Transmigrated into a female county magistrate during a famine, leading her country to prosperity

Zhao Xiu stared at Hui Niang blankly, feeling his heart softened.

His Hui Niang was always like this, able to keenly perceive other people's emotions.

She is afraid that asking directly would be too abrupt, so she will always ask indirectly first. If she sees that you don’t want to say it, she will not ask any further questions.

Zhao Xiu stretched out his hands and held her in his arms, saying in a humming voice: "Hui Niang, I am blessed to have you."

Hui Niang's face was a little shy, and she patted him lightly, "I'm asking you a question, but you're being cunning! What you're saying is irrelevant."

Zhao Xiu looked down at the top of her head, sighed softly, and said, "Hui Niang, all the villages are preparing to contribute funds together to build a shrine for you."

Hui Niang raised her head and said, "A shrine for the deceased? That's a great thing. Your Excellency deserves it. We should also contribute some money! Hey, why are you sighing?"

She seemed to have thought of something, straightened up and asked, "Are you worried about this? Are you worried that I won't pay?"

"How could that be?" Zhao Xiu quickly shook his head, gently stroked Hui Niang's hair and said, "I know, if we need to pay, my lady, you will definitely support it."

"So today you..."

Hui Niang looked worried. If it wasn't about the money, then it was because the mission was not done properly...

Zhao Xiu patted her shoulder soothingly and told her the whole story vividly.

There were the adults' concerns about the village heads, the process of how he ran around Quanyang County to verify the information, and most importantly, the village heads talked a lot and fed him nonsense.

He also told Hui Niang with a bit of grievance that he felt like a little gray rabbit surrounded by wolves at that time. If his answer was not to their satisfaction, he would be eaten up.

But it was obvious that he, Zhao Xiu, was the official chief constable of the county government, and the other party was just the village head. In terms of position, he was higher than them.

"......If I say it, it's like I've become a sinner in the whole county. And you just said, building a shrine for you is a good thing. I have no reason to stop them, but......"

Upon hearing this, Hui Niang let go of Zhao Xiu's hand and stood up. She looked at the heavy rain outside and did not speak for a long time.

"You can't do that." Hui Niang said.

The rain was so loud that Zhao Xiu could hardly hear what she said, so he stood up and stood beside her.

The two stood side by side. Hui Niang turned her head and looked directly at Zhao Xiu, saying again: "My husband, you can't do this. You should tell Lord Shen about this."

Her voice was still so gentle, but her words were firm and strong.

"My husband, do you understand that you are first the right-hand man of Lord Shen, and then a citizen of Tongan County?"

Zhao Xiu was shocked and his mind became clearer.

Hui Niang continued, "Mrs. Shen trusts you, so she ordered you to do this job. How could you lie to her? If you don't stand by her side now, how can she dare to use you in the future?"

Her words went on and on, each one eloquent, leaving Zhao Xiu speechless.

"It is indeed a good thing to build a shrine for Lord Shen, but no matter what, it is not your turn to make the decision for Lord Shen. What you need to do is to gather information for Lord Shen and report it to her. As for whether the shrine can be built and when it can be built, it is not something you can decide."

"If everyone regards you as a target of public criticism because you are on official business, I don't mind. My husband, have you forgotten how happy you were when Lord Shen appointed you as the head of the police? From that day on, no matter what happens, you should always be on Lord Shen's side first. How can you work with them to deceive Lord Shen today?"

After she finished speaking, she looked at Zhao Xiu, as if asking him a question.

Zhao Xiu moved his mouth and whispered, "Hui Niang, I was thinking that this would be good for you..."

Before he finished speaking, he saw Hui Niang's brows darken, and she quickly tried to make excuses for herself:

"But I didn't mean to deceive you! I just... was confused by what they said, so I thought of going home first and asking you, my lady."

Although he was obviously a very strong man, he lowered his head like a child who had done something wrong.

Hui Niang's heart softened a little when she saw this. She took Zhao Xiu's hand. Perhaps the coldness from his body had not yet dissipated, or perhaps because he had just been scolded, Zhao Xiu's hand was still a little cold.

She covered Zhao Xiu's big hand with her own small hand and said softly, "My husband, if you are a subordinate of Lord Shen, you must be loyal to Lord Shen. Don't listen to the outside world, as it will affect your judgment."

Zhao Xiu was stunned, and the troubles in his mind suddenly disappeared.

Yes, he was so confused by someone's words today that he forgot his responsibilities. Fortunately, Hui Niang woke him up.

A sentence popped up in his mind: With a wife like this, what else could a husband ask for?

"Hui Niang, thank you." He shook Hui Niang's hand with a sincere look.

Hui Niang smiled and said, "It's hard for you to be so stupid and still have the nerve to marry me home."

......

The heavy rain did not stop until the evening. After Zhao Xiu had dinner at home, he rode Zhuifeng to the county government office.

"What? Build a shrine for me?!"

Shen Zheng was drafting an enrollment brochure for the county school. After hearing what Zhao Xiu said, the pen in his hand fell on the paper, leaving a large stain of ink.

Having lived two lives, she had only heard of this term but had never actually seen a living shrine.

Shen Zheng knew that this was a great honor for a person, and it was also a high recognition of the local officials by the people.

But she thinks that she is not worthy of having a shrine now.

And as far as she knew, there were only a few ancestral temples in the world today!

Some of them were left over from previous dynasties, but they have long been unpopular.

Some local gentry would build ancestral temples for officials to please them, but the results were never very good.

For an official with no political achievements, building a shrine is a joke and has become a reason for criticism from others!

The most important thing is that the initial cost of repairing a shrine should be considerable, and it will need to be maintained all the time in the later stages, with incense burning every day, which is another huge amount of money to be invested.

She felt sorry for the money they spent.

"What the hell is going on here? I thought they were planning to buy something or do some business. I'm worried they were being cheated, so why are they building a shrine for me?"

Zhao Xiu recalled what the village chiefs had said to deceive him today, and simply replied: "The village chiefs said that if you receive the incense and prayers of the people in the county, you will be able to ascend to heaven and become an immortal soon."

"..."

Shen Zheng's expression broke for a moment. In the past, people called her Shen Shenxian, and she thought it was just a joke. Who knew that people in Tong'an County never joked around...

She asked, "Who came up with the idea? Was it Zhou Lizheng?"

In the past, he was the one with the most clever ideas.

Zhao Xiu replied: "It should be the village chief Zhou. All the village chiefs are gathered at his house. They also asked their subordinates to promise not to tell you."

Shen Zheng looked at Zhao Xiu, nodded with satisfaction, and said, "They are the only ones who want to turn my people against me. They don't even see how close our relationship is."

Zhao Xiu didn't dare to look at her directly and broke out in a cold sweat.