Female Knight-Errant

The cost was twenty taels, while collecting more than ten taels in congratulatory gifts from the Ward Chief alone. The calculation was easy enough to understand.

Any normal person would spend twenty taels of silver to buy a Regular Servant position and make the money back in no time!

Still, if he couldn't figure it out, he simply wouldn't think about it.

Su Mo had never been one to get caught up in pointless details.

He hadn't even finished sorting through the congratulatory gifts sent by the Bai Family.

The moment Wang Youcai left, it was as though he had blown a bugle.

The visitors bearing gifts came one after another.

First came the Lane Chief of Jiazi Lane, followed by the wealthy and affluent households in the ward, and then the neighbors and fellow residents of Jiazi Lane.

Some brought eggs, some fresh meat, some mountain products, some pastries, and others directly brought broken silver or copper coins...

Su Mo accepted them all with a smile.

He secretly made a note of each one, intending to return the gifts one by one later.

Su Mo understood this sort of exchange of favors, even though he had been a shut-in in his previous life.

At the same time, he couldn't help marveling at how rigid the hierarchy of the Great Wu Dynasty was.

Even the order in which gifts were sent had to be observed!

If the Ward Chief didn't send a gift, the Lane Chief wouldn't dare come. If the Lane Chief didn't come, the wealthy households had to wait!

No wonder so many people wanted to become officials!

He really had to put in more effort, quickly max out the Female Captain's favorability, and firmly cling to this powerful patron!

If he became a minor official one day, then married the delicate little widow Madam Qin...

He could bully troublesome commoners by day and tease his wife by night!

Life would be perfect!

Compared to the single shut-in he had been in his previous life, this would be countless times better. His transmigration wouldn't have been in vain!

Su Mo felt absolutely delighted!

While Su Mo was receiving so many gifts that his hands had gone limp,

at Chen Village in Eagle Ravine Dock,

Chen Bao was dumbfounded when he heard the news.

This was certainly a rare marvel under heaven.

The aggrieved party had sued someone else and been beaten to death in court, while the defendant had turned around and become a government employee.

Even storybook novels wouldn't dare write something like that!

The Imperial Guard's connections were truly formidable!

He couldn't help breaking into a cold sweat.

Had Su Mo taken to heart the fact that he had previously struck him with a whip?

Judging by Su Mo's reaction, it didn't seem as though he had held a grudge.

Moreover, he looked gentle as jade and modest and courteous, like a scholar. He didn't seem like the narrow-minded type.

But with matters like this, it was better to guard against the slightest possibility!

After all, it was truly odd that a ruthless old subordinate clerk could raise such a nephew.

Who knew whether Su Mo was a little fox even more cunning than Chen Gan!

He still had to make amends.

After thinking it over, Chen Bao summoned Chen Hu and told him the news he had just received.

Chen Hu's reaction wasn't as intense as Chen Bao's.

After all, he had been mentally prepared.

This was how things normally went.

It would have been strange if the County Yamen dared to lay a hand on someone from the Imperial Guard!

Chen Bao frowned and asked, "Chen Hu, how do you think we should proceed?"

Chen Hu said bluntly, "The Chen family and that kid are both fine now. Of course we should send Madam Qian and the others back to the county town!"

Chen Bao pressed a hand to his forehead, speechless.

He was truly grasping at straws in his panic. How had he thought to ask this dim-witted fellow?

Chen Hu continued excitedly, "Chen Gan was only an Assistant Servant before, yet he managed to open so many channels for us!"

"Now that the kid has become a Regular Servant, won't our smuggled salt sell even better?"

At the thought of this, he immediately felt delighted.

Good days were coming for Chen Village!

Perhaps even this old bachelor could save enough money to buy a beautiful wife at the slave market!

Don't assume that smuggling salt was highly profitable just because it was risky!

Smuggled salt wasn't something you could sell simply because you wanted to.

Basically, every salt smuggler had a fixed territory.

To increase profits and expand their channels, they had to fight other salt smugglers for their territories, and many people would die.

Besides,

buying salt required silver, caring for wounded brothers and their families required silver, and cultivating relations with the authorities required even more silver!

A profit of three to five hundred taels of silver in a year was already extraordinarily high.

With over a thousand people in the village and all sorts of expenses, how could they possibly have much left over?

There wasn't much mountainous land around Chen Village suitable for growing grain.

Aside from smuggling salt,

they also had to hunt in the mountains, seek out mountain products, chop wood, burn charcoal, and so on to make a living!

Seeing Chen Hu's excitement, Chen Bao also began pondering in secret.

His dim-witted younger cousin wasn't entirely wrong.

A Regular Servant and an Assistant Servant were worlds apart.

Chen Village wasn't afraid of fighting other salt smugglers for territory.

The problem was that even if they seized the territory, without the protection of the authorities, someone would snatch it back within a few days, and the brothers who had died would have died for nothing!

Taking territory was easy; holding territory was hard!

If they befriended Su Mo and indirectly gained the Imperial Guard's support, wouldn't that be something?

The prerequisite was that they had to repair their relationship with Su Mo!

Chen Bao gritted his teeth and slowly said, "Chen Hu, go summon Qianyu at once!"

"And from now on, stop calling him 'that kid.' You must address him as Officer Su! Otherwise, don't blame your older cousin for showing no mercy!"

Chen Hu pulled a long face. "Got it!"

"But what are we calling Qianyu over for?"

"Are we preparing for war, Big Brother? The salt caravan has over a hundred brothers. We don't need that girl to join the fight, do we?"

Chen Bao glared at him. "Go when I tell you to! Why are you spouting so much nonsense?"

Chen Hu feared neither Heaven nor earth, but he did fear this older cousin. He obediently went to summon his niece.

Before long, a tall young woman in white entered the room. She stood a full five feet nine, with a slender waist, long legs, and a pert bottom, while her ample bosom was wildly out of proportion. She was dressed like a wandering martial heroine.

"Dad, why did you call me? I just finished settling Sister Qin in!"

The moment Qianyu entered, she began chattering nonstop. "Sister Qin is so pitiful!"

"She was forced to leave the county town by those detestable subordinate clerks from the yamen. She has a home she can't return to!"

"Hmph!"

"Once my swordsmanship reaches perfection, I'll kill Leper Zhou and avenge Sister Qin!"

Black lines appeared on Chen Bao's forehead.

Which bastard had given her those martial-arts storybooks? Once he found out, that person would have hell to pay!

The daughter of a salt-smuggling king whose hands were stained with blood wanted to become a wandering knight-errant who upheld justice?

Wasn't that a joke?

Was she planning to butcher her own father first?

He coughed twice. "You don't need to kill Leper Zhou."

"He's already dead!"

Female knight-errant Qianyu was instantly stunned. She widened her eyes at her father. "Dead?"

"How could he die? I haven't killed him yet!"

Someone else had snatched her accomplishment, and the female knight-errant was furious. She couldn't help asking again, "Which great hero killed him?"

Chen Bao said irritably, "The authorities beat him to death!"

"He was guilty of countless crimes—violating women and seizing commoners' farmland. He was sentenced to a hundred strokes and beaten to death alive in court!"

The female knight-errant grew angry upon hearing this. "Just as I thought! Not one subordinate clerk is a good person!"

Chen Bao glared at her. "Who said subordinate clerks aren't good people?"

"Do you know that the person who brought him before the authorities was also a yamen servant and subordinate clerk?"

The female knight-errant blinked. "No way?"

Chen Bao was somewhat taken aback. "Madam Qin didn't tell you?"

Female knight-errant Qianyu said, "No!"

Chen Bao secretly thought that Madam Qin had kept her mouth shut rather well. He then explained, "That day, when Leper Zhou bullied Madam Qin, it was Su Mo who stepped forward to save her out of a sense of justice!"

"Su Mo even shattered Leper Zhou's shoulder bone with a single punch!"

"He also joined forces with his Assistant Servant uncle to bring Leper Zhou to justice!"

The female knight-errant's eyes widened. "That happened?"

Chen Bao said irritably, "Would your father lie to you? If you don't believe me, go ask Madam Qin!"

"I can't speak for anyone else, but Su Mo is definitely a good yamen servant!"

The female knight-errant nodded thoughtfully. "He does sound like a good person."

"But why did you call me here, Dad?"

Chen Bao's expression instantly darkened. With a long sigh, he said, "Do you know that our Chen Village is facing a great calamity?"

The female knight-errant was instantly startled and asked urgently, "Dad, what happened?"