20: Chapter 20: Deregistration Breaks the Rules

He arrived at the Gu Bureau, but the doors were tightly shut.

The guards knew him and didn't stop him, but upon walking inside, he saw it was very lively.

He saw two households of Bug Catchers there to deliver their goods; he didn't know their real names, only that everyone called them Chen Duozu and Wang Mantang.

It was midsummer, and Bug Catchers were coming out of the mountains one after another; delivery day was the most important moment of the year for them.

Poisonous Insects were nothing to play with, so the people in the Gu Bureau didn't like to crowd around.

Only the administrative officers and the Bug Catchers were there to count the numbers and judge the Rank of the Poisonous Insects.

As soon as Xia Shaoxin walked in, Chen Duozu and Wang Mantang both looked at him. They weren't very familiar—they had never greeted each other before—but today, they actually nodded at him and said politely, "Yo, Brother Xia is here."

Ever since he killed Li the Toad and his two sons, his reputation had risen among the Bug Catchers.

Everyone knew that the Xia family had produced a ruthless character.

"Uncle Chen, Uncle Wang, the harvest is good this year."

The two uncles were very pleased and said with a smile, "That's right, we can get over fifty thousand."

If he hadn't personally participated in smuggling, Xia Shaoxin would have believed them, just like in previous years.

The annual quota of forty thousand set by the imperial court was handed over for nothing; Bug Catchers had to hand in extra to earn money to sustain their lives.

The annual harvest generally had to maintain a balance.

Dawu Mountain was not farmland; there were no floods or droughts, so there was no such thing as a good or bad harvest year.

The Xia family was indeed weak, and their annual harvest barely maintained the average, but he hadn't realized that other families had amounts that exceeded the unspoken rules.

Families with few members had a very difficult life.

Xia Shaoxin squinted at the two of them, thinking to himself that he used to think they were honest and simple, but only today did he realize they were quite clever.

Liu Xinglong of the Gu Bureau sat in the hall, waiting for the tally results.

Seeing Xia Shaoxin, he couldn't help but frown, "What are you doing here when you have nothing to do?"

Xia Shaoxin walked straight to the hall and asked, "Lord of the Gu Bureau, you once said that as long as I produce one thousand taels of silver, I can shed my identity as a Bug Catcher?"

The Gu Bureau official replied impatiently, "I did say that, so what?"

"I am here today to remove my name from the registry."

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone was stunned.

"One thousand taels of silver? What kind of joke is that!"

"This kid is dreaming; is there any point in saying that?"

Xia Shaoxin, in front of everyone, pulled out a stack of silver banknotes.

He spread them out on the Gu Bureau official's desk, displaying them one by one.

"This is the one thousand taels of silver for the registry removal fee, already converted into banknotes for you, my lord."

"This is one hundred thousand in paper money, payment for the fine."

Liu Xinglong sat blankly in the main hall of the Gu Bureau, looking at Xia Shaoxin in disbelief.

"Please count them, my lord," Xia Shaoxin reminded him.

Liu Xinglong snapped out of his daze, picked up the silver banknotes and paper money from the desk, and examined them carefully. He couldn't find any flaws, and he fell into a state of confusion.

"Where did you get so much money?"

Xia Shaoxin waved his hand, "My lord, don't ask me where the money came from; just see if it's enough."

"These banknotes must be fake!"

Wang Mantang's voice came from behind. He stepped into the hall in a hurry and said to Liu Xinglong of the Gu Bureau, "The Xia family has always been the poorest; where would they get money? These notes must be fake."

This made Liu Xinglong lose confidence as well. He and a few elderly yamen runners studied them for a long time, not daring to rashly claim they were fake.

Chen Duozu didn't believe it and stepped forward to help the Gu Bureau official inspect them. Unable to find any problems, he scratched his head in anxiety and sternly questioned Xia Shaoxin, "I have never seen your family have money; where did you get so many banknotes?"

"That's right, isn't this money of suspicious origin?" Wang Mantang shouted.

Just a moment ago, they were greeting Xia Shaoxin politely, yet in the blink of an eye, they had become so uncomposed.

The Gu Bureau official was only surprised, but these two were a bit flustered and exasperated.

Xia Shaoxin snorted coldly, "You are not from the Punitive Division, and this is the Gu Bureau. Do I need to tell you how I made my fortune?"

Wang Mantang gritted his teeth and said, "How could you make a fortune? What other methods could you have? Isn't it just..."

The Gu Bureau official shouted, "That's enough, this is none of your business, all of you withdraw."

Wang Mantang hurriedly shut his mouth.

His eyes flickered, he exchanged a glance with Chen Duozu, and they exited the main hall.

Liu Xinglong held the banknotes and said to Xia Shaoxin, "A registry removal has never been handled before. I have received the banknotes; you stay in the city tonight, and I will give you an answer tomorrow."

Xia Shaoxin smiled slightly and exited the main hall.

In the courtyard, Wang Mantang and Chen Duozu looked astonished.

"Are you really going to remove your name from the registry?"

"Yes."

The bewildered looks in their eyes were as if the sky had collapsed.

Xia Shaoxin found an inn to rest.

After dark, a stranger came to find him and whispered, "The Gu Bureau official wants to see you."

Following him into the back door of the Gu Bureau, he arrived at an isolated house with two swordsmen standing at the entrance.

Entering the room, he was greatly surprised; there were only two people inside. Besides Liu Xinglong, Zhang Yan was also there.

Zhang Yan's expression was very dejected. Upon seeing Xia Shaoxin, he let out a long sigh, "You were too impatient and too reckless."

"What do you mean by that?" Xia Shaoxin vaguely felt that something was not quite right.

"Did I not tell you that if you sell your goods too quickly, it is easy to bring trouble upon yourself?"

Xia Shaoxin quietly squeezed a strength pill in his palm and asked calmly, "What trouble do I have now? You might as well speak plainly."

Zhang Yan turned his head to look at Liu Xinglong with an expression of having unspeakable difficulties.

Liu Xinglong smiled grimly, "Xia family kid, I truly misjudged you. When you came to deliver goods that day, we all saw that your goods were fresh, not something your grandfather had accumulated over the years."

"I was still careless, thinking you had just made a windfall by accident, so when Zhang Yan went to find you, none of us cared."

Zhang Yan lowered his head and said, "Xia Shaoxin sent some goods over; after they were sold, I naturally offered the lord his share."

Liu Xinglong said expressionlessly, "I am not a greedy person. I will not break the rules of the Gu Bureau that have stood for years. If it is not something I should take, I will not take a single cent."

Zhang Yan said, "This time is different. Xia Shaoxin's goods were truly numerous; if this subordinate took them all, that would be breaking the rules."

The two of them negotiated without any hesitation in front of Xia Shaoxin.

Liu Xinglong smiled slightly, nodded, and the negotiation ended.

Then, Liu Xinglong turned to Xia Shaoxin and said, "The imperial court set the registry removal fee for you Bug Catchers at one thousand taels. Actually, many people could afford it, even the family of Li the Toad, whom you killed, could have paid it. But why did no one remove their name from the registry? Do you know the reason?"

Xia Shaoxin replied, "Because leaving this place, other places might not be better."

Liu Xinglong shook his head, "No, you are wrong, because removing one's name from the registry easily would break the rules."

Xia Shaoxin was greatly confused, "The imperial court wrote the registry removal fee into the statutes; whose rules would it break?"

Zhang Yan couldn't help but say, "In the eyes of the imperial court, Bug Catchers are slave-status, lowly people, and paupers. One thousand taels should be a figure that the vast majority cannot afford."

Liu Xinglong said with a cold face, "In reality, many Bug Catchers in Li Family Hollow have long possessed assets of one thousand taels. The imperial court does not know this situation; otherwise, this registry removal fee would be raised to ten thousand or twenty thousand!"

Xia Shaoxin's face also darkened, "So, the imperial court never wanted us to remove our names from the registry at all. Issuing this statute was just to tease us. If I were to remove my name, I would be breaking the court's rules!"

Liu Xinglong waved his hand.

"No, the rule I'm talking about is not that. You easily producing a thousand taels of silver is a catastrophic disaster for the Bug Catchers and for all of us!"