In fact, Ji Yuan didn't need to look for any specific house. There was only one house with an open door on the left corridor, and that was the house with the word "Hu" written on it.
It was already November, and in about twenty days it would be New Year's Eve. As the year was coming to an end, the county government had a lot of things to do. When Ji Yuan arrived at the door of the house, he saw the person inside holding a pen and writing non-stop. After finishing a part, he changed to another document, and this cycle continued without interruption.
“Boom boom boom…”
Ji Yuan knocked on the door frame a few times to attract the attention of the person inside, then he bowed and said.
"Master, I am Ji Yuan, and I am here to pick up the mail from the post office."
The person inside stopped writing, looked at Ji Yuan carefully, and then bowed in return.
"Sir, please come in!"
After entering the room, Ji Yuan took a look at the chief clerk, who was about thirty years old, with a short beard, a short bun, and a square crown on his head. His details could not be seen clearly, but his aura was still clear.
"Excuse me, sir, can I bring my household registration documents?"
"I have brought it. Please have a look, Master Chief Registrar."
Ji Yuan took out the official seal document again and handed it to the chief clerk. After reading it, the latter nodded, confirmed the strokes of the two words "Ji Yuan", and then handed it back to Ji Yuan.
"Wait a moment sir, I'll check where your things are."
The post office in Dazhen usually only accepts letters from the people, but if the money is enough, other small items will be delivered as well, so the chief clerk doesn't know if there is anything else.
He found a few booklets from the side, searched through them and found the book of Tianniufang. Then he flipped through the pages one by one, and it took him some time to finally find Ji Yuan.
There were names in the book, most of which had ticks behind them. At a glance, only Ji Yuan's name was not ticked, and it appeared many times. However, the chief clerk did not need to find every name, because the letters of the same person would be placed in one place, and he could get all of them by finding one. He just had to tick all of them afterwards.
After seeing clearly that there was indeed a letter and that it was in the storeroom, the chief clerk wrote a note on the desk and stamped it with his own seal.
"Huff..."
The chief clerk blew the ink off the piece of paper and then handed it to Ji Yuan.
"Take it and go inside. Give it to the yamen runner at the gate and he will lead you to the storeroom. Be careful, the ink is not dry yet."
"Okay, thank you, Master!"
Ji Yuan bowed again, carefully took the note, then walked out of the room. When he looked back, the chief clerk was already busy processing documents again.
After all, this was the place where Yin Zhaoxian came from, and the former magistrate of Ning'an County was also honest and incorruptible. Under this good atmosphere and sense of pride, all civil servants of all ranks who handled government affairs in Ning'an County were considered to be doing their job conscientiously.
Half a quarter of an hour later, in the county government warehouse, Ji Yuan was waiting outside, and Yin took a long time to rummage through the warehouse before he found Ji Yuan's things.
"Huh, that's quite a lot!"
He was holding a bunch of letters and brushing off the dust as he walked. Ji Yuan saw that the letters in his hand were as thick as a palm, and there were at least dozens of them.
Yin walked outside, untied the thin rope that tied the letter, flipped through it casually, and confirmed that they were all addressed to "Ji Yuan", then handed it to Ji Yuan who had been waiting for a long time.
"Sir, thank you for waiting. Here, this is all your letters. There should be nothing else."
"Thank you!"
Ji Yuan took the pile of letters with both hands, thanked them, and waited for the other party to lock the warehouse door again before going out with them.
"Sir, you have a lot of letters. How long has it been since you came to pick them up?"
Each block has different runners in charge. If there is a letter, they will go to the house to check. If there is no one there, they will send it back to the county government office. The runners looked at the color of the paper covers of some of the letters and knew that many of them were very old.
Delivering letters was not necessarily a hard job. As the saying goes, a letter from home is worth more than gold. When delivering letters, it was normal for people from relatively well-off families to give two copper coins or treat them to something to eat. It was also the income for yamen runners tacitly approved by the county government.
Hearing what the bailiff said, Ji Yuan smiled.
"Yes, I have been wandering outside for a long time."
The two did not chat for long. They waited until they reached the outside before Ji Yuan left alone. When he left the government office, he bowed to the policeman who had come before him.
The policeman had just stood at the entrance of the inner court of the government office and was chatting with his colleagues when he was patted on the shoulder. He turned around and saw a sturdy man with white hair and beard.
The two officers bowed hurriedly and said in unison.
"Greetings, Master Zhu!"
"Um!"
The man who came was Zhu Yanxu, the former lieutenant of Ning'an County. Unlike the previous county magistrate Chen Sheng who was promoted to a higher position, Zhu Yanxu had retired long ago. However, the current county magistrate was impressed by his virtue and knew his martial arts, so he asked Zhu Yanxu to be the chief coach of the militia to help train the yamen runners.
Zhu Yanxu frowned and looked in the direction outside, then looked at the yamen runner beside him and asked.
"That guy looked familiar to me. Is he here to pick up a letter? What's his name?"
"In reply to Lord Zhu, that person is indeed here to receive the letters. His name is Ji Yuan, which means "Ji" in "strategy" and "Yuan" in "fate". It's strange to say that the letters are in a thick pile, and many of them are very old... Uh, Lord Zhu, Lord Zhu?"
As the bailiff was talking, he discovered that old man Zhu Yanxu was actually staring blankly outside. Although this man was old, his martial arts was recognized as the best in Ning'an County. His body was strong and his punches were even stronger. It was impossible that he had dementia.
"Master Zhu? Master Zhu!"
"Oh, I heard it, I heard it. You guys stay here and keep watch. I'm leaving first!"
Zhu Yanxu said something absentmindedly, then quickly walked outside. The two officers hurriedly saluted, but then looked at each other in confusion.
"Is Ji Yuan familiar with Master Zhu?"
"I do not know… "
Zhu Yanxu was old but still agile. He walked with the gait of a dragon and a tiger and soon left the town office gate. Looking at the street, he saw a hustle and bustle but did not see Ji Yuan.
He looked dazed and muttered to himself.
"Ji Yuan... It's really Ji Yuan! Still the same, hasn't changed at all!"
In the past, when Ji Yuan was at the height of his fame, some people in the county government who were idle had guessed his age. Because of his manners, demeanor, and elegant face with black hair, most people guessed that he was in his forties, but not the kind that looked old. In any case, no one thought that Ji Yuan was young, but he was definitely older than Yin Zhaoxian.
Today, when Zhu Yanxu saw Ji Yuan again, he still looked the same as before. Some rumors about Ji Yuan from many years ago also came back to his mind.
Sometimes people are very forgetful. Apart from things that are closely related to themselves, many things will be forgotten inadvertently. There are not many people who are closely related to Ji Yuan in Ning'an County. In addition, with the passage of time, few people remember Ji Yuan now, let alone whether these people can meet Ji Yuan.
But whatever is remembered is deeply impressed, just like Zhu Yanxu now.
Zhu Yanxu stood there for a long time. When the two yamen runners guarding the gate behind him were about to step forward to ask a question, he gritted his teeth and left quickly, leaving the two men behind him looking at each other in bewilderment.
Zhu Yanxu was a martial artist after all. Although he was old, he still had martial arts skills and was fast on his feet. He returned home in a short while and started rummaging through the drawers and cabinets.
An old woman came in from the yard and felt strange when she saw her husband like this.
"What are you looking for, old man?"
Zhu Yanxu kept on working and asking questions.
"Oh, by the way, have you seen my precious inkstone?"
"What Baoyan? Didn't we cook the bird's nest for our daughter-in-law?"
Zhu Yanxu frowned and turned around.
"What bird's nest? I'm talking about the inkstone, the Yunshui Liumo inkstone, which was given to me by Master Chen when he left!"
The old woman smiled.
"You are a warrior, so you certainly can't use that kind of thing often. Don't you have it in your study?"
"Oh, if I had it, would I still be looking for it everywhere?"
"Then ask your son!"
Zhu Yanxu's house was not small, divided into two courtyards, but there was no servant. After hearing what his wife said, he hurried to the front yard and happened to see his son coming back from the county government office. The constable had not changed his clothes or taken off his sword when he suddenly saw his father flash before him. Zhu Cheng was so frightened that he almost drew his sword.
"Dad, you're going to scare people to death!"
Zhu Cheng patted his chest, but his father was in no mood to joke with him.
"Where is my inkstone? It was given to me by Master Chen!"
Zhu Cheng immediately felt guilty and stammered.
"I think you don't need it either. Yuqiu came to our house and saw your inkstone. She asked me several times to borrow it, and I..."
"Little bastard!"
Zhu Yanxu cursed and disappeared in the blink of an eye.
At the moment when the gnomon was at the transition between the hours of Wei and Shen in the afternoon, Zhu Yanxu was already carrying the inkstone that had been rewrapped in a sandalwood box, as well as several packs of good tea, two pots of Huadiao wine, and several boxes of snacks from Miaowailou, and he walked quickly towards Tianniufang with all these.
He didn't come here often, and he asked several people for directions before he found Ju'an Pavilion.
In the past, Ning'an County, especially Tianniufang, kept a secret about the haunted house Ju'an Xiaoge. Now, few people in Tianniufang remember it. The younger ones just know it as "the deserted house with the jujube trees that never bloom or bear fruit."
The closer he got to Ju'an Pavilion, the more nervous Zhu Yanxu, who was in his seventies, started to get. Finally, he arrived not far from the front of the courtyard and saw that the gate was half open. Before he reached the gate, he subconsciously looked up to confirm, but did not see the plaque of the pavilion.
"Master Zhu, please come in!"
Ji Yuanzhong's calm voice came from inside. It was obvious that Zhu Yanxu had not yet reached the door and it was impossible for him to be seen by the people inside, but since it was Ji Yuan, nothing was surprising.
Zhu Yanxu calmed himself down, quickly walked to the door of the small pavilion, pushed it open and walked in. He saw a plaque placed horizontally on the stone table inside, and Ji Yuan was standing beside the table, fiddling with pen and ink.
Ji Yuan looked up at Zhu Yanxu and smiled.
"Master Zhu, please come and sit down. This plaque on the small pavilion has been there for a long time, and the lacquer has almost faded. I happen to be a little confident in writing, so I thought about writing it myself."
"Oh, I see. By the way, Mr. Ji, since you want to write, why don't you try this inkstone of mine? This inkstone has a history. It's called the Cloud and Water Flowing Inkstone. It was made by a skilled master in Ning'an County in the early years. It's made of precious materials. It was given to me by County Magistrate Chen. It would be a waste for a rough man like me to use it, so I gave it to Mr. Ji. Oh, and these are all small gifts. The New Year is coming soon, so I just brought some things when I came to visit..."
Ji Yuan nodded.
"Master Zhu, please take a seat and put the things aside. This inkstone was given to you by Master Chen, and I am reluctant to accept it, but I will accept the other things."
"Uh, oh!"
Zhu Yanxu was a little nervous and wanted to put the things on the table, but the plaque was there, so he put it on the edge of the table first. He watched Ji Yuan grinding the ink carefully, and a faint and pleasant scent of ink wafted out.
Even though Zhu Yanxu was a warrior, he instantly realized that this was the best ink.