Huo County's yamen was far from imposing. It had all the necessary facilities, but nothing could be called particularly good.
If there was no profit to be made, no chief official ever wanted to renovate a yamen. After all, wouldn't it be better to pocket that silver himself? He could use some of it to grease the palms of his superiors and advance his career. No matter how nicely the yamen was repaired, not a single coin of the money owed to those above could be spared. Since the benefits would not fall into his own hands, there was no point.
Or, to put it another way, it was not that these officials were unwilling to repair the yamen. It was simply that construction brought money in too slowly. They could even swallow the funds meant for repairs outright, so why bother working hard to build a yamen for those who came after them to enjoy...
Especially in a small place like Huo County, where silver was scarce. Naturally, every bit had to be cherished.
Yet while the yamen itself was shabby, the quarters where its officials lived were not bad.
Wang Yan followed Fan Zhao into the county yamen and arrived at the courtyard belonging to the county magistrate. The difference was immediately obvious. It was still far from luxurious, of course, but compared with the other buildings in the yamen, which had gone up around the same time, it was clearly better and newer. It had plainly been well maintained and renovated many times.
A table had already been set up in the courtyard. Three men rose upon hearing them arrive.
Fan Zhao introduced them one by one. "Brother Wang, this is Huo County's magistrate, Lord Wang Yunjing. This is the county assistant magistrate, Kang Lin, and this