Chapter 32: Sweeping Servants

  Xiao Jiading is a researcher of legal history, especially the Tang Code. He is very familiar with it and his graduate thesis was written on this aspect. He knows that Tang Lin was one of the main participants in the compilation of "Tang Lv Shu Yi" later on. And the compilation of "Tang Lv Shu Yi" happened two years later, which means that Tang Lin's demotion will not last long and he will soon be reinstated to his original position. Now that he has this great opportunity, he must grasp it firmly and cannot let it slip away!

  Xiao Jia Ding was very excited, but his face showed a disappointed look. He said to Ya Niang: "He helped me so much, I must thank him in person. Can you arrange for me to meet him, have dinner and drinks with him, and let me express my gratitude?"

  "Alright," Yan Niang readily agreed. "I'll deliver the visiting card to him tomorrow, and we won't meet here again, but somewhere else. After it's all arranged, I'll let you know."

  "Great! Thank you!" Xiao Jiading hugged her and gave a peck on her soft, pretty face, gazing at her half-exposed fair skin with a dazed expression. "So tonight it's just the two of us?"

  Ya Niang's face suddenly turned red, and she looked at him: "I'll accompany you to drink, sing and dance for you, but you're not allowed to bully me like yesterday!"

  Nonsense! Men are not bad, women don't love them, and beautiful women in their arms won't let go of the opportunity to take advantage. But for now, I need to rest a bit, that crazy Mei almost sucked me dry earlier. He nodded slightly and said, "Alright!"

  "It's settled! No backing out!"

  "Of course!" Xiang Jia Ding sat down on the couch. Ya Niang ordered the wine and feast to be served.

  The two of them sang and danced, drank wine, and recited poetry until late at night. Of course, later on, after Xiao Jia Ding had somewhat recovered his energy, he still didn't hesitate to hold her again in a gentle caress. Ya Niang blushed and scolded him for not keeping his word, but he just smiled and said that this kind of thing couldn't be taken literally. He even asked her to take the initiative to kiss him, and Ya Niang was so exasperated by his teasing that she had no choice but to obey.

  The music ended and the crowd dispersed. Xiao Jia Ding returned to the government office and slept until the next morning.

  He was woken up by the sound of the yamen's cloud board, and in the morning, the yamen's cloud board had to be struck twice. The first time was to inform the people living in the yamen that it was time to get up, and the second time was to go on duty, equivalent to a school bell. After the first cloud board sounded, Xiao Jia Ding really didn't want to get out of bed, but today was his first day as the county magistrate's personal secretary, and he couldn't be late. He had to give the county magistrate a good impression. This was the beginning of his ability to make it in the Tang Dynasty, and he couldn't mess it up. This opportunity was hard to come by.

  He forced himself to get out of bed, as there were no servants to attend to him and he had to do everything by himself. Xiao Jiading put on his clothes and went to wash up with water. After tidying up, he came to the entrance of the signing room to wait. The inner gate of the county magistrate's office was not yet open, and other officials were also not present, except for a few servants who lived in the government office and started sweeping the floor, there was no one else in the courtyard.

  Xiao Jiading felt that he was too enthusiastic, and he was hesitant about whether to go back to the house to rest for a while before coming again. At this time, he saw two people entering from the corner door of the second hall. The first middle-aged man looked at Xiao Jiading, turned his head to ask the person behind him. That person raised his head and took a look at Xiao Jiading, then quickly lowered his head and nodded.

  The middle-aged man showed a pleased expression and stared at the young man following him, as if urging him to hurry up.

  Two men, one in front and one behind, came before Xiao Jia Ding. Only then did Xiao Jia Ding see clearly that the middle-aged man was someone he had seen yesterday, Tang Xian, the officer of the local government office, who was also the father of Tang Gongzi Tang Rongxuan, the one who had threatened him and told him to wait and see. The person behind with his head lowered didn't need to be looked at to know that it was his son Tang Rongxuan!

  Xiao Jiading immediately understood what was going on from the expressions of the two people. He originally had a smile on his face, but he immediately put on a straight face, pretending not to have seen them, and looked up at the sky as if admiring the morning scenery. But in reality, what scenery was there that was worth savoring so much?

  The middle-aged man came before Xiao Jia Ding and cupped his hands in greeting: "Xiao Zhixi!"

  Xiao Jia Ding finally withdrew his gaze and cupped his hands, pretending to be unsure who the other person was, saying: "You are...?"

  "This is Tan Xian, the household assistant of our county government. You met him yesterday when County Lieutenant Deng brought you to the household office. Haha... He turned around and pointed at Tan Rongxuan behind him: "This is my useless son. He didn't know your identity, so he spoke out of turn a few days ago, offended you, and still asked for your forgiveness. Today, I've brought this son specifically to apologize to you. —— Hurry up and go apologize to Lieutenant Deng!" Tan Xian harshly ordered Tan Rongxuan."

  Tang Rongxuan's face, which was quite handsome, now looked like the morning clouds in the sky, sometimes red and sometimes white. He walked forward with his head down, bowed to Xiao Jia Ding, and said: "Sorry, Xiao Zhiyi."

  Xiao Jia Ding stepped aside, not accepting his courtesy, and said lightly: "There's nothing to apologize for, what you said is right, I was originally a mud-legged person, I didn't have the qualifications to be among those talented people in that peach forest, so it's justified that you ordered your servants to beat me up. You even spared my life, I should thank you for showing mercy. As for yesterday, ordering your servants to bind me was also justified, your respected father is a powerful official, his hand can cover the sky. Beating up a small book officer like me while bound is also within your power, who made me just a small book officer?"

  These words were half true and half false, coldly ridiculing and sarcastically remarking, making Tang Rongxuan extremely embarrassed. His father, Tang Xian, was so angry that his eyes were about to spout fire. These things the son had not told him, and without saying another word, he turned around and gave his son Tang Rongxuan a loud slap on the ear! The slap made Tang Rongxuan spin around in a circle, and half of his face immediately swelled up red.

  Tang Xian pointed at his son and scolded, "You ungrateful son! So you've done so many evil things! You deceive your father, avoiding the heavy and lightening the load, causing trouble every day. You even bullied Xi Yi's family! What day will you not bring about an even greater disaster? Rather than being dragged down to death by you, it would be better to beat you to death today!"

  Tang Xian picked up the broom in the corner of the wall and started hitting him. Tang Rongxuan squatted on the ground, holding his head and begging for mercy.

  Xiao Jia Ding coldly gazed at him, thinking that he was just pretending to hit the child with a broom. The child's cries didn't sound very pitiful either. He sneered and said: "Tang Hu Zu, if you want to scratch your son's itch, go back home and do it slowly."

  Tang Xian's old face suddenly turned red, and he immediately turned around with the broom, using the bamboo pole to swing it in a circle towards his son. He was afraid that Xiao Jia Ding would mock him again for not using enough force, so this time he almost used all his strength, beating Tang Rong Xuan until he hugged his head and jumped up and down, wailing pitifully. This time he really let out a blood-curdling scream, the sound of the bamboo pole hitting flesh was also very solid and loud.

  At this time, several bookkeepers had come to the government office, including those from the household department. Seeing Hu Zuo brutally beating his son, they were shocked and rushed over to try to mediate.

  Seeing the book officials entering the corner gate, Xiao Jia Ding knew they would block him, so he hurriedly rushed forward, stretched out his hand to grab the broom in Tang Xian's hand, and loudly said: "Ah, Tang Hu Zu, what are you doing? How can you beat your son like this? This is going to ruin him!"

  Tang Xian was waiting for him to come and persuade, but he never came, so Tang Xian had no choice but to continue beating his son. Now, he finally came over to persuade, Tang Xian originally wanted him to grab the bamboo pole away, but Xiao Jia Ding's hands grasped in mid-air, yet he couldn't grasp the bamboo pole in his hand, so he could only continue to beat his son mercilessly. He beat Tang Rongxuan until he let out a miserable cry like a slaughtered pig.

  Just as the several book clerks were about to rush over, Xiao Jia Ding finally grabbed the bamboo pole from Tang Xian's hand and snatched it away, throwing it far away. "Tang Hu Suo, you can't hit him again! If you hit him again, you'll kill your son! What is this for? Why are you using such heavy hands? Ah, even if the child did something wrong, he can't be beaten like this. What if he's seriously injured?"

  Those book boys also persuaded Tang Xian. Tang Xian heard Xiao Jia Ding deliberately say that he didn't know what reason to beat his son, so he knew that he didn't want others to know that he was teaching him in front of everyone because his son had offended him. He went along with his words and said: "This rebellious son has never been good, it's infuriating me! If I don't teach him a lesson, he'll probably bring even greater disaster upon himself in the future! Don't stop me, let me beat him to death!"

  Those several bookkeepers hastily hugged his waist and blocked him. One of the bookkeepers quickly picked up the broom and put it on the other side of the wall.

  Xiao Jiading saw more clerks coming in, so he said to Tang Xian: "Alright, let's talk about this at home. Although you teaching your son is none of our business, but this is a government office, and it doesn't look good for colleagues to see."

  The other bookkeepers also hurriedly persuaded Tang Xian. Only then did Tang Xian, still fuming, say to his son: "Don't you go back and study? You really want to infuriate me to death? Scram!"

  Tang Rongxuan was beaten until his body had bruises all over, with some areas turning purple, and several large bumps appeared on his head. The pain brought tears to his eyes as he repeatedly nodded and hastily rubbed the affected areas while rushing out.

  Tang Xian looked at Xiao Jia Ding, thinking about how to apologize to him properly again. However, with the clerk by his side, he couldn't bring himself to speak up. Just then, Wen Zhu Bo entered and saw Xiao Jia Ding, immediately beaming with a smile as he quickly walked over, chuckling and bowing his hands in greeting: "Xiao Zhi Yi, how was your sleep last night?"

  Xiao Jiading hurriedly returned the courtesy, smiling and saying: "It's fine, the yamen is very quiet, I slept until dawn. Almost didn't hear the cloud board sound."

  The host laughed loudly and saw Tang Xian beside him, saying: "Tang Hu Zu, do you have something to say?"

  Because Xiao Jiading was standing at the gate of the county magistrate's signing room, while the account house was in the front wing.