The First Volume of Qinghe County

  "The news spreads quickly, doesn't it?" Ximen Qing smiled calmly: "Let Yueniang know that I've asked Xue'er to take over Zhuo Dian'er's shift. Don't forget the daily supplies..."

  "What!" Wu Yue's eyebrows jumped: "That little cheap thing, how dare she, just accompanied you to sleep for one night, and you want to make her a concubine? Is there such a reason in the world?"

  "There are fifty-eight maids in the house, and if each one sleeps with you for a night, wouldn't that mean having fifty-eight concubines!"

  "Considering you have a woman outside, can this household accommodate it?"

  Dissatisfied, Wu Yue's wife fired off a string of questions, still with an unsatisfied expression, panting heavily and asking: "What's so good about that Xue'er? What do you see in her? She's not even as good as Dongmei by my side!"

  Wu Yue-niang finished speaking, pointing to Dongmei standing beside her. Ximen Qing felt a wave of nausea slowly spreading from his stomach and quickly turned around to take two deep breaths of fresh air.

  Plum blossoms in winter? I think it's a winter melon! And that fatty actually blushed, is there any justice in the world?!

  Ximen Qing thought to himself with a heavy heart: "Heaven is unfair to me!"

  "Yue Niang, you're ill and your mind is unclear, go back and rest." Ximen Qing turned his back to Wu Yue Niang and Dong Mei, master and servant, and looked at the mandarin ducks swimming in the pond in front of him: "Dong Mei, help your mistress back to her room, I'll find a doctor to come and take a look at your mistress's illness later."

  "I'm not sick, you're the one who's sick!" Wu Yue's anger was at its peak, she stomped her feet and scolded loudly, completely disregarding her image as a mistress. Dongmei also stood by, looking at the two quarreling people in horror, unsure of what to do, and had lost the arrogance she had when bullying Xue'er yesterday.

  Ximen Qing finished speaking and completely ignored Wu Yue's shouting, walking towards the front hall by himself. Wu Yue was not willing to let him go, directly blocking his path: "The matter hasn't been made clear, you can't leave!"

  Ximen Qing stopped and coldly laughed twice: "Suit yourself, I'm going to eat! Later I still have to go into the shop!"

  "You'd better stay idle and sort out the accounts at home, I'll review them when I come back this afternoon."

  This sentence has touched Wu Yue's weakness, and she is suddenly confused, standing still on the spot, and can't even stop Ximen Qing; while Ximen Qing shakes his sleeves, bypasses Wu Yue, and the disgust on his face cannot be hidden.

  Wu Yue's body went limp, fortunately Dongmei supported her from the side.

  It's time to get rid of it, brother is no longer the original Ximen Qing!

  Breakfast was still very sumptuous, with several dim sum dishes that really delighted Ximen Qing, especially without having to worry about various additives and whatnot, as everything used in this era was made from natural ingredients. Hmm, except for paying attention to the amount of intake, because the amount of lard used was indeed not small.

  He ate several pastries, drank two bowls of fragrant rice porridge, and after taking a handkerchief from the maid to wipe his mouth, he also had some tea before getting up and heading outside.

  "Old master, where are you going?" a young servant asked respectfully beside him.

  "Go inside the shop and take a look." Ximen Qing thought for a moment, still went to the Shengyao shop and told Fu Zhuanggui a few words. Bai Taoyi didn't know if he would come back today, since he had already invited Bai Taoyi to work in his own place, with a Taoyi sitting in the hall, the business of the Shengyao shop would also get better, right?

  "Old master, I'll prepare the horse right away."

  "No need. The road is not too far, let's just walk there." Ximen Qing thought he needed to take a walk and digest it. Qinghe County was a small place, and the Shengyao shop was on Beidajie Street, and it would only take a short while to get there.

  Two people, one in front and one behind, had not yet reached the gate when they heard a loud noise of people outside the door, as if the market was being held at the entrance.

  "What? Who's making a racket outside the door?" Ximen Qing felt slightly startled.

  Before Ximen Qing had a chance to instruct her, Xiaoyanzi hurriedly stepped forward two steps: "Master, I'll go take a look at the gate."

  Ximen Qing stopped in his tracks, nodded, and Little Qian flew off like a bird. Before long, she returned in a flash: "Master, there are two women at the gate who don't know what they're doing, blocking the way to our house. They've put up a flag, but I don't know what they want to do. A crowd of people has gathered to watch the commotion."

  Uh, brother, this county head hasn't even taken office yet, and the petitioners have already blocked the entrance? Brother is just the director of Qinghe County Public Security Bureau, not the government's petition office.

  "Get the steward to find a few people and drive them all away!" Ximen Dajun, who was completely unaware of what was happening, felt annoyed and repeatedly told Xiaotianqing to go find the steward.

  Xiao Tianqing responded with a crisp "yes" and was about to lift her leg when Ximen Qing suddenly thought, "Wait! The situation is unclear, let's take a look first! Get the ladder!"

  "Good!" Xiaotianqing busily fetched a ladder, held it firmly in place, and Ximen Qing climbed up the ladder in two or three strides, looked out over the wall.

  The head of the county public security bureau even climbed onto his own roof to watch the commotion, which is enough to make people laugh and cry.

  Wow, what a grand scale!

  Ximen Qing's first thought upon seeing the outside was whether his own home had been besieged, and then he took a closer look, wondering why the two figures, one old and one young, looked so familiar.

  Wait a minute, isn't the old one Wang Po and the young one Pan Jinlian?!

  Wang Po carried a flag, while Pan Jinlian sat on a chair, looking elegant and refined, with a glib tongue, proclaiming something to the crowd of onlookers around her, in a manner that made their own front door seem like Speakers' Corner in Hyde Park.

  Ximen Qing's face turned black with anger, and he looked again at the flag. It seemed that Wang Po had hung up the banner of her own tea house, with a red background and several faded large characters: "Wang Po Tea House, the best in Qinghe."

  What the hell is going on? Ximen Qing was fine at home, but Pan Jinlian came over and blocked the gate, refusing to leave. And Wang Po moved her teahouse here?

  Before long, the flag was blown by the wind, and this revealed its reverse side, on which were several elegant black characters. The ink seemed not to have dried completely, causing the text to be somewhat distorted, but still not greatly affecting legibility.

  Ximen Qing took a look and almost rolled down from the ladder.

  "Ximen the great official, Jinlian pays her respects!"

  Pan Jinlian, your brother is already far away from you, what's the point of being so stubborn and unforgiving!!! Don't be too excessive!!!

  Ximen Qing slipped down from the ladder, and not only was Xia Tianqing waiting below, but even the steward rushed over: "Master, this is too much, I'll go find a dozen or so people to chase them away."

  The housekeeper not only spoke generously, but also rolled up his sleeves, looking like he was ready for a big fight.

  Ximen Qing shook his head painfully and squeezed out three words from between his teeth: "Go through the back door."

  What? Is this still the notorious tyrant of Qinghe County, the West Gate Officer who can shake the whole city by stomping his feet on the city gate tower?

  Is this still the same Xi Men Da Guan Ren who was drenched by the horse's hooves and almost got the entire inn demolished?

  The butler rummaged through his ears to make sure he hadn't misheard: "Master, you said go out the back door?"

  Old sir, aren't you the notorious Ximen Dajun? A weak woman blocks the front door and you want to go out the back door. Is this still our respected old sir?

  Looking at the steward and Xiaotianying's disbelieving expressions, Ximen Qing sighed to himself: "You don't understand my suffering!"

  "Saddle up! The back gate!" Ximen Qing said with a resolute and affirmative tone.

  "Get down! You shameless cheap woman, get down for me!" Wu Dalang finally managed to squeeze out of the crowd with great difficulty and saw this scene, shouting frantically while pulling his neck.

  Wang Po and Pan Jinlian set up a stall, launched a propaganda campaign. Not long after, Yuan Ge saw that it wasn't going well, so he quickly grabbed his basket and came to the crossroads of Wuda Lane to find Wu Dalang.

  Wu Dalang was doing business when he heard this and became so angry that he didn't even bother to collect the money, nor did he want the pancake pole anymore. His two short legs moved quickly as he rushed over.

  Pan Jinlian didn't look or care, and continued to speak to the crowd: "I, Wu Dalang's wife, came to Ximen's house today with a sincere heart, just to apologize to Master Ximen! What do you all think? Should I or shouldn't I?"

  Pan Jinlian and Wang Po had actually arrived here early, but no matter how long they waited, Ximen Qing didn't come out. After discussing it, they decided to go back and move the chairs over, and conveniently hung Wang Po's fan on a bamboo pole as a flag. Pan Jinlian personally wrote nine large characters on the back of the fan.

  Sure, here is the translation:

  As expected, this trick was effective. Before long, the crowd coming and going stopped to watch the commotion, surrounding them in a dense circle, three layers deep inside and out. Only then did Pan Jinlian climb onto a chair and begin her speech.

  "It should be! It's absolutely right!" The onlookers had different reactions, some nodded in agreement while others jeered and catcalled.

  Many people deliberately squeezed in close to Pan Jinlian, not just to watch the excitement, but also to get a closer look at Pan Jinlian. After all, Pan Jinlian's beauty was exceptional, and even if it were a national beauty pageant, she would still be able to make it into the top three.

  So these people have been envious of Pan Jinlian's beauty for a long time, not just men, but also women who look at Pan Jinlian with jealous psychology. More exaggerated than men is that women are discussing and gossiping with each other while looking.

  "How can Pan Jinlian be so beautiful? Even if the Weaving Maiden descended to earth, she would only be at this level. Look at her figure..." a young wife whispered to her companion.

  "As the saying goes: Fresh flowers are placed on cow dung, a rascal is matched with a good wife. Don't envy Pan Jinlian, look at this master in front of you." Her companion happened to see Wu Dalang squeeze in and said disdainfully, "This is Wu Dalang who buys pancakes, do you know him? Three inches of Dinggu tree bark, would you like to try it?"

  "Heavens are fair... if such goods touch my bed at night..." The little woman's mouth opened wide in surprise, and suddenly she felt a weight lifted off her mind, her thoughts cleared up: "People compare to people, it's suffocating; goods compare to goods, the goods should be thrown away. Our family's husband is after all much better than Wu Dalang, I can rest assured now."

  "Hehe, if I were Pan Jinlian, I would also go after Ximen Qing, that's what normal people do." The young wife's companion said with a smile in a teasing tone.

  "You must have taken a fancy to Ximen Qing!" The young wife retorted with a straight face.