Chapter 208 Arrangements for funeral arrangements and people from Luoyang
The officials and officials of the Longcheng County Government discovered that a certain young county magistrate had become much easier to talk to recently.
Even yesterday morning when he saw Prime Minister Diao dozing off on the spot, he didn't say anything and walked away silently with his hands behind his back. He just made a joke to the old Prime Minister afterwards and fined him some salary.
These changes seem to have started after I recovered from the cold and returned to the office.
In addition, Mr. Mingfu seems to have been enjoying some leisurely and elegant travels these past two days.
But he was not like those Confucian county magistrates in the past who organized elegant literary gatherings with public funds and summoned literati to dance and write at scenic spots.
Instead, he took his accompanying officials and wandered from the Yue Nu Gorge in the upper reaches of Butterfly Creek to the sandbar at the farthest downstream of the Yangtze River entrance.
With only one pair of legs, I silently walked along the Butterfly Creek, passing through Digong Gate, Zheyi Canal, Xiaogushan, Dagushan and other places, and even some remote villages in the ravines, Shili Baxiang, Mingfu adults.
I went to take a look... and finally took a tour of the entire Longcheng County.
He looked left and right along the way, saying very little, and then silently returned to Luming Street.
Some county officials couldn't help but wonder whether the Ming Dynasty man, who loved to make trouble and always took things by surprise, had new measures to promulgate.
But after wandering around and returning to the Longcheng County Government Office, the young magistrate rested and went to get off work and off duty, and everything was as usual.
The only movement that attracted everyone's attention was to inquire about the progress of the Zheyi Canal, which was about to be completed. In the lobby of the county government, some grain merchants and gentry who had invested in the Zheyi Canal were routinely convened to discuss future plans and some issues.
Details change.
Apart from that, if you insist on saying there are any other big moves.
That is when the Ming Dynasty suddenly incorporated Liu Ashan and other young men from the People's Liberation Army into the county government office. For this reason, a new Cao Division was established in the government office to prevent floods, provide disaster relief and care for the people, which was considered to be an expansion.
However, everyone in the county government was not surprised by this matter. This kind of matter was within the scope of authority of the Longcheng County Magistrate. Lord Mingfu also followed the procedures and asked Jiangzhou for instructions. The procedures were reasonable and compliant. It was nothing.
Easy to talk about.
Moreover, everyone in the county knew very well that Liu Ashan and other men were Ouyang Rong's closest confidants besides Yan Liulang.
Generally speaking, in the various prefectures and counties of the Zhou Dynasty, county magistrates and other local governors, when new officials took office, they would bring some close aides into the government, arrange their duties, make three plans, etc., to streamline or expand the team.
For people like Ouyang Rong, it took so long after taking office to start personnel transfers and implement half of the conventional three-step axe. This surprised everyone in the county government.
But when I turned around and thought about it, this Lord of the Ming Dynasty is a hard-core princess, an upright gentleman who asks for orders for the people, and it is normal for him to be particularly incorruptible...
Ouyang Rong didn't know that his every move was so closely watched by his subordinates and colleagues. Even if he knew, he would probably just smile.
In the evening, Ouyang Rong returned to the county government office on Luming Street as usual.
He went to Zheyi Canal to inspect for a while this afternoon.
Entering the court, Ouyang Rong took off his hat, drank herbal tea thirsty, stared at the "upright and bright" plaque directly above the court, and murmured softly:
"This Liu Zian seems to be really honest. He agreed to contribute not less than a penny to Zhe Yiqu's capital, but even a lot. He is a good old man. If he is pretending to be a grandson, then he is too good at pretending."
He lowered his head and thought carefully, frowned for a long time, relaxed his brows, and shook his head slightly:
"I have dismantled the Liu family into this state, and the public trial in the county has lost its prestige among the people. Behind them are Junior Sister and Liu Lang who are sharpening their knives.
"There is only one dilapidated sword shop left, and half of the craftsmen in the sword shop were poached by me. They were included in the county government's work under the pretext of repairing gates. Liu Zian kept smiling when he saw me today, and did not mention this at all.
"Speaking of which, did I go too far? I reached out and didn't hit the smiling man...forget it, I hit the smiling man instead.
"However, I really can't think of anything else that could pose a threat to the Liu family."
Ouyang Rong held the teacup in his hand, stood quietly for a while, and nodded gently.
In the past two days, he had been checking and filling in the gaps to see if there was anything he had missed. After walking around, he found that there seemed to be nothing that he needed to do personally.
After a moment, he gave instructions to Liu Ashan outside the door without looking back. Immediately, an officer from the county Yahu Cao was summoned.
Ouyang Rong turned around and asked directly: "How much salary can I draw?"
Chief Hucao was stunned.
Half an hour later.
The officials of Hu Cao retreated, and in the spacious county government hall, only Ouyang Rong's figure was left sitting at the top, behind the public case.
On the koan in front of him, there was a small gray cloth bag and a small stack of papers quietly placed.
This is the salary of Ouyang Rong's seventh-rank official, which is divided into salary silver, lumi and some allocated job fields.
The salary money is not much, it is all on the table, and the rice and the harvest from the assigned fields are all in the book, you can use it to get it.
Ouyang Rong lowered his head to check, sighed and shook his head:
"No wonder local officials want to collect Xiaojing's local specialties to make extra money. They handle projects worth tens of thousands of taels of silver, but their salary is only a small amount of silver... A seventh-grade official doesn't have any money left."
Having been busy in Longcheng for so long, and receiving the salary of a "seven-grade civil servant" in the Zhou Dynasty, he laughed at himself as if he was enjoying the hardships.
He raised his hand to weigh the small bag, pondered for a moment, took out a few strings of copper coins, and lined them up on the table carefully.
"Ah Shan."
Ouyang Rong raised his head and called Liu Ashan, and gestured to the copper coins on the table:
"This is the cost of renting a boat. You take it and divide it among the boatmen."
Liu Ashan hesitated to speak, but someone who didn't like "public tools for private use" had already stood up and left.
The setting sun in the evening stretched the shadow of the public case table in the lobby very long, as did the shadow of a young county magistrate at the door.
Ouyang Rong stopped in front of the door and looked back at the familiar public case hall. As if he was moved by the scene, he actually felt a little nostalgic, and the days were getting shorter.
"Good guy, I don't have much money, but you still think you're addicted, right?"
Ouyang Rong joked to himself, took the remaining salary and left, heading home at the end of his shift.
He first went to Hu Cao to exchange Lumi, and then helped Liu Ashan and others to carry it back to Meiluyuan.
In the yard, after bidding farewell to Liu Ashan and others with a smile, Ouyang Rong glanced at the quiet white-haired maid nestled in front of the house.
Ouyang Rong reached into his arms and took out the mostly deflated small cloth bag. He pointed at Lumi and other items, and motioned to Ye Weilai and the maids to put them away.
These were brought back to the Zhen family and the Nanlong Ouyang family. Although they were not worth much, they did not rely on his salary, but his official status.
Ouyang Rong went into the house to wash his hands and go to have dinner.
Ye Weilai and a group of maids followed silently and served around him.
At the dining table, there was only the sound of chopsticks occasionally hitting porcelain bowls and crispy plates, and no one spoke.
Ever since Ouyang Rong gave the order in a firm tone that evening, asking Ye Weilai to take the remaining maids back to Nanlong, the atmosphere between the master and servant has been like this in the past two days.
During the past two days in the Meilin courtyard, Ye Weilai lowered her head while doing things such as making beds and folding quilts, serving tea and rice, doing laundry and mopping the floor. From time to time, she turned around to look at the figure of the man of the house who was burying his head in papers, cautiously.
But the white-haired maid's timid, obedient and hard-to-please performance did not shake anyone's firm attitude at all.
The atmosphere at home became increasingly silent.
This was supposed to be a long parting speech, but Ouyang Rong was extremely silent.
Tonight's dinner also ended in a tacit silence between the two.
After Ouyang Rong took a bath, he came to the study. Recently, there were a lot of Taoist, Buddhist and metaphysical books on his desk.
Ouyang Rong borrowed them all from Donglin Temple and some scholars and gentry families in the county, just for show, but in fact he didn't bother to look through them.
In front of the desk, Ouyang Rong, who was dressed in pure white underwear after taking a shower, turned his head and glanced at the piles of books and calligraphy on the bookshelf. He lowered his head and thought about it. He stood up and stepped forward to pack the books away.
"These books are too troublesome for Wei Lai to take back, so just give them to Su Dalang to encourage him to study diligently. After all, they are also a gift from Tanhua Lang, the youngest Jinshi in the Zhou Dynasty. Well, you're welcome."
When he thought of the rich expressions on Su Dalang's weathered and bearded face after receiving these books a few days later, Ouyang Rong burst into laughter and felt much better.
He did what he said, and Ouyang Rong spent the whole night cleaning up the house and packing books and notes.
It's late at night, there's no moon tonight, it's dark outside, and there's a cold wind blowing.
Ye Weilai was wearing a thin nightgown, holding an oil lamp in both hands and entered the room silently. Her big blue eyes were slightly swollen and red. She quietly glanced at Ouyang Rong's busy figure beside the desk, lowered her head and walked to the back room, put down the lamp, and spread the quilt.
Bed warmer.
Not long after, the fire in the house was turned off and he went to bed.
The back room fell into darkness, and the air was completely silent. Ouyang Rong closed his eyes and lay on his back, covering himself with quilts.
The small quilt next to him on the outside was bulging into a ball, and he didn't know what his sleeping position was.
"I weigh eighty pounds."
A certain bulging "little quilt" suddenly said.
After that evening, Ouyang Rong and Ye Weilai had only spoken in single digits until just now, which were all daily questions and answers. Now it was the first time in the past two days that Ye Weilai took the initiative to speak.
Ouyang Rong also noticed that the little girl used "I" instead of "nuer" and other humble words.
"What?" In the darkness, Ouyang Rong turned his head slightly toward her with his eyes closed.
"When Tanlang bought me, I weighed sixty pounds. Now I weigh eighty pounds," she said.
Ouyang Rong remembered that at that time, this little girl was locked in an iron cage. He exchanged rice for her. When she was weighed out of the cage, she weighed as much as sixty kilograms of five pecks of rice.
He was silent for a while:
"oh."
The little girl seemed to be wrangling her fingers under the quilt, and a serious voice came:
"Sixty kilograms turned into eighty kilograms, Tan Lang is not at a loss."
"..."
Ouyang Rong, who was originally a little melancholy after parting, was immediately amused. He suddenly raised his upper body, lifted the quilt next to him, and rubbed his furry silver-haired little head vigorously. He was very speechless:
"The rice you eat doesn't count, right?"
In the darkness, the little girl seemed to tilt her head and was stunned for a moment.
She raised her little hand, as if she was going to wipe her eyes with the back of her hand, but stopped midway through, scratching her little nose randomly, lowered her head and said "Oh", and said no more.
Ouyang Rong took back his hand, hesitated, and said seriously:
"You are growing older, so you should eat more. One hundred pounds is normal."
"Okay." Ye Weilai raised her little face and couldn't help but puff up her little chest and asked: "When I'm a hundred pounds, how do I tell Tan Lang? Can I write a letter to you?"
Ouyang Rong lay down again, closed his eyes and said, "You can grow up first and then talk about it."
Ye Weilai also lay down, staring at the ceiling with her blue eyes for a while. She suddenly reached into the neckline of her nightgown, took out a hanging thing from her arms, lightly twisted it with two fingers, put it to her lips and took a bite.
There is a slight "clucking" sound of metal teeth grinding.
The little girl has good teeth.
Ouyang Rong turned his head warily, leaned back slightly, and said with a disgusted expression:
"What are you doing?"
Ye Weilai stupidly handed out two copper plates and asked in a low voice: "Do you want them?"
Ouyang Rong misheard a word, and a black line appeared on his forehead: "I won't bite it, it's too dirty, take it away."
She also misheard a word, and heard him say the word "dirty" angrily. The little girl's shoulders trembled.
Ouyang Rong immediately reacted quickly and his voice softened:
"I'm saying I won't bite it, it's not that I don't want it. I want it, but keep letting it go to you and keep it for me."
"Okay, okay!"
Ye Weilai nodded hurriedly and stuffed the two copper plates tied with red threads back into her chest. These were the "running heads" that Ouyang Rong gave her at the beginning, and she had a running head again.
"sleep."
"good."
The two lay down to sleep again.
But after a while, Ouyang Rong, who proposed to "sleep", suddenly said:
"Would you feel better if I took you all the way there?"
The little girl was stunned, "Huh?"
Ouyang Rong was silent for a moment and calmly repeated:
"I mean, I'm asking for leave to take you back to Nanlong, but I just want to keep you safe on the way. When we get there, I'll put on the incense sticks and turn around and leave.
"It shouldn't be so sad to say goodbye like this, so can you stop crying?"
Ye Weilai shook her head and nodded again, not knowing what she was answering.
Finally, she buried her face deeply and stammered in her soft voice: "Okay... Tanlang... sleep... sleep."
There was no more sound in the house.
In the darkness, Ouyang Rong silently turned his head and glanced in the direction of the desk. There was a bronze mask there, which seemed to be useful...
The next day.
Ouyang Rong went to the county government office early in the morning as usual.
But today, the table in front of him was filled with stacks of envelopes.
Ouyang Rong sat upright, laid out paper, studied ink, and began to write.
The morning time flew by in a flash, and Ouyang Rong kept writing. During this period, he raised his head from time to time and glanced at the sunshine on the corridor outside the door. His lips wriggled slightly and he considered his words.
Near noon, he put down his brush and twisted his right wrist with his left palm.
"Ah Shan."
"Here, sir."
Ouyang Rong pushed a thick stack of neat envelopes to Liu Ashan and calmly ordered:
"Send them all."
Liu Ashan was stunned and nodded, "Okay, sir."
Take the letter and leave.
Ouyang Rong leaned on the back of the chair and took a long breath.
These letters are all sent to the original person's friends and teachers in the same year. As long as he remembers the name and address, he will send a letter to them.
After all, Ouyang Rong was born as a Jinshi. There were many connections between these literati, whether far or near, but it was not a bad thing to maintain the exchange of letters. I mentioned the Nanlong Ouyang family a little in the letter.
Maybe some of these people will become high-ranking officials in the future, and they will reach the rank of minister? Leave a trace of love, it is better than nothing.
As the family's only reading seed over the years, he can only do so much.
Watching Liu Ashan walk away, Ouyang Rong sat down silently and looked at the last blank piece of paper on the desk.
"I also have to leave a letter for my junior sister and teacher... This letter needs to be well written... What should I say? It's too disgusting."
Ouyang Rong murmured in a daze, lost his mind for a moment, and then resumed writing and writing.
But he was only halfway through writing when there was a rush of footsteps outside the county government hall.
I saw several officials rushing to the public case table in a hurry. The leader, Diao County Cheng, tripped his left foot and his right foot, fell violently, and fell to the ground. He had no time to get up, and hurriedly straightened his hat and reported:
"Ming Mansion, Ming Mansion, what's wrong, there are people from Luo Jing! There are also people from the palace, they seem to be Cai Shang, the female officer beside Her Majesty the Queen!"
Ouyang Rong's hand holding the pen paused, and the thick ink gathered into a small ink ball on the paper.
He slowly raised his face, looked outside the sunny door, frowned and whispered:
"Why are the people in the palace coming here when they have nothing to do?"