Zhang Jing'an felt that there was a huge gap between him and the clerks and yamen runners in the capital, but he could only suspect that it was because he was the son of a suspected traitor and could not think of any other reason.
There was no other way, Zhang Jing'an could only ask his friends, but those people were also helpless.
After much thought, Zhang Jing'an had no choice but to bite the bullet and write a document in a dog-scratching handwriting to shirk responsibility.
The next day, all the officials in the city knew that Governor Qiao had called Zhang Jing'an to the governor's office. He was furious and scolded him loudly in front of everyone, almost making Zhang Jing'an cry. In the end, he forced Zhang Jing'an to write a letter of apology in the governor's office before allowing him to leave.
Zhang Jing'an returned to Duting in great humiliation. He sat in the room and thought about it. He vaguely realized that he had thought too simply about being an official. The mistakes he made were obviously far less than those of his unlucky father, but he didn't know what his unlucky father had done. Prefect Qiao didn't mention it at all, but instead made himself a scapegoat.
Another day passed. Zhang Jing'an no longer stayed in Duting Courtyard, but took a few tall friends to understand the people's sentiments.
Apart from occasionally hearing someone cursing as a traitor, Zhang Jing'an felt that the whole day went smoothly and he got to know Wude Street better. He would continue to visit the street in the future and fulfill his duties conscientiously so as not to give the censor any excuses.
The next day, the censors of the Censorate once again attacked Zhang Jing'an, saying that he "paraded through the streets with his cronies, like a street tiger." Prefect Qiao once again wrote a letter to reprimand him.
Zhang Jing'an was extremely angry, but he could only take the initiative to go to Magistrate Qiao and promise not to make mistakes again, and to go out on the street without those bad friends, but with yamen runners instead.
But a few days later, the censors reported him again because his friends took advantage of him to bully people in Wude Street and humiliate women and children, and the case was reported to the Jingzhou government office.
Zhang Jingan was immediately overwhelmed and sat there for a whole day, and finally he made a decisive move to completely distance himself from those bad friends and expelled them from the capital.
The next day, hundreds of hooligans from South City went out and blocked the Duting on Wude Street with all kinds of filthy things.
Zhang Jing'an couldn't go out all morning.
On that day, without waiting for the Censorate to report, Governor Qiao rushed to issue the third letter of reprimand.
Zhang Jing'an was in tears as he suddenly realized that although the officialdom would not hurt him and did not require training, it was far more difficult than the military.
Zhang Jing'an hurriedly begged the teaching office and the yamen runners, but the six people still deliberately kept their distance. He finally realized that he was wrong from the beginning. He should not have brought those bad friends to the yamen at that time. They were a naturally opposing group to the yamen. Bringing them was equivalent to completely breaking away from the people in the yamen.
Zhang Jing'an suddenly understood the look in Old Gao's eyes. He should have shown his identity as a young marquis when he entered the capital pavilion.
But now, let alone a child of his own, even a veteran official would find it difficult to solve the problem.
Zhang Jing'an was not a child who gave up easily. When he realized his mistake, he corrected it immediately and set a short-term goal for himself to establish his authority.
Arresting his former cronies was the best way to establish his authority, but thinking of the complicated relationships in Nancheng, Zhang Jing'an gave up. The two clerks and four yamen runners could also be used as targets for establishing authority, but it was too late now. The attitude of the Censorate and Prefect Qiao was the biggest support for the six people.
Finally, Zhang Jing'an decided to establish his authority by visiting the merchants on Wude Street, and soon discovered a recent major event related to Wude Street.
A quack doctor named Li Du had very poor medical skills and could hardly make a living by treating patients, so he turned to evil ways and acted as a broker. As a middleman, he deceived patients and asked them to go to some very poor medical clinics or pharmacies for treatment and medicine.
This happened several years ago and it was nothing serious. But just recently, after Li Du recommended a person to a clinic, the person was treated to death.
Although the man had no official title, he was quite famous in Jingzhou Weiyan Academy. All the teachers and students in the academy were indignant and denounced Li Du, the charlatan, and the clinic.
Zhang Jing'an found something strange. As time went by, except for a few people who criticized both the clinic and Li Du on Wude Street, most people turned to attack Li Du, believing that Li Du had committed the greatest crime. Moreover, Li Du had been arrested and imprisoned, and was preparing to be severely punished. The clinic had also been closed.
Zhang Jing'an understood the whole thing, smiled slightly, and had a plan in mind.
"That man called Li Du really deserves to be cut into pieces, and the doctors in that clinic are also worthless. However, only a few have discovered that there are more than 30 clinics and pharmacies around Wude Street, and 30% of them are harming patients. Since the Censorate and the prefect say that I am just sitting there doing nothing, I will do something practical. I will require all the clinics and pharmacies in Wude Street to clean themselves up, prohibit them from using quacks to deceive patients, and prohibit them from using prescriptions with no obvious effects and fake drugs."
Zhang Jing'an thought about it and felt that it was very feasible, so he stayed up all night and wrote a "Wude Street Jingyi Order", and then kept copying it. By the early morning of the next day, he had written a hundred copies.
Zhang Jing'an, with dark circles under his eyes, called four yamen runners over, pointed to a stack of papers on the table, and said proudly: "Now you post the "Pure Medical Order" in front of every medical clinic or pharmacy, and then post the remaining notices at various intersections, so that everyone in Wude Street will know that I, the new pavilion chief, have done a great deed!"
The four officers took the stack of notices and read them carefully several times.
Old Gao raised his head, looked at Zhang Jing'an and asked, "Master, do you really want to post these notices?"
"Of course!" Zhang Jing'an was extremely confident.
The other three yamen runners looked at Zhang Jing'an and then at Old Gao.
Old Gao sighed, divided the notice into four parts, took one for himself, and turned to walk out.
The moment Old Gao turned around, Zhang Jing'an felt that Old Gao's expression seemed familiar. Perhaps because of the backlight, there seemed to be a shadow on Old Gao's face.
After the four yamen runners left, they did not come back for a long time.
Zhang Jing'an didn't care at first, but when noon came and there was still no report from the yamen runners, he began to get restless.
After lunch, Zhang Jing'an walked towards the gate of the courtyard, wanting to find the four yamen runners.
After walking a few steps, I heard a commotion outside the door, and then I heard a shrill voice shouting, "That damn new pavilion chief is in there, let's go!"
Zhang Jing'an became even more uneasy. He stood where he was and saw more than a dozen boys and young men in gorgeous clothes rushing towards him under the bright midday sun.
Zhang Jing'an recognized several of them, including a branch of a marquisate family, a nephew of a high-ranking official of the current dynasty, a relative of a retired cabinet minister, and even a person from a royal family.
Most of these people also recognized Zhang Jing'an. After all, there was only one son of a traitorous marquis in the entire Chu State.
An angry young man took a few quick steps and rushed to Zhang Jing'an. Without waiting for Zhang Jing'an to take any action, he swung his right arm and hit Zhang Jing'an hard in the face, knocking Zhang Jing'an to the ground.
Zhang Jing'an lay on the ground, his head buzzing and his left cheek burning with pain. He tilted his head back, looking at the tall young man with a feeling of grievance and anger.
"You rebellious little beast! It's not enough for you to be a traitor, you even want to destroy our family's property! I'm going to beat you to death!" the man said and kicked Zhang Jing'an in the face.
.(To be continued.)