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

Old Sun was squatting at the gatehouse entrance, sharpening his knife. A wood-chopping knife rested on the whetstone; he held the back of the blade with one hand, while the other scooped water and poured it onto the whetstone, the water dripping down the blade. "Sanlang's back..."

He looked up, saw Sun Jizu, and stopped wielding the knife and speaking.

Sun Jizu also saw him.

The two men looked at each other for a moment, neither of them speaking. Little Sun Ce stood behind his father, glancing at Old Sun, then at his father, and blinked twice.

Old Sun stood up, still holding the machete in his hand.

Sun Jizu's Adam's apple bobbed as he struggled to utter a single word, "Father."

Old Sun's expression changed.

He stared at Sun Jizu, his eyes bloodshot, his lips trembling, and the voice squeezed out from his throat, "You beast! I'll kill you!"

Old Sun gripped the hilt of his knife and charged toward Sun Jizu.

Little Sun Ce screamed in fright and hid behind his father.

Zhang Sanlang was stunned when he heard Sun Jizu call him "father".

Just as Old Sun was about to chop his son, she quickly dodged and hugged him, crying, "Uncle Sun! Uncle Sun! Let's talk this out!"

Old Sun struggled twice but couldn't break free. His machete remained raised in mid-air, not falling.

He was panting heavily, his eyes still fixed on Sun Jizu. "You still have the nerve to come back! You stole money from the family and ran away; your mother will never die in peace!"

Sun Jizu knelt down.

His knee hit the ground with a dull thud.

He lowered his head, "Father, I'm so sorry. Ce'er, quickly call him Grandpa!"

Little Sun Ce peeked out from behind his father, looked timidly at Old Sun, and whispered, "Grandpa."

Old Sun's machete trembled slightly.

He looked at the child, then at Sun Jizu kneeling on the ground, his lips trembled twice, but he couldn't say a word.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Zhang Sanlang snatched the wood-chopping knife from Old Sun's hand and threw it far away.

He patted Old Sun on the shoulder. "Uncle Sun, come in and sit down. It's freezing cold, don't stand at the gate."

Old Sun didn't move.

He stared intently at Sun Jizu for a long time, let out a low sigh, turned around, went into the gatehouse, and bolted the door.

Zhang Sanlang shook his head and smiled wryly. He could only help Sun Jizu up from the ground. "Let's go to the main room to talk. Uncle Sun can't accept it right away. We need to let him calm down."

Sun Jizu stood up, took his son's hand, and followed Zhang Sanlang into the courtyard.

In the kitchen, Aunt Sun peeked out, then withdrew.

happy Mei came out of the main room and saw Zhang Sanlang leading a man with a missing arm and a child in. She paused for a moment, then turned and went into the kitchen to pour tea.

Zhang Sanlang led Sun Jizu and his son into the main room.

happy Mei brought in two bowls of tea and placed them on the table.

Zhang Sanlang instructed Ximei to take little Sun Ce to find Qingge to play.

happy Mei'er responded and took Sun Ce's hand. He looked back at his father, and seeing Sun Jizu nod, he followed happy Mei'er out.

Zhang Sanlang pointed to the chair, "County Commandant Sun, please sit down."

The main room fell silent.

Zhang Sanlang picked up his teacup and took a sip. "I never imagined you were Uncle Sun's son."

Sun Jizu lowered his head, his fingers slowly clenching on his knees. "I never expected to meet him here."

He looked up, his eyes a little red. "How has my father been all these years?"

Zhang Sanlang was silent for a moment, then said, "Uncle Sun carried cargo at the dock for several years, but he injured his back recently and can't do heavy work anymore. So I advised him to set up a small food stall at the dock, where he can earn several dozen coins a day."

Sun Jizu lowered his head, looking at his empty right sleeve. "That year, my mother fell ill. We sold our land, spent most of the money, and she still passed away. I complained to my father a bit, 'We have no land left, how are we going to live?'"

"My dad said, money can be earned back, but once a person is gone, they're gone forever. I told him he was confused, and he said I was unfilial, and he picked up a knife to kill me. I heard from the educated people in the village that if you're hit with a small stick, you should take it, but if you're hit with a big stick, you should run away as fast as you can."

"I'm not unfilial. My father tried to kill me with a knife, and the family has lost its livelihood. There's no hope of staying here. I just wanted to try my luck in the army! Even if I don't succeed and die out there, at least I'll have given my parents a chance to live."

"However, I heard from the villagers that joining the army also required bribing officials, otherwise even if you were assigned to a regular garrison, you might not have a chance to go to the battlefield. So I gritted my teeth and took all the money from my family."

He looked at Zhang Sanlang and said, "Tell me, am I unfilial?"

Zhang Sanlang grinned, realizing that this was a difficult question to answer.

The main room was quiet for a moment.

Sun Jizu sighed as he looked at the teacup on the table. "I exchanged the money for silver coins and hid them on my person before joining the army. I bribed the recruiting officer on the way and, as expected, got into the Imperial Guard. Later, I went to the battlefield and almost died several times."

He lifted his shirt, revealing a long scar on his side that stretched from his ribs down to his belt. "This was left during the great battle with the foreign tribes in Hebei. The steppe scimitars were incredibly powerful; they almost ripped me open."

He rolled up his sleeve with his chin, revealing two knife scars on his forearm, the flesh turned inside out and then healed, twisted together in a grotesque manner. "These were left during the siege of Bingzhou."

He lowered his sleeve. "The arm was severed in July of this year. The army's siege of the city was unsuccessful, and they were attacked from three sides by the enemy. I was protecting the emperor as we charged out, and several of my fellow imperial guards died in the process."

"An enemy soldier swung his knife at me, and I raised my hand to block it. My arm was gone."

Zhang Sanlang was startled. "Your Majesty? You're protecting the Emperor?"

Sun Jizu nodded. "Yes. On the day I lost my arm, the Emperor personally said that he would reward me for saving his life."

Zhang Sanlang looked at him in surprise and couldn't help but blurt out, "Such a great achievement, how come you only got the position of county magistrate?"

Sun Jizu gave a wry smile. "I'm not very literate, so I'm not suited to be a civil official. Besides, I've lost an arm, so staying in the army doesn't suit me either. The higher-ups were just planning to give Xuntian a bigger reward so I could be a wealthy man; they didn't intend to grant me an official position."

He picked up his teacup and took a sip. "Later, someone spoke up for me, and I was given a position as a county lieutenant in my hometown. They said it was an eighth-rank official, and also a hereditary position for my son. Oh well, whatever they give me, I can't be bothered to argue."

"I don't care what official position I hold. I just want to go back to my hometown to support my father in his old age and raise Ce'er. The brothers who died in battle only received a few dozen strings of cash in compensation, barely enough to make ends meet. Compared to them, at least I'm still alive."

He placed the empty bowl on the table, the bottom of which hit the table with a dull thud.

He glanced at the courtyard, where Sun Ce was squatting on the ground, playing cat's cradle with Qing Ge'er. He was clumsy and couldn't untangle the rope from his fingers.

"Ce'er's mother was a soldier's wife from a border region. She died from postpartum hemorrhage when she gave birth to him. I was in the army and couldn't take care of him. The child was entrusted to the wives of my comrades-in-arms. One family took care of him for a year, and another family took care of him for half a year."

"After losing his arm this year, I took him back with me and walked all the way back with him. I gave all the reward money I received to the families of my fallen comrades. This child has hardly had a proper meal since he came with me."