Rise From the Humble

Zhu Ping'an's safe return made Xiahe Village Tiantou a sea of ​​joy. After everyone's excitement gradually calmed down, people remembered today's other protagonist, and then Feng Hushu, who had been stepped on countless times in the crowd, returned to the public's attention again.

"Hang Sheng pays homage to your lord."

By the way, Feng Hushu, who was kneeling on the ground at this moment, looked very embarrassed. He had many big footprints on his body, his hands were muddy from being stepped on, and cold sweat was pouring from his forehead.

"Eh? Why is this? Why does a scholar need to give such a gift?" Zhu Pingan stood in front of Feng Hushu, curled up his lips and asked Feng Hushu who was kneeling on the ground with a smile.

"Your Excellency has turned disaster into good luck and returned safely. Xiang Sheng was overjoyed and couldn't help but do it." Feng Hushu knelt on the ground, his voice trembling out of fear.

With footprints, cold sweat, and trembling voice, Feng Hushu looked very pitiful, but a poor person must have something to hate!

If he hadn't come back, he would definitely have another condescending face at this moment. He must have made things difficult for his mother and father at this moment. Subordinate staff is the main body of the state's public power directly acting on the people, and the tragedy of small subordinate staff ruining families is not a small number in this era. The primary purpose of my own imperial examination struggle is to improve my family and protect my family. It is acceptable to bully me and humiliate me, but it is absolutely unacceptable to bully my family! The reverse scale of the dragon, those who touch it will be angry, and my family is my reverse scale.

He is a sixth-grade official, but he was misinformed about his death, and this person dared to come to his own house to cause trouble. So for other powerless families, this person must have gone as far as he did. I don’t know how many families have suffered. It's harmful.

So for Feng Hushu who was kneeling at his feet, Zhu Ping'an didn't mean to repay grievances with virtue, and he was not some kind of holy mother and white lotus.

"A scholar does not kneel before an official, unless he worships Confucius. I am not your mentor. If you kneel down to me, doesn't it mean that I am arrogant enough to compare myself to Confucius? Huh?" Zhu Pingan bent down slightly and looked at the kneeling man. Feng Hushu at his feet asked with a playful smile.

"I don't dare, I don't dare. I don't dare." When Feng Hushu heard this, he looked confused. Mr. Zhu was thinking too much, but when he saw the questioning look in Zhu Ping'an's eyes, cold sweat broke out on his forehead. He kept kowtowing.

"Look at you, why are you kowtowing again? I'm not arrogant enough to compare myself to Kong Sheng." Zhu Pingan said turning sideways to avoid it.

"I don't dare, I don't dare, I don't dare..."

Feng Hushu quickly stood up and bowed to Zhu Ping'an, confessed repeatedly, and then waved his sleeves to wipe the cold sweat from his forehead. At this moment, Feng Hushu's little heart almost couldn't help it.

"Well, that's right." Zhu Ping'an nodded.

Hearing Zhu Ping'an's words, Feng Hushu breathed a sigh of relief, and finally he could relax his heart that had been holding tight all the time.

However, the next second, he saw Zhu Ping'an nodding, and then asked again as if nothing had happened, "Where did we talk just now? Oh, by the way, I remembered. My family also has to pay taxes. When will the court How come I don’t know about the tax payment policy issued by the government?”

As soon as Zhu Ping'an finished speaking, there was a popping sound, and Feng Hushu, who had just stood up, fell to his knees again with a plop, trembling, his face was as red as a monkey's butt, and he could not say a word.

Where did the imperial court come up with any policy, it was all done on purpose by himself, so under Zhu Ping'an's question, Feng Hushu just shivered and couldn't say a word.

When everyone in Xiahe Village saw Feng Hushu like this, they all laughed at him. He looked so majestic just now, but now he is like a mouse after seeing a cat.

"What's wrong?" Zhu Pingan bent down slightly, looked at Feng Hushu and asked with the corners of his lips curled up, "Can't you remember?"

Feng Hushu hesitated and couldn't answer.

"Okay, let me change the question, who asked you to come?" Zhu Ping'an asked again.

"Xiang Sheng, Xiang Sheng, Xiang Sheng was ordered by the county magistrate." Feng Hushu was very confident when he said this.

In fact, he did not obey the magistrate's orders. It was all on his own initiative. He wanted to come here to make a fortune and fill his own pockets. He did this kind of thing without telling the magistrate, and he only came under the magistrate's banner. It's just bluffing. He has done this kind of thing not once or twice. What do the people below know? When they see someone coming from the county government, they just say whatever they want.

As the saying goes: Your official position is as pure as water, but your officials are as slippery as oil. Even upright officials can't protect their subordinates from harming the common people, let alone ordinary officials. Although the county magistrate, as the head of a county, holds the highest power in the county, the county magistrate is one person after all, and most of the county affairs are handled by others, which gives opportunities to subordinate officials. In a sense, the county magistrate only has a good appearance. In fact, the subordinate officials who are hiding "behind" him and using his name to benefit themselves are the real masters of the county. He is just a puppet of a large number of people around him, using his name to reap their own benefits. These "nobodies" hiding behind are the ones who have the most benefits.

From Feng Hushu's eyes and tone, Zhu Pingan knew that this matter was his own initiative.

"Oh, the magistrate ordered you to come." Zhu Pingan nodded.

"Yes, yes." Feng Hushu nodded while wiping his sweat, and carefully shushed Zhu Pingan. Seeing that Zhu Pingan's expression was normal, he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Since the magistrate ordered you to come, then the magistrate must know when the imperial court issued a tax payment policy, so I'll ask Feng Hushu to invite the magistrate here." Zhu Ping'an said with a playful smile.

ah?

"The magistrate. The magistrate has a lot of things to do every day, I'm afraid, I'm afraid I don't have time."

Fortunately, Feng Hushu was kneeling at this moment, otherwise Feng Hushu would definitely fall to his knees in a cold sweat when asked this question by Zhu Pingan.

"Oh, why, my sixth-rank official can't invite the seventh-rank county magistrate?" Zhu Pingan bent down and looked at Feng Hushu.

bang

When Feng Hushu heard this, his body changed from kneeling to sitting all of a sudden, he couldn't kneel anymore, and the cold sweat on his forehead turned into betting.

Yes, Zhu Ping'an is an official of the sixth rank, the county magistrate is only the seventh rank, the county magistrate of Shang County is only the sixth rank, Huaining County is not the upper county, the county magistrate is only the seventh rank. Zhu Ping'an said that the magistrate, who was two levels lower, had to come over no matter how busy he was. If the magistrate comes, then everything he has done will be exposed. Then he will not only have to face Zhu Pingan's wrath, but also the magistrate's wrath.

"Take my notes and ask the magistrate to come to my humble residence for a chat. I will prepare some simple food and rice in my humble residence and wait for the magistrate." Zhu Pingan stood up, took out a small seal from his waist, and gave a stern order to an officer.

"As ordered." The officer took the seal and did not dare to hesitate.

"My lord, please forgive me. Your Majesty, please forgive me. I know I was wrong. I report back to you, Sir, it's because I was greedy for money, ignored the law, and was induced by my uncle Zhu Shouren, and committed stupid things."

Seeing this, Feng Hushu was completely frightened. He gave himself a slap in the face without saying anything, and repeatedly apologized to Zhu Ping'an. He no longer dared to hide it and told the whole story.

hear the words

crowd

There was deathly silence all around, even the air seemed to be frozen, and you could hear a needle drop. At this time, the sound of a slight footsteps was extremely obvious.

Everyone turned their heads

In the crowd, a disharmonious figure was unusually majestic. It was the figure who was tiptoeing away as uncle Zhu Shouren.