Chapter 40: Class Head and Locker

  It's actually not a big deal to go to the county government, and as expected, it was just like Wang Kuang's previous speculation. Since the thief's hat on Wang Cun's head has been removed, the land that was confiscated by the government should naturally be returned. Currently, apart from the three brothers Wang Ling, Wang Kuang, and Wang Yan, there are no other living people from Wang Village, so the three brothers are naturally the heirs to this land. Moreover, the land in Wang Village originally belonged to the clan, so even if more people came, the county government would not want to bother with it. I'll just return it to you, and you can divide it among yourselves.

  This matter wouldn't have been resolved so quickly, first because the identities of Wang Ling, Wang Kuang and Wang Qian had to be verified according to procedure, secondly because government offices usually drag things out, where's the logic in receiving an imperial edict one day and returning your land the next? At the very least it would take ten days or half a month, otherwise what's the point of official authority?

  Fortunately, Wang Ling still had a letter from the county lieutenant to Huang Bieji on him. The provincial government was just next door, and an official was sent to deliver it to Huang Bieji. Before long, there was a response. The letter indeed mentioned that Wang Ling was a native of Wang Village and recommended him for a position in the provincial government. It turned out that the county lieutenant was a distant nephew of the Huang family and, seeing Wang Ling's bravery in battle, couldn't bear to waste his talents, so he wrote this letter. With this letter, what else was there to investigate? So Lin Zhuzhang immediately settled the matter, simplifying and expediting all procedures.

  As he came out of the county government office, Wang Ling said that he had to go see Huang Bie again. Originally, he thought it was just an ordinary family letter, and he had planned to come deliver the letter today. Now that he heard it was actually a letter recommending himself as a school lieutenant, he had to come visit Huang Bie even more. As for whether or not he wanted to work in the state government office, if he hadn't run into Wang Kuang, Wang Ling might still have thought about returning to his village to farm and take care of the ancestral temple and the family property. If he was lucky enough to wait for a clansman who had escaped from death, he would also have a home waiting for him. Now that he had run into Wang Kuang, although Wang Ling was a rough and uneducated man, he also had some insight. From yesterday to now, in less than a day's time, he had already vaguely sensed that his younger clansman was not simple, but rather a man who could do great things. Therefore, if he went to work in the state government office, it was possible that he could help Wang Kuang. Now it seemed that the entire Wang family's revival still depended on Wang Kuang.

  Huang Bie Jia and Pao Pao's Lin Zhu Bo were different, he was a thin old man with white hair on his temples and beard, and slightly hunched back. He had to squint when looking at people, typical of nearsightedness. It made sense, considering he spent every night reading and handling official business by the dim light of candles. His eyes wouldn't be nearsighted if it weren't for that.

  Seeing Huang Bie Jia's nearsightedness, Wang Kuang suddenly had an idea - why not make glasses to sell? That would definitely be a lucrative business. Unfortunately, he had already forgotten the formula for glass and didn't have the time to research it again. As people in later generations knew, the main component of glass was quartz, or ordinary sand found on riverbanks.

  Wang Kuang didn't have the leisure to pursue this idea, as it would require a significant amount of money and time. With that kind of time, he could easily make money from other ventures. Moreover, he didn't know how to measure the degree of nearsightedness or control the focal points of the two lenses for glasses. This was no laughing matter - eyes were not something to be trifled with. A slight deviation would not only fail to correct vision but might even worsen the nearsightedness.

  However, if I have money in the future, I can buy crystal and grind it into small pieces to be embedded in windows, which will increase the lighting in the house.

  Wang Kuang was chatting on YY when Huang Bie Jia asked, "Is this the so-called 'Young Master Dong' Wang Dalang from a wealthy family?" He didn't know that Wang Ling was Wang Kuang's cousin, and still called Wang Kuang Wang Dalang.

  "Let's get back to the point, I'm just a junior, but being a junior doesn't mean I'm not worthy of respect. Now, I am the second son." Wang Kuang hastily bowed his head in response. In terms of etiquette, Wang Kuang was still very satisfied with Tang Shi's etiquette, although there were clear distinctions between superior and inferior, as long as one didn't break the law, they didn't have to kneel down immediately, and could even address each other directly without using honorifics. This is similar to how people in later generations would address each other as "Director Zhang" or "Secretary Li".

  Huang Bie narrowed his eyes and sized up Wang Ling and Wang Kuang, the two brothers, and somewhat understood. He smiled, nodded, called over a servant to bring tea, and then waved his hand: "Sit down for now, since Wang Dalang was recommended by my nephew, he can't be considered an outsider, so relax."

  Afterwards, it was nothing but some insipid family affairs, and also talked about some trivial matters of Wang Ling and Huang Bie's nephew in the army. It can be seen that Huang Bie is still very satisfied with Wang Ling, occasionally narrowing his eyes and nodding his head.

  In the end, Huang Bieji gave Wang Ling a position as the head of the class, but Wang Ling said he needed to go home and discuss it with his uncle. However, his tone had already indicated that he had agreed, and going home to discuss was just a formality. Coincidentally, Huang Bieji liked this kind of thing, and praised Wang Ling for being understanding and knowing how to respect the opinions of his elders.

  After chatting, it was almost lunchtime. Huang Bieda, who was very satisfied with Wang Ling, insisted on inviting Wang Ling to stay for lunch. In his opinion, since he had seen the potential of taking over as the county magistrate, it was time to expand his team. The more he looked at Wang Da, the more he liked him, and since his cousin Xinnan said that Wang Da was loyal and brave, he intentionally drew closer to him.

  The steward of the Huang family often went to Fuli Inn to buy food and was familiar with Wang Kuang. Wang Kuang couldn't refuse, and since he had also vaguely heard that Lin Zhonglu and Huang Bie were in the same camp, he no longer worried about offending Lin Zhonglu. He gave the steward a wooden sign and whispered a few words, which made the steward extremely happy and he ran away quickly. Wang Kuang thought that Huang Bie's eyesight was poor, so his hearing might not be good either. Unexpectedly, Huang Bie heard everything Wang Kuang said to the steward clearly. However, he didn't reveal it, as he also craved for Fuli Inn's food and wanted to try their new dish, "mud eel taro".

  As he came out of the governor's mansion, it was already after noon. Wang Ling remembered his brothers and went back to the guest house first. Wang Kuang turned into a blacksmith shop, and the matter of the safe still had to be done quickly. Just during lunch, Huang Bie drove revealed a bit of his intention to move up. Since Jian'an is a broken state, there are not many officials who want to come, so according to convention, they are all promoted from bottom to top. If Huang Bie drives to the position of governor, then this governor's position will be taken by the county magistrate of Jian'an County, and the position of county magistrate, it is said that both Zhang Xiancheng and Lin Zhubu have a good chance of being promoted. This made Wang Kuang anxious, thinking about rushing to make the safe, adding a bit of chips for Lin Zhubu.

  The owner of the iron shop, it turns out, has some connection with Sun Er, also surnamed Sun, and is even a senior relative of Sun Er's. However, in the past, Sun Er was just an apprentice runner, earning a meager income, so he didn't get to see this senior relative often. It wasn't until last year when Sun Er became a manager that they started interacting more frequently.

  Last night, Sun the shopkeeper got two more taels of silver from Sun Er, and this morning, Lin the steward's servant came with the salt and iron official to deliver the iron. As soon as he saw Wang Kuang arrive, he hailed him from afar: "Hey, young Dong has arrived! Come on in, I've been ready since early today, just waiting for you to say what to do. The iron was delivered this morning, all of it is top quality."

  After entering the shop, Sun Zhuang's apprentice was driven out by him. He nodded and bowed to Wang Kuang, saying: "Last night, my nephew had already told me everything clearly, Master Dong, please rest assured, whatever you say, I will do."

  The drawings were already prepared by Wang Kuang, so there was no need for idle chatter. He explained how to do it and handed over two copies: one for Lin Zhongbo to submit for approval and the other for display in his own inn. The real challenge was the self-locking mechanism of the insurance seal that he had to hide and use himself. Although the blacksmith could only forge a rough outline, the rest required manual grinding and carving, which was a relatively precise device using the principle of cam self-locking. Originally, Wang Kuang wanted the blacksmith to help grind it out, mainly because he didn't have the strength and was lazy. But now that Wang Ling had returned, this physically demanding task could be handed over to him. Firstly, even if the blacksmiths racked their brains, they wouldn't know what these roughly forged things were for; secondly, since it was for Wang Ling, a family member, wasn't it better to keep the secret tighter?

  After a long time, he finally made the blacksmith understand how to hammer, and Wang went back to the inn. Another day passed like this.

  Back at the inn, Wang Ling and his brothers had gone somewhere, but no one knew where. Asked Gao San and Sun Er, they all said they didn't know, only that Wang Dalang came back not long ago and took those brothers out with him, saying he would be right back, without saying where they were going. If it were someone else, they would definitely ask clearly, but who was it? Xiao Dong's big brother! Who dared to ask.

  There must be something, Wang Kuang thought to himself. He had wanted to call someone out to look for them, but thinking about it again, with such a large group of people, they shouldn't have any problems, let alone now that Wang Ling can also be considered one of the leaders of the provincial government office. Although he hadn't promised anything, this matter could almost be said to be settled already. He was just worrying unnecessarily. A large group of soldiers who had crawled out from a pile of dead bodies wouldn't go around bullying people; it would be good enough if they didn't get bullied themselves. Who would dare bully them? Thinking about this, he couldn't help but laugh at himself: a 13 or 14-year-old kid was worried that a large group of adults would get bullied.

  Division -

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