Zhao Fengnian didn't wait for Rui Xue to ask, so he hurriedly explained, "I went to the Wu family with my second grandfather yesterday to withdraw from my relatives, but the old man of the Wu family went out and did not return, Mrs. Wu said that she was sick, I have already said to several clan elders, this family matter must be withdrawn, after a few days, my father has improved, let's go on the road, this marriage contract is left to the clan elders to have a headache, after all, they changed it that day, and they always have to pay some price." ”

Rui Xue said with a smile, "The master knew about your divorce, didn't he scold you?" ”

Zhao Fengnian had a bitter face and sighed, "Naturally, he is scolded, he is bent on glorifying the lintel of the Zhao family, and no matter how much I persuade him, he will not listen." had to wait for the spirit wind to return, and after a long time, he might want to open it. What about you, have you explained everything about the teahouse? ”

The husband and wife chatted all the way, and soon arrived outside the south gate, the eldest son of the Cao family was sitting with Wu Lie in the small pavilion on the side of the road chatting, and when the two saw the husband and wife of the Zhao family coming, they all got up to greet each other, and the eldest son of the Cao family smiled heartily, "Just now I urged Brother Wu Xian to hurry, he said that he had to wait, it turned out that he was waiting for Miss Chen." ”

What he said seemed to be casual, but no matter how he listened to it, it had some other meanings, Rui Xue saluted with Zhao Fengnian, then stood up straight, facing the cold wind blowing in the whistling wind, and said with a smile, "Brother Yidu is back to Wudu, how can I, as a righteous sister, not come to see him off, otherwise it will be known by outsiders, and I will not be deducted from the name of disrespecting the elder." Besides, there are no outsiders around today, so please call me Mrs. Zhao. ”

The eldest prince Cao was stabbed in the face, and then laughed even louder, "Mrs. Zhao is worthy of being the queen of the gate, compared to ordinary women, it was Cao Xing who was rude just now, and I hope Mrs. Zhao will not be surprised." ”

After a short confrontation between the two of them, they went to see Wu Lie and Zhao Fengnian again, but they didn't say anything, just glared at each other, as if their eyes were frozen, and they didn't blink, Rui Xue was helpless and funny, pulled Zhao Fengnian's sleeve, and then said to Wu Lie, "Brother Yi, this is my husband, Zhao Fengnian, the eldest son of the Zhao family." ”

didn't wait for Rui Xue to introduce Wu Lie again, but Zhao Fengnian spoke first, "The name of the young general, Zhao is like thunder, Neiko has been taken care of by the young general before, and Zhao is grateful." ”

Wu Lie's face turned gloomy again, as if he wanted to say something, but he glanced at Rui Xue, swallowed it back, and then clenched his fists and said, "Wu has been in Tongcheng for a few days, and he has heard of the name of Zhao Dagongzi, and he is disrespectful. Although Yue'er is the righteous daughter of the General's Mansion, she is like a daughter, and I hope that Zhao Gongzi will cherish it more in the future, if one day, I can hear that she has been wronged, don't blame my subordinates for being ruthless. ”

Zhao Fengnian wanted to refute the respect, but Rui Xue hurriedly took the cloth pocket in Jian Wu's hand and said, "Brother Yi, here is the dry food I prepared for you, the big cloth pocket is beef pie, but if there is a fire, you can eat it by baking it, and in the small cloth pocket is spring rolls, let's make snacks when you are hungry at night." ”

Wu Lie took it, his lips moved, he didn't say anything in the end, turned around and hung the cloth pocket on the saddle, then jumped on the horse and hugged his fists at a few people, "There will be a period later!" ”

As soon as the words fell, the horse ran away, and without even turning his head once, he rushed directly into the wind and snow and disappeared.

"Let's go, go home." Zhao Fengnian seemed to have unloaded the big stone in his heart, his face immediately became a lot of joy, and he said hello to Cao Dagongzi and went straight back to the city.

Old man Zhao's body is stronger day by day, I don't know if my son's determination to return to the north is too great, but he still figured out the danger of seeking skin with the tiger, in short, he rarely lost his temper, and his complexion improved.

On this day, everyone's salutes were picked up, the Zhao family couple took Niuniu and a few little girls to go shopping in the market, and bought all kinds of small objects and jewelry and cloth unique to Tongcheng, ready to go back to distribute many neighbors and friends, it was everyone who carried big bags and small bags, and when they returned satisfied, they went to see Yushun beating horses galloping on the street, and when they saw their master, they jumped down and shouted, "Young master, go back to the house, there is an official from Wudu, saying that my Zhao family is a traitor, and I am rummaging around and arresting people..."

Without waiting for him to finish speaking, Zhao Fengnian's eyes were already red, he threw down the paper bag box in his hand, jumped on horseback, and disappeared on the corner of the street in a blink of an eye.

Rui Xue's brows furrowed, and she felt her heart tighten for no reason, pulled Yushun to the side, and asked, "What happened?" Let's talk about it carefully. ”

Yu Shun was worried about the mansion in his heart, his mouth was like a bean, and he crackled and said happily, "Just now, suddenly a team of people arrived in front of the mansion, and they broke in without informing, and lit the waist card of Dali Temple, saying that our Zhao family bribed the border army of Yancheng in the name of commerce, sold iron tools to Xiqingguo, and was in charge of several shops in Wudu, along with the chief steward, who was put in prison and waiting for torture. This team of people is specially here to arrest the young master and the old man for questioning. ”

Rui Xue clenched the handkerchief in her hand, no matter how she thought about it, she felt that this matter was a little strange, but whenever you clear the customs, you must give the defenders some benefits, as little as a few taels to buy wine, and as many as a hundred and ten taels to moisten your hands, all of which are unwritten conventions, Zhao Fengnian this time in order to open up the trade route with Xiqingguo, but he has made a lot of effort, so he naturally wants to dredge the defenders.

But what he sold was mostly silk and wine, and what he got back was medicinal herbs and furs, which had nothing to do with forbidden items such as ironware, and he took 10,000 steps back and said, even if the Zhao family wanted to violate the ban, it should be when the trade route was more mature, how could they take such a risk on the first trip.

This must have been someone who caught such a big or small thing, and it stumbled on the Zhao family...

"Yushun, this team of people only showed their waist cards, and there were no official documents and people from the Tongcheng government to follow?"

Yushun thought about it carefully, shook his head and said, "It doesn't seem to be." ”

Rui Xue became more convinced of the guess just now, "You go to the eldest young master of the Cao family right now, and say that there are Beijing officials in the Zhao family who come to raid the house and arrest people, and suspect that it is a thief pretending, and ask him to send someone to help him." If he asks who sent you, you must say that it is me, remember?

Also, after the Cao family goes, no matter whether the eldest prince of Cao is willing to come forward or not, you don't have to pay attention to it, and then find Bai Dashao, Mu San Gongzi, Luan Gongzi, Chen Gongzi and others to help. ”

Yushun nodded vigorously, and ran to Cao's house, Rui Xue thought about it, but she was still not at ease, so she rushed back to the inn and sent Jian Wu, who was acting safely, to visit Zhao's house.

Cao Dagongzi was drinking and appreciating plum blossoms with friends in the same class at home, and when he heard the steward around Zhao Fengnian begging to see him, he was still happy, and after listening to Yushun's speech, he squinted and thought for a moment, and sure enough, he asked who sent him, and when he heard the Chen family of the Marquis of Anguo's mansion, his face was indescribably strange, and when he saw Yushun and ran away without waiting for a reply, he frowned and went to his father's study.

Master Cao thought clearly, while slowly sipping the fragrant tea, he instructed, "To put it bluntly, it is to find trouble with the Zhao family, our Cao family is really not easy to get involved, but your sister is about to marry into the general's mansion, and it is not good to ignore the Chen family's request for help, so let's do it, you bring a few people over, just say that you have not received the official letter from Wudu, I don't know that someone in Dali Temple has come down to handle the case, it is better to help the Zhao family drag on for a few days, presumably those people will not be too rude, after all, the Wu family also wants to use the Zhao family, not a slap to death." ”

Cao Dashao got his father's reassurance, and immediately ordered a few quick messengers and went to Zhao's house.

The Zhao family is in chaos, the maids are all squatting in the corner of the courtyard, crying together, the little guys are also trembling and kneeling under the wall, the men in the Zhao family's several rooms, both old and young are tied up and kneeling in the yard, several clan elders are old, self-held identity, just now scolded a few words, was kicked a few feet by the fierce catcher, this moment is almost lying on the snow mourning and moaning, the only thing that is fortunate is these people, did not catch the female dependents.

In the hall of the main house, Zhao Fengnian was protecting his old father and confronting several people wearing green clothes and carrying long knives at their waists, while a thin official wearing an official uniform and a feather official hat next to him was scolding with an angry face, "Zhao Fengnian, you are rebelling!" The Zhao family smuggled iron tools to Xiqingguo, the evidence is conclusive, do you still want to deny it? ”

Before Zhao Fengnian could speak, Cao Dashao had already rushed over, stepped forward and saluted, and said with a smile, "I don't know this adult's noble surname, Cao Xing, who is in the Yatong City Mansion of Xiatong, is polite." ”

The thin official was obviously also an official, and when he heard the surname Cao Xing, he immediately guessed that he was a member of the Yin Cao family in Tongcheng Mansion, so he didn't want to hold it up, so he returned a salute and said, "Lord Cao is polite, and the official Dali Temple is the secretary of the Wang Qiu Dao." ”

"It turned out to be Lord Wang, disrespectful and disrespectful, my lord came to my Tongcheng on an errand, why didn't he go to the government first, and he took care of his residence in the next place, please rest and then run an errand."

"Lord Cao is polite, this official is in a hurry for today's errand, and he is afraid that he will leave the thief, so he came here directly, and he has never been to the mansion."

"Then can you see what kind of errand it is, and you have to hand over the documents to the lower officials, and the lower officials will file them for the record when they go back, so that they can be inquired." Cao Dashao bit the word paperwork very hard, and sure enough, Wang Qiudao's face stiffened, so he made persistent efforts, came to him, and asked in a low voice, "Could it be that the adults came out in too much hurry and didn't bring the documents with them?" ”

Wang Qiudao pretended to be ashamed and said, "Lord Cao really guessed correctly, I originally carried it in my arms, but I forgot it when I changed my clothes, but I have already sent someone back to get it, and I must have sent it three or five days late." ”

Cao Dashao gave Zhao Fengnian a look without a trace, Zhao Fengnian understood, and immediately stepped forward and whispered, "Lord Wang, it's not that the grass people insist on going against Lord Wang, it's really that my father has suffered from a stroke, and he is paralyzed in bed on weekdays, and he has to be served by someone when he eats and drinks. ”

As he spoke, he stuffed a stack of thick silver tickets into Wang Qiudao's sleeve while saluting sideways, Wang Qiudao frowned as if he was a little embarrassed, but his subordinates pinched the thickness of the silver tickets hard, and he was very satisfied, so he nodded and said, "That's it, Master Zhao is paralyzed in bed, and he can't escape anywhere, so let's stay for the time being." ”

Cao Dashao glanced at the people in the courtyard and said with a smile, "My lord, since the official document has not been delivered, we might as well postpone this errand for a few days."

Don't hide it, because of the heavy snow this winter, most of the prison has collapsed, and the remaining place is not enough for the prisoners to live, if you add these people, I am afraid that it will be more crowded, it is better to lock the younger ones in the wing room first, and a few elders do not need to lock them, they are all old, and their children and grandchildren are here, so they must not have the intention of escaping.

As for the fact that Zhao Dagongzi made meritorious contributions to him for his crimes, and also looked for evidence that could prove the innocence of the Zhao family, how about it? ”