Actually, Ji Yuan didn’t need to specifically look for any particular door. There was only one room with the door open on the left side of the corridor, and that was the one with the character “household” written on it.
It was already late November, and in about a month it would be Lunar New Year’s Eve. With the end of the year approaching, the county governnt had a lot of things to do. When Ji Yuan arrived at the door of the room, he saw the people inside writing furiously, finishing one docunt and then moving on to another, repeating this process without interruption.
“Knock knock knock…”
Ji Yuan knocked on the door fra a few tis to attract the attention of the person inside before bowing and greeting them.
“My na is Ji Yuan, and I have co to collect so mail from the post office.”
The person inside stopped writing, carefully examined Ji Yuan, and then returned the greeting with cupped hands.
“Please co in, sir!”
Upon entering the room, Ji Yuan looked at the registrar, who was about thirty years old. he had a short beard and a short hair bun, pinned with a a square headpiece. Ji Yuan couldn’t see the details of his appearance clearly with his vision, but his overall deanor was quite clear and bright.
“May I ask if you have your household registration docunts with you, sir?”
“I brought it. Please take a look, Registrar.”
Ji Yuan took out the official docunt again and handed it to the registrar. After reading it, the registrar nodded, confird the spelling of the two characters “Ji Yuan”, and then handed it back to Ji Yuan.
“Please wait a mont, sir, while I check where your things are.”
The post offices in Dazhen generally only accepted letters, but if they were paid enough, other small items could also be delivered with them, so the registrar did not know whether there were any other items alongside the letters.
I found a few dossiers on the side, and after searching through them, I found the dossier for Tian Niu Lane. Then he turned the pages one by one. It took so ti, but he finally found Ji Yuan.
The register contained nas, most of which were crossed off. At a glance, only Ji Yuan’s na had not been crossed off, and it appeared several tis. However, the Registrar did not need to check the location of every single na, because letters for the sa person would be kept in one place. Finding one would allow him to collect them all. He only needed to cross off all the instances of the na afterward.
After confirming that there was indeed a letter and that it was in the storeroom, the registrar wrote a note on the table and then stamped his personal seal.
“Whoo…”
The registrar blew on the ink on the slip of paper and then handed it to Ji Yuan.
“Take this and go inside. Give it to the bailiff at the gate, he will lead you to the storeroom. Be careful, the ink is still wet.”
“Very well, thank you very much, Registrar!”
Ji Yuan bowed with cupped hands again, carefully accepted the note, and then left the building. When he looked back, the registrar was already back at his desk and had buried himself in docunts to process.
After all, this was Yin Zhaoxian’s hotown, the forr magistrate of Ning’an County known for his integrity and incorruptibility. The positive atmosphere and sense of pride ant that all the officials of Ning’an County, high-ranking and dial, were quite diligent in their duties.
Half an hour later, Ji Yuan waited outside the county governnt storeroom while the bailiff searched for quite a while before finally finding Ji Yuan’s belongings.
“Wow, that’s quite a lot!”
The bailiff carried a bundle of letters, dusting them off as he walked. Ji Yuan noticed that the stack of letters in his hand was a palm’s width thick, and there were at least several dozen missives.
The bailiff exited the room, untied the thin rope binding the letters, casually flipped through them to confirm that they were all for “Ji Yuan,” before handing them to the patient man by the door.
“Sir, I’m sorry to have kept you waiting. Here, these are all your letters. There shouldn’t be anything else.”
“Thank you!”
Ji Yuan accepted the stack of letters with both hands, thanked the bailiff, and waited for the other party to lock the storeroom door again, before leaving with him.
“Sir, you have quite a lot of letters. How long has it been since you last ca to pick them up?”
Each neighborhood had a different bailiff in charge. If there was a letter, they would go to the individual’s house to check. If no one was ho, they would return it to the county governnt office. This bailiff could tell from the color of the envelopes that many of the letters were quite old.
Delivering letters wasn’t necessarily a difficult task. As the saying went, a letter from ho was worth more than gold. When delivering a letter, it was quite normal for families of decent ans to give bailiffs a few copper coins or treat them to a al when they delivered a letter. This was a tacitly approved form of inco for the bailiffs of the county governnt.
Hearing the constable’s words, Ji Yuan smiled.
“Yes, I’ve been wandering for a long ti.”
The two didn’t chat much further. When they reached the outer gate, Ji Yuan left alone. As he left the office, he bowed respectfully to the official.
The bailiff had only been standing at the entrance to the inner courtyard of the governnt office for a short while, chatting with his colleague, when soone patted him on the shoulder. Turning around, he saw a robust man with gray hair and beard.
The two bailiffs quickly bowed and said in unison.
“Greetings, Lord Zhu!”
“Hmm!”
The newcor was none other than Zhu Yanxu, the forr county magistrate of Ning’an County. Unlike his predecessor Chen Sheng, who had been promoted, Zhu Yanxu had long since retired. However, the current magistrate appreciated his virtue and knew of his martial arts skills, so he invited Zhu Yanxu to be the head instructor of the local militia and help train the bailiffs and officials.
Zhu Yanxu frowned and looked outside, then turned to the bailiff beside him and asked.
“That man just now looked familiar. Was he here to pick up so mail? What was his na?”
“Replying to Lord Zhu, that person did indeed co to collect so mail. His na is ‘Ji Yuan,’ Ji as in ‘plan’ and Yuan as in ‘fate.’ Strangely enough, he had a thick stack of letters, and many of them were quite old… Uh, Lord Zhu, Lord Zhu?”
As the bailiffs were talking, they noticed that Lord Zhu Yanxu was staring blankly outside in a daze. Although this lord was old, his martial arts skills were recognized as the best in Ning’an County. He was in good health and his attacks were even more powerful. It was impossible for him to have lost his mind.
“Lord Zhu? Lord Zhu!”
“Oh, I heard you, I heard you. You all stay here and keep watch. I’m leaving now!”
Zhu Yanxu said absentmindedly, then quickly walked outside. The two bailiffs hurriedly bowed, but then looked at each other in bewildernt.
“Does Lord Zhu know Ji Yuan?”
“I don’t know…”
Despite his age, Zhu Yanxu remained agile. With a brisk stride, he quickly left the governnt office and looked out onto the street, but he saw no sign of Ji Yuan, only a bustling crowd.
His face was dazed, and he muttered to himself.
“Ji Yuan…it really was Ji Yuan! He looks exactly the sa, he hasn’t changed at all!”
Back when Ji Yuan was at the height of his fa, people in the county governnt would sotis speculate about his age when they had nothing else to do. Because of his deanor and elegant appearance, most people guessed that he was in his forties, and simply did not look that old. In any case, no one thought that Ji Yuan was very young, they were convinced he was definitely older than Yin Zhaoxian.
Now, seeing Ji Yuan looking exactly the sa as before, so rumors resurfaced in Zhu Yanxu’s mind.
People could be quite forgetful. Apart from things that were closely related to their own lives, many other things could easily be forgotten. There weren’t many people in Ning’an County who were closely connected to Ji Yuan. With the passage of ti, there were now even fewer to rembered him, let alone those who would actually encounter him on the street.
But for those who did rember, it was deeply etched in their mory, just like Zhu Yanxu now.
Zhu Yanxu stood there for a long ti. Just as the two guards behind him were about to approach him, he gritted his teeth and quickly left, leaving the two behind him to look at each other in bewildernt.
Zhu Yanxu was a martial artist after all. Although he was old, his martial arts skills remained, and he was fast on his feet. He returned ho in no ti at all and began to rummage through drawers and cabinets everywhere.
An old woman ca in from the courtyard. Seeing her husband in his state, she was imdiately confused.
“Old husband, what are you looking for?”
Zhu Yanxu continued moving as he answered.
“Oh, by the way, have you seen my precious inkstone?”
“What precious swallow? Didn’t we just stew bird’s nest1 for our daughter-in-law?”
Zhu Yanxu frowned and turned around.
“What bird’s nest? I’m talking about an inkstone, the Cloud and Water Flowing Ink…”
The old woman smiled.
“You’re a martial artist, you certainly wouldn’t use such things often. Don’t you have one in your study?”
“Oh dear, if I had it, why would I be searching everywhere for it?”
“Then ask your son!”
Zhu Yanxu’s house wasn’t all that small. It was divided into the front and back courtyards, but there were no servants. Hearing his wife’s words, he hurried to the front courtyard and happened to see his son returning from the county governnt office. The bailiff was still in his uniform and had not yet removed his sword when he suddenly saw his father rush in front of him. Zhu Cheng was so startled that he almost drew his sword.
“Dad, you nearly scared to death!”
Zhu Cheng patted his chest, but his father wasn’t in the mood for jokes.
“Where is my inkstone, the one that was given to by Master Chen back then!”
Zhu Cheng imdiately felt guilty and stamred.
“I saw that you didn’t need it. Yuqiu ca to our house and saw your inkstone. She asked several tis to borrow it, so I…”
“You little bastard!”
Zhu Yanxu cursed and disappeared in the blink of an eye.
In the afternoon, at the transition between Wei and Shen hours,2 Zhu Yanxu, carrying an inkstone repackaged in a sandalwood box, several packets of fine tea, two jugs of Shaoxing wine, and several boxes of pastries from the outer-temple building, hurried towards Tian Niu Lane.
He didn’t co here often, so he had to ask several people for directions before he finally found Ju’an Pavilion.
Ju’an Pavilion was once a haunted house, rarely spoken of, and had now been forgotten by most people on Tian Niu Lane. The younger generation only knew it as “an abandoned house house where the jujube tree never blossoms or bears fruit.”
As he grew closer to Ju’an Pavilion, the seventy-year-old Zhu Yanxu began to grow nervous. When he finally reached a short distance from the front of the courtyard, he saw that the gate was half open. Before he even reached the gate, he subconsciously looked up, but he did not see the plaque of the na of the pavilion.
“Is that Lord Zhu? Please co in!”
Ji Yuan’s calm and composed voice ca from inside. Even though Zhu Yanxu hadn’t even reached the door yet, and it would be impossible for anyone inside to see him, since this was Ji Yuan, nothing would surprise him.
Zhu Yanxu composed himself, quickly walked to the entrance of the small pavilion, pushed open the courtyard gate, and went inside. He saw the plaque laying horizontally on a stone table while Ji Yuan stood beside it, fiddling with brush and ink.
Ji Yuan looked up at Zhu Yanxu and smiled.
“Lord Zhu, please co and sit down. The plaque on this small pavilion has been there for too long, and the vermilion lacquer has almost worn off. Fortunately, I am still quite confident in my calligraphy, so I thought I would rewrite it.”
“Oh, I see. By the way, Mr. Ji, since you’re going to practice calligraphy, why don’t you try my inkstone? This inkstone has quite a history; it’s called the ‘Cloud and Water Flowing Inkstone.’ It was made by a highly skilled master craftsman in Ning’an County many years ago, using precious materials. It was a gift from Magistrate Chen. It would be too wasteful for a rough man like to use it, so I am giving it to you, Mr. Ji. Oh, and these are just so small gifts. It’s almost the New Year, so I brought a few things when I visited…”
Ji Yuan nodded.
“Please take a seat, Lord Zhu. Please put the things aside for now. This inkstone was a gift from Lord Chen, and I feel it’s inappropriate to accept it. But I will accept the rest.”
“Uh, oh!”
Zhu Yanxu was a little nervous. He wanted to put the things on the table, but since the plaque was there, he placed them beside the table for now. He watched Ji Yuan carefully grinding the ink, and a pleasant, faint fragrance wafted out.
Even though Zhu Yanxu was a martial artist, he instantly realized that this was top quality ink.
Bird’s nest, or swallow’s nest, is a delicacy in China made of an actual edible bird’s nest. Wei hour is 1-3pm, Shen is 3-5pm, so around 3pm
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