The county office wasn’t far from town. With a brisk pace, one could reach it in about half an hour.
Fan Changyu was fortunate to encounter an acquaintance also heading to the county seat. She hitched a ride on their ox cart, arriving at the county office just as the clerks were beginning their shifts.
She mentioned Constable Wang’s name to the guard at the entrance and was promptly escorted to the duty room at the back of the yamen.
“…When patrolling the streets, round up all vagrants and beggars and bring them to the prison. The New Year is just days away, so keep your eyes peeled!”
Inside, Constable Wang seemed to be giving instructions. Fan Changyu waited quietly outside, not wanting to interrupt.
After Constable Wang finished his briefing, he noticed Fan Changyu waiting outside. With a wave of his hand, the constables dispersed, taking their official daggers as they headed out in small groups, apparently to patrol the streets.
Fan Changyu then entered, saying, “Uncle Wang, you seem quite busy today. I hope I’m not disturbing you.”
The cold outside was biting, but the room was comfortably warm with a charcoal brazier burning. A mist quickly formed on her eyelashes.
Constable Wang poured her a cup of ginger tea to ward off the chill and said, “It’s not particularly busy. It’s like this every year around this time. But this year, the mountain bandits have been especially brazen, causing many casualties. The authorities are scrutinizing outsiders more strictly. Those without household registrations or travel permits are all being thrown into prison. These past couple of days, we’ve also been rounding up vagrants and beggars.”
Upon hearing this, Fan Changyu thought of Yan Zheng, who currently had no household registration, and unconsciously tightened her grip on her frost-reddened hands.
Noticing her apparent unease, Constable Wang asked, “Have you come today about transferring the deed to your family’s property?”
Fan Changyu nodded.
Constable Wang said, “I forgot to mention earlier, Fan Da has already submitted his petition. The property can’t be transferred until the lawsuit is settled. But don’t worry, since you’ve already taken in a husband, even if it goes to court, the magistrate will surely award you your parents’ property. It’ll just be a bit more troublesome.”
Fan Changyu hadn’t anticipated such a complicated process.
Remembering the basin of water she had thrown over the courtyard wall the night before, she asked, “What if my uncle doesn’t show up on the day of the court hearing?”
Constable Wang glanced at her and replied, “Then the petition would be nullified. Moreover, such an action would be seen as disregarding the law and disrupting the court. He’d be given twenty lashes as a warning to others!”
Fan Changyu instantly regretted not emptying the entire vat of cold water over the wall the night before.
Constable Wang asked, “Why do you ask?”
Fan Changyu coughed lightly, “Just curious.”
She cradled the steaming teacup, her fingertips unconsciously tracing its surface. “There’s another matter I need your help with, Uncle Wang.”
Constable Wang said, “Go ahead and tell me.”
Fan Changyu then explained Xie Zheng’s background, “My husband’s money and household registration documents were all taken by mountain bandits. Now that he’s married into my family, I’d like to help him obtain a new household registration.”
Constable Wang’s smile faded. After a moment, he said, “Given the current situation, getting a new household registration isn’t an easy task.”
But when Fan Changyu and Fan Da face each other in court, and she mentions taking in a husband, the county magistrate will surely ask about her husband’s origins. Without a household registration to prove his identity, her husband might end up in prison.
In that case, she might lose both her property and her husband could face hardship.
Constable Wang paced back and forth in the duty room a couple of times before finally stamping his foot and saying to Fan Changyu, “Come with me.”
The official in charge of Qingping County’s household registrations was a good friend of Constable Wang. It was through this connection that he managed to help Fan Changyu obtain a new household registration for her husband.
Fan Changyu expressed her profound gratitude to Constable Wang, but he only said, “Just don’t mention this to anyone else. Otherwise, I’ll be in trouble too. Your father once saved my life, so consider this as repaying the debt I owed him…”
Fan Changyu quickly promised, “You’ve done me such a great favor. I’m beyond grateful. How could I possibly be so careless as to speak of this to others?”
Remembering his old friend, Constable Wang became nostalgic: “Your father was a strange man. With his skills, he could have easily worked in the yamen, but he insisted on becoming a butcher.”
Fan Changyu explained, “My father used to work as a caravan guard in his earlier years, which always worried my mother. After he retired, he chose a stable occupation to put her mind at ease.”
This was what she had heard from her parents before.
Constable Wang, knowing his old friend’s personality, sighed and said no more.
After bidding farewell to Constable Wang, Fan Changyu went to her younger sister’s favorite candy shop and bought a package of maltose candy.
She had originally planned to sell a few acres of rural land to raise money for New Year goods and to buy pigs and piglets after transferring the property deed.
But plans don’t always work out. Unable to transfer the property for now, all she had left was the gift money from neighbors who had attended the wedding yesterday, which amounted to less than one tael.
Fan Changyu couldn’t afford the tonics she had intended to buy for Yan Zheng, but she didn’t want to return empty-handed. Seeing a street vendor selling hair ties and headbands, she spent a few coins to buy him a navy blue headband.
Except for their wedding day, he had rarely tied up his hair.
Fan Changyu guessed it was because he didn’t have a headband. The red one from the wedding wasn’t suitable for everyday use, so she thought it best to buy him one.
As Fan Changyu was paying, a ragged man came running frantically toward them, knocking over several stalls in his panic. Several yamen runners chased after him, shouting, “Stop!”
The man didn’t dare stop and continued running for his life, with the yamen runners in hot pursuit.
Fan Changyu initially thought the man had committed some crime, but someone nearby clicked their tongue and said, “They say a new official sweep clean. That new governor who just took over Huizhou is indeed living up to his Wei family name. Under the guise of suppressing bandits, he’s not sending troops to deal with the mountain bandits and outlaws. Instead, he’s targeting the refugees from the north. These poor souls who’ve fled their homes are innocent…”
So the yamen runners were chasing refugees. Fan Changyu recalled Constable Wang’s words and felt uneasy.
She glanced at the person who had spoken. He and his companions were all wearing identical long robes, which Fan Changyu had seen Song Yan wear before. It was the uniform of the county school, indicating that these men were all students there.
One of his companions scoffed coldly, “The Wei father and son have absolute power. With imperial authority in decline, the entire Great Yin Dynasty is as rotten as decayed wood! Now that military power in Huizhou has fallen into the hands of the Wei father and son, I say we might as well change the dynasty’s name to Wei!”
Although Fan Changyu had never left Qingping County in her life, she knew who the Wei father and son they were referring to were.
The current Prime Minister Wei Yan had supported the young emperor to the throne sixteen years ago after Crown Prince Chengde died in battle at Jinzhou and the old emperor passed away from grief. He had controlled the government for over a decade, and now the common people of Great Yin knew only of the Prime Minister, not the Emperor.
His son, Wei Xuan, compared himself to the Crown Prince and had the blood of countless loyal officials and capable generals on his hands. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say he was utterly evil.
Common people, busy with their daily lives, only heard the news deliberately released by the government. These students preparing for the imperial examinations and analyzing current affairs knew much more about the inner workings of the court.
Fan Changyu couldn’t help but prick up her ears to listen.
The student who had spoken earlier said, “Without the Marquis of Wu’an guarding the great northwestern frontier, who knows how long this land can remain peaceful? Even if Wei Yan has such ambitions, I doubt he dares to sit on the dragon throne!”
The name of Xie Zheng, the Marquis of Wu’an, was well-known throughout the current dynasty, though opinions about him were divided.
His birth father was the Great General Xie Linshan, who had accompanied Crown Prince Chengde on the Jinzhou campaign and died standing, pierced by countless arrows while holding the military banner.
His uncle was Wei Yan, who had wielded immense power in court for over a decade.
Such a background was already highly controversial, and the fact that he was raised by his uncle led court officials to view him as part of the Wei faction.
Xie Zheng’s methods were indeed ruthless, much like his uncle’s.
His famous battle to recapture Jinzhou at the age of seventeen still chilled people to the bone. It was said that after taking Jinzhou, he massacred the city, sparing not even infants. The armor of his 800-personal cavalry was said to have been dyed red with blood, earning them the name “Blood-Robed Cavalry” ever since.
The Northern Xue people trembled at the mere mention of his name. He had even reclaimed the twelve commanderies of Liaodong, which had been occupied by Northern Xue since the previous dynasty.
Based on his illustrious military achievements, he was granted the title of Marquis of Wu’an at the young age of twenty.
Throughout history, he was the only one to receive this title, which implied pacifying the world through military might.
It was because Wei Yan had such a sharp and unstoppable blade in his hand that he could occupy the position of Prime Minister, overshadow imperial power, and control the government to this day.
Court officials criticized Xie Zheng for being part of the Wei faction while simultaneously relying on him to guard the borders.
Some even declared that as long as he guarded the frontier, the world would be at peace; but if he set his sights on the court, chaos would ensue.
Now, hearing the student say “Without the Marquis of Wu’an guarding the great northwestern frontier,” Fan Changyu felt puzzled. Someone beat her to the question: “What happened to the Marquis of Wu’an?”
The student replied, “You don’t know yet? After the battle of Chongzhou, the Marquis of Wu’an’s fate is unknown. However, his military authority in Huizhou has already been taken over by Wei Xuan. It seems he has perished.”
This news caused a commotion among those present, with many questioning the student’s claims.
People generally despised the Marquis of Wu’an as Wei Yan’s tool and feared his disregard for human life, but they couldn’t deny that he was a pillar of the Great Yin Dynasty in the northwest.
With this pillar fallen, it was unclear who in the Great Yin court could hold up the sky in the northwest.
Bombarded with questions from all sides, the student retorted, “If you think what I’m saying is false, go find out for yourselves! See if the northwest hasn’t just changed governors!”
Fan Changyu’s mind was filled with concerns about national affairs as she made her way home.
Jizhou bordered Chongzhou, and if the war spread to Jizhou, she didn’t know where she and her younger sister could flee.
Remembering that Yan Zheng had fled from Chongzhou, Fan Changyu thought she could ask him when she got back. He might know something about the Marquis of Wu’an’s situation on the Chongzhou battlefield.
How could a mere rebellion in Chongzhou have felled the war god of Great Yin?
As she turned the corner near her alley, she encountered a woman who lived in the neighborhood. She greeted her warmly, “Aunt Tao, are you going to buy vegetables?”
The woman nodded but seemed hesitant, her expression somewhat strange.