The deal was negotiated with Liu Ziwen last night.
Early the next morning, a steward from the Liu family came to the Longcheng County Yamen to hand over to Liucao.
The matter of Di Gongzha was immediately put on the agenda, and under the supervision of the young county magistrate, implementation began.
The Liu family craftsmen and county government personnel who planned the project also began to mobilize one after another.
Logically speaking, he could just let his subordinates handle these matters. Like the young head of the Liu family, Ouyang Rong only needed to cut the ribbon and show up on the day the Di Gong Gate was completed.
However, the young county magistrate took the issue of Di Gong Gate more seriously than the first phase of Zheyi Canal and went to the front line to inspect it in person.
Early this morning, Ouyang Rong took his subordinates to the upper reaches to inspect the old site of Di Gong Gate.
It is quite convenient to take a boat from Penglangdu to go upstream. Butterfly Creek is not too fast, and going upstream is not much slower than the land route.
Ouyang Rong once again set foot on the old site of Di Gong Gate.
Wildflowers of the same blue color are scattered among the abandoned wooden piles and stone piers on both sides of the river, and the soil and vegetation have grown rapidly after the flood.
It gives people a rather deserted feeling.
The agile and agile subordinates in the team approached the young county magistrate and explained to him the newly built Digong Gate.
Ouyang Rong listened silently, nodding from time to time, but his eyes unconsciously fell on the blue flowers scattered on the old site.
Driving all the way from Penglangdu, there are blue wild flowers on both sides of the river.
In Longcheng itself, it is called butterfly flower by the locals and blooms all over the banks of Butterfly Creek.
However, Ouyang Rong was a little dumbfounded when he saw it. Isn't this the iris of the previous life, but it probably doesn't have this name now.
After a busy morning of inspections, until noon, the young county magistrate and his party stopped for lunch at a farmer's house in a mountain village not far away.
The aftermath of the Longcheng flood has largely passed, and the scars have gradually healed.
The refugees who fled to Longcheng from the upper reaches survived hunger in the disaster relief camps and saved some money and food through the county government's work-for-work relief. Many people who had farmland have returned to the villages.
This was the case in this mountain village where they settled. The farmers who had resettled were very enthusiastic about the arrival of the "Magistrate Luobo County". Women, children and children gathered around one after another, and the yard was crowded. After lunch, they were eager to stay again. Ouyang Rong finally found
I was able to get away with an excuse.
When the sun was high in the sky, the craftsmen of the Liu family and the county government clerks completed the on-site inspection and recording of the situation at the old site of Di Gongzha. Everyone was preparing to return to the county seat. Ouyang Rong wiped the sweat from his forehead with his left sleeve.
"Hey, where's Ah Shan?"
He turned his head and lost sight of the figure of a dull man. He turned back and walked a few steps back around the hull, only to find Liu Ashan bending down to pick something at the wet stall behind the stern of the ship.
When the tall, dull man boarded the boat with a small handful of blue irises in his hand, and the boat started back on its way, Ouyang Rong on the bow curiously asked:
"Ah Shan, why are you picking these flowers?"
Liu Ashan said dullly: "Today is my sister's birthday. She really likes butterfly flowers."
Ouyang Rong suddenly asked, "A Qing's birthday? How old are you?"
"fourteen."
"I remember you said last time that you bought a house in the suburbs of the city, and A Qing and your father took it over to live in it, right?"
"I have so many things to do, but I still remember this."
Ouyang Rong said directly:
"You will go home to spend time with your family later. You will not come to the county office in the afternoon. You will bring them to Meiluyuan for dinner tonight. I will ask my aunt to prepare some dishes, and by the way, I will cook a bowl of longevity noodles for Ah Qing."
The young county magistrate smiled, the tall and lanky man looked hesitant, and the former made an involuntary decision:
"No excuses, it's settled."
After a moment of silence, Liu Ashan nodded and wiped the mud on both sides of his pants.
Ouyang Rong asked again with concern: "Didn't I say that I would redeem my mother and sister's body before? What happened now?"
"Aniang has been redeemed, but Amei has not yet."
Ouyang Rong frowned slightly:
"Is it because you don't have enough money? Ah Qing is already fourteen, which is already the age to get married in the village just now. It would be better to redeem his good status so that he can find a good family in the future."
Liu Ashan shook his head: "No, it's because A-mei doesn't want to redeem herself. She said she could still make some more money and wanted to work a little longer and help out..."
Ouyang Rong wanted to ask again, but the dull man looked around. There was no one on the bow of the boat, and the wind was quite loud. He approached Ouyang Rong and whispered:
"Master, do you still remember what I mentioned last time, the vacant Jiasanjian furnace on the west bank of Butterfly Creek?"
"I have the impression that the craftsmen it freed up were not transferred by the Liu family to prepare for the construction of Di Gong Gate?"
"This is true, but the Liu family vacated the Jiasanjian furnace before Liu Ziwen approached the master to make peace. At that time, there were no signs of easing up with us. Moreover, our people inquired and found that there was something fishy about the Jiasanjian furnace."
"What's weird?"
"After the Sword Furnace people evacuated, they were still lighting the fire, as if they had no intention of stopping."
"All the people in this Jia San Sword Furnace have been evacuated?"
"No, but the original swordsmiths have all left, and some old, weak, and disabled craftsmen have come to guard the fire. I don't know why the fire doesn't go out. Black smoke can be seen every morning, and it is burning day and night.
."
"If you don't turn off the flame, what is this sword furnace forging?"
Ouyang Rong couldn't help but wonder, and combined with some anomalies between Liu Ziwen and the Liu family in the past few days, he looked a little wary.
"have no idea."
"If we continue to inquire, we should focus on this matter."
"Yes, sir."
The bow of the ship became quiet, with only the sound of the howling wind, as if no conversation had happened...
Back at the Longcheng County Government Office, Ouyang Rong and Liu Ashan separated, and they made an appointment to have dinner at night.
Ouyang Rong took a short break in the afternoon and continued working in the afternoon. His current work was mainly to review the plans provided by the Liu family craftsmen with his scribes and subordinates.
The young county magistrate was immersed in his papers and worked for an hour before he stood up, stretched out, grabbed a cup of tea, took a long breath, and glanced around.
The hall of the office was filled with the sounds of Sha Sha turning pages and grinding ink. The subordinates from Liu Cao were all working with their heads down.
However, Ouyang Rong knew that some of them seemed to be extra hardworking and industrious because of his presence.
Ouyang Rong walked around the public case, suddenly thought of something, and looked a little embarrassed.
In the evening, I asked Ah Qing to come to Meiluyuan to eat longevity noodles. She was the birthday girl, so he had to give her something. Even her brother gave her a bouquet of butterfly flowers.
Almost rude, Ouyang Rong criticized himself a little.
But the things you give to little girls don’t have to be too expensive, as little girls are generally quite easy to coax.
"I remember that Ah Qing seemed to be doing manual needlework and was very careful and skillful. Then... let's fold some paper."
The young magistrate glanced at the paper baskets beside the desks in the busy hall and nodded inwardly.
Just do it.
Someone put down his teacup and walked off the stage.
The scribes who were concentrating on their work behind the ten desks in the hall suddenly tensed up in their chairs.
Many people are secretly wondering: What is the Ming Dynasty doing? Why are they going through our wastebaskets one by one? Could it be...
The fisherman among the crowd suddenly became nervous, and his work-obsessed face became more focused.
The hall seemed even quieter.
Ouyang Rong raised his head and looked at his subordinates who had been given blood with some curiosity. He paid no attention to them and returned to the public case with some clean waste paper in the wastebasket.
After all, Longcheng County Government is also a government office, and the paper used by officials and scribes is relatively expensive.
Ouyang Rong saw a kind of paper dyed indigo blue, which seemed to be porcelain blue paper. Temples like Donglin Temple used it a lot when copying scriptures.
The young county magistrate brought a wooden ruler and cut the porcelain blue paper into small triangles. He lowered his head and started overlapping pieces to piece them together.
In less than a quarter of an hour, a little gadget was created.
Put it aside and get back to business.
In the evening, when Ouyang Rong got off duty, he reached out and picked up the gadget and put it in a book. He hugged the book and left the county government office, returning to Meiluyuan.
Liu Ashan's family arrived earlier than Ouyang Rong imagined.
When he returned to Meiluyuan, he took the hot towel from the white-haired little girl who was waiting at the door with eyes wide open, wiped his face and hands casually, and rushed to the front hall for dinner.
Zhen, Liu Mu, Liu Ashan, Ah Qing and others have already filled the round table.
"Sir." Liu Ashan's family stood up to salute.
"It's okay, it's okay, just treat yourself like home." Ouyang Rong pressed his palms lightly and sat down with a smile.
Everyone sat down again and exchanged a few words.
Under Zhen's instructions, he waited for the maid to serve the dishes.
The woman in Luoqun smiled and said: "Auntie, Ah Qing, try it. This is the hometown dish of Tanlang and I. Do you think it suits your taste?"
Ouyang Rong saw the familiar dishes on this table, especially the bowl of spicy soup in front of him. He couldn't help but swallowed and looked at Zhen:
"Auntie, is this made by our cook?"
Zhen said with a smile: "I changed the cook at home and asked Banxi to hire the cook from Yunshui Pavilion. Tanlang likes to eat it and can eat it at any time in the future."
Ouyang Rong's face was startled.
This chapter is a foreshadowing, it may be a bit short... There is one more chapter to finish. Everyone goes to bed early and will read it tomorrow~