After a full meal, plenty to drink, and a good night's sleep, Wang Yan woke feeling thoroughly refreshed.
After taking a sip of cold boiled water left over from the night before, he stepped out into the courtyard with his hair loose, dressed in his underrobe, yawning and stretching.
"Third Master, you're up." Qi Dazhu greeted him with a simple grin.
"Dazhu, what are you doing in my courtyard? Protecting me?"
"My brothers and I saw it with our own eyes. Third Master, you fell out with the people in the yamen and offended the county's wealthy families. What if they try something underhanded? We have to be on guard, Third Master. I've figured it out now—among all of Chun'an County, you're the only good official."
Wang Yan shook his head with an amused smile, not bothering to argue with Qi Dazhu as he prepared his toothbrush and began brushing his teeth. "How did the confiscation go?"
"Third Master, that Zhang Song is truly vile. We found over a thousand taels of silver in cash at his home, several hundred strings of copper coins, more than ten thousand taels' worth of silver notes, an estate outside the city, and deeds to several hundred mu of fertile land..."
After listing it all out, Qi Dazhu sighed. "Third Master, if all officials are like this, how are ordinary people like us supposed to survive...?"
"Live however you can live best. If you have the ability, take revenge. If you don't, then endure it." Wang Yan tipped back his head and gargled noisily before spitting the water onto the roots of a tree in the courtyard.
"Dazhu, why do you think I'm taking such a huge risk, offending Chun'an's officials and wealthy families, and desperately gathering money and grain?"
"You're a good official,