Outside the city gates of Taoyuan County, the midday sun scorched the ground until it was blistering hot.
Pei Ji stood before the city gates. The glaring sun forced him to raise a hand to shield his brow as he scrutinized the legendary "paradise on earth" before him.
The city gates were not tall; in fact, they looked rather shabby. Built of blue bricks and gray tiles, they paled in comparison to the magnificent gate towers of Yuzhou Prefecture. It looked exactly like the courtyard wall of a rural country squire.
However, the scene at the city entrance caused deep furrows to form between Pei Ji's previously relaxed brows.
There were two gates.
A wooden plaque hung above the left gate, bearing three large characters: "Gate of Wealth." A massive, noisy crowd swarmed the entrance, bustling as if they were at a lively country market.
The right gate, on the other hand, was completely deserted. Its wooden plaque read "Recruitment Gate." The only person standing there was an older woman dressed in coarse linen. She held a bamboo basket filled with baked flatbreads and was leisurely munching on one.
The corners of Pei Ji's lips turned down, and a short, mocking scoff escaped his throat.
A cheap trick.
This daughter of the Xu family was cunning indeed, deliberately setting up two gates to confuse people. The left gate collected money, while the right gate was more than likely a channel used to traffic refugees.
He turned to glance at Mr. Wang beside him.
Mr. Wang maintained his usual mild smile. He gently fanned himself with his folding fan, his gaze sweeping back and forth between the two gates, his thoughts unreadable.
"Brother Wang, how about we split up?" Pei Ji leaned in and whispered so only the two of them could hear. "I will enter through the Recruitment Gate, and you take the Gate of Wealth. We will rendezvous inside the city."
Mr. Wang nodded. "A sound plan."
Pei Ji smoothed his lapels and strode toward the Recruitment Gate on long legs, carrying with him an air of judgment.
The older woman lifted her eyelids, her gaze raking from the crown of Pei Ji's hair all the way down to the soles of his boots. It was the appraising look of someone inspecting livestock.
"Oh, here comes another one." The woman lowered her flatbread and brushed the sesame crumbs from her hands. "Looking to enter the city for work?"
Pei Ji nodded, trying his best to sound humble. "Indeed. I heard that Taoyuan County is hiring, so I came to offer my services."
The woman circled Pei Ji once, even reaching out to squeeze his palms.
A strong urge to fling her hand away shot through Pei Ji's wrist.
"Tsk." The woman shook her head. She then pried open Pei Ji's mouth to inspect his teeth before finally waving her hand in blatant disgust. "No, no, absolutely not. With this soft skin and delicate flesh, it's obvious you've never done a day of hard labor in your life. Pass!"
Pei Ji's mind went entirely blank for a moment.
Pass?
He, the esteemed Deputy Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, had actually been rejected by an old woman recruiting day laborers?
"On... on what grounds are you rejecting me?" Pei Ji's voice was tight with desperately suppressed anger.
The woman rolled her eyes skyward, showing a large expanse of the whites of her eyes. "Our Miss Xu said we hire based on brawn, not beauty! With your scrawny little frame, you wouldn't even be able to carry a single bag of cement. Letting you in would just be feeding a freeloader!"
She pointed to a stack of cement bags nearby. "There. If you can hoist one of those bags onto your shoulder and walk ten paces without losing your breath, I'll let you in."
Pei Ji followed her pointing finger. The bags were bulging and looked to weigh at least a hundred pounds.
Grinding his back teeth, he walked over and attempted to heave one of the bags up.
The moment he exerted force, a sharp strain shot through his lower back.
The bag did not budge an inch.
The woman burst into raucous laughter. "See? I told you you couldn't do it! Off you go, shoo! Stop interrupting my snack!"
Pei Ji's face flushed the color of raw liver. Without a word, he spun on his heel and marched toward the Gate of Wealth.
From behind him, he could hear the old woman muttering, "Young men these days... they dress up nicely enough, but they're completely useless..."
His hands balled into such tight fists that a sharp pain lanced through his palms. This humiliation was far worse than taking a thrashing in court.
He arrived at the Gate of Wealth. Taking a moment to steady his heaving chest, he finally pulled fifty copper coins from his robes.
Standing guard at the entrance was a swarthy, burly man. It was Pockmarked Liu.
Pockmarked Liu accepted the money and practicedly stuffed it into the cloth pouch at his waist. He then pulled a booklet from a nearby wooden stand and slapped it open in front of Pei Ji.
"City Entry Regulations. Read it over, sign, and leave your thumbprint."
Pei Ji looked down at the pages.
The booklet was densely packed with words in a neat, uniform font, looking as though it had been professionally printed.
"Article One: Anyone entering the city must pay a security deposit of five hundred copper coins, which will be refunded upon departure provided no rules have been violated."
"Article Two: Spitting in public is strictly prohibited within the city limits. Violators will be fined five taels of silver."
"Article Three: Entering the city with muddy carriage wheels will incur a fine of ten taels of silver."
"Article Four: Littering is prohibited. Violators will be fined three taels of silver."
"Article Five: Relieving oneself in the streets is strictly prohibited. Violators will be fined ten taels of silver and paraded through the streets in humiliation."
A fire of indignation flared in Pei Ji's chest as he read.
How were these mere city regulations? This was more draconian than the imperial laws of the Great Qian Dynasty!
Five taels for spitting? Ten taels for muddy wheels?
This was blatant extortion!
"What, is there a problem?" Pockmarked Liu shot him a sidelong glance.
Biting back his temper, Pei Ji picked up the brush and signed a false name in the registry.
Pockmarked Liu stowed the booklet and pointed to a red line painted on the ground. "See that? That's the stopping line. Do not step on it. Stepping on the line carries a fine of ten copper coins."
A cold sneer touched Pei Ji's lips.
He deliberately lifted his foot and planted it squarely on the red line.
Pockmarked Liu's expression didn't so much as ripple. He simply held out a hand. "Ten coins."
Pei Ji dug out ten copper coins and slapped them into the man's palm.
Pockmarked Liu pocketed the money, pulled a small notepad from his robes, and scribbled down a few notes. He then looked up at Pei Ji, his tone utterly flat. "These funds will go toward the Public Sanitation Foundation. Your generous philanthropy has been recorded."
The muscles in Pei Ji's jaw twitched uncontrollably.
Generous philanthropy?
He dared to call this philanthropy?!
"Inspection time," Pockmarked Liu said, pointing at Pei Ji's feet. "Take off your boots. We need to check the soles."
Pei Ji removed his boots. Pockmarked Liu picked them up, inspected them, and furrowed his brow. "There's mud on them."
He pulled a pair of woven straw shoe covers from a nearby basket and tossed them to Pei Ji. "Twenty coins for the pair. Put them on over your boots."
Pei Ji caught the shoe covers, his fingertips trembling with suppressed rage.
The covers were incredibly coarse, as if haphazardly woven from cheap rice straw, and they reeked of dirt.
His jaw set tight, Pei Ji pulled the shoddy covers over his boots, fished out another twenty coins, and shoved them at Pockmarked Liu.
Pockmarked Liu pocketed the money and stepped aside to clear the path. "You may enter."
Pei Ji strode through the city gates.
From behind him came Pockmarked Liu's monotone voice: "Welcome to Taoyuan County. Have a pleasant day."
Pei Ji did not look back. He merely tightened his grip into a fist.
He would remember this slight.
However, the moment he crossed the threshold, the sight before him brought Pei Ji to a dead halt.
The streets were wide and perfectly level. The ground was paved with a gray, solid material and was completely spotless.
The buildings lining the street, while not luxurious, were uniformly neat and orderly. Their walls were painted a pristine white, and the doors and windows were wiped so clean they could practically reflect a person's silhouette.
The streets were bustling with pedestrians, yet not a single person was littering, nor was anyone spitting on the ground.
Every few paces along the roadside sat a wooden barrel, clearly marked with the words "Trash Can."
What baffled Pei Ji even more was the presence of a "Mobile Wash Station" on the street corner. It consisted of a large wooden vat filled with clean water, accompanied by several coarse cloth towels, allowing passersby to wash their hands free of charge.
A beggar in tattered clothes squatted by the wash station, earnestly scrubbing his hands. Once finished, he dried them carefully with a cloth, pulled half a sesame flatbread from his robes, and sat by the roadside to gnaw on it.
Pei Ji walked over and stared at the beggar for a long moment.
The beggar looked up and grinned, revealing a surprisingly neat set of teeth. "Sir, are you new here too?"
Pei Ji nodded.
The beggar chuckled. "Then you have come to the right place! This Taoyuan County is a wonderful place! Look at these streets, how clean they are! Ever since Miss Xu laid down the rules, even dysentery has been completely wiped out in the city!"
Pei Ji's brow twitched. "Dysentery?"
"That is right!" The beggar slapped his thigh. "In the past, whenever summer came around, dysentery would break out and kill dozens of people. Later, Miss Xu said we had to practice good hygiene. No relieving ourselves wherever we pleased, no littering, and we had to wash our hands often. At first, no one was happy about it; everyone thought it was a hassle. But then we realized that once these rules were in place, people stopped getting sick!"
He pointed to the wash station by the road. "Look here, these hand-washing spots were all built out of Miss Xu's own pocket! The water is completely free!"
Pei Ji did not reply.
He turned and continued walking down the street, but his mind was a tangled mess.
This was not right.
This was completely wrong.
If Xu Qinghuan was truly a greedy and unscrupulous merchant, why would she spend her own money to build these things?
If she was really oppressing the common people, why were they not rebelling, but instead weeping with gratitude?
Pei Ji walked into an inn and asked for one of their best rooms.
After closing the door, he pulled a copy of the Great Qian Laws from his robes. He flipped it open, comparing it to the City Entry Regulations he had committed to memory.
The more he read, the deeper the furrow between his brows became.
Taoyuan County's violation regulations were actually far stricter than the Great Qian Laws.
But why...
Why did the people not rebel, but instead smile and say, "It is all thanks to Miss Xu's rules"?
Pei Ji snapped the book shut with a loud smack. He leaned back heavily against the chair, and his eyelids slowly fell.
