Chapter 200: The County Commandant Requests a Meeting

"Laugh! Go on, keep laughing!"

Dongmen Bao was gnawing on a boiled pig shoulder, glaring at everyone with eyes as big as ox bells. Some were clutching their stomachs, slumped over the table, shoulders faintly twitching; others had turned away, leaning on the pillars and snickering in secret. Ji Ying was the worst of all — he was doubled over howling with laughter, tears streaming down his face.

"And A-Bao even named his son 'Wei' — hahaha, I'm dying of laughter here!"

"Actually..."

Heifu coughed once, but after another look at the murderous expression on Dongmen Bao's face, he swallowed the words in his throat.

The prejudice of valuing sons over daughters was a sickness that still hadn't been cured by the twenty-first century. An ancient man with little education could hardly be expected to accept it easily — persuasion on this matter was utterly useless.

And in another ten-odd years, a period of "valuing daughters over sons" would indeed arrive.

"Bear a son and do not raise him; bear a daughter and feed her dried meat. Do you not see, beneath the Long Wall, the dead men's bones piled up as props!"

What helplessness and despair must have been felt to sing such a ballad. If Heifu could change it, he hoped that era would never come.

So Heifu shook his head and turned to his younger brother, who was still struggling to hold back his laughter, and said: "Now that I've been promoted to Official Grandee, the land I'm due comes to seven hundred mu. It should be granted before spring begins. If eldest brother learns of this, he'll be worrying again, won't he?"

The two brothers had spent no small amount of time last year snickering over the famous line Zhong had blurted out because Heifu's rank was rising too fast.

Zhong had said at the time: Second Brother, slow down with the rank promotions — we can't finish planting all this land!

His two younger brothers would probably tease him about that line for the rest of his life.

Jing said cheerfully: "More than that — now eldest brother has to worry not only about the family fields, but also about the spring plowing for the whole li. Second Brother probably doesn't know yet, but eldest brother was recommended by the township's Assistant Land Officer and appointed as the Land Registrar of Zhaoyang Li! He's an official now too!"

"Oh?"

Heifu understood at once: "It seems the composting and fertilizer-soaking methods that eldest brother and the Assistant Land Officer were testing in the township have shown results?"

"Naturally."

Jing laughed: "Second Brother didn't see it — at the eighth-month harvest, those two hundred mu of test fields in Yunmeng Township yielded forty to fifty percent more millet than the ordinary fields beside them! The Assistant Land Officer was overjoyed and immediately reported the matter to the county. The county Land Bailiff came to inspect in person and was also delighted, then sent someone to report the matter up to the commandery..."

"By the start of the tenth month, an order came down from the commandery, raising eldest brother's rank to Upper Maker!"

"Only one rank?"

Heifu was somewhat disappointed. Nan Commandery was being too stingy — for such a major agricultural discovery, and one that didn't cross the threshold of Grandee, at least two or even three ranks would have been reasonable. Or perhaps the land officials in Nan Commandery still had doubts and planned to test-plant for another year before reporting to Xianyang? Then Xianyang would make up the reward later? Indeed, yields per mu often depended on the heavens' mood and involved a great deal of chance — a little caution wasn't wrong.

Even so, their family's land now reached a thousand mu, and their estate had quietly grown tenfold.

And looking at everyone present, who among them hadn't returned from two campaigns with their worth multiplied?

Dongmen Bao said that after he got home, relatives who had ignored his family for the past ten years — ever since his father died — suddenly came flocking to fuss over him the moment they learned he had become a No Further Service. They fought to hold his twin baby daughters and cozy up to him. A few old women with wrinkled skin even pulled him aside and secretly passed on surefire recipes for how to conceive a boy.

Things like: pry up the roof tiles, dig out the weeds inside, boil them into a soup and drink it. Or: only lie with your wife on wu days, and practice restraint at all other times...

Restraint my ass! The next wu day isn't until the end of the month!

Dongmen Bao also said that it wasn't that he was taking the birth of daughters so hard — he'd run off because he couldn't stand these people's squawking. Much as their behavior infuriated him, he couldn't exactly deal with them the way he dealt with enemies on the battlefield, swinging a sword at them...

"These relatives are harder to handle than enemy troops on the battlefield," he grumbled.

It wasn't just Dongmen Bao. For everyone present, after each returned home, their ranks, their clothing, their coin and silk — all of it was enough to cause a stir in their villages, drawing crowds of relatives and neighbors to gawk, and bringing each their own annoyances. Annoyances aside, Heifu had at least not failed to deliver on the promise he'd made to everyone when they left Anlu: "Earn merit, seek wealth and honor."

But there was one promise he had yet to fulfill. After resting for a few days, Heifu planned to find a chance to go to Jingling County. He still had Huaimu's words to deliver. Because everyone had yielded some of their merit, Huaimu had been promoted straight to Grandee. His younger cousin had just been freed from bondservant status and could now inherit that rank — what a lucky man...

Speaking of which, Heifu suddenly remembered something and quickly asked Jing: "Wait — what about the sugarcane I planted the year before last? How is it growing?"

Heifu habitually called zhe by the name "sugarcane," as everyone knew. The year before last, he had stumbled upon some wild ones by Yunmeng Marsh and brought them home to plant along the edges of the fields. Originally, by the tenth month, the sugarcane would have been sweet and ready to harvest, but the Left Commandant had retaliated against him, assigning him to lead a dozen garrison conscripts and convict laborers north for corvée service.

That was how Heifu had missed the first harvest. He remembered instructing Zhong before he left to plant them for another year, and he wondered how things stood now.

"Eldest Brother had people cut them before the snow fell and put the cut cane stalks in a newly dug storage pit. With the weather this cold, they should keep until spring."

What Jing could never figure out was why Second Brother was so interested in those not-very-tasty zhe stalks.

Heifu finally breathed a sigh of relief. Stored in a pit, they should still stay fresh. He told Jing mysteriously that he had a great use for that sugarcane, but he couldn't tell anyone yet.

Jing had long since grown used to Heifu's feigned mystery, so he smiled and asked no more.

In any case, no matter what, Second Brother always brought surprises to the family. That was the trust a younger brother placed in his elder brother.

The group ate at this food shop until nightfall. Dongmen Bao and a few others who lived in the county town took their leave first and went home, while Heifu and the rest would be staying at the post station.

Jing also told Heifu that tomorrow, when Heifu and the others went to the official temple to submit their zhi — their service certificates — he would request leave and hire a cart back to Yunmeng Township. Their mother and Zhong had been craning their necks in anticipation all day, and they must be told the good news as soon as possible...

"That works well." Heifu thought for a moment and said, "Tomorrow I also need to stop by and visit Anpu. He's looked after you quite a bit over the past year, and there's also Lord Xi..."

Heifu's rank was now higher than Xi's, but he still addressed him respectfully as "Lord Xi." Although the two had once had disagreements and shared no personal friendship, the iron-faced and impartial Xi, who always insisted on handling cases according to the law, remained one of the people Heifu respected most in this era.

He had always felt that Qin's ability to unify all under heaven was not only because Qin had strict and clear laws and ordinances, not only because of its perfect terrain, and not only because of several generations of wise rulers and the grand vision of Qin Shi Huang...

It was even more because Qin had hundreds of thousands of soldiers like Huaimu, and hundreds upon hundreds of local Qin officials like Xi.

"Second Brother needn't go." Jing shook his head. "Neither of those two is still in Anlu. Anpu was transferred to Jingling County half a month ago to serve as a Commandant Clerk."

He lowered his voice: "According to the clerks from the academy, it was because he didn't get along with the Left Commandant and was deliberately transferred away."

"And Lord Xi? Where did he go?"

"Lord Xi was transferred away in the third month of last year. Because he ranked first in his performance evaluations for three years running, he caught the eye of the commandery's Supervising Censor and was transferred to the commandery seat at Jiangling City. He should be serving as a law clerk there too..."

"How unfortunate."

Heifu nodded. At the same time, a question flickered through his mind: historically, after Xi became the law official of Anlu, had he ever been transferred away?

"Could it be that because of me, Lord Xi cracked two more major cases, and that's why he was promoted?"

The next morning, Heifu led his men to the County Commandant's office in the official temple district. Though the sun had only just risen, the place was already bustling. After all, Qin and Chu were still in armed standoff, and Anlu, as a border county, had to gather all reports on banditry and military matters from every township and li here — so it was never quiet all year round.

Since clerks from outlying townships often arrived early in the morning on business, a waiting building called a shu had been built outside the office gates for them to rest or change clothes. When Heifu and his group arrived, several people were already queuing inside the shu. A man who looked like a li head had just been called in, and behind him, a ting chief was straightening his clothes and adjusting his appearance, preparing to pay his respects to the superior officer.

"It's all A-Bao's fault," Ji Ying complained. "He got up late, and that's why we're late."

Dongmen Bao let out a cold snort from his nose, too disdainful to answer. It was Bu Cheng, who doubled as physician and shaman, who chuckled and said that Dongmen Bao's eyes were bloodshot and his spirit was low — he must have overexerted himself last night. He had some herbal recipes for strengthening the kidneys and wondered if Dongmen Bao wanted to try them.

The low bickering among the group immediately drew the displeasure of the Upper Maker ting chief straightening his clothes up ahead. He turned around, ready to scold them — but the moment he took in their attire, he couldn't help sucking in a sharp breath...

Four Upper Makers with right-side topknots and red headbands, two Plumed Niao with grey headbands, two No Further Service wearing low trapezoidal caps...

And to say nothing of the man they were clustered around in the middle — he was actually wearing a double-board cap with a sword at his waist, an Official Grandee. This formation... was far from ordinary!

Heifu and the others saw this little Upper Maker whip around with an unfriendly look on his face and were sizing him up in turn. Li Xian immediately called out his name.

"Li Guo?"

Li Guo rubbed his eyes and looked — who else could be calling him but Li Xian of the same clan? They hadn't seen each other for over a year; Li Xian had grown a long beard and was almost unrecognizable.

"Li Xian, you… when did you get back?" Li Guo stared at the grey headband on Li Xian's head, secretly startled.

Back in the day, Li Xian had been the laughingstock of the Li clan in Yunshui Village. As a cadet-branch descendant with no title to inherit and a family in poverty, he'd had no choice but to become a pavilion soldier just to feed his children. At the time, none of the clansmen thought much of it.

Sure enough, a year passed. The Hu Yang Pavilion chief, Heifu, had repeatedly earned merit, but once those merits were divided up, there wasn't enough for Li Xian to rise to First-Rank Gentleman. At the clan's sacrificial rites, Li Guo mocked him again. Li Xian's face went pale then flushed, and he slammed the table and stormed off.

That was the last time Li Guo saw Li Xian. A few days later, Li Xian was implicated by Heifu and assigned to serve in the north. For over a year after that, there was no word at all — only a First-Rank Gentleman title was sent back, and then silence again. Everyone assumed he was dead. At home, his widow and two children wept day after day. The clan head was already discussing whether to provide relief. At clan gatherings, Li Guo never missed a chance to make snide remarks, saying Li Xian had chosen the wrong path.

"If he'd just come work as a pavilion soldier under me back then, how much better that would have been — he wouldn't have died out there!"

The smugger he'd been then, the more stunned he was now, seeing Li Xian again.

"Cousin, I've just returned from service and run into you here — what a coincidence." Li Xian sneered inwardly, but his face showed nothing out of the ordinary.

Ji Ying was a sharp-tongued man. He saw at a glance that these two clan brothers had some bad blood, and noticing that Li Guo was only a Second-Rank Gentleman, his eyes darted. Just like yesterday, he began singing Li Xian's praises, pulling out his achievements and recounting them.

"If Li Zanniao hadn't devised the strategy and led us to defeat the rebels back then, Commandant Li would have been in real danger!"

The more Li Guo listened, the worse his expression grew. In the past, he'd mocked Li Xian before the clansmen as mediocre and incompetent. Now, hearing of Li Xian's various exploits, he was secretly alarmed. Seeing that Li Xian's rank had already surpassed his own, the comparison made him the mediocre one instead.

Heifu stood to the side watching this scene unfold, making no move to stop Ji Ying's barrage of sarcastic jabs. Every family had its own difficult story, and in an instant, he understood the desperate eagerness Li Xian had shown in Waihuang to take heads and earn a title.

Still, it seemed that once Li Xian returned home, the Li clan head — unless he was a fool — would have to reassess this cadet-branch son returning home in glory, wouldn't he?

At that moment, after the gate soldier reported their arrival, a Clerk Commandant hurried out and called loudly toward the gate: "Where is Grand Master Heifu? The County Right Commandant and Left Commandant request your presence!"

He used "request your presence," not "summon you," and wore a smile on his face — already exceedingly courteous. But…

Grand Master Heifu? That form of address was simply too awkward and unpleasant to the ear! The stern-faced young soldier standing guard by the gate nearly burst out laughing.

Heifu struggled to hide his embarrassment, acknowledged the call, and led his group forward, skirting past the minor Pavilion Chief Li Guo, who should have been summoned first. But inwardly, he thought to himself:

"Perhaps it's time I gave myself a proper name?"

PS: Sorry to my math teacher again — the reward money Heifu received yesterday should total one hundred and forty taels of gold, equivalent to eighty or ninety thousand cash. ￣^￣゜

(End of chapter)