Chapter Fourteen: Unfavorable Year

  There are good things and bad things in the world, and everyone has different standards for measuring them.

  But in the imperial courts of all dynasties, there is one ugly thing that everyone recognizes, and that is the censorial officials.

  This creature is not a common dislike, in terms of grade, only a small seventh-grade, in terms of talent, an ordinary jinshi origin.

  In the early days of the Ming Dynasty, the Taizu Chengzu Emperor had a strong personality and was decisive in his governance. All matters in the imperial court were decided by the emperor's word, and although there were officials who spoke out, their role was not significant. However, after the reigns of Yingzong and Xuande, the political system of the Ming Dynasty gradually took shape, with the inner court governing, the Imperial Censorate exercising restraint, and the emperor holding a central position. This formed a political landscape where scholars held power over the country, and it was the heyday for officials who spoke out. As a result, low-ranking officials would loudly criticize others in the imperial court, like mad dogs, and even high-ranking officials such as the Minister of War had to avoid their attacks.

  The Censor-in-Chief belonged to this class of officials.

  The imperial historians have the power of supervision, no matter how big an official is in the court, as long as he loses his manners, loses his virtue, or neglects his duties, even if he forgets to wipe his mouth after eating breakfast before attending the court, they are all subject to their impeachment.

  The touring censors, on the other hand, indicate that this type of official is not in charge of officials in the capital, but rather local officials. Since the Hongzhi era, when the system of imperial inspections and court examinations was established, the touring censors were entrusted with examining local areas. This kind of examination was frequent, irregular, and flexible, which became a characteristic of the Ming dynasty's official system. The emperor had the inner court to restrain him, while local officials had their superiors and the touring censors to restrain them, thus avoiding the absolute expansion of power from top to bottom, and thereby bringing disaster to the people.

  The circuit system is actually a good system, unfortunately, a good scripture is always misread by a few crooked mouths and monks.

  Officials and historians are also human beings, and as human beings, they cannot avoid being divided into good and evil.

  Du Hong is now in big trouble. This time the official responsible for inspecting this place, the Censor-in-Chief Shi Lu, belongs to the not-so-benevolent type.

  Simply put, the newcomer is not good.

  Qin Kan was busy making plans, getting rich plans.

  The honor of being a scholar has been abolished, the imperial examination has lost hope, and after crossing into this ancient society, the only thing that can be done is probably to become a carefree rich master, living a life of wealth and peace.

  Qin Kan didn't have too much ambition, he was a contented person, as long as he wasn't hungry or cold, he would be satisfied with the status quo. So in his previous life, although he was a capable white-collar worker, he was just that - a white-collar worker.

  Life should have plans and goals.

  Qin Kan's goal was not high, to become a household with an annual income of 10,000 taels within a year.

  This goal is still very realistic, no exaggeration, no big leap forward.

  Bo Hu's poetry collection has sold over 10,000 copies, and it seems that there is no remaining value. A new path must be found.

  After this book was published, he found that the publishing industry's profits were really huge. A pile of melancholic poems were compiled into a book and unexpectedly earned several hundred taels of silver in profit, without any capital or risk, not only making money but also gaining fame - of course, Qin Kan looked down on such fame and gave it to Tang Da for free.

  Keeping a low profile can help you live longer and safer; when you want to show off, think about Shen Wansan from the early Ming dynasty, a negative example.

  Making inventions has no future prospects. In today's Ming dynasty, high-quality wine is available, gunpowder is available, everything that should be available is here. Inventing airplanes and tanks is not feasible under these conditions. Besides, even if such things were invented, it's unlikely to make a fortune, and the possibility of losing one's head is quite high.

  It's still mixed publishing industry.

  The poem has been cleaned up, and other things can be sold, such as... classics?

  This thing is a test of memory, and after the book is finished, whose name will be crowned? It's unlikely to deceive Tang Da Caizi again. Bookworms are indeed a bit simple-minded, but they're not so simple-minded as to provoke public outrage.

  It's really frustrating...

  Sitting under the eaves of the inn's main hall, basking in the warm spring sun, Qin Kan let out a listless yawn.

  Now that I have money, shouldn't I put marrying a wife on the agenda?

  What kind of wife should I find?

  Broad chest, long legs, angelic face, devilish figure...

  A gentleman is also a man, and men's aesthetic views on women are basically the same. In this regard, there is no difference between a gentleman and an ordinary man.

  Qin Kan was having a beautiful dream when he suddenly felt that the sunlight on his head had disappeared, and a slender and elegant figure blocked all the light in front of him.

  Qin Kan was stunned for a moment, and then let out a deep sigh.

  Old friend.

  Du Yan's charming face was filled with sorrow and her whole person looked very lackluster, but when she saw Qin Kan, a few rays of sunshine-like smile appeared.

  "It turned out to be Qin Dacai's 'Life is like the first meeting', nice to meet you, nice to meet you." Du Yan's eyes flashed with a few points of playfulness.

  I truly regret not silencing this little scoundrel yesterday, if I couldn't beat her then poisoning would have been fine too...

  Qin Kan suddenly broke out in a cold sweat, his heart racing as he looked around nervously before forcing a smile and bowing his head: "So it's High Commissioner Gao, please, please..."

  "My surname is not Gao."

  "You're so tall, and your father is a county magistrate, what's not noble about that?"

  Du Yan hummed and said: "I saw you sitting alone under the eaves from afar, lost in thought. What bad idea are you thinking of again?"

  "I miss the dog I once raised in my hometown..."

  "What's so great about missing dogs?"

  "Because our family's dog is not an ordinary dog, it can catch mice..."

  "So fierce?" Du Yan's eyes widened in surprise.

  "My family used to raise a cat, but that cat went mad later..."

  "Why go crazy?"

  "Because the hamsters were eaten by dogs."

  "What happened after the cat went mad?"

  "That mad cat later learned to gnaw on meat bones."

  Du Yan: "..."

  Qin Kan smiled slightly: "Alright, the above is family gossip, the greeting has been made, the small talk has been chatted, Miss Du, have a good trip, I won't see you off."

  Du Yan's delicate eyebrows furrowed: "You dislike me?"

  Qin Kan said with a straight face: "I'm too fond of you, so I don't bother to care about you...... Do you believe this?"

  Du Yan sighed: "So you really dislike me..."

  Her bright and beautiful face was shrouded in deep worry, Qin Kan glanced at her, hmm, it seemed she had really gotten into trouble.

  Du Yan stood under the eaves of the inn, looking at the bustling scene on the main street, with a somewhat reluctant expression.

  "Maybe in a few days, I'll have to go back to my hometown with Father, it's really hard for me to leave this place......" Du Yan muttered to herself, tears quietly falling.

  "Why go back to your hometown?"

  Qin Kan's words had just fallen when he couldn't help but want to slap himself in the face.

  A person with a loose tongue will never know what kind of retribution is waiting for him.

  As expected, Du Yan heard this and raised her eyes to look at him, saying: "Because my father might be dismissed from office..."

  Qin Kan smiled wryly and rubbed his nose: "As usual, shouldn't I ask why your father wants to resign?"

  Although she had a lot on her mind, Du Yan was still amused by Qin Kan's appearance and nodded: "Not bad, according to convention you have to ask like this, but it's okay if you don't ask, I can tell you directly..."

  "May I cover my ears?"

  "Cannot."

  "I'd better listen carefully then..."

  Duan Yan let out a soft sigh and told him about the big trouble her father, Du Hong, had gotten himself into. After she finished speaking, Duan Yan looked at him with a hint of expectation in her eyes.

  Is he willing to help? Does he have the ability to help? Since getting to know Qin Kan, she has gone from being unknown to becoming wealthy, and Du Yan knows it clearly. In her heart, Qin Kan is a talented and capable person, and what's even more rare is that he doesn't show off his talents and abilities everywhere, and is extremely low-key in his dealings with others.

  He is really too low-key, isn't reading the most important thing? Why did he create such beautiful and excellent poetry, but willingly put it under someone else's name, while only caring about collecting money? Is he only interested in profit and not fame? But... how can a person who values profit create such magnificent and unparalleled ancient poems?

  Du Yan sighed softly, what was this person thinking? What did he really want? It was too hard to understand...

  Qin Kan's reaction was very calm.

  After listening to Du Hong's troubles, Qin Kan sighed and said: "Your father's experience is really lamentable..."

  "Is that all?" Du Yan was very dissatisfied, she wanted to hear something else.

  Qin Kan stood up, stretched his waist, looked up at the sky and muttered to himself: "Huang Zhanggui has printed another thousand copies of poetry collections, but he hasn't sent the silver yet. This man is getting more and more dishonest, I have to go reason with him..."

  "You..." Du Yan's fists clenched in anger.

  Cao Cao nodded slightly towards Diao Chan and Qin Kan stepped forward and left.

  He certainly didn't want to help with this matter. The two seventh-grade officials were at odds, and as a commoner, he would definitely end up dead on the streets if he got involved.

  What is the first rule of survival for a time traveler?

  It's not about being a fierce and powerful tiger, but rather about safety. Safety comes first. When gods are fighting, it's best to stay far away, the farther the better.

  Qin Kan hid very far away and hid very quickly, almost to the point of "fleeing in a panic".

  Ignoring Du Yan's expectant and anxious gaze, Qin Kan took a step forward and jogged away.

  Du Yan was so angry that she stomped her feet. She was very disappointed with Qin Kan's reaction. From his behavior of seeing injustice but doing nothing when they first met, she should have known that he wasn't a righteous person.

  Qin Kan walked quickly and hastily, this woman was a trouble, Qin Kan disliked trouble.

  When people are in a hurry, they tend to make mistakes. Qin Kan was rushing forward with his head down and didn't notice a horse carriage speeding towards him from the opposite direction. The speed of the carriage wasn't slow at all; if there were traffic police in Shaoxing City, they would have definitely caught it for speeding...

  When Qin Kan sensed that the atmosphere around him was not right, he suddenly raised his head to find that the horse carriage was only a few feet away from him. He could even feel the moist breath emitted from the horse's nostrils.

  A burst of exclamation erupted around him, but Qin Kan didn't even have time to let out a cry of surprise. His thoughts seemed to freeze in that instant...

  Life and death are just a hair's breadth apart!

  Just as one man and one horse were about to collide, a pale green figure suddenly darted out from behind Qin Kan. The figure was swift and agile, leaping into the air with a delicate lotus foot that tapped heavily on the horse's neck. Immediately afterwards, Qin Kan felt his arm being pulled back by a powerful force...

  The horse-drawn carriage is fine, and Qin Kan is also fine.

  The people around finally let out a sigh of relief.

  Qin Kan's lips had turned purple, and he mechanically turned his head, seeing a face that was all too familiar.

  "Even if... even if you saved me, don't think I'll help you. I'm just an ordinary citizen, I won't be able to help you..." Qin Kan's voice trembled, his face pale and defeated.

  Du Yan smiled coldly: "Then what do you plan to use to repay the favor of saving your life?"

  Qin Kan thought for a moment, then pulled out five taels of silver from his pocket and handed them over to her with a painful expression.

  Du Yan wanted to laugh and also wanted to hit someone.

  "Are you worth only five taels of silver?"

  Qin Kan gritted his teeth and took out another five taels.

  "Ten taels?" Du Yan sneered.

  Qin Kan sighed and said, "Du Niang, if you're not satisfied, it's better to throw me back onto the street and let a horse carriage run over me. Adding more money would make me wish I were dead... even if I'm alive, there's no point in living..."

  Du Yan really wanted to beat him up.

  What kind of person is this? A gentleman would weigh reputation heavily and personal gain lightly, but he has turned it upside down. Moreover, he values silver more than life itself.

  If all bookworms under heaven were like him, it would be a disaster for the Ming Dynasty...

  Du Yan said coldly: "What if I don't want your silver?"

  Qin Kan's action of putting away the silver was at least ten times faster than taking it out, a flash of white light, and the ten taels of silver disappeared without a trace, no one knew where they were hidden.

  "If Miss Du doesn't accept the silver, it means that Miss Du is a noble and virtuous person. I will ask Tang Yin to write you into his poem, praising your kind act of bestowing favors without seeking reward..."

  Qin Kan bowed deeply and then turned around and left.

  She walked a few steps, then suddenly stopped in the middle of the street and shouted to the surrounding crowd: "Fellow villagers, do you know who wrote 'Life is like first love'... hmm..."

  …………

  …………

  Qin Kan really admired his own quick wit and cunning, if he could bring himself to strangle this little woman to death and silence her, his character would be simply perfect.

  Loosening his hand covering Du Yan's small mouth, Qin Kan pulled her to the side of the street in a small alley, his face looking worse than a dead man.

  If those poems were known to be his work, I don't know how many attacks he would have suffered from the literary world, for since ancient times, the hearts of men of letters are smaller than those of women and their means more vicious.

  "Hey! I didn't provoke you nor offend you, what do you want?"

  Du Yan calmly said: "Helping Father with this matter, I will keep the poetry in my belly from now on."

  "What can I, an ordinary citizen, do to help? Are you ill?"

  "I don't know what's going on either, I just feel like you can help." Du Yan's response was very arrogant.

  Are all Da Ming women's confidences so blind?

  Qin Kan couldn't defeat her in a fight, so he could only kill her with his fiery gaze.

  Du Yan saw Qin Kan being silent for a long time, and her cherry lips opened again, as if waiting to speak.

  Qin Kan covered her mouth and sighed: "I'll help you this time, but I hope that after this is over, we..."

  "I know, we won't see each other until we're old and grey." Du Yan's eyes lit up, and she smiled as she spoke.

  Qin Kan became increasingly worried. This woman agreed readily enough, but looking at her expression, she didn't have the sincerity of "not visiting each other even in old age".

  With Qin Kan's promise, Du Yan's mood suddenly became lighter for some reason.

  "My dad got into this trouble for no reason, luckily there's you..."

  "Because your dad's year is unlucky and his fate is offended by petty people..."

  "Thank you, Master Qin, for helping me."

  Qin Kan couldn't help but glance at her and said with extreme bitterness: "No need to thank me, I'm the same as your father, having an unlucky year and being plagued by petty people..."