I'm the Farmgirl You Can't Mess With

Chapter 1396: Side Story: Fan Zijin (12)

Editor: Atlas Studios

Fan Zijin and Qi Haoran stood at the entrance of the town and looked at the refugees sitting on the ground in surprise. The two of them scratched their heads and said in confusion, “I haven’t heard of a disaster in Jiangnan recently.”

This was a rather large town, and nearly 200 refugees had gathered at the entrance of the town. One could just imagine what it was like in other places.

Frowning, the two of them walked into the town and found an inn to rest.

As they did not sleep well last night and did not eat breakfast and lunch today, they were so famished that they could not walk. Therefore, they completely ignored the fact mid-day sun and decided to stay here for a day to rest. They would leave after eating.

Because they had a lot of money on them, they slept in the best guest room and ate the best food. After eating and drinking their fill, they remembered to ask the waiter, “Why are there so many refugees outside? Could it be that there’s a flood somewhere again?”

Drought and floods were the most common natural disasters in Jiangnan. While it was impossible for there to be drought this month, a flood was still possible.

The waiter glanced at the two of them. Although their clothes were wrinkled, they were made of brocade. Judging from their delicate appearances and skin, it was obvious that they were rich young masters. He hurriedly smiled and said, “Those people at the entrance of the town are not from Jiangnan, but from the north. I heard that last winter, Great Jin went south to plunder and burned many villages. Some towns were slaughtered in entirety. These are all refugees from the north.”

Seeing the pained look on their faces, the waiter said, “It’s still alright here. After all, it’s close to the capital. If you go further north, you’ll encounter even more refugees. I heard from the merchants coming and going that some refugees are so hungry that they eat human flesh. Outside Lin’an Prefecture, bandits are rampant. Most of them were refugees who were forced to become bandits.”

Qi Haoran widened his eyes and asked, “Doesn’t the Imperial Court have any countermeasures?”

“Aiyo, you’re still counting on the Emperor after he lost half of the empire left behind by his ancestors? Who knows how drunk he is in the capital now? Why would he care about the lives of the commoners?”

The waiter wiped his hands and left.

Qi Haoran was so angry that he shouted, “What’s the difference between the Emperor and a fatuous ruler?”

Having received focused guidance from his teachers, Fan Zijin knew more. He said, “Actually, the Imperial Court has allocated grains and relief funds. Although it’s not much, it’s not to the extent of completely ignoring it. However, His Majesty is extravagant and sets a bad example for his subordinates, leading to high corruption rates among the officials. Due to many layers of embezzlement starting from Minister Qin, less than 10% of the food allocation ultimately reaches the hands of the commoners. That’s why so many refugees became bandits.”

“Then His Majesty won’t care?”

Fan Zijin said calmly, “How? He’s the biggest embezzler among them. Ever since he moved the capital to Lin’an, the royal palace in Lin’an has been expanding. Last year’s construction has just ended. It’s said that His Majesty has taken a fancy to the hot spring on Daming Mountain in the western suburbs and intends to build a temporary imperial residence there. In the winter, he’ll head there to stay warm and in the summer, he’ll go there to avoid the heat. While the Ministry of Revenue forks out a portion of the money, another portion has to come from his inner treasury. All these years, the Emperor has been renovating the palaces and expanding his harem. How much money do you think he has left in his inner treasury?”

Fan Zijin was naturally sensitive to numbers. Although he did not know the inside story of the Emperor’s inner treasury, he had moved to Lin’an for less than ten years. As long as he had the heart, he could make a rough deduction. He only needed to inquire about the scale of the temporary imperial residence to roughly estimate the cost. Moreover, since his father was previously an official of the Ministry of Revenue, he could always obtain some information. After comprehensive speculation, he said, “A portion of the relief funds and grain went into His Majesty’s inner treasury. He just found a reason to transfer the money from the Ministry of Revenue to the inner treasury. Since he also took part in the embezzlement, he naturally wouldn’t interfere in his subordinates’ embezzlement. Otherwise, they would not dare to be so brazen near Lin’an Prefecture.

Qi Haoran’s mouth was wide open, and he felt as if a rock was stuck in his chest. Could this be his country? In the future, would he also have to be loyal to such an Emperor and such an Imperial Court?

Seeing that his eyes were red, Fan Zijin sighed slightly and patted his shoulder without saying anything. Tʜe sourc of ths content s nοvelfire.net

When he came up with this deduction, he was also very sad and confused. For a moment, he felt that studying was useless. This was because even if he entered the Imperial Court through the Imperial Examination, he’d be working for such an Emperor. Rather than being loyal to such an Imperial Court, it was better to live freely in the mountains and rivers and do whatever he liked.

However, seeing his father suppress his mother and cause him and his mother to suffer so much grievances, and seeing his uncle bully Haoran like this, he could not take it lying down.

His father and uncle were both people who would soften when the enemy was strong, especially his uncle. It was not that Fan Zijin looked down on him, but in his opinion, his uncle was a petty person who only cared about his own interests. If one day he controlled more power than him, he would definitely submit to him. When that time came, he would stand up for Haoran and see how he could bully him.

With this goal in mind, although Fan Zijin hated it, he was determined to study hard.

However, now that he had run away from home, the Imperial Examination seemed to be very far away from him. Fan Zijin no longer comforted himself blindly. Instead, he began to face the problems of this empire seriously.

As Fan Zijin looked at the refugees passing by on the streets, he said to Qi Haoran, “If the Imperial Court doesn’t settle these refugees down, I’m afraid it will cause a huge disaster.”

He lowered his voice and said, “Military disaster!”

Qi Haoran immediately looked worried.

Fan Zijin knocked his head and stood up. “Alright, no matter what troubles there are in the future, let’s take care of ourselves first. After riding a horse for more than a day, my bones are about to fall apart. Let’s go buy two sets of clothes, take a hot shower, and have a good sleep.”

Qi Haoran nodded thoughtfully and followed Fan Zijin to the ready-to-wear shop to choose two sets of clothes. When they came out, they had not brought anything with them to lessen the hassle. However, when they were outside, they realized that there were all kinds of inconveniences.

They had to buy new clothes and change into a new pair of shoes and socks. The two teenagers who were shopping at the ready-made clothes shop for the first time expressed their exhaustion.

By the time the two of them finally bought everything and returned to the inn, it was already past noon. The two of them called the waiter over and asked him to prepare two buckets of hot water so that they could take a shower.

The waiter widened his eyes at the two of them before turning to look at the bright sun outside. He asked in surprise, “Now?”

Qi Haoran nodded solemnly. “Now.”

The corners of the waiter’s mouth twitched. “Young masters, it’s noon now. What if you can’t sleep at night?”

The two youths expressed that such a thing would not happen. Fan Zijin said solemnly, “Do you believe that I can sleep for three days now?”

The waiter suppressed the smile on his face and replied, “Give me a moment, sirs. Since it’s not too busy now, I’ll send over two buckets of hot water immediately.”

Fan Zijin nodded in satisfaction. He took out a piece of silver from Qi Haoran’s pocket and threw it to him. “This is your reward.”

Overjoyed, the waiter bowed repeatedly. “Wait for me. I’ll send hot water over immediately.”

After the two youths bathed, they immediately collapsed on the bed. Fan Zijin kicked Qi Haoran and said, “I’m going to sleep. Be more vigilant. Don’t let anyone kidnap us or take our money away.”

Qi Haoran stuffed the oil paper bag containing the banknotes under his pillow and turned over sleepily. “Don’t worry. With me around, who would dare to steal from us?”

Fan Zijin slept soundly without worry. Not long after, Qi Haoran also started snoring. The two of them had been hungry and tired since last night. Coupled with the fact that they were previously in the wilderness, they could not sleep well at all. Now that they were in a warm inn, they naturally slept freely.

Just as they were sleeping soundly, the people sent by Xia Tong and Fan Siwen to look for them rushed north ahead of them and successfully missed the two teenagers.