White-robed Minister

Chapter 125 0123 [Yu'er's Happiness]

Local officials in the Song Dynasty clocked in at 7:00 AM, a time also known as "dianmao" or "huamao".

Around noon, we ate lunch and took a short rest.

The workday ends around 3 or 4 pm, and theoretically, we can leave. But everyone "voluntarily works overtime," and everyone works extremely hard, often staying up until dark.

After lunch that day, during the lunch break, a group of clerks in the yamen chatted and joked around.

A clerk, holding the official gazettes that the officials had read, sighed repeatedly, saying, "That girl died so tragically, so filial. Poor thing, so pitiful—"

The clerk beside him chimed in, "You saw it too? I was just talking about it with my family last night."

"What are you talking about?"

In Shangyu County, Yuezhou, there was a girl named Zhu Hui, who was ten years old and raised by her grandmother. A man from the same village named Zhu Yan, possibly a relative, came to their door with a knife, intending to kill the girl's family. The grandmother was slow to run and was caught by Zhu Yan. The little girl grabbed Zhu Yan's clothes and said, "If you want to kill someone, kill me, don't kill my grandmother."

"That girl named Zhu Hui was killed?"

"Yes. The whole family was terrified and ran away. Only she protected her grandmother, suffering dozens of stab wounds before dying. Even in her dying moments, she clung to the assailant's clothes. That Zhu Yan was truly ruthless; unable to break free, he slit the girl's throat!"

"This is outrageous! Even if there is a deep-seated grudge, one cannot kill a ten-year-old girl. Her family members are also useless; they abandoned the elderly and weak and ran away on their own."

"The official gazette says that the court commended Qi for his filial piety and bestowed upon Qi's family thirty bolts of silk and thirty bushels of rice."

"This kind of thing deserves praise, and it is reasonable to publish it in the official gazette."

"I don't think her family should be given silk and rice. She died protecting her grandmother, and her family abandoned her and fled. Now that she's dead, her family is being rewarded. It's outrageous and makes me increasingly angry!"

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The clerks joined the discussion, offering their most heartfelt assessments of the matter.

After discussing the news in the official gazette, everyone started talking about local anecdotes.

As they were chatting, a servant ran inside quickly.

"Zeng Da, why are you running?" someone asked.

The servant whispered, "Xu's family has arrived; I'm rushing to inform them."

Someone else asked, "Is she Judge Xu's wife?"

The servant said, "Only the servants, his maid is very beautiful—I'll tell you later, I have to go and inform them."

So the clerks started chatting enthusiastically again, and this time they deliberately kept their voices down.

"Wasn't it said that Judge Xu was very poor, that his family was only a fifth-class household? How come he has beautiful maids in his household?"

"Are you stupid? A top scholar who's not even twenty years old will definitely be snatched up by powerful figures as a son-in-law the day the list of successful candidates is posted."

"No wonder he doesn't touch the allowance; he's never short of money."

"Which official is short of money? And which one doesn't take bribes? If he can persist for a year, I will respect him as a true gentleman, and I will never hesitate to help him in the future."

"Don't speak, Judge Xu is coming!"

When officials' families went to the back of the official residence, they were not allowed to pass through the office area; there was a side gate on the side of the government office for them to enter and exit.

Upon receiving the message, Xu Lai quickly went outside and saw Bu Chao, Yu'er, and two servants waiting at the side door.

"three----"

The moment Bu Chao saw Xu Lai, he was so happy he was about to call out "Sanlang," but then he changed his mind and performed a gesture of respect, saying, "Greetings, Judge!"

Yu'er and the two servants also bowed in greeting.

"Let's talk about it when we get to the back courtyard," Xu Lai said, leading them through the side gate and into the corridor. "We're not in the government office, so there's no need to address me by my official title. From now on, just call me—just call me Young Master."

Yu'er eagerly took out two letters: "My lord, these are from Second Master and Sixth Lady."

Xu Lai took the letter and put it away.

Bu Chao said, "The widowed woman that Uncle Zhang married is pregnant."

Xu Lai reminded him, "Be more careful with your words in the future. Just say 'wife' instead of 'widow wife'. If Uncle Zhang hears that, he won't be happy."

Bu Chao chuckled and said, "Being an official really makes a difference; you even have more rules for speaking now."

Xu Lai stopped and solemnly warned, "I just brought down a prefect, offending everyone inside and outside the treasury. They're all hoping I'll make a mistake. If I don't, they might tempt those around me to do the same."

"You managed to bring down a sub-prefect?" Bu Chao exclaimed in astonishment.

After all, he had worked as an archer in Qingyuan County and had even been promoted to deputy head of the archers; he was not some ignorant country bumpkin.

Xu Lai said, "Remember, keep your mouth shut and don't say anything out of line. Also, absolutely do not accept money. If I find out, I'll send you back to Qingyuan immediately!"

Bu Chao nodded: "I understand. You're the top scorer, with a bright future ahead of you, so you need to be careful at times like this."

"You seem to know a lot," Xu Lai said with a smile.

Seeing that Xu Lai was no longer stern, Bu Chao relaxed a little: "The newly arrived magistrate of Qingyuan County is a fifth-class Jinshi from the previous imperial examination. He even summoned me and Uncle Zhang Er to say that he greatly admires you and will definitely take care of Qingxi Village in the future."

"What's your name?" Xu Lai asked.

Bu Chao replied, "His name is Li Juyuan, courtesy name Junfu. He specifically mentioned his own name, repeating it two or three times, as if afraid I wouldn't remember it. How could I not understand what he meant? He just wanted me to help him mention him here."

Xu Lai was basically satisfied with Bu Chao's comprehension, and then asked, "You've been an archer for two or three years, can you read now?"

"I recognize a few simple characters," Bu Chao said, "especially the characters on shop signs, like 'wine,' 'vinegar,' and 'rice.' I also recognize some surnames."

Xu Lai said, "You need to learn to read gradually in your daily life."

"What should I do in the future?" Bu Chao asked.

Xu Lai said, "When I'm working, you should wander around inside and outside the city, inquire about all sorts of news, and then come back and tell me. On your days off, you should stay by my side as my attendant."

Bu Chao was slightly disappointed because Xu Lai's arrangement was worse than keeping him in Qingyuan as the deputy head of the archers.

Xu Lai patted him on the shoulder and said, "You're my cousin, I won't treat you unfairly. If you really want to do great things, you must make time to learn to read. The more you know, the better your future will be."

Bu Chao was quite clever and understood immediately. He then said with a pained expression, "I'll try my best to learn to read."

Xu Lai then asked the names of the two servants.

It turned out to be the son and daughter-in-law of the old gatekeeper of the Yu residence in the capital, named Chen Dequan and Li Guiniang respectively.

Xu Lai said to Chen Dequan, "I am very familiar with your father."

Chen Dequan couldn't help but laugh and said, "My father went back to his hometown of Shaozhou and bragged to everyone he met that he often ate noodles cooked by the top scholar."

"Haha, he wasn't lying," Xu said. "You'll be the doorman. Remember, don't take money arbitrarily. I'll give you a higher salary every month. Your wife will stay in the inner quarters and do some odd jobs."

"I will definitely listen to what you say, my lord!" Chen Dequan said quickly.

Xu Lai then asked, "Do you have children?"

Chen Dequan said, "I have two sons and a daughter. My eldest son is already married, and my eldest daughter is also married. My youngest son is only eight years old and serves as my page."

Xiao Lang is Yu Zhongxun's youngest son.

The residence behind the hall of judgment had two courtyards, and even the kitchen was divided into an inner kitchen and an outer kitchen. The outer kitchen was where the servants cooked.

Now Yu'er definitely lives in the inner courtyard, and the newly hired cook also lives in the inner courtyard, so most of the private cooks are women. They either live in the inner courtyard or frequently go in and out of the inner courtyard, usually cooking for their employers in the inner kitchen.

Bu Chao, Chen Dequan, Li Guiniang, and the original cleaning and sweeping maids lived in the outer residence.

The group had traveled from Shaozhou and were exhausted from the journey, so Xu Lai told them to rest for a couple of days and get used to the surroundings.

Bu Chao was indeed very tired. After putting down his luggage and chatting with Xu Lai, he ate a simple lunch and then fell into a deep sleep.

Afternoon office hours had arrived, Xu Lai gave a few instructions and then returned to the signing hall.

Yu'er, however, couldn't stay still.

She tidied up her own room, sorted her luggage and put it in the closet, and then went to help Xu Lai tidy up his room.

She didn't dare to touch the study much, mainly tidying up the bedroom.

As she tidied up, she muttered to herself, "Luckily, my wife sent me to Yingtian Prefecture. How can Sanlang manage without maids to take care of him? The pillows and sheets are a mess, and the mosquito net is only half open and half closed."

After tidying up for a while, Yu'er called the cleaning maid over and scolded her: "What kind of work have you done? The master's bedroom is such a mess!"

The cleaning maid said aggrievedly, "My husband won't let me into the bedroom and study. He only lets me clean them once every four or five days."

"Never mind," Yu'er said, "I'll take care of the bedroom and study from now on."

The cleaning lady quickly agreed.

Yu'er then imitated Madam Lin, giving a stern lecture before finally telling the cleaning and sweeping maids to go back to their work.

After the other party left, Yu'er was so excited that she danced around.

This was the first time she had ever reprimanded a servant like this, and she felt like the mistress of the house.

Immediately afterwards, Yu'er took out spices from the small box she had brought and put them in a sachet. She was too embarrassed to give it to him in person, so she simply placed the sachet beside Xu Lai's pillow.

Yu'er paced back and forth in the bedroom, occasionally leaning close to the pillow to smell the fragrance, and muttered to herself, "When Sanlang goes to sleep tonight, he'll find the bed smells wonderful."

She suddenly walked to the door, carefully checked that no one was outside, quickly closed all the doors and windows, and then returned to Xu Lai's bedroom like a thief, took off her coat and shoes and socks, and carefully lay down on the bed.

At first, she just lay quietly, but then she became bolder and started rolling around on the bed happily.

After a while, Yu'er finally got up and, as if cleaning up a crime scene, carefully tidied up the bed.

Yu'er came with a mission.

Her main task, of course, was to serve her future son-in-law.

The secondary task was to keep an eye on Pianpian, since the mourning period would last for more than a year, and Xu Lai was a young man full of vigor; it would be unseemly for him to get a maid pregnant before marriage.

evening.

Xu Lai went home after get off work.

He called all the servants to the inner quarters for a meal, and today the whole household was celebrating together, and from now on they would be "one family".

Xu Lai and Bu Chao had a few drinks, and Chen Dequan also had a couple of drinks with them.

After dinner, Xu Lai called Bu Chao to his study and tossed him a copy of "The Hundred Family Surnames" that he had prepared beforehand: "Learn sixteen characters every day. I'll teach you before I leave in the morning and check if you've learned them well when I come back in the evening. If you forget anything in the middle, go to the gatekeeper and ask Chen Dequan. He knows how to read."

Looking at the "Hundred Family Surnames," Bu Chao suddenly felt a headache coming on: "Should I go out to gather information tomorrow, or stay home to study and learn to read?"

"Take a couple of days off first, and then you can handle things on your own," Xu Lai said. "You need to find out which powerful families, wealthy merchants, and arrogant people are in the entire Yingtian Prefecture. Remember to disguise yourself and don't reveal your identity."

Bu Chao laughed and said, "So I'm your secret agent."

Xu Lai sighed, "I'm swamped with paperwork all day long, and I have to study the law at night. I'm stuck in the signing hall and have no time to contact the outside world. If no one goes out to gather information, I'll become blind and deaf sooner or later."

After giving some more instructions, Bu Chao took the "Hundred Family Surnames" and went back to his outer residence to sleep.

Xu Lai, on the other hand, studied the "Song Dynasty Criminal Code" by lamplight, and he had to memorize it thoroughly.

After waiting for a while, Yu'er went to the outside of the study and asked, "My lord, it's already summer, and you've had some wine. Would you like a bath prepared?"

"Let's boil some water," Xu said.

Yu'er immediately arranged for Li Guiniang to boil water for Xu Lai's bath, and then personally went to the inner kitchen to prepare a midnight snack for Xu Lai.

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