The sun is getting higher, and I have lunch quietly in the house. The old Shen Mansion is not as good as the various dishes of the Hou Mansion in the capital, but it is not as coarse as the tea and light rice, and the female envoy sent by the Wang family has good cooking skills, and the radish and green vegetables can also be made into delicious delicacies.

When lunch was finished, Mrs. Shen wiped the corners of her mouth with a white cloth unhurriedly, and said, "In the afternoon, you go to buy some sacrificial things and come back, the day after tomorrow is a good day, and the sacrifice will be set on the day after tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow will set off." ”

Shen Pan'er bit the wooden chopsticks, her eyes rolled and said, "Grandmother, let the second brother go in this matter, didn't you say that you want him to do more?" After that, I didn't forget to make a grimace at Shen Ci.

Shen Ci glanced at Shen Pan'er with contempt, too lazy to argue with her.

Mrs. Shen looked at Shen Pan'er's naughty appearance, her head hurt, but the girl who was almost sixteen was still a child, so how could she trust the future Xu with confidence.

Thinking about it, I still have to take advantage of this time to teach well, Mrs. Shen made up her mind, put down the wooden chopsticks with a straight face, and said: "We have to stay a little longer in the month of the crime, tomorrow according to the custom of returning to the hometown in the month of the crime, we should invite the neighbors, friends in the city to eat tea and watch the play at home, and the three girls will follow Mama Xuan to take good care of the guests at the banquet." ”

As soon as she heard that she was going to hold a banquet, Shen Pan'er said with a bad face: "Grandmother, don't you like to be the least lively, the banquet is troublesome, you can avoid it, and it is good to be quiet." ”

Shen Ci smiled: "I don't think you're worried that your grandmother doesn't like to be lively, but you're afraid that you'll be tired of yourself." ”

"......" Shen Pan'er plucked her eyes and resigned.

Regarding the banquet, Ye Lingwu and Shen Paner were no less annoyed.

I still remember her first family banquet when she returned to Ye's house, her relatives arranged rumors, her aunt pretended to be, and before she could eat a mouthful of food, her father began to slap the table and became angry with her inexplicably.

The second time was in the Hou Mansion of Ningbei, Shen Zhan's return to Beijing banquet, but she still remembers the feeling of helplessness and confusion when a native duck mixed into the swan flock.

The third time was Mrs. Shen's banquet, she and the little county lord died together, and it became a joke in the capital. Alas......

In the garden, the eye is the rockery piled up with stones on the front hall, the rockery slope is three zhang high, several green pine trees are planted on the edge, and the edge slope is planted to welcome spring, narcissus, jasmine, canna, osmanthus, chrysanthemum, peony...... It seems that there are many kinds and chaos, but as long as you calculate the flowering period, you can see that even if the four seasons rotate, the flowers are still blooming here.

The winding corridor in front is known for its gloomy and deep nature.

At the corner of the corridor, there is a water pavilion, as long as a boat, the flowers and trees are entwined around, the birds are singing and the flowers are fragrant, the mansion looks at it as far as the eye can see, there is a beautiful scenery everywhere, the white crane stands in the stream, the green mist curls up, it is comparable to a fairyland.

The price of this mansion is not much compared to the courtyard at the foot of the imperial city, not to mention that this courtyard is also located in the most prosperous street section of the moon.

A middle-aged man dressed in rough clothes nodded and led several tall men to pace in the garden.

The middle-aged man said: "Murong Gongzi has made a generous move, and he will sell such a big mansion in this month, do you need a small one to match you with a housekeeper?" ”

Yue Yang, who was dressed in a navy blue brocade robe, said: "There is no need to arrange it for the time being, my brother and I don't like to be lively, and we have brought some family members to the house, all of which are top things." ”

The middle-aged man saw that he was speaking, and glanced at Shen Zhan next to him, shocked that the appearance of the two brothers was really different, and he came back to his senses and asked, "It turns out that Murong Gongzi and you are brothers." May I ask if the two Murong Gongzi still need a small place, if not, the small one should go back to the shop. ”

"Don't worry," Yue Yang said, "When my brother and I were in Fengzhou, I heard that there was a restaurant called Xueyue Qinyuan in your Guilty Moon City. ”

The middle-aged man replied: "I didn't expect Murong Gongzi to have heard of 'Xueyue Qinyuan', this restaurant is good, it's not far from your mansion, just bypass this street." ”

Yue Yang glanced at Shen Zhan on the side and raised his eyebrows, and said, "Yes, then my brother and I have to take a good look tonight." ”

A few people walked around the inner house again, and the middle-aged man did not leave until late in the afternoon.

In the study, Yue Yang handed over the letter that had just arrived at the mansion, Shen Zhan glanced at it a few times, threw away the letter in his hand with a cold snort, leaned on the Taishi chair, and played with the gem wrench between his fingers, and the atmosphere in the room was suddenly a little solemn.

During this secret visit, he dispatched a total of more than 300 Black Flag troops into the city. One-third disguised themselves as members of the Murong family, and the other two-thirds were distributed in Guilty Moon City and the twelve towns under Guilty Moon City.

Whether it is a wine shop, a tea house, a pawnshop, a restaurant, etc., there are dormant points, but Xueyue Qinyuan can't get through, not only that, the merchants in the Moon City and the twelve towns have a lot of complaints about the tax, and only after inquiring do they know that the monthly tax is higher than that of the capital, and even outrageously high.

And the initiator of all this is Sun Kunqian, the governor of the moon, and the reason why he can make thousands of merchants in the moon follow his rules is due to his own means.

In addition to him, their family also has a second room and a vein, the second room is a son-in-law, and his subordinates have a monopoly on the moon mill and rice shop, to put it bluntly, they are holding the throat of the people in the moon.

Speaking of which, this son-in-law seems to be more powerful than the Sun family, but when the dynasty values agriculture and suppresses business, the biggest difference between court officials and businessmen is status.

Even if a merchant has a mountain of gold and silver, he will eventually seek the refuge of the yamen, and if he is obedient, he can get rich together, and if he is not obedient, he will only have to roll up and leave.

Cheng Fei had inquired about these before, and it was not a big thing to hide, but the most headache was also this matter.

If Sun Kunqian was a corrupt official and Erfang was a profiteer, then they could find out the whereabouts of the incriminating evidence, but who knew that all the mills and rice shops under the Erfang Yimai had clear merchant documents, and they were clean and could not find the slightest mistake.

And the taxes in the city are all paid by 1510, and the second room and one vein are also paid according to the taxes set by Sun Kunqian.

As for whether the accounts handed in are fake, it needs to be further verified.

But how to check, can only be done by Mrs. Shen.

Although Mrs. Shen has no official position, she has the title of Mrs. Guoan, as long as Mrs. Shen speaks, Sun Kunqian can't fool her even if she is shrewd.

Finally, this Xueyue Qinyuan, this restaurant is not an ordinary traditional restaurant, this restaurant has a tradition, that is, there will be a auction every month, and the things in the auction are all gold taels.

Ever since the saint noticed the moon, the owner of this Xueyue Qin Garden couldn't find any clues, and even the regulars in the auction hall couldn't find a specific roster.

Beneath the too calm water, there must be a whirlpool.

After half a ring, Shen Zhan placed the letter on the table diagonally on the candle flame and burned it to ashes, his bony hand fell on the table, and his index finger tapped on the table without a match.

After a while, he said in a deep voice: "Can the information of the owner of the second room be verified?" ”

Yue Yang took out a booklet from his arms, handed it over and said: "It's almost checked, the second room of the Sun family is named Sun Jinlan, who is in charge of the Sun family, Sun Kunqian is not often at home, and his sister is in charge of the size of the house, her husband is named Lu Xu'an, and the ancestor of the Lu family is in business, but it has been tepid, and now the family business is still after Sun Kunqian took office to commit Yue Zhizhou." ”

Shen Zhan hooked the corners of his mouth: "The division of labor is quite clear." ”

Yue Yang said: "The comfort days have been too long, naturally the division of labor is clear, but I don't know how long they can comfort." By the way, there is still something that has not been told to the young master, the second room family has only one daughter, and that daughter and Wang Xuzhou, the eldest son of the second room of the Wang family, have been married. ”

"It seems that this Wang family is really not simple, it can make my grandmother fall in love, and it can also make Sun Jinlan's only daughter favor." Yue Yang shook his head, full of admiration.

Shen Zhan said noncommittally: "The Wang family is in charge of the river engineering and water conservancy of the twelve towns, and the official position is not light, and the hairpin has been in place for generations, and the Wang family is currently in the court, and the future is immeasurable, and this family business is not a loss to the Sun family." ”

"Grandmother, are they in the moon?" Shen Zhan asked again.

Yue Yang said: "It's been a quarter of a minute this morning, I have to say that the Wang family is very diligent, Wang Xuzhou, the eldest son of the second room of the Wang family, will be waiting for someone to come early in the morning to sweep the old Shen house, and even dial a lot of small maids. ”

Shen Zhan was silent, slowly picked up the teacup on the table and drank it, and said slowly: "You send a letter to your grandmother tonight." ”

"Letter?" Yue Yang was puzzled.

"Our identity in the criminal moon cannot be revealed, the investigation can only be carried out secretly, Sun Kunqian is cautious, if we can divert his attention, we will do things more easily."

Yue Yang suddenly realized, and said with a smile: "I see, no wonder the Young Master Guild asked Old Lady Shen to return to the moon to worship her ancestors, and her subordinates knew that it was not simple, it turned out that the Young Master's plan was here!" ”

Shen Zhan said: "Are you very idle? ”

“……”

"I'm not idle, I'm going to be busy." Yue Yang gave his resignation, immediately turned around and left, and only when he left the house did he dare to breathe a sigh of relief.

(End of chapter)