Damn it, I'm in the garbage book I wrote

Chapter 139 What a Despicable Means

Although Ye Liangchen hated Xia Lin, he couldn't help but admire him when he set foot on the land of Fuliang.

"It turns out that he really has the capital to be arrogant."

When these words popped out of his mind, he was startled himself, but he quickly adjusted his mentality, took a deep breath and walked towards the town.

"Sir, do you want a tour guide? I promise not to let you spend a penny in vain."

"Master, do you want a tour guide? We have our own carriage, and we will rent it for five days and four nights. I guarantee it's worth the money."

"Guide, guide, a local from Fuliang!"

As soon as Ye Liangchen and Princess Xunyang got ashore, people noticed that they were of unusual status. The tour guides who were waiting for business at the dock quickly surrounded them, but Ye Liangchen didn't like to hang out with people, and it took a lot of effort for him to squeeze out of the crowd.

Princess Xunyang was already sweating all over at this moment. She hurried to catch up with Ye Liangchen, but saw him stop on the road, frowning and looking to the side. She looked over and found a beautiful woman with fair skin and beautiful face who had just got off the carriage and walked into a mansion.

This detail made Princess Xunyang very unhappy, and her tone became a little unfriendly: "Ye Lang, does it look good?"

Ye Liangchen looked back at her and smiled, then said indifferently, "Not as pretty as you."

In fact, the person he saw just now was Miss Tang. She had just returned from Xia Lin's place for lunch and was taking a nap. When she got off the car, she happened to be met by Ye Liangchen. Ye Liangchen recognized at a glance that this woman was the one who had kicked him out of the house in Yangzhou. He was petty and vengeful, so he recognized Miss Tang at a glance, which made him lose consciousness for a moment.

In terms of beauty, Miss Tang is indeed not as beautiful as Princess Xunyang, but Ye Liangchen really likes Miss Tang, a woman as tender as tofu. His taste is surprisingly consistent with Xia Lin's. In his eyes, he does not think Princess Xunyang is that beautiful. On the contrary, Miss Tang can make him stunned.

But he didn't expect that she would be here too, which was quite interesting. But now that he had a troublesome princess by his side, he couldn't do anything. He would get rid of her in a couple of days and then think of a way to meet the woman. Back then, he was just a commoner, but now he was the popular magistrate of Jingji County. His status had changed a lot, and he didn't believe that woman would dare to drive him out.

After thinking about this, Ye Liangchen continued walking forward with a smile on his face. The landmark building in the center of the county town is the circular theater. Usually, the first stop for new tourists is there, and Ye Liangchen is no exception.

As soon as they arrived at the theater entrance, they were attracted by a statue surrounded by a fence on the left side of the theater gate. The statue looked very interesting. It looked like a young man, but he was kneeling there with his hands tied behind his back. Many people would throw stones at the statue or spit at it, and some children would even urinate on the statue.

This was interesting, so he went up to a scholar who was sitting in front of the theater to enjoy the cool air, "May I ask what this statue means?"

"Oh, you're talking about that." The scholar pointed at the statue in the distance with his fan: "That's a character in White Snake. Because he did so many evil things, people hate him and ghosts hate him, so the audience strongly requested that a kneeling statue be made for people to spit on."

"Oh? That's interesting." Ye Liangchen had heard of the Legend of the White Snake before, so he asked curiously, "Which scene is the Legend of the White Snake at now?"

"A snake demon casts a spell on Jinshan Mountain, and the county magistrate is incompetent and the people suffer."

"Ok?"

Ye Liangchen scratched his head. Jinshan? The name sounded familiar.

He was very smart. He immediately turned around and looked at the kneeling statue. He thought to himself, "Could this be me?"

But no matter what, since he was there, he had to take a look. He bought two tickets and entered the theater. He and the princess naturally sat in the best seats. After drinking some tea and eating some snacks, the show began.

The excellence of this play lies in the fact that no matter which scene you start from, it is a complete story with a complete story outline. No matter whether you have seen it many times or are watching it for the first time, you can understand the cause and effect.

Ye Liangchen had to admit that this play was unique from the plot to the casting, otherwise it would not have become a world-famous script.

But when the Dantu County Magistrate appeared in the play, Ye Liangchen's eyes became bloodshot. Isn't this just him?

Although the county magistrate in the play is named Ye Linzi, no matter if he was born as a top scholar or joined a treacherous minister to exploit the people...

What a rebellion! This Xia Lin... Xia Lin... Ye Linzi...

Oh!!! Ye Liangchen slapped his thigh. Doesn't this mean that he, Ye Liangchen, is Xia Lin's son? This beast... beast! He looked back at Princess Xunyang who was enjoying the meal, and cursed in his heart: "Stupid woman!"

But he couldn't curse out loud, so he just turned his head and said, "I'm going outside to buy some things." Then he stood up and left.

After he left the theater, he saw the kneeling statue again and kicked it over. But he was then caught by the red-armbanded security guard patrolling outside the theater. The security guard said earnestly, "Young man, even if you hate him, you can't kick him to death. He is despised by everyone. You can't just think about your own comfort. How about this, since you acted on impulse, I'll give you fifty taels."

"Fifty taels!? You might as well go and rob!"

"Young man, don't speak so harshly. If you don't pay me back, I'll have the bailiffs arrest you."

pay!
Ye Liangchen was really holding back his anger. He couldn't say that he was the prototype of the statue. He might be beaten to death by the angry idlers squatting outside the theater listening to the excitement. He couldn't say that the reason he kicked over the statue was not because he hated Ye Linzi but because...

Sigh~ I won't say anything more, just pay for it. If I get caught in the prison and that bastard Xia finds out, I don't know how I'll be humiliated.

Feeling suffocated, Ye Liangchen stood on the roadside with his hands on his hips after paying the money. He felt like a clown to everyone he saw. When he thought about the scenes in the play, everyone wanted to point at him, Ye Liangchen, and curse him by name, but that stupid woman Princess Xunyang was still watching the show with relish, he felt like going up and slapping that woman in the face.

If it were any other time, he would have immediately taken a boat to leave this shabby place, but he couldn't. Ye Liangchen came here just to see what was going on in Fuliang County. After all, he heard that Prime Minister Gao had suffered a great setback here.

But who knew that before it even started, I would suffer a setback...

He really wanted to cry. He now really understood how it felt to be unable to express himself and to defend himself, because from the conversations of the people around him, he already knew that those people had already associated the asshole county magistrate in the play with him. Some businessmen even felt scared of him, the genuine Dantu county magistrate, when talking about the cannibalistic Dantu county magistrate Ye Linzi, and even linked it to the fact that he had seized other people's property for Prime Minister Gao.

But Ye Liangchen thought: "Is that my business? Do you have the guts to scold Gao Shilian..."

But it didn't matter what he thought, he was already dirty, unclean, and had been defeated in the battlefield of public opinion. The long-suppressed mood now burst out, it didn't matter if I wasn't as good as him in poetry and writing, and it didn't matter if I wasn't as capable as him, but why was he holding on to me now?

Resisting the unspeakable nausea, Ye Liangchen suppressed his anger and wandered aimlessly on the street with his hands behind his back. He had to admit that Fuliang County was really nice. Fortunately, he came to take a look, otherwise he would never be able to surpass that beast Xia in his life if he kept working in isolation and relying on hearsay.

But the same thing goes, he was a top scholar, but he didn't expect that he would be scolded in nursery rhymes by children thousands of miles away from him. It was really... Damn it!
But no matter how much he hated it, he still had to learn. He was not very interested in the goods on the street, but he was very interested in the workshops, and the school was also an area he had to focus on.

But when he walked on the street, he found that the business model here was fundamentally different from that over there. In this small county town, there were actually 17 or 18 big businesses that could be counted, such as Luoyang Tang Family, Northwest Ma Family, Sichuan and Chongqing Tang Family, Jiangnan Gao Family, Longxi Li Family, etc. Most of the well-known businesses had branches here.

Among them, the Tang family in Luoyang is the largest, followed by the Ma family in the northwest. Many goods from the Western Regions are exclusively operated by the Ma family, and these are not sold outside.

Of course, this model hardly exists in other places. Large businesses are very exclusive. They will squeeze out other businesses and dominate a region.

But how can these businesses live in peace here? It is hard to imagine, and this needs to be investigated.

At this moment, Xia Lin had just finished lunch with Miss Tang, and was lying under the big peach tree in Chuntao's backyard, drinking rice wine from the well, and spending the summer leisurely.

Next to him is Ma Zhou giving him his final report on internal affairs. Tomorrow Ma Zhou will be transferred to Beijing to take up a position in the Ministry of Rites, and his fellow villager will arrive tomorrow afternoon, so it can be said to be a seamless transition.

"Sir, the county now has 170 million catties of grain stored. Last year, 30% of the surplus grain of the entire Wei Dynasty entered our warehouse. The excess meat obtained from the grassland has been pickled or made into sausage according to your method and stored. Various canned vegetables are already in production. So far this year, Fuliang has paid 190,000 taels of tax. If it continues, the total tax this year should be around 400,000 taels. So far this year, Fuliang County has 512 crimes of various types, 6 murders, and the rest are mostly minor crimes such as fraud, theft, etc...."

"Okay, you don't need to read the files." Xia Lin sat up and handed Ma Zhou a bottle of rice wine. "Zhou, you're going to the capital tomorrow. I don't have anything to give you."

Xia Lin pulled out a hundred thousand taels of silver from his pocket and said, "Here, keep it with you. When you get to the capital, you can exchange it at the Tang family's store."

"My Lord... I can't do that." Ma Zhou's eyes were filled with tears. "I am just a jailer. I am where I am today thanks to your help. How can I ask for your money?"

"Just think of it as my bribe." Xia Lin said with a smile: "Next time we meet, I may have to call you Master Ma. This time, the mountains are high and the waters are long. You are going to a place where you are unfamiliar with the people. It will cost a lot to get things done. You must always remember that you are a person who walked out of Fuliang. Be alert and don't lose face!"

(End of this chapter)