Qiu Yizi raised the corner of his mouth and said, "I was originally a small clerk who followed the emperor to suppress the rebellion. When I was delivering the emperor's orders, I accidentally fell and hurt my knee. The emperor felt sorry for me and issued this decree. Otherwise, if I kowtowed all the way, wouldn't my leg become useless?"
Yin Chengliang was stunned by Qiu Yizi's half-truth and half-false words, and nodded and said: "Lord Qiu has such an adventure, which is really a blessing in disguise. Yin is not talented, although he is also a frontier official, but he has not even had the honor of seeing the emperor's face."
Qiu Yizi knew that he should not brag too much, so he said modestly: "I have only met the emperor a few times, and I did not expect that the emperor would have such a favor. How dare I not say that the emperor's grace is great?"
After hearing what Qiu Yizi said, Yin Chengliang and Cai Min could only nod in agreement but could not say anything else.
The study fell into silence for a moment.
It was Qiu Yizi who broke the awkward situation and asked with a smile: "I am a new student and do not know the rules or how to handle the affairs of the county. Since Lord Cai is here, please give me your guidance!"
Cai Min's attitude also became much more polite, and he replied, "I dare not ask for your advice. The former Shanyin County Magistrate Li Shenshi, Lord Li has already received a document from the Ministry of Personnel, and will be transferred to Lingnan Province to take up an official post. He is waiting for Lord Qiu to come and hand over the affairs. Lord Qiu can go to him to handle it."
Qiu Yizi nodded and said, "I understand!" Then he said goodbye and left the study, and left the "Qingya Temple" along the same route.
Qiu Yizi was a man with powerful connections. Although he had no fear because he had a strong backer, he was also afraid of complications. He knew that he had offended his two superiors overtly or covertly, and that countless eyes were watching him closely. So he had to give up his plan to travel around Jianye City, the land of gold and silver, and took his personal soldiers and rushed to Shanyin County.
Shanyin County is nearly a thousand miles away from Jianye City and is located in the embrace of the Jiangnan hills. Although the road is much smoother than the mountain roads in Youyan and Henan, it still took Qiu Yizi six or seven days to reach Shanyin County.
Yuezhou was mostly hilly and mountainous, and was a poor state in Jiangnan Road; while Shanyin County was a rich county in Yuezhou - so the two offset each other, and Shanyin County was just an ordinary county in Jiangnan Road, but in the whole Han Dynasty, it was a wealthy county.
Qiu Yizhi climbed up a hill and saw the tall and neat walls of Shanyin County from afar. He also saw that the official road below was very flat and wide. Although there were mostly mountains on both sides of the road, they were planted with food and vegetables, and there were countless merchants and pedestrians coming and going. He thought of this rich land, which was the place where the Qiu family was born, and he couldn't help but feel a little favorable towards it. He galloped towards the county.
The old magistrate Li Shenshi had heard the news a long time ago, and he also knew that the new county magistrate had some relationship with the current emperor, so he led 180 county officials and waited at the gate of the county town early, awaiting Qiu Yizi's arrival.
Qiu Yizhi saw this scene from afar, but he did not dare to be arrogant. He quickly dismounted and walked to Li Shenshi, bowed deeply and said, "Master Li, why do you have to greet me like this? How can this junior bear it?"
Li Shenshi was an old official in his fifties or sixties, and had served as the magistrate of Shanyin County for more than ten years.
Seeing that Qiu Yizhi was polite and not as domineering and rude as the rumors said, he felt relieved and quickly reached out to help Qiu Yizhi up, saying with a smile: "Master Qiu is a young talent with a bright future. It is a waste of talent to come to this small county in Shanyin!"
Qiu Yizi also complimented him, "Master Li, where did you get that from? Along the way, I've only seen that people don't pick up things on the road and the people are simple and honest. This is really the result of Master Li's education!"
So the two of them exchanged greetings and walked hand in hand into the city.
The streets in the city seemed to be smooth and clean after being swept, and the shops on both sides were all decorated with lights and colors, obviously specially decorated to welcome his arrival.
Li Shenshi said with a big smile on his face: "Master Qiu, do you think Shanyin County is decent?"
Although Qiu Yizhi thought that this was too deliberate, he did not want to offend Li Shenshi just after they met, so he bowed and said, "Lord Li is indeed good at governing the county."
Upon hearing this, Li Shenshi smiled again and said, "Master Qiu, I am really flattered by your words! I heard that Master Qiu is someone the emperor appreciates. Please don't forget to say a few good words for me in front of the emperor when the time comes!"
Only then did Qiu Yizi realize that Li Shenshi's arrangement was not for him, Qiu Yizi, but for the vague backing behind him and for Li Shenshi's future career.
Thinking of this, Qiu Yizi couldn't help but feel disgusted as if he had swallowed a fly. Finally, he didn't want to talk anymore. He just lowered his head and followed Li Shenshi towards the county government office.
Li Shenshi was not very smart and did not notice Qiu Yizi's change in mood. He continued to smile and compliment her while leading the way.
However, after many twists and turns, the group finally arrived at a square. Li Shenshi pointed to a rather large building in front and said, "That's the Shanyin County Government Office. Last year, the local gentry gave me face and donated 800 taels of silver to rebuild it!"
"Oh! As the saying goes, those who plant trees will enjoy the shade. This is a great achievement of Lord Li!" Qiu Yizi teased.
Li Shenshi didn't hear the sarcasm in the words, and said modestly: "I don't deserve it, I don't deserve it..."
As they were talking, a figure flashed out from the crowd and walked hurriedly towards Qiu Yizi.
Zhao Chengxiao, who was following closely behind Qiu Yi, saw this and immediately stepped out, blocking in front of Qiu Yi and shouted at the figure: "What are you doing? Stop right now!"
The person opposite was indeed frightened by Zhao Chengxiao. He stopped moving forward and asked loudly, "Are you the new magistrate?" It was the voice of a young woman.
Qiu Yizhi was about to answer, but Li Shenshi on the side interrupted and said, "Where did you come from, you wild girl? How dare you block my way? Why don't you leave immediately?"
Qiu Yizhi ignored Li Shenshi, and pushed Zhao Chengxiao away, saying to the woman: "I am the new county magistrate, Qiu Yizhi. I wonder what advice this... this lady has for me?"
When the girl heard Qiu Yizi's words, she immediately burst into tears, fell to her knees, took out a complaint from her arms, unfolded it, held it above her head, and almost shouted, "Your Majesty! I am innocent!" After that, she burst into tears again, so that Qiu Yizi could no longer hear what she said afterwards.
However, Qiu Yizi knew from these few short sentences that there must be an injustice. He took two steps forward and reached out to take the petition from Gu Nian's hand.
Unexpectedly, Li Shenshi rushed in front of Qiu Yi and snatched the complaint. He immediately put on the majesty of a county magistrate and said to the kneeling woman, "You shrew! Our Lord Qiu has just taken office and has not yet had a welcoming ceremony. Even if you have a great injustice, you have to wait a few days before coming. You go back first!" As he said that, he balled up the complaint into a ball and stuffed it into his sleeve.
Qiu Yizhi was such a smart man that he saw something strange at a glance and grabbed Li Shenshi's left hand, and with his other hand he unceremoniously snatched the petition from his sleeve. Although he was not proficient in martial arts, he was in the military camp after all, and he had been instructed by Yuchi Lianghong, the world's best martial artist, so it was no problem for him to subdue Li Shenshi, a weak scholar.
So Qiu Yizi took the petition in his hand easily, pushed Li Shenshi away, unfolded the petition, flattened it, and began to read it in the street - unexpectedly, the more he read, the tighter his brows frowned, and by the end, his two thick eyebrows seemed to have been tied into a knot, tightly curled up in the middle of his forehead.
Li Shenshi was already panicking, and hurriedly said to the officer following him, "This shrew dared to stop the imperial official, she has committed a serious crime, why don't you arrest her quickly?"
Hearing this, Qiu Yizi raised her eyebrows and said, "Who dares to act rashly? Anyone who dares to touch this girl today will be offended by me, Qiu Yizi! I will protect this girl today!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Zhao Chengxiao led seven or eight of his personal soldiers and stood in front of the girl and the yamen runners to prevent them from making any rash moves; the rest of the people stood by Qiu Yizi to prevent any accidents.
If it were someone else, if they encountered such a situation, they might be able to evade it with a few perfunctory words, deal with it for a while, and then go back and calmly think about countermeasures.
However, Li Shenshi was a simple-minded person. He had already lost his composure. In panic, he relied on his numbers and shouted at Qiu Yizi, "Master Qiu, you haven't handed over the affairs to me yet. This matter is not your responsibility. Don't interfere! Otherwise, you will be impeached by the censors. It will ruin your bright future!"
Qiu Yizi was a man who had walked out of a sea of blood and corpses. How could he be frightened by the empty threats of this scholar? He ignored Li Shenshi and said to the kneeling woman, "What is your name? Raise your head first. I have something to ask you."
When the woman heard this, she raised her head and looked at Qiu Yizi with her big eyes filled with tears.
Qiu Yizhi then saw the girl's face clearly. She was about seventeen or eighteen years old, with a round face that was flushed. Her features were very delicate, but there was a heroic spirit hidden between her eyebrows. She looked straight into Qiu Yizhi's eyes without any fear. She sobbed a few times and said, "My surname is Yang, and my nickname is Qiao'er. If you have anything to say, please feel free to ask!"
"Okay!" Qiu Yizhi had seen countless people, and just by looking at Yang Qiao'er's clear and flawless eyes, he knew that she was definitely not the kind of person who made trouble without reason, so he continued to ask, "Yang Qiao'er, this petition of yours involves several officials of the court, and it is of great importance. Is there any falsehood in it? If you regret it now, I will just ignore it and will not hold you accountable for the false accusation. Do you understand?"
Yang Qiaoer replied, "Qiaoer also secretly listened to the private school teacher's classes for three years. Although I can't write very well, I can recognize a few words. This petition was dictated by me and written by a fortune teller on the street. Every word in it is true. If there is even a lie, Qiaoer would rather be punished!"
Yang Qiaoer's words were so clear and sincere that the onlookers could not help but whisper to each other.
Li Shenshi lost his temper and stepped forward, pointing his finger at Yang Qiaoer's nose and scolding her, "You shrew, suing an official as a commoner is a serious crime, and you dare to frame me, are you trying to save your life?"
Qiu Yizhi laughed when he heard this and said, "Master Li, you haven't even read the complaint, so how do you know that Yang Qiao'er is suing you?"
As soon as Qiu Yizi finished speaking, there was a burst of laughter in the crowd, and a few idle people began to sneer and mock.
Li Shenshi's face was as red as a pig's liver with shame. He finally threw away all his politeness and scolded Qiu Yizi, "Qiu Yizi, Master Qiu! Don't act like a smug person here! When I was the seventh-rank magistrate, you were still breastfeeding at home!"
"Lord Li's progress is too slow. After more than 20 years, he is still just a small official. And now he is humiliated in the street by a young boy like me!" Qiu Yizi is eloquent and never suffers a loss.
The crowd immediately burst into laughter. (To be continued)