During the Dragon Boat Festival in May, the sun hung in the sky and the weather was hot.

At the western foot of Changmeng Mountain in Jinju, in front of the notice board at the entrance of the Yamen of Yixian County.

A group of people gathered around a sign and pointed. A middle-aged and stout man squeezed into the crowd with his clothes open, the hoe in his right hand was on the ground, and while fanning the wind with the straw hat in his left hand to cool off, he asked a scholar next to him with a big grin: "Hey, you can read and write, what is written on it?"

The scholar snorted and frowned, glanced at him with some disgust, and said: "The new county lord should recruit a maid to clean the room, he must be young, clean, smart and clever, and it is best to be able to read and break words. ”

The young scholar didn't wait for the stout man to attack, turned around and squeezed out of the crowd to leave, muttering softly as he walked, "What kind of world is this? Alas, it's too little money, only twenty copper plates a month, and it's worth five catties of buns, otherwise I would really go, and this dignified county master is too picky. ”

Jinju is not large, with jurisdiction over ninety-four counties. And this Yixian County is also a small county in Jinzhou, there are no other natural resources except land, and the population is only four or five thousand households and more than 20,000 people, so the Jinzhou government does not have official positions such as county officials, chief bookkeepers and county lieutenants here, and usually only the state government yamen selects people to be county commanders, and concurrently serves as the chief secretary and county lieutenant, so the county order is a veritable soil emperor here.

The new county magistrate, surnamed Kim Myeong-hwan, just arrived in April this year. It is said that this old man Jin's family all practiced martial arts, and he had no family wealth and power, and he was also vulgar, but the only girl under his knees had a beautiful appearance. Five years ago, she was selected as the third aunt wife by Sun Lang, the leader of the Wolf Head Gang, and the Jin family has developed since then. With the help of the power of the son-in-law's sect, the Jin family first renovated the old house and expanded the courtyard, and then raised domestic slaves to buy and sell them, and obtained a lot of ill-gotten gains. Later, he became more popular, climbed into the relationship with the state government's general judgment Pan Lin, and recently donated the official position of the county order.

At this time, a young man of fifteen or sixteen years old was standing in front of the sign. He is tall and thin, fair-skinned, although he is not handsome and outstanding, but he is also sword-eyed, star-eyed, red-lipped, and bright-toothed, and there is a hint of shrewdness and ability in his courtesy, and what is even more remarkable is the heavy filial piety he wears.

After reading the notice, a glimmer of light flashed in his eyes, and he clenched his fists, as if secretly determined. Then he walked to a quiet place, knelt down respectfully in the direction of the master's old house near the east gate, kowtowed three times in a row, and said in a low voice: "Master, master, the apprentice is not filial, and I can't keep filial piety for your second elder for three years, so I must find out the real murderer, find a way to kill the enemy, and then use their heads to worship the second elder." ”

After speaking, he got up and walked into a small inn not far away. I entered my room, washed my face, changed into a clean long coat, put the filial piety clothes and hats that I had taken off neatly into the baggage, and turned around and walked out of the room.

"Shopkeeper, check out. ”

"Master, are you leaving after the funeral?" asked the shopkeeper casually.

"Well, I'm done, I'm leaving, and you don't have to return the money you deposited when you stayed in the hotel. The guy turned and left.

Looking at his distant back, the shopkeeper whispered, "Today's young people have forgotten even the old rites, and they don't hold funerals for their fathers, and they don't see blowing and blowing, nor do they prepare incense, candles, and paper horses, so they do things hastily, I really don't know how my parents raised them, alas, it's really a sin! But then again, the young man is quite generous, and the deposit of ten cents says don't want it, haha, I earned two taels of wine money in vain." ”

The young man who walked far away seemed to hear these words, smiled bitterly, did not make a sound, and strode towards the county office.