Journey to the West: Starting by taking Sun Wukong as my disciple!-Chapter 563 - 562: Distributing Money, Questioning the County Magistrate
"Brother Zhu, I know of a healer who is particularly good at treating illnesses. How about I bring him right now to take care of you?"
"Our money is no big deal, but if you fall ill, the future of our entire town’s people will be at stake!"
"Enough, enough, stop talking!" They feared that if they continued, it would turn into talk of beheading.
Such talk was not to be taken lightly, especially with a dignitary from the Kaifeng Prefecture inside.
"What’s the matter, Brother Zhu? You must not force yourself," someone said.
"Who’s forcing whom? My throat is just uncomfortable. Can’t I cough twice to clear it?" Tian Peng said.
"No, can’t you all think more carefully? I..." Tian Peng tried to speak but held back, then sighed, "Wait here for a moment."
After saying this, he left the crowd and went inside the house.
"Sir, please don’t take to heart what these people said. They were just a bit excited to see me and spoke without thinking," he implored.
It was crucial to clarify, for if the official from the Kaifeng Prefecture misunderstood and relayed the wrong impression to the Emperor, what then?
The words written were already so profound, claiming that the emperors of the mortal world were exceedingly suspicious, being just a bunch of ordinary people without any Dharma power.
But once someone became an emperor, they wielded the power to command wind and rain in the mortal world, and a single word out of place could lead to beheading.
Tian Peng certainly did not wish to die before completing his great ambitions. He had not yet begun to make his mark and definitely did not want to be killed by a mortal emperor over a few ignorant words said by these foolish people.
The official from the Kaifeng Prefecture smiled. He understood the situation here; these common folks were deeply grateful to the young man for rescuing them from dire straits, which explained their excessive words.
Fortunately, the young man harbored no such intentions, so this slight overstep was not a serious matter.
"It’s alright, no need to worry. As you’ve said, they haven’t seen you in a long time, and some excitement is inevitable. Rest assured, I won’t make a fuss over this trifle," the official reassured.
Only after knowing that the official from the Kaifeng Prefecture was not concerned about the incident did Tian Peng relax. He then took the silver taels from the hand of a soldier and distributed them among the people.
The official from the Kaifeng Prefecture watched carefully as Tian Peng, without batting an eye from the moment he opened the chest to distribute the silver taels, was genuinely indifferent to money.
After the distribution of money, each recipient thanked Tian Peng with heartfelt gratitude.
Tian Peng simply nodded, remarking calmly that he had merely fulfilled his promise, so naturally, he would see it through. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚
"So much money, my eyes could go straight just looking at it, and yet you don’t care at all?" the Kaifeng Prefecture official inquired.
Tian Peng did not quite understand; to him, silver was merely for buying food and shelter, an object whose existence was primarily to settle daily expenses.
Silver taels had little other use beyond being made into items, so there was no reason to care about them.
Not only silver taels, but even gold, a child like Jin Zha could change a large pile of it with a flick of his hand or even use it to craft statues.
In the mortal world, gold was much more valuable than silver taels, yet he had never felt it to be particularly precious.
"Aren’t silver taels just for buying things? I’ve never cared about it. Besides, in your mortal realm—ahem—in any case, I’m not picky about food. As long as it’s hot, I won’t fuss, and I’ve never really felt the need to use silver taels," Tian Peng explained.
Indeed, the use of silver taels was actually just as simple as that.
But the saying that "money makes the world go round" isn’t just a commonplace proverb. Having money makes things more convenient everywhere, and given the choice, it’s still better to be wealthy.
To be honest, when the Kaifeng Prefecture official asked himself, he couldn’t be as magnanimous. For him, silver was still necessary.
"You seem to take it very lightly," the Kaifeng Prefecture official said. "Do you know what the Emperor tasked me with when I was on my way here?"
Tian Peng had already observed this and nodded, saying, "I know, but it’s just about overseeing. Now, as you can see, I really don’t care about silver taels. As long as I have food and drink, I’m satisfied."
The Kaifeng Prefecture official laughed, "Indeed, that’s all you need."
The group of people happily took the money and left.
They had arrived in the morning, and even after distributing the money, it was only noon.
Tian Peng looked at the sun. He had planned to invite the Kaifeng Prefecture official to lunch before leaving, but then he thought about it and realized he had nothing to offer. He hadn’t even provided a drink of water to the man. He couldn’t let the official stay in his house the whole time.
"My Lord, I don’t even have water here. How about we go to the town to get something to eat first? Or even just a drink of water is fine, or we can go straight to the County Government Office."
"Do you think, with all these elite troops we brought, that the County Government Office hasn’t got the message?" the Kaifeng Prefecture official countered. "I’m afraid they’ve prepared everything at the office already."
Tian Peng wanted the official to rest properly but had nothing to offer him as a host.
Reflecting on what the Kaifeng Prefecture official said, Tian Peng agreed it made sense. He nodded, "You’re right, My Lord. Let’s go to the County Government Office first."
Indeed, as the Kaifeng Prefecture official predicted, when they reached the town, the County Magistrate was already waiting outside.
He first saw rows of elite troops before spotting the Kaifeng Prefecture official behind them.
"Oh, upon hearing that you were coming to our town, My Lord, I’ve been waiting outside this whole time. The long wait has finally brought you here."
The Kaifeng Prefecture official did not intimidate him right away but instead smiled at him. "You’ve been waiting for a while. We made a tour around the village before coming here."
The County Government Office was also aware of Tian Peng leading the men in repairing the water canal and was somewhat pleased.
After all, without spending any silver or manpower, they had repaired the water canal on their own, providing the peasants with water for irrigation; this would make it easier to collect taxes the following year.
For the County Magistrate, this was a free deal, and he was more than happy with it.
Moreover, during the canal’s construction, he didn’t send anyone to interfere. As a beneficiary, causing trouble would cost money, so naturally, he did not interfere.
"Oh, did you see the river channels outside the village? These were all spontaneously fixed by a bunch of foolish citizens. I was too lazy to bother with them. Technically, repairing the canal should be the government’s business, but these lowly citizens insisted on doing it themselves. Seeing their initiative, I decided not to intervene," the County Magistrate said.
He mentioned these things because the canals had revived the village.
The village was now lush and the farms were thriving. Seeing the approach of autumn, he knew there would be money to be made and was naturally very happy.
Sharing this with the Kaifeng Prefecture official was just a way to boast about the enthusiasm of the people within his jurisdiction.
But he only talked about the villagers’ situation, completely overlooking what he, as the County Magistrate, should have done.
The Kaifeng Prefecture official immediately understood the issue upon hearing this, looking at the County Magistrate, he asked, "So you didn’t intervene in their water canal construction. But what if they hadn’t repaired the canal?"
"I heard the drought here was quite severe. You hadn’t started dealing with it yet when the people spontaneously began repairing the canal. Surely you can’t have done nothing?"
