The peasant girl has a private space, and her husband is handsome.

Dong Yong has stopped letting Gou Dan guard the gate, and hasn't had time to assign Gou Dan a new position yet.

With nothing to do, Gou Dan stood at the entrance of the Ministry of Justice with a portrait of a human trafficker in his hand, asking everyone he met if anyone had seen the human trafficker in the portrait.

This scene was witnessed by Lord Du, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice.

Lord Du was a painting fanatic, spending most of his annual salary on collecting famous paintings.

His collection is exceptionally large, encompassing almost every dynasty, except for the works of the recently popular genius painter, which he has yet to acquire.

Two days ago, Lord Du went to Wang's shop with the silver notes, but the old manager of Wang's shop didn't even give him face as the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice. He resolutely refused to sell the painting by the genius painter and insisted that it could only be sold after the New Year.

After glancing at the portrait in Li Gou Dan's hand several times, Lord Du said to Gou Dan with an appreciative look, "You are the newcomer Li Gou Dan, right? I felt you were extraordinary the moment I saw you. From now on, you will stay by my side as my clerk."

Zhang Xiaoniu was so surprised that his mouth dropped open: Good heavens! This was the first time he had ever heard Lord Du praise someone.

These Li Gou Dan brothers have only been here for two days, and they've already been promoted from gatekeepers to clerks for the Vice Minister. That's amazing!

Li Gou Dan, backed by a genius artist, is a true winner in life! It's so enviable.

Although clerks and gatekeepers are both without official rank, they are still clerks working alongside Lord Du, sharing the same room and working with him – they are highly sought after.

Many powerful families wanted to send their young scions to the Ministry of Justice to work as clerks, to gain experience and enhance their resumes. Li Gou Dan got this opportunity without lifting a finger, which would definitely attract the attention of those powerful families.

The Ministry of Justice has prisons, and the prison warden's surname is Sun.

He was responsible for guarding the prison cells and frequently handling the interrogation of prisoners.

He frequently performed tortures such as pulling out tongues, nails, and teeth, and piercing collarbones with iron hooks, making him an extremely ruthless character.

Sun, the jailer, led several guards out of the cell, stretched, and felt quite comfortable in the warm winter sun.

Knowing that Warden Sun was not someone to be trifled with, Zhang Xiaoniu, smelling the strong stench of blood on the men, quietly took two steps back.

Sun, the prison warden, was a burly man with a loud, booming voice: "Brothers, I heard that a new cowherd from the countryside has joined our Ministry of Justice. Let him pay for our food and drinks tonight."

The jailers laughed heartily, their hearts filled with anticipation for bullying the country cowherd.

"Boss, if that cowherd gets really scared by us, you can't blame us at all; you can only blame himself for being a coward."

There's a bad phenomenon in the Ministry of Justice: the older staff like to bully the newcomers, especially when they hear that the newcomer is a lowly cowherd with no background whatsoever. They certainly won't let him get away with it.

Zhang Xiaoniu, the gatekeeper, quite liked Li Gou Dan and wanted to do him a favor. He mustered his courage and advised, "Head Warden Sun, you mustn't do that. Li Gou Dan has powerful backers."

Sun, the jailer, laughed even louder, grabbing Zhang Xiaoniu's left shoulder and saying, "A cowherd actually has a powerful backer? That's the funniest joke I've ever heard! Zhang Xiaoniu, are you asking for a beating again?"

The jailers laughed so hard they were doubled over.

"Hey, these days even cowherds have powerful connections. Boss, we have to treat that cowherd well."

"Let that cowherd treat us to food and drinks for a whole month."

Zhang Xiaoniu's shoulder was grabbed by the jailer, Sun. He was thin and small, and his left shoulder hurt. He was so frightened that his face turned pale and he begged for mercy repeatedly.

Fortunately, Warden Sun did not continue his underhanded tactics and left quickly.

Zhang Xiaoniu was very envious of Li Gou Dan. If he had a powerful backer like Li Gou Dan, no one would dare to bully him.

As for Sun Laotou and his ilk, they're sure to suffer the consequences of messing with Li Gou Dan.

After changing his clothes, Sun, the jailer, went to find Li Gou Dan.

As soon as he reached the outside of the office where Vice Minister Du conducted his business, he saw Vice Minister Du speaking to Li Gou Dan with a kind smile: "Young brother Gou Dan, you must be exhausted after traveling such a long distance to the capital. Go back and rest early."

Sun, the jailer, looked up at the sun: "Holy crap, does that kid Li Gou Dan really have a powerful backer? The sun hasn't even set yet, and the Vice Minister is already telling that kid to go back and rest. He's really good to that kid."

This treatment is unmatched.

"Yes, thank you for your consideration, Your Excellency." Gou Dan was a very obedient person, and left when Vice Minister Du told him to.

Inside the room, after Gou Dan had gone far away, Vice Minister Du quickly ran to the table where Gou Dan had sat, picked up a thick stack of documents, and searched for the portrait among them.

After finding the portrait, Vice Minister Du's smile deepened.

Standing outside the door, Sun, the jailer, assumed that Vice Minister Du was personally helping Li Gou Dan organize the case files. Moreover, judging from the ecstatic smile on Vice Minister Du's face, he seemed to be thoroughly enjoying himself.

Good heavens! Li Gou Dan's backing is indeed very powerful, definitely higher than the rank of Vice Minister.

Even the Vice Minister is currying favor with Li Gou Dan; he really shouldn't be bullied.

When Warden Sun returned to his cell, his expression was serious. He personally instructed several guards, "Remember, the new guy, Li Gou Dan, has a very powerful backer. Don't mess with him."

"Yes, boss, we've got it all covered."

\

In the evening, at the dinner table in Vice Minister Luo's residence.

Madam Luo asked anxiously, "Master, a few days ago you said there was a vacancy in the Ministry of Justice and that you wanted to arrange for Minggeng to work as a clerk. How is it going? Has anything come of it?"

Mentioning this matter made Vice Minister Luo so angry that his mustache stood on end.

"Don't even mention it. It was a sure thing, but then I heard that a cowherd from the remote Qinghe County took the position of clerk. I don't know who that cowherd's backer is, but he's even more capable than me, a vice minister."

Madam Luo scooped a spoonful of bird's nest porridge into her mouth, but upon hearing the words "Qinghe County," she choked and coughed repeatedly.

The maidservant quickly stepped forward to help pat her back, and it took a long time before Madam Luo finally caught her breath.

Madam Luo felt a sharp pain in her heart. Qinghe County, it was Qinghe County again!

What's going on lately?

What you fear most is what will happen to you.

A cowherd from Qinghe County actually managed to take over his grandson's sure-fire job! That's just too outrageous.

"Master, our eldest grandson is a scholar who passed the imperial examination. Does that cowherd who took our grandson's job have any official rank or title?"

When Luo, the Vice Minister, heard his wife's question, he became even angrier.

"That cowherd has no academic achievements whatsoever. It's said he's only literate and didn't even pass the preliminary examination. He ended up taking the place of our eldest grandson, who has the title of Juren. That's what makes it even more infuriating."

I wonder who that cowherd got into the Ministry of Justice through? I must ask the Prime Minister about it later.

At the same time, Luo was also annoyed by his eldest grandson's lack of ambition. Everyone in the capital knew that Du was fond of famous paintings. He had originally wanted to give Du a work by a talented painter that his eldest grandson had bought, but his eldest grandson refused to do so no matter what.

See? Now that position has been taken by some poor country bumpkin, it's too late for regrets.

Vice Minister Luo glanced at his eldest grandson and found that the grandson didn't seem to care at all about having his position taken away and was chatting happily.

Sigh, the person involved isn't worried at all; the only one who's worried is his own grandfather.

Old Madam Luo was very concerned about her eldest grandson's job. "Master, why don't you think of another way to help Minggeng?"

She was worried about her eldest grandson's future. He had already achieved the title of Juren (a successful candidate in the provincial civil service examination), and if he could get a position in one of the Six Ministries to gain experience, it would be like gilding his resume.

Even if one fails the imperial examination, one can still buy an official position by spending money.

Thinking of her eldest grandson's academic achievement, Madam Luo felt a surge of pride. Only Minggeng was worthy of being her grandson.

She would never acknowledge the child born to that peasant from Qinghe County.

Her biological son was an illiterate, uncultured peasant, the biggest stain on her life.

She was able to marry Minister Luo only because of her family's connections. She grew up in the countryside. When they first got married, everyone laughed at her for being uncouth. If her country son were to be adopted, she would be ridiculed even more for being uncouth.

If she were to acknowledge him, the master would scold her for being stupid and foolish, for even mistaking her own son.

Even the wives of officials she knew in the capital would mock her for giving birth to a peasant, and they would pay even less attention to her.

So, I hope I never have to see that peasant again in my life.

"Master, you must help Minggeng."

"Don't worry, I'm trying to figure something out."

Luo was the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Works, but unfortunately there were too many idle people in the Ministry of Works and there was no shortage of people. Otherwise, he would have arranged for his eldest grandson to work in the Ministry of Works.

Currently, the Ministry of Justice is the busiest of the six ministries, which is why it is the only ministry that is frequently short-staffed.

Seeing that his wife looked unwell, Vice Minister Luo comforted her, saying, "It's almost the end of the year, and the Ministry of Justice has a lot of case files, requiring a lot of paperwork. We might need to recruit another person in a few days."

Madam Luo kept twirling the green sandalwood prayer beads in her hands.

She felt that everything had been going wrong lately, so she decided to go to the White Horse Temple to burn incense to get rid of the bad luck.