It would be a lie to say Ma Ce was not moved by Zhao Yan’s genuine concern for the people of Nanxun County. When he first arrived in Nanxun County, he too had vowed to govern well so that the people would never go hungry. Yet, over a decade later, he had still failed to achieve that. Now, the county office could not even afford to pay salaries. Deeply disheartened, Ma Ce had come to view the lotus cultivation as his final chance; if this did not work, he would truly be at his wit's end.
"A scholar is useless," he often thought. He had studied arduously for years, only to find himself unable to rescue the people from their suffering. Although his own conscience was clear, he could not bear to see the people of Nanxun County starving.
Taoyuan Prefecture was looked down upon by others, and Nanxun County was looked down upon by the other counties within Taoyuan Prefecture. They were at the very bottom of the bottom, the absolute dregs. In front of outsiders, the people of Nanxun County could never hold their heads high; "wretched poverty" had become their synonym. It was a label that had been stuck to them for too long, and Ma Ce dreamed of tearing it off.
Chapter 440