Local Gifts

She had just taken office and was still holding the title of the top female scholar in the imperial examination. Many officials in the capital wanted to see her make a fool of herself. If she immediately used her power to squeeze out the magistrate who had been appointed earlier and prevent him from taking office, the public opinion would definitely be very negative.

No official is immune to personal gain; it's just a matter of degree. Officials who are completely incorruptible are extremely rare.

In her eyes, Cai Yaozong and Chen Kang's behavior was that of corrupt officials, but other officials saw it as normal.

Even if she uncovered evidence of their embezzlement and bribery in the accounts and presented it to the Emperor to have them dismissed, the court officials wouldn't say a good word about her. Xiao Ge might even blame her for meddling.

As the emperor, did Xiao Ge not know that his officials would skim profits? But if the water is too clear, there will be no fish. As long as they weren't extremely corrupt and didn't cause widespread resentment, he had to turn a blind eye.

Since Xiao Lingyan praised Liu Hongyu as an honest and capable official, he would never tolerate Cai Yaozong and Chen Kang's rampant corruption in salt and grain.

With everyone's tacit approval, she exposed the matter, bringing Cai Yaozong down. Other officials in the court will likely be in a state of fear. Wherever she serves in the future, she will be disliked, fearing that she will make the same mistake again and bring down her colleagues.

She wasn't virtuous enough to be a "righteous official" who opposed the entire court. She understood the principle that excessive rigidity leads to breakage. She cherished her own life.

Therefore, if Cai Yaozong and Chen Kang sincere, she will take a step back and see the bigger picture.

"No problem," Gan Lun said. "I just explained how to do accounting to you a while ago, so let's take this opportunity to review what we covered."

Zhao Ruxi exchanged a smile with him, "Thank you, Master."

The three old men, Kang Shilin, Xiao Ruotong, and Lady Zhu did not avoid suspicion and were receiving them in the main hall of the outer courtyard.

Zhao Ruxi ordered someone to take Cai Yaozong and Chen Kang to the side hall, then handed Kang Shilin and the others over to Lady Zhu for hospitality, and went to the side hall herself.

Upon arriving there, she first apologized, saying, "We have guests at home, and I'm sorry to have kept Lord Cai and Administrative Clerk Chen waiting. May I ask what brings you two here to see me?"

"When Mister Kumu and his entourage arrived, Mister Kumu Chen Kang and I were out on business and were unable to pay our respects. So, we brought some local specialties from Nanyang for Mister Kumu to try, as a small token of our appreciation," Cai Yaozong, pointing to the items Chen Kang had brought.

Chen Kang cursed inwardly.

He had his servants run home to fetch all these things on his way here. Cai Yaozong came empty-handed, and now he's actually taking his things for himself, using them as a favor—it's utterly shameless!

However, since the two hadn't completely fallen out and their statuses weren't equal, he couldn't directly refute Cai Yaozong. But he wasn't one to swallow a bitter pill, so he raised his face and smiled, "Yes."

He pointed to the two jars of wine and said, "This is a unique yellow wine from our area. It's fresh, sweet, fragrant, mellow, and refreshing—a truly rare and excellent wine. Lord Zhao, you must ensure that Mister Kumu and his companions try it."

He then pointed to a package weighing about twenty pounds and said, "This is our local specialty, Osmanthus-scented glutinous rice and small red glutinous rice. It's top-notch for making glutinous rice dishes and is excellent for brewing wine. Those two jars of yellow wine were brewed using this glutinous rice."

"These are river crabs unique to Nanyang. Although it's not the season when they're at their fattest, it's still good enough for Mister Kumu to have a taste."

He introduced each of the various traditional artifacts in detail.

Although these things were brought by servants, he specifically requested them. Chen Kang, with only a few words of literacy, was able to run such a large business in Nanyang, with connections in both the legitimate and underworld circles. He had unique abilities and ways of dealing with people.

The gifts he prepared were not worth much money, but they showed the thoughtfulness of the person who prepared them.

It was precisely because it was worthless that Zhao Ruxi found it difficult to refuse. Once she accepted the gift, his relationship with Zhao Ruxi softened from its previous tense state.

If this happens a few more times, and he helps Zhao Ruxi with official matters, their relationship will become increasingly close. Even if they can't cooperate, having this friendship means that if Zhao Ruxi really wants to settle scores with him later, she won't be so ruthless as to completely destroy him.

At the same time, because these things were small gifts prepared with care and were not valuable, it was impossible for him and Cai Yaozong to have prepared them together. After his explanation, any intelligent Zhao Ruxi would surely understand what had just happened.

Zhao Ruxi listened to Chen Kang's detailed introduction of these local artifacts, Cai Yaozong's face grew increasingly dark. How could she not know the shady dealings between the two?

However, her mind was no longer on the two men's thoughts or these things.

Judging from the distance between Nanyang and the capital and Gusu, she vaguely felt that Nanyang was somewhat similar to modern-day Danyang; and Linjiang, where Wu Zong served, geographically resembled modern-day Zhenjiang. However, the two times and spaces were different, and this was just her guess without any evidence. Now, after hearing Chen Kang list the local specialties, she became even more certain of her guess.

As an official in a region, no matter how long she serves, she always wants to achieve something significant.

While there weren't specific metrics like GDP growth rates in ancient times, the requirements for an official's performance were largely the same as in modern times. An official's competence was measured by the growth of the local economy and the amount of taxes paid to the imperial court, rather than by tricks like the "umbrella of ten thousand people."

But after wandering around the streets for a few days and visiting the fields and farms outside the city, she didn't find much of a solution and had no idea how to improve the local economy.

Now that Chen Kang has said this, and she's confirmed that this is Danyang, she has some ideas about how to develop Nanyang.

Whether this idea can be implemented remains to be seen, and she needs to conduct further investigation.

"This rice wine has been highly praised by Administrative Clerk Chen, so it must be really good. It just so happens that my master, Lord Gan, and Mister Zhou enjoy a few drinks with their meals, so I'll let them have a taste in a bit. If they like it, please let me know where they bought it, Administrative Clerk Chen, as I plan to buy some and send it to the capital as a gift," Zhao Ruxi said.

Upon hearing this, Chen Kang knew that Zhao Ruxi understood where the gifts came from. He breathed a sigh of relief and felt happy.

His biggest worry was that this noble lady was too proud and aloof, and that they wouldn't be able to find common ground. In that case, no matter how hard he tried, their relationship would probably never improve.

Unexpectedly, Zhao Ruxi was so down-to-earth that she readily accepted his favor and expressed her willingness to get to know him better.

This is an excellent start; he has successfully achieved his goal for coming today.