After completing the handover formalities, Pei Che officially began his tenure. It was his first time as an official, so he was still a little nervous. Although he had been in contact with officials since he was a child, it did not mean that he could do it well.
At night, Pei Che tossed and turned, unable to sleep. Jiang Miao was so annoyed by him that he could not help but pull the thin blanket and turned around to sleep with his back to him.
"A Miao, are you awake?" Pei Che judged from his movements that he couldn't sleep because of his noise, and felt a little guilty.
"With the speed you toss and turn, you'd wake up even the dead." Jiang Miao said as he turned over, ready to comfort Pei Che. "Tell me, why can't you sleep?"
"I'm just worried... that I won't be able to do it well." Pei Che said. He was always very honest in front of Jiang Miao.
"What can't you do well? Being an official?" Jiang Miao asked.
"Well, I'm afraid that I will make the same wrong decision as Zhou Xu in the future, causing the people of the city to suffer." Pei Che had read Zhou Xu's resume before coming. He was a fellow Jinshi, and had been the Tongzhi of Cangzhou for seven years, but he had never been promoted. It can be said that he had no hope of promotion. This time, because he heard that the prefect who came was a child of Liangjing's family, he was selfish and lost his sense of proportion, allowing the two swindlers to play with him.
"You won't." Jiang Miao said bluntly without any hesitation.
Pei Che was a little surprised: "A Miao, why are you so sure?" In his heart, he felt happy because of Jiang Miao's words without hesitation.
"Because you are the eldest son of the Duke's Mansion, you can be said to be powerful and wealthy with such a background. You have everything you need, so naturally you will not make wrong decisions because of your own selfish desires." As the saying goes, a person who has no desires is strong.
"Is it just because of this?" Pei Che asked.
"Well... your grandfather and uncle are also very capable. They won't just sit there and watch you make the wrong decision." Jiang Miao added.
"... Anything else?" Pei Che's face fell.
Jiang Miao noticed his depressed mood and had to add a few words.
"Of course, you are both intelligent and brave, upright, honest, handsome, and elegant... You will definitely not be corrupted by others!"
Pei Che smiled, leaned over to hug Jiang Miao, and whispered in his ear: "I didn't expect that I am so perfect in Miao's heart. Thank you for the compliment."
Jiang Miao rolled his eyes in the dark and said, "Can we sleep now?"
"Go to sleep." Pei Che tightened his hands, buried his head in Jiang Miao's neck, closed his eyes, and looked very sleepy.
"... How can I sleep if you're like this?" Jiang Miao gritted his teeth. It's winter, but now it's almost summer, and hugging each other will make you hot to death.
Pei Che suddenly realized, took Jiang Miao's hand and placed it on himself: "Okay, go to sleep." Jiang Miao: Too tired to complain.
He wanted to break free, but Pei Che was very strong and his two hands were like steel bars around him.
Jiang Miao struggled in vain and decided to sleep on a cool mat from tomorrow before falling asleep.
The next morning, Pei Che got up, put on his official uniform, and prepared to report to the front office. Jiang Miao got up earlier than him, and just as he called him, he opened the door and saw Pei Che standing in front of the mirror, fiddling with himself in a light crimson official uniform.
Jiang Miao crossed his arms, leaning against the door, and generously admired his tall, long-legged, handsome man. He had seen others wearing the same official uniform, and at the time he only thought that the Daliang official uniform was ugly, but now it seems that it is the man himself who is ugly.
Pei Che noticed the sight behind him, turned around, and said with a smile: "A Miao, how is it?"
"In one word, handsome!" Jiang Miao gave him a thumbs up and walked over to help him adjust his belt. "Luckily, no one in Cangzhou wears the same belt as you, otherwise it would be so uncomfortable."
Pei Che laughed heartily at Jiang Miao's undisguised praise. It has always been said that "women dress up to please themselves", but don't you know that men are like peacocks spreading their tails in front of their loved ones, always wanting to show themselves.
After breakfast, Pei Che came to the front yamen. There were already quite a few people there. When they saw Pei Che, they were all stunned for a moment. When Pei Che finished calling the clock and looked back at them, they came to their senses. They only knew that the new prefect had helped them expose the liar, but they didn't know that he looked so outstanding.
"My dear colleagues, I believe you all know who I am. My last name is Pei Che, and I am a successful candidate in this year's imperial examination. I have been appointed as the governor of Cangzhou by Your Majesty's grace. I hope that we can work together to overcome the difficulties and govern Cangzhou well."
After Pei Che finished speaking, the subordinates bowed together and said, "We will do our best to assist you in governing Cangzhou."
"Thank you all." Pei Che nodded with a smile, "Then everyone please go back to your respective rooms and bring over the official business that needs to be handled by me."
"yes!"
As the top leader, the prefect's office room was the largest in the entire yamen, and it was ventilated from front to back, making it very comfortable to sit in.
"Sir, please sit for a moment. I will have someone bring the official business to you right away." Not long after that man left, someone else came in and served him tea, which was very thoughtful.
Jiang Miao's place was also crowded with people. They lived in the back of the Cangzhou government office. Since Cangzhou had been spending more than it earned, the construction was not very good. Everyone lived in three courtyards like the Bai family where Jiang Miao rented a house before, unlike other places where there were independent courtyards.
As the prefect, Pei Che was assigned two main rooms, two side rooms, three side rooms, and a separate kitchen. There were other people living in the yard, which made Pei Che a little uncomfortable, but it was not a good idea for him to buy a house and live outside since he had just arrived. Firstly, he would seem out of place, and secondly, if he lived in the house, he would be more alert and these people would not dare to act rashly. Pei Che could not guarantee that they all obeyed him.
Pei Che was not used to it, but Jiang Miao, Xiao Shitou and Pei Mu were quite used to it. After breakfast, Jiang Miao urged them to read and write, and then led Chan Yi Wen Jing and the guards to tidy up the rooms. It was already late when they arrived yesterday, so they only made the beds and replaced the quilts with their own.
When Jiang Miao was tidying up, he realized that the previous prefect probably did not bring his family with him to take up the post, otherwise why would these rooms be so messy
While secretly complaining, he threw the unwanted things he had cleared out into the yard, and then took them out to throw away after he was done cleaning them up.
At this time, a group of neatly dressed women came over and said, "Young man, we are here to meet the wife of the prefect. Could you please pass the message?"
"… "
Jiang Miao remained silent. No matter how thick-skinned he was, he was too embarrassed to say in front of this group of people that he was the prefect's wife.
However, his silence was seen by the group as an inconvenience, so a woman came out to smooth things over: "Madam, you are new here, so I guess you haven't packed your luggage yet. How about we come back tomorrow to pay our respects?"
The others nodded, feeling that it was inappropriate for them to come so hastily. They just thought it would be bad if they didn't come to see the wife of the superior, but they didn't consider so much.
Seeing them leaving, Jiang Miao gritted his teeth and shouted, "Aunts and sisters-in-law, wait a minute." They would live together every day, and sooner or later people would know that he was the so-called wife. It would happen anyway, and hiding it would only leave a bad impression.
Everyone looked at Jiang Miao, wondering what he wanted to say.
"Uh, I'm the prefect's... wife." Jiang Miao blushed a little, feeling a little embarrassed.
The women's mouths suddenly swelled into "oh" shapes, with disbelief written in their eyes. They obviously didn't expect to hear these words from Jiang Miao.
After a moment of dead silence, a woman suddenly shouted, "I know. Didn't news come from Liangjing last year saying that the emperor had granted a male wife to the prince of Zhongguo? So you are..." After she finished speaking, she saw that everyone was looking at her, so she covered her mouth in embarrassment.
"Yes, I am the male wife that the emperor has arranged for me to marry." Jiang Miao said.
The way people looked at him began to change. They didn't expect that this man's wife looked... so plain. He was wearing a gray shirt, his hair was tied up with a hairpin, his sleeves were rolled up to his arms, his face was covered with sweat, and he didn't look arrogant at all.
When the news of Liang Jing reached Cangzhou last year, everyone was talking about it, but everyone agreed on one thing, that is, the man Liang Jing was given to marry must be a beautiful woman. It's not that Jiang Miao is not good-looking, but he looks like a handsome boy, not like the man they imagined. And he worked with the servants, it was strange that the lady of a noble family didn't have any airs at all.
Jiang Miao was a little embarrassed by their gazes. He was dressed like this today because he knew he had to clean the house, so he changed into old clothes that were easy to wash. If he had known there was such a ceremony, he would have dressed neatly and sat in the house waiting for people to come.
The woman who had been trying to smooth things over was the first to come to her senses. She smiled and said, "Your Excellency the prefect is so lucky. Your Madam is so... hardworking and capable. We are ashamed of ourselves."
"Dear aunts and sisters-in-law, please don't call me Madam. My last name is Jiang, so you can just call me Brother Jiang." Jiang Miao smiled kindly and ignored her abrupt turn of events. He thought she wanted to say the word virtuous just now.
"Then I'll be honored to call you Brother Jiang. I'm the wife of Magistrate Yang Huai, and these are..." Madam Yang introduced them to Jiang Miao one by one. Jiang Miao tried hard to remember their husbands' positions and faces, so that he wouldn't be unable to recognize them next time someone greeted him.
Jiang Miao greeted everyone, no matter how high or low the official was, and he smiled warmly to avoid others feeling resentful and thinking that he was arrogant.
After introducing the people, Madam Yang asked again: "Brother Jiang, have you cleaned up the house? Do you want us to help?"
Jiang Miao couldn't take other people's politeness seriously, so he said quickly: "No, no, I'm almost done here, so I won't bother you with help. The house is a mess today, so I won't invite you to have tea. Please forgive me for my impoliteness."
The women laughed and said no, and left feeling relieved. Since the wife of the prefect was so approachable, the prefect would not be too harsh, right? They had been here for a long time and had seen all kinds of people. Generally speaking, if they were not from the same family, they would not enter the same door. Husband and wife were of one mind. This sentence should also be applied to husband and wife, right
(End of this chapter)