Transmigrating to the Qi Family - Chapter 158

“My lord, wait!” Manager Xu shouts, “Please listen to what I have to say first.”

Pei Che turns his head, his gaze cold and devoid of warmth. “What do you want to say?” His expression is filled with impatience.

Manager Xu quickly organizes his thoughts and speaks rapidly, “I hear that you just arrived in Cangzhou and are currently staying in a small courtyard at the rear of the administrative office along with the other officials. Upon hearing this, I feel truly uneasy. How could someone as esteemed and virtuous as you, a parent official to the people, be treated with such neglect? Therefore, I come here with a small token of my regard. Please, my lord, kindly accept it.”

As he speaks, he signals to the servant behind him to present the box. Taking it in both hands, he respectfully places it before Pei Che with his head lowered.

Pei Che looks at the box before him, raising an intrigued brow. Drawing out his words, he says, “Manager Xu, you’re quite interesting.”

Manager Xu hurriedly adds, “This is something you deserve. I’m merely offering it as a humble token. Please don’t take offense, sir.”

“Hahaha,” Pei Che bursts into laughter, taking the box and turning to sit back where he had been moments ago. “Had you spoken so sensibly earlier, I wouldn’t have mentioned leaving.”

He hands the box to Jiang Miao, who has been quietly smiling while the two talk. Jiang Miao opens the box and finds it filled with ink sticks, seemingly a refined gift for a scholar.

Jiang Miao glances at Manager Xu with a peculiar look, then takes out the ink sticks to examine further. Beneath the ink sticks lies some white paper. As he removes the paper, a dazzling golden glow catches his eye.

His heart skips a beat as he looks closer: inside are twelve neatly arranged gold bars.

No wonder the box feels heavier than it looks.

Just as Jiang Miao is about to put everything back in place, he notices something beneath the gold bars. He removes a few of them and finds a banknote underneath—a promissory note from Huitong Bank for one thousand taels of silver.

Such generosity, indeed. Jiang Miao can’t help but marvel inwardly. If Pei Che is truly relying solely on his meager official salary to support his family, it would be difficult for him to resist such an offering. For just a few words, one could gain rewards equivalent to years or even over a decade of hard labor. The temptation is simply overwhelming.

At this moment, Jiang Miao feels even more admiration for those upright officials who remain incorruptible despite endless temptations. How strong their convictions must be to resist such constant lures!

Jiang Miao is thankful he isn’t an official and doesn’t require such immense self-discipline. He is also glad that Pei Che’s family is well-off, making such offerings insignificant to them. As he places the items back as they were, his thoughts wander over these matters.

Meanwhile, during the conversation between Manager Xu and Pei Che, Manager Xu’s peripheral vision catches Jiang Miao’s actions. He scoffs internally. This Lord Pei may appear cold and aloof, but who would have thought he and his spouse would be so shallow? I’ve never seen anyone so eager to open a gift right in front of others!

Though he feels disdain, Manager Xu maintains a neutral expression, even speaking more obsequiously to the two.

After a few rounds of drinks, Pei Che and Jiang Miao stand up to leave. Manager Xu escorts them downstairs before returning to the private room.

The room is now filled with people. While the drinking has taken place, they have been in the adjacent room, listening in.

“Ah, Brother Xu, this time you didn’t think things through. It’s rare to encounter someone this straightforward, yet you weren’t fully prepared, wasting several days of business in the process,” someone remarks, shaking their head.

Manager Xu chuckles. “It’s not too late. Besides, without going through this experience, how could we get a hold of their weaknesses? Remember, the most terrifying people are those with no desires or needs.”

Everyone laughs at this, though one man in the corner looks puzzled. As the others are seeing off their guests, he steps out to use the restroom. In that brief moment, he thinks he recognizes a familiar face. The man leaves a deep impression on him—it’s the only person in the past two years who refused to sell mountain goods, deeming the price too low. He recalls that back then, the young man wore a tattered gray outfit and looked utterly destitute. Yet today, this person is dressed in luxurious attire, exuding an air of untouchable confidence.

“What’s wrong, Old Li?” asks the shopkeeper beside him, nudging him.

“Oh, nothing. Just thinking that drinking too much muddles the mind,” Old Li replies, attributing it all to the effects of alcohol.

Back at the administrative office, Jiang Miao, along with Chan Yi and Wen Jing, delivers Steward Xu’s gifts to the government storeroom. Together with the storekeeper and a few clerks, they catalog and document everything. While they don’t use this money themselves, they don’t return it either. Since it has been extorted from the people of Cangzhou, it will eventually be returned to them.

The next day, the group goes to the marketplace to conduct business as usual. The constables, who previously showed up banging gongs and announcing investigations at the first sign of activity, are nowhere to be seen. Clearly, yesterday’s drinking has been effective.

But their relief doesn’t last long. Within two days, the constables return, banging gongs and shouting loudly, scaring off the townspeople with claims of needing to investigate a case.

Steward Xu’s face immediately turns dark, as though ink could drip from it. He curses Pei Che furiously in his mind. Insatiable like a snake trying to swallow an elephant! Not only is he greedy, but he’s also duplicitous—a complete scoundrel!

Faced with such a shameless and treacherous scoundrel, Steward Xu can’t think of a good solution for the time being. All he can do is swallow his anger and continue sending money to the government office.

Each bribe buys two or three days of peace, but after that, it all starts again. This cycle repeats two or three times, and finally, everyone loses their patience. The money sent during these few attempts has already exceeded 5,000 taels. How can the chief official of a single prefecture have such a massive appetite? Isn’t he afraid of bursting from his greed?

“This can’t go on any longer!” someone exclaims. “It makes no sense for us to bring goods here to do business and end up losing money instead!”

Another person chimes in, “Exactly! I say we might as well leave. If this is how things are, we won’t bother coming back to Cangzhou!”

Someone objects, “Cangzhou is a place we’ve worked hard to establish ourselves for years. Leaving now would destroy everything we’ve built. I think it’s better to strike first and get rid of him, returning Cangzhou to its former purity!” He says the word purity with such a serious expression that it makes some people chuckle.

Some agree with his proposal, but others argue that it isn’t wise to fight against officials and that they should lie low for now.

“Enough!” Steward Xu, who has been listening in silence, finally speaks up.

“Cangzhou can’t be lost. Since he is so unreasonable, there’s no need for us to show him any courtesy.” As he speaks, his face remains hidden in the shadow beyond the candlelight, making his expression difficult to discern. Yet everyone around him falls silent, clearly intimidated by this side of him. They all know that Steward Xu is serious now.

…

“My lord, those two streets didn’t open for business today. Should we still proceed with the investigation?” A constable tasked with banging gongs and announcing their presence returns from a patrol, looking a bit confused.

Pei Che replies, “If they didn’t open, there’s no need to act. Just keep an eye on those streets and report any activity immediately.”

“Yes, My lord!” the constable replies cheerfully.

After he leaves, another figure suddenly appears in the room.

“Master, the two shops in the eastern part of the city have closed,” the person reports, referring to the mountain goods store and the grain store operated by Datong Trading Company—currently the only two shops in Cangzhou.

“Keep watching them. Report immediately if there’s any movement.”

“Yes, My Lord!”

After the constable leaves, Pei Che takes out the official documents. A few days ago, he ordered the cases of the missing persons to be sent back to their respective counties for re-investigation. Once he dismisses the theory that the incidents were caused by wild animal attacks, these cases become far more confusing.

The county magistrates dare not take the matter lightly, as Pei Che gave them a strict ten-day deadline to make progress. If they fail to do so within that time…

The implied threat in his words, though incomplete, is far more effective than an explicit one. The unknown consequences conjured by their imaginations are far more terrifying than anything he might have directly said.

Even before the ten days are up, Pei Che begins to receive reports from the counties detailing their findings after reopening the investigations.

Among them, one particular report catches Pei Che’s attention. It states that in one village, a resident who ventured deep into the mountains one day reported hearing a loud boom. At that moment, the ground seems to tremble as though in response. The sound is terrifying, resembling the heavy steps of a massive beast running through the forest. The villager, shaken and frightened, falls ill upon returning home.

This loud noise is indeed bizarre. In addition to this villager, others also hear it. It is for this reason that rumors spread that there are man-eating beasts hiding in the mountains, and people do not find it strange that many big men disappear in the mountains.