A Farm Girl: Three Acres of Fertile Land Can Be Exchanged for a Country

Magistrate Zheng was from Qiuzhou, and his family had been scholars and officials for generations. After passing the imperial examination, he served as a censor in Pingzhou for several years before being transferred here, where he has served for one or two decades.

He wasn't particularly capable at his job, so he never got promoted. But he was honest and reliable in his dealings with people, so he never suffered any major setbacks.

Yesterday, upon learning that the King of Dongqi was likely to arrive, I was so shocked that I couldn't sleep all night. At daybreak, I woke up with dark circles under my eyes, thinking about how I should come to pay my respects and apologize.

As for why an official from the Central Plains should pay respects to the King of Eastern Qi, and why he should apologize to Wutong, he hadn't thought about the reasons in detail. He only knew that doing such things was always better than not doing them.

Because of Wutong's status, he deliberately did not wear court robes, so as not to offend the other party.

Magistrate Zheng sat in the lobby of the inn, which he had emptied out. Apart from himself and his yamen runners, there was no one else there.

Time seemed to pass exceptionally slowly. He wiped his sweat with a handkerchief and glanced anxiously at the stairs again and again.

"Did you really inform the King?" Magistrate Zheng asked the guard with unease.

Although the guard was not blamed by Wutong for his dereliction of duty, he disliked him from the bottom of his heart and only rolled his eyes at him.

As the saying goes, even the emperor's toilet is superior to that of ordinary people. Magistrate Zheng pretended not to see his disdain and silently swallowed his anger.

He glanced at the stairs again, and once he looked, he couldn't look away, as a graceful figure slowly descended the stairs.

He was barely taller than his chin, with a waist so slender you could wrap your hand around it. His dark gray, fitted clothes accentuated his fair, pointed oval face, his features small yet striking. Especially his eyebrows and eyes, dark and deep-set; if he shaved his head, he could easily pass for an excessively handsome young man.

The other person didn't look aggressive, but her expression was cold and indifferent, as if no one could catch her eye and nothing could break her.

Magistrate Zheng had long heard that the King of Eastern Qi had once disguised himself as a man and fought in battle. He had even joked with his friends back then about how ugly a woman who could disguise herself as a man must be.

Now that he has finally seen the real person, he realizes how foolish he was to have said those things.

He had seen many beautiful women, and he had a lovely wife at home. But some people, regardless of their looks, were destined to be extraordinary.

Magistrate Zheng was lost in thought. It wasn't until Wutong had climbed the stairs and was almost in front of him that he suddenly snapped back to reality, grabbed the handrail, hurriedly stood up, and knelt down in front of her.

"Welcome, Your Majesty..."

Wutong glanced at him and said indifferently, "No need for all this formalities. I'm in a hurry, so just get to the point."

This...this is completely against the rules...

Magistrate Zheng, accustomed to the ways of officialdom, was momentarily at a loss for words in the face of such an outrageous person. It was only when the guards couldn't bear it any longer that they stepped forward, lifted him up from the ground, and then retreated behind the wutong tree.

Magistrate Zheng was embarrassed and didn't know what to do, so he cleared his throat.

"Actually, it's nothing important... I just didn't know His Majesty would be passing through this poor land, and it would be inappropriate not to prepare a welcoming banquet, so I came here specifically..."

Wutong interrupted him, lazily raising her eyebrows.

"You've already said it's a 'poor' place, so why do you still want a welcoming banquet? Doesn't that mean I'm trying to plunder the people's wealth?"

Magistrate Zheng looked up in astonishment, unsure whether she was joking or serious. After thinking it over, he knelt down with a thud, feeling more at ease kneeling.

"Your Majesty, please don't misunderstand. What I mean is... I'll pay for your welcome banquet myself."

"You've managed to amass a fortune while serving as an official in a poor area; you're quite the money-making machine."

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"Your Majesty..." Magistrate Zheng's teeth began to chatter, and his entire body of fat trembled.

After teasing him enough, Wutong pulled up a chair and sat down, saying to him, "You have nothing to say to me, but I do have something to ask you... Have those people been settled?"

"Your Majesty, everything has been settled! As you instructed, those with homes were escorted home, and those without homes were allowed to settle here. There has been absolutely no negligence."

Magistrate Zheng had put in a lot of effort to arrange things for those people, and when she asked him about it, he quickly told her the story as if it were a treasure.

Wutong nodded slightly, then asked, "What about those human traffickers? How were they executed?"

Magistrate Zheng was a bold man. He always felt that Brother Jin and his group's business was not right, but he couldn't bring himself to drive them away because of the money involved. So he had no choice but to let them carve out their own space in that dilapidated courtyard.

Wutong's arrival this time gave him a good excuse to deal with them.

He declared without hesitation, "Your Majesty, I have decided to execute them tomorrow as a warning!"

Wutong raised an eyebrow: "Tomorrow?"

Magistrate Zheng's mind worked faster than a wheel. He understood immediately when he saw something was wrong with her eyes. He gritted his teeth and said, "Tomorrow is not a good day. How about today?"

"when?"

"Noon... next hour!"

A slight smile finally appeared on Wutong's indifferent face. He nodded and said, "Magistrate Zheng is indeed a father and mother official of the people. He always thinks of the people... Today you beheaded those slave traders. On behalf of all the people in the world, I thank you in advance."

She stood up and bowed to Magistrate Zheng.

Magistrate Zheng was thrown into a panic and hurriedly said, "No, no... The king's order is the order of heaven. Not to mention me, any official would obey it."

Seeing that things were almost settled, Wutong glanced out the window—if those slave traders were beheaded in the next hour, they could still continue their journey and catch up with them for dozens of miles.

Magistrate Zheng was a sensible man. He saw through her actions and immediately took the initiative to make a suggestion.

"I imagine Your Majesty has other important matters to attend to, so I will not disturb you any longer. I will now go out and prepare for the execution."

Wutong nodded: "Go ahead."

Magistrate Zheng turned and walked out.

Wutong suddenly called out to him, saying, "By the way, there's something you need to keep in mind."

"What's the matter?"

"I am only the King of Eastern Qi, not the Emperor."

Magistrate Zheng was completely bewildered, not understanding the difference.

If the King of Eastern Qi conquered the Central Plains, wouldn't she be just like the emperor?

Wutong waved to him, and he left the inn, still puzzled.

Wutong instructed everyone to pack their luggage and prepare to set off.

Half an hour later, a group of yamen runners gathered at the street entrance, with two runners escorting a death row inmate to the execution platform.

Wutong counted them; there were more than twenty death row inmates, all of whom were Brother Jin and his confidants, including Goatee and Second Master.

The already crowded street entrance was now completely blocked. No one was in the mood to do business anymore; everyone stood on the side of the street, watching with a mixture of fear and anticipation.

There used to be a guillotine at the street corner, but it's a small town and there are few criminals, so it hasn't been used for many years.

The executioner polished the guillotine with a cloth until it shone brightly; when the sunlight shone on it, the reflected light was so dazzling that it hurt one's eyes.

The sycamore tree stands high above the window, taking in the entire scene below.

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