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Chapter 135

In You Ran Ju restaurant, Zheng Ruqian, who was chatting and drinking tea with the owner, paused and tilted his head slightly.

In the small courtyard filled with flowers, Fang Heng aimed his hefty chopping knife directly eastward and powerfully swung it down, slicing the air.

In Wen\'s Clinic, Wen Zhiyun, who was receiving his third customer of the day, suddenly retracted his three fingers that were feeling the pulse and glanced at the east gate of the city.

In the Wang family\'s large courtyard, Wang Fufeng, who was playing chess with Chang Yan, placed a critical piece on the board, and the corners of his lips turned up. "It\'s about time," he said.

Just then, a servant came to report, "Master, the Anshui prefect has arrived at the east gate. The Liu, Sun, Wu, and Bian families and other prominent families have already gotten into their carriages to go welcome him."

Although the saying goes that strong dragons do not overwhelm local snakes, the common people also do not fight with officials, especially the local gentry families, who were basically unwilling to offend local officials.

Wang Fufeng had always looked down on this "collusion," but today he still had to go, not only for the sake of the Wang family, but also for his bosom friend.

Without any hesitation, the slender youth stood up, brushed his sleeve with one hand, and said, "Let\'s go welcome this prefect together."

After taking two steps, seeing that Chang Yan had not moved, he raised his eyebrows again. "What\'s the matter, are you afraid?"

The 10-year-old boy immediately laughed.

With all the preparations the brothers had made, they were ready to take action long ago. How could they possibly be afraid?

"I\'m afraid my brothers will blame me for going to watch the liveliness alone," Chang Yan said with a tilt of his head and a smile, as he stepped forward to follow along.

The carriage bumped along all the way, and soon arrived at the east gate of Anshui Prefecture, where the local gentry families had been waiting. Seeing the Wang family carriage arrive, some snorted disdainfully while others turned up their noses.

The Sun family had the biggest reaction. They first glared aggressively, but soon glanced at the approaching convoy, and their expressions changed to smugness, like wild boars waiting for their master to show them favor.

Wang Fufeng pretended not to see them, and had someone help him down from the carriage.

Chang Yan followed closely behind.

Just as they had both gotten out, the earth shook and rumbled from the east side of the city, as a convoy of seven or eight carriages charged over at high speed.

Because of the high speed, when they stopped, all the local gentry present ended up with a face full of dust.

Wang Fufeng had the foresight to use his wide sleeves to shield his face, while also helping to cover Chang Yan.

After the dust settled, he winked at Chang Yan and said, "Don\'t forget to tell your big brother it was me who protected your mouth."

Chang Yan: "..."

He silently turned his head to look at the convoy that had revealed itself.

The other prominent families had already crowded around the first carriage to bow and greet in unison, "Prefect, you\'ve worked hard on the long trip."

However, there was no movement from within the carriage.

The families looked at each other in confusion, then once again bent down to pay their respects.

Still no response.

Unable to endure it, someone from the Sun family, relying on convoluted connections with relatives, carefully pushed aside a corner of the carriage curtain.

There was no dignified official\'s robe of the prefect, nor a middle-aged face with a beard. There was only a fat baby, fast asleep and drooling, with his arms that looked like sections of lotus root spread out shamelessly.

The Sun family patriarch shuddered in fright and quickly retracted his hand, searching the other carriages repeatedly with his eyes.

After a while, the third carriage finally made some noise, and a man in his thirties got out.

He was wearing the official uniform of the Anshui prefect. He was eight chi tall, quite handsome in appearance, though his complexion was somewhat dark, and his lips were covered with a layer of short, stiff stubble, making him look rather majestic and cold.

"Greetings to you, sir." The families bowed again.

The Anshui prefect did not speak, only nodded slightly, and finally rested his gaze on Wang Fufeng, seemingly puzzled why he did not bow.

The youth smiled lightly and gracefully bent down in greeting. "Greetings to you, sir. You must be tired from the long trip."

This was in stark contrast to the other clumsy, middle-aged family heads.

The Anshui prefect raised his eyebrows and shifted his gaze to Chang Yan. Suddenly, a deep crease formed between his brows.

Thinking he was displeased, Wang Fufeng swiftly moved to stand in front of Chang Yan and gently explained, "My young brother is too little to know etiquette, please forgive him for the amusement, sir."

This was actually copying Xu Mo\'s way of addressing Chang Yan, but it made the Anshui prefect mistakenly believe that "Chang Yan was a child of the Wang family."

The deep crease between the man\'s brows slowly relaxed, and he let out a breath.

He had just thought that in a remote place like Anshui Prefecture, how could there be a child so familiar, vaguely resembling someone he\'d seen in Fengjing before, but was unable to recall specifically.

It must be because he had sat in the carriage for too long and was seeing things.

The Anshui prefect shifted his gaze back to the other family heads. "Gentlemen, there is no need for excessive courtesy. He just arrived here, and hopes you will cooperate over the next three years."

They were all sly old foxes. Whether they would cooperate or not, with the families lording over Anshui Prefecture, they only needed to give each other some mutual benefits.

The only one he was really looking forward to was the Sun family patriarch.

He couldn\'t even wait privately, directly stepping forward and saying, "This commoner has prepared a welcoming banquet for you sir at You Ran Ju restaurant, and hopes that you will graciously attend to sample the local flavors."

The prefect\'s expression changed, seemingly deliberating over something, but soon made a decision. "Then I\'ll have to trouble Old Master Sun."

The other families were shocked, resentful that the Suns were taking the limelight, while some took a wait-and-see attitude.

Wang Fufeng whispered to Chang Yan, "The Suns can\'t wait anymore."

The prefect could also see that, which was why he had hesitated slightly before agreeing to the Sun family\'s invitation.

But since he still accepted their banquet invitation, it showed he also couldn\'t wait... to deal with Fang Heng.

The corners of Chang Yan\'s lips turned up as he stood still and did not move.

Only the prefect\'s convoy slowly moved forward, allowing him to smell the scent of milk from the first carriage, and the fragrance of cosmetics from the second carriage.

Staring at the prefect\'s broad back, Chang Yan laughed with seeming understanding.

In the end, only the Sun family went to the welcoming banquet at You Ran Ju.

No one knew what they had discussed, only that on the second day, the prefect swept away many of the previous prefect\'s regulations with a big wave of his hand, while also adding some new rules.

For example, the waived entry taxes for Xieyang County were reinstated.

Also, inspections for those entering and leaving the city became much stricter. In the past, checking only the registered home place had been enough, but now they had to also trace back three generations of ancestry, in addition to inspecting luggage.

The common people dared not speak out loud, but complained incessantly, especially Bian Wenxuan, who was so angry he almost blew up, repeatedly submitting requests to meet with the prefect.

The prefect completely ignored him, neither declining nor agreeing, then sent a letter to the Bian family.

Poor Magistrate Bian finally loved the people like his own children, but after being scolded by his parents, he gave up.

Still, unwilling to watch the population of his county decrease, he went to find Wang Xi and asked him to make good on his earlier promise.

"Our master said that Teacher Xu would definitely do something about Xieyang County\'s affairs," Wang Xi said while ashamed. "Xieyang County was already poor to begin with. Waiving the entry and exit taxes attracted many merchants to settle down. Now with the taxes being collected again, many merchants are shouting that they want to move away."

Consumption drives the economy, and the economy drives development.

Without these merchants, there would be no attractive environment to draw people in, and without an environment, naturally no residents would be attracted. If this continued, Xieyang County would sooner or later become destitute.