To say it was a promotion wasn't quite right. The position of Constable couldn't even be considered an official post; at best, it was a minor village functionary. The position he was being promoted to was also very low-level, called a Prison Warden.

As the name suggested, a Prison Warden managed the prison. In later-era terms, it was equivalent to a warden. It wasn't exactly a desirable job, as this wasn't a national or provincial prison. Nine out of ten people locked up in a small county prison were there for breaking the law over trivial matters. They were either poor or malicious—in short, they had no money. Even when their relatives came to visit, there wasn't much grease to be skimmed.

However, a Prison Warden was at the county level, meaning he was the warden of the county prison. Compared to the 'neighborhood police chief' position Liu Yuan previously held, it was more than one rank higher, so it was a genuine promotion.

Liu Yuan had only been a Constable for three months before being promoted to a county-level post. Many people were envious, but he knew how to handle people and had already spent a whole month's salary treating everyone. Moreover, the job didn't offer much profit, so there weren't too many jealous people. At most, they would just gossip a little, which was about as bothersome as an itch.

“Husband, is this true?!”

The family heard the news while eating dinner. Madam Zhang was so shocked she forgot about the fragrant millet rice in front of her, straightening up to stare at Liu Yuan.

She never would have imagined it. Three months ago, her family was so poor they could barely afford to eat, with nothing but bean rice day after day. But now, there was more meat at their meals, and they could even have millet rice every two days. And that wasn't all—her husband was getting promoted again!

“Why would I lie to you!” Liu Yuan smiled nonchalantly, picked up a meat patty with his chopsticks, and popped it into his mouth. He nodded as he chewed, "What is this? I never thought pork could be made so delicious! Ah Zhen must have had a hand in this, right?"

‘Tun’ meat was pork. The Liu family's financial situation had improved somewhat, but they were far from eating lavish meals every day. Pork was cheap, so they could buy more of it, and they also raised their own pigs. Therefore, the extra meat on the Liu family's table was often pork, along with the fish Liu Nan occasionally caught.

Madam Zhang's cooking skills were rather mediocre. When pork came into her hands, her method was simply to boil water, toss the pork in, sprinkle some salt, and then fish it out to be sliced.

Plain boiled pork was, of course, a delicacy to those who hadn't eaten meat in a long time. But after eating it several times, their standards for cooking naturally rose. Thus, after a few consecutive days, the Liu family members would rather eat wild vegetables than touch the plate of pork, and Liu Nan was no exception.

Under these circumstances, Liu Zhen resolutely took on the important task of improving the plain boiled pork, starting to figure out how to make it more delicious.

Ever since Ji Ci had come to their home for a meal that day, the Liu children's interactions with him had increased. However, it was mainly the friendship between Liu Zhen and Ji Ci that deepened. Liu Nan still found they had little in common to talk about, but he was no longer as impatient as before and would occasionally invite Ji Ci over for a meal.

Thanks to Ji Ci, Liu Zhen could recognize more and more Great Seal Script and Small Seal Script characters, and her understanding of social customs and traditions also grew.

Common folk toiled their entire lives with their faces to the loess and their backs to the sky just to fill their stomachs. Even Liu Zhen's grandfather and uncles, who had a say in the town and county, had perspectives that didn't extend beyond this one town and county. Only families of Ji Ci's caliber—who had once held high office in a state and, even in retirement, possessed a perspective far superior to that of ordinary villagers—could offer more. Naturally, interacting more with Ji Ci was more beneficial to her.

From Ji Ci, Liu Zhen gradually learned that the cuisine of this era was not as scarce as she had imagined. On the contrary, one didn't even need to be a noble. The Governer of Yingchuan Commandery, where they lived, had about ten different dishes at every meal. According to Ji Ci, he was once fortunate enough to accompany his father to a banquet where he ate a dish made from the tender meat under a calf's belly, cooked with tender spring bamboo shoots and seasoned with calamus. The flavor was so exquisite that he still remembered it to this day.

It was only the lower-class commoners who lacked a rich diet. For common people, let alone not having all the ingredients, even if they did, they couldn't possibly cook with the same meticulous care as nobles. However, these were not problems for Liu Zhen. With a friend like Ji Ci, who came from a family with deep scholarly traditions, Liu Zhen would ask for his advice from time to time. Through these interactions, she really did learn quite a lot.

For today's meat dish, Liu Zhen asked Madam Zhang to help mince the pork, then mixed it with flour, egg, and chopped scallions. She shaped the mixture into round patties by hand, just like the fish cakes they had last time, and pan-fried them until cooked. These could be considered a different kind of meat patty, but the Liu family had long grown tired of plain boiled pork, so everyone praised this new dish effusively as they ate.

Liu Yuan was still in the mood to praise Liu Zhen, but Madam Zhang had no patience for his suspense. She asked anxiously, “Husband, why were you promoted? Was it Third Uncle's doing again?”

Xu Zhongfang and An Zheng were sworn brothers with Liu Yuan. By age, Liu Yuan was the eldest, Xu Zhongfang the second, and An Zheng the third, which is why Madam Zhang addressed him as such.

“It was a matter of circumstance!” Liu Yuan was in a great mood, so he patiently began to explain to them.

“The original Prison Warden was the County Magistrate's younger brother. He was just promoted to County Commandant, leaving a vacancy in the county prison. I originally had no hope for it. Think about it, I'm just a Constable, how could I suddenly jump to Prison Warden? The Outpost Head, a man of the Xiao clan, was keen on pursuing it, but as it happens, he had previously offended the Assistant Governor. When Xiao took the Elder San's letter of recommendation to the County Magistrate, the Assistant Governor spoke ill of him in front of the Magistrate, refusing to promote him. The County Magistrate had no particular impression of Xiao Qi to begin with, and the Prison Warden post isn't a lucrative one anyway. I heard he just took the Assistant Governor's personnel roster, pointed randomly, and happened to land on my name.”

After Liu Yuan's grandfather died, the position of Elder San of Xiang Town naturally changed hands. The current Elder San was also named Liu, but he had no relation to their Liu family. The Assistant Governor was in charge of official evaluations and promotions, similar to a head of the organization department in later times.

Madam Zhang was muddled by all these names and positions and hadn't yet processed it, but Liu Zhen understood everything.

"Father, that Assistant Governor must have intended for you to become the Prison Warden, right?"

Liu Yuan raised an eyebrow. “How so?”

Liu Zhen said, “You are the Outpost Head’s subordinate, but the Outpost Head offended the Assistant Governor. The Assistant Governor dislikes him, so he had you promoted instead, isn't that right?”

Liu Yuan laughed heartily and ruffled her hair. “Indeed. My Ah Zhen is so clever!”

With that explanation, Madam Zhang also understood.

“In that case, doesn't this set you up to become enemies with Outpost Head Xiao? Husband, that Assistant Governor clearly doesn't value you; he just wants to sow discord!”

Liu Yuan nodded, picked up another meatball, and said nonchalantly, “Yes!”

Madam Zhang's joy vanished instantly, replaced by worry. “Outpost Head Xiao is a tyrant in this town. Even if you become a functionary in the county, our family still lives in Beisi Outpost, which is under his jurisdiction. The way I see it, it's better not to take this Prison Warden job. It's not a great position anyway, so why make an enemy of him!”

Liu Yuan shook his head, his thoughts completely different from hers. “So what? It's not like I begged for the job myself. Xiao Qi won't make trouble for me!”

Madam Zhang grew anxious. She felt her husband didn't realize the risk involved. You snatched the prey someone else was eyeing; how could he possibly be polite to you? Xiao Qi, the Outpost Head of Beisi, was a troublesome figure in the town, someone even the Elder San didn't want to offend lightly. How could their humble family afford to provoke such a person?

But no matter how she tried to persuade him, Liu Yuan refused to give up the position of Prison Warden. Madam Zhang was helpless. The earlier ecstasy over her husband's promotion had vanished, replaced by a heart full of worry, afraid that one day Xiao Qi would come kicking their door down.

The children stared blankly, looking at their mother's grave expression and then at their father's casual ease. Other than Liu Zhen, none of them could understand the adults' conversation, including the eldest son, Liu Nan.

In truth, Liu Zhen also couldn't figure out why her father would take this position at the risk of offending Xiao Qi. Although a promotion was a good thing, and a county prison warden was higher-ranked, meaning her dad would outrank Xiao, the two departments were completely unrelated. A prison warden had no authority over Xiao Qi. Moreover, a powerful dragon can't crush a local snake. Xiao was the local snake of Xiang Town. Her father had no powerful backing; even if he became the Prison Warden, there was no guarantee that an enraged Xiao Qi wouldn't stab him in the back, which would make the gains not worth the losses.

But seeing her father's confident appearance, he didn't seem like the type of person to get carried away over a minor Prison Warden position. So, Liu Zhen decided to observe for a while before drawing any conclusions.

——————

Madam Yu walked in hurriedly from outside. Setting down a clay pot, she didn't even bother to wipe the mud from her hands before quickly approaching her mother-in-law, Madam Lou.

“Mother, have you heard?” Madam Yu glanced at her father-in-law, Liu Xin, who was holding a bamboo scroll, and said in a tone that wasn't deliberately lowered, “Second Uncle is going to be promoted to Prison Warden!”

What! Madam Lou abruptly straightened up. “Where did you hear that?”

Beside them, Liu Shu, who was learning to weave mats from her grandmother, also stopped what she was doing and listened intently.

Madam Yu had one son and one daughter. The elder was Liu Cheng, and the younger was Liu Shu, who was right there. What made Madam Yu proud was not only that her son Liu Cheng had achieved success in the town school and was about to become a candidate for official selection, but also that her daughter Liu Shu, though only six years old, was already as lovely as jade and snow, charming and beautiful. She would surely be married into a good family in the future.

Madam Yu was waiting for Madam Lou to ask. Upon hearing the question, she immediately said, “It’s all over town! They say the county's Assistant Governor personally named Second Uncle and recommended him to the County Magistrate! I never would have thought Second Uncle had a past connection with the Assistant Governor. The Assistant Governor is in charge of evaluations and promotions; he holds the management of the entire county in his hands!”

By the end, her tone had turned sour with envy.

Madam Lou's face instantly turned cold. “If that's the case, why did he come asking your father to find a post for him before?”

“Exactly!” Madam Yu immediately added fuel to the fire. “He brought his whole family over before, under the pretext of paying respects to Father, but in reality, he came to beg Father for his own affairs. Relying on the face of our old Liu family, Father went through great trouble to secure a good post for him, but who knew that he would turn around and latch onto someone else? What can you even say to that? It's simply ungrateful!”

Madam Yu's words completely ignited Madam Lou's anger. She also felt Liu Yuan was utterly unappreciative. What was wrong with being an Outpost Attendant's subordinate? Wasn't that a proper job? If he looked down on it, why did he come to them for help in the first place? Now that this news was out, wouldn't it make people laugh at their Liu family for its internal strife, for deliberately mistreating a son born of a concubine?

The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law spoke with righteous indignation, dragging out Liu Yuan's family and even his deceased servant-concubine mother to criticize them all. This continued until, with a sharp crack, a bamboo scroll was slammed heavily onto the table. The two women jumped in fright and looked up to meet Liu Xin's dark expression.

“Father, calm your anger!” Madam Yu said quickly.

As his old wife, Madam Lou didn't need to be so considerate of his feelings. She sneered, “Who are you putting on this angry display for? Your son has made it big now. Even the county's Assistant Governor is his backer. Who would dare say a word against him now!”

Liu Xin's expression grew even uglier.

Liu Shu, a little frightened, edged closer to her grandmother, Madam Lou. She wasn't very close to her grandfather to begin with. In the Liu family, her grandfather's favorite was her elder brother, Liu Cheng. As a girl who would eventually take her husband's surname, Liu Shu only received some preferential treatment from her grandmother because she was a child of the main wife.

But compared to her cousins from her uncle's family, her treatment was already good enough.

Just as a suffocatingly low pressure filled the room, Madam Zhang's voice came from outside: “Father, Mother, I have brought the children to pay our respects. May we enter?”

This was a perfect case of 'speak of the devil,' though Cao Cao did not exist yet, and Madam Yu would not know this phrase. But that didn't stop her from feeling schadenfreude.

Looking at Liu Xin again, his expression could no longer be described as merely ugly.

“Let them in!” The words were forced out, one by one, through clenched teeth.