The literary style in the southeast is prosperous, and there are many scholars, Fan Jin not only has the identity of a great talent, but also has the righteous act of sending spirits for thousands of miles, and can almost be regarded as a living saint at the moment. This is also the reason why the Jia family doesn't talk about him bathing with Zheng Chan, no matter how big this kind of thing is, it can't erase Fan Jin's righteous act of sending the spirit thousands of miles after preventing smallpox first, and resigning the future of the ministers of the Han Lin Pavilion, but it will make the Hua family fall into the reputation of ingratitude, and the Jia family naturally can't do that kind of stupid thing that hurts others and is not good for himself.

At this time, the scholars were still more supportive of Fan Jin's righteous behavior, as long as they did not let themselves sacrifice, they did not hesitate to praise the sacrifice spirit and great sentiment of others. In addition, the cowpox bureau has not yet been spread in the north, but it has begun to be established in the southeast, and before smallpox ravaged Jiangning, Jurong, which was close at hand, was also affected.

The establishment of the Cowpox Bureau is also a great contribution to the people of Jurong. Although it was nominally invented by Feng Mingqi and Xu Weizhi, Xu Weizhi also got the imperial court canonization of the prince of the world, but in such a close range, everyone knows who caused the cowpox. Fan Jin's reputation is in Jurong, no less than that of the Buddha of ten thousand families. is because in the county, Fan Jin's courtesy is only stronger than that of the Hua family.

As soon as Fan Jin's name was announced, he immediately had the best room, and the room fee was only half of the same room. Soon after, several restaurants took turns to deliver banquets. Later, local scribes came to visit and talk about poetry, or took the written articles to Mr. Fan for annotation.

Since some rich people or local celebrities are indispensable to Fan Jin to the Qing Mansion banquet and sing harmony, on this occasion Fan Jin is simply like a fish in water, a few days later, has received several pairs of embroidered shoes or women's underwear back, occasionally staying outside, will also bring back a body of fat powder or a few lip prints.

There are also a few ladies from good families who secretly asked their personal maids to send love poems or notes, and asked Fan to embroider the building for a while in the middle of the night. It's a pity that most of these things fell into Zheng Chan's hands, and in a blink of an eye, they turned into fuel for the big stove in the inn kitchen.

Of course, there are these vixens to rob men, but Zheng Chan's mood is still far better than when she was in the Hua family, as long as she leaves the big mansion of the Hua family, she can still accept other sacrifices. Moreover, after being accompanied by Fan Jin or going out shopping by herself for a few days, Zheng Chan felt that the atmosphere in the southeast was indeed far more civilized than that of the Beijing Division, and the Hua family was just an outlier.

Most of the people in the city are even bolder than her, she can have the courage to hold Fan Jin's arm and swagger through the market, not only no one will say anything, but there will also be businessmen who congratulate her on giving birth to a noble son. Jurong is not very old in total, and after a few days, most of the shop merchants in the city know that she is Fan Jin's maid, and when she walks on the street, someone smiles at her or gives her something. Occasionally, you don't have to pay for a snack in front of the stall.

When Zhu Guochen took her to the rotor room to collect the money before, she could also take things from the stall, but that was actually snatching. The hawker is outwardly respectful, and that dissatisfaction can always be felt. It is not the same as the heartfelt love of local businessmen, although the things sent are not valuable, but the kind of heartfelt love makes Zheng Chan feel more precious than any piece of jewelry.

Fan Jin went to the Hua family to mourn once during this time, and went to the ancestral hall to see Jiyin a few times, and felt more and more that the atmosphere of the Hua family was strange, and it was right for him to leave. The boy who ran around him was now like a wooden man, only reading there, and not even saying a word to himself.

According to Jiyin's understanding, this is definitely not out of his own heart, but is bound by the rules, and may even suffer something. But as soon as he arrived at the Hua family, he became a member of the other party's family, and he had no position to assert any power for Hua Jiyin, not to mention the current standards, the Hua family's discipline was far from meeting the standard of abuse, and he had no position to stand out, so he could only ask him to take care.

Because of the tacit understanding with Zhang Juzheng, Fan Jin knew that he had returned to the southeast, and most of them would stay here as officials. Even if it is not placed in Yingtian, it is mostly Jiangnan Province. In order to wait for the officials to die, he lived in the store room and did not move, except for the banquet, the rest of the time was to understand the people's customs and people's conditions, and prepare for the future as a magistrate.

On the wealth map of the Ming Dynasty, the southeast as a place of ointment, is undoubtedly the top priority of wealth collection, as long as the southeast is clarified, the Ming Dynasty has a financial guarantee. Therefore, whether it is to clear the population of the fields or re-survey the fish scale album, it is inevitable to go from south to north.

Similarly, the South is both a cornucopia and a fortified fortress. In places where there are many literati, it is not easy to carry out money and cereal work. After all, it is not easy for the family to confess a scribe, and it is natural to repay the family after gaining fame, and Fan Jin is not incomprehensible about avoiding taxes with fame, but now that he wants to be a magistrate, he has to find a way to prevent this kind of thing.

The preferential exemption in the Ming Dynasty is not unlimited, and there are so many preferential exemptions for people, and if it is strictly implemented, the impact on taxation is actually not so serious. The real problem is that there will be no obvious mark of the size of the land, and whether it is 50 or 100 acres will have to be measured by the officials.

Due to the high status of the lifter, the officials did not dare to provoke, and generally speaking, they would keep their hands when measuring. Moreover, considering that they are all people in Shilin who take care of each other, the magistrate will not take the initiative to measure the acres of land of others. As a result, it has evolved into the current situation, and the fields under the name of the person are automatically regarded as tax-exempt, and no one has studied the excess part deeply. In addition, the fish scale album is old, and the information on it is several years old, which is seriously out of touch with the actual situation, and cannot be used as a basis for tax collection, so it is even more difficult to collect taxes.

In the final analysis, the taxes collected are those of the imperial court, and the favors made are one's own. Most of the officials know how to choose, and few people will damage their friendships for official business, and the more scribes there are, the more difficult it is to advance the new law. Throwing Fan Jin here is naturally for results, and if he messes around like other local officials, he will definitely not be able to explain.

According to Fan Jin's idea, he used his current identity to investigate the actual situation here and lay a foundation for future governance. Even if you don't put it in Yingtian, you must at least have a reference. However, the turn of events was beyond his expectations, and the arrival of an unfamiliar guest disrupted his entire itinerary.

It was in the early afternoon, it was drizzling, and a small sedan car stopped at the door of the store. In front of the sedan chair are two sturdy women with thick hands and big feet and hemp-faced children, and there are more than a dozen burly men around, belonging to the kind of warriors who can make ordinary people want to go to the toilet at a glance. Zhang Tiejian was gossiping with the shopkeeper at the counter, but when he saw such a group of people walking in, he was so frightened that he ran towards his room without saying a word.

"Everyone avoids!"

The big man only said a word, and then shook something in front of the shopkeeper, and the shopkeeper walked away with the guy in a funny way. Zheng Chan was coming from the backyard to the front at this time, and she was shocked when she saw this scene. She was already unlucky, much more sensitive than ordinary people, and when she saw a fierce character, she instinctively wanted to escape, but another emotion called love supported her, and she dared to scold those men:

"Who are you? What are you doing here? Fan Chuanlu is here as a platform, if you dare to be presumptuous, believe it or not, I will arrest you to the yamen. ”

Several men looked at her and didn't speak, but a weak voice came out of the sedan chair. "This sister, who are you Fan Gongzi?"

"I ...... I'm his ......" Zheng Chan wanted to say that it was his wife, but thinking about it, this kind of banter in the boudoir was definitely not on the table, if it was not good to say that the little wife was not good, she subconsciously replied: "Cook!" ”

"Oh. Then ask this sister to take me to see Brother Fan. Mother Wang, let me go down. ”

The mother-in-law lowered her head and put her hand, and then saw a small white hand stretched out from the sedan chair and put it on the mother-in-law's hand, and then a delicate and slender woman walked out of the sedan chair.

The woman couldn't see her facial features with a veil on her face, so she didn't know her age, and she was wearing a purple robe, like a nun. But the dark clouds on her head proved that she was a worldly person, and this dress looked a little strange. There was also a wooden box in her arms, I don't know what it was, but it could be seen that she valued the wooden box very much, and no one else was allowed to take over.

The sedan chair had stopped at the door of the store, and the person came out, so as not to get wet, but the other woman still opened the umbrella, in the rain and mist, this slender woman walked towards Zheng Chan under the umbrella, and when she got closer, she saw a pair of black and shiny big eyes like two pools of spring water, beautiful and ethereal. With this rain and this figure, Zheng Chan felt an inexplicable sense of unreality, and she didn't dare to determine whether it was a person or a spirit.

Zheng Chan herself is also a beauty, this woman didn't show her face, so it was difficult to say that she was beautiful and ugly. But as soon as she saw those beautiful eyes, Zheng Chan instinctively felt that this was a beauty, and she was not too old. But there was no jealousy or hatred in his heart, only an inexplicable fear that arose.

"You...... Who are you? What do you want to see my grandfather? ”

She instinctively sensed that someone was extraordinary and took a step back, but she didn't want to tell her where Fan Jin was. Or before clarifying the other party's friend or foe, she didn't want to tell Fan Jin.

The girl who came looked at the side, seemed to understand something, and said to the woman with some disgust: "It's all your fault." People came to see my brother-in-law, and you were like this, making my brother-in-law think that I was here to fight. What if you frighten your brother-in-law's cook? Don't let them all get out yet! ”

"Yes, what Miss Six ordered was that the slave maid didn't do a good job." A few big men didn't need to hurry, they hurriedly ran out, and lined up with goose wings outside the door of the store, not moving like a pine.

The woman said to Zheng Chan again: "This girl, you don't have to worry, Fan Gongzi is my brother-in-law, and he has a good relationship with me." I came to see him on purpose, can you take me to see my brother-in-law? ”

The mother-in-law scolded: "This is the sixth lady of the Wei State Mansion!" If you dare to stand in the way, believe it or not, you broke your legs? ”

"Wang Ma, don't be rude! My brother-in-law's subordinates are my own people, how can I scare people? Besides, if you accompany me as a monk, you should also learn to be compassionate, and you are not allowed to talk about beating and killing at every turn, accumulating karma, and sin. ”

Monks?

Although I didn't feel the slightest hint of a monk from her, she was closer, and she could indeed smell a little sandalwood. In addition, the other party reported the door, Zheng Chan had no suspicions, and hurriedly led the way in front, and led the person all the way to the backyard to the room, and before the person reached the door of the house, he heard the sound of the piano drifting out along the wind and rain and falling into the ears of several people.

Xu Liu's figure stood still, and the two mothers-in-law held umbrellas on the left and right, but the courtyard was not covered, and the rain would still fall on her. A mother-in-law hurriedly said, "Miss is weak and can't get wet, let's go in." ”

"Don't mess around. Such a good piano sound, if you disturb it, you can't hear it, don't talk, accompany me to listen to the piano. ”

Xu Liu just stood quietly in the courtyard, listening to the melodious sound of the piano in the room, until the end of the song, the Zi clothes on her body had been beaten and half wet. Her clothes were pressed against her body due to the water, and her body became more and more thin. Zheng Chan doesn't understand the rhythm, she just thinks that the sound of the piano is good, if she is allowed to stand in the rain and listen, she will never be able to. Seeing Xu Liu's appearance listening to the qin, she inexplicably made a calculation in her heart, and said in her heart: This brother-in-law and brother-in-law are called true relatives, could it be that the brother-in-law is not a brother-in-law?

At this time, the sound of the piano gradually stopped, and Xu Liu, accompanied by the two mothers-in-law, walked to the door, Zheng Chan coughed and shouted: "Master." There is a sixth lady from the Wei Mansion who says it is your aunt, waiting outside to visit you. ”

After a while, the door opened, Fan Jin walked out quickly, glanced at the woman who came, and hurriedly saluted: "I don't know if the sixth lady is far away, it's really a sin." Hurry up and sit in the room, Miss Six is wet? Although the weather is hot now, Miss Six is weak and still can't stand the cold. Miss Six, don't be surprised, I am the only one who has a woman's clothes to change, so I can barely do it. ”

Xu Liu nodded and obediently followed Zheng Chan into her room. When I took off my clothes, the masking on my face couldn't cover it. She first nodded at Zheng Chan, and then said apologetically: "I'm ugly, don't scare you." As he spoke, he gently removed the veil from his face.

With the movement of the scarf, Zheng Chan saw that the slap face, which was originally smooth and white like fine porcelain, was scattered with a few pockmarks. Although it is not very large, it can be covered with good fat powder, but if it falls on such a face, it will always damage the color. Seeing this scene, she lost the jealousy in her heart, and changed to some pity, coupled with Xu Liu's appearance, it always gave people a feeling of pity and pity, and it made her feel that she wanted to protect her in her heart, and secretly said in her heart: "It's a pity that this famous daughter of a little beauty actually gave birth to this pockmarked face, it seems that God is not only cruel to me, but also to everyone." ”