Records of Mysterious Things in the Southern Dynasties

Chapter 6 Brothers
Fangxian Township belongs to Qu'a County and is the southernmost township in the county. It is exactly 100 miles from Xiejiazhuang to the county seat. The owner of Xiejiazhuang walked on the road for a day and entered the city in a carriage the next morning.

Qu'a County is located in the land of fish and rice in the south of the Yangtze River. Since the Jin Dynasty moved east, the population has continued to increase. Now there are more than 10,000 households in the county alone. With a dense population, the market is naturally prosperous. Every time Master Xie enters the city, he will make a lot of purchases.

But this time when I entered the city, I saw a completely different scene. Nine out of ten shops on the street were closed. Even if there were some that were open, the shops were empty, cleaner than the shopkeeper's face.

Everyone knows the reason. The imperial court enforced the use of iron coins and stipulated that they should be exchanged for copper coins at a one-to-one ratio. If the store followed the rules, it would lose its pants. But if it dared not to accept iron coins, the government would not approve it, so it could only close down and avoid the storm.

"Alas, people's lives are difficult." Master Xie shook his head, lowered the curtain, and ordered someone to go to the county lieutenant's residence to deliver the letter.

~~
Xie Gui, the lieutenant of Qu'a County, is the fifth cousin of Mr. Xie Manor. He is slightly more direct than him and is his backer in the county.

Therefore, Master Xie was very flattering to his cousin. He would come to congratulate him on every festival and birthday, and the two families had very close contacts.

Upon hearing that he was coming, County Magistrate Xie put aside his official duties and returned home to host a banquet in his honor.

"Hahaha, my friend. We haven't seen each other for a while." County Captain Xie laughed and greeted Master Xie who came to greet him in the corridor.

"Yes, I miss you very much too. It just so happens that the farm has harvested lotus pods and dates, so I will send them here quickly so that my sister-in-law and nephew can have a taste." Master Xie smiled and bowed.

"Please." After the maid took off her boots, County Lieutenant Xie and Master Xie walked in arm in arm to drink tea and exchange pleasantries.

"Have you used the Kaiqiao Pills?" County Lieutenant Xie leaned sideways, bent his arms, and leaned on his hidden sac, half lying and half sitting, and asked in a relaxed manner, "How is the effect?"

Master Xie knelt upright and answered with a grateful look, "It was used. The child has successfully awakened, but has lost his memory."

"It's just a piece of leather anyway, it won't have much of an impact." County Lieutenant Xie held the teacup and blew away the hot air gently, saying, "So in the future, that child will be your second young master?"

"Yes. I'll bring it back for you to identify." Master Xie nodded.

"Well, we have to hurry up. We can still catch up with this year's provincial examination." County Lieutenant Xie said with a smile.

"You'll have to take care of it then, my dear brother." Master Xie said with a flattering smile.

"It's the way it should be for a family." County Lieutenant Xie took a sip of tea with green onion and ginger added to it, and said with a smile, "This kid has come at a good time. The county's Zhongzheng official has just been replaced by a member of our Xie family. He doesn't dare to think about the second rank, but it's not a problem to be rated as a second rank talent."

After a pause, he continued, "In two years, when the third child is old enough, I will recommend him to the top rank. I, as his uncle, will have done my best."

"You really worried me a lot." Master Xie was very grateful and said, "I'll have someone send some money to Brother Kong Fang as a favor. Don't let me spend money again."

"Okay, okay." County Lieutenant Xie nodded with a smile and asked about the locust plague in Fangxian Township.

After Mr. Xie finished describing the disaster, he took the opportunity to ask the county to exempt some of the taxes and grain. Upon hearing this, County Lieutenant Xie said in embarrassment: "Everyone knows that the Xie family is a big family with a great business. How can I cry about your poverty in front of the county magistrate?"

"I'm not doing this for my family, but for the people!" Master Xie said with a compassionate look on his face, "Life is so hard for the people, my dear brother. I'm entrusted by the village heads and the people in the south of the village to come and ask for your help..."

County Lieutenant Xie showed a hint of sarcasm on his face, and mercilessly exposed him:
"Don't come on, my dear brother. I don't know what the locust plague is. Isn't it caused by your cheap mother?"

"..." Master Xie was caught off guard. He froze and stammered, "Brother, just kidding."

"I'm not kidding. I'm a bystander. Why do locusts avoid your farm every time they plague? They say that the gods of the community are protecting us, and if we worship them devoutly, we will be safe." County Lieutenant Xie sneered and said:

"In fact, it was all a good show put on by you two! The monster brother and sister were after food, and what about you? You were after the people's land! When the people who suffered from the locust plague had nothing to harvest and were about to starve to death, you showed mercy and gave them some food. But their land then became yours! How many times have you played the same trick? Do you really think everyone else is blind?!" "..." After a long while of sarcasm, Master Xie was sweating profusely. After a while, he said shyly, "Everyone does this, and it's not just my family..."

He quickly knelt down, touched his forehead to the ground and said, "I will never dare to do it again. Please forgive me this time."

"Hey, my dear brother, you misunderstood. Please get up quickly." Seeing that he was completely bullied, Lieutenant Xie slowed down his tone and said, "Like you said, if others can do it, my brother can do it too. I will also take care of the tax exemption. Anyway, you can rest assured that I am here."

"Thank you very much." Only then did Master Xie breathe a sigh of relief, wiped his sweat, and said with an apologetic smile: "Of course, I won't let you work in vain."

But County Lieutenant Xie put down his teacup and said sternly, "I don't want money, just do me a favor."

"Just give me your orders, my dear brother. I will go through fire and water to fulfill your request." Master Xie quickly expressed his opinion.

County Lieutenant Xie waved his hand and asked him to follow him to the backyard storeroom. He dismissed his attendants, closed the door, and opened a sturdy wooden box.

There were six black porcelain jars with yellow talismans on them, which made people's scalp tingle just by looking at them.

"When you go back, find six villages at random and pour the contents of these six jars into the well." County Lieutenant Xie lowered his voice and ordered, "I don't need me to tell you about this. You must know that it must be kept secret, right?"

"Yes, yes." Master Xie nodded quickly. After hesitating for a moment, he couldn't help but ask, "What is this?"

"It will do you no good to know more. Just do as you are told." However, County Lieutenant Xie refused to reveal anything.

Master Xie thought to himself, wouldn't that make me a fool? So he bravely said, "My dear brother, you know that I am not the one who makes the decisions at home or outside. Please tell me the truth, otherwise how can I convince the elders?"

"When I gave you the Enlightenment Pill, I didn't ask you this hard!" Upon hearing this, County Lieutenant Xie frowned and said on the spot, "As I said before, the more you know, the faster you die. Just do as I tell you! Don't blame me for being ruthless if you delay my important event!"

~~
Xiejiazhuang.

Ren Yuan placed a plate of dried fish on the corridor and called to the tabby cat on the opposite wall.

"Come and eat." He smiled harmlessly, "You work hard to catch mice every day. This is a reward for you."

The tabby cat looked warily at this guy who was trying to please him for no reason, then looked at the plate of tempting dried fish, and stretched and retracted its claws, as if it was fighting with the cat.

"Oh, you're quite shy." Ren Yuan smiled dotingly and said, "Then I'll go in first, and you can enjoy it slowly."

After saying that, he really turned around, went into the house and closed the door.

The tabby cat stared at the closed door for a long time, and finally couldn't resist the temptation of delicious food. It suddenly jumped down from the wall, rushed to the plate of dried fish, picked it up and prepared to run away.

But then there was a sound of "swish", and a bamboo basket fell from the sky and caught it on top.

The tabby cat was startled and tried to push the basket open with a meow to escape, but Ren Yuan jumped out of the house and pressed his whole body on the basket.

The tabby cat was at a loss for words, and then he heard the cunning fellow say proudly: "I told you to scratch my face!"

The third young master in the flower garden frowned, wondering how long he would have to tolerate this fool.

(End of this chapter)