Chapter 118: True Identity Exposed

As winter approached, the weather became colder and colder day by day.

Lu Lin got his salary this day, there also came the silver for the Yamen runners. As the county magistrate, Lu Lin got 3 taels of silver per month, he would get subsidy at every festival and at New Year, he got 3 tales of silver subsidies for heating expenses as well, Lu Lin felt so happy this day.

Lu Lin didn't have any income since he sold his commercial house, he touched the silver in hand and savored the moment, it was not much compared to what he made on a daily basis in Forest Town, but it was still an income.

The Yamen runners' pay was 1.3 taels of silver per month. After Lu Lin came to Sha County, he made the Qins and Wan Li his Yamen runners. He didn't have to pay them with his own money now.

As a county magistrate, there were actually many benefits. For example, he could hire 12 Yamen runners in his authority, and if he made up a few people, he could pocket their pay. And that was no small amount for years on end.

Lu Lin had only made his male employees the Yamen runners for fear of catching unnecessary attention from the patrolling camp.

Lu Lin had been thinking it was time to build a Yamen runner team, he didn't have to pay them with his own money anyways. Yamen runners' major duties were to keep law and order and collect taxes. He figured he could send the Yamen runners on errands as long as he didn't go too far.

......

Time passed very quickly. In the blink of an eye, several days had passed.

Lu Lin looked at Ji Yun An in the yard and frowned, "How come there's still no one looking for this boy."

Chen Xiao Mi nodded and said jokingly, "Yeah! I have been thinking about asking for a small fee if his family came to us, but no one has come."

Lu Lin was a little speechless, "This guy stayed at home every day. It seems like we've got a new employee at home."

When Lu Lin kept Ji Yun An in the beginning, he felt that the boy's family would come fetch him soon. However, it had been ten days since Mai caught him, yet no one had come.

"How come no one knows who this guy is, even locals like Luo Wen? I don't think he is an orphan, he looked like he has a really good upbringing!" Chen Xiao Mi said.

Lu Lin narrowed his eyes and said, "Yeah! Qin Yi said that the kid had a jade pendant in his neck, a piece of jade pedant is worth a small fortune, he must from one of the influential and privileged families. But how come his family is still so calm and peaceful about his missing."

"If not for the fact that this guy doesn't look like a poor person, I would have thought that it was someone who can't afford to raise him had deliberately told him to sneak into our house."

Chen Xiao Mi said sullenly, "He sure is a big eater."

Chen Xiao Mi's first impression of Ji Yun An was indeed not very good. Neither did Mai.

Mai started off giving him just some coarse food like a bowl of porridge. However, this guy somehow had patched things up and became familiar with Mai, Mai was easy-going and desultory by nature, soon he forgot about this guy was an intruder technically. When Lu Lin cooked some special snacks for Yuan Bao and Mai, Mai would even keep some for Ji Yun An secretly. Chen Xiao Mi approved none of that.

"I think this guy knows martial arts," Chen Xiao Mi said.

Lu Lin touched his chin and said, "Really? You really mean that? I hope he isn't the general's family."

......

As Lu Lin and Chen Xiao Mi spoke, Shen Chi hurriedly walked in.

"Chi, why do you look so flustered? What happened? Is everything okay in the tofu shop?" Lu Lin looked at Shen Chi who was not his usual self and his heart fluttered.

Shen Chi said excitedly, "The people from the patrolling camp came to the shop."

Lu Lin was stunned! 'The people from the patrolling camp were here? To find fault with us? For this guy? Is he really from the patrolling camp?' "Why were they there?"

"They bought tofu from us," Shen Chi replied.

Lu Lin nodded, "You startled me, Chi, as long as they didn't come to find fault with us! I'm so glad our tofu has got some word of mouth."

"That guy who we have caught turns out to be General Ji's nephew, his name is Ji Yun An," Shen Chi said.

Lu Lin frowned and said, "We were just talking about that possibility, what exactly dis they say, when are they going to take him away?"

Shen Chi shook his head and said, "They said they wanted to ask you a favor, please feel free to discipline Ji Yun An, the unruly child."

Lu Lin frowned and said, "What is going on? General Ji has some parenting issue, and he is asking me to discipline his nephew! I don't have the guts!"

"Where are the people from the patrolling camp now?" asked Lu Lin.

Shen Chi blinked and said, "They left right after they bought tofu and conveyed this message. They said that they still have business to attend to, so they couldn't stay for long."

They bought out everything in the shop and asked Shen Chi to restock soon.

Lu Lin was stupefied, 'General Ji is a military officer with a fourth ranking, yet I'm a civil official with a seventh ranking! Who am I to discipline his nephew! Wait, is General Ji actually asking his nephew to keep watch on me?'

......

When Lu Lin walked back to the yard, he saw Chen Xiao Mai sitting opposite Ji Yun An, looking at Ji Yun An curiously.

Chen Xiao Mai looked Ji Yun An up and down, "Your uncle doesn't want you anymore. He threw you to my brother-in-law. You must have been too useless when you were home."

Ji Yun An frowned and glared at Chen Xiao Mai, "Don't talk nonsense."

Chen Xiao Mai looked at Ji Yun An and said, "Don't get so defensive, I'm just telling the truth. I heard Second Brother say that life in the military camp is very plain. You are a big eater, let's be honest here, maybe your uncle struggles to support you."

Ji Yun An blushed. Life in the military camp was indeed very plain. He would miss the meals and snacks that Mai saved for him after he went back.

Ji Yun An was shocked when he saw Lu Lin asked the Yamen runners to bulk buy eggs from the villages, Lu Lin even encouraged the Yamen runners to collect eggs from the remote villages.

"My uncle is an honest and upright official," said Ji Yun An proudly.

Chen Xiao Mai held his chin and said, "Brother Lin said that an honest and upright official doesn't necessarily make a good official."

Ji Yun An retorted immediately, "That's nonsense!"

"A good official is someone who can lead the people in the county to live a good life. Just being honest and upright doesn't make the people live a good life." Chen Xiao Mai said.

Ji Yun said sullenly, "Ridiculous."

Chen Xiao Mai raised an eyebrow, "It's true though! Don't you want to eat well for every meal?"

Ji Yun An lowered his head in silence.

Chen Xiao Cai walked in with a bag in his hand.

"Someone came just now and asked me to give you this."

Ji Yun An looked at the bag in Chen Xiao Cai's hand and pulled a long face. Finally, he realized that his uncle really planned to leave him here.

Chen Xiao Mai stepped forward excitedly, "What's in the bag?! Are there any good snacks?"

Ji Yun An opened the bag and looked at it. He found that it was his clothes and some silver.

The messenger told Chen Xiao Cai that Ji Yun An's expenses was covered by the silver inside, Chen Xiao Cai didn't want to take the money, but the messenger disappeared in the blink of an eye after he handed the bag to Xiao Cai.

"No snacks!" Chen Xiao Mai said with disappointment.

Ji Yun An scratched his head and thought, 'Uncle doesn't have any good snacks.'

He didn't like it when Mai felt sad, so he said, "We can buy snacks for you with the silver inside."

Chen Xiao Mai shook his head and said, "This place is too poor. You can't buy anything even though you have money."

Ji Yun An let out a sigh.

Chen Xiao Mai followed suit and said, "Second Brother said that Lin Ge probably had got a bad deal for buying this official title. He wished Lin Ge had spent more money and bought a title for somewhere else."

Ji Yun An was confused, "Why does he have to buy an official?"

Chen Xiao Mai said matter-of-factly, "Only by buying an official can you not be bullied!"

Ji Yun An was confused, "So you were bullied?"

Chen Xiao Mai nodded and casually told Ji Yun An how they were framed by the officials in Forest Town, Ji Yun An was aflame with indignation when he heard that.

......

Liu Yun walked in Ji Cheng Kang's tent.

"Have you seen him?"

Liu Yun nodded and said, "Yes, but the young master An didn't see me. He was forced to grind the mill when I was there."

"Is that kid alright," Ji Cheng Kang asked worriedly.

"He looks fine. Strangely, he seems to have gotten more fit."

Ji Cheng Kang nodded with satisfaction.

Among the carpenters and blacksmiths working in the Lu Lin's house, there were quite a few old soldiers who would report to Ji Cheng Kang regularly about Ji Yun An's situation. Otherwise, Ji Cheng Kang would have picked Ji Yun An up on day 1.

"I heard that there are a lot of kids in the house and they eat very well. Young master An had eaten a lot of good things with them. Things like rice balls, spring rolls, pancakes, I have heard none of them."

Ji Cheng Kang showed a meaningful smile and said, "It seems that he is enjoying it."

Liu Yun hesitated for a moment and asked, "General, are you really sure about this? Leaving the young master somewhere else all by himself."

"Didn't you say that he was fine there? " Ji Cheng Kang asked.

"With that being said... ..."

Ji Cheng Kang sighed and said, "I think it's good for him to meet some new friends, some friends of his own age. Besides, although it has been a truce between us and the Liao Dynasty, I don't really trust them, so it's good for him to stay at somewhere else."

Liu Yun sighed and changed the topic, "General, I bought that thing called tofu."

Ji Cheng Kang nodded and said, "I heard it tasted really good. Go ask the cooking team to cook tofu for dinner today." The military expenses were limited and Ji Cheng Kang tried his best to let the soldiers eat better. However, there were a lot of people in the military camp, so it was difficult to make that happen within a budget.

Liu Yun nodded and said, "The county magistrate is so generous, he gave me an instruction on how to make tofu."

Ji Cheng Kang was a little surprised. "Really?"

"Yes. Here it is." With that Liu Yun handed Ji Cheng Kang a piece of paper.

Ji Cheng Kang raised an eyebrow. "I cannot believe the county magistrate is literate."

"Me too."

"It's just some funny handwriting though. An could write better than this when he was three."

Lu Lin did struggle with writing with brushes.

Liu Yun nodded and said, "Although the writing is not good, he must be literate."

Ji Cheng Kang said with a strange expression, "You are right, the neatness of one's handwriting doesn't matter."

People would assume anyone who bought an official title to be illiterate, that was why Ji Cheng Kang and Liu Yun were both surprised.

The cooking team in the camp made mapo tofu for the first time that day and it was critically acclaimed by the generals and soldiers in the camp.

It was already winter. Everyone felt so warm after having something spicy. And it was good to add something new to the diet.