Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“Huaiyu is back… Changsheng, your daddy is back.”
Wei Jingixan rose up, Feng Jin took the opportunity to carry Changsheng who leaned towards him.
This child is very sharp, her memory is also good. The last time Feng Jin returned home was five days ago, and the child liked to be close to him.
“I went to survey the apartment the lord gave to us,” Feng Jin remarked. “It is very decent.”
“Your wife heard the old maiden mentioned that plot of land is even laid with bricks on the main road.”
The people in the era, have they seen these bricks before?
Initially when they started rebuilding the main roads, some even stole the bricks in the middle of the night. This triggered Jiang Pengji to anger.
Later they arrested some and punished severely. Then it stopped.
“Our apartment is also similar; it looks clean and the servants and maidens will have an easy time cleaning it.”
Feng Jin played with Changsheng, this girl held his fingers and wanted to put them into her mouth.
A pity she’s still small and her teeth hasn’t grown yet. She bit for half a day, but it isn’t painful, Feng Jin just felt his fingers grew ticklish.
“Tomorrow I’ll get some servants to go to the new apartment to clean up, to tidy up the inner courtyard first. It is too much for you and Changsheng to continue living here.”
Feng Jin sighted, pulled out his finger from his daughter’s mouth. This made Changsheng grow angry as she sounded her displeasure towards him.
Tsk, at such a young age, her temper is so bad, she wanted to scratch him over a conflict.
“The wife follows her husband’s lead,” Wei Jingixan said with an enlarged heart. “What grievances can there be.”
The house they currently lived in was smaller than the courtyard they stayed in after marriage by many folds. However, she never once felt aggrieved.
The Xiangyang district was undergoing major changes, it looked different every day. Wei Jingxian witnessed its transformation and felt proud to share in the glory.
Her husband’s efforts are invested in the development of this place. Of course, she’s proud of him.
At the initial phases of the rebuilding, it was messy everywhere and there was no order. Since then, one month has passed and everyone is now accustomed to these changes.
Those broad roads have been prioritized for construction and are beginning to take shape.
As the district magistrate, Jiang Pengji implemented many official new rules.
But these official rules are mostly amusing to the average citizens.
Official rule number one: keep left when walking on the streets.
Official rule number two: no spitting of phlegm all over, moreover, one is not to urinate and relieve themselves just anywhere.
Official rule number three: regardless of gender or season of the year, one is not allowed to expose their upper arm on the streets and disgrace their dignity.
…
Besides these trivial mundane affairs, there are some serious offences.
Without official approval, it was illegal to engage in businesses involving the selling and buying of humans. Once this crime is committed, if the offence is serious, he will be demoted to the most insignificant status and his possessions will be confiscated.
Regardless of man or woman, if a person commits adultery while married, they will be punished severely.
A total of 10 rules were passed initially which increased daily. The people were terrified at the start, but as time passed, they became apathetic to it.
Nevertheless, her rule is not despotic, this magistrate is just and supersedes the previous one.
Nonetheless, one of the official rules ignited unhappiness in many elders: Family members and elders cannot determine the life and death of those younger, this will be deemed as murder and punished accordingly.
This rule provoked the elders in the feudal family and caused Jiang Pengji to be secretly slammed by many as being a busybody.
However, it is purely coincidental that this rule was implemented.
——
Approximately 12 days before, when Xiangyang district was still in disarray, Jiang Pengji slept for only an hour for seven to eight consecutive days. She was exhausted till she went into auto-pilot mode. She patrolled outside the city and rescued a seemingly crazy young woman who was hugging her pillow and about to jump into the water.
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She decisively jumped into the water to save the person. After she questioned the reason, she burnt with anger till she became clear-headed.
This woman married into her husband’s family for three years, she gave birth to three daughters consecutively.
Strangely, her three daughters did not reach their first month and passed away.
At the start, she blamed herself for being ill-fated and unable to save her children. Later she unwittingly discovered her children were secretly killed by her mother-in-law for a ridiculous reason. Only because she didn’t want granddaughters who were destined to be financial burdens. She words sounded so righteous, but could she bear to kill them if they were her grandson?
Unfortunately, this woman’s womb had unlucky fengshui and could not deliver a son.
The lady was furious, so she sued her mother in law. But the previous district magistrate didn’t judge her mother-in law, and instead he accused the lady of being unfilial and gave her a beating.
Since then the lady’s mental state is in a complete mess, she became mad. Whenever she sees someone, she tells them her mother-in-law killed her three granddaughters.
About ten months before, her husband got the neighbouring widow pregnant. After which, she delivered a baby boy.
Her mother-in-law encouraged her son to divorce the lady and forced her to give up the title of being the legal wife or else she will be demoted to be the concubine.
The livestream audiences heard this, the response was heated, they desperately wished they could climb over and hit the old lady to death.
If this old woman is so powerful, why doesn’t she ascend to heaven!
Jiang Pengji was about to explode internally, so she added two rules when she returned.
Firstly, if a relative killed someone from their bloodline, it is considered as murder.
The lady hasn’t divorced that man, she is still the man’s legal wife. The district headquarters has their case records and will classify this as murder.
Regardless of how much debate there’ll be, she will directly have this mother and son arrested, judged and punished accordingly.
Interestingly, this matter provoked the rotten Confucius scholars’ condemnation in speech and writing. Jiang Pengji coldly smirked and asked them to get out of her territory.
If they shamelessly refused to leave?
That was fine. When the houses were ready, they would refuse rental to them even if they must die.
During the harvest season, the district headquarters would refuse to rent them the buffalo and agricultural machinery to leave their entire household to consume air!
Thus, those rotten Confucius scholars who prepared to rebut kept silent.
The rebuilding efforts in Xiangyang district is underway and changes abounded. The people felt the air became clear, the roads grew broad and organised, the houses looked like they originated from a styled mould and are captivatingly beautiful. Despite not having a right to move into the luxurious area around the district headquarters, nonetheless, they can rent the new houses with their registered household petition. Every household eagerly anticipated, even those residents with houses watched on with envy.
It’s difficult to hide one’s curiosity, the new houses they built made their old ones look worse than soil.
The front house is laid with clean bricks while their house is full of mud. Whenever it rains, the disparity is huge.
Though their houses did not collapse during the earthquake, how can it possibly be nicer than the new houses?
Look, their new apartments are neatly laid with bricks both inside and outside.
At such a bustling and forward-looking environment, only two areas are busy to the point they wanted to vomit blood.
One is Qiguan Rang who headed the registration department and the other is handsome Li who spearheads the agriculture developments.
One month had passed, his original skin was the colour of wheat but it’s now two shades darker. He looks tougher and less like a pretty boy. He has more of the sturdiness and mannerism of a mature man. Of course, his peasant uncle vibes increased.
Jiang Pengji predicted he would give up halfway, but she never imagined he would be helplessly addicted to farming. Moreover, Liyun is also fascinated by Jiang Pengji’s improved farming machinery, he has the motivation to change careers, forget about fighting wars and become a farmer instead.
Moreover, this naive child even forgot when he changed to calling Jiang Pengji “lord”.
Anyway, incredulously Jiang Pengji became his lord.
Carrying an axe and walking into the city barefooted, Liyun was about to head to the tea shack to ask for a cup of tea when something floated before his eyes.
“Coach Meng.” Liyun smiled and revealed his entire set of white teeth, they even glowed under the sun, “What is this?”
Meng Hun said, “This house is given to you by the lord.”
That day at the meeting, houses were awarded. Liyun was outside the city taking a group of young people to prepare the land for agriculture and analysing the fertiliser.
Liyun was stunned. “A house?” he asked innocently.
Meng Hun was caught off guard and kept silent also, though not as innocent as Liyun. He observed that his lord bullies Liyun.
From his perspective, to have a valiant warrior who uses his spear to do farming, he’d rather they mine for coal.