Early the next morning, Mrs. Zheng was drinking tea with Master Meng in the Yamen study. The two first talked about the murder of the ancient temple, and then talked about the origin of the ancient temple.

Mrs. Zheng said: "I heard that the location of this ancient temple falls on the ghost gate line, is there any basis?" ”

Master Meng said: "Regarding this ancient temple, my subordinates visited the people in the market yesterday, but they heard some strange things. ”

Mrs. Zheng poured tea and only heard Master Meng say: "This ancient temple was once a mansion, and it is said that it used to be the mansion of a family of eunuchs. The family's surname is Bai, and their ancestors have attacked the liehous, and after three generations of hereditary generations, they are also a scholarly family from Dai Kedi. These old things, the subordinates learned about them in a hurry, and they did not study them in detail. ”

Mrs. Zheng said: "How did such a prosperous clan decay and become a dilapidated and abandoned temple? ”

Master Meng said: "This Bai family is not prosperous, and the descendants are limited, and later there is only one lone seedling left, named Hongyan." Speaking of this, he shook his head and smiled: "The past of the Bai family, my subordinates have heard some stories of fantasy ghosts and gods from the people, but they are too bizarre and absurd, so don't mention it." ”

Mrs. Zheng smiled: "But it doesn't hurt to say it. ”

Master Meng took a sip of tea and said, "Legend has it that there is a fox spirit in the bamboo forest behind the mountain in Fog City, and I don't know what spells he practiced, and he quickly cultivated into a human form. This fox spirit is charming and charming, but he is obsessed with love in the world and is particularly interested in the sentient men in the world, so he came to Fog City and designed an exam question to find his own wishful husband. As long as someone can pass her test, she will spend her life with him. ”

When Mrs. Zheng heard this, although he felt grotesque, he felt very curious, and asked, "What exam questions?" ”

Master Meng said: "The fox was ingenious, incarnated as a ragged beggar, sitting on the bridge where caravans and passers-by must pass, pretending to cry and wailing. Someone was curious, so they asked her why she was crying here. She said that her parents were businessmen, and when they passed through here, they encountered robbers, their goods were robbed, and their parents were killed. After a few days, passers-by saw that it was a sloppy beggar, and no one was willing to take it in.

The fox spirit was disappointed, so he wanted to return to the back mountain boringly. At this time, a white-clothed scholar happened to come over, and the fox spirit looked at the scholar from a distance, seeing that he was personable and dignified, and the fox spirit liked it very much. The scholar passed by and saw a female beggar sitting on the ground crying, and immediately stepped forward to inquire. The fox spirit told that set of lies, but when the scholar heard this, he felt pity, and saw that the beggar was an ordinary-looking woman, and she was homeless, and he was afraid that he would meet a villain, so he took her back to his home.

The vixen was very excited when he saw the scholar take the bait. When he arrived at the scholar's house, the fox spirit knew that the scholar's surname was Bai, although he lived in poverty, but he knew the truth, his ancestors were famous families, scholars, and only because his father was loyal and upright, and offended the great eunuch who was in power at that time, which caused the family to fall. After the fox spirit knew that the scholar was loyal and good, the saint's protégé, the good student admired, turned around, and a fair lady with buds waiting to be released, white teeth and red lips appeared in front of the scholar. The scholar was stunned and secretly emotional.

In the future, the vixen lived in the Bai family. The scholar takes good care of the fox spirit and gets along with her very happily on weekdays. is the so-called love over time, so the fox spirit used illusions, which made the Bai family make a windfall, and the Bai family's life began to flourish. For many days, they had long been reluctant to part. The vixen decides to marry him and spend the rest of his life with him. The fox knew that Bai Gongzi had the ambition of helping the world and saving the people, so he agreed with him that when he was named on the gold list, the two would get married.

On this day, the gongs and drums of the Bai family sounded, lively and extraordinary, relatives and friends came to congratulate, and the fox spirit sat alone in the new house and waited, waiting for the lover to enter the room and spend candles. She was just rejoicing when there was a sudden noise outside the room, and someone called for help. The fox spirit was startled and quickly opened the door to check. I saw robbers swinging their swords in the garden, killing one by one. The fox looked at it intently, and his lover was lying in a pool of blood, already dying.

The fox spirit saw that his lover was killed, his heart was like a knife, and the past love and righteousness appeared in front of him, but now he was separated by yin and yang, and he couldn't help but be heartbroken. She was filled with grief and anger, and cast spells, swords, guns, clubs, and arrows to kill all the robbers. Subsequently, the fox spirit came to the lover and practiced all her best to keep Bai Gongzi's body from rotting, and she waited day and night in this Bai family, spending time with Bai Gongzi's corpse.

Later, the vixen learned that the bandits were instructed by a salt merchant. Just because of an article written by Bai Gongzi during the scientific expedition, he criticized the government and the salt merchants for uniting together, playing with power, stealing and grabbing, and fishing, meat, and salt people. So, this group of people found out that this article was from Bai Gongzi, so they hired someone to slaughter him.

Since then, every full moon night, there are people who die in front of the Bai family, and indeed a lot of people have died. Those big salt merchants were afraid of losing their lives, so they found a master to find a platform to drive away ghosts and demons. This master said that this mansion is on the ghost gate line of the Genkun line, it is a yin house, and the goblins and ghosts here are very resentful, and they will endlessly find people to ask for their lives, and they cannot be subdued. The master invited a statue of the god, and the town was in Bai's house, and locked the gate to prohibit people from approaching. Since then, the Bai family's house has become a haunted ancient temple that has been abandoned all year round. ”

When Mrs. Zheng heard this, he took a deep breath and suddenly said, "This Bai Gongzi should be the last lone seedling of the Bai family, Bai Hongyan, right?" ”

Master Meng said: "Exactly." However, this folk rumor is inevitably too mysterious, just listen to it. ”

Mrs. Zheng pondered for a long time and sighed: "Regardless of whether this matter is true or not, the deceased in this case in front of me is the steward of Hongyue Tower, that is, he is involved in the Jin family, and he happens to die in front of this ancient temple, there must be a lot of articles here!" Nowadays, all those who serve as magistrates have a directory of the names of the most wealthy and powerful families in the area, and this is true all over the world. If you encounter a major lawsuit, if you don't know the depth, not only will the official not be protected, but you will also be afraid of your life. Behind these extremely rich and noble squires, there are either princes and nobles or clansmen who are members of the court, who knows which gods will be offended? ”

Master Meng nodded and said, "What the master said is true!" As soon as you took office, you encountered such a big case, how dare your subordinates be careless, and yesterday they had found out in detail the origin of the Jin family. ”

Mrs. Zheng hurriedly said: "Speak quickly!" ”

Master Meng said: "This Jin family got rich by selling salt and dominated this side. However, his family neither produces salt nor sells it, relying on hereditary transportation and marketing privileges, arbitrarily lowering the purchase price of the stove households, and then raising the selling price to the transporters, and reaping huge profits. There is a nursery rhyme in the city: there is a golden house in the book, no one asks about the cold window for ten years, and there is a treasure night pearl at home, which is not as good as a salted meat dumpling. The story is that the price of salt here is too high for the people to afford. ”

When Mrs. Zheng heard this, he snorted and said indignantly: "Damn! Isn't this just forcible seizure and preying on the common people? ”

Master Meng said: "Master doesn't know, the people here are not good, some people take advantage of this to make a windfall, bankrupt their family to Jinjiatun salt, and then sell illegal salt to make huge profits. Why didn't the Jin family do anything, so they joined forces with the previous county magistrate to control the official salt freight rate, and secretly colluded with the horse gang and the armed forces to help the people traffic illicit salt, so as to obtain greater profits. ”

Mrs. Zheng looked solemn and said angrily: "Ridiculous! Unheard! Salt was supposed to be a necessity for three meals a day, but they made it a strange commodity by their partnership. When he said this, he couldn't help but secretly rejoice.

Master Meng sighed and said: "Such a rare thing, but the people here have become commonplace, accustomed to it, I heard that if the people here give birth to a daughter, but if they have a little appearance, do not marry a talented man, do not marry Shi Lin, and sharpen their heads, they will also marry their daughters to the families who sell smuggled salt." ”

Mrs. Zheng was dumbfounded when he heard this, he was silent for a long time, took a sip of tea, and said: "The salt road involves all directions, up to the imperial court and the official mansion, down to the green forest and the underworld, and it moves the whole body. ”

Master Meng said: "The Hongyue Mansion run by the Jin family is known as the small court hall here, and the guests who come and go are not only high-ranking officials and nobles, but also Jianghu peddlers and pawns. Hongyue Tower is a place where the Jin family and black and white, profiteers and bandits collude with each other and flow into one breath. ”

Mrs. Zheng nodded and said, "I see!" He groaned slightly, and suddenly whispered: "But there is accurate information, who is the amulet of the Jin family in the court?" ”

Master Meng moved and whispered: "The news I got this morning is that the talisman of the Jin family in the court is the current Gonggong Jin, the head of the Shangshan Prison. ”

When Mrs. Zheng heard this, he was stunned for a moment and said, "It turns out that there are people in the palace." This court is full of treachery, the factions are complex, and the party competition is fierce, so it is better for us to govern one side in the county far away from Emperor Gao, and come freely and comfortably. ”

Master Meng smiled and said: "What the master said is that these people are favored today, and one of them has ascended to heaven, but the blessings and misfortunes are terrible, who knows that one day the sky will change, it will be a catastrophe of killing and exterminating the clan." At that time, those who are attached to the powerful will not have time to hide. We are new to the city, and although we need to interact with these big families, we must not fall too deep. ”

Mrs. Zheng was noncommittal, and said, "Where did this Song family come from?" ”

Master Meng said: "But it is said that this Song family is neither the family of eunuchs, nor the family of Hanmo poetry and books, and the ancestors are all Bai Ding of the Han family." ”

Mrs. Zheng heard the freshness, so he asked, "Then what does his family do for a living?" ”

Master Meng said: "On the ancient salt and tea road of this generation, there was an active salt seller gang called Yishunfeng, and the head of the pot was born as a salt-carrying man, surnamed Song Minghui. This person is bold and careful, steady, generous and heroic, so there are friends everywhere on the green forest road. Song Hui was unwilling to be subordinate, and tried to change his fate, just when the salt merchants colluded with the horse gang to traffic illicit salt, after a battle in the rivers and lakes for the salt road, he jumped up and became the largest horse gang dealer on the salt road. From then on, the salt merchants could only ensure a safe journey by trafficking illicit salt through Song Hui's caravan, otherwise the caravan would encounter mountain bandits and road tyrants, and the goods would be lost at least and their lives would be at worst. ”

Mrs. Zheng shook his head and smiled: "I think, this Song Hui is the biggest mountain bandit road rage." ”

Master Meng said with a smile: "That's right, this Song Hui has no intention of selling salt, but uses the influence of his green forest road to control the grain route and transportation here. In just ten years, the Song family became rich and became a big squire on an equal footing with the Jin family here. ”

Mrs. Zheng shook his head and said, "This kind of bandit behavior can't last long. These mountain bandits and road tyrants have always been a hidden danger to the imperial court, and sooner or later they will be exterminated by troops. ”

Master Meng smiled and said: "This Song Hui also knows that it will not last long, after he made his career, he distributed food in the city every day, helped the poor, and won the title of a great benevolent person, and his reputation has spread far and wide." I don't know what tricks he used, and he was taken by Yang Guogong's granddaughter Yang. ”

Mrs. Zheng smiled: "He is really smart, and he has a talisman since then!" ”

Master Meng said: "Although this Yang family is a concubine, compared with the three generations of Bai Ding of the Song family, it is simply a world of difference. After the Yang family got married, Song Hui did not dare to take a concubine even though his family was rich. Unexpectedly, until the age of forty, the Yang family had not given birth to a son and a half daughter. In desperation, the Yang family agreed that Song Hui would accept a concubine and continue the Song family's incense. After many years, the concubine did not give birth to a son for Song Hui, but gave birth to a daughter. Song Hui lamented, thinking that he was destined to have no children, but when he saw that his daughter was smart and delicate, he was named Hongyue, and his love was like a treasure. Song Hui hired her husband to teach her to read and write, and personally taught her to ride a horse and shoot arrows, and even pretended to be a son to raise her. ”

As he was talking, he suddenly heard the official report: "My lord! Oh no! Something is wrong! ”

Mrs. Zheng looked up and saw that an official rushed in and almost fell. Mrs. Zheng put on the tea lid, shook his head and said, "What's the matter?" ”

The official said breathlessly: "My lord! Dead! ”

Mrs. Zheng was shocked and shouted, "It's dead again!" Where? ”

The official said: "In front of the ancient temple in Cuidi Lane." ”

Mrs. Zheng and Master Meng looked at each other in amazement, hurriedly got up, and hurried to Cuidi Lane.

When I came to Cuidi Lane, I looked at it from afar, the street was full of people, and the door of the ancient temple was already full of people. The official quickly cleared the crowd, and Mrs. Zheng and Master Zheng stepped forward to take a look, both of them were shocked, the deceased was a young woman, who was lying in front of the ancient temple, and Shi Ke's death was the same, bleeding from the seven orifices.

Mrs. Zheng asked, "Who is the deceased?" ”

The official was stunned and said, "The deceased is Wang Zhutou's wife, the Song family." ”

"What?" Mrs. Zheng was surprised, shocked and angry, and hurriedly looked around and asked, "Where is Wang Zhiren?" ”

The official replied in horror: "My subordinates don't know that Wang Zhutou suddenly disappeared!" Last night, there was a big thing in front of the temple gate, but there was a fire, Wang Zhutou came to put out the fire, the scene was chaotic, who knew that after the fire was extinguished, he was gone! ”