Chapter 49: Bai Hu Takes Office

  Being too honest is not good, for example now.

  Yang Tian Shou's face looked ugly, his right hand twitched, it was unknown whether he wanted to take Qin Kan down on the spot and then tie him up with five flowers to vent his anger...

  "Have you really beaten up Young Master Xiao?" Yang Tian Shou's voice was trembling with rage.

  "Just kidding... " Qin Kan quickly clarified, and to show that the joke was funny, he even chuckled twice after saying it.

  Yang Tian Shou's pale face gradually regained its color, and he let out a long sigh of relief. He smiled wryly and said, "Don't play jokes like that in the future, be careful not to let Young Master hear it, Young Master's temper... Alas!"

  He pointed to the two rows of houses in Qianhu's residence and said, "Lei Qianhu is inside, go see him. I have something to do and will leave first..."

  "Where is Brother Yang going?"

  "Just now I was startled by your joke and my heart skipped a few beats, I have to go see the doctor..." Yang Tian Shou walked away without looking back.

  Qin Kan felt a slight sense of guilt and couldn't bear to joke about it anymore. If I told him it was true, wouldn't Brother Yang die on the spot from laughter?

  He turned and entered the wing room of the Qianhu Department alone. The captain of the Dongcheng Qianhu Department, surnamed Lei, named Hong, was a very rough warrior, but he was also very polite to Qin Kan. Qin Kan paid his respects with courtesy, and Lei Yang also returned the courtesy with humility.

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  Qin Kan went in when Lei Qianhu was practicing calligraphy.

  A very strange scene, a big man with a rough face and a thick beard grasped the brush as if it were a knife, sweat dripping from his forehead, his face flushed red, staring at the paper on the desk with a ferocious expression, as if the paper was his sworn enemy, gnashing his teeth like he was going into battle.

  Qin Kan felt very sympathetic towards Lei Qianhu.

  In this era of respecting literature and despising martial arts, a martial artist who wants to advance can only do so by decorating himself with things like music, chess, calligraphy, and painting, in order to gain the respect of scholars. Unfortunately, very few people can persist in this way. Looking at the expression on Lei Qianhu's face now, I estimate that he won't be able to hold on for more than a few days either.

  "Hundreds of households under the command of General Dongcheng, hundred households Qin Kan, pay respects to General Qianhu." Qin Kan bowed and saluted.

  Lei Hong put down his pen, nodded in satisfaction at his own work, and then turned to look at Qin Kan.

  "Qin Baihu, haha, I've long heard of your great name. Does Qin Baihu look like a scholar?"

  "It's a shame, I once had the honor of being a scholar-official, but I made a mistake and was dismissed."

  Lei Hong's eyes lit up: "I, Lei, love to deal with bookworms, haha, come on, take a look at the words I just wrote, Qin Baihu, how do you rate them?"

  Qin Kan could only bitterly smile and agree.

  Taking a closer look, Lei Hong actually wrote in cursive script, this is quite impressive.

  Qin Kan's eyes narrowed and he stared for a while, taking in a deep breath of cool air: "2B?"

  "Ah?" Lei Hong was shocked, snatching over the rice paper and hastily turning red with excitement: "It's clearly an 'official' character..."

  Qin Kan wiped his sweat: "………"

  The character "guān" written in cursive script looks like...

  Lei Hong crumpled up the paper and sighed heavily: "It's really not good to be a scholar, forget it!"

  Qin Kanjun's face turned bright red, he knew that he had personally destroyed a martial artist's passionate and ambitious heart, Lei Qianhu's elegant path came to an end here.

  Lei Qianhu's spirit was not very good, and the blow just now had a great impact on him. However, he was very polite to Qin Kan, saying a few official phrases before encouraging Qin Kan a few more times, then ordered a strong man to take Qin Kan to the hundred households to take office.

  Everything seems to be in a hurry, Qin Kan has a kind of illusion, he finds that the Jin Yiwei in Nanjing seems to have treated him as a firefighter, all official ceremonies can be avoided, and putting out fires is the most important thing.

  The hundred households where Qin Kan took office were located on Genu South Street in the Imperial City, adjacent to the Nanjing Imperial Palace. The high palace walls surrounded the entire neighborhood, where all the princes, ministers, and nobles lived. After observing the surrounding environment, Qin Kan's heart sank.

  Being a hundred households here, it's bound to be a role that suffers from both ends. Whether patrolling the streets or sitting in a teahouse, so many dignitaries' homes, who would look straight at a small Jin Yi hundred households? What can a Jin Yi hundred households manage?

  Not to mention those powerful people outside, but just these subordinates in this hundred households, Qin Kan already felt a bit difficult to manage.

  Qin Kan's subordinates had two general flags, one officer, and two general flags in charge of five small flags. Further down were ordinary school lieutenants, lishis, and so-called hundred households. In fact, the personnel of the entire hundred households were not limited to one hundred people. Apart from the formal establishment of 112 people, more than a hundred Jin Yiwei were also hired as temporary workers, which is what we often call unit temporary workers. When the unit got into trouble, it was all done by temporary workers.

  Two of them were named Ding Hān and Tuō Yáng.

  What made Qin Kan feel uneasy was this Tu Yang, whose expression was superficially respectful, but his gaze at Qin Kan would occasionally flash with hatred.

  Qin Kan was very sensitive to his gaze, because this gaze was too familiar. In his previous life, he had mixed in the workplace and risen from a small business employee to deputy general manager, becoming an indispensable left and right arm of the boss. Apart from personal ability, of course, it also relied on stepping on countless people's heads to climb up. This jealous look was what he saw most often in the company.

  A person who doesn't encounter jealousy is a mediocre talent. Qin Kan's mental quality has always been very stable, and he responded to Tu Yang's malicious gaze with a faint smile.

  To grasp power, one must use both kindness and authority, winning over the vast majority while also killing a few chickens to scare the monkeys. The method is old-fashioned but simple and effective; Qin Kan doesn't have time to engage in a battle of wits with these guys.

  This Director Tu is short and fat, just like a chicken.

  Qin Kan was silently sharpening his knife in his heart, thinking of when to make a move on this chicken...

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  The officer in charge of the hundred-family unit was a man named Wang, about fifty years old, who looked very honest.

  Qin Kan had just arrived at the hundred households, and two chief flags gathered all the subordinates. In the small courtyard of the hundred households, they met the new hundred households. Everyone's expression was very respectful, but their true thoughts could not be seen.

  After checking off the names on Wang's roster, Qin Kan didn't say any unnecessary words and ordered everyone to disperse, calling Wang into the house.

  Two ingots of white flower silver were sent out, and Wang Siyi came with a bamboo tube to pour beans. Qin Kan finally understood why Zhuo Zongqi had been hostile towards him.

  It's simple, because the position of this hundred households originally belonged to Tu Zongqi in terms of seniority, but unfortunately, a parachute suddenly appeared, and Tu Zongqi was still Tu Zongqi, with no hope of promotion, naturally envying and resenting Qin Baihu.

  As for Ding Zongqi, he was actually quite content with his current situation. Firstly, as he grew older, he simply waited for his son to take over the position. Secondly, he didn't have the energy to fight for the position of hundred households leader.

  The financial resources of the Baihu Su are not abundant, relying only on a few unbacked brothels and underground gambling dens to pay their monthly protection fees. Although Nanjing is known as the land of gold and powder, with Qinhuai's light songs and dances never-ending, and brothels standing tall like forests, most of these brothels have powerful figures such as high-ranking officials or nobles backing them up, whom even the imperial guards dare not provoke easily.

  After understanding these situations, Qin Kan probably had a number for this hundred households.

  Next, as expected, Tu Zongji will prepare to squeeze him out. Relying on being an old man in the hundred households, he will be hypocritical towards the new hundred households master, finding a reason to make trouble and cause chaos with such despicable means. Qin Kan is very familiar with this kind of behavior, and if it's not said nicely, in his previous life, he rose to power in just such a way.

  P.S: There was a dinner appointment that delayed me, so I'll just post this one update for today. Had too much to drink and feel a bit dizzy...