Suddenly, he saw a well-dressed high-class servant of a wealthy family riding into the city, and when the doorman saw it, he hurriedly called out to him, "Brother, the other day you asked me to help you keep an eye on the people you are looking for, and you really found one or two. The servant on horseback reined in his horse and asked, "Is it true, where is it?" ”

"Right here. I got up early to see you going out of town, and I expected to be back too, so I asked him to go home and get a note, and wait for you here. The doorman pulled a shriveled old man dressed in sackcloth and said.

The man looked at the old man on the horse and asked, "On the night of Shangyuan, did your family also get the windfall money?" ”

The old man said yes.

"How much money did you get? Did the man who scattered the money really not show up? ”

"That day, I was helping my wife and son back from the toilet in the courtyard, and I was just about to enter the house, when I suddenly heard a 'pop' sound, and a bag of things flew and fell directly to my feet, startling the two of us. At first, I thought it was a bird shot by someone, but then I picked up the bag and opened it, but it was a big bag of five baht. The figure outside the fence door is gone, but there is a note in the cloth bag, but unfortunately the little old man is illiterate and does not know what to write. And when he counted the money, there were three thousand one hundred fifty-five. ”

Shu Yan and Xiao Mo were very surprised at this time, and they didn't know who this person was and why they asked about it. Shu Yan secretly asked Xiao Mo: "This old man has a note left in his money bag, this money must have been scattered by you, do you still have an impression of him?" ”

Xiao Mo said: "At that time, when I was scattering money, I didn't know who was poor or who needed help, so there was only one criterion, and I chose a low and dilapidated house to put it." There are dozens of households, and I can't remember them. But the old man seemed to be impressed. There is no formal courtyard gate in his house, only a fence, I observed through the fence for a while, only the old couple in the Yi family depend on each other, and the old woman has bad legs, they walk in the courtyard, support each other. I was very touched by the fact that the two old people supported each other, so I threw down a bag of money. ”

Then the rider took the note, looked at it, and said to the old man, "Why don't you give me this note." ”

The old man was late for a moment and said, "This note is really of little use to me, but I don't know what use the noble man wants it to be?" ”

"Hugh asks more." The man smiled, gave the old man two hundred and five baht, and turned to go.

Xiao Mo was suspicious: "Strange, what is the purpose of this person, why did he spend 200 yuan to buy the note I wrote?" ”

Shu Yan was no longer puzzled at this time, and had already guessed eight or nine points. Who in the world would be interested in this letter? If my guess is correct, most of them are Jia Gong and Shi Hui who still suspect me of selling my reputation and reputation, and think that I did the work of leaving a note for loose money, so I specially entrusted my family to visit the person with the note to compare it with my handwriting. ”

"It's possible. It just so happens that we don't have anything important today, so why not confirm it? ”

Shu Yan agreed. The two of them said goodbye to the doorman and secretly followed the man behind. Turning a street, it was not in the direction of Shi's house, but stopped in front of a two-story restaurant facing the street.

The two of them couldn't help but retreat, "Could it be that you guessed wrong?" Suddenly, I saw a wine banner floating above my head, and a big word "Shi" was written on it. I also saw a two-horse black cover Zhulun car parked in front of the door.

"Shi family, it's not wrong. Keep up with him. ”

The man tied his horse to a stake outside the door and went straight upstairs. Shu Yan and Xiao Mo were just about to follow, but they were greeted by the bartender with a smile as a guest: "What do you two guest officers eat......?"

"Uh......" Shu Yan didn't lie, and was asked for a while. Xiao Mo hurriedly pointed to the horseman and whispered, "We are here with this one, looking for your master, we don't need you to say hello." ”

When the bartender heard that he was a guest of the head of the house, he didn't dare to slack off, so he hurriedly dodged away. The two of them followed up the stairs.

Today's Shangsi Festival, young people have gone to the outside of the city. With nothing to do, Shi Hui was feasting Jia Gong in a clean room in his restaurant. The servant of the Shi family walked in and said, "Master of the family, I really found a copy of the note." ”

Shi Hui was pleasantly surprised: "Really? Bring it to me. ”

The family presented the note, and Shi Hui couldn't wait to unfold it. Just one glance and you can tell. Shu Yan's handwriting is vigorous and powerful, the most distinctive, and ordinary people cannot imitate it. However, he was not discouraged by this, but as if he was expected at all, he calmly handed over the note to Jia Gong.

"This is indeed not Shu Yan's handwriting, it seems that this name is really not his own doing."

Before Jia Gong's words fell, he saw two people open the curtain and come in, and a familiar voice shouted: "You two old fools, you knew this was the case, why did you bother in the first place?" Now that the evidence is conclusive, quickly improve my Brother Shu's character! ”

Shi Hui saw that it was Shu Yan and Xiao Mo, and said to the family in surprise: "How did they come in?" ”

The man was also inexplicable, and he didn't know why.

Xiao Mo smiled: "The visitor is a guest, doesn't your restaurant like guests to come?" ”

When Shi Hui heard this, he hurriedly climbed down the pole, and said with a smile: "Welcome, of course welcome." Even if I invite you today, you can order whatever you want, and how about you two enjoy your face? ”

"We can't afford to eat Shi Hou's wine. Let's get down to business, what should I do with Brother Shu's character? ”

Now that the human and material evidence is there, Jia and Shi are powerless to refute it. Jia Gong said bluntly: "Now that the matter is clear, you two can rest assured, Shang Shulang's quality should be re-evaluated, and it must be improved." ”

Xiao Mo was happy when he heard this, "In this way, my brother Shu is the same as Shi Biyu, and he must be a second-grade or third-grade?" ”

This ignorant sentence couldn't help but make Jia and Shi secretly laugh: People from poor families can easily ask for second and third grades, they really dare to hope for extravagance!

"The evaluation of Zhongzheng is not a little hasty, and this matter has to be discussed before making a decision."

Xiao Mo knew that this was Shi Hui's excuse, so he pressed and said: "Now that the facts are very clear, and you are both big and small, who else do you want to discuss with?" ”

Jia Gong was forced to be helpless, so he wanted to give a promise, but was stopped by Shi Hui. He didn't say to Xiao Mo, but turned his head to Shu Yan with a straight face and said, "Shu Shang Shulang, you are a reasonable person." Historically, since the implementation of the Nine Grades Official Law, the evaluation of people and goods has been carried out back to back, that is, the evaluators and the evaluators are separated. ”

This made Shu Yan red-faced, he didn't care much about this false name, how could he be so excited to force the two Zhongzheng like this? He pulled Xiao Mo up and walked out of the store. Xiao Mo knew that Shu Yan was stimulated by Shi Hui's words, but he couldn't break free of Shu Yan's powerful wrist, so he had to obediently follow downstairs.

Walking on the street, Xiao Mo was still angry: "You, have you fallen for that old thief?" Today's rare opportunity, if you don't ask him for an explanation, it will be even more difficult in the future. ”

"Why bother, what is it that you and I are persecuting like this? If you can't solve the problem, your reputation is not good......" Shu Yan said slowly.

"You mean that I instigated you to persecute the Zhongzheng official like this, which will hinder your reputation?" Xiao Mofen's face flushed, and suddenly a sense of grievance came up, and he gasped and said, "I wrote your name when I was scattering money, but I gave you a reputation for selling fame and reputation, and you lost the opportunity to be promoted; Today, I finally had a chance to turn the tables, and I gave you a reputation for coercing the central officials...... If you don't do a good job, it seems that I shouldn't care about your business at all! ”

In fact, Xiao Mo was not angry with Shu Yan, but angry that he only thought about him and wanted to do something for him, why did it always backfire in the end. As soon as she had finished speaking, she took a big stride and ran forward without looking back.

Shu Yan knew that Xiao Mo's fiery temper had come up again, so he hurriedly took a few steps to catch up, and said with a smile: "Brother Xian is dedicated to my good, that's right." They don't want the children of the poor to get high quality, so they always have to find some excuses. If you want to praise or dispraise, why not? Even if you don't give me a hat of 'selling fame and reputation', there will be other more inexplicable hats. You don't have to blame yourself for it. As for the opportunity to turn the tables this time, Jia Zhou has already said that he will buy products for me, and besides, with the emperor personally supervising, he can't make mistakes, isn't it much better than negotiating with them ourselves? ”

Xiao Mo's temper is like this, she comes and goes quickly, not to mention that she is the most convinced. "How many fair and just people are there in the world? There are many people who have been wronged and suppressed, and how many of them have been impeached? This time, they are willing to re-evaluate, is it not because the emperor personally asked? Since I have the emperor's backing, why should I be in a hurry? Thinking of this, he threw away the grievances and self-blame and the depression that accumulated in his chest outside the clouds. As long as I can do something for Brother Shu and can really help him, it will either backfire or be very fulfilling.

Shi Hui and Jia Gong were in the restaurant, watching the two of them arguing and arguing from the window, and then talking and laughing until they were out of sight together.

Returning to his seat and sitting down again, Jia Gong sighed and said: "The emperor asked us to investigate this matter in detail, and then re-evaluate the grades of him and Ling Lang. ”

Shi Hui sneered and said with disdain: "How much do you mention his grade?" What about my son's grade? Jia Zhou might as well make his words clearer. ”

Jia Gong saw Shi Hui's demeanor, as if he was not very willing, and paused before saying: "Regarding the qualifications and evaluations of Ling Lang and Shu Yan, the two of us have had a verbal battle with Wei Qian and Jiang Xiaomo in front of the emperor. Listening to the emperor's meaning, Ling Lang's grade is too high, so it is better to lower him by one grade and become a third grade; As for Shu Yan, although he is one piece higher than Ling Lang's qualifications and achievements, he can't always make his grade higher than Ling Lang, so how about being rated as a third grade? ”

Unexpectedly, Shi Hui listened to Jia Gong's words, and said with a sinking face: "Jia Zhoudu, if we really raise Shu Yan's grade, wouldn't it prove that you and I have a major dereliction of duty in judging people?" We have been in the officialdom for so many years, how can we not even withstand this little storm? We can't ruin our officialdom because of a small official? ”

"After all, the emperor personally asked, what else do you say?"

"Since the emperor is not satisfied with the results of this evaluation, how about maintaining the results of the last evaluation?"

"Last time?" Jia Gong was surprised, "Ling Lang three products, Shu Yan five products?" ”

"Yes."

"Then what should the emperor do when he asks?"

"Shu Yan is not a big person, how can the emperor take this little thing to heart!"

"Of course Your Majesty won't take it to heart, I'm afraid that Jiang Xiaomo will deliberately mention it in front of Your Majesty."

Shi Hui suddenly laughed a few times and said: "You put your heart in your stomach, don't hide it, I am always by Your Majesty's side, I know Your Majesty's situation very well, and now I am terminally ill, and I don't even have the energy to deal with the government, how can I take care of it?" When the emperor dies, with the prince's qualifications, what are we afraid of? ”

Regarding Sima Yan's serious illness, of course Jia Gong also knew a little news, but he was still not at ease, "What if the emperor recovers?" ”

"Even if the emperor recovers, I have thought of a countermeasure." Shi Hui said as he took out the note, "Although this note was not written by Shu Yan himself, but do you know that he did not conspire with Jiang Xiaomo, and he did not write it and instructed Jiang Xiaomo to write it for him?" ”

Jia Gong lowered his head and thought about it, and seemed to have an understanding: "That's right." If it really doesn't work, then we will say that the name on this note was written by Shu Yan at the behest of Jiang Xiaomo, which is more than what he wrote himself. ”

Shi Hui nodded happily: "We identify him like this, he has no way." There is no evidence for this kind of thing, and there is no way to argue with it. ”

The two of them discussed the matter, and they were in a happy mood, so they reheated the wine and drank freely.

Some people died, but not completely......