Qian is the horse, Kun is the ox

County Magistrate Li Yi took a long, searching look at Gu Zhengchen in the courtyard, then turned and left.

Seeing this, his adviser Yan Bin had no choice but to follow.

With his hands clasped behind his back, Li Yi walked at a leisurely pace, his toes angled outward. "Who would have thought a minor affair could stir up almost half of Teng County? This Candidate Gu is no ordinary man."

Yan Bin could not puzzle it out. Bewildered, he asked, "The Liang Family's support is understandable, perhaps, but Sun Bing is notorious for his shrewdness and stinginess..."

Li Yi looked up at the sun hanging toward the south and said gravely, "For Sun Bing to come to Dayan Village on foot himself, Gu Zhengchen must have enormous benefits to offer him. We need not guess what those benefits are. Once the water recedes, the stones will reveal themselves. But Gu Zhengchen himself is unfathomable, like an abyss whose bottom cannot be seen."

Sensing that Li Yi appreciated the young man's talent, Yan Bin hurried forward two steps. "Do you intend to help this young scholar advance, Magistrate?"

Li Yi's expression grew solemn. He walked another hundred paces before speaking. "Gu Zhengchen excels at exploiting loopholes in the Code of Laws. Whether breaking Wang Youcheng's bones or paying to redeem his punishment, he used the Code of Laws to lessen his guilt or escape it altogether. Having such a man enter government service might not be a good thing. If someone offered him money to plead their case, he might exploit the legal provisions to help wealthy gentry and powerful families escape trouble, harming honest common folk."

Yan Bin nodded in agreement, then said worriedly, "But Magistrate, Gu Zhengchen is calculating and astute, has one stratagem after another, and acts with composure. If his nature is good and his heart devoted to the people, he might have both the courage and ability to bring peace to a region and leave behind a tale worth telling. The Hongwu Emperor has already issued an edict requiring local prefectures and counties to identify talented men and recommend them to the court. I hear Zou County to the north recommended nine men at once. Teng County's continued inaction is extremely unfavorable to you..."

The court had suspended the imperial examinations, cutting off scholars' path into government service.

But Great Ming had only recently been founded, and its ranks of officials were caught between a dwindling old guard and a shortage of new blood. Without the examinations to select officials, it could only rely on local recommendations.

If local county offices failed to recommend enough men and supply the court with talent, leaving many places severely understaffed for long periods and impossible to govern, the Hongwu Emperor might punish the local authorities in his fury.

Li Yi clenched his fists and said through gritted teeth, "Of the nine men Zou County recommended, eight are wealthy householders or come from wealthy households. Only one is a licentiate. When a pack of crafty, deceitful men enters the court, will they serve the common people or the wealthy gentry and powerful families? Will they work for the court or pursue their own families' interests?"

Yan Bin let out a long sigh. "The emperor wants us to recommend scholars. If we recommend none, or too few..."

Li Yi understood Yan Bin's concern and remained deep in thought along the way. When they were a li outside the town, he saw the Wang Family's bookkeeper walking ahead, with two men driving an ox behind him.

At the Gu Family home, the gathering had yet to disperse.

Wang Fugui looked grim, but he could not leave.

Liang Fengyang wanted to draw out Landlord Sun's reasons for helping Gu Zhengchen, but the damned fat man kept his mouth sealed tight as a bottle and would not reveal a single word.

Sun Bing sat on a stool, vigorously fanning himself with a palm-leaf fan.

Seeing Liang Fengyang approach again, Gu Zhengchen asked quietly, "Master Liang, do you know Li Shanmei?"

"Li Shanmei?"

Liang Fengyang frowned and shook his head. "Who is he?"

Gu Zhengchen was rather surprised that Liang Fengyang did not know him either.

That obsessive stalker who dared make fun of Old Zhu and ask questions about everything had spoken with uncommon refinement. He did not seem like a nobody. Could he have been an outsider Gu Zhengchen had encountered by chance?

No, he knew far too much to be an outsider newly arrived in the area.

"The ox is here! The ox is here!"

A villager ran over, shouting at the top of his lungs.

Dayan Village immediately burst into excitement, and everyone rushed out to see.

They had heard of wealthy households taking away oxen, fields, and people, but never of anyone getting an ox and land back from their clutches. This was a momentous occasion!

Gu Zhengchen watched an old yellow ox slowly approach. Gu Shi had already stepped forward to stroke its head, tears of joy streaming down her face, while Gu Qingqing rested a hand on its neck and spoke through her sobs.

Many people in later generations did not understand how important oxen were to people in ancient times.

The Book of Changes stated:

"As heaven moves with vigor, the gentleman strives unceasingly to strengthen himself; as the earth embodies Kun, the gentleman bears all things with abundant virtue."

"Supreme is the primal power of Kun, upon which all things depend for birth. It follows and receives heaven; Kun, in its richness, bears all things, its virtue encompassing the boundless."

The Treatise on the Trigrams explained: Qian is the horse, Kun is the ox. The ox could bear heavy burdens and was docile, carrying the earth that nurtured and sustained all things.

This alone showed how important the ox's status was!

Indeed, ancient dynasties consistently upheld a shared principle: "The ox is the foundation of farming, upon which the people depend. Its usefulness is unsurpassed, and it determines the strength or weakness of the state."

In short, the ox was a symbol of national strength!

Every dynasty had enacted laws protecting oxen and strictly prohibited the slaughter of plow oxen, from Qin and Han to Tang, Song, Yuan, and Ming.

Unauthorized slaughter of an ox could bring a fine or a beating with the heavy cane for a lesser offense, and imprisonment or exile for a serious one. During the Later Tang of the Five Dynasties period, the law was harsher still: unauthorized slaughter of an ox ranked alongside murder. Killing an ox was no different from killing a person...

Although Old Zhu had once killed an ox as a child to gain experience and level up, once he became emperor, he likewise strictly forbade slaughtering plow oxen. Maliciously killing someone else's ox earned seventy strokes of the heavy cane and a year and a half of penal servitude; killing one's own ox without permission earned a full hundred strokes...

Those scenes in Water Margin where someone constantly called out, "Waiter, bring two jin of beef!" were all nonsense. In fact, in the various plays and stories preceding Water Margin, Li Kui and the other heroes entered taverns and called out, "Waiter, bring two jin of mutton..."

An ox was an extremely important asset to a common household, as well as its greatest source of labor.

Gu Shi was delighted. Their yellow ox had suffered no mistreatment and had returned safe and sound.

Gu Qingqing led the ox to the straw shelter on the west side, stopping now and then to scratch its itches.

Wang Quan, the Wang Family's bookkeeper, produced the land deed. Landlord Sun glanced at it and immediately smiled. It was a conditional sale deed: the land could be redeemed with money, not an outright, irrevocable sale. There was no need to seek an official seal from the authorities, either. They only needed an intermediary to serve as guarantor and witness.

Wang Fugui felt the sting of the loss. He had fed that yellow ox for two whole months!

And those ten mu of land-the Wang Family members had spent three days treading the waterwheel to irrigate them, and he had even assigned people to weed them. The wheat was growing well and would be ready to harvest in just another twenty days or so, yet the Gu Family had taken it all back!

Damn it, damn it all!

With no other choice, Wang Fugui signed the land deed and returned it to the Gu Family.

Looking at Wang Fugui's bitterly resentful face, Gu Zhengchen said sternly, "I have taken my fields back. I do not want to see any Wang Family members on the Gu Family's land again."

Wang Fugui flicked his sleeve. "Candidate Gu, what fine methods you have. We're leaving!"

Gu Zhengchen replied coldly, "I won't see you out."

Seeing that the matter was settled, Landlord Sun called to the onlookers, "It's all over. Everyone, go on home."

Zhang Shiping watched Wang Fugui and his party leave, then turned toward Zhao Ya'er. Seeing her gazing spellbound at Gu Zhengchen, a flicker of disgust crossed his eyes. He said to Zhao Yaowen beside him, "Brother Zhao, I've just remembered something I must attend to. I'll take my leave."

Zhao Yaowen wanted to persuade him to stay, but Zhang Shiping had already strode away.

Aunt Zhang tugged Zhao Ya'er's sleeve before she finally came to her senses. Looking at Gu Zhengchen chatting and laughing nearby, she could not banish from her mind his resolute words that day:

"Remember this: it is not your Zhao Family breaking off the engagement. It is I, Gu Zhengchen, who no longer wants you. I would rather take fifty strokes of the light cane than marry you!"

Zhao Ya'er raised a hand to her chest and lowered her head in sorrow, tears glistening in her eyes.

Was I wrong?

Before, I had only heard Father say how untalented and incapable Gu Zhengchen was, how he could never become an official again. But reality was nothing like that. Both the Liang Family and the Sun Family had come to curry favor with him, and even the Wang Family had lost to him!

But what did that matter? It could not be undone. There was no saving it.

Zhao Ya'er raised her head, bit her pale lip, and stepped forward to grip the fence. Just as she was about to speak, Zhao Yaowen yanked her back and berated her in a low voice. "Have you gone mad? Don't forget that Father is arranging your marriage to the Zhang Family. How can you speak to Gu Zhengchen again? Come home with me!"