Transmigrated into a minor official in a county government, with children at home waiting for rice t

Qingge lay down on the kang (heated brick bed), turned over, and faced away from him. After a few moments, he turned back over and asked, "Brother Zhou, I heard you and Father say that your family is going to find a matchmaker?"

"Um."

"Who should I act as matchmaker for?"

"I'll arrange a marriage for you with your sister Yun."

Qing-ge'er suddenly sat up. "You want to marry Sister Yun?"

"Don't shout." Zhou An quickly covered his mouth and lowered his voice, "It's not decided yet."

Qingge stared at him for a long time, then slowly lay back down, his eyes sparkling. "So, from now on, should I call you Brother-in-law Yun?"

Zhou An choked on his saliva and coughed twice. "It's not decided yet, so don't go spreading rumors!"

Qing-ge counted on his fingers and said, "Then you have to buy me candy from now on. If I have candy, I won't have time to talk nonsense."

Zhou An rolled his eyes. "Fine. I'll buy it."

"I have to buy it every day."

"every day?"

Qing-ge thought for a moment, "Brother-in-law Yun, if you buy me a piece of malt candy every day, I'll put in a good word for you with my father. My father listens to me the most!"

Zhou An couldn't help but laugh. "Your dad listens to you the most? Last time you wanted to buy a kite, your dad said he didn't have the money, so you squatted at the gate of the yard and cried for a long time."

When Qing-ge'er's secret was exposed, he rolled over and pulled the blanket over his head. A muffled voice came from under the blanket, "That's different. A kite costs thirty coins, but malt candy only costs two. My dad is willing to give me two coins."

Zhou An twitched the corner of his mouth in the darkness, but didn't say anything more.

After a while, Qingge lifted a corner of the blanket and asked, "Brother Zhou, what you just said was true?"

Which sentence?

"The matter of marrying Sister Yun."

Zhou An paused for a moment, then said, "Really."

Qing-ge'er pulled the blanket tighter around himself. "Alright. If you buy me candy, I'll put in a good word for you with Sister Yun. Sister Yun loves me so much. Or, one coin a day is fine too, but you can't bargain anymore."

Zhou An put his arm under his head and couldn't help but grin. "Deal. One article a day."

Qingge rolled over contentedly, kicked the blanket to his feet, and mumbled something indistinctly. Soon, his breathing became even.

As Zhou An listened to the little one beside him gradually falling asleep and smelled the lingering scent of wheat straw on the kang mat, he suddenly felt that the kang in the east room of this dilapidated house was much more comfortable to sleep on than the carved wooden bed in his house in the prefecture city.

The next morning, Zhang Sanlang arrived at the county government office earlier than usual.

The tax collection documents for summer had already piled up thickly on his desk. He spent half an hour checking the numbers again, and after confirming that they were correct, he got up and walked towards the second hall.

The servants in the corridor were sprinkling water on the blue brick floor, and water droplets splashed onto the brick surface.

Zhang Sanlang walked around the water stains and stood at the entrance of the second hall.

The door was open. Li Hang sat behind his desk, flipping through a copy of the official gazette.

Zhao Xie sat on a chair to the side, with a book open in front of him.

As Zhang Sanlang stepped across the threshold, he caught a glimpse of Zhao Xie looking up at him out of the corner of his eye. The glance was brief, as if it were an unintentional sweep, but Zhang Sanlang noticed it.

Zhang Sanlang calmly withdrew his gaze, cupped his hands towards Li Hang, and said, "Your Excellency, the collection of summer taxes was completed yesterday. The inventory list is here."

Li Hang put down the official gazette, took the register, and opened it.

He read very slowly, scanning each page line by line, his fingers moving slowly along the edges of the pages. Zhao Xie also put down the notebook and leaned forward slightly.

The room remained quiet for about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, with only the soft sound of pages turning.

Li Hang closed the inventory list, placed it on the corner of the table, and looked up at Zhang Sanlang. "You finished collecting taxes a month ahead of schedule, and even collected 30% more than last year. Shouli, how did you manage to do that?"

Zhang Sanlang stood with his hands at his sides. "According to the household registration report submitted last time, the clerk has assigned the collection tasks for the thirty-six villages in the four townships to specific individuals."

"Each person is responsible for several villages, specifically overseeing the village head. Within each village, households are further categorized, with lists kept for upper, middle, and lower-ranking households. Tax collectors don't need to visit every household; they only need to collect payments according to the lists."

He pulled another booklet from his sleeve and handed it over. "This is a detailed list of collection requests. Each person is responsible for a village, a household, the number of taxes due, the amount already collected, and any shortfalls. The reasons for any shortfalls are noted, such as disasters, injuries, or delayed collection, all of which are documented."

Li Hang took the booklet, flipped through a few pages, and nodded slightly. "This method is much more efficient than in previous years. Last year, the collection was still ongoing until the end of July, but this year it was completed by the beginning of June."

He turned to the last page of the booklet, his finger paused on the numbers for a moment, and looked up at Zhang Sanlang.

"Two thousand six hundred and ninety-three strings of copper coins. Four hundred and twenty-one bolts of silk, eight hundred and ninety-three bolts of hemp cloth, four hundred taels of silk floss, and a total of one thousand two hundred bushels of wheat and barley. Why is last year's summer tax much less than this year's?"

"Reporting to the county magistrate, last year the silkworm industry suffered from a disaster, with mulberry fields reducing production by 30%. This year's harvest is better, and the silk floss and cloth allocated to silkworm farmers in each township according to the number of people is more than last year. The wheat harvest is also better."

Li Hang closed the register, his gaze lingering on Zhang Sanlang's face for a moment, a smile playing on his lips. "The summer taxes were deposited into the treasury a month early. The prefectural government will see that the household registration office in Juancheng isn't just sitting idly by."

"Once this list is submitted, Registrar Hao won't be able to find any fault with it. And frankly, it'll make me look good too. Shouli, you've done a good job."

Zhang Sanlang bowed slightly, "Your Excellency is too kind. I was merely following the proper procedures."

Li Hang waved his hand, picked up his brush, dipped it in ink, and said, "You just said that the task of collecting taxes was assigned to individuals, and your subordinates have done their part. According to your regulations, they should be rewarded. Please provide a list, and I will approve it now."

Zhang Sanlang took out a folded piece of paper from his pocket and handed it over with both hands.

The paper listed more than a dozen names, with the first few being Old Zhao, the head of the household affairs department; Xu Fang, the head of the criminal affairs department; and Wu Yan, the head of the archers. Each name was followed by the amount of reward money, ranging from one to five strings of cash, totaling thirty-seven strings.

Li Hang took it, glanced at it, wrote "Approved" at the end, stamped it with his personal seal, and handed the note back. "Go to the county granary to collect it. Make a copy of this collection reminder and keep it in the clerk's office. If any clerk in the villages commits fraud, investigate and hold them accountable according to the record."

Zhang Sanlang took the approval document, folded it, and put it in his pocket. "I will confiscate it today."

Li Hang picked up his teacup and waved to him.

Zhang Sanlang bowed to Li Hang and Zhao Xie, then turned and left the second hall.

As he walked out the door, he caught a glimpse of Zhao Xie watching him out of the corner of his eye.

His gaze was longer than before, as if he were weighing something.

The water stains in the corridor had dried, leaving faint watermarks on the blue brick floor. He walked a distance before slowly exhaling the breath he had been holding in his chest.

Zhang Sanlang didn't stop. After exchanging his receipt with Yan Shizhong, he returned to his quarters.

Old Zhao was squatting at the corner of his desk, sorting through the tax collection receipts. Seeing Zhang Sanlang enter, he stood up and grinned, "Zhang, Clerk Zhang, has the magistrate approved it?"

Zhang Sanlang pulled out his receipt and handed it over. "Approved. Yours is five strings of cash; you can collect it from the county treasury anytime."

Old Zhao's smile deepened. "Zhang, according to your method, this collection effort saved us a month or so of travel time compared to previous years. The middle-class households in the township I'm in charge of used to have to pay by the end of June, but this year they paid by the end of May."

Zhang Sanlang nodded. "They paid quickly because they knew they couldn't evade payment after being listed separately. In previous years, they were mixed in with the lower-level households and could delay as long as possible. This year, they are listed separately, and every day of delay will be recorded as a day of arrears, so they naturally have no reason to delay."

Zhang Sanlang then took out Xu Fang's and Wu Yan's receipts and handed them to Lao Zhao, saying, "Send these two to the torture chamber and the archers' barracks. I'll trouble you to make the trip."

Old Zhao's face was crinkled with wrinkles, and he laughed so hard his eyes almost disappeared. "Look at you, what trouble you have to do. This is the job I do in the household registration office. Zhang, please have a seat, I'll bring it to you in the time it takes to drink half a cup of tea."

He then bowed slightly to Zhang Sanlang, took two steps back, turned around, and went out the door.

Outside the threshold, his steps were much lighter than when he came in, revealing his eagerness after being given an important position.