They spend the day out in the streets, taking the sights in. Stopping at a shop that sold silk in bulk they purchased almost the entire stock and had it sent to their village, Gangcho. There were acrobats in the market and the family stayed to watch them for a time. Then, when they grew tired, they made it to the inn. Nikola had asked why they couldn’t stay in Wei Caihong’s residence but was answered that the noble sold it to pay for clothes for the children of Gangcho. Nikola wondered how much of Wei Caihong’s fortune has gone into the village and vowed to involve him in the shop during the noble’s spare time.

The very next day they got a sugar-coated message from the emperor that they needed to leave and go back to Gangcho. Wei Caihong had fumed, as that day it snowed and the roads were yet to be cleared. He called his cousin quite a few names, all from the safety of his room. They packed and left, as ordered. The children looked at the snow-covered capital as they left. Some people walked with their wagons until the edge of the city to see them off. Friends of Wei Caihong.

One good thing of their quick departure was that they met up with Su Niu. The weapons and paper figurine caravanner travelled with them, happy to be going back to Gangcho. He regaled the children with tales of the deals he had made. Just as granny Nuo Nuying had said the paper figurines were worth more than a copper. The caravanner had managed to sell the best one, a palace on a platform with a garden, all painted, for a hundred golden coins to the emperor himself.

The emperor hadn’t mentioned that and Nikola smirked. He was going to add acne to the curse he was making. Then everyone would see how disgusting the man was on the inside. Su Niu gave Nikola a large bag with the agreed upon amount. He himself had ten similar bags with himself. All the paper figurines had gone into the hands of nobles and the weapons were bought up by a wealthy general. Nikola just placed the bag with the rest of their luggage. He wouldn’t have earned even half of that if he sold at the prices he usually sold at.

They only stopped at Yuzhang for Marek’s wedding. Liu Ju married with little Liu Bao in her arms, looking radiant in red and gold. Marek looked happy and he didn’t try to take any liberties with any of the Wei family even once. The temple had long since thrown out their old Taoist God and had placed a statue of Marek in his place. Marek left Yuzhang with his new bride, his daughter and the Wei family. His home was the canyon of Danyang and he was sure that people would worship him there too.

Back at Gangcho the entire village was at the front gates, ready to greet it’s new magistrate and his family. The Wu family has already moved to the forest to be closer to the jade deposit. As it was winter, they couldn’t start digging yet, but come spring they were going to build a house and begin to make a profit. Even they were in the welcoming party. Ariel looked radiant next to Wu Zian. She would occasionally pat her stomach and smile. She couldn’t wait to tell the Emerald Emperor she was with child.

Azazel and Bjorn too waited patiently, although Azazel was sitting on a plush chair brought from the house. The blonde was beginning to get chubby and moody. But the angel was happy that the house was going to get filled with people again. Now that they have purchased two additional houses to expand the brewery the place was too big. And the Gangcho’s blacksmith wanted to expand the forge or move it to the house right across from the original one. The man had long since abandoned his own forge when he found out that the metals became harder inside Nikola’s forge for some reason.

That was due to the runes carved in the forge, but they were so tiny the blacksmith didn’t see them. The blacksmith looked at the old woman at the front of the crowd who had a greeting sign held high. The wagons came in sight and the village began to celebrate. Many raised their own signs, both in support of Nikola and to congratulate Han Shanyuan who had won even though the emperor was said to not have favored him.

Granny Nuo Nuying waved her sign and the first wagon stopped by her. Nikola jumped down and hugged the old woman. Lifting her off her feet and spinning her around as he laughed. He was hit with a ladle for this.

“Do you want me to get sick? And how are your wives? To make them make such a trip while pregnant! You irresponsible rascal!”

“They are fine, granny. And I can hear the heartbeats of my children clearly now.” Said Nikola happily and the granny beamed at him.

“I want to hear too!” She said and Nikola put her in the wagon. Granny Nuo Nuying made a beeline for Wei Caihong and pressed an ear to his stomach. Then she smiled.

“Strong heartbeats. You have good children.” Then she turned to Penemue who looked a little embarrassed at the attention. The granny repeated the gesture and laughed.

“Only boys, eh? You will fill your house with sons, lady Pen.” Penemue raised an eyebrow at how the grandmother knew the gender of her children only by their heartbeats and nodded her thanks at the praise. The wagons continued until they reached the house. No trace of the old house of trader Hua was left. Even the door was repainted yellow. Nikola grinned when he saw that he had a garden, a walled off one where he could grow exotic plants. There was new furniture inside of woods which were not native to China. Created by magic, of that everyone in the Wei family was sure. Just as they were unpacking, they heard a knock on the door. Nikola went to see who it was only to see a crowd of people in front of his home.

“We came to present our petitions.” Said Madam Wu as she muscled her way in. “Normally we’d do it in the palace, but you don’t live in the palace.” She said and Nikola sighed, escorting the crowd to the new and much larger dining room. Even then it was a tight fit and some people had to wait in the halls.

“Ok, who is first?” He asked and an old man tried to step forward when Madam Wu jumped in front of him.

“Madam Wu?” There was no stopping the dragon woman. The sooner she spoke the sooner she’d leave. At least that was what Nikola hoped for.

“We want a new road to cut through the forest and to lead to the jade deposit and the new house we are building. Paid by the village’s funds.”

Disgruntled mutterings followed her demand and Nikola blinked. Well, the jade deposit was important. It would open work places so a road was truly needed. But Nikola had no idea what the village’s funds were.

“And how many coins remain in the village’s treasury?” Asked Nikola and the Mister Wu looked down at his feet guiltily.

“I build fishing docks and exhausted the treasury. We have a single gold coin and that is it.” Mister Wu handed the coin to Nikola and Nikola laughed.

“You are joking?” Asked Nikola in disbelief. The village was well and truly broke now. How were they going to pay for wagons to cart their fish to the other villages? The wages for the public workers?

“You will either need to raise taxes.” Said Mister Wu and many send him angry looks. “Or you will need to borrow the money from the emperor.” Nikola snorted. The emperor would make him beg and then give him a pittance, if he gave anything at all. No, it seemed that he was going to be funding an entire village.

“My weapon and paper figurine caravanner has made me a profit of two thousand gold coins.” Said Nikola and the people looked ready to celebrate. “I will donate that to the treasury. But I expect you all pay your taxes next month so the treasury will fill again.” Grumbling followed but people still nodded.

“Madam Wu, you will have your roads. Provided you exclusively sell the produce of the groove in which you will build your house for smaller prices to the villagers.”

“But!”

“Or there won’t be a road unless you pay for it.” Said Nikola, ready to dismiss her if she argued. She nodded, probably counting the losses she was going to get from the vegetables and fruits once they ripened.

“Is there anything else you want, Madam Wu?” Asked Nikola and he was afraid she was going to ask for something that will make him dig in the treasury but she smiled and placed a hand on Ariel’s shoulder.

“My daughter is with child. As the new magistrate you have to pick a name. You have eight months to pick so be careful what you come up with!” Nikola smiled at Ariel and nodded. He didn’t know much about Chinese names but he was sure Wei Caihong would help him think of something. Then Madam Wu finally stepped back so that the old man could speak.

He patted his beard and cleared his throat. He was leaning heavily on a cane and was hunched over, but his eyes were bright.

“Magistrate Nikola, this village needs a canalization. And not just the wealthy sectors, but the slums too.”

Nikola nodded. He did miss having running water in his house but he had thought it was simply not done in China. Guess he was wrong.

“As it is winter, I can’t start to dig, but once the earth becomes soft again, I will make sure every house is connected to a canalization.”

“And the roads need to be fixed after you dig them out!” Came a scream from the hall. Nikola couldn’t hope to remember everything so he took out a scroll and wrote down the three things the people of Gangcho wanted of him.

“It will be done. Now, I have a question for all of you. Before I left, I infested in a fishing shop. How is it going?”

The former cart driver stepped forward with a wide grin on his face.

“I have made five boats and twenty nets, as well as a few fishing rods.” He said proudly. Nikola nodded at him. Then he remembered something else.

“Mister Wu, how is the orphanage going along?” He asked and Mister Wu looked nervous.

“It’s winter, the workers can’t build in the snow.” Dread began to pool inside of Nikola’s stomach.

“And the children who are homeless? Where are they now?” This time the former magistrate grinned.

“Since you are not using the palace, I housed them there. I employed the former servants on personal expense so that they could take care of the children. I suggest you employ them in the orphanage once it is completed.”

“I take it work on it hasn’t even began yet?” Asked Nikola. He couldn’t remember what was done before he left and what not.

“All the paperwork is done and the materials and workers are paid for.” Said Mister Wu proudly. Nikola breathed a sigh of relief at that. Then he saw Han Shanyuan from the corner of his eyes and nodded at him to speak.

“Master Nikola, as you know I won Gangcho a stipend from the emperor for my essay.” Said the boy and Nikola nodded at him to continue. “Can the stipend be used for more greenhouses to be constructed and given to the poorest of the village so that they can have a livelihood?”

Nikola grinned proudly at Han Shanyuan. The boy had a big heart.

“It will be done. Next.”