In years of famine and drought, their village even rejected fatty meat.

Chapter 208 Li Qingyun

Zhao Kang picked up a piece of chicken and put it in his mouth. After chewing, a sense of satisfaction welled up in his heart. Meat was undoubtedly a scarce commodity for farmers in those days. Even in years of good harvest, Zhao Kang's family rarely had meat to eat. It was only when Chenjia Village sent out betrothal gifts that his family was able to eat some meat. Otherwise, his expression at this moment would probably be even more exaggerated.

Even Li Qiang and Li Qian were extremely satisfied. As the village head of Xiahe Village, Li Qiang's family was indeed better off than the average villager, but the advantage was still limited. Meat was a rare treat for him, not to mention...

The chicken on the table was made from a whole yellow-feathered chicken. It was a large portion and very oily. While we wouldn't say they could eat as much as they wanted, it would certainly be enough for them to have a full meal with white rice and steamed buns.

"There was plenty of chicken, everyone ate a lot!"

Chen Dao gestured for everyone to eat more meat, but he himself didn't eat much. He only symbolically picked up a piece of chicken, then served himself a bowl of egg drop soup and ate a steamed bun with it.

The others at the table didn't stand on ceremony either, and they all reached out their chopsticks to pick up chicken and eat, each with a happy smile on their face, even the children at the next table, including Chen Fei.

…………

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"Sir, your letter."

Just as the entire Chen family village was celebrating the wedding of the three Chen brothers,

In the residence of Magistrate Li Qingyun in Ding'an County, a servant delivered a letter to Li Qingyun.

As Li Qingyun took the letter, he asked his servant, "Who delivered this letter?"

"It was delivered by people from the Dingyuan Escort Agency."

The servant reported, "It is said that someone asked their bodyguards to bring it from Taiping County."

"Taiping County..."

Li Qingyun was taken aback, and a figure immediately appeared in his mind.

Looking down at the letter, sure enough, it contained the three characters "Xu Zhiwen," and the handwriting was quite familiar.

"Brother Xu..."

A hint of dazedness flashed in Li Qingyun's eyes as he recalled his former high-spirited self.

He met Xu Zhiwen on their way to the capital for the imperial examination. Perhaps because they both shared the lofty ideals of scholars, they were very compatible and quickly became close friends who could talk about anything. They accompanied each other on their journey to the capital, passed the examination together, ranked among the top three, and were awarded official positions.

Logically speaking, even if they only achieved a third-place ranking in the exam, they would still have had a chance to be selected as probationary officials and gain the opportunity to stay in the capital. Unfortunately...

Both men came from humble backgrounds, or even less. Without any connections or help from the court, they naturally lost this opportunity and could only be assigned by the court to serve as county magistrates in Qingzhou, far from the political center of the Xia Kingdom.

Although they were not selected as probationary scholars, they were still content to serve as magistrates of a county.

Li Qingyun still remembered how spirited he and Xu Zhiwen were when they left the capital, believing that once they arrived at their new posts, they would be able to govern the people and realize their ambitions...

However, the reality was completely different from what Li Qingyun had imagined. Indeed, as the county magistrate, he was theoretically the highest-ranking official in Ding'an County and could command everyone in the county government!

Only after taking office did Li Qingyun realize that things were far more complicated than he had imagined!

In theory, he was indeed the highest-ranking official in Ding'an County, but as the saying goes, "a sedan chair is carried by people," and even though the county magistrate held a high position, he still needed subordinates to do his work.

But what about the facts?

The truth is that, on the surface, the people in the county government were very polite to Li Qingyun, but in reality, no one in the entire county government was willing to listen to Li Qingyun, the county magistrate. The decrees issued by Li Qingyun were difficult to implement outside the county government, let alone outside his own office!

The fact that his subordinates were unwilling to obey Li Qingyun's orders left him feeling helpless. What angered him even more was that... not only did these people disobey his orders, but they also exploited the common people to the bone, causing widespread resentment among the residents of Ding'an County.

Li Qingyun also tried to persuade these county officials to restrain themselves, but while they agreed verbally, they turned around and continued to exploit the people, completely ignoring Li Qingyun's words and not taking him seriously at all!

As for why they dared to disregard Li Qingyun, the reason was quite simple: most of these county clerks were people planted by the Sun family of Ding'an County.

Ding'an County is different from Taiping County. Taiping County is controlled by three major families, while Ding'an County... has only one family, the Sun family!

The Sun family is the largest family in Taiping County, without exception. Their family businesses are spread throughout Ding'an County, and they have countless martial artists. They are an unshakeable behemoth in Ding'an County.

With the Sun family as his backing, the clerks in the county government naturally wouldn't take Li Qingyun seriously.

With his subordinates disobeying his orders, Li Qingyun naturally became isolated, holding the title of county magistrate but having no real power!

Over time, Li Qingyun became lazy and gave up. He often didn't even bother going to the county government office and stayed in his mansion, rarely venturing out.

The mansion where Li Qingyun lives was left behind by the former county magistrate. It is quite large and the environment is extremely elegant, making it a good place to recuperate.

Life is tough!

Li Qingyun sighed, waved for his servants to leave, then opened the envelope, took out the letter, and began to read it.

"Brother Xu's talent far surpasses mine, and he is also skilled in martial arts. His life in Taiping County should be better than mine, right?"

As Li Qingyun read the letter, he muttered to himself, and in no time he had finished reading its contents.

"Fire-patterned Fruit?"

Li Qingyun frowned subconsciously. Xu Zhiwen, who was in Taiping County, might not know much about the Fire Pattern Fruit, but Li Qingyun, as the magistrate of Ding'an County, had heard about it to some extent.

The Fire Pattern Fruit is the fruit of a tree named Fire Pattern Tree in Ding'an County. There is only one Fire Pattern Tree in the entire Ding'an County, and it can only produce 10 to 20 Fire Pattern Fruits each year.

The first person to discover the Fire Pattern Tree was a commoner in Ding'an County a hundred years ago. By chance, the commoner ate a Fire Pattern Fruit and then collapsed and cried out in pain. This immediately attracted the attention of the government at the time. After conducting experiments, the government quickly learned about the effects of the Fire Pattern Fruit.

This fruit tastes bitter. After consuming it, it feels like a raging fire is burning inside the body, as if the five internal organs are being burned. However, after the torment, it can help replenish qi and blood, and the effect is excellent, no less than the medicinal materials used by seventh-grade martial artists!

After learning about the effects of the Fire-Patterned Fruit, the county magistrate immediately reported it to the imperial court!