must be extremely unpopular in the market, but this was a good thing for him.
Huang Qiu continued to complain to Liu Jingda: "Alas! You know, before you came, I couldn't even find anyone who could sit and talk."
"..."
Huang Qiu regarded Liu Jing as a close friend. He talked with great enthusiasm and spoke very fast. Liu Jing could rarely get in the conversation. Apart from nodding in agreement, he mostly acted as a listener.
It has to be said that Liu Jing is a very qualified listener. Huang Qiuzhi's mouth went dry and he yawned continuously before he stopped talking.
Liu Jing took the opportunity to excuse himself and closed the door on his way out.