Chapter 3: Takechi Prefecture

Early in the morning, Anfu

Anfu Mansion is located in the west of Huayang County, surrounded by powder walls outside the courtyard, green willows hang around, three hanging flower gatehouses, and verandahs on all sides. The courtyard is connected with each other, the mountains and stones are embellished, and a screen in the middle is written with four big characters of "Tranquility and Zhiyuan", and the whole courtyard is magnificent, graceful and luxurious.

In the courtyard, there is a large case of Huali marble, on which there are various celebrity law posts, and dozens of treasure inkstones, all kinds of pen holders, and the pens inserted in the sea of pens are like woods. On that side, there is a big Ru kiln flower sac, and a bag full of crystal balls is inserted in the white chrysanthemum. What was placed in front of the desk was not a famous landscape painting or a celebrity calligraphy, but a pot of steaming fragrant tea, An Zhiyuan was dressed in brocade, lying on the rattan chair in front of the desk with squinting eyes. Master An is not a master of dancing and writing, but this literati is indeed full of style.

"Daddy! Early! An Yi stretched and walked out of the house.

An Zhiyuan opened his eyes and greeted his son with a smile, from childhood to adulthood, he could be said to give something to a pair of children, very spoiled, "Yi'er, come here!" An Yi responded and walked to him,

"Yi'er, how have you been reading lately? Soon there will be half a month to go to the township test, and you can't embarrass us for a home. An Zhiyuan spread the folding fan and asked in an old-fashioned manner

An Yi's face was different, "Dad, aren't you planning to let me take the township exam this year, right?" I didn't have anything to prepare! ”

"Nonsense! How old are you, the township test is held once every three years, how long do you have to wait? An Zhiyuan folded the fan and closed it, and suddenly became serious.

An Yi pouted

Seeing his son pouting, An Zhiyuan conjured up a smiling face again, and this face became like singing, "It's okay, you just have to go to the exam, and the one who came down to invigilate the exam is Lord Sun, the head of the Ministry of Officials, and his own people!" His eyes narrowed into a slit, and he smiled to himself.

An Yi shook his head helplessly, obviously his father was not even a showman, he was often scolded by his grandfather for being unfilial when he was a child, but now he has become a shame for the An family, "Okay Dad, what you say is what." "Shall be when,

"Dad, you are in such a hurry, do you want my brother to take the exam?" An Xin wore a light blue dress, and her long black hair was tied back to her waist until her waist.

"You girl, didn't your brother say anything about you? Follow your brother around every day, the girl's family, the young man surnamed Zhao I asked the matchmaker to find for you, he was a celebrity in front of Governor Liu's mansion at a young age, and it is unlimited in the future, what about you? I can't see anyone. The old man turned his head and sneered at An Xin,

"Daddy! The surname is Zhou~"

"Eh~ Ah, yes, the surname is Zhou, no matter what the surname is, or which handsome offspring you have a fancy for, you tell your father, what dowry you want, just mention it, as long as it is the father of Chengdu Mansion, I will buy it for you. The father who didn't have Chengdu Mansion also asked someone to buy it for you. ”

"I know Dad, if I fancy any son-in-law, I will personally ask you to arrange it for me!" An Xin stuck out her tongue,

"You two kids, it's really worrying." The two brothers and sisters covered their mouths and smiled happily at each other, but only Old Man An made himself sad.

"Morning, uncle! Childe, girl early! ”

Jiang Ruyue walked into the courtyard and made a gesture at An Zhiyuan's father and daughter.

After Jiang Ruyue washed off the ragged clothes, she changed into a plain Luo clothes, her hair was tied up with bamboo hairpins, her posture was leisurely and elegant, her thin snow and frost posture, and her pupils were smart and graceful.

"Yo~ Whose son-in-law is this?" An Xin quipped:

Old Man An stood up and nodded at Jiang Ruyue as a return gift, "Who is this?" He turned to ask his son

"Dad, this is Jiang Ruyue, a friend from a foreign country who lives in our house temporarily" An Yi introduced,

"Oh good, it's Yi'er's friend, treat the house as your own home, hehe, don't be so restricted." The old man smiled like a businessman.

Jiang Ruyue excused herself: "Last night was already a harassment, and today, the juniors can't be disturbed anymore!" ”

"Even so, then I won't force you to stay, it just so happens that my brother and sister are going out of the city, so I'll send you back by the way!" An Yi said and glanced at An Xin,

"Yes, yes! The road with you is also boring. An Xin agreed

"Well, that.... Then it is better to be respectful than to obey the fate. Jiang Ruyue arched his hand at the two of them.

The three of them said goodbye to An Zhiyuan and went out of the city by carriage..........

-----------------------------

The prison in Huayang County is in the northwest corner of the city, covering a small area, most of the prison is made of stones, and it is under the city wall, so the prison is very dark and damp. A jailer dressed up with a wooden bucket knocked on the door with a wooden scoop from the barrel every time he passed a prison position, "Come to dinner!" ”。 At this time, the prisoners consciously placed their bowls on the stone floor of the prison door, and the jailers who distributed the rice used wooden ladles to put a scoop of thick and thin rice into the bowl.

"Hey! Time to eat! Feed! The jailer walked to one of the deepest prison doors

Normally, the prison is separated from the prison by a thick wooden bar, and the prisoners can see each other, and there is also the meaning of monitoring each other, but this prison is against the wall, and there is a whole iron plate next to it to separate it from other prison positions, and the next prison position cannot see who is locked up inside.

The jailer didn't notice the bowl that should have been put in place, so he banged on the door with a wooden scoop, "Fuck you! Do you want to eat? "For an unruly prisoner, the jailer apparently doesn't have much patience.

"You don't have to pay attention to him!"

Behind him came the voice of another jailer,

"He is on Jiulong Mountain, he was caught by Zhou Zhou yesterday, and he doesn't eat or drink when he comes in, so he goes to the ball!" As he spoke, he lifted a small wine jar in his hand and placed it on the wooden table at the door of the prison, "Come and taste this wine made by my daughter-in-law, take a sip, and surpass the living immortals." He greeted the jailer who was distributing meals to the prisoners.

The jailer gave the unkempt man in the prison a fierce look, "If you don't eat, you'll starve to death!" With that, he threw the barrel on the ground, turned and walked to the prison door.

"Tut-tut! This wine is so delicious! ”

"That's still fake, my daughter-in-law is a connoisseur of wine~"

"You big dogs!"

A gloomy voice came from behind his ears, as if ice was piercing the necks of the two, making people feel the coldness oozing out of their bones!

The two turned around and saw that the person who came was wearing a cyan heron official robe, a black gauze hat on his head, and silk soap boots on his feet.

"Such a dereliction of duty, even drinking without permission! The prison has gone awry, so let's get you two down there and have enough of it! "Taketori's body has become a lot more blessed since he became an official master, and a pair of inverted triangular eyes that are not big are squeezed by the flesh on his face. The two guards behind him were thin and tall, and they looked even more big and round.

"Spare your life! My lord! ”

The two jailers knelt at the feet of the bamboo and hurriedly begged for mercy.

"It's all to blame for the little greedy mouth! My lord, spare your life! The two of them slapped their mouths as they said goodbye.

"Bring it down! Hold up! Taketori waved his hand, and one of the guards behind him instructed the two to drag them away like little chickens.

"You stay here, no one is allowed to come in without my permission!" The other guard clenched his fists and complied, and Taketori approached the cell on his own.

The big man in the prison door squinted, dressed in a ragged prison uniform, with iron chains cuffed on his feet, and the iron chains were connected to the wall behind him with his hands, which could be regarded as locking him tightly. There was black and white sludge on his face, and a few rats crawled past his feet "squeak~".

"Don't come to Master Song's house?"

Song Zhonghao opened his eyes suddenly, staring at Taketori outside the prison door,

"Taketori-sama!"

These four words seemed to be squeezed out of Song Zhong's gritted teeth, obviously the Song family knew this Zhuzhi County.

"Song Ye worked hard, he personally went to the county seat, was there a famine in the village? Or do you want to take the head of the county? Hahaha" Taketori looked at the barrel at his feet, "Don't eat?" Have a backbone! Mockingly, he gave a thumbs up to the Song master,

"Ahhh~~" Song Zhong roared and rushed towards the prison door, but only half a step away, he was firmly tied back by the iron chain,

"Taketori! You old dog! I deceived the people in our village, and I also deceived my brother's life, sooner or later I will ask you to pay for it with blood! Master Song gritted his teeth and cracked his eyes, eager to swallow the taketori in front of him.

Taketori sneered, "Song Zhong! You and I are officials and bandits in different ways, you gather people to make trouble and attack the county seat, your brother is dead, what does it have to do with the county, if you want to blame, you can only blame yourself for being greedy, and you can touch the official food if you want to? ”

"There are so many people starving to death in the county, they will come to ask for your life!" The furious Song Da Master gasped, but his words were like frost, without a trace of temperature,

"That's you mountain bandits, looting the county granary! If you want to ask for your life, you will ask for your life! Taketori snorted, "But you don't have to worry about this, aren't you the brother you have always missed?" I'm going to reunite you today! Hmph~" As he spoke, he made a gesture to the guard guarding outside the door,

The guards saw the gesture, looked left and right, came to the depths of the prison, opened the prison door, took out a thumb-thick hemp rope, and neatly put a ring around the neck of the Song master.

"Handle it cleanly!" Taketori said goodbye and turned to leave.

"Yes!" The guards responded, the hemp rope in his hand gradually tightened, and the face of the Song master gradually turned blood-red, and in the deathly silence of the prison, only the voice he kept repeating before he died,

"They're going to come and ask for your life!"

"They're going to come and ask for your life!"

"They ........"