At noon, a small sedan chair for two people stopped at the gate of the county government. Lu Xiang was eating in the hall. After eating, he summoned the clerks in the yamen to open the table and play cards. A messenger recklessly barged in from outside, and only shouted: "Master, master, it's not good! ”

Lu Xiang was eating to his heart's content, and was suddenly disturbed, and he was unhappy, so he slammed the dishes and chopsticks on the table, and scolded: "What is the panic like this? Do you dare that the county government is on fire? ”

The yacha ran out of the door in one breath, knelt on the ground, panted and said, "Master Hui, is Lord Qincha at the door?" ”

Lu Xiang was taken aback. Lord Qincha, is it Lord Liu Tongxun? He heard that Liu Qincha was still in Weifang a few days ago, and he will arrive in Jinan in the next few days? Lu Xiang asked, "How many people came, did they have any famous thorns on their bodies?" ”

The yacha replied: "There is only a small sedan chair for two people." ”

Lu Xiang scolded: "Let your mother's bullshit!" Have you ever seen a Qin cha who only sits in a two-person sedan chair? Most of them are confused about you. Go out, scold him, and get him out. ”

The yacha took out the famous thorn in his arms and said: "If there is only one small sedan chair, the small one will not believe him, but the name thorn he handed over is clearly written, and it is indeed Liu Tongxun Liu." ”

Lu Xiang said: "Your grandmother said it earlier, and the courier came up to show me." ”

The yacha handed over the name thorn. Lu Xiang opened it and saw it clearly, and it really said Liu Tongxun, the minister of disaster relief in Shandong. Lu Xiang saw it clearly, and said in his heart, what is he doing here at this time? Lu Xiang didn't even pay attention to Qing Gege, what is a Qin cha? It's just that at this juncture, once he finds out that he has evidence of greed. He has the power of life and death, and at that time, he was afraid that his official hat would not be guaranteed. I thought about it. It is necessary to greet him with false affection, and the idea of sending away this plague god is. At this time, Lu Xiang didn't eat anymore, and told Yacha to change his clothes quickly. In the chaos, he put on his official robe and trotted out to meet him.

Outside the door, a small green sedan chair stopped there. The two palanquin bearers stood respectfully, wiping the sweat from their faces with their sleeves from time to time. Lu Xiang arrived in front of the sedan chair and didn't say a word. He made a horseshoe sleeve and shouted loudly: "Lu Xiang, the magistrate of the county, greets Lord Qincha." ”

The sedan curtain was not opened, and Lord Liu's voice came from inside: "That's it." ”

Lu Xiang said again: "It's hot outside, please come in and talk to Lord Qincha." ”

Liu Tongxun said: "You lead the way." ”

Lu Xiang went in first. Bent down and ask Liu Tongxun to enter the county office. Stop at the government office. The yacha had already cleaned up the inside neatly. Lu Xiang asked Lord Liu to get off the sedan chair and sit down in the house. The yacha offered a cup of inferior tea.

Lu Xiang smiled: "I have wronged Lord Liu." Lord Liu knows that this year, Shandong Province has been plagued by locusts, and the grains have not been harvested, and tea is also a very rare thing. ”

Liu Tongxun is a direct minister in Hanchen, and he is used to being bitter, what is this coarse tea worth. He said: "Lord Lu is polite, some tea is good. These days. Yanqing didn't even have to drink this cup of coarse tea. ”

Lu Xiang just wanted to send him away quickly, and he didn't say much to greet. didn't let me eat, and asked straight to the point: "Lord Liu came to this county, I don't know what to explain?" The county is busy with disaster relief all day long, and I am afraid that I will not be able to entertain Lord Liu. ”

Liu Tongxun said: "Lord Lu is busy with official business, and Liu Tongxun is very pleased. I just heard that there was a thief in the yamen last night? ”

Lu Xiang heard about this yesterday morning. It turned out that the thief claimed to be surnamed Li Mingqiang. Yesterday morning, I ran out of the local Dahujiang house, but was caught by the small people in the house. The people in the house said that Li Qiang was a thief, and when they searched him, they did not find anything of value on him. Speaking of catching thieves and catching stolen goods, what kind of thief is no stolen goods? Lu Xiang asked Li Qiang, since he was not a thief, why did he run out of Jiangzhu's new house. It turned out that Jiang Zhu had just married a new daughter-in-law. And Li Qiang was caught by the little guy when he ran out of the house in the morning. That Li Qiang is also very good at quibbling, saying that he is the bride's doctor, and the bride has a dark disease all the year round, so he specially invited him to go in for treatment. Lu Xiang also wanted to ask the new daughter-in-law for clarification, but this daughter-in-law was from a big family, and it was inconvenient for her to show up, so the matter was over. Lu Xiang ordered Li Qiang to be put in prison and slowly searched.

It turns out that Lord Liu is actually coming for Li Qiang? Lu Xiang didn't understand, how many big things could not be done, what to do with this thief?

So, Lu Xiang asked puzzledly: "My lord is right, there was indeed a thief in the yain last night." ”

Liu Tongxun nodded and asked, "I heard that Qing Gege is in your county?" ”

Why doesn't the preface match the afterword? Lu Xiang replied in wonder: "I was indeed in the county a few days ago, but now I don't know where I went?" Strange to say, on the day Qing Gege arrived, all the prisoners in the county fled, and one of them was ordered by the imperial court. The humble post has been reported to the emperor and asked the emperor to dispose of it. Don't hide it from the adult, he suspects that Qing Gege has something to do with this matter. ”

Liu Tongxun raised his head, opened his eyes and looked at him and said, "How can you say this?" ”

Lu Xiang said: "During the day when the prisoner escaped, Qing Gege came to the yain and asked to release Yang Zhao from his humble position. Yang Zhao was ordered by the imperial court and was supposed to be beheaded at noon the next day. My lord, Yang Zhao was beheaded, but the emperor personally issued an edict, how dare he release people without authorization? Humble and stern rejected Qing Gege. Who knew that that night, Yang Zhao and all the prisoners in the prison ran away. Thinking about it, I was afraid that this matter was only related to Yang Zhao, so I immediately sent someone to Yang's house to search. The father and son of the Yang family fled, but Qing Gege lived in the Yang family. What should you think about being an adult? Qing Gege wants to leave, there is no evidence of his humble position, how can he detain Gege casually? So I had to let her go. After that, where Qing Gege went, he didn't know. ”

Liu Tongxun nodded as he listened, as if he agreed with Lu Xiang's opinion. Lu Xiang was very proud, and said in his heart, people say that Liu Tongxun is shrewd and capable, but I can't see it like this, and he was fooled by Lu Mousan, and he could only nod frequently.

He pushed the matter to Gege, and then looked at Liu Tongxun's reply. Liu Tongxun suddenly changed the topic and said, "I want to re-interrogate that thief." ”

Lu Xiang didn't know what Liu Tongxun meant, and asked in surprise: "What does the adult want to interrogate him?" ”

Liu Tongxun said lightly: "You may not know that Jiang Zhu is Liu Tongxun's nephew. ”

Lu Xiang laughed and said, "I see. But is he the only one who asks? It's easy to say that this will bring him to prison. Leave it to the adult, and the adult can do whatever he wants. ”

Liu Tongxun was noncommittal, and said, "Then thank you Master Lu." Lord Lu is busy with official business. Liu Tongxun was inconvenient to disturb, so he took Li Qiang away. ”

Lu Xiang nodded yes, and instructed the yacha to propose Li Qiang and hand it over to Liu Tongxun. Liu Tongxun ordered the yacha to send Li Qiang to the Jiang family's mansion, and then took his leave.

The Jiang family's mansion is in the suburbs of the county, not in the city, and it is quite famous in the local area. That day. Jiang Zhu's new daughter-in-law Luo Yimei broke out of a strange man out of nowhere, but fortunately it was dawn at that time. was discovered by the housekeeper and captured him together.

Coming out of the county office, Liu Tongxun came to the Jiang family's mansion in a small sedan chair. A seventeen or eighteen-year-old man had been waiting at the door for a long time, and this person was none other than him. It is Jiang Zhu, the little master of the Jiang family. Jiang Zhu saw that Liu Tongxun had arrived. Kowtow to the past and say goodbye. The sedan chair fell, and Liu Tongxun got out of the sedan chair and asked, "Has Qing Gege arrived?" ”

Jiang Zhu lowered his head and replied: "The villain is ordered by the adults to send someone to invite in the morning, but I am afraid that it will arrive at this time." ”

As soon as he finished speaking, he heard the sound of horses' hooves. When Liu Tongxun looked back, it was the current emperor's Qing Gege. When they were in Beijing before, they had met twice. I didn't say much, though.

Qing Gege and Luo Qingsong rode two horses, one white and one black, and they had to drive and bridle them. Got to the door. Luo Qingsong turned over and jumped on the horse, and after gaining a foothold, he helped Gege to dismount. Liu Tongxun saluted, Qingge was blessed, and said, "Lord Liu is here?" ”

Liu Tongxun said: "Yanqing has escorted Li Qiang to the house according to Qing Gege's orders. Is Qing Gege going to be tried at this time? ”

Gege looked at Jiang Zhu and asked, "Are you Jiang Zhu?" I've already heard about it. I want to hear what my sister-in-law has to say first, what did she say? ”

Jiang Zhu replied: "If you go back to Qing Gege, you said that she has never asked for a doctor, let alone know this man. ”

Gege nodded and muttered. Luo Qingsong said: "Liu Lao'er, don't give us too many pretenses. My sister and I are here today, you are the host, so you will treat us to a good meal first. ”

Jiang Zhu hurriedly said: "A table of wine banquets has been prepared at home, please come inside." ”

Luo Qingsong laughed and said, "That's right." After walking for a long time, my stomach was grumbling with hunger. ”

Liu Tongxun is calm, not good at talking, and has nothing to say, so he said by the way: "Gege, please be in charge." We ate and talked. ”

The Jiang family is a big family here, and the conditions are naturally much more generous than ordinary families, so the hospitality is relatively rich. During the meal, Luo Qingsong greeted Jiang Zhu, talked about some local anecdotes, and talked about inconsequential things. Liu Tongxun and Gege are both introverted, except for picking up vegetables, they don't even open their mouths at the dinner table.

Luo Qingsong was saying that Shandong women were physically strong, and they were not as beautiful as Jingshi women, so he only heard someone outside the door say: "Back to the master, the people from the yamen have arrived with the thief." ”

Jiang Zhu asked Liu Tongxun where to keep the thief, Liu Tongxun didn't dare to make his own decisions, and asked Gege what he thought. Gege put down his chopsticks and said, "Ruoqing is about to meet the thief and ask some questions." ”

Liu Tongxun said: "Okay, bring the thief here." ”

The little guy promised yes and went to find the thief. After a while, Li Qiang was escorted, knelt in the middle of the hall, and kept saying that he was wronged.

Jiang Zhu hated this man and scolded: "Bastard thing! You've wronged a fart! ”

Liu Tongxun said: "Stay, don't be presumptuous!" ”

Jiang Zhu said aggrievedly: "Uncle doesn't know, the thief stayed in the new house for three days, didn't he finish reading the appearance of his nephew and daughter-in-law?" ”

It turned out that Li Qiang knew that the Jiang family was a big family, and his daughter-in-law was a beautiful girl, and her makeup was heavy. Therefore, Li Qiang took advantage of the newlywed trouble, got into the new house, and waited for an opportunity to steal some jewelry. No, he went under the bed for three days, going in and out of the house, and there was not a moment of opportunity to commit theft. On the third day, Li Qiang was dizzy with hunger, and he said in his heart that if he didn't come out again, he was afraid that he would starve to death. Only then did he escape angrily, not wanting to be caught by the small people in the courtyard and sent to the county office.

To this day, Li Qiang still claims that he is innocent. He said he was a doctor hired by his new daughter-in-law. The new daughter-in-law has some hidden diseases, and it is inconvenient to tell outsiders, so I invited him to come over to check on the condition.

Gege spoke: "Li Qiang, you said that you are a doctor invited by your new daughter-in-law, what evidence do you have?" (To be continued......)