Chapter 240: Hometown
Commander Jiang was, after all, an official passing through.
The Prefect of Jiangzhou did not need to come out to greet him, but there were people locally specifically responsible for hosting guests.
Mutual protection among officials started right here; it was about the network. When traveling to various provinces, at least there would be someone to host you.
If one had entered through the imperial examinations, they might find hosts even in very small places—classmates from the same year, or from the years before or after.
Commander Jiang received fewer receptions because he came from a background of Rebels who had been granted amnesty.
Officials of this type rarely moved outside their own circles.
Few were able to enter the capital to receive further appointments or promotions.
The Imperial Court did not encourage it. If one could become an official and even get promoted after rebelling, why would everyone work so hard to study and take exams? They would all just go and rebel.
Furthermore, if those granted amnesty could all become truly good officials, with satisfactory or even excellent performance reviews, it would be embarrassing for those who had worked hard to become officials. For a Rebel to actually become an official, and a good one at that? Impossible.
Based on these two points, Commander Jiang was a very special person.
Most officials actually did not want to be associated with Rebels.
Yet, Commander Jiang had actually married his daughter off to the only heir of the Meng Family.
At the very least, his status among the Rebels had been washed quite clean.
And his rank was also there.
The local officials in Jiangzhou City, even if they wanted to pretend not to see him, couldn’t; they still sent people to come out and welcome him.
However, they saw the drama of selling oneself to bury one’s father at the city gate and did not step forward to warn him.
Some people enjoyed this kind of drama. The young master would enjoy the hero saving the beauty, and the young lady would find a good match; it was a perfect fit. As for whether it was really her father, what did it matter? Anyway, one was willing to beat, and the other was willing to suffer.
When the person in charge of the reception saw clearly who the girl was pestering, they felt it looked familiar.
It seemed they had seen him before, a few years ago.
Wasn’t that the young General Meng?
He had followed the Prefect to welcome General Meng Qingshe and his son, Meng Shaoxia.
He vaguely remembered him as a square-faced, thin youth. After not seeing him for a few years, he had actually turned into a round-faced, tall, and sturdy man; he was like a different person, fat and all.
If not for the square shape showing through the roundness, he wouldn’t have remembered him at all.
“Back! Back! Back!”
Magistrate Jia scolded the person selling themselves to bury their father, “Do not lose face for the people of Jiangzhou!”
Then, he revealed a smile that was warm yet distant to welcome Commander Jiang.
Magistrate Jia was wearing a crisp official uniform, a beautiful jade pendant around his neck, a crown inlaid with gemstones on his head, a jewelry pouch at his waist, and official boots on his feet. This fully demonstrated the wealth of Jiangzhou. The uniforms of Jiangzhou officials were all very good-looking, new, and crisp, flaunting luxury to the fullest extent within the regulations of their rank.
Although Magistrate Jia had a long horse face, because he was dressed luxuriously and with authority, it naturally added a lot of charm. Dressed up like this and standing on the street, he was at least a five out of ten.
Commander Jiang wore a large cloak, the kind with a hood. Qin Luoxia, worried that her husband would be covered in dust from the journey, tanned, and have his skin roughened by the wind, had specially prepared this large cloak for him. At most, a pair of eyes were exposed, and most of the time he was riding in a carriage.
There were colleagues coming to welcome him.
Commander Jiang lifted the large cloak from his head.
For a moment, the woman in white kneeling on the ground and crying was like a pheasant whose throat had been caught by fate, unable to make a sound.
The crowd gathered to watch the excitement, wanting to know which sucker had been caught by a professional girl selling herself to save up for a down payment.
As a result, they saw the man in the black robe sitting on the tall horse lift the hood of his cloak and untie his cloak, revealing a young man in a white robe sitting on the horse’s back.
Sunlight, long hair, a handsome face.
Today is Minor Cold.
The wind of Minor Cold is biting.
A beauty comes riding on a horse.
The bustling street.
Beauty can make time stop.
At least for this moment, it paused.
Magistrate Jia, as an old hand in officialdom, paused for a moment before finding his voice again.
“Lord, Lord Sima, I have long admired you, long admired you.”
Commander Jiang returned a refined, slightly socially anxious smile.
“Sorry to trouble you to come and welcome us in person. Just having entered the city, we encountered this matter. Fortunately, you came, otherwise I wouldn’t know what to do. Then, then can we leave now?”
Lord Sima’s voice was also pleasant.
A gentleman on the road, as beautiful as jade, with a voice like jade.
Magistrate Jia never expected that while the son-in-law was already fat and round, the father-in-law was still so refined and handsome.
No wonder it was rumored that Commander Jiang’s daughter was as beautiful as Daji, and young General Meng, having seen her just once, stayed by her side and was unwilling to leave even for a step.
If her own father was at that age and still looked like this, how monstrously beautiful must the daughter be?
For a moment, Magistrate Jia’s gaze couldn’t help but shift toward the carriage behind.
Hearing is false, seeing is believing.
There had been many misunderstandings about the rumors regarding Commander Jiang before.
How could someone like Commander Jiang be a brutal Rebel? This was clearly a young master from a noble family who had been forced into a helpless situation.
Commander Jiang dismounted and walked side by side with Magistrate Jia.
“Let’s go, let’s go, Brother Sima, I will take you to get settled, and tonight I will arrange a banquet to welcome you.”
“Jiangzhou has a dish, Taro Duck, which is extremely famous, delicious, rich and fatty, a delicacy of the human world. Tonight, I have arranged for the famous chef Jiang Bei to prepare this dish; you must try it.”
“That is excellent.”
Commander Jiang and Magistrate Jia strolled forward.
Jiangzhou was prosperous.
Children were running on the street.
Commander Jiang saw a child running ahead, with an adult chasing behind.
“Xiaotian, don’t run so fast, watch out for falling.”
“I know, Dad.”
“Dad, Taro Duck is so delicious, let Uncle Bei make it tonight.”
“Okay.”
Jiang Changtian paused, lost in thought for a moment.
“Please, Lord Jiang.”
“Please, Magistrate Jia.”
Jiangzhou was his hometown.
Returning, he was no longer a youth.
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