Chapter 32: A Trip to the Summer House

On the second floor of the ninth floor of Jingxiang, a private room of a water, several of which are for the Huan family's own use, a few people followed into the largest one, the layout is more gorgeous than the downstairs hall, antique, a water from Lingnan rosewood carved tables and chairs, landscape marble inlaid screens to separate the wine table from a few Taishi chairs. As soon as he entered the door, Huan Wen sat on the Taishi chair in the middle, and no one else dared to do it, standing there, especially the man in soap, who stood with his hands down respectfully.

"You're getting better and better, not only have you learned to fight in public, but you've also teamed up with outsiders to fight your own brothers. Huan Wen picked up the tea on the coffee table and took a sip. The words were apparently addressed to the soap-clad man.

"I didn't fight my own people. Besides, it's unfair to hit two or one, so I'm just going over to help balance it out. The man in soap lowered his head and whispered in defense, obviously still a little lacking in confidence, after all, it is undeniable to fight in public.

"These three are the guests I invited today, hey, this is Huan Yi of the country of Xuan, I can't write two words of Huan in one stroke, originally our Long Kanghuan family is from the country of Xuan, who is not your own brother?" Huan Wen said.

The soap-clothed man listened to Huan Wen's words and hurriedly went to see the three of them.

"Brother Huanyi, this is my fourth brother Huan Mi, who is negligent in discipline on weekdays, and always likes to do stupid things that are uneven. Huan Wen introduced to Huan Yi.

The son of Huan Mi was not a person who didn't know how to be polite, so he hurriedly came over and gave a salute to the three of them: "Little brother Huan Mi, I don't know how many brothers I was just now, I was offended." Han Yue and the others naturally didn't blame, the four of them greeted each other, and when they heard that they were all sons of the family's reputation, they naturally rejoiced with each other.

Huan Wen suddenly asked Huan Mi: "Do you recognize that young man just now?"

Huan Mi didn't know. I asked the shopkeeper again, and he said that he had not seen it before. Huan Wen didn't ask any more. A few people sat down to drink tea and chat, waiting for Mr. Chisel to arrive at the table. Push the cup overnight and change the lamp for the time being.

In the afternoon of the same day, the palm hat went to the Jingzhou Mansion and showed the document of the Ministry of War to handle the case, and someone hurriedly ran to report to Yu Liang, who saw that the document only said that the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Industry were working together to handle the case and investigate a suspicious ship, but he did not think much about it, and explained that although the subordinates cooperated, there was no need to come forward in person. After receiving the order from the top, the people below naturally did not dare to slack off. The boss asked who was in charge of the household registration, and someone took him to meet the household official. It was found that there was a wealthy family surnamed Xia on the edge of the Jingjiang River, who moved to Jingzhou two years ago, bought a large house in the lower reaches of the Jingjiang River, and later spent money to build a private dock.

Zhangli asked, "Where did the Xia family come from, and why did they move to Jingzhou?"

The household official replied: "The owner of this Xia family is called Xia Tuyuan, and he said that he came from Hebei and didn't want to be occupied by the barbarians from the north, so he went all the way south and moved to Jingzhou." There were a lot of people in this house, and there were forty or fifty people on the register. If the general is interested in this family, why don't I take the general to his house to have a look?"

The household officials borrowed a catch from the government office, and the three of them walked to the south of Jingzhou. Turning into a secluded alley, I walked to the door of a large mansion, and the householder said that this was it. Generally, the door of the house will be written on the house or the house, but the plaque hanging on the forehead of this door is not small, and the black lacquered wooden plaque is written with gold lacquer in the middle of a huge "summer" word. Now in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the popular is the line, grass, Kai and other new styles, mostly imitate Wang Xizhi and others, and the word "Xia" of this house is still using the Wei tablet more than 100 years ago.

The accompanying catcher stepped forward and patted the tiger head knocker on the closed door, beat several times in a row, and heard the sound of someone inside the urn and asked angrily: "Who!" Catch quickly said "the government checks the household", only then someone squeaked and opened a crack in the door, half of the face came out, it was a thick man with a face full of meat, and the household official stepped forward to explain, "Winter Festival, the city is crowded, and I am specially ordered to enter the house to check if there are any suspicious people." Seeing that it was really a household official, the big man followed the arrest, and it was not easy to refuse, so he turned sideways and let the three of them in, but the door was not opened for half a minute. When the three of them entered the park, they saw that the front yard was already very large, the layout was simple, and it was clean and tidy. The household official opened the household register and asked: "This is the Xia family, is Xia Tuyuan you?" The palm of the hat asked, "When will Master Xia go out?" Dahan said, "It's been seven or eight days." The official asked, "There are forty-three people who are registered, are you the only one now?" and the big man said, "There are three or four others, who happened to be on the street." Some of the others went back to their hometowns, and some went out with their masters. Is there anything wrong with you?" The household official said that he was just asking casually, and then the two walked around the courtyard, looked around the inner courtyard again, and found nothing unusual, so they left.

The big man watched them walk away before closing the door. A few people came out of the ear room and asked in a low voice, "What are they doing here?" The big man made a silent gesture, and several people walked into the backyard together.

After walking a dozen steps, Palmist looked back at the closed door, and somehow, he always felt that something was wrong. If the master has been gone for seven or eight days, how can he explain the boat that sailed out of his dock yesterday? The palm of the hat asked the household official, "Can you go around to the dock of the Xia family?" The household official said, either from the house next door, or along the riverbank.

When it was dark, the palm hat and the palm hat quietly climbed the wall of the Xia family, and there was no light in the yard. In the afternoon, the big man didn't seem to be there, he picked off a tile at the head of the wall and threw it on the ground, the tile fell to the ground and shattered, making a crisp sound, and there was no movement in the courtyard for a long time. The two rolled over and jumped into the hospital. By the moonlight, the two of them touched all the way to the inner courtyard, which was very large and spacious, surrounded by a circle of rooms, and the scale should be lived by the owner's family. The surroundings are deadly silent, and there is still no light, is it really like the big man said, no one is there? At this time, the air was already filled with the smell of dampness, and further back, there was a large closed wooden door, and there were two ear rooms on both sides, and the air was not only damp, but also an indescribable fishy smell. I faintly heard the sound of the water, and it seemed that it was approaching the dock. The so-called dock is generally a large hall with a gate at the front and back, and the other side of the door leads to the river, which is convenient for small boats to enter and dock. The two of them looked through the crack in the door, and the door over there was also closed, and it was so dark that it was impossible to see clearly.

The two walked to an ear room, and there was a burst of bacon smell from the crack in the door, and it was not surprising that after crossing the Yangtze River, all parts of the south loved to make bacon in winter. Just as they were about to check further, they suddenly heard movement in the front yard, and the two hurriedly turned over and went to the room and lay on the back of the ridge. The footsteps are more chaotic, as if someone is coming, and there are quite a few people,

The two of them lay on their stomachs for a while, but did not see anyone going inside, so they tiptoed and sneaked, quietly stepping on the ridge of the roof and moving forward. When I got to the second courtyard, I already saw a bright light reflected in the air, and it seemed that someone was entering the second courtyard. The two of them lay in the shadow of the corner of the moon-shaped courtyard gate, secretly sticking out half of their heads and looking into the courtyard. In the courtyard at this time, there were a few people standing in the courtyard, carrying three or two lamps. The lights in the main house were already on, and a white-haired man in a blue robe stood in the courtyard with his hands behind his back, with his back to the two of them, and his face could not be seen. Standing next to him was the big man in the afternoon, talking to him. Could it be that the white-haired man is Xia Tuyuan? In the afternoon, the big man lied, and he didn't go out?

Holding their breath, the palm hat and the palm hat crouched in the shadows, not daring to move, but their hands had already quietly grasped the sword at their waists. Always ready to be discovered. After listening to the big man's report, the man in blue turned around and walked to the main room, and under the light, he could see that it was a handsome and young face, with a strange smile on the corner of his mouth. As the man approached the room, he glanced intentionally or unintentionally in the direction where the two were hiding. The big man helped him close the door, and then shouted to the people in the courtyard: "You check the front and back yards for me before sleeping, be careful." The crowd cheered in agreement. Taking advantage of the fact that they did not come, the two of them hurriedly retreated to the upper room. The two walked briskly along the ridge to the dock, still trying to confirm the boat. Turning over the roof of the dock, I saw two small boats parked on the river, looking the same, very similar to the ones delivered yesterday. At this time, there was a voice behind him, and it seemed that someone had come here to check. The two returned. I saw two people carrying lanterns, and one of them had already opened the dock door, shone it with a lamp, and turned around and locked the door. The other opened a nearby transept and went in, and then the light of the lantern lit up, and the two on the roof saw the scene in the house, and were stunned.