Cultivation of Immortals Begins with Drilling Wood To Make Fire

The two looked at each other again, and Fang Chang and Gu Shan knew each other from their expressions, and the other party also understood the meaning.

"In that case."

The old man Gu Shan pondered for a while, and said first:

"The magistrate of Qi can hang a lantern at the side door. After she comes, she can ask someone to take off the lantern and take it back. The two of us will know, and we will come to check."

"Of course, if something goes wrong, the county magistrate can make a fool of himself first. After we hear that someone has arrived, even if the lantern is not there, we will come to rescue him."

"Okay." Qi Zhixian agreed.

It seemed that the big rock that had been pressing on his heart for a long time finally loosened a little today. His expression relaxed and he let out a long breath. Then Qi Zhixian adjusted his sitting posture, thought for a while, and continued to add:

"I'm going to prepare two red lanterns. If the other party comes, I will use it as a celebration and order to replace the rough paper lanterns outside with red lanterns, which will make it easier to pass through."

Both Gu Shan and Fang Chang nodded, this is indeed safer.

After all, if things were leaked suddenly, it would be troublesome for the monster to hold Zhixian hostage, or simply kill Qizhi County.

The old servant next to him put down the teapot in his hand, cupped his hands and said to the county magistrate: "Patriarch, I don't feel relieved to leave this matter to others, so let's leave it alone."

After hearing the words, Qi Nan, the magistrate of the county, kept nodding his head: "I don't worry if you do things, this is the best."

The old servant didn't seem to say much, but replied: "I will live up to my trust."

The magistrate of Qi said again: "There are quite a few good guest rooms in this backyard. Maybe the two gentlemen can consider living in the backyard? This way, you don't need the arrangement just now, just come directly to catch the turtle in the urn."

"Inappropriate." Gu Shan shook his head, "If the news leaked out and the other party noticed the situation, it would not be beautiful."

"After all, now the enemy is in the open and I am in the dark. If the other party escapes, the situation will change. We can't protect you all the time. I'm afraid Qizhi County will encounter something unbearable for you."

"!" Hearing this, the county magistrate immediately gave up this idea. He looked at the environment of the small dining room and said instead, "How about we move to the study room? This is not a place for conversation, and they are still hungry."

The two of them had nothing to do with it, so they came to the study to sit down with Qi Zhixian.

Behind him, other members of the county yamen saw that several people finally withdrew, and approached them one after another.

They had been waiting for a long time for the meal, and they were not full in the morning, and they were very hungry.

Everyone worked together to refill the almost bottomless large vegetable bowl on the dining table with stewed cabbage and frozen tofu, and then scrambled for the remaining pig's head meat and sausage, cleaned the minced eggs, and each served Chewing millet rice bowl.

The old servant in Zhixian's house did not go to eat, but went into the study with the three of them to serve them and serve them tea.

On the contrary, Chang Fang felt a little sorry, and said, "Old man, why don't you go to the kitchen to eat first? We are all rural people, and we don't have to be formal, so there is no need to do so."

The other party shook his head as a polite refusal.

Fang Chang didn't force it, he turned to Qizhi County, and said: "I came to visit, but there is another small matter, I hope to ask Qizhi County."

"Sir, please speak." Qi Zhixian said respectfully.

Mr. Fang in front of him felt very mysterious to him.

Especially at that moment, when I was communicating with Mr. Gu, Mr. Fang barely spoke, just listening silently beside him like a potted plant. If he hadn't been focused, he would hardly have noticed that there was this person next to him.

Just now, I always seemed to be subconsciously ignoring, and there was another person beside him, as if Mr. Fang was the original furnishings in this study.

But I heard Mr. Fang continue to ask:

"I have been traveling around the world for a long time, and I have been to many prefectures. The entry fee is one penny, but when I arrived at Yongjia Mansion, I found that the entrance fee here is two pennies."

"Is there such a thing?"

Qi Zhixian was a little confused, he subconsciously asked the old servant beside him.

The old servant knew about it, he bowed slightly and told him:

"Patriarch, this is indeed the case. The entrance fee to Yongjia Mansion is twice as high as that of other places. You usually go in and out by car and sedan chair, and you don't have to queue with the common people. Naturally, you won't notice this matter."

"It was an order issued by the previous magistrate here in order to extort money when he was an official here. The latter magistrate was the same as you before. He had never heard of such a situation, so it was much higher than the other ones, and even a bit special. The independent city gate tax has continued until now."

"How did that happen!"

To Fang Chang's surprise, Qi Zhixian's face became very unhappy when he found out about this.

He stood up from the chair, adjusted his official hat, and paced back and forth in the open space of the room. After a while, Qi Zhixian said worriedly:

"The city entry fee is not paid once, but twice for one entry and exit. The extra two pennies don't make much sense to us, but for the common people, it is extremely difficult to earn a penny."

"As the saying goes, a penny is hard for a hero. If the whole family is farming and has food but no money, it is difficult to earn every penny. Selling grain will be thinned by merchants. The extra city tax is the common people blood and sweat."

"Over time, the income of the yamen has increased, but I don't know how many people will make their lives worse because of this trivial matter. Within three days, this official will solve this problem, and this cannot continue."

Fang Chang nodded again and again, agreeing very much.

Unexpectedly, the magistrate of Yongjia prefecture was a knowledgeable person, and from his expression and words, he could really feel that the magistrate of Qi County was speaking the truth, not pretending.

Infected by this state of mind, Fang Chang nodded his head in his heart.

So he raised his eyes and looked at Qi Zhixian's momentum with the method of looking at his breath, trying to judge the opponent's official luck.

"Well?"

What I saw was indeed surprising.

"What's the matter?" Gu Shan next to him heard Fang Chang's voice and turned sideways to ask.

Fang Chang grinned lightly: "Qizhi County."

"Eh?"

"From my point of view, you didn't come here through the imperial examination? Maybe it's because of other reasons?" Fang Chang said bluntly.

The expression of Qi Nan, the county magistrate in front of him, instantly became stunned, then climbed up to fear, anger, and sorrow, and finally returned to calm, as if his heart was like still water.

He looked at the old servant next to him, smiled bitterly and said:

"Since this is the case, there is no need to hide it from the two gentlemen. I confess everything, but please don't tell others."

"Don't worry, we are all outsiders, and we will not leak the situation later." Fang Chang assured, "If it is inconvenient, you don't need to tell us."

Qi Zhixian shook his head: "This secret has been hidden for too long, and the next step is to deal with Shang Zhizhou's methods. I still don't know what will happen to me. There are some things, but I can't complain."

Fang Chang nodded, and Gu Shan next to him did the same, but the old servant beside him moved suddenly, as if he wanted to stop him, but stopped again.

"I'm not the county magistrate." Qi Nan said, "The real magistrate has long since died."