The Green-Robed Official

Yongning County Yamen has an unwritten rule: clerks are the yamen’s feet. Once they’ve been used, they’re thrown away. Gu Qingmo was one of those feet. For ten years, he handled matters for Magistrate Zhou Yannian. He did it until he was used as a pawn, until his achievements were stolen, until he was humiliated in public, and until the day his son fell gravely ill and he submitted his resignation. Zhou Yannian promised him in front of everyone, “I’ll keep your position open. You can come back whenever you like.” Three years later, he returned. The slander reached the county office before he did: insubordinate, underhanded, and always at odds with his superiors. One person after another tried to stop him, but he took a piece of paper from his breast pocket: Zhou Yannian’s own signature and seal, bearing the words, “Once his affairs are settled, he shall resume his former position.” No one dared stop him after that. But he knew that coming back was only the beginning. Zhou Yannian sat inside the county office, Cheng Shilu of the Cheng Trading Company stood outside, and an inspection order from the prefectural government was already on its way. And in his arms was the Ledger of Accounts, with ten years’ worth of records. Every single entry was waiting to be settled.