The shopkeeper Ding, who is in his fifties, came to greet him personally. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

Judging from the gemstone bead seal in Jiang Li's hand, his excited expression was like that of a long-lost relative. In fact, you don't need to look carefully at the seal of the Mei family, although Jiang Li is a man, Shopkeeper Ding still recognized her identity as a woman at a glance. Because at first glance of Jiang Li, he suddenly saw Mei Niang's rebirth.

When the Mei family got married, Ding's family came to Xiushan from Jiangnan with the Mei family's wedding team, and he was in his twenties not long after he got married. The Mei family arranged for him to go to Xiushan to take over Mei Xianju, and he brought his family to Xiushan, and since then the family has taken root in the ancient city of Xiushan. Before he got married, he managed the account room in the Mei family, and he was naturally familiar with the Mei family.

Shopkeeper Ding said some words of sighing and care, and described in detail the daily operation of Mei Xianju.

Jiang Li had a headache when he heard the detailed account of the flowing water, and he couldn't help waving his hand and said: "Uncle Ding, you have worked hard all these years, you have done a good job, and I am also very relieved, I am not here to check the accounts." If it weren't for following a group of people into Mei Xianju, I wouldn't even want to alarm you. I just want you to help me find out what the hell about that guy. Jiang Li didn't want to tell him what happened to him along the way.

"I came and didn't let me know, what is that called?" Shopkeeper Ding said that it was inconvenient to interfere in the owner's private affairs, so he personally led Jiang Li and the others upstairs to open an iron door, and sent Jiang Li and the others into the commercial building from the special staircase.

Along the way, Shopkeeper Ding introduced all the way: "In recent years, there has been a crooked trend in the imperial court, selling officials and lords at the top, and people at the bottom are all kinds of drill camps. Originally, the imperial court controlled the right to buy and sell important materials, and all the purchases and purchases of these materials had to be approved, and it was easy not to let the officials under them engage in personal fraud. It's just that once these approval powers fall into the hands of corrupt officials and corrupt officials, they become a means of their corruption. They called these approvals citations and privately put them up for public auction. In addition to providing rich businessmen and tycoons with business, our commercial buildings also provide them with various quotations for auctions. Today is the day of the auction. ”

Seeing Jiang Li's eyes, Shopkeeper Ding hurriedly said: "If we don't do this kind of thing, others will do it." Besides, these things have been going on for a long time, I just took over from the previous one and inherited the old precedent, and the Jiangnan Mei family also has such a deal. ”

Jiang Li sighed: "Uncle Ding misunderstood, I don't blame you." ”

Just like the shopkeeper Ding said, the government is dark, and the officials at the bottom want to sell all kinds of references, and how can the low-level businessmen resist it. They don't buy and sell in Meixianju, they can change any land.

Jiang Li looked at Zhao San, "Could it be that they entered the commercial building to attract evidence?" But it's strange to hear you describe that those people are clearly not merchants. ”

Jiang Li had never seen that group of people, so he had no way to describe it to Shopkeeper Ding. Fortunately, Zhao San and Xiaoxiang had seen each other, so Jiang Li asked Shopkeeper Ding to arrange a favorable terrain for them to observe.

The shopkeeper Ding is self-reliant. He pushed open a VIP room, which was full of pen, ink, paper and inkstone, cups and plates and wine, and the shopkeeper Ding summoned two guys, "They have been in the commercial building for a long time, and the people are also smart," and said, "This is the best location in the commercial building, Tianzi No. 1." Open the window, all the movement in the commercial building is in full view, and the little lady can just rest assured. ”

Jiang Li walked to the window, a group of people stepped forward to open the window, the commercial building was full of seats, Jiang Li looked from the window, and the faces of everyone inside were clearly visible. Xiao Xiang and Zhao San stood at the window, carefully searching for the gangs of Jianghu people who had beaten away the bandits among the merchants.

One of the two men added incense to the incense burner, and the other was busy making tea and water for everyone.

Jiang Li took the first sip of fragrant tea in his hand, and Xiao Xiang and Zhao San shouted in unison: "They are there!" ”

There are a lot of people in the commercial building, and the floor is spacious and atmospheric. The four tables and chairs are full of people, around the mahogany square platform in the middle of the hall, and there are no people sitting in front of the square platform, indicating that the auction has not yet opened at this moment. The men in the hall silently shuttled among the guests to serve food and pour wine and tea, their movements were neat, their steps were quiet, and the seats in the hall were almost half full, but they were extraordinarily elegant and quiet.

Jiang Li followed Xiao Xiang's fingers and saw more than a dozen people sitting on the left side of the square platform, and there was a woman in between. The young man in front blocked the woman's face.

Shopkeeper Ding stepped forward and introduced: "These are all raw guests, I don't know them." I should have an impression of regular customers. ”

However, Jiang Li knew this young man, although he couldn't name him.

At the age of twenty or thirty years old, the young man sits upright, and his facial features are like a knife, with edges and shapes. A pair of dark eyes under thick eyebrows.

Jiang Li remembered that when he was in the capital before, he invited Xiao Yu and others to Jinmei Villa, and there was this young man among the people who came.

"It turned out to be someone who followed Xiao Yu all the way." Before Jiang Li could speak, the young man turned his head and whispered to the woman behind him, on the side of his head, Jiang Li saw the woman behind him clearly: the woman had long hair and slanted hair, pink face and red lips, and beautiful single phoenix eyes that were pretty, but it was not Qiu Shuang!

Jiang Li carefully identified the people who were sitting with Qiushuang and the young man, and several of them seemed to have met, and now, it was undoubtedly the group of people from Qingfeng Village who followed Xiao Yu into Beijing.

Yuntong said that Dumb and Xia Cheng went back to Qingzhou, and after not seeing Qiushuang for so long, Jiang Li thought that she had also gone back to Qingzhou, but she didn't want to meet her here. It's just that their group beat away those bandits on the mountain road from Guazhou to Fenshui, is it a coincidence or did they deliberately help themselves?

Jiang Li thought about it, and went to Qingzhou to Jiangnan for half the way, and they might just happen to go back to Qingzhou and happened to take the same road. It's just that Qiushuang and they are sitting in the commercial building at the moment, obviously here to buy the citation. What they were going to buy, Jiang Li was really curious.

Before the auction began, there were still people entering one after another, one of them had a big belly, wiping sweat as he walked, and his eyes were looking around. He was followed by a man in a green shirt, and next to him was a woman in a honey-colored dress. "That's Lord Zhang, the city's magistrate, but the green-shirted guest and the woman next to him are face-to-face." Shopkeeper Ding explained.

Seeing an acquaintance's face again, the curiosity in my heart couldn't help but grow. Jiang Li didn't know the woman, but he happened to know the green-shirted guest.

The green shirt is wearing a robe, the hairpin is tied with a wooden hairpin, the face is rough, and the face is dull and indifferent. Jiang Li had heard him speak, and his tone was cold. The two have met several times, and he is Fan Sicheng's eldest brother, Fan Yancheng.

It was strange enough for Fan Yancheng to appear here, and what made Jiang Li even more strange was that this indifferent big brother also brought a young woman with him today.

The woman had a beautiful appearance and meekly followed behind Fan Yancheng, following in the same direction. Looking up at him gently from time to time, Fan Yancheng listened to the pusher surnamed Zhang with a cold face all the way, and only occasionally glanced at the woman next to him that there was a trace of warmth in his cold expression.

This indifferent big brother is also close to women? Oh, didn't he say that he had already taken a concubine? It's just that I don't know if this woman is his concubine or another confidant? Jiang Li thought about it silently, and was surprised that he was too gossipy, so he left the woman. The pot-bellied Zhang Tuiguan sat down directly opposite the north of the mahogany square platform, and Fan Yancheng, who was wearing a green shirt, sat down next to him.

"It's not right!" Shopkeeper Ding rubbed his chin and muttered for a long time, and suddenly said this.

"Master Zhang never sits in the north position. Also, although Xiushan Cheng knew that the citation was sold from him, it was usually auctioned by his brother-in-law, and after the opening, his brother-in-law didn't come, and he came. Come on, come on, look at him as if he's nervous! Shopkeeper Ding said.

"Didn't you say that the auction has been around for a long time, and what could go wrong?" Jiang Li looked at Shopkeeper Ding with a nervous expression, and couldn't help but be a little worried.

Shopkeeper Ding barely calmed down and replied: "In the past, the sales were just for buying and selling some cultural relics, brocade rice, grain, and saltpeter, sulfur, and ironware, but they were all petty fights, and the amount was not too much. However, in recent years, Xiushan has newly developed several iron mines, and the iron that comes out of these minerals is taken from Mr. Zhang's hands. You must know that since Dayan gathered troops on the border of the Song Dynasty, the imperial court has increased its control over iron tools, and the above has repeatedly ordered that iron is not allowed to be bought and sold privately. Mr. Zhang's brother-in-law was originally going to be auctioned today, and it was the quotation of fine iron. It's a lot of money, enough for him to drop his head. ”

"He still does what he knows will lose his head?" Jiang Li snorted coldly.

"This is not because the Xiushan Mountain is remote, and the mountain is high and the emperor is far away. The surname Zhang is appointed by the imperial court, and Xiushan City has been complicit with him from the prefect to the officials, and over the years, he has become bolder. As long as no one in the court comes down to seriously investigate, who can control them. "Shopkeeper Ding has long been surprised by this.

"However, Master Zhang has always been a person who walks sideways, and this is the first time I have seen this like a frightened bird."