Qing Yao

Chapter 2: Make a fake certificate

The good thing about being young is that you can take a beating.

After coming out of Sihailou, Zhao An raised his arm and rubbed his leg. It hurt, but fortunately, the guys knew the rules and didn't hit him in the face, otherwise how could he go to see his uncle with a bruised face?

But it was dangerous. The meat that I had finally eaten was almost knocked out by the beating. If that had happened, the beating would have been in vain.

Looking up at the sky, he estimated that it was around six or seven o'clock in the evening in his previous life. Thinking that his cousin who worked in the government office should be off work at this time, he asked a passerby for the direction of Zuowei Street and went straight there.

I asked a few more people on the way and finally found the Zuowei Street where my cousin's house was that my dead father had mentioned. However, no one knew which alley Luosi or Dingxiang was where my cousin's house was.

Seeing that it was getting darker and darker, Zhao An was getting worried when an old man passing by pointed out the location of the alley to him. It was an alley less than a few hundred meters away from where Zhao An was staying.

As the old man left, he glanced at Zhao An meaningfully and shook his head, saying, "Why are you looking for someone at night instead of during the day? Not many people dare to go to that alley on weekdays. It's creepy."

What does this mean?
Zhao An was confused when he heard it, but he soon understood why the old man said that, because Luosijiding Alley was an alley that made people's backs chill just by looking at it.

Looking inside from the entrance of the alley, it is not only pitch black, but also has a strange and eerie atmosphere, as if this alley leads to hell. God knows how my cousin's family ended up living in this alley.

On second thought, I shouldn't scare myself. It would be really scary if my cousin's house were this size.

What is Yangzhou City?
Every inch of land is worth every inch of gold!

I wonder how many people can't afford to live in this ghost alley.

He groped his way into the alley, but the further he walked, the more nervous he became. He felt as if countless people in the alley were staring at him, but he couldn't see them. His scalp was tingling, but he had to bite the bullet and continue groping forward.

It was not until the end of the alley that he saw a ray of light. He could vaguely see four or five families living there. When he arrived at the first house, Zhao An hurried forward and knocked on the door.

"Who are you? Who are you looking for?"

The person who opened the door was an old woman in her fifties, who looked at Zhao An, a stranger, with a puzzled look on her face.

Zhao An hurriedly asked, "Excuse me, is this Wang Defa?"

The old woman nodded: "It's my home."

Upon hearing that he had found the right person, Zhao Anxi said happily, "Then you must be my cousin?"

"Cousin Aunt" is the name for cousin's aunt in Huaiyang area, while cousin's uncle is called "Cousin Uncle".

"Which one are you?"

The old woman carefully looked at Zhao An who came to the door to recognize his relatives, but she really couldn't figure out who this child was related to.

Zhao An quickly revealed his identity: "Aunt, I am Zhao An, the son of Zhao Darong."

"Zhao Darong?"

The old woman was startled for a moment, then she remembered something and asked uncertainly, "Is it from the Zhao family in Xinghua?"

"Yup!"

Seeing that the old woman knew the Zhao family in Xinghua, Zhao An couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. He looked up into the courtyard and asked carefully, "Is my cousin at home?"

"Yes, yes, I just got back from work."

Since they were relatives from her husband's side, the old woman couldn't keep them out since they had come all the way here. She stepped aside to let Zhao An in, and as she closed the door, she called out to the inside, "Master, someone from the Zhao family in Xinghua is here."

"Xinghua Zhao family?"

Wang Defa, who was about to take off his clothes to take a bath, was stunned for a moment when he heard his wife shouting. Then he quickly put on his clothes and pushed the door open, "Who's here from the Zhao family?"

"Uncle, it's your nephew Zhao An who's here to see you!"

Zhao An hurried forward and introduced himself.

"Are you Darong's son?"

Wang Defa, who hadn't seen his cousin from Xinghua for over thirty years, was a little moved by Zhao An, who looked so much like his younger cousin. But then he learned that his cousin Darong had passed away a few years ago, and a pang of sadness filled his heart. Coming to his senses, he pulled Zhao An into the house and casually asked his wife, Ma, to cook two dishes for his nephew so they could have a drink and chat.

"Uncle, I'm not hungry. Don't keep Aunt busy."

Zhao An was not being polite, but he really wasn't hungry, and he felt a little warm in his heart, because he was worried that his cousin Wang Defa would not like his poor relative from the countryside. Unexpectedly, his cousin was very enthusiastic.

It seems that I have read too much toxic chicken soup and always treat my relatives as thieves.

How many relatives in this world don’t recognize each other?

Wang Defa worked as a clerk in the Taxation Office of Ganquan County, a county affiliated to Yangzhou Prefecture, specializing in copying various official documents for the Taxation Office.

In addition to clerks, the Taxation Department also has accountants who are specifically responsible for accounting.

This "Shu Suan" is equivalent to the clerk in other government offices, and his status is higher than the patrol officers under the Taxation Department who are responsible for collecting commercial taxes.

Because to put it bluntly, a patrolman is just a temporary worker who runs errands and does odd jobs. They may need you today, but may not need you tomorrow.

The chief official of the Taxation Department is called an ambassador, and his rank is relatively low. At the prefecture level, he is generally of the ninth rank, and at the county level, he is not in the mainstream. However, he is also a registered official of the Ministry of Personnel. If he performs well, he may be able to be promoted from an official to an official after taking an exam every nine years.

However, Zhao An didn't know much about the ins and outs of the Qing Dynasty government. He just heard from his dead father that his cousin worked in the tax collection office in Yangzhou. In his opinion, the tax collection office must be the tax bureau.

Being able to work in the tax bureau, although not an official or a clerk, it was not a problem for him to earn dozens of taels of silver a year. In the words of later generations, Wang Defa was also considered a "big shot".

No matter whether this "person" is big or small, he is a person of importance in his small piece of land.

Coming all the way from Xinghua, Zhao An didn't seek to become rich or famous, nor did he expect to make a big leap. He just wanted his cousin Wang Defa to help him and use his connections to "recruit" his cousin to work at the tax bureau so that he could have a stable job.

At work, even if I don’t know other things, how can I not know how to collect money?
However, Zhao An certainly couldn't talk about this matter directly when he arrived, so he accompanied Wang Defa for a few drinks first. During the meal, they talked about a lot of old things in Xinghua, which made Wang Defa, who hadn't been to Xinghua to visit relatives for more than 30 years, feel emotional for a while.

Seeing that the atmosphere was right, Zhao An finally expressed his intention.

"As the saying goes, cousins ​​are connected by blood, not to mention that your grandmother is my aunt. You came all the way here to ask for help from your uncle. If I don't help, am I still a human being?"

Wang Defa was indeed a man who valued family affection. If not for his deceased cousin, then for his deceased aunt, he would also help his nephew. He put down his wine glass and said to Zhao An:
"You've come at a good time. I heard Ambassador Ding muttering the other day that the department is short-staffed and needs more recruits. So, I'll talk to Ambassador Ding about it for you tomorrow. By the way, what's your license?"

"license?"

Zhao An, who was secretly happy, was stunned by this term: Is there such a thing as a business license these days?
After Wang Defa explained it, I realized that this license was not a business license, but a certificate of academic qualifications.

The full name is "Annual Tribute License".

Uncle Wang Defa was also kind-hearted. He thought that since he was helping, he had to help in full. If he could help his nephew get a job as a fence patroller in the company, there would be no problem at all. However, the work of fence patrollers and errand runners was not regular and the income was not stable either. So he thought about finding a stable job of copying and accounting for his nephew in the company. After all, his nephew was getting older, so if he took good care of him and trained him for a few years, maybe he could take over his job in the future.

In this way, I can do justice to my deceased aunt and cousin.

But to be a clerk in the Taxation Department, one must have a certificate of academic qualification, at least a student, otherwise how can one do the job if he cannot read a single word?

In Zhao An's previous life, these conditions were extremely relaxed, equivalent to allowing elementary school students to join the unit.

The problem is that Zhao An’s predecessor only attended a private school for two years before dropping out. He didn’t even have a certificate of incomplete studies. How could he get an elementary school diploma?
Don’t underestimate the academic qualification of a Tongsheng, it is the most basic part of the imperial examination system.

Only with an academic degree can one continue to study and become an official.

Without an education, it would be difficult to even patrol the fence or run errands.

"Uh,"

Zhao An was in a dilemma. He was already twenty years old. Could he go back and study with the kids for a few more years to get a diploma?
He can get by, but by the time he gets his diploma, it will be too late.

How can a living person be suffocated to death by urine?

The first thing that came to my mind was the fake certificate dealer.

Luosijiding is a dialect meaning “piled up corpses”. This lane was the place where the most people were killed in the Ten Days in Yangzhou, with corpses piled up to the roofs.

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(End of this chapter)