Outside the government office, at Old Man Sun's wonton stall.
Li Xiao ordered a bowl of wontons and mingled in the crowd, eating while listening to the conversations of the other diners.
Several porters were discussing the new prefect. "I saw the carriage parked in front of the prefectural government office this morning," one of them said.
"Really? I saw it too, it doesn't look like the style of a prefect... and the carriage was even secured with wooden planks."
"Of course it is! I saw the gatekeeper respectfully usher the person in."
After listening for a while without getting what he wanted, Li Xiao deliberately struck up a conversation, "I've heard that Anzhi Hall's business is booming. I wonder if their medicinal herbs are expensive?"
As soon as these words were spoken, someone immediately chimed in, "Expensive... it's five copper coins more expensive than other pharmacies."
Upon hearing this, Li Xiao sat up straight. " Lord Su didn't handle this matter?"
"What do you care? Nobody's forcing you to buy medicine from the Anzhi Hall. If you want cheaper medicine, go to another pharmacy..." The porter picked up his bowl, took a sip of hot soup, and then his gaze fell on Li Xiao.
Are you from out of town?
Li Xiao laughed and said, "Big brother, you could tell I had a non-local accent?"
The porter mumbled as he ate his wontons, "It's not an accent. Anzhi Hall's medicinal herbs are good; everyone in the city knows that... If you think the herbs are too expensive, we also have cheaper options."
Those scraps are three coins cheaper than the market price. If you can't afford medicine, you can just go and get them... Little Doctor Meng is so kind; she can even take your pulse for free."
Li Xiao was taken aback, "This... if everyone takes the scraps, who will buy the medicinal herbs?"
The porter shoveled the last of his food into his mouth, glared at Li Xiao, picked up his carrying pole, and left... Li Xiao was bewildered by the glare and tried to strike up a conversation with the others.
Finding that everyone was ignoring him, Li Xiao had no choice but to approach the stall owner. "Uncle... why are they all ignoring me?"
The old man, cooking wontons in the pot, said dismissively, "People from Qingzhou Prefecture have a sense of honor; no one would try to take advantage of a few coins. I advise you not to get any funny ideas. Manager Anzhi Hall has sharp eyes; she can see right through you."
Feeling awkward, Li Xiao put down the money for the wontons and headed towards the Anzhi Hall, following the directions he had inquired about.
As soon as I reached the shop entrance, I saw a piece of paper pasted on the wall, which read: divination, finding lost items, finding people, feng shui consultation, healing the sick, and examining ancestral graves.
His usually mild-mannered face instantly darkened.
I never imagined that Anzhi Hall would engage in such shady dealings. Their services of finding lost items, feng shui consultations, and divination for determining burial sites are all scams designed to rip people off.
Jin Shanyao was inside the room, heard footsteps outside the door. Thinking it was a customer, she lifted the curtain and came out, but there was no one there.
Just as she turned around in confusion, Xiao Huzi came running over, his little face beaming, and said in a clear voice, "Auntie, the usual... five Beating-Resistance Talisman Paper, one for each."
As she spoke, she stuck out her little belly and reached into the purse in her bosom.
Li Xiao, who hadn't gone far, looked over upon hearing this and saw a four- or five-year-old child enter the shop. A short while later, the child ran out with a stack of talismans in his hand.
That makes sense; they even lied to this little child.
Li Xiao's chest was filled with rage. He strode to the front of the Anzhi Hall, tore down the notice, and then turned and left.
Jin Shanyao heard footsteps, but upon closer inspection, the room was empty, not a soul in sight. "Huh... am I hallucinating in broad daylight?"
She rubbed her ear and turned around, her gaze suddenly freezing. Her eyes darted back and forth between the wall, the floor, and the sky. Where was the notice? Where was her notice?
Li Xiao stormed back to the government office. "My lord... look." He placed the notice on the desk, and Zhu Huaizhang's face immediately turned cold upon seeing the words "divination."
Where was it found?
"The posters on the wall of the Anzhi Hall... I personally saw a four or five-year-old child go in, and when he came out, he had a stack of talismans in his hand."
Zhu Huaizhang scoffed, " Su Wenqian is really something... to tolerate this kind of charlatan, posting notices to swindle people." He closed the file and asked, "Have you found out how Su Wenqian and Jin Shanyao met?"
Li Xiao choked, "My lord... I forgot in my haste."
"It's alright, just write it down... Spring planting is just around the corner. The most urgent task is to investigate the local prices of seeds and farm tools, to prevent any market manipulation or price gouging, and to ensure that farmers can plant their crops on time."
Seeing Zhu Huaizhang's exhausted face, Li Xiao felt a pang of pity. "My lord, you should rest more. If you collapse, who will stand up for these people..."
"The people can't afford to wait. Every day the seeds are planted late, the harvest will be reduced by a fraction. Every extra penny spent on farm tools will thin out their savings. As for that Anzhi Hall Zhitang, after spring planting... I'll have a good talk with her."
As the two were talking, a constable brought in the food. "Sir... it's time to eat."
Li Xiao tidied the table, took the food, and placed it on the counter. "I didn't expect the food in Qingzhou Prefecture to be so good. This meat smells delicious..."
The yamen runner outside scratched his head. Was the food any good? The kitchen maid had heard that the new prefect was making things difficult for Lord Su, so she specially changed the meals.
Previously, it was four dishes with white rice, but this time I only made two dishes and cornbread, and they actually said the food was good?!
The constables were momentarily unsure whether Li Xiao was praising or scolding them.
Zhu Huaizhang picked up a cornbread and ate it in big bites, then picked up a piece of pork belly and put it in his mouth. Only after swallowing the food did he speak, "Before I took office, my colleagues joked that I had gone to a good place and gotten a lucrative post."
At the time, I thought the other party was joking. I didn't expect that the beams and pillars inside and outside the government office were all freshly painted, the yamen runners' clothes were also new, and even the granary and medicine storehouse were full.
Especially the taxes; I never imagined that a single escort agency could collect hundreds of taels of tax. One can only imagine how much stuff Qingzhou Prefecture has to transport out of the country each year.
Li Xiao nodded, " Lord Su does possess some ability."
Zhu Huaizhang gave a faint "hmm," and said, "It's just... this person is too soft-hearted. After the handover is complete, I'll definitely teach these fortune tellers in Qingzhou Prefecture a lesson for swindling money."
From the moment Li Xiao followed Zhu Huaizhang, he knew that what Zhu Huaizhang hated most in his life were those sorcerers who pretended to be gods and ghosts.
This story begins when Zhu Huaizhang was a child.
Years ago, a wandering Daoist priest pointed at his mother and made up a story. "Eyes with three whites showing, the household will be in turmoil."
Based on these baseless accusations, Zhu Huaizhang's father issued a divorce letter, kicking him and his Zhu's Mother out of the house when they were only five years old.
With nowhere else to turn, the mother and son had no choice but to stay at their uncle's house. Zhu's Mother embroidered handkerchiefs day and night, her fingers blistered and bleeding, and her eyesight nearly ruined, just to barely scrape together enough money for his tuition.
He endured such hardship until he turned eighteen, and finally passed the imperial examination to become a scholar. Before he could even hold his head high in triumph, his heartless father came knocking on his door.
He mocked, saying that if he weren't a descendant of the Ding Household, he could have passed the imperial examination and become a scholar.
After saying this, he threw down one hundred taels of silver as compensation, saying that since he was a scholar, he could take his mother back to the mansion and make her a concubine, but on the condition that he change his surname from Zhu to Ding.
Zhu Huaizhang was so angry that he trembled all over and immediately kicked his father out.
His father, enraged and humiliated, filed a lawsuit against him.
The lawsuit caused quite a stir, and he almost lost his scholar's degree. In the end, it was his uncle who found the divorce agreement and the letter of severance of ties from that year, which saved his degree and allowed him to completely sever ties with the Ding Household.
Because of this past experience, Zhu Huaizhang harbored a deep-seated hatred for fortune telling and divination.
In the places he once governed, any fortune teller who appeared was either expelled or punished for bewitching people; none of them could ever establish themselves in his territory.
Who would have thought that in Qingzhou Prefecture, everything would be back to square one?
The fortune-telling notice was blatantly posted on the wall; this was clearly a stab in the heart for Lord Zhu!