Wuming was named without distinction and no position, but Zhang Huaiyu still stayed in Shiqiao Village without saying a word, silently doing something for Gu Qing.

A girl under twenty years old, enduring a boring life day after day, doing everything for another person alone in a strange mountain village. Why?

Even Zhang Huaiyu rarely asked himself this question.

Some feelings in the world are like wine sealed in a jar. Only time can make it mellow. All the passionate love at first sight is so shallow in comparison. Only by striving for youth can this period of time in life shine brightly.

The supervisors practiced for an afternoon. In the evening, Zhang Huaiyu returned to the deserted room, raising charcoal fire alone, sat next to the brazier, holding her cheeks and began to daze.

The sound of light footsteps came outside the house. Xiu'er walked in with the food box. When Zhang Huaiyu saw her, a gentle smile appeared on the corner of her mouth.

She likes the girl Xiu'er very much. She doesn't talk much, but she is hardworking and sensible, and she is very good at cooking. Even though she is now the fiancée of the county magistrate, she still maintains her frugality and has never been as arrogant as a county magistrate's wife in front of the villagers. She is still the timid and inferior girl at the time, but she no longer has to worry about her livelihood.

Xiu'er smiled timidly at Zhang Huaiyu after entering the house, then opened the food box, brought out the hot food, and carefully arranged the dishes and chopsticks for Zhang Huaiyu.

"Xiu'er, have you eaten it?" Zhang Huaiyu asked with a smile.

Xiu'er pursed her lips and smiled, nodding.

Zhang Huaiyu smiled and said, "Then I'm not polite, you can do it yourself."

As he said that, Zhang Huaiyu picked up the bowl to eat, Xiu'er looked at her from the side, her eyes full of envy.

She envied Zhang Huaiyu's undisputed personality and also envied Zhang Huaiyu's courage to love and hate. She stayed in a strange mountain village without name and nowhere to be separated for a man, and she couldn't do such a thing.

Fiancé Song Gensheng is not good at expressing his feelings. From the time they got engaged to the two, Song Gensheng has been working in the county government office and rarely returns to Shiqiao Village. Xiu'er rarely takes the initiative to visit him in the county government office. Both of them are obviously less than 20 years old, but they live a life more dull than an old husband and wife.

After eating three bowls of rice, Zhang Huaiyu stroked her stomach contentedly, and the corners of her mouth suddenly curled. If Gu Qing was there, she would definitely laugh at her appetite again. The harmful sentences that came out of his mouth were even more poisonous than arsenic.

After dinner, Xiu'er brought out a pot of wine from the bottom of the food box like a magic trick. Zhang Huaiyu took it happily, and then said in disappointment: "Why are you just that little?"

Xiu'er smiled: "When Brother Gu left, he specifically reminded Feng Aweng to ask the villagers to give you less alcohol. He also said that he was like an alcoholic at a young age and would definitely become dementia after he was fifty. He said that he didn't want to see a middle-aged woman sitting on the patio while smirking and drooling..."

Zhang Huaiyu was furious and wanted to laugh again. After hesitating whether to be angry or laugh, he still laughed.

"Bah! I won't be stupid even if he is stupid." Zhang Huaiyu spat.

After taking the wine pot, Zhang Huaiyu took a sip of it in the spout. She had very little wine and she cherished it.

Xiu'er stared at her face and suddenly said, "Sister Huaiyu, you obviously have Brother Gu in your heart, why don't you tell him?"

Zhang Huaiyu's pretty face gradually turned red, as if she was drunk.

"Have you told Song Gensheng?" Zhang Huaiyu asked back without answering.

Xiu'er shook her head and smiled shyly, "I've gotten engaged to him, what does it matter if I say it or not."

"Entering is engagement, and it is different from expressing love."

Xiu'er sighed quietly: "I have never said it, nor has he ever said that he is too busy, especially after becoming the county magistrate, he is so busy that he doesn't even have enough time to sleep. How can I bear to disturb him with these little love affairs?"

Zhang Huaiyu casually fiddled with the wine pot in her hand and said lightly: "How is Song Gensheng's nerd as a county magistrate? Can such a dull and dull person be a good county magistrate?"

Xiu'er hurriedly defended: "He is very good at being a county magistrate. Although he is dull, he is very diligent and never greedy for money. After taking office, he was busy in charge of the county's autumn harvest, and was also worried about land reclamation, planting mulberry trees, and building embankments, etc. It was very hard."

Zhang Huaiyu looked at her with a funny look and said, "What are you anxious about? I didn't say bad things about him. He was a nerd. Moreover, hard work and whether it was effective are two different things. If the method is wrong and the means are wrong, you often get half the result with twice the result and end up being in a bad reputation. You should remind him to be an official, be too rigid, be flexible in encountering things, know how to adapt, and know how to compromise. It is a huge difficulty to balance the power of the landlords and gentry in the county, but don't make trouble in front of those people."

Xiu'er lowered her head and muttered, "Anyway... he is doing a good job as an official."

Zhang Huaiyu laughed: "Okay, okay, he is a good official, he is a flawless county magistrate, right? He hasn't married yet, so he is full of confidence in protecting his husband."

Xiu'er's face turned red and she lowered her head and said nothing.

After silently packing the dishes, Xiu'er picked up the food box and was about to leave, she suddenly wanted to speak but stopped.

Zhang Huaiyu smiled and said, "What's wrong? You can pick up the wine pot tomorrow."

Xiu'er shook her head, hesitated for a while, and said silly: "I don't know if I should say something..."

"Speak if you have something to do, hurry up."

Xiu'er whispered: "Yesterday I went to the county government office and gave him winter clothes. I accidentally heard the county government office chatting and said that Gensheng had offended people."

Zhang Huaiyu said casually: "He is the county magistrate, and administration will inevitably offend people. What's so strange about it?"

"I heard that he offended the gentry in the county, and there are even bigger figures behind the gentry. This matter is a bit troublesome." Xiu'er said with a sad face.

Zhang Huaiyu put down the wine pot and his expression became solemn: "Which gentry in the county? Which big man is behind it?"

Xiu'er shook her head: "I don't know, I just heard that it is quite a bit of a small background."

"What did Song Gensheng do to offend people?"

Xiu'er said aloud: "I heard it was related to the land in the county... Later, I asked him, but he laughed and said it was okay and he didn't want to tell me anything. I was a woman and it was not convenient for me to ask about men, so I had to come back."

Zhang Huaiyu's expression became more and more serious, and he frowned and murmured: "About the land? Which gentry in the county has a big shot behind it?"

Xiu'er said nervously: "Maybe... it's a scare? The gentry is just a landlord. Even if he offended the landlord, he would not dare to fight with the official."

Zhang Huaiyu shook his head: "The county magistrate may not be very big, and the gentry may not be just gentry. Since the beginning of Kaiyuan, many powerful princes and princes have sent their slaves to occupy farmland in various parts of the Tang Dynasty. Because they are afraid that the censors in the court will impeach, the farmland occupied by the powerful is often recorded in the name of irrelevant gentry, and the gentry will be managed by the gentry. The money and food they earn every year are secretly given to the powerful. I hope that Song Gensheng will not offend such gentry, otherwise there will be a big trouble."

Xiu'er showed nervousness: "Is it a lot of trouble?"

"Land and land are the foundation of the powerful and powerful. It is left to pass on to their descendants for generations. It is more important than money. If Song Gensheng touches other people's land, would you say it's a big trouble?"

Xiu'er suddenly became a little anxious and said in panic: "What should I do?"

Zhang Huaiyu rubbed his forehead and sighed: "This nerd is so reckless in doing things. Fortunately, Gu Qing is smarter than him, otherwise I wouldn't think it would be enough to beat him three times a day..."

Xiu'er hurriedly grabbed her sleeve: "Sister Huaiyu, please help him..."

Zhang Huaiyu said helplessly: "If it weren't for the sake of being Gu Qing's brother... I'll go to the county government overnight and ask in person first."

There was still some wine in the pot. Zhang Huaiyu picked up the pot and drank it all, raised her sleeve and wiped her mouth randomly, and said calmly: "I'm leaving."

After saying that, Zhang Huaiyu strode out the door.

…………

It was two hours after Zhang Huaiyu arrived at Qingcheng County Government. It was midnight and the county government was silent inside and outside. Under the yellow lantern at the door, two servants dozed off with their backs against the corridor column.

Zhang Huaiyu did not disturb them. Such a guard was useless for her and she was too lazy to go through the process of asking for a message. Zhang Huaiyu pulled out her body and flew into the wall of the county government. After searching for a while, she found the house where Song Gensheng was responsible.

There was an oil lamp in the room, and Song Gensheng was wearing a thick fur coat, and was writing something at his desk.

There was no charcoal fire at the edge of the table, and Song Gensheng was so cold that he shivered. He wrote a few lines and put the pen on his pen, rubbed his hands to heat up, and then continued to lift the pen and write.

Zhang Huaiyu silently pushed open the door, walked into the room, and looked at him expressionlessly from a distance.

I don’t know how long it took, Song Gensheng seemed to have some senses. He looked up at the corner where the oil lamp could not be shined. Seeing a figure standing quietly, Song Gensheng was frightened and said in surprise: “Who?”

Zhang Huaiyu took two steps, from darkness to brightness, and still stared at him expressionlessly: "It's me."

Song Gensheng breathed a sigh of relief and said with a smile: "It's scary. Why are you here in the middle of the night?"

Zhang Huaiyu said coldly: "Come to find you."

Song Gensheng was stunned, and then stared at her alertly: "Gu Qing has been away for less than a year, and you actually met a man in the middle of the night. You... I already have a fiancée!"

After a pause, Song Gensheng added: "It is immoral for you to do this!"

Zhang Huaiyu smiled. For Gu Qing's sake, for the sake of someone who can only be considered an acquaintance, she rushed from Shiqiao Village to the county government at night. She was reluctant to do so and was worried that she could not find an excuse to vent. Song Gensheng's words gave her a perfect reason.

So the next moment, Song Gensheng found himself flying backwards, and his body suddenly rose into the air, then fell heavily to the ground. After falling down, he felt a severe pain in his abdomen.

This was not the end. Then Song Gensheng found that his back, abdomen and thighs were being trampled on, and he stepped on countless feet without mercy. It was not until Song Gensheng couldn't help but scream and stopped.

When Song Gensheng sat up with pain and groaning, Zhang Huaiyu sat opposite the table as if nothing had happened, enjoying his slender and white hands with the light of the oil lamp.

"People with some skills may be qualified to be humble, but if you don't have Gu Qing's ability, it's better to control your own mouth, otherwise you will pay a heavy price."

Song Gensheng sat down dejectedly, without any authority as a county magistrate. He knew that in front of Zhang Huaiyu, the county magistrate was nothing.

"You came here in the middle of the night just to beat me up?" Song Gensheng said listlessly.

After beating someone, Zhang Huaiyu felt refreshed and felt much better. She still lowered her head and admired her hands, and said lightly: "Beating you is just by the way. I'm here to ask you, who have you offended recently?"

Song Gensheng hesitated for a moment and said, "A gentry surnamed Cai."

"Why offend him?"

"It occupied more than 300 hectares of farmland in this county, forcing thousands of farmers to become landless refugees and exile, losing all their conscience, and had to ask questions."

Zhang Huaiyu sighed secretly and said, "Before you took office as county magistrate, has anyone ever sued this person with the surname Cai?"

"Anyway, it's all gone."

"Have you ever wondered why previous county magistrates failed to settle it?"

"I know that there are big names behind him, and even the land occupied by his name may not be his land."

"Why do you ask him?"

"Heaven is just and I will not be allowed to sit idly by."

Zhang Huaiyu suddenly fell silent, and after a long time, he smiled bitterly: "I really don't know if Gu Qing asked you to be the county magistrate to help you or harm you..."

Song Gensheng smiled and said, "Being an official only seeks to benefit one person, and he has a clear conscience."

Zhang Huaiyu stared at his face and said, "Do you know what advice I will give you?"

"you say."

"I immediately released the gentry named Cai, sent him home respectfully, and apologized. From then on, I ignored the behavior of Cai, so that you can protect your life and your official position will not be lost."
To be continued...