The Daily Life of a Rich Peasant's Boy in the Imperial Examination

Over there, Sister Yun finally arrived in Changsha Prefecture and was finally able to rest and experience the place that Sun Shan had been to.

Here, Sun Shan is making arrangements for the Dragon Boat Festival.

County Magistrate Wang asked again, "Sir, are there no dragon boat races this year?"

We just arrived last year and it was understandable that we didn’t have time to organize it, but why is it still not being held this year?

After waiting for so long for the Dragon Boat Festival, people were able to have fun and experience the ancient and solemn festival. However, Sun Shan flatly refused to hold the festival. County Magistrate Wang was not willing to accept this.

Last night, his second brother asked him to whisper in Lord Sun's ear, so that Lord Sun would hold a grand boat race, so that they could sell things and make money.

Sun Shan still shook his head: "No!"

He spoke so decisively that County Magistrate Wang was almost having a heart attack from anger.

He continued to ask, "Sir, why? Yuanlu County has a tradition of holding dragon boat races. We were able to get by without them last year, but if we don't hold them this year, the people will be dissatisfied."

Although Yuanlu County is located deep in the mountains, there are many small rivers, so rice can be grown there.

Sun Shan read the document as he spoke, "We didn't even have a Lantern Festival during the Lantern Festival, and yet a wanted criminal appeared. If we hold a dragon boat race this year, won't there be a criminal even more dangerous than the wanted criminal? County Magistrate Wang, while there's a reward for bringing the criminal to justice, the associated danger is simply too great. How can our tiny Yuanlu County afford it?"

County Magistrate Wang rolled his eyes secretly. What kind of logic is this?

It's totally irrelevant.

There are not so many prisoners in the world. If it were human beings, there would have been chaos long ago.

County Magistrate Wang disagreed and said, "Sir, that was just a coincidence. In Yuanlu County, we have no people and no money, so it's not easy for us to attract thieves. Sir, please don't worry about it."

County Magistrate Wang felt very bitter. For the sake of his own business, he had to waste so much time lobbying Lord Sun.

My second brother said that when the government holds an event, the people will come out to participate. Once they come out to participate, they will need to eat, drink, defecate, urinate and sleep, right?

Even if the adults could hold back, the little girls couldn't help themselves, not to mention the women who loved beauty and noise.

If Lord Sun doesn't do anything, how can the Wang family do business?

In particular, the Wang family occupies an important position in all walks of life in Yuanlu County. As long as the people spend money, some copper coins will always flow into the pockets of the Wang family.

Sun Shan said calmly, "County Magistrate Wang, I can do it if you want, but there's one condition."

County Magistrate Wang immediately pressed the issue, "Sir, what are the conditions?"

Oh, it’s a good thing to put forward conditions, it proves that there is an opportunity.

Sun Shan spoke frankly, "If any problems arise during the dragon boat race, County Magistrate Wang will be held responsible."

After he finished speaking, he put down the official document in his hand, handed a pen to County Magistrate Wang, and said calmly: "County Magistrate Wang, words are not enough. Please write a letter of commitment, promising that if anything goes wrong with the activities organized by the government during the Dragon Boat Festival, you will be fully responsible. I will definitely let you do it."

County Magistrate Wang was dumbfounded and stared at the pen blankly.

When I took a closer look, oh, it turned out to be a Hu brush, the same model he used.

County Magistrate Wang shook his head violently to stop his wild thoughts.

His eyes shifted away from the brush, and he felt depressed.

Writing a letter of commitment? Only a fool would write one!

What if someone dies or something goes wrong during the journey? Will you still keep your official position?

County Magistrate Wang had finally secured his position as the second-in-command of the county government with his status as a scholar. How could he lose his job because of an insignificant dragon boat race? It would not be worth it no matter how you look at it.

Good job, Sun Shan, you are so cunning!

He is the head of a county, but he lets a subordinate like him be responsible. It is really irresponsible of him.

Sun Shan knew that County Magistrate Wang would not be able to write a letter of commitment, and he himself would not be able to write one either.

He put away his pen and said helplessly, "County Magistrate Wang, we in Yuanlu have already been provoked by thieves twice. What if we are provoked again during the Dragon Boat Festival? Well, I also want to hold a competition to make the people happy, but I have limited manpower and financial resources. How can I take care of so many things?"

Then he continued, "County Magistrate Wang, you know this. From tomorrow until the end of the Dragon Boat Festival, this government office will only have enough personnel to patrol, so how can we spare any manpower to maintain order for the dragon boat race?"

County Magistrate Wang glanced at Sun Shan secretly and felt that being a county magistrate was quite hard.

Lord Sun did indeed ask Inspector Liang and Clerk Xia to concentrate their manpower and intensify inspections before and during the festival to prevent accidents.

I have also looked at the schedule myself, and the number of staff is indeed just enough to maintain order.

If we hold an event, there is indeed no extra manpower.

Sun Shan continued, "County Magistrate Wang, a large crowd isn't always a good thing. You know the nature of our Yuanlu people better than I do. They love bustles on weekdays, and they love festivals even more. When people gather together, they tend to quarrel.

That's still okay, but what if a fight breaks out? A fight is fine, but what if someone dies? As the magistrate, I definitely have a responsibility, and you, as the county magistrate, have a responsibility as well. I don't want to be criticized, and County Magistrate Wang, you don't want to be scolded by the Chenzhou government either, do you?

Although what Lord Sun said made sense, County Magistrate Wang vaguely felt that it was wrong.

Because they are afraid of something happening, they have not held any activities. Doesn't that mean that as long as Sun Shan is around, Yuanlu County will never be lively?

Thinking of this, County Magistrate Wang asked, "Sir, it can't be that there's nothing going on, right? It's a holiday, and the people want to relax and have some fun. Sir, why aren't other counties afraid, but only Yuanlu County is?"

Sun Shan shook his head and said, "Who said it's never going to happen? It's just temporarily not happening."

County Magistrate Wang continued to ask, "When will it be done? When will it end?"

Sun Shan spread his hands and said helplessly, "When the government's treasury is full of gold, it will naturally be done. With money, the government can hire more people to maintain order, and then there will be no need to worry about problems. Other counties have money in their pockets, so of course they are happy. But our pockets in Yuanlu County are cleaner than a face. County Magistrate Wang, how can you expect me to be happy?"

Money, money again. Mr. Sun talks about money everywhere and complains about being poor everywhere.

County Magistrate Wang also couldn't understand why Yuanlu County became penniless after Lord Sun came to serve as an official.

The previous and previous county magistrates were never as poor as Lord Sun.

If the account books were not clearly placed, County Magistrate Wang would have highly suspected Sun Shan of corruption.

But the fact is that there is no greed at all.

He quietly asked Mr. Wang to come and look at the account book to see if Mr. Sun had cooked the accounts in some corner he didn't know about.

The final result was naturally that County Magistrate Wang was overthinking it. The government office really had no money, and the money was used in a reasonable way, and was not embezzled by Sun Shan.

County Magistrate Wang and Mr. Wang thought about it and found that the money of the yamen was either used to repair roads, or to repair roofs after heavy snow, or taken away by the county school, or used to pay overtime pay to the yamen employees. In short, not a penny went into Sun Shan's pocket.

County Magistrate Wang and Master Wang were both very depressed: Sun Shan was like a black loach, so slippery that it was impossible to find any handle on him.