Chapter 116 [Life is full of accidents and drama]

  The two looked at each other again, and Fang Chang and Gu Shan knew each other from their expressions, and the other party also understood the meaning.

   "In that case."

  The old man Gu Shan pondered for a while, and said first:

   "The magistrate of Qi can hang a lantern at the side door. After she comes, she can ask someone to take off the lantern and take it back. The two of us will know, and we will come to check."

   "Of course, if something unexpected happens, the county magistrate can pretend to be a swindler first. After we hear that someone is coming, even if there is no lantern, we will come to rescue him."

   "Okay." Qi Zhixian agreed.

   It seemed that it was a big stone that had been pressing on his heart for a long time. Today, he finally relaxed a little. His face relaxed and he let out a long breath. Then Qi Zhixian adjusted his sitting posture, thought for a while, and continued to add:

   "I will prepare two red lanterns. If the other party comes, I will use the excuse of celebration and order to replace the rough paper lanterns outside with red lanterns, which will make it easier to pass through."

  Both Gu Shan and Fang Chang nodded, this is indeed safer.

  After all, if things were leaked suddenly, it would be troublesome if the monster hijacked the county magistrate, or simply killed the magistrate Qi.

  The old servant next to him put down the teapot in his hand, cupped his hands and said to the county magistrate, "Patriarch, I don't feel comfortable entrusting this matter to others, so let's leave it alone."

  Wearing the words, Qi Nan, the magistrate of the county, kept nodding his head when he heard the words: "I don't worry if you do things, this is the best."

  The old servant didn't seem to say much, but replied: "I will live up to my trust."

  Qi Zhixian said again: "There are quite a few good guest rooms in this back office. Maybe the two gentlemen can consider living in the back office? This way, you don't need the arrangement just now, just come directly to catch the turtle in the urn."

   "It's not right." Gu Shan shook his head, "If the news leaks out and the other party finds out about the situation, it's not beautiful."

   "After all, now the enemy is in the open and I am in the dark. If the other party escapes, the situation will change. We can't protect you all the time. I'm afraid Qizhi County will encounter something unbearable to you."

   "!" Hearing this, the magistrate immediately gave up this idea. He looked at the environment of the small dining room, and said instead: "How about we move to the study room? This is not a place for conversation, and they are still hungry."

  The two of them had nothing to do with this, so they followed Qi Zhixian and came to the study to sit down.

  Behind him, other members of the county government saw that several people had finally withdrawn, and approached one after another.

  They have been waiting for dinner for a long time, and they haven't eaten too much in the morning, and they are very hungry.

Everyone worked together to refill the almost bottomless large vegetable bowl on the dining table with stewed cabbage and frozen tofu, and then scrambled for the remaining pig's head meat and sausage, cleaned the minced eggs, and each served Chewing millet rice bowl.

  The magistrate's old servant did not go to eat, but went into the study with the three of them to serve them and serve them tea.

   Fang Chang felt a little sorry, and said: "Old man, why don't you go to the kitchen to eat first? We are all rural people, and we are not formal, so there is no need to do so."

  The other party shook his head as a polite refusal.

  Chang Fang didn't force it either, he turned to Qi Zhi County and said, "I'm here to visit, but there is another small matter, I hope to ask Qi Zhi County."

   "Sir, please speak." Qi Zhixian said respectfully.

  Mr. Fang in front of him felt very mysterious to him.

  Especially at that moment, when I was communicating with Mr. Gu, Mr. Fang barely spoke, just listening silently beside him like a potted plant. If he wasn't focused on his expression, he would hardly notice that there was this person next to him.

  Just now it seems that I always subconsciously ignore it, and there is another person beside him, as if Mr. Fang is the original furnishings in this study.

  But I heard Mr. Fang continue to ask:

   "I have traveled around the world for a long time, and I have visited many prefectures. The entry fee is one penny, but when I arrived at Yongjia Mansion, I found that the entrance fee here is two pennies."

   "Is there a matter?"

  Qi Zhixian was a little confused, he subconsciously asked the old servant beside him.

  The old servant knew about it, he bowed slightly and told him:

   "Patriarch, this is indeed the case. The entrance fee to Yongjia Mansion is two liters, which is twice as expensive as other places. You usually go in and out by car and sedan chair, and you don't have to queue with the people, so naturally you won't notice this."

"It was an order issued by the previous magistrate here in order to extort money when he was an official here. The latter magistrate was the same as you before. He had never heard of such a situation, so it was much higher than the other ones, and even a bit special. The independent city gate tax has continued until now."

   "Then how!"

  To Fang Chang's surprise, Qi Zhixian's face became very unhappy when he found out about this.

  He stood up from the chair, adjusted his official hat, and paced back and forth in the open space of the room. After a while, Qi Zhixian said worriedly:

   "The city entry fee is not paid once, but twice for one entry and exit. The extra two pennies don't make much sense to us, but for the common people, it is extremely difficult to earn a penny."

"As the saying goes, a penny is hard for a hero. If the whole family is farming and has food but no money, it is difficult to earn every penny. Selling grain will be thinned by merchants. The extra city tax is the common people blood and sweat."

   "Over time, the income of the yamen has increased, but I don't know how many people will make their lives worse because of this trivial matter. Within three days, this official will solve this problem, and this cannot continue."

  Fang Chang nodded again and again, agreeing very much.

   Unexpectedly, the county magistrate of Yongjia Prefecture was a knowledgeable person, and from his expressions and words, he could really feel that the magistrate of Qi County was speaking the truth, not pretending.

   Infected by this state of mind, Fang Chang nodded his head in his heart.

  So he raised his eyes and gazed at Qi Zhixian's momentum with the method of looking at Qi, trying to judge the opponent's official luck.

"Well?"

   What I saw was really surprising.

   "What's the matter?" Gu Shan next to him heard Fang Chang's voice and turned sideways to ask.

   Fang Chang grinned lightly: "Qizhi County."

"Eh?"

   "From my point of view, you didn't come up through the imperial examination? Maybe it's because of other reasons?" Fang Chang said bluntly.

  The expression of Qi Nan, the county magistrate in front of him, instantly became stunned, then climbed up to fear, anger, and sorrow, and finally returned to calm, as if his heart was like still water.

  He looked at the old servant next to him, smiled bitterly and said:

   "Since this is the case, there is no need to hide it from the two gentlemen. I confess everything, but please don't tell others."

   "Don't worry, we are all outsiders, and we won't leak the situation later." Fang Chang assured, "If it's inconvenient, you don't need to tell us."

  Qi Zhixian shook his head: "This secret has been hidden for too long, and the next step is to deal with Shang Zhizhou's methods. I don't know what will happen to me. There are some things, but I can't complain."

  Fang Chang nodded, and Gu Shan next to him did the same, but the old servant beside him moved suddenly, as if he wanted to stop him, but stopped again.

   "I'm not the county magistrate." Qi Nan said, "The real magistrate has long since died."

  (end of this chapter)