The best county magistrate

Early the next morning, Xiaolian prepared a sumptuous breakfast in the Donghua Hall of the county government office.

Yang Xuanchen and Fu Chuan were enjoying the delicious food when Zhang Biao led Zhao Xue over.

Zhao Xue, who hadn't had a full meal in several days, couldn't help but swallow a mouthful of saliva when she saw a table full of breakfast, her eyes shining with salivation.

"I...can I have some?" she asked humbly.

When Fu Chuan heard the sound, he glanced back at her without any expression, and moved the empty stool next to him a little further.

Then he looked at Yang Xuanchen with a questioning look, as if to say: Let her eat some.

Zhao Xue's eyes widened and she covered her mouth with her hands, shocked.

She never expected that her uncle would come in person.

"Sit down." Yang Xuanchen said two words calmly with his eyelids lowered.

Seeing that she didn't sit down, Fu Chuan immediately said coldly: "Sit down and eat."

When Zhao Xue heard this, she immediately sat down, only halfway up her buttocks.

She lowered her head, not daring to look at Fu Chuan, like a child who had done something wrong.

She understood that her uncle must have known about her being imprisoned. If he told his mother and concubine or even his father, she would definitely be disgraced.

Thinking of this, she raised her head with a fierce look and gave Yang Xuanchen a fierce look.

Fu Chuan put down his chopsticks and said in a cold tone, "What are you doing standing there in a daze? Eat!"

Only then did Zhao Xue move her chopsticks, tremblingly pick up a piece of green vegetables and take a small sip of the white porridge.

Xiaolian's cooking skills made her eyes shine, and then the chopsticks kept falling like autumn leaves sweeping away, and the look of devouring food shocked the two of them.

After she drank a lot of food, she patted her belly and burped.

Yang Xuanchen and Fu Chuan first looked at each other, and then their eyes fell on Zhao Xue.

Feeling the sharp gazes of the two people, Zhao Xue's cheeks turned red, "You...why are you looking at me like this?"

Fu Chuan snorted heavily and said angrily: "You still have the nerve to say it!"

"You are not young anymore. Can you please save your parents' worries, and also save my uncle's worries?"

"If you don't apologize to Mr. Yang, you said that as a public servant..."

Fu Chuan almost said that he did the splits, but he quickly came back and said, "As a descendant of the Zhao family and half the blood of the Fu family, how can you be so ignorant?"

"He committed murder, hurt people, obstructed official duties, and even... even tried to bribe Mr. Yang."

"Tell me what's going on in your head."

"Five days is a small amount of time to lock you up!"

When he said this, he became so angry that he slammed the table.

Fu Chuan's words made Zhao Xue lower her head again. Her nose suddenly felt sore and tears came out.

Yang Xuanchen on the side didn't say anything, just watching Fu Chuan act.

As expected of the head of the No. 1 family in Qingzhou, he even dared to teach the princess a lesson, and it seemed that Zhao Xue was quite afraid of her uncle.

At this time, Zhao Xue stood up angrily and tried hard to control his tears.

"Five days, five days!"

"Do you know how I spent these five days?"

"do you know?"

Zhao Xue's hysterical shouting shocked everyone present.

"You all only scold me and blame me. Have you ever asked me or cared about me..."

With a few roars, her anger dissipated somewhat, followed by unstoppable tears.

The more she cried, the sadder she became, turned around and ran towards the back garden.

Fu Chuan didn't expect that after just a few words of reprimand, the child would run away crying and let out a long sigh.

"Oh, it's shameful, it's so shameful!"

Yang Xuanchen glanced at Fu Chuan, shook his head and sighed.

Zhao Xue obviously has the temper of a child, so how can he be educated like this? It will be counterproductive.

"Master Fu, please sit down for a while and I will go and persuade her."

Since the beginning of autumn, it is still a little cool in the back garden of the county government office.

Yang Xuanchen untied his cloak and gently put it on Zhao Xue, who was crying and shivering.

The warmth on the cloak and the faint scent of osmanthus instantly dispelled the chill on her body.

Zhao Xue raised her head slightly and looked at him with eyes that were a little red from crying.

The more he looked at his face, the more disgusted he became in Zhao Xue's eyes, not only the smirk at the corner of his mouth, but also the whole person.

It's all your fault, Yang Xuanchen!

If you and your subordinates hadn't put me in jail, I wouldn't have needed to be embarrassed and lectured.

No, how could he be with his uncle? Has my identity been exposed?

"Hey, did my uncle tell you anything about me?"

Seeing that Yang Xuanchen ignored her, Zhao Xue pushed him and spoke again, "I'm talking to you, are you mute?"

"What do you want to know?"

"It doesn't matter, you can say whatever you want and I'll listen to whatever you want." Zhao Xue pouted.

Yang Xuanchen sat down on the stone bench and said, "We didn't have anything to talk about. The head of the Fu family is actually very worried about your safety."

"He came all the way from Linjiang City to come here just for you."

"Stop, stop!" Zhao Xue raised her hand to stop him.

"Be good for me, make me good, make me obedient..."

"Adults like to have me in their palms, so that they can appear to teach their children well."

"Have they ever asked me what I like, whether I am happy or unhappy..."

After saying these few words, Zhao Xue lowered his head and kicked the stone table with his toes, again and again.

Tears fell to the ground drop by drop, like lonely raindrops in the sky, silently telling the pain in my heart.

Yang Xuanchen was not very good at comforting people, but he also didn't want Zhao Xue to cry like this.

He took a deep breath and said softly: "Let me tell you a story."

"Beyond our world, there is a vast land."

"Their culture, knowledge, and technology are much, much ahead of ours."

"Of course there are more men, women, and children living there than us. There is a boy. His family is not rich, and his parents are ordinary workers..."

"..."

Yang Xuanchen looked at the pond in the distance and slowly told the story of the little boy growing up.

At some point, Zhao Xue stopped crying, listening to him telling the story of the little boy, and looking at his melancholy and deep eyes.

It was as if I was in the bizarre world he talked about and had spent more than thirty years with the little boy.

"You mean to tell me that it is our world that limits me?" Zhao Xue asked doubtfully.

"No, no, no, it's not the world, it's the thoughts, the unchanging thoughts of this world."

Yang Xuanchen paused and continued: "Before the Great Yan, there was the Great Scenery, and before the Great Scenery there were the Liang, Rui and other dynasties."

"Why has Confucianism been the only religion since the Rui Dynasty, and why since the Liang Dynasty women must obey the three virtues and the four virtues, all the way to the end."

"For us, it is the ideas left by the ancestors that limit us."

At this point, Zhao Xue looked thoughtful, "Do you know that if your remarks are heard by others, it will be treacherous!"

"No, no, you can't say that, you misunderstood me." Yang Xuanchen said with a smile.

"Confucianism pays attention to humanity and ethics, derives love and respect, and regards benevolence, justice, etiquette, wisdom, trust, and loyalty, filial piety, and sincerity as the core. This is the holy way."

"However, the idea of ​​pilgrimage has been continuously misinterpreted during these thousands of years."

"I would like to ask Mr. Zhao, what do you think of love and respect, and what do you think of the holy way?"

His question seemed like a seed that landed in Zhao Xue's heart, triggering deep and extensive thinking.

Dayan has a clear and strict hierarchy. From a young age, they have been taught to respect the king, the king, the emperor, the master, and the master. This is also the basic principle for maintaining order.

But Zhao Xue had doubts in her heart.

Does such an order truly embody the love and respect advocated by Confucianism?

Can it really lead people to the holy path?

"That world, that boy, was not depressed because he had no background or family background."

"I didn't follow the path arranged by my parents like many ordinary people."

"He works hard to absorb knowledge and be that obedient child in the eyes of others, but inside he is always shouting that he wants to become a master!"

"Eventually, that boy made his own way, and you can too."

Speaking of this, Yang Xuanchen put his hands on Zhao Xue's shoulders and stared into her eyes.

"You should live up to your youthful years, and moving forward is what you should do."

"One day, you will become the person who can stand at the top of the mountain and see the small mountains."