In mid-August, the south of the Yangtze River is extremely hot, especially in the afternoon, when the sun is scorching, heat waves are rising from the ground, and the world seems like a steamer.
In the steaming basket of heaven and earth, villages are scattered all over the place, forming a semicircle to protect a small county town, which can barely be considered a city.
The circumference of the small county town is about six kilometers. The city wall is not high, it looks about five meters, not much higher than the walls of the rich families in the city. The wall is built of earth and covered with white lime. Due to the heavy rain in the south of the Yangtze River, the small county town is close to the coast, with more rain and humid weather. Many parts of the wall have been soaked and damaged by rain, and are dilapidated.
There are four gates in the small county town. The east gate is called Yingxi Gate, the south gate is called Guanlan Gate, the west gate is called Daifen Gate, and the north gate is called Wangyue Gate. There is an urn built outside each gate, but the urn is more dilapidated than the city wall.
People who were busy with their livelihoods went in and out of the city gates and walked out of the city gates. Once exposed to the sun, they all felt like they were being roasted by fire. Even if they wore a bamboo hat and a wet towel around their necks, they could not avoid sweating profusely. They could not help but open their chests, grab their clothes with their hands, and fan themselves up and down and left and right, and sweat continued to flow.
The dilapidated city gate makes people reluctant to leave at this time.
"Oh my god, no, no, it's too hot. Let's take a break and wait until the sun gets lower before going out to the fields."
"Let's go and take a rest under the wall. There's no need to rush to work in the fields. The heat is so hot that it can dry people out. If we work in the fields now, we'll definitely get sick from the heat. If we get sunburned, who will take care of our wife and kids at home?"
"Hahaha, Liu Laosan, I live next door to you. If you get too hot, I'll help take care of your wife."
"Get lost, bullshit. Even if you, Zhang Laowu, are suffering from fever, I am fine. I will take care of your wife. I guarantee that after ten months, you will have a big fat boy. Hahaha..."
Outside the Wangyue Gate at the north gate, a group of five or six men with bare chests and hoes on their shoulders could not stand the scorching sun, so they came to the foot of the city wall laughing and joking, found a shady place, put the hoes in their hands aside, sat on the ground, fanned themselves with their clothes, and laughed and cursed.
Farmers are like this, exchanging vulgar and obscene words with each other, which adds a lot of fun to the tiring days.
"Hey, look, isn't that our county magistrate in the pavilion in front?! Didn't the sister of Liu Quezi, the lame man in Zhangwang Village next to our village, marry him as his third concubine? On the day his sister was taken away, I happened to be repairing hoes in the blacksmith shop of Zhangwang Village, and I saw him. The village chief of Zhangwang Village was bowing and scraping in front of him like a grandson. And the one next to him, that must be the chief clerk of our county, and the one next to him, isn't that Mr. Zhang, the famous squire in the county, and the one, that one is the county's head of police, and the one, that one, wow... What day is it today? Damn it, why are all the important people in our Jingnan County going out to bask in the sun? On weekdays, we don't see these masters once a year, why are they all gathered together today? Don't you think it's too hot?!"
When a man sat down to rest, he suddenly saw a lot of people gathered under a pavilion in the distance. With his sharp eyes, he immediately recognized the county magistrate among them and shouted in surprise. Then he recognized several more people, all of whom were important figures in their Jingnan County. He couldn't help but become curious.
"Oh, it's true. I know the guy fanning himself by the pavilion. He's Mr. Wang from our town... What's going on? These people are either officials or rich. Anyway, they are all well-known. Why are they all here? What are they doing?" The man next to him also started to shout after he was reminded. He recognized Mr. Wang in the crowd. He was the most famous person in the village.
"What's going on?"
"What bad water are these bastards up to?"
The other men who were resting also noticed it. They were all curious and started to speculate in surprise.
"You don't know this, right? Haha..."
Next to the farmer there was an old man in long clothes, who was also sitting under the wall to enjoy the cool air. When he heard what the men said, he stroked his beard and laughed.
"You are Mr. Yao, I recognize you. You are an intelligent man in Dayao Village. You are in charge of all the weddings and funerals in the village. My wife is from Dayao Village. You are knowledgeable. Please tell us what is going on. Why are all the prominent people in Jingnan County coming here?" Someone among the farmers recognized the old man in long clothes. They knew that he was an intelligent man in Dayao Village. He had studied for a few years. Although he did not pass any exams, he knew more than the farmers. He was recognized as knowledgeable in the village. Whenever there was any problem in the village, they would ask him for advice.
"So it's Mr. Yao. We've heard of him before. Can you tell us about it? We don't have to guess blindly. If we don't know why this is such a big deal, we'll be so bored that we won't be able to sleep when we go back."
The other farmers also followed suit and asked Mr. Yao to tell them about it.
"Haha, alright, alright, then I'll tell you all about it, so you won't be laughed at."
Old Yao stroked his beard and smiled. He really liked the feeling of being surrounded by people, being sought after by people, and being the focus of attention.
"Thank you, Mr. Yao."
The farmers gathered around, each with a curious look in their eyes.
"I also learned this news from my old friend Teacher Zhang, so I am sitting here waiting to see what's going on." Old Yao glanced at the farmers, very satisfied with their curious eyes, and stroked his beard and began to say, "Today is the day when the new magistrate of Jingnan County takes office. Therefore, the officials, subordinates, teachers, instructors, financial managers, clerks, students, as well as local officials, wealthy merchants, gentry and elders of our Jingnan County government, must go out of the city to the reception pavilion to welcome the new magistrate into the city."
"Huh? The day when the new county magistrate takes office?" The farmers opened their mouths wide.
"That's right." Old Yao nodded.
"Another one comes to seek death. What's there to be upset about?" A farmer smacked his lips and said something with a hint of gloating.
"Nonsense." Old Yao turned his head and glared at him.
"Mr. Yao, I'm not kidding. Seven county magistrates have died in our county in the past five years." The farmer scratched his head and muttered, "It's only been eight months this year, and two county magistrates have already died."
"What do you know!" Old Yao glared at him again. "What is a county magistrate? The county magistrate is the parent official. What does parent official mean? Parent officials are the parents of us ordinary people. Can you curse your parents behind their backs?!"
"I also know that the county magistrate is our parent official, but aren't some county magistrates really nothing? They don't act like parents at all. Take the first county magistrate who died, he was judging cases and sentencing people to money. He would judge in favor of whoever gave him more money. Why did Liu Laoshi fight with him? It was because he judged the case recklessly. We all saw it with our own eyes. Landlord Liu robbed Liu Laoshi's wife and beat Liu Laoshi half to death. But just because Landlord Liu gave money to that dog county magistrate, the county magistrate made a reckless judgment with his eyes open, saying that Liu Laoshi's wife seduced Landlord Liu, Liu Laoshi blackmailed Landlord Liu, and that Landlord Liu beat him in self-defense. Bah... Liu Laoshi had been honest all his life, and the county magistrate was forced to kill him." The farmer was a little dissatisfied.
"Yes, and there was also the magistrate who was killed by the Miao barbarians for suppressing the rebellion. He only knew how to make money and play with women. How could he be killed for suppressing the rebellion? He was clearly drinking and playing with women. He died of a stroke. The higher-ups said he died for suppressing the rebellion because they were afraid of being embarrassed... They just bully outsiders because they don't know. Everyone in Jingnan knows about this." The farmer next to him also said, "And, forget it, I won't talk about the others. It was so hard to find someone who was not so greedy and not so bad, but he died even faster. We can't find out why he died..."
"Don't make groundless statements without any evidence. Be careful what you say." Old Yao glared at them again.
"We know. We've been telling you this, we're just unlucky. We don't have a good county magistrate. In Chun'an County, our neighbor's neighbor's neighbor's neighbor, the county magistrate Hai Rui is so good. He's like Justice Bao in the world. When people mention County Magistrate Hai, everyone gives him a thumbs up." The farmers envied the people of Chun'an County, envious that they had a good county magistrate.
When Mr. Yao heard the farmer mention County Magistrate Hai, he couldn't help but be distracted. He said with some lack of confidence, "Perhaps our County Magistrate Ren is a good one."
"Good magistrate, huh..." The farmer smiled, shook his head, and gave up hope on what Mr. Yao said.
"Look, the new county magistrate is here... Hey, he's so young..."
Suddenly, there was a commotion among the crowd. They stood up and pointed forward.
In the distance, a carriage, escorted by six riders, stopped in front of the reception pavilion. A young man lifted the curtain of the carriage and appeared in front of everyone in the uniform of a county magistrate, with a simple and honest smile on his face.