Chapter 114: Ji Yun An
Lu Lin and Chen Xiao Mi wandered around the county. Lu Lin found that there were many men in their prime were injured, it looked like they got the injuries in war time.
Lu Lin thought, "The local people of Sha County are so fierce-looking, but maybe that is just a self-protection mechanism. This place is so remote, the land isn't fertile, and there's been ongoing wars for many years. Under such circumstances, if an official tends to cruelly oppress and exploit the common people, the people will naturally be fierce and intimidating to protect themselves."
After the house was repaired, Lu Lin and his group all moved into the residence.
Lu Lin put on a blanket on the bed and said sullenly, "Now we need to make a fresh start, we were so established in Forest Town, we had our friends circle and customer base, but now we need to start from zero, are we ready?"
Chen Xiao Mi raised his head and said, "Yes, I actually feel good about this."
In Chen Xiao Mi's opinion, when they were in Forest Town, they had to worry about those people from the village, the people were so gossipy. But now they could live their lives without worrying about what other people would say about them.
No more grandmas or cousins who tried to seek gratuitous financial help from them.
"This is a new start for us, a completely new journey, you are an officer now! How exciting!" Chen Xiao Mi said.
Lu Lin looked at Chen Xiao Mi and said, "Have you been feeling well recently?"
Chen Xiao Mi glanced at Lu Lin and said, "Yes, you don't have to worry about me."
Lu Lin nodded, "Please tell me if you are feeling unwell! I think you've eaten less recently."
Chen Xiao Mi nodded and said, "Probably because we've been on the road recently, so I don't have much appetite. It'll be better since we are settled down now."
Lu Lin sighed and said, "The resources in this place are poor. Even eggs are not easy to buy, that can be a little troublesome!" For this trip, Lu Lin made some preparations. For example, he had stored a lot of food and meat in convenience store, but he chose to not take them out and arouse suspicion.
There were not only him and Chen Xiao Mi living in the county yamen, it wasn't like he didn't trust his group who had travelled across the country from Forest Town to Sha County with them, he just didn't want to cause any unnecessary troubles.
Chen Xiao Mi frowned and said, "Don't worry, everything will be okay."
Chen Xiao Mi thought to himself, 'We've had worse days when we first got married, this is nothing to us.'
Lu Lin nodded and said, "You are right."
Ambitious men always had the lofty ideals and high aspirations of building up accomplishments. Lu Lin had never considered himself as a particularly ambitious person. However, after taking the position of the county magistrate, he wanted to give the people a better life. As the saying goes, badlands beget cunning people. Lu Lin thought if he was able to provide better life quality for the people, there would naturally be less cunning and intimidating people.
The existence of the patrolling camp was a double-edged sword, the people in this place did not have much respect for him, the county magistrate, but the people tended to behave themselves thanks to the patrolling camp as long as Lu Lin didn't oppress them.
......
Lu Lin organized the documents left in the Prefecture Yamen. Because of the continuous wars, many things in the Prefecture Yamen were destroyed, there were only limited documents left intact.
In the past few years, Lu Lin had read some scripts of folk literature in his spare time. Basically, he could understand everything in the documents now.
Chen Xiao Cai walked in and greeted Lu Lin, "Lin Ge."
Lu Lin looked at Chen Xiao Cai and said, "Hey, Cai, what's up?"
Chen Xiao Cai sat down beside Lu Lin and said, "Lin Ge, do you think is it time for us to open a commercial store now?"
Lu Lin transferred the commercial house and the properties in Willow Town to Chen Xiao Cai and Shen Chi years ago. The two of them sold those properties for 500 tales of silver before they came to Sha County.
Over the years, Chen Xiao Cai and Shen Chi were the actual managers of the commercial house in Willow Town, the couple had saved a lot of money. The two of them had well over 600 taels savings in total.
Chen Xiao Cai had offered Lu Lin and Chen Xiao Mi his savings after they had spent 3000 tales on this official title in case their hands were tight, Lu Lin and Chen Xiao Mi were very touched, but they didn't take money from Cai.
Lu Lin shook his head. "Cai, it's not that easy to restart our business here, Sha County is a poor county."
There were quite a few rich people who tended to spend money like water in houses of ill repute in Forest Town. However, Sha County was too poor. Although there were quite a few bachelors here, there was not even one brothel in the entire county. If they were to open their commercial house here, for sure they would lose everything.
Chen Xiao Cai frowned and asked, "What should we do then?"
Lu Lin touched his chin as if absorbed in thought and said, "I don't think we can have the same business model here, but feel free to a few stores and renovate them. As for what kind of products we are selling in the future, we can talk about it later."
Chen Xiao Cai nodded and said, "Alright, I think the stores around our County Yamen are good. It shouldn't cost much money to buy them."
Lu Lin looked at Chen Xiao Cai and thought to himself, 'Xiao Cai is really different now, he sounds so mature and resolute, he is no longer that little boy who used to chase me around for snacks. Well, it makes sense, really. Xiao Cai managed his store for years, and he must have a decent amount of savings now, of course he knows what he is talking about and he is determined to build a career here. Me and Mi have more savings, but we have Yuan Bao and employees, we have more concerns.'
......
"Your Lordship," Qin Yi walked in.
Lu Lin glanced at Qin Yi. Qin Yi had been calling him Young Master Lin for the past few years and now he started to address Lu Lin as 'Your Lordship'. Lu Lin couldn't help but feel a bit odd.
"Uncle Qin, what is it?"
"The people from the patrolling camp are here. They want to learn to build kangs from us," Qin Yi said.
Lu Lin nodded. "This is simple, do you mind going to their camp and instructing them?"
Qin Yi scratched his head and said, "I would like to, but the thing is I don't know much about it." Qin Yi had seen them building kangs for several times, but he didn't really pay much attention.
"Lin Ge, leave it to me," Chen Xiao Cai walked out.
Shen Chi followed, "I'll go too."
Lu Lin nodded and said, "Okay, thanks Chi and Cai." Lu Lin thought to himself, 'Look at these two love birds, they go everywhere together, so adorable.'
"Cai, I just want to quickly remind you that there are stupid people everywhere, try your best to build a good relationship with the people in the camp and not get into conflict, we are settled down in this place potentially for a long time, let's not offend the patrolling camp."
Chen Xiao Cai nodded and said, "I know, thank you for reminding me. Don't worry, Lin Ge."
Chen Xiao Cai drove the mule cart with Shen Chi and followed the soldiers to the patrol camp.
The Imperial Court valued these border warriors and spent a lot on military expenses. However, the officials who handled this had made profit by cruel exploitation, so these soldiers did not have much left in their pockets.
When Chen Xiao Cai arrived, the soldiers had already done a lot of adobes.
Chen Xiao Cai guessed that the soldiers knew the basics of building kangs, but they needed a professional to give them some instructions.
The arrival of Chen Xiao Cai and Shen Chi made the patrolling camp lively.
A few soldiers were offended that the new county magistrate had sent two half-grown men, one of them was a Bio even. They couldn't help but feel that they were looked down upon. However, they all changed their minds as soon as Chen Xiao Cai opened his mouth, they were sincerely convinced that this boy knew what he was talking about.
Chen Xiao Cai and Shen Chi had lunch in the camp. The food was coarse, corn bread, gruel and pickles.
Chen Xiao Cai felt so sorry for these soldiers who had to train hard all day yet only had those coarse food to satisfy their hunger.
......
Liu Yun walked to the side of his camp and an eleven- or twelve-year-old boy came over. The boy had sharp eyebrows and bright eyes, he was indeed a handsome boy. He had an awe-inspiring appearance despite his young age.
"Uncle Liu, are there two people coming to help us build kangs today?" Ji Yun An asked.
Liu Yun nodded, "Yeah! They are the county magistrate's family."
"Uncle Liu, I heard that the new County magistrate bought this position, I despise that, I don't think he is a good person!"
Liu Yun shrugged and said, "Yeah, I'm aware of that, but that doesn't necessary mean he is a bad person."
"He is a businessman to start with, no businessman trades without fraud, that's how they get rich. I hate these businessmen the most, they store up goods and raise their prices, they profit from disasters like floods and droughts, forcing countless victims to dissipate their fortune," said Ji Yun An gnashing teeth.
Liu Yun sighed and said, "This matter can't be lumped together, we don't know for sure how this county magistrate builds up his family fortune. Alright, enough about them."
Ji Yun An rolled his eyes and smiled, "I got it, Uncle Liu."
Liu Yun looked at Ji Yun An and said in earnest, "Heaps of people are waiting for the right opportunity to find fault with your uncle. Always remember disaster emanates from careless talk, so watch your mouth lest someone foments discord."
The Ji family was an influential and privileged family for generations. Ji Yun An was the son of Ji Cheng Kang's sister. Ji Cheng Kang's sister was married to a poor scholar.
Ji Cheng Kang's sister didn't pick on the scholar's background, she married for love, but unfortunately, as soon as that scholar passed the imperial examinations at the provincial level, he started cheating.
The Ji family was impeached just a few years ago, their status was in great peril. That scholar married a few concubines in succession After that, Ji Cheng Kang's sister fell ill and died young.
Ji Cheng Kang was very suspicious of whether his sister's death was an accident or not. However, Ji Cheng Kang's hands were tied for what happened in harem was impossible to investigate.
A few months later, Zhao Yun An, the son of Ji Cheng Kang's sister, was actually dying from illness. Ji Cheng Kang could no longer sit back and act like everything was all right. He intruded into the scholar's house and took Yun An away.
Ji Cheng Kang's brother-in-law did not dare to stop Ji Cheng Kang from taking his son away.
Ji Cheng Kang originally felt that the life in the military camp was too tough for children, so he left the boy with the scholar in the hope that the boy would get better care. However, it looked like the scholar was too merciless to care about his own son, so Ji Cheng Kang decided promptly and opportunely that he should take care of this child by himself.
After Ji Cheng Kang brought Yun An back to the Ji family, he changed his nephew's surname to Ji. The scholar was a scum who didn't raise any objection about that, probably he felt happy that one of his concubines' son now could be a legitimate son.
Not long after Ji Yun An left the Zhao family, the scholar made one of his concubines his wife.
Ji Cheng Kang was completely disappointed with his brother-in-law since that.
Ji Yun An didn't nurse a grievance since he was used to abuse from his father.
In the past few years, Ji Yun An has been growing up in the military camp, and he had mastered great martial art skills. Young as he was, he was very brave and skillful in battle.
Fortunately, although Ji Yun An was militant, he was not a troublemaker.
......
In the Prefecture Yamen.
"Your Lordship, Master Chen is pregnant," Wan Li came out and hurriedly said to Lu Lin.
Lu Lin was shocked when he heard the great news. "Are you sure?"
He nodded and said, "Positive."
Lu Lin was so surprised. It wasn't easy for Bios to get pregnant. Many Bios could only have one child in their lifetime.
Both Lu Lin and Chen Xiao Mi didn't count on having a second child ever since they had Yuan Bao. But now Chen Xiao Mi was pregnant again.
Lu Lin was so thrilled that they were going to have a second child soon.
"No wonder he's not having a good appetite recently." Lu Lin murmured.
Lu Lin soon frowned worriedly. This place suffered a shortage of material. Nutritious food like eggs and meat was hard to buy. However, Lu Lin was determined to find as much as nutritious food for Chen Xiao Mi.
Lu Lin glanced at Wan Li and said, "Have you heard any updates on the big stone millstones that I asked you to order from the stonemason in the neighboring village?"
Wan Li hurriedly said, "They say the stone millstones will be finished in two days."
Lu Lin nodded and said, "That's good news. Can you buy some soybean for me?"
Wan Li nodded and said, "Of course, but soybeans aren't exactly very delicious. Many farmers feed soybeans to livestock."
"I know, it doesn't matter," replied Lu Lin.
'Mi is pregnant, and he needs nutrients. It is very necessary to replenish the amount of protein. If there was no meat to eat, then I better make more bean products, something is better than nothing.'
When Lu Lin entered his room, he saw that the Yuan Bao was whispering something to Chen Xiao Mi with a big smile on his face. It was such a beautiful moment. Lu Lin's heart skipped a beat on seeing that.