Chapter 28#
Governing the Realm (I)#
However, Le Wuyai did not fret for long.
There was a mountain of official business waiting for him inside the yamen.
Just as the second letters from Xiao Liu and Xiao Qi arrived one after another, the conclusion to the series of corruption cases involving the Chen family was finally reached.
Chen Yuanwei, who had appeared aloof from worldly affairs and cultivated both civil and martial arts, was implicated in framing others for rebellion and selling people into slavery, resulting in the premature deaths of twenty-five people due to accidents, overwork, illness, and other causes in the Xiaofu Coal Mine. His crimes were heinous. He was stripped of his juren title, all his property was confiscated, and he was sentenced to beheading, to be carried out in the autumn after his imprisonment awaiting execution.
The Xiaofu Coal Mine was renamed the Nanting Coal Mine, overhauled and operated by the government.
For the key figures of the former Xiaofu Coal Mine, such as Chen Fu’er and Lu Da Gui, they were sentenced to death by hanging, also awaiting the autumn execution. The minor bosses and others who had acted as accomplices were reduced to slave status and forced to work as miners in the Nanting Coal Mine.
The rogue Ge Erzi, who had sold people into slavery causing deaths and seized his widowed sister-in-law’s property, was sentenced to one hundred strokes of the cane and exiled to the furthest frontier, never to return. All his assets and properties were converted into silver and compensated to Chang Xiaohu’s mother, Su Shi.
The rogue Liu Debén, who had falsely accused Ming Xiangzhao of rebellion—fortunately, Ming Xiangzhao and his mother survived—was sentenced to one hundred strokes of the cane, banished to a distance of three thousand li, and five years of hard labor.
The coroner Shang Juncai, who had accepted bribes and failed to conduct truthful examinations of corpses and injuries, and had twelve cases in his past records that were vague and clearly not carefully examined, was sentenced to fifty strokes of the cane, twenty strokes of the light bamboo, and exiled to Qianzhou.
The entire Chen family was convicted. Male members between fourteen and fifty years old were exiled to Danzhou. The young, elderly, and female family members could voluntarily petition to be entered into slave status and work in the Nanting Coal Mine, cooking, cleaning, and performing manual labor.
On the day the court pronounced the verdict, it was almost as if the entire city had emptied out.
All the townspeople crowded in front of the yamen, waiting to see the fate of this “Great Benefactor Chen.”
As soon as the word “decapitation” was uttered, Squire Chen collapsed to the ground on the spot.
The Chen family’s dependents had expected their entire family to be exiled, with many likely dying on the road. They had been living in constant fear. Now, hearing that the magistrate had shown extraordinary leniency, sparing the old and young in the household, and not punishing the women by making them government prostitutes, they were immensely grateful, weeping and thanking him profusely.
They were satisfied, and Le Wuyai was satisfied too.
With this influx of labor, the Nanting Coal Mine could operate seamlessly.
He seized the opportunity to announce that the Nanting Coal Mine would still annually distribute coal to the poor, just as before.
At this, cries of gratitude rang out from inside the court to the outside.
As for Squire Chen’s fate, no one cared anymore.
After the case was settled, Le Wuyai immediately threw himself into a new round of busyness.
There were countless trivial matters in a county town, and Nanting County was, after all, a minor transportation hub.
Wherever there are many people, there is a world of its own—this saying was indeed true.
In theory, such day-to-day mundane affairs could easily grind down a person’s edge, making one with lofty ambitions feel like they were wasting their youth.
But Le Wuyai didn’t feel that way.
In his previous life, he had handled too many major affairs and was long tired of them. Dealing with these neighborhood disputes, fights, and unequal division of property among children had its own trivial pleasures.
Wenren Yue, seeing him come and go every day with a cheerful smile on his face, was happy as well.
After writing letters for the miners for a few days, he was finally caught by Le Wuyai to serve as his personal scribe.
After Kan’s illness recovered, she saw that her son seemed to have been reborn, much more sensible, and her heart was filled with unspeakable joy. When she heard that he had the opportunity to serve by the magistrate’s side, she had no further desires. She grabbed Wenren Yue and nagged him for a long time: “The magistrate has truly given us mother and son a new lease on life. Whatever he tells you to do, just do it. Don’t be stubborn and argue with people like you used to.”
Wenren Yue had not felt his mother’s loving nagging for a long time. After listening carefully, he nodded obediently: “I understand.”
But Le Wuyai felt that Wenren Yue still liked to argue with him.
There was something deep in this man’s bones that was quite similar to the former stubborn mule Ming Xiangzhao.
One day, after Wenren Yue had honestly squatted in a horse stance for a quarter of an hour as Le Wuyai had instructed, he went out on the street and saw freshly roasted sunflower seeds, piping hot. He bought a bag, tucked it into his bosom, and took it to the yamen to make tea for Le Wuyai.
But just as he entered the study carrying the freshly brewed tea, he was met with a barrage of complaints from Le Wuyai.
“I heard you went to work as a river laborer, unloading cargo at the small dock?” Le Wuyai asked him. “If you want to be a coolie, you can do it here. I bought a dozen new storybooks yesterday, and my arms are sore from carrying them back myself.”
“Just doing some odd jobs as exercise. Besides, I’ve only heard about the hardships of the people’s livelihood; without experiencing it firsthand, how can I truly understand?”
Wenren Yue set down the tea and the roast sunflower seeds, then bent down to pinch Le Wuyai’s wrist to make sure he was fine. Satisfied, he relaxed: “Brother Gu, here are some seeds for you.”
Le Wuyai accepted them without any pretense, delighted.
Seeing him devour the seeds without restraint, Wenren Yue couldn’t help but remind him: “Be careful not to get overheated.”
Le Wuyai raised the teacup beside him and raised an eyebrow triumphantly: “I have herbal tea, perfect for cooling down.”
Wenren Yue fell silent.
Le Wuyai took a sip of the herbal tea and nearly spat it all out, it was so bitter.
His eyes flickered, and he immediately guessed who had the audacity to do this.
He turned his head and glared at Wenren Yue.
Fortunately, this man was honest; if he did something, he would admit it: “My father was into health preservation, and I know a thing or two about it. When I heard you wanted herbal tea, I went to the pharmacy to get a special blend, adding extra kudzu root powder and dandelion.”
“Who gave you permission to act on your own?!”
Wenren Yue had his own logic: “The tea you were drinking before wasn’t herbal tea; it was sugar water. Drinking it is useless.”
Le Wuyai naturally didn’t appreciate it and said bitterly: “Switching my tea without permission is wrong! This time it’s dandelion, next time it’ll be hemlock!”
Wenren Yue chuckled: “Brother Gu, you’re being unreasonable.”
Le Wuyai wouldn’t let it go and grabbed his collar: “Give me back my sugar water.”
Just as the two were tussling, Clerk Luo walked in with a worried expression: “Magistrate, trouble again.”
Clerk Luo’s full name was Luo Hongfang, and he was from the Works Department, in charge of local taxes, land, and household registration.
Like Clerk Zhang from the Justice Department and Clerk Duan from the Revenue Department, he was a seasoned clerk, each with their own distinct style.
Clerk Zhang had always been on the side of Assistant Magistrate Sun, but recently sensing the shift in the wind, he had been furtively trying to curry favor with Le Wuyai.
Clerk Duan was always low-profile, never taking sides, and remained unflappable even when the wind changed.
Luo Hongfang was a man of action, deeply immersed in his work.
He wouldn’t come to Le Wuyai unless he had encountered a difficult problem.
Le Wuyai still had his hand on Wenren Yue: “What is it?”
Clerk Luo said: “The sons of the Wu family and the Dou family at the west end got into a fight. During the scuffle, they destroyed a vegetable stall. The stall owner came to file a complaint seeking compensation. I went to mediate, and both the Wu and Dou families agreed to pay half to settle the matter.”
Le Wuyai: “Then isn’t that already resolved?”
Hearing this, Wenren Yue knew that Le Wuyai was unaware of the history behind these two families. He frowned slightly: “…Those two families again.”
Le Wuyai was intrigued: “Oh? You know them too?”
As he spoke, Le Wuyai couldn’t resist the temptation of the fragrant roast seeds and secretly grabbed a handful to munch on.
Wenren Yue smiled helplessly and pushed both the seeds and the herbal tea closer to him.
“Brother Gu” was so young, playful, and spirited; in his previous life, he probably hadn’t lived long.
He wanted him to live longer.
Le Wuyai glanced at him and silently accepted his subtle kindness.
Wenren Yue was very familiar with the county’s minor civil affairs. He explained in detail: “The Wu and Dou families were originally neighbors. The Wu family lived on the east side, and their roof was built a bit higher. Whenever it rained, the water would always flow from their eaves onto the Dou family’s yard on the west side, causing waterlogging. Three years ago, a heavy rainstorm drowned an old tree in the Dou family’s yard. The Dou family was furious, saying the tree had been planted by their great-grandfather. They demanded more than just compensation—they wanted the Wu family to rebuild their eaves so that water would never drain into the Dou family’s yard again. The Wu family agreed to compensate for the tree but absolutely refused to rebuild the house. That’s how the feud began.”
Hearing this, Clerk Luo was inwardly surprised, wondering how Scholar Ming could be so familiar with this matter.
But then he thought about it and understood.
Scholar Ming had always been meddlesome and had handled many lawsuits in the past. It wasn’t strange that he knew the county’s civil cases inside out.
Clerk Luo added: “…Feuds only grow bigger, never smaller. These two families are neighbors, seeing each other every day. They’re like lips and teeth—how can they not bump into each other? Every time there’s a minor incident, they make a huge fuss and end up in court. Especially their younger sons, who are hot-blooded youths. They’ve brawled while drunk more than once, and the whole county knows about it. It’s really disgraceful.”
Le Wuyai continued munching his seeds: “I see. How did you handle it before?”
Clerk Luo smiled wryly: “To be honest, Magistrate, unless the east family’s eaves are dismantled, this matter will never end. I’ve made many trips, invited the village head, brought in the relatives from both sides, mediated time and again, but it’s all useless. They’re just fighting for that one breath of pride now, neither willing to give in.”
Le Wuyai nodded.
He believed that Clerk Luo had indeed done his best.
His method of inviting influential or related third parties to mediate would have worked with most people.
But the root cause of this conflict was ultimately a land dispute.
Without resolving the land issue, any effort would be futile.
Le Wuyai tapped his chin with a scroll and turned to ask Wenren Yue: “Ming Shouyue, what do you suggest?”
Wenren Yue knew this was Le Wuyai testing him. He thought hard for a long time but still couldn’t find a solution.
If it were easy to solve, it would have been solved long ago.
A soft approach wouldn’t work, and a hard approach would be even worse.
After all, this was just a dispute between two families. If the yamen made a big show of it and went to dismantle the Wu family’s eaves, the stubborn Wu family would certainly not let it go. They would complain to the prefect about the yamen arbitrarily damaging their property, and that would cause a lot of trouble.
So he fell back on his usual middle-of-the-road solution, clasping his hands and replying: “Magistrate, I thought that if the yamen were willing to pay for the Wu family to rebuild their eaves, perhaps this long-standing lawsuit could be resolved.”
Clerk Luo shook his head slightly and didn’t respond.
Le Wuyai was quite speechless. He took a sip of the herbal tea and said: “If you were paying, I’d be one hundred percent happy. The people pay taxes so you can build roads, bridges, schools, and charity halls, not so you can be a mudslinger.”
Wenren Yue had a good temper and knew this was a reproach for his naive idea. He humbly said: “It was Shouyue’s oversight.”
Le Wuyai grinned slyly like a fox: “Hey, I’ll teach you a trick, how about that?”
The features of this face were ones that Wenren Yue had long been used to, yet Le Wuyai could effortlessly make them radiant.
Wenren Yue lowered his head, suppressing his inexplicably racing heart: “I am all ears, Magistrate.”
Le Wuyai: “Easy, give me back my sugar water.”
Wenren Yue refused outright: “…That won’t do.”
Stubborn mule!
Le Wuyai picked up the teacup, reluctantly took a bitter sip of the herbal tea, winced, and asked Clerk Luo: “So the east family’s eaves are higher, and the west family is unhappy, is that the situation?”
Clerk Luo: “Yes.”
Le Wuyai: “What are the backgrounds of these two families?”
Clerk Luo: “They have some wealth, running small workshops.”
Le Wuyai said “Oh”: “Did they consult a feng shui master when they built their houses?”
Clerk Luo was taken aback, his eyes moving as he caught on: “…Of course. These merchants are mostly superstitious. For major things like building houses and raising beams, they always consult feng shui masters.”
Le Wuyai: “Then hire the most famous feng shui master in the city. The silver can be taken from public funds; half a guan should be enough. Have the feng shui master go and re-examine both houses.”
With just a few words, Clerk Luo already understood Le Wuyai’s intention, but he didn’t want to seem too clever: “What should I tell them? Please instruct me, Magistrate.”
Le Wuyai looked down at his storybook: “Tell the east family privately that wealth flows with water, and water represents fortune. If their water flows to the west family, they are continuously sending their own fortune away, which is disadvantageous to them.”
“Then tell the west family privately that water symbolizes fortune. Having fortune flow from the east family to theirs is heaven’s will. Ask them not to be angry about it. In a few years, they will see.”
Clerk Luo’s eyes lit up: “Magistrate, that’s brilliant.”
Le Wuyai: “If you know it’s brilliant, go quickly.”
After sending off Clerk Luo, Le Wuyai picked up the personnel evaluation register on the table and deliberately checked Clerk Luo’s evaluation from the previous year.
…It was marked as average.
Le Wuyai muttered to himself: “The Personnel Department needs a shake-up. I don’t need people with two eyes that only serve to breathe.”
Wenren Yue, seeing that he was intent on reforming the administration, was about to speak when Le Wuyai pulled him over to a pile of old case files.
He pointed casually: “All the criminal case records of Nanting County for the past three years are here. I’ve looked through them once. Among them, there are forty-seven cases with missing evidence. I’ll give you three days to pick them all out.”
Staring at the towering stack of files, Wenren Yue couldn’t help but be astonished: “…Brother Gu, you’ve read them all?” In such a short time?
But Le Wuyai’s astonishment was no less than Wenren Yue’s. He retorted: “Is this even considered a lot?”
Hearing this, Wenren Yue felt a deep concern.
In his previous life, how much toil and hardship must Brother Gu have endured to be able to say such a thing?
He steadied himself, said no more, and reached for the topmost file.
If he could be more capable and share some of Brother Gu’s burdens, then he wouldn’t have to work so hard.
For the sake of having a Brother Gu who could enjoy his seeds, drink his tea, and laugh and talk, Wenren Yue told himself, he could do even more.