The Ming Dynasty took an unconventional approach

Pan Yun and Xue Shao exchanged a glance, thanked the young girl, and actually went to Piaoxiang Tower.

Piaoxianglou is just a restaurant, unlike Ping'an Inn and other restaurants that combine accommodation and dining; it does not include accommodation.

For Pan Yun and Xue Shao, money has always been a very important thing. Even though Pan Yun is no longer short of money, she still lives frugally.

In Pan Yun's words, the one or two taels of silver she saved might save a life, so when the two saw the size of the inns on both sides, they immediately led their horses into the alley.

As they looked around, someone approached them: "Are you three looking for a place to stay?"

Xi Jin nodded: "Yes, do you know where there is cheap accommodation?"

"My home is my own house, it's cheap, a guest room is only fifty coins a night."

Xi Jin frowned: "This is too expensive."

The man glanced at the horses the three were leading, and said speechlessly, "This is expensive? Go ask around at the Shunlai Inn across the street. A second-class room costs a hundred coins."

"If we could stay at Shunlai Inn, would we still be going through alleys?" Xi Jin was now very aware of the danger and said, "We need to look at rooms first. If we can find a room that meets the second-class standard of Shunlai Inn, then we can talk about the price."

The man glanced at the sky and could only agree, getting up to lead them deeper into the alley.

"Don't worry, my mother and wife cleaned it themselves. It's spotless, no worse than a second-class room at Shunlai Inn. For fifty coins, you're getting a great deal."

Xi Jin followed behind them with his bundle on his back, saying, "We can't accept this price. We have to see the room first before we can talk."

The house was at the end of the alley, with a small courtyard inside. Pushing open the door, there were three rooms on each side and a living room in the middle. The living room had two doors on each side, which divided the two main rooms into four rooms.

There were three shirtless men in the courtyard, bending over and washing clothes by the well. When they saw the landlord leading people back, they couldn't help but look up.

The landlord stepped forward and slapped their bare backs twice, urging them, "Hurry up and put them on, hurry up and put them on. How many times have I told you not to take off your clothes in the yard? What will it look like if the female guests see you?"

The youngest of the three, of medium height with a long face and raised eyebrows, wrung out his wet clothes and looked at Pan Yun with predatory eyes: "We still have female guests here."

"Go away, go away, where are all the female guests? Hurry up and put your clothes on."

After scolding the three, the landlord ran back and led them to two rooms on the left side of the living room. He smiled and said, "These are the two rooms. The two rooms opposite are also second-class rooms. Look, each room has a bed, a table, a window, and a washroom. Isn't this better than a second-class room?"

Seeing that the three of them remained silent, the landlord became uneasy and quickly said, "Don't listen to their nonsense. We have had female guests stay here before. Don't worry, young lady, you are absolutely safe here."

Pan Jun nodded.

Xi Jin muttered, "She's the safest, isn't she...?"

Xue Shao glanced at Xi Jin and said to the landlord, "Fifty coins is too expensive, twenty coins instead."

Landlord: "...Is this a rip-off price?"

Xue Shao smiled and said, "I think the rooms on the left and right are large communal rooms, right? There must be at least ten people living in one room, right? This courtyard is a mixed bag, you're lucky to have met us. This courtyard is a private residence. Unless you're brought by relatives or friends, who would dare to stay in a courtyard like this?"

Xi Jin: "That's right. We want to be more comfortable, but safety is the most important thing when traveling. Staying in a proper inn with a dormitory-style room only costs five coins per person."

The landlord looked them up and down and said, "I'm speechless. The three of you are dressed in fine cloth, and your three horses are strong and healthy, yet you still want to haggle over a few coins with me..."

Pan Yun corrected him: "It's thirty coins, not a few coins, and the two rooms together would be too much."

Xue Shao sighed and said, "Innkeeper, we would like to be generous, but the journey is inconvenient and we are short of money right now. Otherwise, we would not have come to stay in your private house."

Upon hearing this, the landlord immediately understood and asked curiously, "Did you encounter robbers on the road?"

The three of them sighed in unison and remained silent.

The landlord immediately understood and sighed, "You've come from Zhangzhou, haven't you? There are indeed many bandits there."

Xue Shao immediately asked, "Why are there so many bandits over there?"

"Hey, they all came from the sea. After the sea ban was lifted, the pirates were overjoyed. But before they could even plunder merchant ships and fishing villages, the imperial navy went to sea to suppress them. They couldn't survive at sea, so they secretly ran ashore and became pirates in the mountains."

Xue Shao and Pan Yun: ...It's a long and winding road, from sea pirates to mountain bandits! They're still the same kind of profession.

The landlord eventually agreed to pay them twenty coins per room, but they had to pay first.

It wasn't that he didn't trust them, but when they mentioned robbers, he began to doubt whether they still had any money on them.

Xi Jin took out his money pouch, counted out forty coins and gave them to him. After the person left, he couldn't help but mutter to himself, "Do we look like the kind of people who would renege on a debt?"

Xue Shao pushed him into the room and said, "Hurry up and get in. We'll go to Piaoxianglou for dinner later, make some money, and learn more about Haiyang County."

They carried all their important belongings with them, and the bundles were just for concealment. They only contained two pieces of clothing, so even in such a place, the three of them could leave their luggage without worry.

The three of them went out of the alley and started strolling around the streets.

Although Haiyang County was the seat of Chaozhou, it was far less prosperous than places like Quanzhou, and its local customs and traditions were also quite different.

The entire county town has only two main roads, and the most bustling one is the one they are currently traveling on, running north to south.

The county government office is located less than 500 meters north of Piaoxiang Tower, and the prefectural government office is located directly opposite the county government office.

The prefectural government office looked alright, but the county government office was dilapidated. All county government offices had a notice wall in front of them, and usually there was a square in front of the notice wall. However, there wasn't enough open space in front of Haiyang County government office to make a square. The notice wall stood there with a dozen or so notices sparsely posted on it, and the upper left and lower right corners were missing.

Pan Yun and Xue Shao curiously went over to take a look and found more than a dozen notices. Apart from one notice from the emperor granting a general amnesty due to the typhoon in Quanzhou, the rest were all wanted posters.

Pan Yun, itching to tear off a sheet, glanced at the description on it, and decided to return to her old ways.

Xue Shao seemed to see through her thoughts and said, "Is the Imperial Preceptor going to capture bandits for a reward?"

Pan Yun: "If you don't tell and I don't tell, who will know I'm the Imperial Advisor?"

Pan Yun quickly skimmed through the dozen or so wanted posters and promptly tore them all down.

She folded them up and stuffed them into her bosom, patting them as she did so: "The cheapest one is twenty taels, and the most expensive one is one hundred taels. If we catch them all, we'll have enough money to cover our expenses, not just for this trip south, but even if we make ten more trips."

Xue Shao hesitated for a moment before saying, "If you arrest them all at once, the county government might not be able to come up with that much money right away, and will have to offer a discount."

Pan Yun, who had only done the bounty exchange twice before, looked at him incredulously: "Bounties can be discounted?"

Xue Shao said matter-of-factly, "Isn't it normal for bounties to be discounted? The more you catch, the more you get discounted."

Pan Yun: ...

Seeing her silence, Xue Shao asked, "Should we still arrest them?"

Pan Jun said dejectedly, "Arrest them! I saw them, how can I let them go? Letting the wicked go is just harming the good people, what if the karma for this happens to me?"

Xue Shaolang laughed and said, "Then I'll help you." Xi Jin, on the other hand, was watching the scene from the prefectural government office across the street with great interest. He seemed to have seen something interesting and kept waving at them, "Young master, come and see, there's a notice here."

The yamen runners in front of the prefectural and county yamen had been watching them for a while, but the county yamen gatekeepers remained silent. The prefectural yamen gatekeepers couldn't hold back any longer. They stood in front of the gate, hands on their hips, and pointed at Xi Jin, shouting: "How dare you! Making a scene in front of the prefectural yamen! Are you looking for a beating?"

Xi Jin was unconvinced, but she kept quiet and just kept waving at Xue Shao and Pan Yun.

Xue Shao glanced at the yamen runner and stepped forward.

The constable simply stared at them from the gate and didn't approach them again.

Xue Shao was clearly a scholar, and the government was reluctant to provoke scholars, lest they get into trouble.

The gatekeeper of the county government office saw this and sneered at the gatekeeper opposite, his eyes filled with disdain.

The prefect's gatekeeper glared back fiercely.

Xue Shao walked up to the notice board of the prefectural government office and raised an eyebrow: "This is indeed an interesting notice."

Pan Yun stepped forward to look and exclaimed, "Huh? A martial arts contest to find a husband?"

She peeked into the gate of the prefectural government office and raised an eyebrow: "This is the prefectural government office, right? Why is the notice for a martial arts contest to find a husband posted here?"

Xue Shao shook his head: "I don't know."

If you don't know, just ask.

Pan Yun tore down the notice and went up to the gatekeeper, asking, "Brother yamen runner, why is this notice for a martial arts contest to find a husband posted on the yamen's bulletin board?"

The gatekeeper's eyes widened when he saw her tear down the notice so easily, and he stared straight at Xue Shao behind her: "You, you tore it down?"

Pan Yun waved the notice in his hand and said, "I took it down, why are you looking at it?"

The gatekeeper, annoyed, stepped forward and snatched the notice from her hand with a snap: "You're not a man, and you're not going to be someone's son-in-law, why are you taking this notice down? Put it back up!"

However, he didn't even wait for Pan Yun to put it up; he ran back and put it up himself.

Pan Yun followed behind him, and seeing how careful he was, she asked, "Is this family fierce? No one dares to take down the notice?"

She spoke right behind the constable's ear, startling him. He turned to the side and said irritably, "This is about becoming a live-in son-in-law. Would you do it?"

Pan Yun stroked his chin: "If they have money, and the bride is beautiful and of good character, why not?"

“But the Feng family isn’t looking for just anyone. They need someone skilled in martial arts, literate, and not too ugly. With those abilities, who would want to be a live-in son-in-law?” The gatekeeper glanced at Xue Shao again, sizing him up before saying, “Young master, you’re quite handsome. Even if you don’t know martial arts, the Feng family might be happy to marry their daughter to you, but…”

The gatekeeper turned and glanced at Pan Yun, then asked, "What's the relationship between you two?"

"I have no intention of leaving, farewell." Xue Shao interrupted him and pulled Pan Yun away.

Pan Yun's gossipy nature had just been piqued, and she was somewhat reluctant to be pulled away.

Xi Jin was also reluctant: "Young Master, aren't you interested? Which family can post the notice for the marriage proposal on the bulletin board of the government office?"

"Yes, yes, aren't you interested?"

“Interested, but no need to waste time with him,” Xue Shao glanced at the two of them and asked, “Are you planning to bribe him to talk to us?”

Pan Yun: "It's something that can be solved with a handful of copper coins. Just ask around, how much more money could he possibly want from us?"

"That's right, I had all the money in hand, just waiting for the young master to give me a look."

Xue Shao: "We're going to Piaoxiang Pavilion. We can just ask about this kind of information there. Why spend money?"

Pan Yun thought it made sense. Seeing Xue Shao quicken his pace, she hurriedly caught up and asked, "Do you think I should change my clothes to make it easier to get information out of him?"

“No need,” Xue Shao said. “The further south you go, the lighter the constraints that mortals place on women. You don’t need to dress as a Taoist priest to sit with us.”

Xue Shao is right; there are women at the poetry gatherings at Piaoxiang Tower, and quite a few at that.

Young, unmarried women often stayed on the second floor, leaning against the railing to watch the commotion below.

Married women mostly accompanied their husbands, or their sisters and sisters-in-law, to come and watch the festivities.

They were more active, gathering in twos and threes to discuss the scholars coming and going.

Pan Yun and Xue Shao were immediately targeted as soon as they entered the restaurant, surrounded by women.

The two glanced around and immediately found a corner on the first floor of the lobby to sit down. Xi Jin stood behind Xue Shao and was about to call the waiter to order tea and snacks when a waiter immediately brought up a tray with a pot of wine and two plates of snacks.

Xi Jin quickly replied, "We haven't ordered yet."

The waiter pointed to the second floor and said, "This was invited by the young mistress and young lady of the Lin family."

The three of them looked up at the second floor and saw a group of girls huddled together, laughing and joking. One of them, a young woman with her hair in a bun, waved a round fan at Pan Jun and Xue Shao and nodded slightly with a smile.

Xue Shao remained silent, while Pan Yun smiled and returned the greeting with clasped hands, asking the waiter, "What kind of family is the Lin family?"

The waiter immediately recognized them as guests from out of town and said with a smile, "The Lin family is the residence of our Chaozhou Prefect."

Pan Yun suddenly realized what was going on, and asked the waiter to go up and thank them on their behalf. After they left, she asked Xue Shao, "Lin what?"

"Lin Xian, a native of Guizhou, has been serving in Chaozhou Prefecture for five years, but due to his mediocre performance, he has never been promoted."

"Mediocrity in political achievements?"

Xue Shao: "He was neither here nor there. After taking office in Chaozhou Prefecture, he did not achieve any great political achievements, but he also did not make any major mistakes. During this period, the Ministry of Personnel conducted an assessment of him, and his performance was good, so he remained in Chaozhou Prefecture."

As an inspector, Xue Shao was required to understand every official under his jurisdiction.

However, this understanding is mostly from official sources.

However, the official data also reveals many problems.

Pan Yun looked up at the second floor and said meaningfully, "This place is really interesting. I like it."

Xue Shao smiled and said, "The South doesn't have the strict rules of the capital, nor the arrogance of Nanjing and the Jiangnan region. Instead, it's more lively and casual. When you said you wanted to come, I thought you would like it."

"You've been here before?"

Xue Shao said, "I visited Liuzhou Prefecture when I was studying abroad. At that time, I traveled south from Chaozhou to Guangzhou, and then entered Liuzhou Prefecture via Pingluo Prefecture."

Pan Yun: "No wonder you had a slight accent when you ordered fish balls." (End of Chapter)