It was past noon, Yang Congyi and the two walked all the way to the east of the city, and suddenly saw many people gathered in front of them, and hurried over to take a look, it turned out to be a hotel opened, and the big board in front of the door had two words written "free", which was very eye-catching.

After lunchtime, I said that it was free, which was obviously insincere. The onlookers talked a lot, and the shopkeeper was hypocritical and not authentic.

Yang Congyi saw that there were indeed few people in the restaurant, and there was no comparison with the people watching outside, it was really deserted.

Yang Congyi and the others are hungry, so it doesn't matter whether the store is kind or not, just have free meals to solve their stomach problems.

The two entered the store, found an empty table and sat down, waiting for the guy to greet him.

As soon as they sat down, the man came over and asked, "What do you want to eat?" ”

Yang Congyi said, "Just come two side dishes for dinner, be fast." ”

The guy answered, and quickly went back to place an order.

Liu San said, "I basically know about the restaurants and restaurants in the city, and I have never heard of this restaurant coming suddenly. ”

Yang Congyi said, "It doesn't matter if he has heard of it or not, just have something to eat, and hurry back to pay the errand after eating, he has been out for most of the day." ”

The two were chatting, and suddenly someone said next to them, "Thank you two big brothers for patronizing the shop, and please take care of me in the future." ”

As soon as Yang Congyi heard it, he knew that it was the shopkeeper who saw the people in the yamen and came out to take a look, so he said, "You're welcome, there are free meals, and we have to thank you." ”

The shopkeeper smiled, "The two of you will come often in the future, and this store is all free." ”

Yang Congyi suddenly felt that the voice of the shopkeeper was a little familiar, as if he had heard it somewhere, so he looked at the shopkeeper carefully, and after a closer look, he suddenly found that he was one of the people who was arrested in the county government not long ago, that is, the young man who had a good personal relationship with the fourth aunt and was angry with Lord Zhang. So he smiled and said, "It turns out that you opened this store, and you will be a good person and run it well in the future, and it will not be in vain that Lord Zhang will be extra kind to you." ”

The shopkeeper was surprised, and his heart was secretly shocked, he didn't know who the person in front of him was, and he knew what was going on, so he asked cautiously, "We don't seem to have seen each other, right?" ”

Yang Congyi covered his face with one hand and said with a smile, "Do you remember?" ”

The shopkeeper immediately knew who the person in front of him was, and his face was suddenly pale with fright, cold sweat broke out, and he didn't dare to speak.

Yang Congyi had no malicious intentions, but he just met a familiar face and said hello, and he didn't want to see the store being scared like that by him, so he suddenly remembered that his kind of thing was known, and the consequences were very serious, so he hurriedly said, "The adults don't pursue you anymore, what are you afraid of." Sit down and talk. ”

The shopkeeper hesitated, but finally sat down.

Yang Congyi patted him on the shoulder and smiled, "Don't be afraid, do things well, live well, everything starts again, no one can do anything to you." ”

The shopkeeper nodded, "Understood, understood." Then he asked, "I don't know the bad master, the honorable name?" ”

Yang Congyi said, "The surname is Yang, the name is Congyi, and Yang Congyi." ”

The shopkeeper hurriedly said, "Master Yang, I will trouble you to take care of it in the future." ”

Yang Congyi said, "Don't call it anything, it sounds old-fashioned." What's your last name? ”

The shopkeeper hurriedly changed his tone and shouted, "Then I will call you Brother Yang, and the younger brother's surname is Guo and Guo Qing." ”

Yang Congyi said, "Okay, Brother Guo." We'll talk another day, you hurry up and let the kitchen serve the food, and we'll go back to the business after eating. ”

Guo Qing responded with a smile, "Okay, Brother Yang, you wait a minute, I'll go and urge." With that, he walked briskly in the direction of the back kitchen.

Liu San was very curious about the conversation they had just now, and asked, "Yang Zhutou, how do you recognize him, I don't even recognize him." ”

Yang Congyi said, "Didn't I arrest more than a dozen suspects last time, he was one of them, I identified them one by one, of course I saw him." ”

Liu San asked again, "Then what did he do?" ”

Yang Congyi said, "Petty theft, unclean hands and feet." ”

After hearing this, Liu San said disdainfully, "I thought it was a big deal, which scared him, Bai Chang is so big." ”

Yang Congyi said with a smile, "The county government robbery case, although no one mentions it again, after all, the case has not been solved, so those who steal are not afraid?" ”

Liu Sandao, "Also, such a big case of stealing the official mansion, if you don't investigate, you won't investigate, and Zhang Tixing won't even look for his seal, it's really strange." ”

Yang Congyi said, "What's so strange about this, if you lose the seal and engrave another one, besides, Lord Zhang is busy with things, how can you delay it in Taihu County for a theft." ”

Liu San sighed and said, "It's not easy to be a good official." ”

"Two, here's your meal." As they spoke, four dishes were placed on their table, plus a soup.

Guo Qing came over and said, "Brother Yang, you use it slowly, I won't bother." ”

Yang Congyi picked up the chopsticks and said, "Well, you go get busy." ”

The two of them were hungry for a long time, and they couldn't care about what they were eating, so they stuffed the food on the table directly into their mouths, home-cooked side dishes, which tasted delicious. After a wolf-gobbling meal, the wind swept away, and the four dishes on the table were all in their stomachs, and they were full.

Back at the county office, after Yang Congyi reported the process and results of the account to the magistrate, the magistrate didn't say anything. Although Wang Yuanwai was a jinshi in his early years, he didn't have much background, he had never been an official, he didn't know him, and he didn't have any friendship, so he didn't take it to heart.

After Yang Congyi and the others finished handing over the errand, there was no arrangement for the time being, and they went to rest separately.

The county government is the county lord's decision, no matter what can only be arranged by the county lord, he doesn't arrange things to do, the officials can rest, anyway, it is the county lord's money that is spent, as long as he doesn't care, no one will care what they are doing.

Taihu County was originally a small county, the population before the Jingkang Rebellion was only thirty or forty thousand, and then a large number of people in the north moved south, although a few years ago the Jin soldiers crossed the Huai River, all the way south to capture Shouchun Mansion, Luzhou, entered the Anqing Army, and approached Chizhou, but Taihu County is in the west of the Anqing Army, the county is located at the southern foot of Dabie Mountain, mainly mountainous, remote and barren, the Jin soldiers did not send troops to harass, relatively safe, so the population of Taihu County has increased to fifty or sixty thousand people in the past 20 years.

Due to the large number of mountainous areas, relatively barren, scattered population, it is very inconvenient to manage, and it is under the threat of Jin soldiers, it has always been a less popular place to send out.

Chen Ru has not moved since he came to Taihu County three years ago, and it seems that the imperial court has forgotten about him. It is normal for a poor and remote place to be forgotten by the imperial court.

It is also beneficial to do well in places where the court does not pay attention, and no one will pay attention to doing good or bad, as long as it does not make the people miserable, the people's grievances are boiling, and the people are provoked to rebel, the court will always turn a blind eye. This gives the county officials a huge power, they can scavenge the private wealth to their heart's content, and then desperately complain to the upward, apply for exemption from paying taxes, and in the end, they can often earn thousands of family fortunes, and return to their hometowns in fine clothes.

However, in everyone's opinion, Chen Ru seems to be an exception, he seems to be only interested in the promotion of the court to judge the case, he is not interested in looting the people's wealth, he does not loot the subordinates, and naturally there is no filial piety silver, so he has been in Renzhi County, Taihu County for three years, and no one thinks of transferring him.

Taihu County is mainly mountainous, with few paddy fields and low grain production, and in addition to the resettlement of many displaced people in recent years, the imperial court halved all taxes. But this year's wind and rain are smooth, if the autumn harvest goes smoothly, the autumn grain will also be a bumper harvest, then this year's tax pressure will be less. According to past experience, before the end of October, as long as there is no sudden natural or man-made disaster, every household can basically pay the taxes that should be paid; after all, due to the impact of war, the taxes have been relatively light in recent years, and they can bear it except for those who are particularly difficult.

Taihu County belongs to the Anqing Army, belongs to the military state, most of the food and salary of the Anqing garrison is produced by the camp, self-sufficient, and the imperial court does not need to allocate much, so Taihu County reports the disaster to the disaster every year, can not collect taxes, and the imperial court does not pursue it, in the eyes of the imperial court, as long as there is no rebellion, thank God.

Chen Ru has only one daughter, who is only 10 years old, and it is said that Mrs. Chen had a difficult birth when she gave birth, and she has not been able to have children since giving birth to her daughter. Chen Ru was born to a concubine, because the family Ding was prosperous, although he was admitted to the Jinshi early and became an official, he was still not taken seriously, and Mrs. Chen's maiden family was very powerful, so he was not allowed to marry a concubine, so as not to snub his own daughter. In this way, Chen Ruyi does not have a strong sense of self-motivation, anyway, he only has one daughter, and he will always have to marry out in a few years, so what's the use of earning the family property.

Chen Ru has been an official for more than ten years, from the main book to the county, from the county to the county, the journey is also smooth, but he also knows that if there is no external help, the county is probably the apex of his career, which does not matter to him, the family population is not large, and the county magistrate's income is enough for the family's expenses.

There is no hope of promotion, and the political performance is not too important to him, as long as he controls the displaced people from the north, does not make trouble, does not have an accident, he can be a county governor in peace, he can see clearly, so when he came to Taihu County, he put how to calm the people and govern the people in the first place, after some thought, he thought that when the world was not at peace and the displaced people were everywhere, it was a good choice to govern the people with authority, so he was obsessed with the promotion of the court to ask the case, and spread the majesty of the yamen to every corner of Taihu County.

After several years of almost frantic trial and prison breaks, almost all the ordinary people in Taihu County are cautious and dare not do anything out of the ordinary. Although Zhang Qingtian came to check and released many people once, no one can guarantee whether he will be arrested and put in prison again, after all, Lord Qingtian will not live in Taihu County all the time, so there is nothing to say about the good security situation in Taihu County, and the officials wander around the streets every day, and they can't find any disputes that need to be resolved in the court.

The officials have now become the most idle people in Taihu Lake.

Although he has no tasks, Yang Congyi is not idle, and spends his time practicing and reading and writing every day. I didn't have a chance in the mountains before, but now I have a lot of time to make good use of it, after all, I have read books for more than ten years, and I am also a reader, and I can't write too much.

In this way, practicing, reading, and practicing calligraphy every day when he has nothing to do has become Yang Congyi's daily life, and he doesn't know how much more idle he is in the mountains than before.