Autumn has now passed, but the weather does not mean to be cold at all. Several heavy rains in succession were spun and stopped. When it is sunny, it is still blazing for a round of white sun, and the ground is curled in the sun. The floating soil on the big post road is like freshly fried noodles in a hot pot, and when you step on it, white smoke rises, scorching hot, and burning people's hearts. Located on the bank of the canal in the north of the city, a stone's throw away from the wharf, the Dezhou Mansion is a very lively place, but at this moment in the afternoon, although the rows of shops and houses are open, there are very few pedestrians on the street. In the old store of the Shen family on the east side of the wharf, the shopkeeper and three or four guys sat in the façade eating tea and fanning the dragon gate array:

"Hey, haven't you heard?" A guy waved a fan with one hand, rubbed his skinny chest with the other, pinched the black and greasy sweat ash in his hand, and said: "Dexiang old shop divides soup, and the three brothers fought yesterday." The second and third san shook up the horse boss with their hands, hehe...... When I went to take a look, it was already lively, the three brothers were naked, covered in blood gourds, the three mothers-in-law each held their own heads of house and scolded each other, and a pot of old soup was spilled into the courtyard. Oh, you didn't see it, the second daughter-in-law's pair of big white **, the third daughter-in-law's pants were pulled to the root of her thighs......" said, swallowing a mouthful of saliva like a gluttonous worm.

Boss Shen, who had been half-lying on the bamboo chair with his eyes closed and shaking his fan, laughed when he heard it, and said: "Xiao Luzi, you should go up to pull the rack, just put your nose to the root of your thigh and smell the fragrance...... Xiao Luzi quipped: "Let's go, I don't dare to mess with it, I am so thin that I can hold her toss?" But Boss Shen pressed it, and Roshan stacked Roshan to press out the taste! Otherwise, it's our second brother Hao, who is full of horizontal flesh, full of horizontal energy, and Zhun Bao sent those three women to smile and feel comfortable! ”

Second Brother Hao, who was sitting at the door drying the wind, slapped Xiaoluzi on the head with a fan and said with a smile: "Last time your mother came to see you, I saw that she looked so good." How about it, get a daddy, right? The crowd burst into laughter. Boss Shen laughed and trembled, and only sat up after a while, stroked his thick belly with his hand, and sighed: "That's a pot of Zhengde old soup, which has been passed down for more than a hundred years. Let's Texas grilled chicken, the old Dexiang Ma's house is one of the most authentic - the house caught fire and ran away with the old soup, which is the old rule of the grilled chicken industry. smashed the old soup pot for the separation, what a real loser. Look, they still have to fight a lawsuit, and it's fun to watch! ”

A few people listened and remained silent. Dezhou grilled chicken is well-known all over the world, not only Shandong, is Baoding, Henan dignitaries and nobles to invite guests to feast, but also commonly used post road fast horse transmission, every autumn to pay tribute to the palace with a thousand. The chicken is delicious because of a pot of soup, and the braised soup pot has been passed down for more than ten generations. The chicken family is separated, and the wealth is not heavy, but the pot of braised soup is valued. Now the old Dexiang family actually smashed the soup pot for the uneven distribution of the soup, and even the boss Shen, who opened the hotel, couldn't help frowning and regretting. He gasped heavily, and said, "The soup pot has been turned over the fuck, and it's a fart lawsuit!" Speaking of which, their old Ma family is also prosperous enough, and they rely on the ancestors in front of them to earn it, and they can't use it in this life - they are smarter and more amiable and share the floating wealth and real estate, and they each set up a soup pot again, and they are still alive after a few years. What kind of good official is our Liu Taizun? I wish there were lawsuits all over the house, and I was not willing to finish fishing Texas roast chicken with a fence! Saying that, he instructed Xiao Luzi, "Take one of the watermelons that are iced in the well in the backyard, it is so hot today that there are no guests to stay at this time, just eat watermelon to relieve the heat." Xiao Luzi jumped high with joy and went away.

A few people broke the melon and chewed, licked their mouths and smacked their tongues, and their mouths were full of melon water and melon seeds. was smug, the side door of the backyard creaked, and a middle-aged man in his thirties came out, with a square face and small eyes, and his skin was white. A large braid is thick and long, combed neatly, and casually put on the shoulder. On a hot day, he was still wearing an indigo kudzu gown, with a dark ribbon tied around his waist, which looked capable and neat, without dragging mud and water. Only a black mole the size of a copper coin on his left cheek has a lock of long hair like pig's bristles, which makes people feel uncomfortable. When Boss Shen saw him come out, he got up with a smile, burped melons, and said, "It's Second Master Rui!" When the dog sticks out its tongue, how cool it is in the house! Are you dressed so neatly to go out? Come on, come on...... Eat melon eat melon...... The well water is cold, cold, sandy and sweet, eat a piece and go again! ”

"No need." Second Master Rui smiled gloomily and said, "Our Master He is going to visit the Yamen of Futai immediately, is there a bar room near this left?" I'm going to look for a sedan chair. As he was talking, a person on the side door leaned over and shouted, "Ruiji! Master He is done with ink, you can buy two ingots by the way. Rui Er turned around and said loudly: "I can save it!" Cao Rui's family, tell the master that there are cold melons in this store, and the master wants to use them, so ask them to send one in! ”

Boss Shen and a few shop guys couldn't help but look at each other: the Futai Yamen arrived as soon as he raised his feet, and he still needed to find a sedan chair? This guest surnamed He has lived in the store for more than a month with Rui Er and Cao Rui, and has always been alone. He said that he was "doing business" but did not socialize with businessmen. Living in a small courtyard in the east, the rent of two dollars a day, eating green vegetables and tofu every day, are cooked by Rui Er, to put it mildly, it is not as good as the poor filial piety of the class who entered Beijing to take the exam, how did he suddenly become a "master", and he wanted to take a sedan chair to go to the Yamen of Futai to "pay homage"! Seeing that everyone was staring at him, Rui Er smiled implicitly and said, "Don't hide it, our lord is a grain storage road in Jinan, and he came to Texas to check the deficit by Yue Futai's constitution." Now that the mission has been completed, he will return to the province in a few days. If you serve well, you will be rewarded. ”

"Ouch!" Boss Shen was so shocked that he jumped up from the recliner, slightly stunned, and his eyes were already smiling like Maitreya Buddha, "Jane slowed you!" I didn't think that I lived in such a big noble person in this small shop, no wonder I dreamed that my father scolded me for being blind the night before, and my eyes grew to my ass - there is a sedan chair, and it is a bar room two or three houses apart. On such a hot day, your second master doesn't have to move around - Hao Er's, what are you stunned about, why don't you hurry up and find a sedan chair for Master He? Saying that, he brushed the chair with his own hands and invited Rui Er to sit, while putting on his coat, he shouted Xiaoluzi: "Why don't you hurry up and get two more melons, cut another one here, and send one to Lord He!" ”

Everyone was busy, some were looking for sedan chairs, some were taking melons, and two young men were picking up the melon skins that had just been eaten, driving flies to wipe the table and sweeping the floor. In less than a bag of cigarettes, a four-person bamboo sedan chair has fallen at the door of the store. Rui Er nodded with satisfaction, and was about to go in to return to He Daotai, when the door on the east side rang, Cao Rui was in front, and he saw He Daotai in an official uniform, a robe with eight pythons and five claws, a snow goose to make up for it, and a blue nirvana glass top shimmering in the sun, shaking the square steps and slowly coming out. Everyone's eyes lit up, and they all knelt on the ground for a long time, and Boss Shen muttered: "Master Daotai forgives me, I have lived in my small shop for so many days, and there is no good life to wait for your old man, and I haven't even come to ask for peace." Your boss has a big belly......"

"It's nothing, let's all get up." He Daotai said gently, "I didn't say, you don't know, what is there to 'sin'? It's just that I'm afraid of being disturbed, so I don't want to say, isn't it okay to have fun with each other? Cao Rui remembered that Ming'er rewarded them with twenty taels of silver. He didn't speak in a high voice, he seemed very steady and serene, but his breath was a little insufficient, and he was slightly phlegm, and his thin melon seeds had a tired look on his face. As he spoke, he casually went out of the store and sat in the sedan chair, coughing lightly: "Ascend the sedan chair and go to the mansion." Rui Er went to say to Liu Kang first, saying that I came to visit him. ”

"That's called extravagance!" Boss Shen looked at the sedan chair that was far away, and said leisurely with a banana fan: "Look at this measurement!" Listen to what people have to say! You think about the style of others! When I first entered the store, I didn't think he was a businessman, but now it is! Xiao Luzi pouted and smiled beside him: "Sixth Uncle Shen, didn't you say that people are like old showmen in Sanjia Village, who are not willing to teach and come out to hit the official mansion to smoke Feng?" Boss Shen was picked on by him, and slapped his ass on the way, "Don't let your mother's bullshit go, when did I say this bastard?" Don't go around here gritting your teeth and grinding your ass. Hao Er took these little monkeys to the east courtyard and cleaned He Ye inside and outside the house; Xiao Luzi went out to buy some fish, meat, vegetables and vegetables, and then went to Zhang's old shop to order two grilled chickens - to watch them slaughter and cook. When Master He comes back, let's be a host, and the scenery is decent! It's not that I said, the Qianjie Longxing store lived with a fellow acquaintance the year before last, and they were so happy that their eyes were facing the sky. Now we have a Taoist master living here! As he spoke, he waved his fan proudly and went back to his account.

But Boss Shen and they were in vain for a long time. He Daotai didn't return to the store until late at night, when Tianjiaozi was in the middle of the night. accompanied by the prefect Liu Kang, with a large group of masters and servants, he actually walked over. When he arrived at the door of the store, all the officials stayed and waited, and only Liu Kang personally sent him into the East Courtyard. The two jars of Sanhe old mash prepared by Boss Shen and a sumptuous table of noodles were all cheaper than the tolerance of waiting for Liu Kang.

Xiaoluzi ate a stomach of watermelon at noon, and after dinner, he drew two buckets of well water to take a shower, and felt very happy at the time, and after dinner, he felt that his stomach was ***, five meat and six vegetables were stirred, and he ate two pieces of ginger, and still didn't do anything, so he had to go to the east toilet again and again. When He Daotai came back, he gritted his teeth and struggled to send two buckets of hot water to the east courtyard, seeing Taizun accompanying the Daotai to talk in the upper house, and there was a futai yamen Li Ruixiang guarding the gate of the courtyard, one did not dare, and the other was really embarrassed to enter the east toilet again, so he had to lie down in his own place, and endured it for half an hour, his face was blue, and he didn't see Liu Kang leaving, so he had to get up in a hurry, staggered all the way to the backyard with his stomach covered, and came to a long squat in the radish furrow next to the well. Xiao Luzi felt a little looser in his stomach, lifted his pants and looked up at the sky, the sky was dark and black, it turned out that it was cloudy from what hour.

A cool breeze hit, and the path shuddered, and then I heard the rolling thunder of the wheels running over the bridge. He moved his sleepy and numb legs and was about to get out of the radish field, when suddenly there was a "snap" sound from the north room of the east courtyard, as if something had been broken, and then he heard He Daotai's voice: "You are so entangled in life, I look down on you more and more!" Since you don't want to quit, I'm lying on the couch tonight, so I have to ask you to sit and wait, and when I wake up, I will continue to fight with you in the ring! ”

"Is such a big man still talking?" Xiao Luzi's curiosity soared, thinking that he was running on his stomach anyway, so it was better to simply stay in the radish garden and pour the lunch. By the faint flash of lightning, he tiptoed over the radish ridge, and shivering in the cool breeze, he dived under the north window and sat down on the stone bars under the old mulberry tree. I didn't hear any movement in the house for a while, so I couldn't help but get up and lick the broken window paper with the tip of my tongue to look inside.

The light in the room is very dim, only there is a tile soybean oil lamp on the kang table, the twist is not high, and the flame of the lamp is faintly green light, which looks a bit of a forest person. Xiao Luzi squinted and stared for a long time before he could see clearly, He Daotai was lying on his back on the kang, his face to the window seemed to be closing his eyes to recuperate, Cao Rui and Rui Er were leaning against the windowsill, standing with their hands down, unable to see clearly. Liu Kang didn't wear a big hat, he stroked his head with one hand, and gently shook the Xiangfei bamboo fan with the other, pacing slowly under the edge of the kang. Standing by the door was Liu Kang's personal chief Li Ruixiang in the yamen, and he also kept a calm face and said nothing.

"I'm not going to fight with Lord He, Lord He." After a long time, Liu Kang seemed to have made up his mind, raised his face and stared at He Daotai coldly, with a cold smile on the corner of his mouth, and said slowly: "You take your Jinan Road, I sit in my Dezhou Mansion, originally the well water does not interfere with the river water, it is your lord who has come here thousands of miles to find my bad luck." I don't understand: there is a deficit, every government has it; stolen silver, even more unofficial and uneaten. Why did you bite me Liu and not let go? What do you have in mind and what do you want to do?! ”

He Daotai didn't open his eyes, it was probably too hot, and he fanned him twice before saying, "None of what you said is right." I am a grain storage road, and all the money in the province has been from my hands, and I can't find you Liu Kang if I want to get money. The Treasury of Texas was not in deficit, you have been in office for less than three years, and you have lost 131,000 taels. You said that it was the consumption of fire, but I think it was the consumption of people, so I want to participate in you - as for the lack of officials and no greed in the world, you said this to Yongzhengye. I'm just a kitten in the court, and catching a mouse counts as one. After taking the imperial court's incorruptible silver, eating a full belly and not catching rats, can you do it? ”

"Three years of Qing Governor's Mansion 100,000 snowflakes of silver." Liu Kang smiled cruelly, "I'm a clean official!" Let's just say how much do you want? ”

"I don't want it."

"Thirty thousand."

“……”

"Fifty thousand."

“……”

"Sixty thousand! Couldn't have been more! ”

He Daotai, who was lying on the kang, snorted: "I raise six thousand taels of incorruptible silver a year, which is enough." Take the 60,000 pieces of silver into the coffin! This sentence was like a floodgate, stuck the topic, and the room suddenly fell silent again. Xiao Luzi even forgot about the stomachache at this time. Suddenly, a bright flash passed through the air, and the cool rain fell down. Xiao Luzi couldn't help but laugh secretly in his heart: I didn't expect that running the thatched house tonight would be so eye-opening, and I felt a little inhibited, and I was about to leave, but I saw Li Ruixiang on the other side squeezing his eyebrows and looking at the window, and he thought that he was surprised when he saw himself eavesdropping on the wall. was surprised, but saw Rui Er, who was leaning against the windowsill, stuffed a small paper bag into Cao Rui's hand from behind. That Cao Rui remained silent, took the teacup on the kang table and splashed the residual tea, carefully unfolded the paper bag, trembled his fingers and shook what was in the bag into the teacup, and the tin pot on the table was poured with water, shook it again, and said softly: "Master He, please use tea." ”

"Poison!" Xiao Luzi was so frightened that his eyes straightened, his mouth was wide open, and he was drenched in cold sweat, and he was frozen outside the window like a stone man, unable to speak! Naga Daotai got up lazily and picked up his teacup.

"I served tea to the guests, the cup was broken, and you refused to leave, at this moment, I had to serve tea to quench my thirst." He Daotai's tone was cold, he raised his glass and drank it all, his eyes lit up, and he said to Liu Kang: "I am self-disciplined and taught, I read the books of sages, and I follow the Tao of Confucius and Mencius. Thirteen is a child, fifteen is in school, twenty years old is filial piety, and twenty-one years old is in the hands of the first emperor. has been an official in the hands of Yongzheng Ye for thirteen years, and he has experienced a lot of Huan Hai. I've never seen you so brazen! At this time, I really understood that the reason why villains are villains is because they are not ashamed to be villains alone. You are a stolen official yourself, and you have to pull me in! I listened to my advice, went back to write a self-impeachment article, withdrew the stolen silver, and endured a small punishment, and I could still do a few words for you at Li Zhengtai's place - ouch! ”

He Daotai suddenly screamed in pain, covering his stomach tightly with his hands, Huo Di turned his face, stared at Cao Rui with angry eyes, and couldn't say a word. Suddenly, there was a bright flash, Xiao Luzi really saw that He Daotai's face was as pale as a piece of white paper, the cold sweat of the bean was full of foreheads and cheeks, only a pair of eyes were blood-red, staring at his two servants, and it took a long time to say a few words with difficulty: "I have been poisoned by evil slaves......

"That's right, He Luying!" Cao Rui sneered, "We're waiting for you to the end, next year today is your anniversary!" With a wave of his hand, Rui Er and he jumped on the kang like hungry tigers, and the two of them covered He Luying's mouth with a tablecloth, and pressed their strength to death. Rui Er smiled and said, "When people go out with officials, who doesn't expect to get rich?" You have to be a Qing official, and my family will drink the northwest wind-" As he spoke, he grabbed He Luying's shoulder blade and squeezed it vigorously: "I call you Qing!" I'll call you Qing! Go to hell! ”

Heaven seemed to be enraged by the human tragedy that happened in this small shop, and through the thick black clouds, it flashed brightly, illuminating the vegetable garden, and almost at the same time burst out a deafening thunder, which shook the old house and fell to the neck of the small road, and then fell into a boundless darkness again. Only the downpour poured down without a head, and the branches of the old mulberry trees danced wildly in the howling wind, and the wet leaves made a palpitating rustle......

"Untie his belt."

Xiao Luzi looked at it like a wooden person: Liu Kang and Li Ruixiang had already come to the lamp, Li Ruixiang hurriedly knelt on the kang, untied He Luying's belt, stood on the kang and pulled the sleeve on the beam. Liu Kang was covered with hot sweat, rinsed the poisonous cup with residual tea, and hurriedly said with a pale face: "Don't wait for him to die, just hang him." If you don't stick out your tongue, Ming'er's autopsy will be in trouble......" As he spoke, he put a buckle around the neck of He Luying, who had no strength to struggle, and put one end on the beam of the room, and the four of them pulled together, and He Luying only had time to squirt a mouthful of blood, and he was already hung up.

A cool breeze wrapped around the old mulberry branch and rolled down, and the whip slammed Xiao Luzi's shoulder, and he struck a spirit, only to realize that the terrible scene just now was not a dream. He suddenly came to his senses, and his first thought was to leave the place of right and wrong. He looked through the window paper again, but saw that Cao Rui was wearing He Luying's official uniform, wearing a hat, and said to Liu Kang: "We still owe 15,000 after promising our 30,000, which is a decapitation." If you pay the bills, the villains will also let go......" Rui Er said: "We will only send you to the second gate, and the shadow under the lamp will look like the surname He." Xiao Luzi didn't dare to linger any longer, carefully moved his two numb and cold legs, and slowly left the north window against the root of the wall, and heard Liu Kang's calm voice: "Remember, Ming'er, I sit in the hall, no matter how I shout and threaten, I am sure that he committed suicide...... Burn what he wrote, and use his hands and feet to ......"

Xiao Luzi gently turned the north room to pass through a breath, his heart was pounding wildly, rushing to the ear drum to roar, subconsciously rubbing his stomach, it didn't hurt at all, he only felt empty in his heart, dizzy, his legs trembled and he was about to faint, and he heard Rui Er sing on the wall: "Lord He has sent off a guest!" Xiao Luzi barely supported his body and returned to the door, and saw Rui Er's tall oilpaper watermelon lamp leading the prefect Liu Kang in front of the side door, and Li Ruixiang waited on the side to put on Liu Kang's oil coat. When the fake He Luying sent Liu Kang to the side door, Xiao Luzi's heart was about to jump out of his chest, and when he opened his distracted eyes, he only heard Liu Kang say:

"My lord, please step back. The humble position looks at you and your mind is a little trance, so that you can rest in peace for a night, and tomorrow the humble post is waiting in the ya. ”

The fake He Luying didn't know what to mutter, and turned back to the hospital. Xiao Luzi shrank in the ear room, looked at Liu Kang and Li Ruixiang through the curtain and slowly came over, only looking at this pair of murderers with frightened eyes. Outside the boss Shen stammered to say goodbye, and everyone left one after another, but they didn't hear it clearly. He couldn't figure out how Liu Kang, who had just done terrible things, was so peaceful and so chic!

Everyone is gone, the three storefronts on the street are in a mess, Hao Er took a few young men to scold and clean up the chicken bones and fish bones all over the ground, Boss Shen entered the ear room, and saw Xiao Luzi lying on the bed with bright eyes, and just laughed and scolded: "Where did you go to drill sand?" Do you pee on the Yellow River in the backyard? Seeing that Xiao Luzi's anger was wrong, he gasped again, leaned over and asked with concern, "What's wrong with you, your face is sallow—don't you bump into some evil spirit?" ”

"Sixth uncle, I'm nothing." Xiao Luzi sat up, looked at the candlelight in a trance, and said in a trembling voice for a long time: "I just have a headache, maybe there is ......a wind in the back" Boss Shen looked at the color of Xiao Luzi, and the more he looked at it, the more he felt that it was wrong, and said: "I have opened a store for so many years, what disease have I never seen?" It's like a soul, or else I'm frightened-" As he was talking, Hao Er came in and said: "Dongjia, I think of one thing, there are a few leaks in the room where Master He lives in the East Courtyard, Master He is good-natured, I just don't say it, but Ming'er goes in and we don't look good, you see that the rain doesn't stop for a while......"

Boss Shen patted his thigh and said, "It's a shame that you woke up!" Liu Taizun had just left, and maybe He Ye hadn't slept well. If you go over and say goodbye, be sure to ask the master to appreciate the light and move to the main room here. It is also convenient for guests to come and go. Hao Er turned around and left with a promise, Xiao Luzi's face had already turned blue and white like a ghost, and he shouted in a strange tone: "Slow! Hao Er was frightened by him, stopped and turned around to look at Xiao Luzi, and said with a smile: "What the hell are you doing?" Surprise me! Boss Shen said, "I'm talking about this too!" You go to He Ye's place and take a look at the "Jade Box" that was placed on the top of He Ye's cabinet. Maybe it was an evil thing, and he burned a piece of paper to send it for Xiaoluzi. It's strange and pitiful, it's fine in the morning, and it's like this after a few trips to the thatched house. If you want to have a good one, how can I explain to my old widow and sister-in-law when I go back to the village? He sighed.

"You come back to me!" Xiao Luzi saw that Hao Er was about to leave again, so anxious that he jumped off the kang barefoot, and he didn't know where to get the strength, pulled Hao Erniu's tall and horse-tall body, and dragged him into the house alive, looking at the stunned Boss Shen and Hao Er, the ghost fire flashed in his eyes, and a sentence burst out from between his teeth: "Sixth uncle, we have suffered a monstrous disaster, let's prepare for a lawsuit!" ”