After leaving Majia Village, Zhu Ping'an went all the way north and arrived at a post station outside the county town before dark.
Official status is the best pass. The postmaster did not dare to neglect Zhu Ping'an, a sixth-rank official, and treated him like an ancestor with delicious food and drinks. It is true that the postmaster is in charge of the post station, but his rank is not high enough. The official rank is not even from the ninth rank. The sixth-rank official is the sky for them.
However, after seeing that Zhu Ping'an looked unhappy, the postmaster tactfully did not disturb Zhu Ping'an any longer. After bringing food and cleaning up the best room in the post station, he said goodbye and left.
Zhu Ping'an looked unhappy, and he had little appetite for the food sent by the postmaster, mainly because of the Majia Village sinking pond incident. Although according to the Ming Dynasty law, if a husband caught an adulterer in bed with his wife, the husband had the right to execute him on the spot, and the husband could choose to sink the adulterer into a pond, his mind was still affected.
This was the first case he "tried", and the first trial resulted in two lives being sunk, just like a new soldier going to the battlefield and killing people for the first time... Many new soldiers would vomit or feel nauseous when they saw corpses everywhere on the battlefield. Zhu Ping'an's current situation was somewhat similar to theirs.
It is true that a kind person cannot command an army!
The same is true for officials, especially county magistrates and governors in the pastoral area. They have power that directly affects the people and concurrently perform the duties of modern governments, courts, and procuratorates. They have both administrative and judicial powers. They judge cases like they command troops and cannot tolerate mercy. If a county magistrate is too merciful and cannot bear to severely punish even murderers, then the majesty of the judiciary will be lost, and the crime rate in the area will remain high, and the people will suffer in the end.
Therefore, one's own character still needs to be tempered.
Zhu Ping'an had a simple dinner, cleaned up the leftovers himself, then laid out his writing brush, ink, paper and inkstone, dipped them in ink and began to practice calligraphy.
"The Zhao guest wears a tasseled Hu hat, and the Wu hook shines brightly with frost and snow. The silver saddle shines on the white horse, which gallops like a meteor.
Kill one person every 10 steps, and leave no trace in a thousand miles. When the work is done, leave, hiding your identity and name.
This is Li Bai's "Song of the Knight-errant". When Zhu Ping'an started writing, he couldn't calm down. Later, as the ink gradually stained the rice paper, an image of a knight who traveled the world with a sword, saved people in distress, and made contributions to the world gradually emerged in his mind. Then Zhu Ping'an slowly calmed down.
The calligraphy that has been passed down for thousands of years, with its thick and thin brushstrokes, iron-like strokes and silver-like hooks, crisscrossing and interweaving, is very mysterious. Cultivating one's character through calligraphy is a very good choice.
After writing this poem "Xia Ke Xing", Zhu Ping'an's mind was completely calmed down.
After calming down, Zhu Ping'an practiced calligraphy for a while until the upper half of the moon. Then he put away his pen, ink, paper and inkstone, walked out to ask the station servants for a bucket of hot water, which he brought to his room. He took a simple hot bath, turned off the lights and went to sleep.
After sleeping until dawn, Zhu Ping'an got up, packed his things, said goodbye to the post station, and set out on the journey north again.
Sleeping in the open air and riding at full speed, they finally arrived in the capital on the nineteenth day after leaving home.
Beijing, I, Zhu Ping'an, am back.
I don't believe that right and wrong can be reversed!
Looking at the majestic capital city from afar, Zhu Ping'an shook his head and smiled confidently, then drove his horse towards the city gate.
The capital city was bustling with people. Common people carrying loads into the city were like crucian carp crossing the river. Horse-drawn carriages carrying goods were also one after another. Rich businessmen in fancy clothes opened the windows to talk in the carriages, chatting about their current business. Several official sedan chairs passed through the queue of people under the escort of officials. Nobles galloped in and inserted themselves into the queue of people entering the city, just like a hot iron being put into the snow...
Zhu Ping'an was not noticeable at all as he walked in the crowd, leading his horse. He had been traveling in the open air for several days, and was covered in dirt when it was sunny and mud when it rained. Now he walked in the crowd like a down-and-out scholar.
People without privileges all lined up to enter the city. There was a very long queue at the gate of the capital. People had nothing to do so they gossiped about the latest news in the capital to pass the time.
The capital city was within reach, so there was no need to rush. Zhu Ping'an led his horse leisurely as he queued to enter the city, listening to people's gossip and learning about the current news in the capital city.
There are many new things happening in the capital city. There is an idle prince who was reported for hiding armor. There is a rumor about an old woman coming back to life in Huangcheng Street. There is a violent conflict between the Jinyiwei and the Dongchang people in a restaurant. There is a talented woman in Zuihualou who is good at poetry, lyrics, singing and dancing, and she attracts thousands of people.
Among all the gossips, the most talked about are the gossips about the Yan Mansion. People talk about them in detail. The most talked about one is that the young prime minister Yan Shifan married another concubine, who was a married woman. This concubine was originally the wife of Yan Shifan's subordinate. Yan Shifan hooked up with her when he went to inspect the work of the subordinate. After several times, this subordinate came back from get off work one day and found the young prime minister inspecting his wife in his bed in the bedroom... This subordinate was also a strange one. Not only was he not angry, but he walked to the door with a look of honor and guarded the door for them, keeping watch for the young prime minister. After half a year, this subordinate even felt that the young prime minister was too tired to come to inspect him, so he took the initiative to offer his wife to the young prime minister as a concubine.
People paid a lot of attention to the Yan Mansion. Even the dung pickers at the city gate said a lot about it, saying that the Yan Mansion was more magnificent than the imperial palace, with gold and jade beds, ivory chopsticks, and a peaceful and prosperous life. A single meal could cost hundreds of taels of silver, and that Yan Shifan had sex at least three times a day, etc.
As much as people envied the Yan family's extravagant lifestyle, they hated Yan Song and his son. Although the Yan family was now in its heyday, the root of the evil was buried deeper and deeper in people's hearts.
Zhu Ping'an listened to the gossip among the people and slowly walked towards the city gate with the crowd.
"Hey, make way, let my son go first."
When it was almost Zhu Ping'an's turn to pass, a man behind him reached out and pulled Zhu Ping'an's shoulder, asking him to make way for his son. This man was cutting in line, and he had already cut in line with several other people. The people who were cut in line saw that they were dressed brightly and beautifully, and they were obviously rich or noble, so they dared not say anything.
Cutting in line, and still so proud?!
It's okay to just say nice things, but Zhu Ping'an has always hated people like this who cut in line and act as proud as a ****!
Zhu Ping'an turned his head and smiled and shook his head, then he glanced over his shoulder and led the horse steadily to occupy the road, without any intention of giving way.
"You, do you know who our Master is?!"
The people who cut in line were both surprised and angry. They didn't expect that this down-and-out scholar would dare to refuse them, as if Zhu Ping'an had done something unforgivable.
"Wang Gui, can you please tell him that the young master has paid for his fare into the city? I'm in a hurry to go to Zuihualou to talk poetry with Xiao Taohong." The young man at the back lifted the curtain of the sedan chair, glanced at Zhu Ping'an, and urged impatiently.
"Entrance fee?"
Zhu Pingan smiled when he heard that, then turned to the young man and said, "You want me to give way for a few coins to enter the city? If you can give me a hundred taels of silver, I will give way. If you don't have a hundred taels of silver, don't pretend to be rich."
The people around who were queuing to enter the city laughed when they heard this. They had long been dissatisfied with queue-jumping.
"You... you wait..."
Amid the laughter of the people, the young man blushed, said something and retreated back into the sedan. He was reluctant to spend a hundred taels of silver.
Seeing this, Zhu Ping'an smiled, followed the crowd to the city gate, took out a wrinkled official certificate from his arms and handed it over.
At first, the guard at the city gate thought that Zhu Ping'an was a poor scholar, but he didn't expect him to be an official. He looked at Zhu Ping'an twice with some surprise, and then let him go without checking his gifts.
"Hey, sir, sir, why don't you check his luggage? You don't even charge him for the city entrance fee?" Wang Gui, a servant who cut in line at the back, shouted in dissatisfaction.
"If you are a sixth-rank official, you can do it too." The city gate guard glanced at the man lazily. (To be continued.)