As soon as he heard Chen Baoding's words, not only did he not get angry, but he didn't even change his expression, but he shook his head proudly, and continued to say in a strange voice: "Father is right, my son brought it here because he listened to your words." Look, isn't it just a book, your favorite thing, Father. Haha, this thing will be conspicuous no matter how you look at it in the son's place, so ah, the son thinks it is better to put it in the father's place. Haha, it's only when it's put in my father's pile of rotten books that it doesn't attract attention. Father, don't be angry, haha, don't you think about it? For it, your son will often come to your study in the future, and your son promises to be obedient and not cause trouble every time he comes, haven't you always asked me to stay close to books and stay away from the villain? Son is now as you wish, you don't have to blame this and that, your son is obedient, often comes here, you also have face, isn't this a matter of killing two birds with one stone, father should be happy, haha. ”

That day, after listening to the second son's self-righteous and really inadequate words, he was so angry that he couldn't even get angry, just snorted, shook his face and walked out of the study, ignoring the son who disappointed him so much, and didn't pay attention to the booklet that his son called the Golden House, and finally received somewhere.

Looking back now, he always feels that his son's death has a lot to do with this seemingly inconspicuous booklet.

His wife had finished cleaning up the second son's house, and everything had been taken care of. But she couldn't and didn't have a reason to tidy up his study. Moreover, his second son, who had never been close to his stepmother, would never have mentioned the booklet to her, so if there had been no accident, the booklet, which he had not even wanted to look at that day, must still be somewhere in this study.

His study was simply set up, except for a desk and chair and a couch for resting, there were only two porcelain ornaments, both of which were pastel-colored landscape vases, and the mouth of the bottle was so small that it was impossible to hide such a booklet. It's impossible outside, and if you want a featureless booklet hidden from discovery, it's best to mix it up in the stacks of books on the rows of shelves in the middle.

This method was already said by the unangry son that day.

Chen Baoding walked into the inner room and looked around his small study.

The only person who will enter this study on weekdays, except for him as the master, is only Chen An, who is responsible for cleaning up the study by his side.

Chen An has followed him for many years, won his trust, is a very cautious and honest subordinate, got his orders, every day except to clean up the dust, tidy, never mess with his study, let alone take anything from the study.

Chen Baoding thought as he slowly stepped in front of the rows of bookshelves.

But the study room is not big, and there are not many bookshelves, but because he loves books, he also collects a lot of calligraphy and paintings. There are not only many layers of bookshelves, but each floor is full of books, calligraphy and paintings.

Such a small booklet, it is easy to drown in it, and you have to slowly check it one by one, just by relying on him as an old man who is still sick, it is definitely a very tiring project, and I don't know how many days it will take to find it?

Chen Baoding sighed and paced back and forth in the room, he looked up and down the study again, slowly remembering his son's state of mind at that time.

I don't think he reads much, he doesn't know most of the books at all, so he shouldn't be able to turn them over; and he is taller than him and Chen An, and if he wants to hide it steadily without attracting their attention, he should go to a high place where he doesn't often look at it to hide; besides, he is lustful but not good at books, even if he collects books, he should hide them in a place he likes. Then in this study, the only place that his lustful son likes is the row of shelves where the picture album is placed.

The shelf of the album should be his first choice for hiding things!

Thinking of this, Chen Baoding walked to the album shelf in a few steps and rummaged through the upper floors. He is not very good at drawing, there are not many shelves for the album, and it is easy to find it, and sure enough, he only checked it twice, and under a character album, he found the small package of the second son in his memory.

took off the package and opened it slowly, and the booklet, which was known as better than gold and silver, immediately appeared in front of his eyes.

Turning back to his desk, he gently opened the booklet, and the contents that caught his eye instantly froze him. When he came back to his senses, he only felt that his hands were trembling, and he couldn't settle down, and he almost couldn't hold the thin booklet in his hand.

Suppressing the horror in his heart, he flipped through a few more pages with shaking hands, the same content, not many complicated records, but it made him feel like he was immersed in the ice of the cold winter, cold to the bone marrow, and he was about to freeze on the spot.

After the freeze, when he woke up, he suddenly felt a darkness in front of him, and he was unsteady on his feet for a while, and went straight down.

Fortunately, he stood in front of the desk, propped himself on the table with one hand, closed his eyes tightly, tilted his head slightly, and slowly let his stiff body lean on the table.

It took a long time for him to recover from the icy feeling, and after a few long breaths of relief, he regained his strength and sat down in the circle chair beside him. As soon as the person sat down, it was as if he had walked for several days and nights without rest, and his whole body could not move.

His head was unusually dizzy, and he was lying on his back on the back of the chair, but the things in front of him kept turning, and he couldn't stop.

He's old, indeed old, and he's no longer useful!

Before, he would never have thought that such an inconspicuous booklet would contain such a content.

On the first page of the booklet, there is a sentence without a clue: On April 7, the third year of Qingyang, the Jialing section of the river covered the tea medicine boat three, three and four and four, and got 3,800 taels of silver.

Then there was not a word after two lines.

After two lines, there are two lines of words like this, which year, month, day, where the ship was overturned, how many points, how much silver.

Later, it's all like that.

The time extends from the third year of Qingyang to the fourteenth year of Qingyang, and the location is slowly extended from the river basin to the Grand Canal, and the denser the records, the more silver is counted. By the last few pages, it was almost a line of two words, and there was not a trace of gap, and each time the silver taels were written down, it was more than 10,000 taels. So full of a small notebook.

If you give it to someone who doesn't know what's going on, you must not be able to figure out what is written in this confusion? But Chen Baoding is not the person who doesn't know what's going on, he is in the court, and although he is not in charge of this part, he can understand at a glance what this memory is.

I think that for so many years, every year in the river and the Grand Canal, there has been news of the sinking of official and private cargo ships. This has long become a major problem for the court, and a major problem for the Ministry of Industry and the Criminal Department. It is also a major reason for the annual decrease in treasury revenue.

But the matter of the shipturning, the Ministry of Industry and the Criminal Department have sent more people to investigate every year, but it has not improved every year, but the situation has deteriorated, and in the past two or three years, even nearly half of Long Xingwei has been dispatched to Jiangnan, and there has been no change in things.

This booklet is about this.

This incident annoyed the whole court.

If this matter is really investigated, it is really convicted, but it is not as simple as landing on the head. This is a great sin to punish the nine clans!

Chen Baoding gasped, and after several efforts, he couldn't settle down, but his head was even more dizzy.

Who's share of the ledger is this? The handwriting is extremely coherent, and it looks like it was written by one person, and it didn't take much time to transcribe it, but the content has been significantly reduced.

Who gave such a booklet to his stupid son for what reason, and what was the purpose of the person who gave it?

Chen Baoding couldn't figure it out.

I don't know how long it took, Chen Baoding felt that his head was not so dizzy, and his body also listened to the call, sat up a little straight, and was relieving himself, trying to stand up, and suddenly heard a commotion outside.

"Madame is well. ”

It's good for the long attendant who is guarding outside the study to ask loudly.

"The master is back?"

"Yes, the master just came back. ”

Chen Baoding groaned slightly, rewrapped the booklet on the table, and then opened the lower drawer, and put this amazing thing under several layers of bookcases.

After putting away the package, getting dressed, and just trying to stand up from the circle chair, the door of the inner room was gently pushed open, and his steproom, the current Mrs. Chen, walked in with a gentle face, seeing that he seemed to be a little unsteady when he just stood up, she hurriedly stepped forward and reached out to support him.

"Now that the master has received the holy will to return to the house, why don't you send someone back to say it first, so that the concubine can prepare in advance. No, what a good day for the master to come back, but the concubine went out and failed to greet the master, which really shouldn't be. ”

"The holy will will come, I didn't expect it, how can I order someone to come back first," Chen Baoding waved his hand, "I'm fine, you don't have to worry." ”

"The saint is also true, if he says that he will let people into the palace, he will let people into the palace, and if he says that he will keep people, he will keep people, and he doesn't want to think about what the situation is in our house now. Besides, the master's health is not good, and no matter how much he wants to use people, he can't ignore it like this. Mrs. Chen couldn't bear it and complained angrily.

"As a courtier, he should have acted according to the holy orders, and there is nothing to excuse. Chen Baoding sighed.

"If you can't, you have to do what you can. Mrs. Chen was unhappy, and helped Chen Baoding to rest on the couch in the outer room, and her mouth did not stop, "Look at the old man's complexion, it is a little worse than a month ago, and I don't know what the saint thinks, our house is like this and still doesn't let go of the master, is there no one in the Ministry of Rites except the master, and the master has to do everything himself?"

"Okay, the holy will is unpredictable, my body can still hold up, and besides, I am not missing a point in the palace, and I have also instructed the imperial doctor to take care of me with all his might. The saint is still young, and he is the first to ascend to the great treasure, it is inevitable that he will not think about things thoroughly, and you will say a few words less as a woman. Chen Baoding interrupted his wife's words and reproached.

Mrs. Chen took the tea from her subordinates, held it to her master with both hands, and said: "Yes, yes, I am a woman, and I don't know what to say, my lord has worked hard, and I won't rest when I go back to the house, so I rushed to the study, and I didn't know what to do in such a hurry, and I didn't even drink saliva." Come, take a sip of tea first. If you want to eat, the master will say it first, and the concubine will let people do it. ”

Chen Baoding took the tea, drank half a cup and put it down, looked at his wife, thought for a while, and asked, "Jin Guiyuan, did you let you clean it up?"

Jin Guiyuan is where Chen Ergongzi originally lived.