When they arrived at the Qingxi River, Liu Zheng looked around, and there were already a few girls and daughters-in-law on the riverbank pounding clothes and pestles to do laundry. She found a nearby brook slab, rolled up her sleeves and skirts, stretched out her small pestle and sat down, poured out the clothes from the barrel, and washed them one by one.

In early summer, the stream water that has not been roasted by the sun is still a little icy, but Liu Zheng is used to getting up early to make tofu, and his hands are often soaked in the water.

Before coming to the capital, they sold their family's eight acres of thin fields and a tofu shop for silver, leaving only an old house. One acre of land was six taels and three dollars of silver, and the shop lot was average, and it was sold for fifty taels, except for the deed tax, and a total of one hundred taels of silver were exchanged. She and her grandmother have been planting mulberry and raising silkworms, making tofu and selling tofu for more than ten years, and after paying off all debts, they have saved a total of 850 taels. I went all the way north, walked for a month and a half, because of the water and soil, my grandmother was sick until now, and on the way to eat, drink, prescribe medicine and buy medicine, Lin Lin spent a total of forty or fifty taels. After arriving in the capital, they picked a shop and bought a shop, which not only had a good location, but also divided into two floors, with a small courtyard, doing business below, and living on it, which cost them three hundred and eighty taels of silver.

This shop was originally selling porcelain bowls and porcelain pots, but it was also clean, Liu Zheng found someone to re-brush a layer of powder inside and out, and simply cleaned up, and then opened up the front and back two rooms on the first floor, put grinding plates, tofu racks and other things, specially used to make tofu. After that, I bought pots and pans, and asked people to make tables, chairs and benches, and there were countless messes, and it was forty or fifty taels. So there were four hundred and seventy taels left.

When they were in Wujiang County, they only sold a big bowl of tofu brain for one penny, and when they arrived in the capital, Liu Zheng specially observed in various markets, and there were those who sold one penny, two pennies and three pennies, because they saw that the bean juice sold by the breakfast shop opposite the door was two pennies and a bowl, so they simply priced two pennies and a bowl. After all, everything in the capital is more expensive than in the south, even the copper plate. The capital uses thick and heavy yellow money, 700 wen can be exchanged for one or two lines of silver, and the leather money they use can be exchanged for one tael for 1,000 wen. The price of their rice is low, the price of soybeans is even lower, and they will be two or three percent more expensive here.

But fortunately, their business is good, soaking 40 catties of soybeans every day, they can make 1780 catties of water tofu, and the whole two large barrels can basically be sold. From the opening in early February to May now, an average of five stone beans and eight coins of silver are used up a month, and the cost is four taels of silver, which is slightly more than before. But after the price rises to two cents a bowl, the profit is considerable, according to a hundred bowls a day, deducting costs and commercial taxes, the net profit is forty-four taels. Surprisingly, Xu is because the beans in the capital are imported from several state capitals in the north, where there are many sunny days and little rain, and the quality of the soybeans is better than the ones they bought before.

If there are any drawbacks, the climate here is too different from that of Suzhou Mansion, and the time for soaking beans and the temperature of the marinated brain are very difficult to control......

Let's find someone to dig a well in the yard. This is not like Wujiang County has more bridges than roads, and there is a river outside the door, and now it is difficult to wash clothes, and you usually have to spend money to buy water with people. It's nothing to spend a few dollars, the main thing is that it's too troublesome, and you have to use up at least one tank of water just to soak beans every day, and a few large tanks are placed in the yard and take up space and are an eyesore.

Where does the wellsmith Xiaohu said live......

"Miss Liu, good morning."

Liu Zheng looked back and saw that it was the daughter-in-law of the He family who lived on the same street. She moved her things to the side, and the daughter-in-law of the He family sat down beside her.

"Good morning, sister-in-law He, brother Shan'er went to school?"

He went and pushed him for a long time before he would get up. I'm afraid of cold when it's cold, I'm afraid of heat when it's hot, and I don't know how old I can get out of it......"

The sound of the water on the other side of the river, which was still buoyant, was much quieter when Liu Zheng was talking to the daughter-in-law of the He family, and several older women kept looking at them.

"Let me say, think about it, what kind of good goods can you get along with the He family?"

"What are they talking about?"

"The two of them are the same! The hair is not combed well, and the wrists are exposed, for fear that others will not be able to see it. You know the daughter-in-law of the He family, she was born in the courtyard, and she is charming in her bones! ”

"What else can we talk about, teach how to rely on that ability to support a large family. Eh, you say, will they play with their lovers? ”

"It's really not enough!"

"This shouldn't ask us, we should ask Sanniang! Sanniang, your brother almost beat you on the street for Liu Niangzi just now, do you know? ”

Zeng Sanniang buried her head in the laundry, stopped when she heard the words, and looked up at the two people on the other side who were talking softly and laughing.

The woman who had just mentioned her laughed when she saw this, and said, "Go back and ask your brother, did Mrs. Liu tell him not to stay with her at night, when he went to visit the daughter-in-law of the He family?" ”

Zeng Sanniang shook the clothes in hand into the water a few times to wash them clean, scooped them up and twisted them hard, and the water splashes crackled and scattered and fell on the heads and faces of several women. She threw her clothes into the bucket, lifted them and left: "Keep your mouth clean!" Our great-family can't do that kind of unclean thing! Take care of your own men and sons one by one, don't get up and bite any and urine, even with you are so dirty and disgusting that you stink to death. ”

"Hey, she said we were disgusting?!"

"Sanniang, don't be ignorant! Beware of your brother's dirty disease, there is no cure! ”

Zeng Sanniang has a fire in her heart, and she can walk with wind under her feet. The old woman has embarrassed them again, and the eldest brother is also a fool, and he is not ashamed to wander around that foxy thing all day long!

Walking to the waterfront, Zeng Sanniang stopped. Liu Zheng was still chatting with the daughter-in-law of the He family, and seemed to be unaware of the arrangement of others.

Zeng Sanniang was angry, and suddenly had the idea of teaching her a lesson. As soon as she came to the West Street and Alley, the men in the streets before and after her seemed to have lost their souls, and even Chen Ru, who used to talk to her before, only stared at her. Is she that good-looking?

Zeng Sanniang squeezed the clothes pestle in her hand, and she was very unconvinced. At this moment, a gust of wind passed, stirring a few strands of broken hair on the forehead of the girl in the green skirt on the slate of the stream.

She turned her face sideways, lifted the back of her wet, white hand and wiped her forehead, and the sun that had just climbed out of the clouds sprinkled the fine light on the clear water and her smiling eyes, reflecting her pink. The pink face is also sparkling. Zeng Sanniang's breath stagnated, and in an instant, Ling Xue's white plum flashed in her mind, the Han Lian blooming in the layers of lotus leaves, and even the fairy Niangniang who stood on the lantern boat on the street during the Shangyuan Festival.

Liu Zheng pinned the hair behind her ears, got up and twisted her clothes, Zeng Sanniang's eyes unconsciously moved down, and saw her half-hidden collarbone under her neck, the healthy and full arc of her slender waist, and a pair of slender white ankles that wanted to be exposed under the corners of her raised skirt. Zeng Sanniang stood like this for a long time.

Liu Zheng said goodbye to the daughter-in-law of the He family after washing his clothes, shook the water in his hand and walked to the shore, walked two steps, and looked up to see Zeng Sanniang who was staring at him. Liu Zheng immediately stopped and said apologetically: "I'm sorry, I didn't see you ......"

Zeng Sanniang felt the tiny droplets of water that had accidentally fallen on her face before she came back to her senses, glared at her fiercely in shame, and hurried away with her things.

Liu Zheng is accustomed to this, and he doesn't care about it, and he hangs his clothes first when he goes home.

Wang Chucui had already woken up from sleep, and was drinking porridge while eating fried oil fruits with bean skin rolls.

"Listen to Xiaohu, that old woman from the butcher's family came to make trouble today?"

"I didn't make a fuss, Zeng An pulled her away."

"Hmph, if I hadn't been sick, I'd have beaten her out with a stick!"

After drying the clothes, Liu Zheng began to wash the dishes and chopsticks, washed back and forth three times, poured boiling water and scalded them, and they were all washed and cleaned up in less than three quarters of an hour. Seeing that Wang Chucui had finished eating breakfast, Liu Zheng brought her the medicine simmering on the coal stove, and while guarding her to take the medicine, he brought the account book abacus to keep the accounts.

Yesterday, I bought five stone beans and came back, and I spent a total of four taels and three dollars of silver with the money for someone to carry them. She got up a little late this morning, and without her grandmother's help, the refining and filtering efficiency was very slow, only one bucket was made, fifty-three bowls were sold, and one hundred and six wen was recorded. The six wen money was kept to buy water, and the one hundred wen was put in the cash box and saved. The oil and salt at home are almost exhausted, and the firewood is not enough, so let's spend another 20 yuan for pocket use. Oh yes, I bought tweed for two cents this morning...... Counting the total money, there were five hundred and fifty-eight taels of silver.

"Grandma, let's dig a well in the courtyard," Liu Zheng pointed to the sunny courtyard, "and hit it on the left-hand side." ”

"Well, I said earlier that it's good to take one, so that you don't have to take a detour to do laundry, and you have to look at people's faces. These few people who have nothing to do make up nonsense and insult people......"

"Whatever they do, it will not hinder us from living our own lives." Liu Zheng lazily leaned on the back of the chair and dialed the abacus, "It's so expensive to dig a well, I'm afraid I won't be able to get down without twenty taels." ”

"That's right, but we didn't come all the way to suffer this grievance. Don't be reluctant to give up that money, to put it bluntly, if you want to find your uncle, you don't rely on these ten or twenty taels. ”

Of course, Liu Zheng understands this, and a few years ago, he had spent three or five hundred taels of silver just to find someone in Nanzhili, but he only got the news that he had already been resold to the capital. The capital is so big, the twelve-year-old child should be twenty-four this year, and it is a question of whether he is still alive, otherwise how could he not want to go home......

Liu Zheng thought of the other person he was looking for when he came to the capital. If he is willing to move his fingers and send someone to find it, I am afraid that it will not be a problem to turn the whole city through the city in one day and night. But she was reluctant to ask him for help. She hated him in her heart, though she didn't even know what kind of person he was.

Today, the saint was not able to come to Fengtianmen to listen to the government in person, and only sent three cabinet ministers to the Huangji Palace to discuss state affairs. Song Yan went out of the noon gate and went to the criminal department in a sedan chair.

Meng Bohan, the servant of the Criminal Department, personally took him to meet the officials, told him about the main affairs of the Qing Officials Division, and finally led him into the prison of the Criminal Department.

"These were transported from Huguang around the Mid-Autumn Festival last year, and they committed the crime of banditry, you should have heard of it." Meng Bohan pointed to the three bloodied prisoners in the damp cell, "It's been a trial for more than half a year, and the case has not been concluded for a long time. As a result, the two previous directors were dismissed. The specific situation is clearly written in the dossier, so I won't say more. If this case cannot be tried again, it will have to be tried together with the three legal divisions. ”

Song Yan took the file handed over by the prison secretary and roughly swept it.

Meng Bohan looked at him meaninglessly, and said with a smile: "I heard before that the prince of the Dingguo Hou family is a little fairy-like figure, capable of literature and martial arts, and it is rare to have a compassionate heart, and he does not want to see blood when he beats people, and he does not want to see filth when he turns books. Wouldn't you feel aggrieved when you come to such a place today? ”

The air was filled with the pungent smell of sourness, rats crawling up the necks of prisoners and gnawing their jaws and ears, and vicious insects burrowing into their wounds that had not healed for years laying strings of white eggs, vomit and excrement mixed together, and flies and mosquitoes buzzed. The young man in the green robe stood under a ray of skylight, his eyebrows were calm, and he seemed out of place with everything here.

Song Yan put away the file, swept to the three people who looked disdainful, and said flatly: "Redress the grievances, it is the duty of the lower officials, Meng Shilang joked." ”

Meng Bohan stared at him for two breaths, and then at the three prisoners who had no good meat left on their bodies. Didn't he say that he would be nauseous when he saw pickled things, and faint when he smelled blood?

"Hahaha, the son of the world is young and promising, and he is responsible, which is really a blessing for my criminal department." Meng Bohan patted him on the shoulder and reminded, "However, when it's really unbearable, you don't have to hold on." In a position that doesn't suit you, hard work will only tie your hands and feet more. ”

Song Yan was silent.

Song Yan ordered the three to be brought to the torture room, and Meng Bohan sat down on the chair brought by the prison director to see how he could be interrogated.

This case was brought directly into Beijing by the county magistrate of Zhijiang County, Jingzhou Prefecture, claiming that several officials from Huguang Prefecture and counties colluded with mountain bandits, and he had collected a lot of evidence in the local area. In this way, this paper almost couldn't be handed over, if it weren't for Zhang Ge Lao stopping the first assistant Liu Bingliu's unpublished chapter, this matter would not be in the eye of heaven at all.

Pity the county magistrate of Nazhijiang County, who barely escaped the siege and interception of local officials, and was already dying when he arrived in Beijing, and he had to be flogged with 50 rods for Yue Xu. Before the sentence was completed, he died in front of the noon gate, his family was nowhere to be found, and the so-called evidence was impossible to obtain. The Holy Lord was furious and ordered a thorough investigation, but the only clue was the three prisoners held in the prison of the Criminal Department at the moment.

These three bandits are also hard-mouthed, they have been in for almost a year, and they have been punished with any whip and hammer, and they have not spit out who they have dealings with in their bandit village, and occasionally report the names of a few local celebrities, which are also true and false, making people unable to start.

Anyone with a discerning eye knows that this matter is widely implicated, and at a small level, I am afraid that no one in the entire Huguang area will be able to escape suspicion, and at a large level, it is a question whether the cabinet and the celebrant can completely clear this matter. It is because this case has been tried all along, but no one has ever reached a conclusion.

Meng Bohan knew that Song Yan had been taught by Yu Zhangge Lao, and the relationship between Zhang Ge Lao and the Dingguo Marquis Mansion was extraordinary. Zhang He has always been determined to thoroughly investigate the case, but has been obstructed by many parties, especially Dongchang and Jinyiwei, who tried to escort the prisoner to the Imperial Prison for interrogation several times, but Zhang He stopped them. Now that Song Yan has been transferred from the fourth-grade military attache of the Governor's Mansion to the sixth-grade director of the Criminal Department, it is inevitable that he will take over this case, and it is difficult to say that it was not intentional by Zhang He and others.

The Marquis of Dingguo didn't want Song Yan to get involved in too many court disputes, so he also approached Meng Bohan a few days ago and asked him to think of a way to make Song Yan retreat. In fact, Meng Bohan felt that there was no need to do it deliberately, who didn't know that the Song family was like a fish in water in the entire Governor's Mansion, and Song Yan was famous inside and outside the capital with his good kung fu at a young age? He was not a person who came to Liubu Jiuqing to be a civil official. And I heard that he has always loved cleanliness and is afraid of blood, and he can't stand a little dirt, so he will be fine for a day in this prison of the Criminal Department, what about a month, a few months, or even a few years?

Thinking of this, Meng Bohan saw that Song Yan ordered someone to bring a basin of freshly burned molten iron. The molten iron was boiled red, and it was served in a large stone basin, and the two little officials who were holding it did not dare to make any more breath. Everyone suddenly felt that the heat in the torture room was even more unbearable.

The three prisoners looked at each other, and one of the hardest bones said to Song Yan with disdain: "Good boy, you have the ability to show your grandfather, if you can take out a useful word from your grandfather's intestines, you have the ability!" ”

"I can't take it out, and I don't want to take it, so I can pour something fun into it." Song Yan leaned back on the official hat chair, glanced at him, and said to the little official beside him: "Pour it into his mouth, not a drop is left." ”

Hearing this, the little official broke out in a cold sweat and looked at Meng Bohan uncertainly. Meng Bohan sat up straight, lowered his voice and said, "Shizi, these people can't be killed, if they die, this clue will be completely broken......

"There are three, it doesn't matter if you die." Song Yan glanced at the other two who were glaring angrily, "It's enough to keep one." ”

Meng Bohan clenched his palms, and there was a thin layer of sweat.

"Don't interrogate first?"

"Several adults have tried everything they could before, so what new tricks can I ask."

Meng Bohan looked at Song Yan quietly, unable to believe that these words came out of his mouth. How is it not at all different from the rumors he heard......