"Please wait a moment. I'll go in and pass the message."
After beating the officer who almost offended Zhu Ping'an, the duty officer came to Zhu Ping'an, leaned forward and said with a smile, respectful and enthusiastic, completely different from before. After saying that, the duty officer trotted all the way to the back hall to pass on the message, looking like a good public servant who was loyal to his duty.
Huang Candian's mouth twitched a little at the scene at the county government gate. Was Liutou possessed by evil spirits? Or did he suddenly realize that the nerd was his long-lost brother? There was no reason!
So sad!
The officer holding the smelly socks, touching his burning face from being beaten by the clerk on duty, stared blankly at the figure of the clerk on duty jogging along, feeling that his whole world was turned upside down.
What made them feel their worldview was overturned was that a moment later, the county magistrate, whom they seldom saw a few times a year, actually walked out from the backyard of the county government office with a smile on his face. He laughed as he walked, and his smile was as refreshing as a spring breeze on this snowy day.
The clerk on duty followed the magistrate with his head bowed.
"Greetings, His Excellency the County Magistrate." Zhu Ping'an bowed and saluted before the county magistrate arrived at the door.
The magistrate of Tongcheng County was about fifty years old and had a greasy face.
Without any introduction, Zhu Ping'an could recognize him as the county magistrate at a glance, because he not only wore the black gauze hat he wore at work, but also wore a blue official robe with an embroidered 鸂鶒 on it. The Chinese name for this bird is "西翅", which is a water bird with beautiful colorful feathers. Male and female birds often stay together, like to sleep together, and also like to fly and swim together. In the Ming Dynasty, officials' uniforms were custom-made. According to the system, officials of the seventh rank were allowed to have a 鸂鶒 embroidered on their uniforms. In the county government, only the county magistrate of this rank could have such a bird embroidered on his uniform.
Today, "beasts in human clothing" is a completely derogatory term, referring to those who have human appearance but do nothing. However, in the Ming Dynasty, "beasts in human clothing" was a good term, referring to court officials. It was a great honor to call someone a "beast in human clothing". It was because of the Ming Dynasty's official uniform system of "civil officials wear animal clothing and military officials wear animal clothing" that people used the idiom "beasts in human clothing" to refer to court officials.
At Huang Cuandian outside the gate of the county government office, I saw Zhu Ping'an, a nerd, just bowed to the county magistrate. He was so rude. He really brought trouble upon himself. He should wait for the wrath of the county magistrate.
"Hello, Lord County Master."
Huang Cuandian led several officers to come forward, passing Zhu Pingan, bowing and greeting the magistrate, while the other officers knelt and kowtowed. For them, it was not easy to see the magistrate, so now that they could see the magistrate himself, they stepped forward with all their might to show their presence.
"I have met the great Lord Qingtian."
Yang Dacheng and the hostess were both kneeling on the ground trembling. After Yang Dacheng knelt down, he kept rubbing Zhu Ping'an's calf with his shoulder, urging Zhu Ping'an to kneel down quickly, for fear that Zhu Ping'an would anger the county magistrate and be punished again.
"Why are you so polite, my dear brother?"
The magistrate came over and complained with a smile on his face, very enthusiastically.
My dear brother
Huang Cuandian, who was bending down in front of the county magistrate, almost burst into tears of joy when he heard this. I heard something. The county magistrate actually called me his brother. In an instant, a warm current rushed from the soles of my feet to the top of my head. With this address, wouldn't I have the opportunity to be promoted from Huang Cuandian to Huang Dianli
Just when Huang Cuandian looked up excitedly, he saw that the county magistrate ignored him and walked past him, smiling and coming to Zhu Ping'an.
"Why are you being so polite, my dear brother? I have heard of your name for a long time. In this provincial examination, you have really made our Anqing Prefecture proud. Come, let's have a chat in the back hall."
The magistrate of Tongcheng smiled and extended his hand to invite Zhu Ping'an to the back court.
"Your Excellency is overpraising me. I am just lucky to be safe. Compared with your governance and education of Tongcheng, it is just like a firefly to the bright moon. Tongcheng is known as the 'crossroads of seven provinces', 'the literary capital of China', and 'the first city in Jianghuai'. This is all due to your efforts. I have no chance to meet you. Today, I am really lucky to meet you."
Zhu Pingan had an admiring smile on his face and bowed to thank the magistrate. Then he changed the subject and looked at Huang Cuandian apologetically to the magistrate and continued:
"However, I'm afraid Ping An can't go to the back court with the county lord. This Huang Cuandian wants to take me to the prison."
Huang Cuandian, who was standing next to him with an excited look, instantly turned his excitement into fear. What kind of existence had he provoked
Just now I thought he was just a powerless and useless nerd, but in the blink of an eye, the county magistrate was so polite to him. From what he said, I found out that the nerd was a juren who had just passed the special examination this year, and it seemed that he had made a big splash in this examination.
What about the Juren? He is such a young Juren. When I was his age, I was probably still worried about passing the county exam. Damn, he is already a Juren. It's really frustrating to compare myself with him.
Another thing is, just now I thought he was just a pedantic bookworm who didn't understand the world, but damn, he just flattered me hundreds of times more smoothly than I did.
How cunning must this person be? He had been pretending to be cunning since the moment he entered Yang Dacheng's house. It was not until he met the county magistrate that he suddenly tore off his disguise and showed his fangs to him unexpectedly.
This is clearly a tiger in pig's skin.
Thinking about how he had actually provoked such a person, Huang Cuandian's face was filled with fear and he looked as pale as death. What grudge do I have against you
"Oh, what's going on?"
After hearing what Zhu Ping'an said, the magistrate of Tongcheng turned around and looked at Huang Cuandian with narrowed eyes.
"Sir, I, I..."
Huang Cuandian looked ashen, his hands were shaking, he couldn't utter a complete sentence, and he completely collapsed.
This nerd was too cruel and scheming. He used the Spring and Autumn style of writing and didn't even talk about other things. He directly blamed me for sending him to jail. If he talked about Yang Dacheng first, I could have shirked the blame anyway, but he blamed me for sending him to jail, how could I shirk the blame
Even the county magistrate did not have the power to put a juren in jail. He could only ask the educational commissioner to deprive the court of his juren's status. How could he put a juren in jail with just a little savings
Once you make a mistake in this matter, it will be a preconceived notion, and you won't be able to argue about anything else later.
So cruel and scheming!
Huang Cuandian looked at Zhu Ping'an's smile, as if he saw a tiger opening its bloody mouth towards him. He felt as if he had fallen into an icy cave. How could he have offended such a ruthless character? He wanted to cry but had no tears. Regret and fear came over him and overwhelmed him. (To be continued.)