Because a large part of the land in the outer suburbs is the fief of the county lord of Huiling, and there are several mountains, and the lord of Huiling has a weak temperament, and he has a soft spot for mountains and rivers, so these four Zhuangzi are all by the mountains and rivers, but the location of this last place is more secluded, and it is closer to the deep mountains, and there are even wild beasts in it.

Looking at the manor looming in the mountains and forests, she gently wiped the beads of sweat from her forehead, and shouted to Qu Miaoling in the carriage behind: "Miss, we are almost there." ”

The mountains are shady, Qu Miaoling is sitting in the carriage again, she hasn't walked far, her body is very dry at the moment, and she doesn't even sweat.

Don't look at the remote location of this manor, but the place under its jurisdiction is the richest among these manors, and the grain paid tribute to the Hou Mansion every year is enough to thousands of stones.

Even in a disaster year, the harvest here is unique in the capital.

It can be seen how much the emperor loves the lord of Huiling.

When he went up the mountain just now, Qu Miaoling saw that many farmers were working in the fields at the foot of the mountain, and it was just in time for noon, and there were also many peasant women carrying baskets to deliver food to their men.

But it was a place of abundance, but the clothes of these people were tattered, and there was no light in their eyes.

Qu Miaoling was surprised, what was going on?

She stopped the carriage, and stopped a woman alone, without gentleness.

Seeing that Qu Miaoling was dressed luxuriously, the woman's eyes were evasive, and she was unwilling to talk to Qu Miaoling at all.

Qu Miaoling stopped several in a row, all of them dodged with sideways eyes, and even pushed her hand away, and then hurriedly left with the child.

Seeing it gently, she was a little angry, "Miss, they are so excessive, why are you still -" The hot face was pressed against the cold ass.

Qu Miaoling was not discouraged, she stopped another one, this woman looked petite, with soft hair, fair face, and she was not very old, she looked like she should be a bride.

"This sister-in-law, I'm new here, I don't know if I can ask about something?"

The woman's eyes widened, "Miss, please speak." ”

"I heard that you are very rich here, but when I look at it, it's not like that!"

The woman just wanted to say something, but her arm hurt, and an older lady glared at Qu Miaoling, then dragged the young woman away, "What nonsense, you still dare to speak to strangers?" Have you forgotten how your sister-in-law died in Daqing last time? Those people are worms that eat human blood! ”

The two left in a hurry, and Qu Miaoling didn't even have time to interject a sentence.

"Miss, what's going on?"

Ren is gentle brain is not very good, and at this moment he also senses that something is wrong.

Qu Miaoling squinted, looking at the fact that this place was patronized by the cow ghost snake god!

"Guard Qiao, but you invited a farmer to come over and give him enough silver."

"Yes."

Soon, a farmer was brought over, and the man's clothes were all dirt, and the patches were covered in many layers, and they looked thick.

When the man saw Qu Miaoling, he immediately knelt down and shouted, "I've seen Miss." ”

"Old man, I don't mean anything else, I just want to know, why do you live in such poverty?"

Poked in pain, the old man's face crumpled.

"Miss, don't you know, our people here are difficult!"

"Is the manor too heavy for rent?" Qu Miaoling asked rhetorically.

The old man shook his head.

"Miss, my family has three strong men, 10 acres of land, and it stands to reason that they are also a solid family here, but, but-"

As he spoke, the old man began to cry.

When Qu Miaoling heard this, a flash of clarity flashed on his face.

The old man continued: "Originally, we were in charge of things here is a good one, and we have a bumper harvest here every year, and the big guys are also motivated, but since the gold steward was driven away, the new Ke steward is like Zhou Papi, and the one-year rent actually collects us fifty percent, not including the twenty percent of the land tax levied by the imperial court, how can we live!" ”

Qu Miaoling asked the Qiao guards to give the old man a tael of silver, and then let him leave.

Before leaving, the old man said to Qu Miaoling with a thousand thanks: "Girl, don't stay here, Steward Ke likes young and beautiful girls the most, hey!" ”

After the old man finished speaking, he glanced around twice, and then left in a hurry.

"Miss, it seems that the steward here has also been replaced by the Wen family."

Qu Miaoling didn't speak, just got into the carriage and continued to walk deeper.

Looking at the towering gate in front of him, Qu Miaoling's face suddenly turned cold.

She ordered Guard Qiao to hurry up and open the door, and soon, Steward Ke came to greet him with his men.

Unlike the previous manors, Steward Ke's impatience and disgust were clearly written on his face.

"Your Royal Highness, I am the steward here."

"Bold, this is His Royal Highness the County Lord, and he still doesn't kneel down and salute?"

Gently angry.

"Your Royal Highness, I am the steward of this manor, but I am also a close confidant of Mrs. Hou, if you treat me like this, you are not afraid that Madame will blame me?"

Steward Ke and the Wen family are cousins, and the two families have always been close, and under the influence of the Wen family, he didn't take Qu Miaoling in his eyes at all.

Qu Miaoling smiled coldly, "Ke is in charge, pay attention to your words." ”

After saying that, Qu Miaoling went straight into the courtyard with her own people, and without waiting for Steward Ke's arrangement, she walked into a garden and took people to rest here.

After Qu Miaoling went away, Steward Ke ordered someone to report to Wen's, and he waited in the front hall himself, and after about an hour, the carrier pigeon who delivered the letter came back, and took down the secret letter tied to the pigeon's leg, and Steward Ke smiled sadly.

"Miss, that Ke is too much, if he doesn't know our identity, it's fine, but he's clear—"

Qu Miaoling took a sip of tea.

The tea sent here looks like last year's old tea, and it smells grassy in the mouth, not a little bitter.

"Okay, don't be angry, take a sip of tea slowly."

She poured herself a glass at a glance, but immediately spit it out.

"What kind of tea is this, why is it so unpalatable."

Qu Miaoling slowly put down the teacup in her hand, raised her eyelids lightly and said, "It's just last year's old tea, and it's not bad!" Why are you so squeamish! ”

"Miss! How dare they—"

"Okay, gentle, didn't you bring refreshments? Let's drink our own. ”

"But."

"No, don't worry, your young lady is clever and has already arranged everything."

Eyes wide open softly and ignorantly.

What does Miss mean by that?

But Qu Miaoling ate the refreshments that were gently wrapped in advance, looking relaxed, and it really seemed like she had come to visit the garden.

In the afternoon of the same day, Qu Miaoling also swam a few laps in the garden with gentleness, which was leisurely.

Without performing, Steward Ke looked at the two, and a man with a sharp mouth and monkey cheeks next to him whispered: "Steward Ke, Madame can give orders, these two people must be eliminated, and there will be no future troubles." ”

"If they die here, I will surely die."

"Don't worry, Madame has already arranged everything, and your family will be waiting for you in the city of no return, thousands of miles away from the capital." The sharp-beaked monkey-cheeked man smiled weirdly.

"You threaten me?"

"Steward Ke, don't care about the small ones, you have received a lot of benefits from your wife over the years, now is the time for you to report!"

……

That night, Qu Miaoling was asleep and resting softly outside, when suddenly, there was a sound of rustling outside the door, and Qu Miaoling woke up suddenly.

The sound of shouting and shouting outside the door, and the sound of touching each other is abandoned.

Suddenly, a streak of blood splattered on the window, and countless blood spots appeared.

Qu Miaoling's eyes stared at the curtain on the top of the bed, and slowly, the corners of her mouth hooked, and there was a vague satisfaction in the arc that the plan had succeeded.

"Miss, wake up, it seems like there's a fight outside!"

Gradually, the light of the fire outside reflected in the room, and he ran in softly and hastily, with a panicked face.

Soon, there was a knock on the door, and he gently picked up the candlestick in the corner of the bed, and shouted in a rough voice in the direction of the door: "Who? ”

"Miss, it's all taken care of."

It was clearly the voice of Guard Liu.

Didn't he stay in the Hou Mansion and stare at the Wen family? Why did it suddenly appear?

Gently confused.

At this time, Qu Miaoling had already put on her coat, and pushed away the gentleness that was blocking her, and she said aloud: "Guard Liu, come in." ”

Guard Liu pushed the door in, and behind him, he looked at it softly, clearly one after another heavily armed guards.

What the hell is going on.

But immediately, a picture that surprised Gentle even more appeared.

Situ Huai suddenly appeared with a sigh of dark clothes.

"Miss, it's decided—" Before the soft voice fell, Qu Miaoling had already walked out.

"The courtiers have seen His Royal Highness."

Situ Huai waved his hand, and the expression on his face was also faint, "Miss Qu, we meet again." ”

The two looked at each other, and everything was silent.

After looking at each other, Situ Huaizhu was the first to look away, as if Qu Miaoling had done something sorry for him.

Qu Miaoling was a little puzzled, but she didn't think about it.

After passing through the three manors, Qu Miaoling expected that his next trip would be extremely difficult.

So she asked Guard Qiao to send someone back to the capital and send a message to Guard Liu, who received the letter and hurried to tell Min Jie, but Min Jie was entangled in tricky things, and he had no choice but to take a letter and ask King Jie to help.

Situ Huai agreed happily and immediately brought someone over.

And here, Qu Miaoling received a message, although she didn't understand why her eldest cousin would ask Situ Huai for help, but she didn't refuse.

So there is this scene that I can see softly.

Looking at Qu Miaoling and Situ Huaiju, you look at me, I look at you, everything is unspoken, and she finally understood, she muttered a few words, and stood at the door.

"Miss Qu, the family here is all cleaned up, and the next thing is up to Miss Qu."

Qu Miaoling nodded, and went straight to the front hall.

The steward was tied to the ground, and behind him were two stout and powerful guards.

Seeing Qu Miaoling coming in, Steward Ke's resentful gaze was projected.

"Steward Ke, meet again!"

"Woohoo." Steward Ke gritted his teeth, Qu Miaoling gave the guard a look, the guard was Situ Huaiju's person, glanced at Situ Huaiju, and after getting the other party's approval, the two of them pulled down the strip of cloth.

His mouth was blocked for a long time, and his tongue was stiff, and Steward Ke soothed for a while, and then scolded.

"I'm a relative of Mrs. Wen, you still dare to kidnap me? Don't let me go quickly, or beware of your own life! ”

Accustomed to being comfortable in this remote manor, he developed a lawless temperament in charge of Ke.

Qu Miaoling took a few steps closer, and said with a cold look in his eyes: Ke Guanshi, Ming people don't say secret words, you collect heavy rent from the people, but the grain you can pay into the house is less than half of the rent, and say, where is the grain! ”

Steward Ke was neck and was not afraid if he was exposed.

The clothes "Lao Tzu has someone on top", and he is not afraid of the sky and the earth.

Qu Miaoling smiled, "Ke is in charge, far water can't quench your thirst, presumably you also understand this truth, the Wen family herself is difficult to protect, do you think she will save you?" You don't think about it, there is no problem with the accounts in this house, but there is a situation with your accounts here, you say, will the Wen family put all the responsibility on you, huh? ”

"You talk nonsense!"

"Am I talking nonsense? Well, you might as well take a look, what this is! ”

Qu Miaoling walked up to Steward Ke and showed him the letter he had intercepted and sent from the Wen family.

On the last line of the letter, there is a line marked with small letters of special symbols.

Qu Miaoling pointed, "Do you know what this is?" ”

Steward Ke shook his head.

"It's your talisman!"