47. Magistrate Ouyang, Who Loves the People Like His Own Children (Second Update, Begging Humbly for Subscriptions!)

The constables of the Three Departments and Six Bureaus of Longcheng County acted with exceptional speed today.

Led by the decisive and swift Constable Yan, before the noon meal hour had even passed, they had already sealed off several major grain storage warehouses near the Penglang Ferry Wharf.

Had anyone tried to convince Wang Chaozhi, Manager Ma, Manager Li, and the rest of the grain merchants that this had not been scouted and rehearsed beforehand, they would not have believed it even if beaten to death.

Luming Street, Longcheng County Yamen.

Inside the newly renovated main hall of the county yamen, the atmosphere was lively.

Eighteen large and small grain merchants, including Wang Chaozhi, Manager Ma, and Manager Li, along with thirteen local gentry members of Longcheng led by Liu Ziwen, were all seated below the dais.

"Impossible, absolutely impossible!"

Behind the official desk, Ouyang Rong wore a blue-green official robe with a silver belt, radiating a stern aura of righteousness. Right in front of the assembled grain merchants, he reprimanded Constable Yan Wuxiu, who had returned to report on his mission. Striking the desk with loud thuds, Ouyang Rong shouted:

"There is absolutely no way our county warehouses contain stolen grain from the Relief Granary! This is a major case involving the imperial court, you lowly constable must not speak carelessly! Weigh your words, lest you wrongly arrest upright merchants."

Constable Yan the Sixth made a bitter face and cupped his hands:

"But Your Honor, our county alone has two hundred and thirty thousand shi of grain stored in the wharf warehouses. It is almost enough to cover the shortfall of the Relief Granary, making it hard not to suspect them."

"Handling a case is not a random affair, and a conjecture is not wild imagination!"

Facing such a stubborn subordinate, the young magistrate was quite angry, slapping the desk with resounding bangs. Wang Chaozhi and the others seated below watched the brush holder on the desk jump violently with every strike. Radiating absolute righteousness, Ouyang Rong pointed at the crowd in the main hall and retorted:

"Let me make a reasonable conjecture. Could it not be that all you friends, out of kindness, brought this along while visiting Longcheng to watch the dragon boat races?"

Yan the Sixth looked completely baffled: "Watching the dragon boat races? Why would anyone bring this much grain?"

The young magistrate, glaring at Yan the Sixth, stopped mid-sentence, uttered a soft "Huh?", and muttered: "It seems you're right..."

He turned around, his face full of curiosity, and humbly sought enlightenment from Wang Chaozhi and the others in the hall:

"My friends, why did you bring so much grain just to watch a dragon boat race? Surely you aren't... wrapping zongzi to toss into the river? Even if Qu Yuan and all the fish in the river joined forces, they couldn't possibly eat this much."

"..." The gathering of grain merchants in the hall.

Noticing the gazes of his fellow merchants converging on him, Wang Chaozhi licked his somewhat dry lips and forced himself to say:

"We commoners came to sell... to sell grain."

Ouyang Rong nodded and said loudly, "Did you hear that? To sell grain! Everyone came to Longcheng to sell grain. When doing business, why shouldn't one speak up?"

He turned to the unconvinced Constable Yan and earnestly advised him:

"What is wrong with people coming here to conduct legitimate business? For all we know, the rice in the salted zongzi we eat today might have been transported here by Brother Chaozhi and the others. They simply wanted to transport grain so everyone could have enough to eat. Tell me, how could that be wrong?

"Besides, which article of the Great Zhou Code forbids merchants from trading everywhere? As long as they pay taxes according to the law, it is fine.

"By the way,"

Ouyang Rong asked again, "When you sold grain in the East Market, did you pay your taxes?"

"Paid, paid, absolutely not a single coin missed!" Wang Chaozhi, Manager Ma, and the others answered in unison.

The young magistrate, who had exhausted himself worrying about the innocence of the upright citizens and merchants, nodded with satisfaction, struck the table, and made his ruling:

"Alright, if there is nothing else, court is dismissed! You are all law-abiding citizens and merchants engaged in legitimate business. Your reputations must not be tarnished out of thin air. In Longcheng County, trade is free, and the administration is clean. This is by no means a lawless place, and we cannot arbitrarily confiscate anyone's property."

Ouyang Rong shook his head and sighed:

Constable Yan, go back and reflect properly. You must change this habit of yours of talking about confiscating property at every turn! How can you always think of overturning the table? We are the county yamen, not a bandit den. We are here to serve the common people and honest merchants."

Sitting quietly in the back of the hall, Liu Ziwen and the other twelve gentrymen and wealthy landlords couldn't help but twitch the corners of their mouths when they heard these last words.

Yan the Sixth lowered his head and meekly replied, "Understood, Your Honor."

Ouyang Rong turned his head, switching back to his benevolent father-and-mother official persona, and said warmly to the virtuous gentry and honest merchants in the hall:

"Court is dismissed, everyone may return. Sell your grain as much as you like, there is no problem at all. Any legitimate trade within the borders of this county enjoys the protection of the county yamen. If any petty market-inspecting clerks harass or extort you, you may come straight to me and report it. I will make the decisions for you and will certainly spare none of those little demons!"

The main hall fell dead silent. Everyone secretly or openly observed the young magistrate's expression, yet not a single person dared to leave.

In the inner courtyard, a certain junior martial sister leaned her back against the door, eavesdropping on the good-cop-bad-cop routine playing out in the main hall. She covered her mouth with delicate hands, her shoulders trembling slightly as she tried to suppress her giggles.

Yet the fair maiden was unaware that she naturally possessed a slender neck, delicate shoulders, and slender arms—like a fragile branch bearing a heavy fruit. With this single laugh, the fruit was nearly dropping.

Fortunately, the benevolent father-and-mother official was busy performing his duties toward the people and did not see this. Otherwise, the store of merit he had prepared to exchange for new blessings probably would have vanished completely.

The main hall upfront remained quiet for a while longer.

Finally, Liu Ziwen took the lead, stood up, offered his farewells, and departed. Only then did the other twelve Longcheng gentry members lift their bottoms from their stools and successively bow respectfully to Ouyang Rong up front to take their leave.

Judging by their expressions, these gentrymen all seemed relieved. Before coming to the county yamen, they had undoubtedly assumed they would be stripped to the bone before leaving, yet nothing had happened at all. The magistrate had not taken the opportunity to distort the truth or seal their grain; instead, he had allowed their respective stocks of grain to continue selling...

Many among the gentry substantially revised their impressions of Ouyang Rong.

Liu Ziwen was the first to walk out of the yamen. Before stepping into his carriage, he turned and spoke only a single sentence to Liu Zi'an, who had stepped forward to greet him with a curious expression:

"There's no need to look inside. Everyone in there is a sheep."

On Luming Street, inside a slowly departing carriage, the young head of the Liu family wore a somewhat gloomy expression.

This "grain price trap" had not been set for them by that Ouyang Lianghan. The meal Ouyang Lianghan had consumed this time must have been a fat sheep lured in from the outside, and his table manners had even been exceedingly polite and refined.

The Liu family seemed to have suffered no losses from this trap, yet upon closer reflection, they had lost quite a bit.

Because Liu Ziwen, who had operated in Longcheng County for many years, had tasted for the first time the sensation of the situation subtly slipping out of his control.

It was much like Longcheng County being a gaming table. The Liu family had monopolized the table and acted as the house for years; they could shake this table simply by twitching a leg, shaking it however they pleased. Yet suddenly, a young scholar with an intensely annoying smile walked over to the empty seat opposite, sat down without asking permission, and even stretched out a hand to steady the table firmly, forbidding anyone from casually twitching their legs.

Liu Ziwen, who had patiently awaited the unsheathing of a single sword for twelve years, did not like this feeling at all.

...

"Ahem, let's make this clear first: our county yamen does not provide lunch. I have to go home to eat myself."

In the half-empty county courtroom, Ouyang Rong spoke with helpless resignation to the eighteen grain merchants who remained standing silently and dared not move:

"Why hasn't everyone left yet? Go back and continue selling your grain."

The grain merchants looked at each other in dismay, none of them daring to move, acting just like docile sheep.

"Oh, so you still have something to say, is that it?"

Ouyang Rong promptly and warmly walked down the dais, extending his right palm:

"Very well, guests coming from afar are welcome, please sit, please sit."

Upon hearing this familiar phrase, Wang Chaozhi's right eyelid twitched violently.

Under the young magistrate's courteous gestures, the grain merchants took their seats one by one. The young magistrate proved thoroughly approachable as well; instead of taking the lofty official seat, he sat in a chair directly facing the grain merchants, smiling at them.

Perhaps after observing for a long time and concluding that the young magistrate was indeed remarkably amiable, Manager Li took the initiative to speak up:

"Lord Magistrate... besides selling grain in Longcheng County, might we transport our grain to other places to sell?"

The Ouyang Rong who had appeared as warm as a spring breeze a second earlier suddenly turned stern:

"Change places to sell grain? What, is our Longcheng citizenry not hospitable enough, or is the Longcheng County Yamen not fair enough?"

"No, no." Manager Li said, caught between laughter and tears, and hurriedly waved his hands to explain: "Your esteemed county's commoners are very hospitable, and your esteemed officialdom is extremely fair—"

Ouyang Rong nodded with a melancholic expression: "Oh, so it means I, this Magistrate of Longcheng, have neglected everyone. Perhaps I should kowtow a few times right here on the spot..."

"That is even less the case, even less," the elderly grain merchant with a goat beard became even more flustered. Not daring to let his backside touch the stool anymore, he said with a mournful face: "Old man has not seen a father-and-mother official as upright and amiable as Lord Magistrate in a very long time."

"Then why on earth do you want to transport the grain away? Let me state clearly first: it is certainly not that we forbid you from transporting it, haha. I merely wish to understand the reason, so that I may improve my work in the future."

Ouyang Rong sighed, and Manager Li and the others wore hesitant expressions.

Behind the door of the inner courtyard, Xie Lingjiang, who had finally managed to suppress her laughter, let out another "pfft" and buried her head against her chest.

Ever since she entered the academy to study, she hadn't laughed this happily in a very long time... Mostly because her senior brother was simply too mischievous.

Only now did Xie Lingjiang realize that men could actually be quite interesting when they stopped being serious... Well, in short, when her senior brother was being unserious, he was even more effective than when he was serious.

Only this time, Xie Lingjiang failed to cover her laughter in time, and a tiny silver-bell-like giggle faintly drifted into the main hall up front, frightening the fair maiden into instantly shrinking her neck.

In the main hall, the upright young magistrate twitched the corner of his mouth. Next time, he would not let his junior martial sister stay in the back.

Wang Chaozhi, Manager Ma, Manager Li, and the others turned around in puzzlement.

"Ahem, it's nothing. We're raising a small cat, and it must be hungry... Everyone, please state your business quickly, we'll be going off to eat shortly, the cat is waiting till it's hungry."

Ouyang Rong nodded with absolute solemnity.

"..." Everyone.

"..." Xie Lingjiang.

——————

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(End of this chapter)