Top Scholar

Chapter 157 The Xuan Emperor Takes a Fall

On the second day of the Lunar New Year, Commander Ma led his soldiers on their return journey, accompanied by the people of Erlangtan.

The entire city lined the streets to see him off, and Magistrate Lu, along with his officials and gentry, accompanied him for a full twenty li.

Although it's still a bit less impressive than the twenty-mile journey Ma Qianhu once led to welcome and send off the county magistrate, considering the magistrate's unspoken difficulties, this already shows the utmost sincerity.

In truth, even if Magistrate Lu had simply escorted them to the door, Commander Ma and the others wouldn't have bothered with him. Because this time, they'd essentially made a killing—like the Emperor Xuan had stumbled!

First, they raided the Hejiang Wine Shop and the Gongsun family's residence. Commander Ma pocketed two thousand taels of silver, and Magistrate Lu gave them another thousand taels as farewell funds. As for the spoils from the capture of Shangbaisha Water Fortress, Magistrate Lu didn't even ask and tacitly agreed to let them have them.

Although most of the bandits were poor, "River Dragon" Qi San and his trusted men were anything but poor; the leader was even quite wealthy. Commander Ma dug three feet into the ground and found another two thousand taels of silver in the stronghold!

That's a full five thousand taels of silver! Commander Ma kept two thousand taels for himself, but five hundred of them were used to pay tribute to the commander.

Despite his tough public persona, how could he possibly risk damaging his relationship with his superior in private? This commander is content with his job and doesn't care about promotions, but he certainly doesn't want to retire early.

The remaining three thousand taels were distributed among the subordinates. Commander Ma's close associates, who had contributed the most, received the largest share, twenty taels each!
Zhou Baihu's men were rewarded with ten taels of silver each for their meritorious service in burning the ships!

The remaining 1,000 taels were distributed among the militia of Erlangtan. Each of the 280 men who went into battle received three or four taels… and even that was considered too much by the Su family. After all, most of them, like Su Youcai, hadn't slashed or shot a single arrow from beginning to end, and had simply watched the whole thing.

The participation prize is so generous, I can only thank Mr. Qianhu for being so kind!

This distribution had already been made in the Shangbaisha Water Fortress. Commander Ma had led troops his whole life, so of course he knew the principle of 'rewards should be given quickly, while punishments should be delayed'.

Unexpectedly, when he returned to the county in triumph, the gentry competed to reward him with two thousand taels of silver. You can imagine how this whole affair was so chaotic, how come the money could never be distributed?

Commander Ma distributed the taels according to the same ratio, but this time the commander was no longer involved, and all eight hundred taels ended up in Commander Ma's pocket.

No wonder he gave fifty taels of silver as a wedding gift, and yesterday he even gave Su Tai a hundred taels as a separate reward! But before Su Tai could even enjoy the money, it was already in his aunt's hands... and not a single coin was left for him.

Auntie coaxed Xia Ge'er, saying, "I'll use this money to buy you a big house in the city and help you marry a beautiful wife."

Su Tai was so happy he couldn't stop smiling, and he wished he could give away even a little of his own money.

Su Man and Su Lu couldn't help but sigh, Xia Ge'er had indeed reached the age of spring fever...

Su Lu glanced at Su Man again. This handsome guy was already nineteen... Chun Ge'er said, "Don't look at me. I won't talk about marriage until I pass the imperial examination."

Then he reminded Su Lu, "You should do the same. Don't let women affect your studies!"

“Only in this matter can you rest assured, brother,” Su Lu said confidently. “I don’t even see any women in the academy.”

"It's not about not seeing them, but about having nothing at all," Su Man said solemnly. "Remember, 'How can we have a home when the Xiongnu are not yet defeated?'"

Before he could finish speaking, his aunt gave him a sharp rap on the head. "What nonsense are you spouting, you brat? You're setting a bad example for your brother! Getting married soon is the most important thing!"

“Oh, oh…” Su Man nodded.

The eldest aunt happily said to her brothers, "After the first month of the lunar year, I'll look at houses and buy a big house big enough for the four of you to get married!"

Su Man, Su Tai, and Su Lu were all taken aback: "Who else?"

"Dong-ge'er!" Auntie said thoughtfully.

Looking at their little brother crawling all over the floor, the three brothers fell into deep thought. Was this older sister reliable or unreliable?

~~
In short, each member of the clansmen returned home happily with five taels of silver in their pockets.

However, the old clan chief still left behind twenty young men. Firstly, given the recent commotion, he needed to be prepared for any unforeseen events. Secondly, Su's Winery had taken over Hejiang Wine Shop, and there were countless things to manage. Su Daji couldn't handle everything alone; these young men would be good help, running errands for him, and gaining valuable experience in the future.

The Cheng family also returned home that day, but they traveled by water.

Although there was no reward, both Old Master Cheng and Scholar Cheng were very relaxed. The two brothers even leaned against the bow of the boat and sang the "riverbank boatman's song" they had sung in their youth:
Grandpa Cheng gently tapped the gunwale and sang: "The sun shines on the bow, the waves are not high, the boat is stable, I am happy and carefree, yo ho!"

Scholar Cheng continued, clapping along: "The day before yesterday I was frowning, today I'm all smiles, I'll sleep in my blue robe all night long, oh ho!"

The two old men clapped their hands and sang together: "Let's take advantage of the sunny day and row our oars quickly, the river full of silver fish is our reward, yo ho!"

Uncle Jiu, who was rowing at the stern, laughed and echoed, "One shouldn't be too generous with money; when it's time to give a reward, give a reward! Oh ho!"

"Hahaha!" The three old men burst into laughter. Cheng Xiucai laughed until he wiped away tears and said, "Brother, your son-in-law's reputation for frugality has spread throughout the Chishui River."

"Isn't it because we're poor that we're like this..." Old Master Cheng said with a wry smile, "When we have money, we definitely won't act like that."

Only Cheng Chengcheng still looked constipated, and couldn't help but ask, "Father, have you told my sister yet?" "What's the rush? You're a grown man, don't you have any patience?" Cheng Xiucai frowned upon hearing this.
"I thought this lawsuit would be a tough battle, and I was prepared to fight it all the way to Chengdu."

He gave a wry smile and said, "The case was closed in one hearing, and I wasn't allowed to say a word from beginning to end. Now you're so eager to take credit and ask for this and that? You can't be so shameless with your own daughter."

"Father is right." Cheng Chengcheng nodded and sighed, "Isn't it because I'm anxious?"

"Don't worry, the harsh winter is over." The eldest son of the Cheng family also said with a smile, "The easing of relations between the two families is more important than anything else. Although we couldn't offer help in this time, we have already made our attitude clear. The Su family will not oppose us again for the sake of your two younger sisters, even if they don't care about us."

Cheng Xiucai glanced at his elder brother and thought to himself, "Does your daughter have such a big face?"
Anyway, the old man of the Cheng family still felt good about himself and said to Cheng Chengcheng, "Go back and do what you need to do. When it's my birthday in March, I'll call Lanlan over and complain to her... Now that the Su family has jumped out of Erlangtan, they own all the liquor stores in the county. Do you think they won't give us a bite to eat?"

“Brother, I’m not trying to criticize you, but you just lack perspective,” Cheng Xiucai retorted proudly.
"If it's just about having enough to eat, can't we earn it ourselves? We should take advantage of the Su family's influence to help our Cheng family get out of the mountains!"

“I know what you mean, but such a big matter needs to be discussed with the clan leader and even the clan itself…” Old Master Cheng said, his eyes darting around.

"Things can't be decided by discussion," Cheng Xiucai waved his hand and said, "As long as you support me, I'll persuade the clan chief and the others!"

"Sigh, those stubborn fools..." sighed the old man from the Cheng family.

"I'm asking you now, don't try to change the subject!" Cheng Xiucai said in a deep voice.

"Me too..." Old Master Cheng had no choice but to tell the truth: "I'm stubborn too."

"I knew it," Cheng Xiucai snorted.

"Third brother, that Langquan Well is our lifeline! We went through so much trouble to get it back from the Su family back then," said the eldest son of the Cheng family with a bitter face. "How can we just give it away?"

"Foolish!" Scholar Cheng said in a deep voice, "You also know that the well was taken back from the Su family. This is the root of the conflict between the two families! You see it as a victory, but the Su family sees it as a great humiliation! As long as they stand up for themselves, they will definitely take it back!"

As he spoke, he raised his voice and said, "Having stayed in the county for half a month, haven't you noticed? The Su family is no longer the Su family of twelve years ago! Even the county magistrate is doing his best to promote them! Not to mention Commander Ma, he's practically groveling before them! They've also proven themselves capable, so why can't they get up?"

"Indeed." Old Master Cheng had been the head manager of the wine shop before, so he had some experience. "It's true what they say, fortunes change, and our ancestors' graves are emitting good luck."

"While they're still in power, we can still talk, and we can all share it! Once they've risen up, we'll have no choice but to obediently hand it back, understand?" Scholar Cheng said with a snort.

“If it weren’t for my daughter, she might not even agree to your relationship now. If this drags on any longer, my daughter’s influence will suffer!”

~~
Hejiang County Town.

After many people left, the Su family courtyard in the back alley finally quieted down.

And four more are leaving tomorrow. My uncle is going back to town to collect the stall fees; there are so many itinerant vendors at the temple fair, we can't let them evade taxes…

Chun-ge'er also went back with his uncle. He planned to help out at Sweet Water Restaurant for a couple of days first, and then start school early to teach the children phonetic symbols.

Upon hearing Chun Ge'er's plan, Su Lu shook his head repeatedly and said, "Brother, you'll get scolded for doing that."

"It's alright, I'll teach for free, they can learn voluntarily, and those who don't want to come don't have to," Chun Ge'er said nonchalantly. For Juan Wang, this holiday was simply too long.

“If it’s voluntary, who would dare not come…” Even Su Tai understood this principle.

The two brothers are also setting off for Luzhou tomorrow. Su Lu originally planned to leave today, but when he said goodbye to the county magistrate yesterday, Magistrate Lu said that he also had to go to the prefectural city to report on the third day of the lunar new year, and asked him to invite Su Tai to go with him, so he waited another day.

Auntie prepared luggage and food for the four of them. She wasn't worried about Chun-ge'er; a teacher wouldn't go hungry anywhere, there would always be food for him in Erlangtan. As for her uncle, she was only worried that he would get fatter and fatter. Sigh, he was already struggling to keep up…

She was worried about Su Tai and Su Lu.

"Where will you stay? How will you eat? Who will do your laundry? How about I go with you?"

"No need, no need," Su Lu quickly replied with a smile. "The county magistrate said that the county has a government office in Luzhou, which provides food and lodging for officials who come to the prefecture on business. We can stay there."

"Staying for a few days is fine, but won't people get annoyed if it goes on for too long?" Auntie asked worriedly.

"Haha, no way." The older uncle was much more knowledgeable and laughed, "The government office isn't just a place to stay; it also helps the county magistrate manage relationships with higher-level government offices. The person in charge must be a smooth and tactful person. If they can't even handle this, what kind of government office are they in charge of?"

“You still have to pay. You can’t just eat and stay for free.” Auntie said, giving each of Xia Ge’er and Qiu Ge’er ten taels of silver. She said generously, “You are going to be officials in the future. You can’t be like your uncle, just eating and drinking for free.”

"You unlucky woman, why are you dragging me into this again?" the uncle said helplessly. Actually, he knew perfectly well that this was the consequence of tax evasion...

P.S. The next chapter hasn't been checked yet...

(End of this chapter)