Divorcing your wife might feel good for a moment, but seeing me make money will make you regret it f

The magistrate waved his hand and said, "What is it? Tell me. As long as it's not too unreasonable, I can grant your request."

Xu Qing recounted in detail what happened to her while setting up her stall that day, and then said:

"I didn't want to trouble the magistrate, but the people targeting me colluded with the yamen runners, and I really had no other choice."

We only beg the magistrate to do us a favor and spare the livelihood of us small business owners.

The magistrate was furious. After Zhou Chenggong returned to file a complaint last time, the yamen had already cleaned up a group of corrupt officials, but he didn't expect there to be some who had slipped through the net.

He wanted to see who dared to pull any tricks right under his nose.

"Rest assured, this is my duty and has nothing to do with rewards. The rewards that are due must be given in full, otherwise wouldn't that discourage those who share my burdens?"

The magistrate paced back and forth, pondered for a moment, and then said in a deep voice:

"Since you've set up a stall in town, how about I reward you with a permanent stall? I'll also give you 20 taels of silver."

Xu Qing was delighted, as this would save him another 20 coins in stall fees, which would add up to a considerable sum in the long run.

"Thank you, Your Excellency. As for Doctor Qian..."

The magistrate realized what was happening and said, "I will also award Doctor Qian 20 taels of silver, and I will personally write a plaque to present to him."

I've been so busy lately that my memory has plummeted. I'll have the kitchen make something to boost my brainpower tonight.

"Master, go to the accounting office and get 40 taels of silver. Also, take two people with you and Madam Xu to divide up the stalls."

Xu Qing sincerely bowed and said, "Thank you, Magistrate. I won't disturb you any longer. Farewell."

The clerk led Xu Qing and two constables toward the street.

Once they reached their seats, the clerk gave them a look, and the two constables understood immediately. They gave the pancake vendor 20 coins and said, "Let's move to another seat. This seat will be taken from now on."

The pancake vendor didn't take the money, but smiled and said, "Officer, there's a first-come, first-served rule here too. I've already set up my stall and paid the stall fee as required. How can you kick me out?"

The constables, however, were much less friendly to others, arrogantly saying, "This is an order from above. We're just following the rules. Move it, or we'll move it for you."

The pancake vendor's face darkened, and he shouted for the constable who collected stall fees to come over so he could ask him a question.

The clerk looked impatient. What was wrong? He couldn't even handle such a small matter. There were so many things to do at the yamen. He was busy going back to report to the magistrate.

"Stop talking nonsense, give him the stall fee, and just take him away."

Upon receiving the order, the constables each carried one side of the pancake stall and headed elsewhere.

"Wait a minute, who are you? You dare to cause trouble here? Are you tired of living?"

The constable collecting stall fees came up from behind and slapped the pancake stall with one hand: "Put it down."

The clerk scrutinized the shouting constable: "Whose men are you? Don't you recognize me?"

The yamen runner collecting the stall fees acted arrogantly, raising his head high: "Sir, this is the magistrate's wife's order. We dare not disobey. We hope you can understand our subordinates."

Xu Qing was genuinely surprised this time. She had never even met the magistrate's wife before, so how could she have offended her?

Upon hearing this, the clerk hesitated for a moment. He knew he couldn't afford to offend the magistrate's wife, but he also had to carry out the magistrate's orders.

He gave a signal, and a constable quietly ran towards the yamen (government office).

The clerk softened his voice: "We're all working for our superiors, so let's be understanding of each other."

The yamen runner collecting the stall fees became even more smug when he saw the clerk lower his stance. So what if the clerk was of a higher rank than him? He had the magistrate's wife backing him up; who would dare to raise their voice at him?

"You should be more understanding of me. The magistrate's wife has a bad temper. My clerk, don't meddle in this. Go back and get busy."

Xu Qing wondered to herself, "Could it be that the magistrate is afraid of his wife? Is my reward going to go down the drain...?"

However, after thinking about it for so long, she still couldn't figure out what she had done to offend the magistrate's wife.

The advisor really wanted to knock the head off this arrogant man in front of him. When had he ever suffered such humiliation? However, he could only hold back for the time being and wait for the people who had returned to come.

The two sides were locked in a stalemate on the roadside. People around, seeing that there were yamen runners there, all went around them, which also affected the stall owners in the surrounding area.

But the stall owners didn't dare to urge people away, so they could only wait patiently with long faces.

Fortunately, the messenger arrived quickly and whispered something in the advisor's ear.

The advisor smiled and pressed his right hand down.

"Take it."

The two constables immediately grabbed the constable who was collecting stall fees and held him by the back of his hand.

The situation reversed, and the constable collecting stall fees roared angrily, "You scoundrel, who gave you the audacity to treat me like this? You just wait, I'll tell the magistrate's wife, and you'll be in big trouble!"

The clerk patted the face of the bailiff collecting stall fees, then grabbed a rag from the pancake stall and stuffed it into his mouth.

"Stop barking, you magistrate's wife, huh? I'm under the magistrate's authority, so who's higher up? Take him away."

Seeing this, the pancake vendor dared not stay any longer, took the stall fee, and left on his own.

After making room, Xu Qing moved his things over and stuffed a handful of copper coins into the advisor's hand: "Thank you for your hard work, advisor. Please have some tea with the brothers."

The advisor accepted it. If it were just him, he definitely wouldn't have accepted it, but he couldn't let his men make a wasted trip.

There are no benefits; in the long run, who would want to work for him?

After the advisor left, Xu Qinghe, the one-armed beggar, and Xu Zhenzhen started setting up a stall.

The surrounding stall owners, whose business had been disrupted, could not vent their anger on the officials, so they took it out on Xu Qing.

"Looking at his age, and with children this old, he's still not behaving himself, colluding with officials and oppressing us ordinary people. He's shameless."

"Who says otherwise? I just wish I were a woman. If I were a woman, I could also experience the thrill of bullying others with my power."

Xu Qing was speechless. Was she that old? The original owner of this body was only 25 years old, which is the golden age in modern times!

She originally wanted to get along peacefully with the surrounding stall owners.

Since everyone says she's abusing her power, she'd be letting them down if she didn't solidify that reputation.

Xu Qing looked at the gossiping group and said coldly, "If you keep talking nonsense, I'll have the police come and arrest you all. I'm not afraid of making another trip."

Silence fell immediately around them as the stall owners went about their business.

Xu Qing expressed his satisfaction.

The one-armed beggar quickly got the hang of it, with Xu Zhenzhen assisting him as she helped collect the money.

Of the 300 roujiamo (Chinese hamburger) I brought, 20 remained unsold.

After closing up shop and preparing to go home, Xu Qing asked the one-armed beggar to take the remaining roujiamo (Chinese hamburger) and share it with the children under his care.

To save the trouble of bringing it back, the family has had enough... Even Wangcai nodded and walked away when he saw the roujiamo (Chinese hamburger).

The one-armed beggar did as instructed.

Xu Qing then went to the job market for a look around.

Now that we have the blueprints, all we need to do is recruit enough workers to start construction.

When I arrived at the job market, there were even more people looking for work, and I even saw some people kneeling on the roadside selling their children.

Xu Qing looked around; most of the people were very thin and frail. But Xu Qing really didn't want to wait any longer, so she cleared her throat and called out:

“My family needs people to dig the foundation. Is anyone willing to go? It’s 30 coins a day, including lunch. We need 20 people.”

Xu Qing originally intended to find a carpenter, stonemason, and bricklayer all at once, but then he remembered that Lao Shi was a professional house repairman and he should know him, so he only asked the workers digging the foundation.