Be a small county magistrate in ancient times

Seeing that Luo Shitou couldn't be called back, Cai Rong came over with a rattan stick.

Seeing Meng Changqing asking, Cai Rong explained the reason.

It's a sad thing to say, all for a piece of paper.

The Luo siblings made good progress in their studies. After they had memorized new words in class in the morning, Mr. Cai gave each of them a piece of paper and assigned them the next stage of homework, which was to write the sentences taught yesterday on the paper.

When Luo Shitou was doing his homework, he accidentally soiled Luo Yun's paper.

Cai Rong was holding the piece of paper in his hand. Meng Changqing saw that most of it was covered with ink spots. Even from an arm's length away, he could smell the stench of low-quality ink on the paper.

Currently, the paper and pens used by the children in the school need to be distributed according to their learning progress. Some of them learn fast and can pass Cai Rong’s test, so they can get these from him. They are all very cheap pens, ink and paper. Some of them learn slowly, so they don’t even have these inferior paper and pens.

Can you really not afford a piece of paper and a pen?
This seems difficult to explain clearly.

Although Meng Changqing cried poor in front of Cai Rong, she did have some family background, much richer than the average person. It was no problem for her to buy dozens of pieces of paper and pens.

But her family fortune was saved by her family, not earned by her, Meng Changqing, when she was in office in Beishan County. How could she have the nerve to pretend to be generous with money earned by others?
She is much more stingy than Qi Renli.

Just talking about the funds allocated by the government to official schools, every single piece of paper has to be calculated carefully and absolutely no waste is allowed.

Cai Rong stood in front of Meng Changqing, feeling sad about the dirty paper in his hands. He also blamed Meng Changqing for collecting so much tax but still being unwilling to be more generous to the school.

Seeing that Cai Rong was about to complain, Meng Changqing quickly said, "Don't delay Mr. Cai from teaching his students. Master, quickly catch the stone and return it to Mr. Cai."

After saying that, she quickly took several steps back.

The words that Cai Rong wanted to say were stuck in his throat. He had no chance to speak out, so he turned around and lectured his student, "Luo Shitou, you soiled your sister's paper. Regardless of whether you did it on purpose, you did ruin her paper. You deserve to be punished. Stretch out your hand."

Luo Shitou stretched out his hand tremblingly, but he kept saying in defense, "I really didn't mean it."

No matter what he said, his palm was slapped three times. Luo Shitou held his swollen and painful hand, his eyes were red, and he felt very aggrieved.

Seeing him like this, Luo Yun also felt uncomfortable. Mr. Paper had already replenished her, and looking at Luo Shitou's expression, it seemed as if she had gone too far.

Just when Luo Yun was doubting himself, Xi Bei, who had walked away, came back and asked, "Master, have you had lunch?"

The brother and sister looked up at him, their eyes full of confusion, but they still answered honestly: "We have eaten."

"The master said that we should take advantage of the lunch break and go to the government office."

When Luo Shitou heard such a good thing, the pain in his hands and the aggrieved heart were gone, and he immediately became full of energy.

The two followed Xi Bei in through the main gate, walked all the way inside, and stopped at the door of the front yamen study.

The Luo siblings were still excited, and they were amazed by the scenery they saw since they entered the door.

Bafang was already standing at the door. When he saw the two children arrive, he pushed the door open and led them in.

The two children were inevitably restrained. They looked around curiously, but did not dare to move their feet and their hands were clasped in front of their stomachs.

Meng Changqing was polite and did not treat the two men as children. He asked them to sit down.

Luo Shitou saw the clean bench and thought of his dirty clothes, fearing that he would get them dirty. "Sir, I'd better stand."

When he said this, his sister Luo Yun had already sat down. After hearing what he said, she didn't know whether to stand up or continue sitting.

Meng Changqing noticed their awkwardness and said with a smile, "Those stools are very sturdy and won't break easily, so feel free to sit on them. Of course, if you feel more comfortable standing, you can stand, whatever is more comfortable for you."

After Meng Changqing finished speaking, he took two pieces of paper from his desk and handed them to Luo Yun and Luo Shitou respectively. (End of this chapter)