I was a stepmother in ancient times, and I led my whole family to wealth.

Chapter 15 Guess the word

Upon hearing Gu Chenglin's words and seeing Dongfang Jin nod earlier, Fang Shiyu was surprised and asked Dongfang Jin, "Can you read?"

Dongfang Jin looked at him like he was an idiot: "Dude, what are you doing here if you can't read?"

Ma Wencai pointed at her: "Hey, with your outfit, tsk tsk, are you trying to cause trouble?"

His words attracted the attention of a constable: "Are you here to cause trouble?" The constable walked over with a wooden stick in his hand and looked at the group of girls.

Dongfang Jin was not afraid of him: "No, officer, this is my first time in the county. I heard some scholars on the way here talking about word guessing games."

They said they'd give me money if I guessed right, so my brother and I came to check it out. My family is poor, and my brother is sick; we wanted to try our luck.

Li Xiuwen nodded to Gu Chenglin and looked at Dongfang Jin: "You can read?"

Dongfang Jin watched him nod to Gu Chenglin. Did they know each other? This wasn't the scenario she expected. This constable didn't act arrogantly or bully anyone. Not bad!

"A few characters I know."

Li Feng wasn't surprised when he heard her say that: "Are you guessing by yourself, or are you going to team up? Do you know the rules here?"

Dongfang Jin stepped forward and curtsied, saying, "Please enlighten me, esteemed officer."

Looking at her etiquette, Li Fengshou suppressed a laugh: "Guessing words seems simple, but it is actually the most difficult."

Not only do you have to write the characters, but you also have to explain their meanings, form words with them, and expand sentences.

It would be even better if you could recite idioms or poems.

The best way to be persuasive is to ensure that the meaning of the word corresponds to the meaning of other words in the places where it frequently appears.

Dongfang Jin nodded and bowed to him again: "Thank you for clearing up my doubts, Brother Cha."

"Okay, go ahead and join the queue."

Seeing her turn to leave, Gu Chenglin called out, "Xiao Jin, give me the basket."

"Oh."

Li Xiuwen and Li Fengshou watched as Dongfang Jin walked towards the notice board. Li Xiuwen joked, "Brother Lin, is this your new wife?"

Gu Chenglin nodded: "Yeah, how are you all? Are you getting used to working here? Has anyone been bullying you?"

Li Xiuwen frowned as he looked at Gu Chenglin's injuries: "That's good. This new magistrate is much easier to talk to than the last one, and he doesn't make things difficult for people."

I heard that this county magistrate is from the capital and has quite a background.

Look, he just took office and immediately came up with five words. Before he came, they were distributed one by one on a regular basis.

If you guess correctly, young lady, that's fifty taels of silver. If you guess correctly all of them, you'll get an extra ten taels as a reward.

After saying that, he glanced around, leaned closer to Gu Chenglin, and whispered, "Your ex-wife has already settled down in Guangnan Prefecture and opened a general store with that peddler."

Her name is now Liu Qingyu. That peddler also has a son and a daughter, who are a few years older than ours.

The peddler's wife had been having an affair years ago. When his mother found out, she reported it to the authorities, and the woman was sent to work in an ironworks.

He happened to be selling goods here when he came across your family's situation... He said the two of them were having an affair, and that your little girl was the peddler's child, so..."

Gu Chenglin looked gloomy and said coldly, "There's no need to mention this anymore. Since the name has been changed, let's just pretend she's dead. I will raise those two children."

Li Xiuwen glanced at Dongfang Jin in the word-guessing area and asked, "What if your ex-wife finds out you're alive and comes back looking for you? After all, she still has two children here."

You and she just got married, and now she wants to come back. What will become of this woman? Although we haven't met her before, we can tell at a glance that she's not the type to be someone's concubine or mistress.

“She will never come back,” Gu Chenglin said, taking a statement from his pocket.

Li Xiuwen glanced at it and gritted his teeth: "No wonder, no wonder she has never contacted us brothers all these years. Then what about this money?"

This is no small sum of money. That person is really bold, just taking the money and running away like that. He's ruthless!

Gu Chenglin gritted his teeth and said, "Even if it's compensation to her, the divorce papers have already been registered in town."

Li Fengshou said angrily, "You should give her a letter of divorce. But Brother Lin, give me the letter of severance and the letter of divorce from the Tian family. I'll report it to Master Xu and get it stamped with the official seal."

"No need. If she dares to come looking for me, she'll have to pay me back ten times the amount she owed."

Gu Chenglin was talking to them, but his eyes were always on Dongfang Jin.

These two men are cousins ​​who served corvée labor with him in the past.

They were still young then. Once, Li Fengshou fell into the river, and no one came to his rescue.

Li Xiuwen was so anxious that he knelt down and kowtowed to everyone, but still no one went into the river; they all stood by and watched.

He was the one who came on shift change. When he saw Li Fengshou struggling in the river, he jumped in without hesitation and rescued him.

Moreover, during the days when Li Fengshou had a fever, he helped with all their chores, including Li Xiuwen's, because Li Xiuwen had to take care of his cousin.

As Gu Chenglin thought of this, Li Xiuwen also thought of the same thing.

Back when the corvée labor was over, the construction period was extended, and the higher authorities gave us a lot of money.

The Li family used the money they earned from corvée labor, along with other funds they had scraped together, to find jobs for the two brothers in the government.

When the two brothers saw the available places, they decisively chose to become yamen runners in Ling'an County, which would be a convenient way to repay Gu Chenglin.

The day Gu Chenglin went to serve in the military was the first day that the two brothers had just started working here.

When Gu Chenglin was forced to leave, he told the two brothers about his family situation...

"Hey! You actually guessed it!" It was Ma Wencai's loud voice.

Upon hearing this, Li Fengshou strode over and said to the constable maintaining order nearby, "Qiangzi, go and invite Master Xu."

"Okay, Brother Li."

Standing beside Dongfang Jin, Ma Wencai no longer cared about her shabby clothes or looked down on her because she was a woman. Upon closer inspection, his eyes even held a hint of envy.

"So fast? I said, you can only be considered correct after you've checked the answers against the box."

When Master Xu came out, he was accompanied by a man who was elegant and exuded an air of nobility, refinement, and composure.

Li Xiuwen leaned closer to Gu Chenglin and whispered, "This is the county magistrate who came in person. He is dressed in plain clothes and cannot kneel before him; this is his request."

Gu Chenglin glanced at the county magistrate and nodded to Li Fengshou. This county magistrate was quite interesting; he had handsome features and clear eyes, making him a decent official.

……

"You said this word is 'greedy'—'greedy'? Can you express it in a different way?" Master Xu asked Dongfang Jin with a look of surprise.

Li Xiuwen said to Gu Chenglin, "This is Master Xu. He used to be a teacher at Yunshu Academy. Before this magistrate came, he was in charge of all the affairs of the county government."

……

Upon hearing this, Dongfang Jin bowed respectfully to Master Xu, saying, "Greetings, Master Xu."

Master Xu stroked his beard, quite satisfied with Dongfang Jin's attitude: "Answer the question I just asked. If you answer correctly, you'll get a reward of ten taels of silver."

Dongfang Jin nodded: "This character is pronounced 'chan,' meaning 'greedy mouth' or 'eye-greedy.' The idioms are 'drooling with envy,' 'eye-greedy and full,' and 'drooling with envy,' all of which are related to food."

As Dongfang Jin spoke, the two men next to Master Xu picked up their pens and wrote it down.

Master Xu asked, "Is there anything else?"

Dongfang Jin was puzzled and pointed to the words above, asking, "Aren't you going to guess the other words?"

"Wait a minute, I have some similar characters here. What about this one?" Master Xu took out a picture of a similar character and handed it to Dongfang Jin.

"The character with the silk radical is pronounced 'cai'. 'Cai' means talent, ability, or just now. Idioms with it include 'talented man and beautiful woman,' 'talent and beauty,' 'arrogance,' 'exhaustion of talent,' and 'overflowing talent.'"

"Anything else? How many of these words can you name?" Master Xu asked, knowing that no one had been able to answer this question.