Fate with you

Swallows do not return to the late spring, and the apricot blossoms are cold.

In April in the south of the Yangtze River, in the late spring, the colorful scenery is gradually covered by dark green colors.Looking around, it is full of vitality and poetic flavor.

Fortunately, the whole journey was sunny with a breeze, but as soon as we arrived in Zhejiang Province, it started to drizzle.The drizzle in the south of the Yangtze River is like a beautiful and meticulous woman in the south of the Yangtze River. It falls obliquely and densely, and soon gets wet with clothes.

Sitting in the carriage, Mu Sheng raised the curtains from time to time to see where she was and how the disaster-stricken villages were recovering.Seeing that the rain is unabated, even if it is drizzle, walking for an hour will still bring chills into the body.

"Bolin."

A young servant riding a horse outside the carriage hurriedly squeezed the horse's belly and leaned over: "Miss?"

"Is there a resting place ahead? Let's rest for a while and wait for the rain to stop before we go." It's almost a day's journey from Lin'an City, and we will definitely be able to arrive before tomorrow evening, so there is no need to rush so fast.

Bo Lin looked forward for a moment, then bowed down, and said respectfully: "Further ahead, the old man, there is a manor, but I don't know who the owner is? Can you entertain travelers." A local old man asked for directions, so he decided on the place to stay. Now he looked around and counted the time, and it was almost time to meet the big manor that the old man said.

"Go and ask, be polite, just say that you are passing by and doing business, begging for tea, I am sure the host will not refuse us at the door." Mu Sheng didn't like to disturb the people. Claiming to be a passing merchant.

Bo Lin Gong promised, and galloped away.

There are not many servants in the Bo family, only a dozen or so in total, but I don't know how the original head of the family selected and taught them, all of them are loyal and reliable.When Mu Sheng went out of Beijing this time, he only brought seven young and strong servants with him, plus two maids who waited on clothes, and the rest of the old servants stayed in Beijing to look after the house.Among the seven people, Bo Lin was the leader.

When she was in Beijing, Mu Sheng was occasionally invited to dinners or medical consultations at dignitaries' residences. She intended to train a servant who could help her, so she took Bo Lin with her from time to time. After a few visits, he was already able to deal with it graciously. , And know how to draw inferences from one instance, very flexible.It relieved Mu Sheng a lot.

This time, let him be the outer housekeeper of the county guard's mansion, dealing with human relations and dealing with people. As for the inner housekeeper, she is the only one after all. It is very easy, and a maid can be competent.

To fight against the outside world, we must first settle down inside.Only after the arrangements are made at the government can there be no worries.Mu Sheng planned in her heart one by one the servants she brought, and placed them in appropriate positions to ensure that her sheriff's mansion would be as strong as gold.

After a while, Bo Lin came back. The owner of the manor was not there, and the steward agreed to let them rest for a while.A group of people immediately stepped on their horses and rushed over.

Although the rain was light, it was wet and greasy on the body, which was very uncomfortable.

Standing under the eaves, Mu Sheng told Bo Lin: "When you arrive at the post station at night, you should take the decoction and medicine, don't catch cold."

Bo Lin immediately laughed and said: "Miss is a medical doctor, it's very cheap, but I will ask you to give me prescriptions when the time comes."

Mu Sheng gave him an angry look: "What's so difficult about this?"

She was good-looking, with a face as snowy as jade, tall and tall, with a noble temperament. Bo Lin always knew that his young lady had an outstanding appearance. Now that she was covered by green trees and the drizzle was falling, she couldn't help but gasped. , hurriedly lowered his head, not daring to look again.

Mu Sheng didn't pay attention, she turned her eyes to other places, and saw a plaque hanging in the main house in the south, with the inscription "Ming Se Kuang Yuan".She couldn't help asking: "Who is the owner of this house?"

Bo Lin didn't know why she asked this question, so he said, "The surname is Huang, but I don't know the name."

Surname Huang?There are four surnames in Jiangnan, Zhu, Cheng, Huang, and Cui. I don't know if it's Huang.

Thinking back just now when I walked in, the layout I saw along the way was exquisite, the servants were solemn, and the steps and paths were not stained. Real gold and silver, ingeniously thoughtful in the details.

Mu Sheng lowered her eyes and pondered for a moment, then told Bo Lin: "Go ahead and rest where you are, don't walk around, and when the rain stops, we'll be on our way."

It is difficult to be a local official. Not only do you have to be in charge of the government, but you also have to make good friends with the local tyrants. It's not good to get along with them. They have a lot of ways to deal with perfunctory government orders face to face.What's more, there are quite a few like the Cui family, so many of them are the children of officials who are outside the family.

Mu Sheng doesn't want to make trouble out of the ordinary.She also inquired a lot about the situation in Lin'an along the way.Being an official should not be too lonely, she also thought about making good friends with one or two of them, using the method of checks and balances, raising one and suppressing the other, at least freeing her hands to do some practical things for the people, instead of dealing with the interests of these wealthy families every day middle.

However, even if we want to make friends, it is not now.Now she has never entered the first family, let alone handed over government affairs. If she contacts the wealthy family at this time, she will inevitably be a weak person who is driven to curry favor with others.

After two moments, the rain stopped.The emerald green leaves are like a layer of mist, and the road is also wet.

Mu Sheng walked down the steps, the air outside was fresh.As she strode forward, she said to the people behind her without looking back: "Let's go."

They were received by an old man, an old slave of the Huang family, who guarded the garden here.

Mu Sheng thanked him, and ordered Bo Lin to leave a piece of money, before he led the crowd to leave.

When he got to the door, he met a man who got off his horse.

This man was extremely handsome, but he was full of bookishness, but he didn't appear dull, on the contrary, he was very high-spirited.As soon as he dismounted from his horse, he met a Qingwan woman striding from home, her demeanor was indescribably dazzling.

The man was stunned for a moment, and was about to go up to pay a visit, when the old man who led Mu Sheng out exclaimed, stepped forward and said, "Seventh Young Master? Why did Seventh Young Master come here? Can he get wet? Hurry up and follow him." The old slave is going to change clothes!"

Uncle An was his grandfather's loyal servant, and he was placed here when he was old, so that he could take care of him for the rest of his life. When he saw the junior, he always loved him very much. The seventh son usually didn't notice it, but at this time he couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed in front of the beautiful woman. He hurriedly said: "Uncle An, Uncle An, please be quiet and don't be impatient."

Only then did Uncle An realize that there was still a guest here, so he hurriedly introduced: "This is the seventh son of my family. His surname is Huang, his name is Kuang, and his style name is Fengzhi. My son." The old man said with a proud look on his face, and then introduced Mu Sheng: "This is Miss Bo, a businessman passing by, and it's raining, so she's resting at home."

Hearing Uncle An's series of compliments, he was not very respectful when he introduced this young lady. Huang Kuang was afraid of neglecting him, so he hurriedly bowed and said, "Our family is cold and narrow, so I neglected Miss, Wang Haihan."

Mu Sheng has been standing there with a smile on her face since just now, she doesn't mind the old man's impoliteness, he's just a passer-by, with a family like the Huang's, there are countless passers-by greeted every month.Seeing that the young man was very polite, and seeing that although he was wearing a coir raincoat, his hair was covered with a layer of crystal rain. I thought I didn't want to talk about it, so I returned a salute and said, "Young Master Huang, you are very polite. Thanks to the rain when you travel to the most precious place." The noble mansion gave me a helping hand, and taught me not to rush on my way in embarrassment." After finishing speaking, before Huang Kuang could speak, he said again: "The sky has cleared up, don't dare to disturb me, so I will leave now."

After saying that, he cupped his hands and walked out.The carriage was parked nearby, and Mu Sheng didn't need anyone to help her, so she went up and sat down neatly.Several house servants were all well-trained and vigorously mounted their horses, guarding around the carriage, and ran towards the official road.

Huang Kuang stopped to look at it for a while, then suddenly frowned, and asked, "This lady said she was a passing merchant?"

"That's right. Even though he is a merchant, his manners are very considerate." Uncle An said.The atmosphere in Dajin is very open-minded. The richer the family, the less restrained their daughters are. It is not surprising that rich families have daughters who are businessmen.

Huang Kuang shook his head, and said: "Two days ago, I heard from my father that the new governor is a woman named Bo, who happens to be surnamed Bo. Counting the distance, I should arrive in Lin'an City in the next few days."

Uncle An gave an "Ah" in surprise, and then said: "What can the lord do? She didn't reveal her identity, we are not rude, but the seventh son, let's go and change clothes quickly with the old slave. "

Huang Kuang was still staring into the distance. Hearing what he said, he couldn't help turning his head and laughing: "Go now, stop nagging, go back to my house and tell my grandfather that you are still worrying about this and that while you're here. you."

After finishing speaking, he threw the riding whip in his hand to the boy beside him, and walked in.

Uncle An followed behind with a smile, and kept asking: "How is the old man? How is the old lady? And how are the master, wife, and young lady?"

In the afternoon of the next day, Mu Sheng arrived in Lin'an, and showed the letter of appointment and seal to the guard at the gate of the city, and then the guard sent someone to pass the letter to the county guard's yamen, and all the officials in the yamen went out to greet her.

When Mu Sheng arrived at the Yamen, he handed over non-stop.The former sheriff was captured by Lord Huai'an and escorted to the capital. Now, all the bones of that sheriff are buried on the mountain.The following affairs are all temporarily replaced by the county prime minister.Mu Sheng then listened to the county magistrate's chief bookkeeper, meritorious officer, Dianju and other officials reporting on all the affairs, big and small, as well as the county's population, land registers, past years' rent and tax collection accounts, corvee collection and issuance, and correspondence documents, etc. Wait, wait, all must be delivered clearly.

These things can't be done in ten days and half a month.

Mu Sheng thought to herself, she still needs to meet the envoy, Lin'an, the seat of the state government, and the governor is in Lin'an; at this time, the spring plowing is over, so she doesn't need to organize it, but to prevent summer rain, and there are dams to be built, so she has to Levy corvee.There is not enough time, and the delivery needs to be completed as soon as possible.

The first time it was released, she also fumbled step by step, being careful in everything.

In the evening, the handover of seals and the like is over. Mu Sheng ordered to hand over the situation of corvée and civil servants over the years the next day. Do not interfere with the construction of dams.

Although this magistrate is young, it is not that she is ignorant of common affairs. She will take precautions and make two-handed preparations. A group of officials temporarily put aside their contempt. They have already hosted a banquet in the most luxurious restaurant in the local area to clean up the dust for the county sheriff.