Others look forward to promotion when they become an official, but when Zhou Jiming becomes an official, he is just afraid that his boss will see him.
Traveling through Dasheng for four years, he managed to make the roads in the barren Qishan County easy to navigate, have hot meals on the streets, and the people could live a comfortable life. Just when he wanted to stay in a small stall with acquaintances until he grew old, the officials wanted to promote him.
Zhou Jiming wrote a year-end report overnight: the county treasury is empty, the banditry has not been subsided, and floods and droughts are inevitable. The minister is truly incompetent and deserves to be left alone to reflect.
Unexpectedly, as soon as he finished writing the memorial, the river in the next county was drained by the "diversion of all water where there is water" approved by him. The magistrate of the neighboring county packed up his clothes and carried the county seal to block the mouth of the canal. While complaining, he applied to settle in Qishan for retirement.
From then on, Zhou Jiming was responsible for proving that he was not good, his subordinates were responsible for getting things done, and the prefect was responsible for deleting sentences that would make him lose his head. The more he wanted to lie down, the harder it was to hide his political achievements; he was not promoted, but he was in charge of more and more places.
What's even more terrible is that the emperor behind the case gradually understood his thoughts: since he can't bear to live in the mountain, then don't move away - stay alive.
