When his guard found Fang Shuo, he was wrapped in his extremely thin inner tunic, sitting on a pile of dry hay and weeping bitterly.
“Young Master, are you alright?!”
Fang Shuo sniffled. “Ah Zheng, some thief took advantage of your absence last night to steal my carriage and dump me out here in the middle of nowhere! I will definitely teach that thief a harsh lesson!”
The more he spoke, the angrier he became. He slammed his fist onto the hay pile, but failed to notice the gravel underneath, causing him to grimace in pain.
“Young Master, it is my failure.” Ah Zheng quickly helped Fang Shuo up and whispered, “But don't worry, Young Master. I queued at the city gates all night, and it's almost our turn. Once we enter the city, we will go find Governor Cheng. He will surely seek justice for you and bring that thief to trial!”
The two of them walked toward the city gates, one after the other.
Fang Shuo forced himself to squeeze into the long line of refugees with Ah Zheng. As the son of a governor, falling to such a wretched state would be incredibly embarrassing if anyone recognized him.
He instinctively lowered his head and pulled in his neck.
In reality, no one spared him a second glance.
He was no different from the refugees in front of and behind him; in fact, he looked even more disheveled and resembled a refugee more than they did.
“Young man, I still have half a flatbread here. Take it to eat and fill your stomach first.”
A withered hand reached out and pressed half a coarse grain flatbread into Fang Shuo's hand.
Fang Shuo froze in place.
The flatbread was rock-hard with cracked edges, its coarse grains scraping against his palm.
The person offering the flatbread was a white-haired elderly woman with a deeply wrinkled face. Her clothes were patched, and her eyes were filled with the simplest form of compassion.
Fang Shuo looked down at the flatbread in his hand, then up at the elderly woman, unable to find his voice for a long time.
Raised in the lap of luxury, he had always been surrounded by people eager to flatter and fawn over him; no one had ever pitied him.
If he took this kind of coarse flatbread home, even the dogs at his estate probably wouldn't deign to eat it.
“I'm not a beggar...” He heard himself say dryly to the elderly woman. “I don't want your flatbread.”
But the elderly woman patted his hand. “Young man, you are still young, you must live well. An old woman like me doesn't have many days left anyway. Skipping a bite won't hurt.”
Fang Shuo was a bit repulsed by the half-piece of dark flatbread, but he was too embarrassed to throw it away right in front of her.
“You can save it for your children to eat.”
He tried to return the flatbread to the elderly woman, only to hear her say, “My son and daughter are both dead. Now, I'm the only one left in the family, an old woman with one foot in the grave.”
Fang Shuo snapped his head up, meeting the elderly woman's cloudy eyes. There was no grief or resentment in them, only a numbness born from enduring countless hardships.
For some reason, his nose tingled with a sudden urge to cry.
If his carriage and luggage were still here, he would have handed over some silver to the elderly woman without a second thought.
But now, he was penniless.
Even the money pouch Ah Zheng had left in the carriage had been completely swept away by that damnable thief.
“Young Master.”
Ah Zheng turned and said, “It's our turn.”
Fang Shuo snapped out of his thoughts.
He saw that the line ahead had shrunk to only three or four people.
“Old lady, I'll take this flatbread for now,” he said. “Once I get into the city, I'll return a hundred of them to you.”
With that, he walked toward the registration desk.
To his surprise, the person registering the refugees at the city gates was actually a child around ten years old.
Watching the child leaning over the desk, writing with a strange-looking pen, Fang Shuo asked out of curiosity, “You are so young, yet you can work as a minor official?”
Cui He frowned, stopped writing, and looked up. “The officials of Yecheng are all selected through examinations. I passed the examination through my own abilities, so why can't I be a minor official?”
Originally, Cheng Ji had wanted to give her an exceptional promotion to work at the Yecheng governor's estate out of respect for Shen Yu.
But she had refused.
Nowadays, Xindu City and Yecheng used the laws compiled by Mr. Lu Sui and her grandfather.
Everything emphasized the word “fairness.”
The officials of the governor's estate all earned their posts through examinations. If she accepted Cheng Ji's exceptional promotion, it would be highly unfair to the other officials and would surely draw criticism.
Only when everyone actively upheld and followed the law could it exert its greatest effect.
Furthermore, her teacher had said that only by starting from the bottom and witnessing the suffering of the common people could one truly remain true to their original aspirations.
“There are still many refugees behind you waiting to enter the city. If you don't want to enter, step aside.”
Fang Shuo instantly flared up in anger and embarrassment. “You...”
Seeing this, Ah Zheng quickly held back Fang Shuo, who was about to throw a young master's tantrum, and then said to Cui He with a placating smile, “Little officer, we'll enter, we'll enter!”
Cui He picked up her pen. “Name.”
After a series of questions.
“Do you have any skills?”
Fang Shuo and Ah Zheng shook their heads in unison.
After recording their information, Cui He turned to the soldiers behind her and said, “Send them to dig coal.”
“Dig... dig coal?” Fang Shuo's eyes widened. “On what authority are you sending me to dig coal? Do you know who I am?”
Cui He looked at him. “Yecheng never hands out free meals. If refugees want to enter the city and have no skills to contribute, they must rely on labor to earn enough money to pay the entry fee.”
Fang Shuo trembled with rage. “Kid, open your eyes and look closely! I am the son of the Governor of Chaoyang!”
“Do you have proof?” Cui He's tone was flat.
Fang Shuo: “...”
“It was stolen by a thief on the way!”
As if she had heard this excuse a thousand times before, Cui He's expression didn't change in the slightest. “If you continue to make trouble, you won't even get the chance to dig coal.”
“...”
Fang Shuo forced down his anger. “Then what about this elderly woman? You can't possibly send her to dig coal to earn enough money before letting her into the city, can you?!”
He pointed to the white-haired elderly woman queuing behind him.
“You don't need to worry about that,” Cui He said. “Yecheng provides preferential treatment for the elderly, the weak, the sick, the disabled, and the pregnant.”
“You...”
Ah Zheng stepped forward to persuade him, “Young Master, we are penniless right now. Our only choice is to enter the city and seek help from Governor Cheng. Once we are inside and meet him, he will surely get justice for you.”
“Fine!”
Fang Shuo made a mental note of Cui He's face, thinking that once he found Cheng Ji inside, he would teach her a harsh lesson.
Before long, the master and servant followed the soldier into a strange house with off-white walls.
The moment Fang Shuo stepped through the door, his feet became rooted to the spot.
A single, massive pane of glass for a window.
It was flawless glass, so clear and translucent that one would almost think nothing was there at all.
Fang Shuo's pupils dilated in shock, and he asked in a trembling voice, “Ah Zheng, am I seeing things? Is that... is that glass?!”
He also had glass at home—a single glass cup that had cost him a whopping eight thousand taels.
That glass cup wasn't large, but it was exquisite and beautiful. He had always treasured it like a precious heirloom, reluctant to even use it.
Yet here in Yecheng...
They used such a massive pane of glass as a window?!
Fang Shuo stared intently at the glass window, feeling his worldview shatter piece by piece.
“Isn't this a reckless waste of precious resources?!”
Ah Zheng swallowed hard with difficulty. “Young Master, I think they might just not know its true value...”
...
Meanwhile.
Through her surveillance monitor, Yun Shu saw everything that Fang Shuo and Ah Zheng were experiencing.
They were being sent to dig coal?
That was truly a perfect coincidence.
She could kill two birds with one stone.
Lowering her eyes in thought for a moment, she took out two industrial products she had previously obtained from the Casket of a Hundred Crafts.
Mine carts and safety lamps.
Placing these two items in the mine would greatly increase mining efficiency and the personal safety of the miners.
Now was the perfect time to introduce them.
Rate on N.U.
