Two days before Mrs. Wang’s birthday, the people of Qingshui County were stunned by a piece of major news.

The county constables had unearthed a treasure chest on Xiaoao Mountain, hidden by a rebel army decades ago!

No one knew what was inside the chest, but it was certainly valuable, because a thousand elite soldiers had come from the Prefecture to escort the chests back there overnight.

This was the news the common people heard. What they didn’t know was that the Prefecture was merely a way station; the items’ true destination was the Capital City.

Chen Song privately told Xu Suying and Chen Wanqing that among the items in the chest was the Queen’s Seal, passed down through successive dynasties.

The Queen’s Seal was certainly not as valuable as the Jade Seal. But any item belonging to the Empress’s palace, even a hairpin, carried great significance and symbolism, let alone a Queen’s Seal that could prove the Empress’s identity and status.

Besides the Queen’s Seal, the chests contained other valuables, including heirlooms from prominent aristocratic families and powerful clans!

The news hadn’t gotten out at first. Now that the Prefecture’s army was personally escorting the treasure, it was feared the journey would not be peaceful.

Of course, what happened next had nothing to do with the Chen family.

What did concern them was that the County Magistrate had performed a great service and was now poised for a promotion. Overjoyed, he had specially written to the Prefect, requesting that the great contributor, Chen Song, be appointed as County Assistant. The request had been approved, and Chen Song had already taken up his post.

Chen Song had completely ridden the coattails of his son, daughter, and son-in-law for this. But since all three children had to call him "father," and they had helped him rise in rank, others could only privately turn green with envy and say he’d gotten ridiculously lucky. They couldn’t say much else.

Regarding the position of County Assistant, most county governments only had a County Magistrate. The court would only consider adding the positions of County Assistant and Chief Registrar if the number of villages, towns, and people under the county’s jurisdiction reached a certain threshold.

Under the current court, there were no more than fifty county governments that had all three positions: County Magistrate, County Assistant, and Chief Registrar.

Qingshui County was remote, its culture was not particularly refined, its crop yields were low, and its population was far from meeting the standard. A county like this was unremarkable in every way. Yet, simply because of the treasure chest incident, Chen Song had rendered a great service and, as a reward, was given the position of County Assistant.

This was truly a once-in-a-lifetime stroke of luck.

And what was a County Assistant? The County Magistrate’s deputy. In Qingshui County, his authority was second only to the County Magistrate’s.

If Chen Song was merely a clerk before, now he was a true official. Although he was only of the eighth rank, he could assist the County Magistrate in handling the county’s administrative, tax, and paperwork matters. He was now a prominent figure in Qingshui County.

Needless to say, the Chen family was overjoyed.

On the second day after Chen Song assumed his post, his brother, Chen Lin, came looking for him, crying his eyes out.

Trailing behind him were five people: four big, burly men and a man who looked like a shopkeeper, with a slick demeanor and a full beard.

The middle-aged man who looked like a Shopkeeper greeted Chen Song with a broad smile the moment he entered, calling him "Mr. Chen" repeatedly. He dispensed with the pleasantries and presented a document bearing Chen Lin’s thumbprint. "Please, have a look. The Third Master here used your good name to borrow a sum of Silver from one of my men. I was out of town collecting debts a few days ago and knew nothing about it. One of my associates told me today, and I only found out after checking. Isn’t this just absurd? Your brother is my brother. If he needed money, he could have just asked me for it. Why did he have to go and sign a loan agreement?"

Chen Song said nothing, simply taking the document to examine it. The loan agreement was clearly new; the ink on it had just dried. It stated that Chen Lin had borrowed one hundred taels of Silver, to be repaid in one year at an interest rate of three *li*.

Three to five *li* was the range for private loans permitted by the court. Anything higher was considered usury, which the court strictly regulated. If discovered, it would lead to imprisonment and confiscation of property.

But why, if the law was so strict on this matter, did people still take such risks?

Firstly, it was because these lenders were wealthy and powerful. Most had backers and felt no fear of the government office’s authority.

Secondly, loan sharks employed gangs of thugs. The threat these thugs posed to the common people was far greater than that of the government constables. People were afraid of being beaten to death, so they didn’t dare argue, let alone file a complaint.

Thirdly, paying one’s debts has always been considered a matter of course.

For all these reasons, usury continued to flourish. Even though it often drove people to their deaths and caused many families to be torn apart, those who knew better wouldn’t speak too ill of the practice. They would only say that it was better to starve or die of illness than to borrow from a loan shark. ’It’s a man-eating den,’ they would warn. ’A place that’s easy to enter, but hard to leave.’