The government was sending out wives, and I ended up with a princess from the previous dynasty!

Si hour.

The heavy snowfall has finally come to an end.

At the entrance of the yamen in Yilan County, several yamen runners were shoveling snow with shovels and picks.

Among the eight counties of Yanzhou, Yilan County is the closest to Yanzhou City, has the largest population flow, and the most developed economy, but its county government is the poorest.

To put it nicely, it means that wealth is being distributed among the people; to put it bluntly, it means that the national treasury is empty, and even the county government office doesn't have the money to be repaired.

Why? Because it was all used for fighting the war.

So now this county government office looks as dilapidated as a landlord's house that has been neglected for more than ten years, with weeds even growing on the walls!

Every time the people of Yilan County pass through this area, they feel that the county magistrate is incompetent and corrupt.

That was indeed extremely incompetent and foolish.

However, the people may say that this county magistrate is incompetent, but they cannot say that he is a corrupt official who preys on the people.

Just look at the signboard of this county government office; it's made to look like a doghouse. At night, beggars would huddle in front of the county government office to keep warm, and stray cats and dogs would jump around everywhere.

If the other party were even a little greedy, things wouldn't have come to this!

The people who evoke the most sympathy from the residents of Yilan County are not the women forced into marriage, nor the men conscripted into the army for failing to pay the poll tax, but rather the county magistrate, his yamen runners, and a few constables.

It is said that sometimes even the county government office couldn't afford to eat.

It's so pitiful. If an official were even slightly ruthless, even if he only skimped on the head tax, it wouldn't have come to this!

But this magistrate was just that upright and incorruptible.

It was precisely because of this that, although the imperial court knew that this county magistrate was incompetent and weak, it did not punish him harshly or send him home to grow sweet potatoes; it simply let him drift along aimlessly.

The county magistrate's surname was Bao, and his given name was Longxing. His name was very impressive, and he was indeed very impressive back then, because he had once been a third-ranked scholar in the imperial examination!

To be able to rank third among so many candidates in the Great Jing Dynasty is enough to demonstrate this person's ability.

Unfortunately, this third-ranking scholar offended powerful officials and was not able to stay in the capital. He was exiled to Yilan County in Yanzhou.

Even in the history of the Great Jing Dynasty, this is unprecedented.

When Bao Longxing came here, it truly drew crowds of people who flocked to see this outstanding scholar.

Who would have thought that twenty years would pass in the blink of an eye, and this guy, not only mediocre in ability, had also turned the county government office where he lived into a doghouse.

With the heavy snow falling for days, Bao Longxing simply stopped opening the door and went straight to sleep inside the county government office.

As for the daily affairs within the yamen, they were all handled by his advisor, Bao Youwei.

This Bao Youwei is Bao Longxing's nephew. Although he is called Bao Longxing's nephew, he is older than Bao Longxing because of their generational relationship.

Anyway, for a role like the advisor, Bao Longxing has the final say no matter who he hires.

He didn't want the good stuff to go to outsiders, so he found his eldest nephew to suffer with him.

The two of them are just going through the motions these days.

Bao Youwei was flipping through a pile of official documents in front of him, his eyelids drooping.

It's possible that the fire in the brazier next to him was burning too brightly, depleting the oxygen and making him feel sleepy.

at this time!

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

A sudden drumbeat at the door startled Bao Youwei.

He looked up and said to the constable standing at the door, "Go and see what happened."

As soon as Bao Youwei finished speaking, the yamen runners who had been shoveling snow outside rushed in: "Sir, there's a young man outside beating a drum, saying that someone wants to kill him today."

Bao Youwei frowned: "What do you mean, 'take his life'? Explain yourself clearly, who wants his life?"

"That man said that a female demon left a blood letter in his house, saying that she was going to kill him today."

After the constable finished speaking, seeing that Bao Youwei still looked confused, he simply stepped forward and placed a strip of cloth in front of Bao Youwei: "Sir, look, this is it."

Bao Youwei looked closely and realized it really was a letter written in blood: You treacherous dog! You have betrayed our trust! Today I will surely kill you with my sword!

"What is this? What does it mean?" Bao Youwei turned to look at the yamen runner.

The young man looked bewildered: "Master, this is the blood oath. The female demon said that the boy betrayed his promise and wants to kill him."

"Do you think I'm illiterate?" Bao Youwei sneered. "What do you mean by showing me this thing?"

"This... when someone comes to report a crime, shouldn't the clerk cut them open?"

"Disembowel? You actually want me to disembowel?" Bao Youwei's face darkened. "You're planning to disembowel me based on a blood letter of dubious origin? Use your brain! If I wrote a blood letter in chicken blood saying I wanted to kill you, would you also want me to disembowel you? How can an adult like us disembowel something so simple?"

"That's why you're a yamen runner, while I can be a clerk!"

"Uh..." The constable was dumbfounded and asked weakly, "Sir, what should we do?"

Bao Youwei casually tossed the strip of cloth aside: "Go tell him to get lost! Trying to beat the drum with just a strip of cloth? That's absurd! Let him get killed before he comes back!"

The young clerk knew that the clerk was angry, so he immediately walked out. He was determined to get revenge on that kid for the humiliation he had suffered!

However, when he reached the door, the boy was nowhere to be seen.

"The clerk is wise! That kid really was here to cause trouble!" the constable muttered to himself.

At this moment, inside the county government office, Bao Youwei put his hands into his sleeves, looking disdainful: "Yilan County is known for its fierce people and strong sense of chivalry. For a seven-foot-tall man to be frightened by a strip of cloth and come to the government office is simply absurd and a waste!"

As he spoke, Bao Longxing came out from the back room, still sleepy-eyed, stretched, and casually asked, "Master, I heard someone beating a drum just now, what is it?"

"Uncle Thirteen, it's nothing. It's just a lowly yamen runner who doesn't know any better. A female bandit wrote a few words to scare him, and he's already beating the drum. Isn't that ridiculous?" Bao Youwei hurriedly stood up and said.

"What?" Bao Longxing was clearly confused.

Bao Youwei hurriedly got up, walked to the main hall, and picked up the blood-written letter he had just thrown away: "Uncle Thirteen, look."

Bao Long casually took it, glanced at it, and then sneered: "These troublemakers again! They need the government to get involved in these江湖 (jianghu) feuds? What kind of jianghu are they! Useless!"

As he was speaking, he tried to throw the blood-written letter in his hand into the brazier.

But at that moment, Bao Longxing had a sudden thought, and his outstretched hand suddenly stopped in mid-air!

"Uncle Thirteen, why aren't you burning it?"

"Master, is that gentleman who recently came to our Yilan County looking for a female demon? Do you think it's this female thief who wrote the blood letter?"

Upon hearing this, Bao Youwei's eyes lit up immediately: "That's quite possible! Let's send this blood letter over right away. If that official is pleased, he might even help us renovate the county government office!"