In a moment, a few soaps came out surrounded by a middle-aged man in an official robe with a slight fortune, and the most striking thing on this person's round face was the red rosacea. Looking at the way he is dressed, it should be Cai Zhao, the magistrate of Renhe County.

Sure enough, the white-bearded old man kneeling on the ground kowtowed to the big fat man and said, "Master, please be our master." My son died unjustly! ”

Rosacea snorted: "Zhang Laohan, this official has already said that he will investigate this matter in detail, you parked the body at the yamen, this is that kind of business, the yamen is not open for your family, you block the door, how can we work?" ”

A young man behind Zhang Laohan said loudly: "Master, my brother was killed by the king's head, please give an explanation, otherwise we will keep the body here!" ”

Rosacea frowned: "Okay, this official has a distinguished guest now, and I will deal with your case later!" "Say it, walk down the steps and come to Meng Tianchu's carriage.

Meng Tianchu had already gotten out of the carriage, looked at it with a rosacea, and said with a smile: "Cai Zhao, who is late in life, bows to the county order of this county, dare to ask Your Excellency is Mr. Meng Tianchu Meng?" ”

When Meng Tianchu heard this, he was relieved, this Qin Yiyun really didn't brag, listening to Cai Zhaozhixian's words, it seemed that there was no problem with this famous master. Hurriedly bowed down and said: "Don't dare, Meng Tianchu, who was born late, has seen Lord Cai of Cai Zhi County!" ”

As mentioned above, the relationship between the master and the county is an employment relationship, because the master is a person with specialized talents, and the county is hired by the county to help him deal with relevant government affairs, so the county master is very polite to the master, and the two sides often talk about each other as equals, in many cases, the county is often taken down, this county Cai Zhao is the support of Mrs. Qin's family to become the county, and Meng Tianchu is recommended by the Qin family, so this Cai Zhao took the next position and claimed to be a late student, of course, Meng Tianchu did not dare to be arrogant, and also bowed to the late birth, which also meant mutual respect.

Cai Zhixian said with a smile: "Mr. Meng has worked hard all the way, let's go into the yamen to talk." "Let's say, and Meng Tianchu stepped into the yamen. At this time, the door for the yamen to enter the car had been opened, and the carriage that Xia Fengyi and the others were riding in entered the yamen from here, temporarily stopped in the patio, and did not get out of the car, waiting for the result.

Cai Zhixian took Meng Tianchu all the way to the Yamen Flower Room, which was a reception room dedicated to welcoming VIPs. After the guest and host sat down, they first exchanged a few words of greeting, and Cai Zhao said: "Mr. Meng's arrival is really timely rain, the original criminal master who was born late yesterday has resigned and gone back, and now there is a short criminal master, you are here, it's really good." ”

Meng Tianchu was also very happy, it seemed that he was really lucky, but he didn't know why the famous master resigned, was this Cai Zhixian not good to him or something at home, or was he incompetent? I was embarrassed to ask for a while.

Cai Zhixian had already read the letter that Qin Yiyun later wrote about the murder of Mrs. Qin and Meng Tianchu's investigation of the case, and sighed, recalling that his family was poor back then, and he was able to complete his studies and move into high school with the help of the Qin family.

After gossiping, Cai Zhixian asked the squad leader to write it with Zhou Quan, who brought the big red "Guan Shu" (that is, the current letter of appointment), stood up and respectfully handed it to Meng Tianchu with both hands, and said: "It stands to reason that Mr. Li's appointment is the curtain, and there should be a banquet, but something has happened to the yamen in the past two days, and it is inconvenient for a while, so I will make up for it later." ”

Meng Tianchu got up and said a few polite words, and took the pass book with both hands, which was covered with a red envelope, and it was written that Meng Tianchu's old master Save. Pull out the big red Cambodia inside, only to see the word "Guanshu" written on it, open it and take a look, it reads: "Dun hired the old master of Tianchu Meng, during the tenure of Cai Zhaozhi County, to handle the criminal name, the monthly salary is two taels, to the museum to start, I respectfully order." Godbrother Cai Zhao bowed his head. ”

This is considered to be the official employment of Meng Tianchu as the master of the criminal name, and the salary is two taels per month. In the middle of the Ming Dynasty, this was already a very high wage level. You must know that the Ming Dynasty officials' salaries are very low, and the monthly income of Zhengqipinzhi County is about three taels, relying on this money, not to mention asking the master to please follow the long, even supporting the family is a problem, so I can only try to find some extra money, among which the main income of the local officials comes from the interception of local taxes, commonly known as "fire consumption".

Meng Tianchu's salary is two taels of silver, which is equivalent to a monthly salary of 2,000 yuan. During the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, one tael of silver could buy two stones of rice, and one stone at that time was about ninety-four kilograms, so Meng Tianchu's salary was two taels of silver, and he could buy about one hundred and eighty-eight kilograms of rice, which was about three hundred and seventy-seven catties. According to the calculation of 30 catties of rice per person per month, it can feed 12 people. Therefore, Cai Zhao's salary to Meng Tianchu is relatively high.

Subsequently, Cai Zhixian took another six taels of silver and handed it to Meng Tianchu with both hands, which was a dowry. Then, let the squad leader arrange a courtyard for Meng Tianchu's family to live in with Zhou Quan. This master is usually in the internal office to help the county master deal with government affairs, that is, the guest of the scene. So he also lives in the inner office of the county master.

Meng Tianchu said: "Since he has been hired, Dong Weng has any instructions to send." ”

Cai Zhixian's face was embarrassed: "It stands to reason that Mr. has been tired all the way and should rest for two days, but there is a difficult thing at the moment, and he is unable to deal with it in his later life. ”

Meng Tianchu smiled: "Dong Weng is worried about the mortuary at the entrance of the yamen? ”

Cai Zhixian sighed and nodded: "Exactly, the day before yesterday, this old man and his neighbor's house had a dispute and sued the yamen, and the late sheng issued a 'and coupon' to let Wang Yi and Song Xiangyu go to mediate, but Wang Yi accidentally pushed Zhang Laohan's son Zhang Laoda, and died the next morning, Zhang Laohan's family believed that Wang Zhutou did it, so from the day before yesterday, the mortuary was at the yamen, demanding that Wang Zhutou be held responsible for the murder, and also compensate for some burning silver. ”

Meng Tianchu said: "This old man dares to stop at the door of the mortuary, how can he be so bold? ”

"Mr. doesn't know, this old man's family is a distant relative of our Shen Naichun Shen Zhi County, the magistrate of Qiantang County, Hangzhou. Yesterday afternoon, Master Ke called me and reprimanded me severely, saying that if this matter is not handled properly, he can only report it to the superintendent of the imperial history, and impeach me for ...... incompetence."