In the hall of Jing'an Division, Xu Bin was released from prison. Li Bi, Xu Bin, and scholar Cen Shen sat separately.

Cen Shen read the document, "From the first month of the twenty-fifth year of the old calendar to June of the second year of Tianbao, in these six years, Xu Bin has ninety-two credit records in the Fuyuan Liquor Store in Xishi. Drink only the lowest cloudy liquor at a time. ”

Xu Bin laughed at himself: "Xu Bin has no ability, and he can't afford to drink." ”

Cen Shen continued to read: "The records of the Ministry of Officials and the Ministry of Households, Xu Bin's Department of Households is in charge of the eight products, with an annual salary of 20 taels of money and silver, 65 stones of rice, 250 acres of professional fields, and 8 taels of miscellaneous servants. He and his wife, Wang, have a son and a daughter, and do not employ servants. There are only four people in the family, and they rent a small house in the south of the city. ”

The official asked puzzledly: "These are more than enough, why is your wife Wang still helping people cook?" ”

Xu Bin smiled: "She likes to cook, she can't be idle!" ”

Li Bi retorted: "Monthly help cook five households, collect money!" ”

Xu Bin was silent.

Roughly speaking, Xu Bin's income from the eight-rank official, compared with the soft sister coins of later generations, one tael of silver can roughly be exchanged for 4,000 yuan, that is to say, Xu Bin's 20 taels are equal to 80,000 soft sister coins a year. In addition, there are eight taels of money for hired servants, and he didn't hire them, so he has to add this 30,000 taels of soft sister coins, and the total salary is about 110,000 yuan of soft sister coins in later generations, which is almost a monthly income of tens of thousands.

But this is Chang'an, the capital of the Tang Dynasty, so a monthly income of more than 10,000 is not considered rich.

Of course, the Tang Dynasty is in charge of rice, with 65 stone of rice, and one stone is equivalent to about 53 kilograms in the Tang Dynasty, so the rice grain sent by the imperial court to Xu Bin is about 3,500 kilograms. It's enough for Xu Bin's family of four to eat.

In addition, 250 acres of employment land are allocated, which means that you have 250 acres of land corresponding to your official position, and you can hire people to cultivate it, and the income is also your income. This income is also not expensive, the grain output in the Tang Dynasty is not high, according to the average yield of 50 kilograms per mu, 250 acres of vocational land, the total output is 12,500 kilograms, in addition to the tenants' employment fees, pay 30% tax to the government, at least 5,000 kilograms of grain can be left.

Converted into the price of rice in the Tianbao period, 10 buckets and one stone, so it is roughly 2 Wen a kilogram, and Xu Bin's 5,000 kilograms of grain is converted into one ten thousand Wen, which is about 10 taels of silver.

If the grain issued by the imperial court is also converted into money, then Xu Bin's annual income is 180,000 soft sister coins, and he lives in a remote house in the capital Chang'an, and his life should not be poor.

In this way, it can't be explained why Xu Bin's life is so hard that his wife still has to help the kitchen to earn money.

Without continuing to ask, Li Bi motioned to Cen Shen to continue reading, "Xu Bin entered and exited five pawnshops in Chang'an, 250 acres of vocational land, pawned it five times privately, and transferred it out of the ancestral house of his hometown in Yanzhou. Yanzhou ......"

Li Bi asked: "Pawning the field is a crime, why do you need so much money?" ”

Xu Bin smiled calmly, "Xu Bin spends money without calculation, and spends lavishly." ”

Li Bi looked down at Xu Bin's torn shoes, and it was obvious that this statement was untenable.

Xu Bin explained: "Xu Bin spent money to buy books, many books, rare books and ancient scrolls are not cheap. ”

Li Bi stared at Xu Bin's eyes and said, "The wine you drank suddenly turned into expensive wine. ”

"That friend helped pay for it, Xu Bin must have one or two friends, right?"

"The person who paid the bartender knew that it was Zhang Xiaojing. Since then, Zhang Xiaojing and Xu have met and talked freely several times a month until September when Zhang Xiaojing was imprisoned for murder, and there has been no record since then. Right, Mr. Xu, you changed the wine shop? ”

Xu Bin's face changed, he became gloomy, and after a moment of silence, he spoke: "Zhang Xiaojing was imprisoned, Xu Bin was sad and angry, and he quit drinking. Zhang Xiaojing was not selected by the big case, but by me. ”

Finally the showdown, Li Bi threw away the paperwork in his hand and asked curiously, "Why?" ”

Xu Bin said word by word: "Because he is Xu's best friend." ”

"You don't look like friends."

"How is it not like that? He is Xu's long-time best friend. ”

Li Bi asked, "Then what kind of person is he?" ”

Xu Bin seemed to fall into a memory, and said slowly: "Ninety percent of what people say in person is meaningless, far less interesting than those files in my archives." So Xu doesn't like to listen and doesn't want to listen. But only what Zhang Xiaojing said, Xu likes to listen to it and thinks it is exciting. ”

"Wonderful?"

"That's right! Vivid, fresh and human. He will talk to you about the peddlers' favorite dishes, the price of vegetables in the east and west of the city, and even tell you about the secret human feelings in the inner courtyard of the high wall, but the most important thing is that he likes it. ”

Li Bi, who was unconsciously brought in, asked, "What do you like?" ”

"I like the people in Chang'an City, he really likes it, which is different from Si Cheng! Zhang Xiaojing is not handsome, and all he sees are wicked people, but he does not judge his evil first, but investigates. Whenever he was interrogated, he had to read his household registration and tax records and inquire about his past behavior. Based on this, it is analyzed that what is missing in the prisoner's heart. Zhang Xiaojing said: Asking for but not being able to do so is the root cause of people's evil. ”

Therefore, those who were interrogated by him were often struck in the center of the secret situation, weeping bitterly, calling him no different from Yama. Although he does not act according to the rules of the world, he has made him judge himself! ”

Li Bi retorted, "How is this different from me? ”

"The approach is the same, but Zhang Xiaojing sees others, and Si Cheng sees himself." Xu Bin said firmly: "At this moment, what Si Cheng really wants to know is whether he has seen the wrong person or done the wrong thing, and he wants to know whether he has made a mistake." ”

Li Bi said loudly in a little panic: "I want to know whether Zhang Xiaojing is really doing things for Jing'an." ”

Xu Bin quietly stared at Li Bi's eyes and said, "Si Cheng, there is a kind of person in this world who only does what he thinks he should do, and others can't control it. This is Zhang Xiaojing! ”

After speaking, Xu Bin leaned down and knelt down, clasped his fists and saluted sincerely: "Zhang Xiaojing, he didn't know that I did it, I chose him out, I just hope that he will get out of death row and have a chance to live." ”

"It's as simple as that?"

"It's that simple!"

"Nothing to hide?"

"Nope!"

Li Bi sighed and said, "How do you want me to believe you?" ”

Xu Bin was silent, saying that there was no way.

Li Bilang said: "I might as well tell you a secret, Wen Wuji's death, the back may be related to the right minister, we have only verified that Zhang Xiaojing waited for reinforcements in Fengsui Fort for a long time. It was only because of the new secretary of the military department that year that General Gai Jiayun was not allowed to send troops. In the twenty-third year of the old calendar, the new secretary of the military department was Lin Jiulang. ”

Xu Bin lowered his head and asked, "What does Si Cheng mean, Zhang Xiaojing took revenge for personal gain?" Deliberately led the wolf guard to attack the Right Prime Minister's Mansion? ”

Li Bi questioned: "It's just that stone grease is another thing in the Western Regions army. No one can help but doubt. ”

Scholar Cen Shen reminded: "Si Cheng, Zhang Duwei desperately intercepted the three ambush thunder carts of the wolf guard today, which were originally intended to attack the mansion of the right prime minister. is enough to clear Zhang Duwei's innocence. ”

Li Bi nodded, the three of them sat down again, Xu Bin untied a small clay pot and wine pot from his waist, handed it to Li Bi and said, "Take a sip to relieve fatigue, this is Fuyuan Wine Shop, Zhang Xiaojing's and I favorite yellow sauce wine." ”

Taking the wine jug, Li Bi took two sips without suspicion, and returned it to Xu Bin, Xu Bin let the scholar Cen Shen, Cen Shen smiled and refused. It seems that this scholar is very wary of Xu Bin.