The pork butcher is smoother than a pig butcher!

Chapter 21 Borrowing Money
The officials were very apprehensive about the road ahead, fearing that bad luck would follow them like a shadow.

Gan Minglan, now with some free time, lay down on the communal bed and continued to doze off.

He began to ponder the nature of these thieves.

Judging from what the two head constables said...

Thieves may steal valuables or even rob ancestral graves.

As long as no one is injured or threatened with weapons to rob, the death penalty is generally not imposed.

The punishment they received was much lighter than that for exile.

Those members of that thief organization would probably be difficult for ordinary yamen runners in county or prefectural governments to catch.

They just hoped that these people would run into her again next time.

Gan Minglan: We're not doing this for those silver notes; we're doing this to uphold justice for ordinary people.

There's another problem she doesn't understand.

The silver notes she found in the hidden bags of the three corpses totaled more than three thousand taels.

These were clearly more than the loose change they had stolen.

Would someone steal from someone poorer than themselves just to practice their studies?
Who can answer her questions?

There's no one to answer my questions!
The government officials seemed to be keeping information about the Eight Gates of Heaven a closely guarded secret.

The faces of the two escort leaders were so dark they could drip water.

Didn't the magistrate of Lu County reimburse them for their travel expenses?
Is it because we didn't give enough?

Zuo Wenkang saw his wife tossing and turning on the large communal bed.

I was very worried, thinking something had happened to the baby in her belly.

Only after understanding the situation did I breathe a sigh of relief and begin to explain it to her with great enthusiasm:

"It's no wonder the officials and constables are so frustrated. The yamen runners in various counties and prefectures are generally divided into: constables, bailiffs, and laborers."

Constables are responsible for arresting criminals, summoning defendants, witnesses, etc.

The guards were the personal bodyguards of their superiors, and also served as escorts, court attendants, and other personnel who carried out punishments in the courtroom.

Zhuangban refers to guarding city gates, prisons, warehouses, etc.

Among these people, only the warehouse clerks and clerks were of good citizen status; the jailers and gatekeepers were of low social status.

Their salaries were not paid by the imperial court; they received only six taels of silver a year.

Gan Minglan: "Only six taels a year? How can that be enough to support a family!"

“It’s not enough. My mother used to do laundry for others and she earned half a string of cash a month! They don’t support their families with that little bit of salary; they have to do other things.”

When it comes to "making money through shady means," Gan Minglan understands.

Gray income has existed in every era.

However, their behavior is permitted and legal.

What Zuo Wenkang didn't say was...

Of all the shady jobs, the most lucrative was escorting exiled prisoners.

Under the rule of the emperor, the incident of rescuing prisoners from the yamen runners was a rare occurrence, happening only a handful of times in over two hundred years.

Nowadays, people are all bound by clan and lineage; 99% of them are submissive citizens.

When officials are sent on such long-distance missions, they at most suffer from the hardships of long journeys and sleeping in the open.

But the money they earn from that trip is equivalent to their total income for the next five years.

It might be much more than that.

Take their status as exiles, for example.

Basically none of them were truly impoverished people.

To make their journey easier, their relatives and friends spared no expense in bribing these officials.

From Daming Prefecture to the border town, there were many times when we would need their help.

Who would pay attention to you if you didn't bring money?

In addition, the state government would allocate funds to the exiled convicts based on the number of people exiled.

The imperial court generally stipulated that each prisoner was entitled to a daily ration of eight ounces of rice or noodles.

Rules are rules.

But who would actually feed the prisoners that much? They're still within the territory of Daming Prefecture.

The money that had been given as bribes was still warm.

The current treatment they receive is that each person can eat two meals of hot soup noodles (about 100 grams each) every day.

These insights were summarized by Zuo Wenkang based on the original body's memories and experiences from his previous life.

His guess was absolutely right.

Of the three hundred taels of silver allocated by the magistrate of Lu County, only two-thirds of the amount allocated by Prefect Zhao was used.

Three hundred taels of public funds.

Even if the prisoners are only given two ounces of rice a day.

How much of the money squeezed out is actually distributed among 74 people?

Originally, they were hoping to make a fortune from the Zuo family.

Now, those despicable thieves have blocked their path to wealth once again.

Who can be happy about a job that pays no money?
The officials were unhappy.

The elderly who have lost their life savings (for retirement) are devastated.

Sighing and crying for most of the night, they finally made it to dawn.

Fatty was told he had to set off immediately, before he was even fully awake.

She obediently put on her clothes, went outside, and looked around.

She covered her little mouth, suppressing her baby voice: "Mommy, what's wrong?"

Gan Minglan said with a bitter face, "Son, we may never have free hot noodle soup again."

Mother, listen to what you're saying!
It's bad enough that noodles don't have meat in them, but now they can't even have vegetarian noodles!

Fatty's mouth was wide enough to fit an egg.

Lychee's eyes darted around, and she said happily, "Then let's have a big meat bun! I'm not picky."

Gan Minglan: You really are not picky about food! You only eat what you like!

Of those one hundred large meat buns, less than forty are left.

Let's save it for the little brat, as a carrot to coax him into obeying.

She slipped a warm steamed bun into the little one's hand: "We don't have big meat buns, we only have this!"

When Fatty saw the mixed grain steamed bun, his chubby little face scrunched up.

Memories of my time in prison resurfaced.

He complained that this thing was too harsh on his throat when he first opened it, and later he was so hungry that he couldn't find anything to eat.

If he doesn't eat now, will he go hungry again like before?
Hesitant and conflicted.

Gan Minglan coaxed him:
"Eat up, eat as much as you can. If you can't finish it, Mom will put it away and you can eat it when you're hungry."

These mixed-grain steamed buns were bought by Zuo Wenkang at the post station that morning at his own expense.

He had originally intended to have the post station boil ten eggs to nourish his wife's body.

But the postmaster informed them that they had given all the eggs to the two head officers as an apology.

Even the mixed grain steamed buns are limited; there's no flour left if you want to buy more!

In any case, the officials have shown no intention of providing meals so far.

Those who can't bear the hunger have no choice but to buy it with their own money.

The Luo family member who wasn't stolen from was surrounded by people.

The people surrounding her were all talking at once:

“Madam Luo, you can’t just watch your uncle starve to death on the road, can you? Your father-in-law and I share the same great-grandfather.”

“Wen Kang’s mother, lend your aunt one hundred taels of silver first. When we get to the border town, I will have someone write to my eldest daughter and repay you double.”

“Niece-in-law, think about it carefully. Did the Zuo clan ever protect your family in raising Wen Kang? From his early education until now, the clan school has never charged him tuition, has it?”

"Sister-in-law, you should think more about your Wenkang. Even a hero needs three helpers! Isn't it better to offer help in times of need than to add to someone's good fortune?"

"Don't pretend to be poor in front of us! Everyone knows your family's situation. Butcher Gan must give your family at least a hundred or two hundred taels of silver a year, right? You can't go against your conscience and stand by and watch someone die!"

"."

(End of this chapter)