Princess Promotion

In Wuzhen, Xiao Liang dragged his tired feet back to the rented house.

As soon as he reached the door, he heard sparse footsteps following closely. Xiao Liang was already used to it, so he pushed open the wooden door of the courtyard without even turning his head.

The axe drew an arc in the air, precisely splitting the firewood in two, with the flying wood chips colliding with the sweat in the air.

The setting sun shone on the man's broad shoulders and strong chest, outlining the contours of his muscles. Every time he swung the axe, it was full of power. The muscles in his arms were tense, as if they could burst out with amazing strength at any time.

Xiao Liang suddenly heard bursts of gasps behind him. With a dark face, he turned around and closed the door quickly, blocking out the gazes of the aunties, young wives and girls outside the house.

Li Yinhan continued chopping wood without even looking up and said, "Go cook when you get back."

At first, Li Yinhan was responsible for cooking, but he was not that good at it, so later Xiao Liang took over the cooking.

Originally, Li Yinhan wanted to pay someone to cook, or take the food to a restaurant for takeaway.

But after a few days of being beaten by reality, Xiao Liang deeply realized that money was really earned, so he and Li Yinhan gave him the food money and he was responsible for three meals a day.

Every bit of money that could be saved was better than nothing. Otherwise, if Xiao Liang relied on setting up a stall and writing letters, it would take him forever to save enough money.

He never knew that it would be so expensive for ordinary people to sue.

There is no charge for any step, but they ask for money everywhere.

There are nine steps in the process of filing a lawsuit among the people, namely: determining the litigation area, submitting the complaint, accepting the complaint, hearing, recording the questioning, investigating the case, drafting the judgment, signing the judgment, and reading the judgment.

The first step was to go to the county clerk to register with the identity document given by Li Yinhan, and then get the slip to submit the complaint.

But at this first step, Xiao Liang fell flat on his face.

The slip that should have been available on the same day was delayed for three days and I still couldn't get it. Every time I asked, he said I had to queue up and it hadn't been my turn yet.

Xiao Liang clearly saw that the registration clerk was dozing off due to idleness, and the people who came after him had received the slips, but he had not yet received one.

Li Yinhan couldn't bear it anymore and reminded him that he couldn't get the note because he didn't give the clerk any money.

Xiao Liang was so angry that he said on the spot that this was blatant corruption and bribery, and he would sue the clerk himself.

Li Yinhan gave a thumbs up and praised him, saying that he was very tough, but that required him to submit the complaint first, and it still had to go through the clerk.

In the end, Xiao Liang could only grit his teeth and endure it. The most important thing was to find a way to go back.

So Xiao Liang took the first step in his long journey. He bribed the clerk and got the note on the same day.

After getting the note, he could submit the complaint, and then he would wait for the officials in the yamen to accept the complaint and open the court for trial.

As long as Xiao Liang can open the court, he will have fulfilled the bet with the princess and can return to the imperial capital and go home.

Xiao Liang thought that at most he would have to bribe the official who handled the lawsuit as before, but reality poured cold water on him.

Ordinary people were illiterate and could only ask lawyers to help them write, but Xiao Liang was well-educated and could write it himself.

Just when Xiao Liang took the complaint he had written all night to the yamen, he didn't expect that the clerk took a look at it and said directly that it was not in compliance with the regulations and needed to be rewritten.

This moment was a blow to Xiao Liang like a bolt from the blue.

He and Xiao Liang enjoyed the reputation of being the most talented men in the imperial capital. His grandfather was a cabinet minister of the time, his uncle was a great scholar of the time and the leader of the literary world. Even his five-year-old nephew could write an article at will.

In this small county town, he couldn't even write a complaint!

After the blow, Xiao Liang thought about it. His reputation as the most talented scholar might be due to his grandfather's influence, but the years of hard study he had put in were real. Even if he was a complete idiot, he would not be able to write a bad complaint.

Xiao Liang guessed that there must be something fishy going on.

This time I learned my lesson and spent some money to inquire about it, only to find out that there are so many tricks to writing a complaint.

Although the government's complaint does not explicitly stipulate which lawyer should write it, the law also does not clearly stipulate how the complaint should be written.

Whether what is written is correct or not is up to the clerk who receives the complaint.

After Xiao Liang inquired around, he was completely stunned by the variety of charges.

If you want the lawsuit to be accepted as soon as possible, you have to find Lawyer Zhang, but there are different speeds, such as how much it costs within one month, how much it costs within half a month, and so on. The faster the speed, the higher the price. If you can afford it, submit it in the morning and it can be accepted in the afternoon.

If you want a higher payout based on the chance of winning, you can look for Attorney Chen, who charges based on the size of the case.

The most outrageous thing is that these two types of fees are separate. If you have enough money and want the lawsuit to be accepted as soon as possible and win the case, you have to find two lawyers, Zhang and Chen, to write the lawsuit together.

After hearing what Xiao Liang had inquired about, Li Yinhan asked curiously, "What if it's the same case and both parties seek Attorney Chen?"

Xiao Liang: "The highest bidder wins. If I take money from one party, I will return the money from the other party."

Li Yinhan: "This lawyer Chen is a kind man."

Xiao Liang said with a forced smile, "Yes! That's what the person I asked told me."

But the cost of hiring a lawyer was too high, and Xiao Liang couldn't find any lucrative work for the time being.

I originally wanted to sell calligraphy and paintings, but found that I couldn't sell them at all. There was only one calligraphy and painting shop in this small town, and it specialized in selling miscellaneous calligraphy and painting books.

What a useless scholar! There is no place for Xiao Liang to use his talents in this small town.

After going around in circles, I found that copying books for a small town bookstore was the most profitable job.

But Xiao Liang worked hard for several days and nights and finally earned his first money in his life. Looking at the one or two taels of silver, he felt that it was of great significance no matter how he looked at it.

But when Xiao Liang learned that Attorney Zhang would charge three taels of silver just to start writing, he felt for the first time in his life that three taels of silver was a huge sum of money.

In the past, when Xiao Liang went out to have dinner with friends or bought some pens, ink, paper, and inkstone, it was common for him to spend dozens or even hundreds of taels of silver.

Now, let alone three taels of silver, even the one tael of silver that he had saved with great difficulty would be painful for Xiao Liang to give out!

Li Yinhan looked at the three dishes and one soup on the table, and then looked at Xiao Liang, whose bowl had no meat.

After a long while, Li Yinhan picked up the few pieces of meat on the plate and put them into Xiao Liang's bowl: "You don't have to cut back on your own rations just to save money."

Xiao Liang: "I want to go back as soon as possible."

Li Yinhan: "I know life here is not as comfortable as in Kyoto..."

Xiao Liang: "I didn't want to go back because I couldn't endure the hardship. In the past, besides studying, I followed my grandfather and learned the ways of being an official."

Xiao Liang has always known that officials are full of flattery, and there are both honest officials and corrupt officials. His grandfather said that if the water is too clear, there will be no fish, and if the person is too strict, there will be no followers.

Xiao Liang also felt that everyone was greedy. As long as one could distinguish right from wrong in the face of major issues, he would turn a blind eye to minor corruption and mistakes.

In order to allow Duke Li to send troops as soon as possible, Dang Yao Chuguang offended all the officials.

There are obviously other more reliable methods that can also allow Duke Li to send troops to attack the barbarians, but it will only take a few days.

I still remember Yao Chuguang's response to Xiao Liang: "If we send troops a few days later, we will miss the best opportunity. If we want to win, we will have to sacrifice more lives."

What Xiao Liang said at the time: "Sacrifices are inevitable in war, but turning the court upside down for such a small number of people will only affect more people and lose more of the big picture."

When I was a child, I read a story in an ancient book. During the reign of Emperor Hui of Jin, there was a severe famine and the people had no food to eat. Upon learning about this, Emperor Hui asked in confusion, "Why don't the people eat meat porridge when they have no corn to fill their stomachs?"

At that time, the teacher taught him that Emperor Hui of Jin actually asked the people why they didn't eat meat porridge, which showed that he was ignorant of the suffering of the people. While making people laugh, it also warned him to be more considerate of others and avoid repeating the same mistake.

Many years later, he actually became the kind of person who would rather eat meat than porridge.

He was a wealthy man, so one or two taels of silver was nothing to him. He knew that the people working in the government would accept some silver.

But it’s not much so the superiors don’t care, because the subordinates also have to make a living, and who would be willing to work for you without any benefits.

But when Xiao Liang shed all his halos and actually earned money with his own hands, he truly understood the weight of one or two taels of silver.

I also understand the shaking of the first light!