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

The two sheets of paper contain the same content, with several lines already written on them, and the handwriting is neat:

Qianqin Tie

The person who made this petition is Zhang Shouli, a resident of Fangguo Village, Juancheng County, Puzhou. He has now adopted Huangfu Yun as his goddaughter.

From this day forward, we shall treat you as our own son and treat you with the same respect and obligation.

The letter was signed by Wang Yue'e and Huangfu Ce, with Zhou An as guarantor, and they jointly expressed their agreement.

The agreement was reached on all three sides, and there was no going back on it.

Sign a letter as proof

He put down his brush, dipped it in ink, and handed it to Zhang Sanlang with both hands.

Zhang Sanlang took the pen and signed his name on the letter of kinship.

Wang Yue'e pulled A-Yun over, and the mother and daughter pressed their handprints one after the other.

Huangfu Ce signed his name at the end, then slapped Zhou An awake, making him sign his name as well.

Zhang Sanlang blew on the godparenting letter to dry it, folded it neatly, and handed it to A-Yun. "Keep this safe. From now on, you are my goddaughter, Zhang Shouli's goddaughter. If anyone dares to bully you, just show them this letter, and your godfather will stand up for you!"

A-Yun took the invitation with both hands and pressed it to her chest.

She looked up at Zhang Sanlang, her nose tingled, she took a half step back, gave him a proper curtsy, and her eyes were still red when she straightened up.

Zhang Sanlang nodded and gestured with his chin towards the kitchen. "Alright. Stop standing there like an idiot, go boil some water and make your godfather a bowl of tea. No sense at all. Humph!"

A-Yun responded with a smile, then turned and ran towards the kitchen. After a couple of steps, she stopped, carefully folded the invitation, tucked it into her bosom, patted it down, and then pushed open the door to go inside.

The color slowly returned to Zhou An's face.

He watched Huangfu Yun's figure disappear behind the kitchen curtain, his lips twitched, and a bitter smile appeared on his face. "Uncle Zhang, then... can I still..."

Zhang Sanlang glanced at him. "If you really want to be with her, you need to come up with a plan. What's the use of just talking? Remember what I told you before?"

Zhou An nodded heavily, and a smile returned to his face.

The next day at dawn, Zhang Sanlang arrived at the household office.

He walked to the row of wooden shelves against the wall, squatted down, and pulled out the Yongning Nunnery's ingot book from the third shelf.

The booklet was about two inches thick, with a yellowed mulberry paper cover, curled corners, and covered in dust. Because the land was exempt from taxation, Yongning Nunnery was not listed in the tax register, so it was rarely checked. However, the land register contained a record of the land properties.

He placed it on the table and opened it.

The floating label left by Tao Cheng in the book is still tucked into a page, the edges are neatly trimmed, and the ink has dried completely, as if it was pasted on two or three years ago, not recently.

Zhang Sanlang followed the floating slips to that page.

Volume Seven of the Register of Land and Property of Temples and Monasteries in Juancheng County

Yongning Nunnery, located north of the city, was granted a nameplate in the first year of the Xiande reign of the previous dynasty.

Farmland:

The 120 mu of land on the east side of the official road north of the city is bounded by: Liushugou to the east, the official road to the west, Liujiafen to the south, and the old course of the Guangji River to the north. It was donated by the original owner, Wang Badan, and registered in the first year of the Kaibao era.

Eighty mu of land in Zhongtian, Lijiazhuang, south of the city, is bounded by: Lijiatang to the east, the official road to the west, Zhaojiatian to the south, and the drainage ditch to the north. It was originally donated by Li Siniang and registered in the second year of the Jianlong era.

The boundaries of the 60 mu of land in Zhangjiazhuang, east of the city, are as follows: east to the Zhang family ancestral graves, west to a small river, south to the official road, and north to a hillside. Originally donated by Zhang Shiqing, the land was registered in the first year of the Jianlong era.

The forty mu of land above Guangji Bridge in the north of the city has the following boundaries: east to the bridgehead, west to the river embankment, south to the willow grove, and north to the official road. Originally donated by Feng Peilin, the owner of the land, it was registered in the first year of the Jianlong era.

The total at the end of the register reads: 300 mu of farmland, with an annual rent of about 500 shi of grain, and taxes paid in the form of 20 guan of cash.

Zhang Sanlang's heart stirred, and he put down the book on the anvil base and pulled out another book from the shelf.

The land ownership ledger of Zhang Shiqing's family has six characters written on the cover: "Zhang Shiqing, household of Fangguo". The handwriting is old and worn. It is a copy made by the household registration office of this county twenty years ago when the dynasty was founded.

Zhang Shiqing's household registration certificate included land ownership.

Feng Peilin, wife of Zhang Shiqing, dowry land

Sixty mu of land in Zhangjiazhuang, east of the city, was registered in the fifth year of the Xiande reign of the previous dynasty. Note: It was transferred to Yongning Temple in the first year of the Jianlong reign.

Forty mu of land in the central field near Guangji Bridge in the north of the city was registered in the third year of Xiande reign of the previous dynasty. Note: Transferred to Yongning Temple in the first year of Jianlong reign.

…………

The dowry land totaled 500 mu.

Yongning Temple: 200 mu (approximately 13.3 hectares) has been transferred to its owner.

Currently, the household under the name of Feng Peilin owns 300 mu.

These 300 mu of land were managed by Liu Dongqing and his son, who lived in the eastern part of the city.

According to the county granary land rent register, the rent for the three farmlands in Liushugou, south of Guangji Bridge, and Lijiazhuang in the south of the city has been paid on time every year.

Therefore, neither the autumn tax assessment last year nor the summer tax assessment this year attracted Zhang Sanlang's attention.

Zhang Sanlang placed the two ledgers side by side, his gaze shifting back and forth between "transferred" and "still existing" several times. He picked up a pen, spread out a blank sheet of mulberry paper, and began to list the entries.

Two hundred mu of medium-sized fields yield two shi per mu, for a total annual harvest of four hundred shi.

Excluding years of plenty and years of famine, the price of grain in a normal year was 400 cash per shi (石), equivalent to 160 guan (贯).

Seeds, cattle tools, and twenty strings of cash for labor.

The autumn tax was 20 strings of cash.

The summer tax was equivalent to fifteen strings of cash.

The miscellaneous transfer of funds, including additional charges, head money, conversion fees, and foot money, amounted to fifteen strings of cash.

The corvée's fee is twenty strings of cash.

The total cost is 90 strings of cash.

The net loss for the year was seventy guan.

After affiliating with the nunnery, the land tax was reduced to twenty strings of cash, corvée labor was waived, and most other miscellaneous expenses were also waived. The annual net income was one hundred and forty strings of cash. Twenty strings were given to the nunnery for incense offerings and tenant management fees, leaving a net income of one hundred and twenty strings of cash.

This is a very common occurrence, and Zhang Sanlang is well aware of it.

He then turned to the page with the existing 300 mu and compared it with the records of the two taxes one by one.

The total net loss was 130 guan.

Madam Zhang's 500 mu of dowry land yielded a net profit of 250 guan per year.

Over twenty years, that amounted to five thousand strings of cash.

Zhang Sanlang put down his pen and looked at the number on the paper.

Five thousand strings of cash!

The Zhang family's shop on the main street, including the goods, was worth a maximum of five hundred strings of cash.

Five thousand strings of cash are enough to buy ten shops like that!

The Zhang family's food, clothing, and daily necessities were quite good, but they certainly didn't seem like a family with an annual income of 250 guan.

Zhang Dalang only had two or three silk robes, which he would only wear when going out to see guests. His wife's only gold hairpin was actually a stolen heirloom from Zhang Sanlang's birth mother!

Where did this money go?

Zhang Sanlang leaned back in his chair, the clear sunlight slanting in from the window and falling on the table, illuminating the two open books.

In a flash, he remembered that Feng Peilin had taken Tian to the nunnery, and the nunnery only recognized her.

While she is alive, she can sign and seal the agreement at any time to transfer all 300 mu of land under her name to Yongning Nunnery.

Once the household registration certificate is signed and complete, the registration can be transferred on the spot without going through Zhang Shiqing and his son Zhang Shouren, or even through Zhang Shouren's family.

If she dies, her land will be inherited by Zhang Shiqing and his son Zhang Shouren!

The two hundred mu of land that had already been leased to the temple could not be recovered, but Zhang Shouren's family, as the eldest daughter-in-law, could get a share of the remaining three hundred mu.

Zhang Shouren's family, fearing she would live, donated the land.

Therefore, the cleanest way is to let her "die" in the cesspool before she donates the land.

An old woman died in the cesspool outside the nunnery. There were no injuries or strangulation marks on her body, as if she had accidentally fallen in.

The motive for murder has been found!

Zhang Sanlang closed the book, put it back on the shelf, straightened his cuffs, and turned to leave the room.

The sunlight in the corridor was dazzling. He squinted and walked towards the torture chamber.