"You-" Seeing the anger of the people, the Yuanke was also a little frightened, and the confidence to speak was insufficient, and said, "Good, good, count me unlucky. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 infoBut the money is mine, and I'd rather take it alone. If it's still unreasonable, let's go through the bureau. ”

The common people are afraid of the officials, Jin Xiao and his mother are even more afraid, seeing that the customer service is soft and the troops are gone, there is no trouble, so they came to the central government to tell Meng Jiucheng, "Brother He, just let him go, don't be an official." ”

Meng Jiucheng groaned and wanted to agree, but when he looked up, he saw a sedan chair coming over from the crack in the person, next to a few dukes, his heart moved, and he had almost proved his conjecture.

"If you are an official, you will be an official." Meng Jiucheng's face changed suddenly, and he said loudly to the surroundings: "Risking to beat people, dare to bully our Baoxing people to be weak and courageless, where is there such a cheap thing?" ”

"The outsider is also arrogant, and he can't be let go casually." Zhang Xiaoyi decisively supported Meng Jiucheng and deserved to be a good brother.

Once you separate the outsiders from the locals, the emotions are different, which is the idea of the countryside. A few splashes responded to the noise, and everyone echoed the noise, and there was a lot of noise.

Hearing the sound of people boiling, the sedan chair stopped on the side of the street, and a public man leaned down beside the sedan chair, listened to the instructions of the people in the sedan chair, separated the crowd, and walked over.

"What is the reason for gathering crowds to make noise and disturb the county minister?" The public shouted, and when everyone was neutral, they scattered away in all directions, but there were a few bold ones, who retreated a little and continued to watch the excitement.

Yuanke and Jin Xiao's mother and son were taken aback and didn't dare to make a sound for a while. Meng Jiucheng hurriedly stepped forward and told the truth of the matter one by one.

The duke nodded and said, "Since this is the case, go with a certain person to see the county minister, and the minister will make a clear decision." After speaking, he stretched out his hand and pointed at Meng Jiucheng, "You also come and make a witness." ”

A few came to the front of the sedan chair, first the public gave a simple return to the county magistrate, the magistrate moved the sedan chair out, and the prince took the chair from the shop next to him, and asked the prince to sit down.

The county magistrate is in his forties, and his face is very decent and majestic, and he asked both sides about the reason.

Yuanke still said the same thing, pointing at Jin Xiao and saying: "He picked up the villain's money and hid half of it and didn't pay it back." After speaking, he stretched out his hand and pointed at Meng Jiucheng, "He is unreasonable, not to say that this thing is not lost by the villain, but he wants to ignore it all." ”

Jin Xiaohug Qu defended: "The villain picked up his belly and went home happily, but he was disciplined by his mother, so he kindly went to return him, but he came to Tulai villain instead." ”

The magistrate bowed slightly, looked around, and asked, "Who will testify?" ”

Meng Jiucheng stepped forward and said, "The villain can testify." The guest lost his money and was looking for it by the latrine, and Kim Hyo came to admit that he had found the lost item and took him home to return it. This is something that the villains can see, but they don't know how much money they have. ”

The magistrate of the county also called a few onlookers, all of them were words, so he knew it in his heart, called two dukes, took the stomach of the distant guest, and counted it carefully.

It's a little different, but it's still expected. Meng Jiucheng stood there, some things wandering out of the world, imagining messy things.

"Look at your words, but have you read books?" The magistrate suddenly asked Meng Jiucheng.

Meng Jiucheng didn't react for a while, but a public who knew him reminded him, and when he turned his head, he was still a little dazed, and the public said with a smile: "Back to Xianggong, his name is Meng Jiucheng, his nickname is Brother He, and he is a talent!" ”

Although there were talents in the Song Dynasty, they were not the same as those in the general sense of the Ming and Qing dynasties and now. Because in the Song Dynasty, there were only the solution test (township test) and the provincial test, and later the palace test was added.

The qualifications to participate in the examination are generally selected and assessed or recommended by the township, and there is no fame, basically to select some top students among the scholars in the township, county, and village, which is similar to the bottom exam, and these top students who are selected are Xiucai.

From this point of view, this Xiucai is an honorific title for a student who studies well. And the Song Dynasty did not stipulate strictness, the common people in order to save trouble, but all the scholars, they could not distinguish between good and bad learning, and they were all called Xiucai. Therefore, Xiucai can also be used as a generic term for scholars in the late Song Dynasty.

Hearing others introduce himself as a Xiucai, Meng Jiucheng couldn't help but smile bitterly, bowed down and replied: "The villain has read books for seven or eight years and knows a little bit of words, but he is greedy for pleasure, messy flowers, and ruined the family business. ”

The magistrate looked at Meng Jiucheng carefully, and saw that he was just a sixteen or seventeen-year-old boy, with a white face, wearing a scarf on his head, and speaking very decently, he couldn't help but smile indifferently and said: "The young man's heart has never suffered hardships, and now he knows that some crops are difficult, but it is not a bad thing. The so-called: Reform and reform, the emperor must see. But don't waste this reading. ”

"The prime minister has good words, and the villain is taught." Meng Jiucheng respectfully expressed his gratitude.

At this time, the two dukes reported to the magistrate that the money had been counted, and the total was thirty-two and sixty wen.

The magistrate of the county listened to the announcement and said to the distant guest: "The money you lost is fifty yuan, and he picked up thirty-two yuan and sixty yuan, so it can be seen that this money is not yours, it must be lost by another person." ”

The distant guest was surprised, but he didn't expect the magistrate to say the same, and hurriedly argued: "This money is really a villain, and the villain is willing to only receive these thirty-two yuan." ”

The magistrate sneered and shook his head and said: "Jin Xiao took the initiative to repay the money, which shows that there is no reason to pay back the money." And how can you claim that the money you have lost is different from the amount you have lost? The money was taken away with Kim Hyo to support his mother; Thy fifty knots, look for them elsewhere. and quarrel again, and thy sin will be punished. ”

Jin Xiao got the money, kowtowed to thank him, received the money, and supported the old lady, overjoyed. The distant guest Tulai failed, the money has been decided, where do you dare to argue, ashamed and irrepressible, and left with tears.

The magistrate turned his head and whispered a few words to a duke, nodded and smiled at Meng Jiucheng, and walked away from the sedan chair.

Jin Xiao helped the old lady go home, and he didn't want the public who had been ordered by the magistrate to follow in, beckoned Jin Xiao, and said with a smile: "You are so lucky, you have won money for nothing." ”

Jin Xiao thought that the duke was asking for a bribe, so he hurriedly untied his belly, took out the usual money and handed it to the duke, and said with a smile: "Thank you for taking care of the master, some tea money, please accept it." ”

The public was not humble, took the money and put it in his arms, and said with a smile: "The great benefactor you got money is not me, but Brother Xie He'er is." The county magistrate also has the meaning of love, I think, half of the points should also be. If you are a good student and have a good chance in the future, maybe you can also get benefits. ”

"That's right." The old lady took over the conversation and said to Jin Xiao: "If it weren't for Brother He'er's sharp mouth, my son would not have gotten the money, and he would have to be Tulai by the distant guest." He took out half of the silver taels to thank Brother He. ”

Hearing that both the prince and the old lady said this, Jin Xiao also thanked Meng Jiucheng for his righteousness and relieved him of the trouble, and hurriedly nodded in agreement. As soon as the public left, Jin Xiao counted fifteen meetings, went out and went straight to Meng Jiucheng's house.