Zhang Wen sat in front of the window, looking at the windowsill in a daze. A long time ago, there was a pot of plum there.

She said, "It's so beautiful!

Zhang Wen sometimes thinks that he will be able to see Xiao Juan soon, not the one who holds a rag and shuttles lightly in the study, derogating the sloppiness of the literati while cleaning up, nor the one who will shyly withdraw his hand and laugh when he hears him recite "The Evil One", but the one who was harmed by the Li family, unwilling to be humiliated, and left alone with hatred, although he didn't want to watch those starry eyes occupied by sad tears.

Death is a breath, omnipresent, you can feel it lingering when you close your eyes, like a cloud of smoke, looking at you, the tighter and tighter it is, like a snake, and the murderous aura is your thought, the thought of living, a knife, let you split death, even if you know that the scarlet that continues to diffuse will leave a lasting mark in your eyes and heart.

I don't know how long later, a gust of cold wind poured into the house, the candle was extinguished, Zhang Wen was cold, hurriedly stood up, looked around, and hurriedly said: "Xiaojuan? ”

Outside the window, it was already a blood-red dawn, and there was rain that had not been seen for a long time. But apart from this empty room, Zhang Wen didn't keep anything.

A wave of grief and indignation welled up in his chest, and Zhang Wen rushed out of the room, raising his head and opening his mouth wide, but he couldn't make a sound. The rain fell to his lips, and he stuck out his tongue and licked it, it turned out to be as bitter as his own heart.

"I can't die yet!"

Murder is your desire, the desire to live.

Zhang Wen lifted the pen, such as lifting the sword, and wrote down the word "Li" one after another with vigorous strokes, then stood up, pulled out the long sword from the case with a "brush" sound, and then "Bang!" with both hands. With a stab, he stabbed the sword down, and the blade of the sword pierced through the back of the paper and into the wood.

As soon as his hand slipped, Zhang Wen watched as the blade of the sword cut through his palm, and a stream of blood flowed along the blade of the sword to the paper with the word "Li" written on it.

The pain made him feel much better, and he clenched his palms to stop the bleeding, silently wiped the blade of the sword with paper, and put the sword pin back. Then he lit a candle and burned the paper.

After breakfast, Zhang Wen found Cao An and Laifu and said, "Something happened yesterday......

Cao An asked very cooperatively, "Young Master, what's wrong?" ”

A trace of embarrassment flashed in Zhang Wen's eyes, and he said with a smile: "This...... I may not stay in this capital for long, sooner or later I will go down to be the magistrate, and I have to get some money to send to the people of the Ministry of Officials, to see if I can go to a better place, it is better than being sent to the border. ”

Cao An said: "Young master, there is not much silver in the house. The piece of land in the west of the city was also sold last month according to the young master's wishes. ”

"I know." Zhang Wen put his palm on his forehead, frowned in contemplation, and after a while, said, "I heard that the rich village of Jingshi wants to lend money to Jingguan, and there is no need to mortgage property, is it true?" ”

Cao An paused and said, "The old slave also knows that there is such a thing, but the interest is ......."

"This is not a problem, as long as you can go to a better place, not a place where there is a famine every year, the money can always be repaid."

Zhang Wen's eyes paid attention to Laifu's expression, and when he saw Laifu open his mouth, Zhang Wenxin said: Don't worry, it's not time yet, you recommend Shen's Qianzhuang now, isn't it a show of your feet, can you have a relationship with Qianzhuang?

Sure enough, Laifu didn't speak.

Zhang Wen said again: "You two, take my name card, go to the money banks in Beijing to ask, if you are willing to borrow money, ask about the interest, and come back to tell me." ”

"Yes, host."

Cao An and Laifu went out with the name card and didn't come back until evening. Cao An came back with a notebook and recorded in detail all the interest rates of the money bank that he had asked.

Laifu claimed to be illiterate, of course, he couldn't record it, and he said proudly: "The little ones ask one by one, and only remember the money with the lowest interest in their hearts." ”

Zhang Wen glanced at Cao An, patted the notebook on the table, and said with a smile: "You are literate, and you are not illiterate." ”

Cao An was stunned and said: "There is no account, will this little ghost accept the benefits of other people's families?" ”

Laifu hurriedly said: "Uncle Cao, don't put the urine basin on other people's heads without a head!" ”

Zhang Wen smiled and said: "Okay, okay, don't fight, when you get to the place in the future, only the two of you are the ones I brought from Jingshi, understand?" ”

Laifu was moved: "Owner, with your words, the little one is willing to be a cow and a horse." ”

Zhang Wen yawned and said: "The water in this Jingshi is too muddy, it's okay, go to a quiet place to enjoy the blessings, so that you can have oil and water to buy some belongings." Compare the one with the lowest interest, and borrow money from whichever one has the lowest. ”

The result was, of course, Shen's Qianzhuang, and Zhang Wen naturally asked Cao An to go to the Qianzhuang the next day to discuss the loan, and borrowed two thousand taels of silver, which was enough to exchange for three or four hundred catties of rice. Zhang asked the people who used the silver to count the officials.

Zhang Wen finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Because although the Shen family is attached to the Li family, there is no reason to take 2,000 taels of silver for nothing. It can be seen that the Li family saw that Zhang Wen was so timid and had a shallow foundation, so they didn't pay too much attention to it, so they handed over Zhang Wen's small hidden danger to the local Shaoxing Mansion landlord Shen to deal with.

Soon there was news in the ministry, someone impeached Zhang Wen for moral corruption, citing many small things out of nothing, Zhang Wen was demoted from the sixth grade to the seventh grade, and was sent to a county in Zhejiang Province to be the magistrate, and Zhang Wen went to receive the official document of his predecessor.

The Ministry issued two official documents, one to Zhang Wen, one to the two Zhejiang Cheng Xuan Political Division, and then the Political Secretary sent the official document to Shaoxing Mansion, and Shaoxing Mansion then sent an official document to Shangyu County, layer by layer. The Ming Dynasty relied on civil officials at all levels to maintain the rule of the empire and the operation of the country.

Under normal circumstances, these official documents will not be wrong, because there are two sets of supervision systems: "copying documents" and "grinding files". If there is a mistake in the official document, it is a felony, and it will be punished with dozens of beatings and demotion, and at worst, it will be beheaded. For example, the "Da Ming Law" stipulates: Whoever brushes the Yamen documents with the seal of the division, one case or two cases is late, and the official canon is 10; three to five cases, twenty flogging; For every five cases, one degree is added, and forty lashes are allowed.

The official Zhang Wen is going to take office is the magistrate of Shangyu County, Shaoxing Prefecture, Zhejiang. The original magistrate died of illness and the position became vacant. And a young man like Zhang Wen, who was born as a jinshi, is an excellent candidate to serve as a local governor.

Decades ago, when Gao Gong was in the cabinet, he made a law: no one who has reached the age of 50 can serve as a magistrate.

I am afraid that the officials are old, have no ambitions, and do not think about government affairs all day long, but only think about accumulating wealth and accumulating family business and waiting to return to their hometowns.

Zhang Wen received the official document, hummed a little song, and pointed at Cao An and Laifu, "Don't rent out this yard, those who are rough and dirty, I don't know what will make my yard look like." ”

"Yes, host."

"Cao An, I'll call Laifu out to buy a tighter lock later."

Zhang Wen's feeling is like a smiling servant in the Qinglou, forcing a happy face and making people happy. He secretly thought in his heart that when the time came, he would have to get rid of this blessing.

At this moment, Rifle ran in, "Owner, owner, someone at the door asks to see you." ”

Zhang Wenxin said: The people of the Shen family should also come.

"Don't you have a name?" Zhang asked.

"They say it's from Qianzhuang." ”

"Oh." Zhang Wen said with an unhappy face, "Bring it in." ”

There were two people coming, an old man; He was followed by a woman wearing a hat with a black veil hanging from it, and her face was invisible.

The old man was a thin old man, dressed in a gray cloth robe, with a goatee, his cheeks sunken, and his dim eyes occasionally showed his essence when he looked at people.

The woman is dressed in a black robe and wears a hat, what is it if she is not a hero? The woman did not carry a sword, because of the law of the Ming Dynasty, except for the army and the official catcher and others, only people with merit and fame can fight with a sword. Zhang Wen can bring a sword, but this hero can't, otherwise he will be directly arrested by the people of the Five Cities Soldiers and Horses Division on the street.

The old man arched his hand and said: "The contemptible person's surname is Huang, his name is Renzhi, a friend of Master Shen, and he has seen Master Zhang." ”

Zhang Wen said with an embarrassed face: "It's only been a few days since I borrowed it, and you guys are here...... I'm going to Zhejiang soon. ”

He emphasized that it was Zhejiang.

"If Master Zhang doesn't mind, can we take a step to talk?"

"Yes, please."

So the three of them went into the living room on the north side, served tea to Laifu, and went out of the room to close the door. The woman with the hat stood up, went to the door and opened it, and stood in the doorway.

The two sat down separately, and Zhang Wen picked up the teacup and said, "Mr. Huang, please." ”

Huang Renzhi took a sip of tea and said, "The old man will be Lord Zhang's friend in the future, and I hope Lord Zhang will give me more advice." ”

Zhang Wen pretended to be stunned and said, "Huang ...... Sir, do you want to follow me to Zhejiang? ”

Huang Renzhi nodded.

He said in an irresistible tone that the old man is your friend behind the scenes, and the latter meaning is: Because you owe us money, the old man has to follow you, and you have to pay back the money when you have oil and water.

Zhang Wen pointed to the woman in the dark clothes at the door and said, "What about her, what is she doing?" ”

Huang Ren said straightly: "Adults can call her Aunt Di, she is here to protect adults." ”

"Protect me? She's a girl's house? I'm a dignified official, and I have tolerance to protect me. ”

Huang Ren said lightly: "Someone wants to kill the adult." I'm afraid that the tolerance can't be stopped. He said the word "tolerance" in a long voice, and a hint of warning flashed in his eyebrows.

"Donglin?" Zhang Wen said with a look of surprise, "This can't be done, I have been demoted, and killing officials is like rebellion!" ”

Huang Renzhi shook his head and said, "It's the Zhejiang Party." ”

"No, it won't! Why? Zhang Wen was so shocked that he dropped the teacup in his hand to the ground, but he had already guessed the reason.