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

Diwu Tanwei looked a little cold and replied simply, "Your Excellency, Diwu Na is my grandfather."

Yu Zhengqing was stunned, then turned around and asked, "Grandfather? Are you a direct descendant of the fifth family?"

The Fifth Tanwei nodded: "Yes, sir."

The two asked and answered each other, but it was obvious that the one asking the question was full of curiosity, while the one answering the question was indifferent.

A wave of gossip surged in Shen Zheng's heart. She walked between the two and asked curiously, "So what I felt before was right. The Fifth Chief Clerk's family is really a famous family in Shangjing?"

As soon as Yu Zhengqing opened his mouth, Diwu Tanwei replied, "My family is not a famous family, but we are a businessman and have some small businesses."

"Really?" Shen Zheng thought about Yu Zhengqing's reaction just now and was a little unconvinced.

She turned to look at Yu Zhengqing for confirmation, only to see that Yu Zhengqing opened and closed his mouth repeatedly as if he had eaten a fly.

"That's true." Diwu Tanwei leaned towards her, took out a jade pendant from his arms and handed it to Shen Zheng, "This is a token of my clan, with an emblem on it. In the future, you can take this token to any of the Diwu family's shops to use it."

"use......?"

Shen Zheng thought that this jade pendant was equivalent to her "membership card" from her previous life. By taking the "membership card" to the fifth store to shop, she could enjoy member discounts.

She smiled and shook her head to refuse, "Thank you for your kindness, Fifth Chief Registrar, but I have enough food and clothing, and I don't need to buy anything. You should take it back."

"Membership card" sounds like a good thing, but now she eats and lives in the court's facilities, so she really has no place to spend it.

After being rejected, Diwu Tanwei lowered his eyes. After a moment of silence, he lifted Shen Zheng's hand and placed the token in her hand.

She said, "It's not something important, please keep it."

"Ah..." Shen Zheng subconsciously wanted to return the jade pendant, "I really don't need this membership... uh, token, you should give it to someone who needs it."

Diwu Tanwei took a half step back and shook his head at her.

"You..." Shen Zheng scratched his head.

She has been lying around without using the gold, silver and jewels bestowed by the emperor. She is a very powerful person. Maybe Diwu Tanwei saw this in her and tried hard to sell her the "membership card".

——She is a potential customer, she understands everything.

"Okay..." Shen Zheng put the jade pendant in his arms, and after a moment of silence, he said, "But I can't guarantee that I will buy it. If there is a demand in the county in the future, I can give priority to your shop, which can be regarded as fulfilling our friendship as colleagues."

The Fifth Tanwei chuckled, with a light in his eyes that Shen Zheng couldn't understand, "In that case, I would like to thank Lord Shen for his kindness."

Shen Zheng waved her hand and said generously, "Okay, okay."

Yu Zhengqing watched the two people talking, thinking about the jade pendant that Shen Zheng had put in her arms. He was a little bit unbelievable and wanted to say something but stopped himself several times.

Whenever he wanted to speak, Diwu Tanwei would "inadvertently" look at him.

Hey--

Yu Zhengqing's temper flared up immediately, and he picked up on Diwu Tanwei's shortcomings: "I remember that you were not on the list of the last imperial examination. How did you come to my Liuyang Prefecture to serve as the local chief clerk?"

Sure enough, his words hit the mark. A trace of panic flashed across the Fifth Inspector's eyes, and he turned to look at him.

She pursed her lips and replied, "I was temporarily appointed by the Ministry of Personnel to serve in Yonglu County."

Yu Zhengqing chuckled and pressed on: "How could you be appointed by the Ministry of Personnel if you haven't participated in the imperial examination?"

"Subordinate..."

Diwu Tanwei glanced at Shen Zheng's reaction and didn't know how to answer for a moment.

"Oh..." Yu Zhengqing looked at Ba Lezhan and the others who were far behind them, and he had no worries at all. He spoke loudly: "There are only three of us here now. Tell me the truth. Did your position as the chief clerk be bought by your family?"

The fact that some minor local officials can be bought and sold is a "rule" passed down from the previous dynasty.

When the treasury of the previous dynasty was empty and the political situation was turbulent, the late emperor had to acquiesce in local wealthy businessmen to buy and sell minor officials in order to fill the treasury.

But there is one thing, the officials being bought and sold cannot be officials in the local power center, such as a county magistrate. Another thing is that the person who buys the official position cannot have real power after taking office. For example, if Diwu Tanwei's position as the chief clerk was really bought by her, she would not be allowed to interfere in any important decisions in the county, nor could she check the county's account books, let alone manage the accounts like Xu Zhubu.

To put it bluntly, what can be bought is just an official title, an empty shell.

"Ah?" Shen Zheng remembered this "system" and widened her eyes. She turned to ask Diwu Tanwei, "Did you really buy it?"

"No!" The Fifth Tanwei was visibly flustered. "Sir Shen, please listen to my explanation. The position of Yonglu County Chief Clerk was vacant suddenly, and the Ministry of Personnel spread the news among the major clans in Beijing, so I..."

Outflow and inflow?

Shen Zheng blinked. She hadn't heard this word for a long time.

——"To be outside the mainstream" means, in the words of her previous life, "to be included in the mainstream".

This method originally refers to the situation where local offices are in urgent need of staff and no available people can be found for the time being, in which case people who have not passed the imperial examination will be recommended to take up the post.

After being selected, those who arrive at the local area are considered local "temporary workers" or "contract workers", which means they are not assigned to formal official positions.

But this method has an advantage, that is, after the person has served for the required number of years, he can go to the Ministry of Personnel to participate in the selection. If he is qualified, he will be granted a formal official position, which is equivalent to becoming a "formal employee" of the court.

In this way, "entering the mainstream from the outside" actually opened a back door for those who wanted to enter the officialdom but had not passed the imperial examination. So now, this method can be regarded as half of "buying an official position", but it is buying an official with real power.

Although those who were "bought and sold" were generally minor local officials, this method was also a way sought after by many people who had no way to enter officialdom or who failed in the imperial examinations.

"That's it..."

Shen Zheng was in mixed feelings and didn't know what to say for a moment, while Yu Zhengqing was gloating over her misfortune.

He also knew that the Fifth Family still had this ability to become a mainstream person.

I'm afraid that this time, the "outsider entering the mainstream" was originally a "back door" opened for Diwu Tanwei alone. When the Ministry of Personnel released the news at the beginning, it was for her alone. As for the others? They were just running along.

However, the Ministry of Personnel will not shoot itself in the foot. The fact that Diwu Tanwei could get the Ministry of Personnel to open this backdoor for her shows that she has the ability to be appointed. Otherwise, any Tom, Dick and Harry could be admitted, and wouldn't the local area be in chaos?

Diwu Tanwei looked at Shen Zheng in silence, his palms wet.