Strange Tales from the Northern Qi Dynasty

Chapter 41 Unbearable
"You, you, both of you, follow me."

A clerk looked around the crowd and selected Liu Taozi and Yao Xiong.

The substitute clerks all lowered their heads, with anxiety in their eyes, like prostitutes being forced to sell themselves, waiting to be chosen by others.

The scattered officials would select from these people, pick out one or two satisfactory ones, and take them away.

The traitor named Tian was standing beside Nurxia with his head bowed and his face full of flattery, which made Nurxia laugh out loud.

Sanli asked Taozi to follow Yao Xiong and wait at the door, while he walked into the villa.

When he came back, he was leading a donkey and holding two knives in his arms.

He asked each of them to take one.

This official was older, with wrinkles all over his face. He was short, dark-skinned, had a short beard, and looked quite weathered.

He looked at the two of them again, and his tone was not so bad.

"My surname is Zhang."

"Today you will follow me out to the countryside. You may not be back until very late."

"I wanted to borrow three donkeys, but they wouldn't let me and only gave me one. Don't blame me."

"I don't need to say much about the situation outside the city. In short, you have to be extra careful."

He said a few words and then rode on the donkey. Taozi and Yao Xiong followed behind him and staggered towards the city gate.

The old official kept his head down, his eyes dull, and he said nothing.

Liu Taozi spoke at this moment.

He asked in a low voice: "Who is that Tian in the mansion?"

Yao Xiong was stunned for a moment before answering, "That guy's name is Tian Zili. He is not a good person. He comes from a wealthy family and has a lot of money."

"After this fellow arrived at the county government, he bribed and flattered people everywhere, and he was no longer bullied."

"He doesn't associate with us either. He just tries to please... those people."

The old official was riding on a donkey and seemed not to hear their conversation at all. He just kept his head down and walked forward.

Yao Xiong then talked about the situation of the other few people.

Yao Xiong no longer had the spiritual energy he had before, and even when he spoke, his voice was flat.

The whole city was still shrouded in a light mist at this moment, and the road leading to the city gate was quiet and deserted.

I could vaguely see a person, but when I got closer, the person had disappeared.

Cheng'an in the fog looks more like a ghost town.

When they arrived at the city gate, several devil-like knights emerged from the fog.

The old clerk showed them his clerk badge.

After registration, we were released.

The moment he walked out of the city gate, the stiff and slow old official suddenly woke up.

His eyes widened and he began to look around with uneasiness and alertness.

The fog dissipated and the distance became clearly visible.

Yao Xiong also became nervous.

The three of them walked slowly on the road.

The old official was quite experienced. Sometimes he took the official road, sometimes he took the small road. There were some roads that Taozi didn't even know where to go.

After walking for a long time, a village appeared in the distance.

This village is much larger than Zhang Village. Standing in the distance, you can see wisps of smoke from cooking fires.

At the entrance of the village, two little kids were collecting firewood. Suddenly, they looked up, saw the three people coming, dropped the firewood in their hands, turned around and ran away.

The old official still looked alert.

They walked into the village and found that the doors of every household were closed.

The old official did not move forward and stayed here.

Soon, several people came running over with smiles on their faces.

The man in the lead had a round figure and was very similar to Zhang Cheng. When he saw the old official, he was very enthusiastic.

"Zhang Jun!!"

The old official got off the donkey and exchanged a few words with the man in a lukewarm manner.

"I am here this time to read out a very important order."

"Your Majesty has issued an order: Anyone who pretends to have the surname Yuan, or who changes their surname to Yuan for ill-intentioned reasons, must change back to their original surname, no matter how many generations ago they changed it."

The old official took out a piece of paper from his bosom and read aloud the contents on it.

The officials there listened respectfully.

After the old official finished speaking, he asked, "There seem to be five people with the surname Yuan in your village?"

The clerk was silent for a moment, "Me, my three sons, and one grandson."

"Then let these five people change their surnames immediately. If they don't comply, they will be beheaded immediately."

The clerk panicked and said hurriedly: "Change it immediately, change it, change it..."

He hurriedly invited several people into the house, but the old clerk remained unmoved. He just took out a piece of paper and asked the village clerk to register them.

The clerk's hands were shaking as he held the pen. He asked his servant to lie on the ground, and had someone put a board on the servant's back, and then put the paper on the board. He did this quite skillfully.

He took a pen and started writing on the paper, and asked someone to call his son.

Taozi and Yao Xiong sat not far away, drinking water and eating cakes.

"Brother Taozi, let's run." Yao Xiong swallowed a mouthful of water, and there was some fluctuation in his eyes that had not appeared in a long time.

"My whole family is dead, so there's nothing to be afraid of. It's rare for me to leave the city, and I'm with such an old official."

"There is only one way to go in the county government: death. Even cattle and horses have time to rest, but we don't. We work day and night without rest and sleep. Sooner or later, we will die."

"I've only heard that corvée labor can kill people, but I didn't expect that being an official can also do that...Brother Taozi, shall we go?"

Yao Xiong looked at Taozi straight, his eyes full of anticipation.

This opportunity to go out is really a rare one for him, not to mention he has Brother Taozi by his side. After running away, even if he becomes a bandit, he will not starve to death.

Liu Taozi finished drinking the water and then took a few bites of the cake.

"Why do people want to run away when they encounter problems?"

"Where can I run to? Where can I find peace?"

Yao Xiong was trembling all over, "Brother, if you don't run, are you going to stay and die?"

Taozi glanced at him and said, "Someone wants to kill you. Is there no other way except running and waiting to die?"

Yao Xiong frowned, and a hint of murderous intent slowly appeared in his eyes.

He stared at the old official in the distance and whispered, "Kill him."

"Why did you kill him? Did he want to kill you?"

Yao Xiong gritted his teeth again, "He Xingseng, I want to kill him."

Liu Taozi took another bite of the biscuit and said, "Then I'm afraid it's too late for you."

"I have to kill... huh?"

Yao Xiong looked at Liu Taozi standing beside him, his eyes wide open, "Could it be that Brother Taozi has given him to... How is this possible? You just asked about his address last night..."

Yao Xiong's voice became smaller and smaller, as if he realized something.

"No wonder it was Nurxia who came out to inform us today..."

He turned to look at Taozi again.

Taozi was full, so he stood up and stretched his body.

"Get up, it's time to go to the next village."

After the official finished his work here, he got on his donkey again and led the two men on the road.

"Alas, this is what the clerks are supposed to do, but the clerks in the yamen have not been filled yet, and the clerks are very busy."

The old official suddenly spoke, talking to himself.

"Once all the clerks are in place, it won't be as tiring as it is now. Of course, you will also have the opportunity to fill in as casual clerks."

Taozi was the first to interrupt him, "Don't say anything, we won't run away."

The old official gave a very unnatural smile, as if he had long forgotten how to smile.

"That's good, that's good, especially the two of you, who are tall and strong. Maybe you will be valued by the higher-ups and rise to the top. There was a saying in the past called "It's hard to beg for a building", which is like that..."

"In fact, it's pretty good that you have food and drink."

"I think……"

The old official was about to say something, but then stopped.

At a distant intersection, a man appeared. He was covered in rags, skinny, and staggering forward.

After him, several more people appeared, looking the same.

They stared at the three people dully, and people kept appearing behind them.

That’s a lot of deaths.

The old official saw that they were holding sticks and some were holding stones.

The two sides stared at each other, motionless.

The old official whispered: "Don't act rashly..."

"what!!!!"

Yao Xiong roared angrily, drew his sword, and rushed towards those people with red eyes.

"Kill!! Kill you all!!"

His face was hideous and he looked almost insane.

At this moment, the dead people on the opposite side panicked, there was a fluctuation in their eyes, and they turned around and ran.

Yao Xiong roared and chased after him.

Taozi hugged him from behind at some point. Yao Xiong looked at the dead people who ran away, still swinging the knife in his hand.

"Kill!! Kill!!"

Yao Xiong yelled, his voice filled with tears.

…………..
The three of them continued walking on the road. Yao Xiong was very calm, as if nothing had happened.

Taozi walked at the end, holding two knives. The old official no longer spoke, but just lowered his head.

They came to a brand new village, and once again caused people to flee and children to cry.

The local officials called the villagers out to greet them.

The skinny old man and the child stood there blankly, trembling as they listened to Zhang Jun talking about words they couldn't understand.

Taozi slowly closed her eyes.

ps: In August, the emperor issued an edict that all soldiers and civilians whose fathers and ancestors changed their surnames and pretended to be Yuan, or who pretended to be Yuan and forgot to say that they were Yuan, should be allowed to change back to their original surnames, regardless of how many generations they had been together. ——"Book of Northern Qi·Annals of Wenxuan"

(End of this chapter)