In my opinion, my Big Brother did absolutely the right thing. If there’s anything he did wrong, it’s just that he was too soft-hearted toward those people. If it were up to me, I wouldn’t have given them a single thing, haha, please don’t laugh at me, uncle, I’m just saying this as your nephew…

And so, after all this commotion for nearly a year, the relationships between the branches of the family have all faded. When we meet, we’re even colder than strangers. Just thinking about it now makes my heart feel blocked. If I feel this way, imagine how my father must feel. His illness has dragged on and still hasn’t improved—it’s all because of this unrest in his heart. Now I finally understand: every family has its own troubles. Sometimes, when I think about it, the days in small, humble households are actually more carefree, without all this mess. But then, people in small households all dream of living like the big families. Don’t you think the affairs of this world are really impossible to predict?”

David Carter stood to the side, pursing his lips slightly. The so-called warmth and coldness of human relationships, the fickleness of the world—these were things most thoroughly displayed in his own era. As a child, he and his mother had suffered countless cold stares. He’d understood this truth from the time he could remember. Mark Bolton was already over twenty, yet he had no sense of responsibility when things happened. He even ran far away to fetch his own brother back, and still had the nerve to talk about it.

Samuel Carter and Mark Bolton didn’t notice the tiny movements of this little child. The two of them kept chatting away for quite a while. Every family has its own difficulties. Men usually don’t discuss such matters deeply with outsiders—after all, “family shame should not be made public.” But first, the two families didn’t really count as outsiders, and second, both men were a bit tipsy. Taking advantage of the wine, they sighed and complained to each other, offering mutual comfort.

David Carter listened quietly at the side. He hadn’t interacted much with strangers, and knew almost nothing about this era. He wasn’t the type who could communicate smoothly with others, and now he was just an eleven-year-old child. Even if he wanted to talk, others wouldn’t confide much in him. So he could only glean the information he wanted from their scattered words.

He heard Mark Bolton say at this moment, “I don’t know what’s going on this year, but things just aren’t going smoothly. You might not know, but there’s a new assistant magistrate in the county. That in itself isn’t a big deal—the old assistant magistrate was a good man, but age spares no one. Retiring and returning home was expected by everyone. But… but this new official…

Sigh, you know, the assistant magistrate is in charge of us tax collectors. But this new official, well, he brought more than a dozen household servants with him, all of them his own people. Within just a few days, he started scheming to place his own confidants in positions. But how many good posts can there be in the county… I think, in a little while, life is going to get tough for us tax collectors.”

“And there’s more…” Loosened by the wine, Mark Bolton seemed ready to pour out everything he’d been holding in. “The post of salt supervisor at the saltworks to the west is vacant now, too. Heh, more than one person has their eye on that job. Our Gongyi County produces both salt and coal. As for coal, ordinary small households can’t afford it, and besides, it has to be supplied to other places. That’s a clean, unprofitable office. But the saltworks are different—every family needs salt, right? There’s plenty of profit in it, enough to make people jealous. The county magistrate, the assistant magistrate, and the county captain are all eyeing it. In previous years, they never had a chance to get involved—the eunuchs always controlled it. But now it’s different. Eunuch Qi in the capital palace had bad luck and fell because of the saltworks. Not only did he lose his own head, but quite a few of his subordinates lost their lives, too. Even now, the saltworks are such a hot potato that no official dares to take it on. It’s just sitting there, but everyone still needs salt, right? So for now, the people below are managing it, waiting for the officials in the capital to come up with a solution. In my opinion, the people below are already fighting each other to the death, not to mention those bigwigs in the capital. This matter won’t be settled anytime soon.

So now, it’s actually benefited the people below. The new assistant magistrate, relying on his family background, has already gotten into a shouting match with the other two officials, and there’s still no result. That’s the only reason they haven’t had time to make trouble for us tax collectors. But things always come to an end, don’t they? Who knows how we’ll get by in the days to come…”

Chapter 0006: Salt Supervisor

Shijie was the elder brother of Mark. From a young age, he had lofty ambitions. Later, he traveled and studied widely, taking Fang Fufang Wenxian as his teacher. Master Fang once praised Jack, saying, “Of all my countless disciples, only Jack has truly inherited my teachings.”

At first, Jack was not well known, but later, with the help of a general, he was able to realize his lifelong ambitions and became a renowned minister of his generation. He lamented that while there are always fine horses in the world, there are not always those who can recognize them.

At that time, the general was at the height of his power, trusted by a wise ruler above and followed by fearless warriors below. Many flattered him, and the rest were submissive. Only Jack, though the general’s elder brother, upheld justice and never engaged in flattery, thus earning the general’s respect.

After Jack passed away, the general personally attended his funeral and kept vigil for three days. When the First Emperor of Qin heard of this, he sighed and said, “For Jack to be honored so by the general, he can die without regret.”

—“Biographies of Famous Ministers of Great Qin—Jack’s Biography”

Samuel Carter, a man of the mountains, knew little of officialdom and didn’t know how to offer comfort, so he simply kept urging more drinks.