Whether it is the palace dinner or the next day's evaluation, Zu Zhaoyi's performance should be remarkable, without the slightest flaw. Not only did he maintain his usual humble and gentle side, but he also methodically accepted the questions of the county government and the local elite elders, although he could not guarantee that everyone present would be satisfied, but at least he did not displease anyone. For the county's customary probation, such a performance is undoubtedly qualified.

What's more, with Liu Taishou's own character, he likes to be decent the most, and if there is any surprising behavior, he can't judge it with personal experience.

In the county government to stay until the end of the month, out of the traditional tradition of inspection, all the people from the county should have a meeting together, not only to wait for the announcement of the final evaluation results, but also, as Liu Taishou said, hope to have a formal understanding of each other, more or less leave a gap.

Right Beiping County under the jurisdiction of Pinggang, Wuzhong, Junmi, Xu Wu, Sunset, Changcheng, Guangcheng, Tuyin eight counties, this year the counties elected a total of 11 square people, in addition to Zu Zhao, Tian Kai, Li Xin, there are still three people who are worthy of the name of virtue and ability, the rest are either associated with the local county government, cleverly obtained this quota, or are a lot of money to piece together three or two points of fame. Anyway, for some local wealthy families and rich landowners, they open warehouses on weekdays to give relief, are willing to give, and solve troubles for the local county government, which can be regarded as a matter of accumulating merit in any case. It's not that these people really have kindness and conscience, what they do is nothing more than hoping that by the end of the year, the children of their family can win a few official names.

Generally speaking, those who can arrive at the county government on the tenth day of the first lunar month are mostly talented and doers, and the later they are, the more they are famous.

Therefore, during the period of Zu Zhao's stay in the county government, he almost did not have any contact with the so-called square people who came a few days later, and it was nothing more than a solemn introduction to each other by Liu Taishou himself during the dinner in the Taishou Mansion. Speaking of which, Liu Taishou is tired of this cookie-cutter introduction, not only is he not bored, but he can also show a look of anger every time.

By the seventeenth of this month, the "talents" elected by each county have finally arrived.

It was another two-day dinner in a row, and it wasn't until the third day that Zuihou announced the results of this year's evaluation.

Although there has been a dinner party in Taishoufu every day for more than ten days, which seems to be quite extravagant and wasteful, in fact, Liu Taishou himself still cares a lot about his reputation, so almost every dinner party is just a pomp at best. The wine and dishes at the banquet were not sumptuous, one table per person, no more than three or four dishes per table, and occasionally meat, and the whole roast sheep, roast whole chicken, roast whole pig, etc., were placed in the center of the hall, and the servants cut them one by one according to the instructions.

Except for Li Xin and a few other poor families who were born, they can eat enough at every dinner, and the rest of the people either hold their own identities or dislike the shabby dishes, and basically stop at the order.

On the 20th, the North Courtyard made a big move. Liu Taishou was very happy to cook cattle and slaughter sheep, changing from the light and low-key in the past, it was really a big banquet. It can be said that during the entire county government inspection, only this dinner was the main banquet.

In the evening, Zu Zhao and others were invited to Taishou Mansion.

Therefore, the official post where everyone stays is located on the west side of the Taishou Mansion, and in order to save foot strength on weekdays, everyone does not go far to walk from the main gate of the Taishou Mansion, but enters the Taishou Mansion from the west gate of the West Courtyard Miscellaneous Servants. As soon as I arrived in the west courtyard, I passed a porch and walked towards the atrium. At this moment, seven or eight handymen came in front of them, all holding all kinds of utensils and ingredients, and the three of Zuihou also pushed a small cart to transport a bunch of sundries to the west courtyard.

Tian Kai, Li Xin and others, who were leading the way, naturally dodged one after another, and Zu Zhao walked in Zuihou until everyone in front of him bypassed those miscellaneous servants before he stepped forward. I thought I could avoid Zuihou's car by turning sideways, but when I was moving sideways, I accidentally collided with a handyman who was pushing the cart. The handyman was dressed in coarse clothes and had a slender figure, but she was a young woman.

At the time of the collision, the other party originally lowered his head, and suddenly raised his eyes and glanced at Zu Zhao.

Zu Zhao didn't care at all, and didn't even look at this handyman directly, but he was keenly aware that there was an unusual cold light in the other party's eyes. He subconsciously turned his head and looked at the maid carefully, and the other party seemed to have woken up, and hurriedly lowered his head again.

The sharp chill from before suddenly disappeared.

At that moment, he caught a scar about two inches on one of the woman's cheeks. The scar had just scabbed over, and judging by this glance, it should have been injured by a sharp object. But he couldn't figure out what kind of sharp weapon an ordinary handyman, and a woman, would be injured by any sharp weapon?

For a while, I had a lot of thoughts, and there was always a voice in my heart that drove me to figure out this matter.

was hesitating, and Li Xin's voice suddenly came from behind him: "Brother Zu, where are you doing?" ”

Zu Zhao sighed secretly, detached from his thoughts, and then thought about the moment just now, he could only laugh at himself for being too suspicious, how could he speculate with just one look and one aspect? If he really catches up and asks, I'm afraid that he will be mistaken for a disciple!

He shook his head and stepped along.

Li Xin waited for Zu Zhao at the door for a while, and after Zu Zhao stepped forward, he asked one more question: "Brother Zu, what were you looking at just now?" ”

Zu Zhao smiled and said, "It's nothing, it's just that I accidentally rubbed into those miscellaneous servants." ”

Li Xin bowed slightly, and then walked side by side with Zu Zhao, and after thinking for a while, he said again: "I don't know if Brother Zu has seen it?" That ......"

Zu Zhao glanced at Li Xin suspiciously, and asked rhetorically, "What do you see?" ”

Li Xin looked a little suspicious and didn't know how to speak, but after only a moment, he finally said directly: "It's the handyman I saw with the cart just now, it seems to be a girl, and there is a wound on her face. It's weird. ”

Zu Zhao was slightly stunned, but he didn't expect that even Li Xin was aware of this. At this time, he pretended to be comforted and said, "Oh, I saw it too." However, maybe this person is a slave girl from somewhere, and it is normal to have some scars on her body. ”

At the same time, he further convinced himself in his heart that the Han Dynasty had not completely abolished slavery!

Li Xin glanced at Zu Zhao, slowly bowed his head, and sighed: "What Brother Zu said makes sense. However, when I looked at the scar, it seemed to be an arrow wound, so I was very puzzled in my heart, how could there be such a miscellaneous servant in the Taishou Mansion, or a female stream! ”

Zu Zhao was surprised for a moment, and hurriedly asked, "Arrow wounds?" Brother Xianyan, are you right? ”

Li Xin said affirmatively: "My family has been hunters for two generations, and I know a lot about bows and arrows, and I am sure that it is an arrow wound." ”

Zu Zhao took a slow breath, and the doubts in his heart recurred again. Although you can't easily judge based on a single look, everyone will have their own aura, if it is really an ordinary handyman, how can it have such an aura that is different from ordinary people?

Seeing that Zu Zhao was silent, Li Xin couldn't help but ask, "Brother Zu, what's wrong?" What do you think? ”

Zu Zhao said noncommittally: "It's not clear now. In short, let's do it first, after all, this is the Taishou Mansion, and we and other outsiders don't dare to mess around easily. ”

Li Xin wanted to say something, but after listening to Zu Zhao's words, he stopped talking.

[I recommend Tsui Hark's early movie, "Broken Knife", which is very stylish!] 】