Minhu blushed at the compliment and laughed out loud. Even he was a little stunned by the loudness of his voice. Where was his gentle and refined self?
He held Min Jia's hand with one hand, gently touched the heads of Xu Lanting and Zhao Xingchen with the other hand, and walked towards the Xu family in the alley.
On the way, Min Jia reported, "Daddy, I want to win - checkers and the top prize."
Seeing that Minhu was a little confused, Xu Lanting explained, "Our teahouse is holding a chess, military chess, and checkers competition, and Jiajia will participate in the checkers competition. My sister used a backdoor to ensure that Jiajia could win the first prize in the checkers competition and set the age limit for participants to be under ten years old."
When Fujian residents heard about "going through the back door" for the first time, they understood that it meant it was not as open and aboveboard as going through the main door.
He laughed a few more times and said, "Then I wish my daughter a successful start."
Min Jia was so overjoyed that as soon as she entered the hanging flower gate, she shook off Min Hu's hand and took Xu Lanting back to the house to play checkers, fearing that if she slacked off, she would not get the top prize. Zhao Xingchen saw this and hurriedly followed.
Minhu looked very different today. Even though he had dark circles under his eyes, one could tell that he was very happy.
Xu Lanyin and Qin invited Min Hu to the east wing. After a few words, Qin led the people to the kitchen to make mutton hot pot. The mutton provided by Min Hu had been eaten, so they quickly sent Yang Fan to the market to buy more.
Qin knew that the Fujian people liked to eat thin mutton rolls, but now that the weather was warmer, the mutton was not frozen hard and could not be planed with a planer, so she asked Yang Fan to pay a butcher to slice the mutton into thin large slices.
There was no one else in the room, so Minhu said to Xu Lanyin, "I have some good news for Miss Xu."
Xu Lanyin asked happily, "Zhao Wu is back?"
Minhu shook his head and said, "There's no news about him yet." Then he repeated the same old cliché, "No news is good news."
Xu Lanyin was extremely disappointed and said, "Is that so? He's been out for over five months, why is there still no news?" He then asked, "What good news did Lord Min mention?"
Minhu laughed and said, "The Yiju Restaurant has been shut down." His voice became even quieter. "A letter from the capital said that Hong Xihuan and Hong Wei, father and son, were also secretly captured alive, but word spread that they died in a fire."
This is great news. Xu Lanyin asked hurriedly, "Where is Brother Hong Zhenhong? Is he okay?"
Min Hu said, "Hong Zhen is fine. He and several of my men have captured the shopkeeper Jin and Gui Fu, who helped him escape."
It turns out that Shopkeeper Jin escaped with the help of Gui Fu. In the book, the deaths of Min Hu and Qin Che should also be related to him and Tang Moshan.
In the book, the father and son of the Hong family, who knew the truth, committed suicide, the shopkeeper Jin disappeared, and the Minhu and Qin Che who were investigating the case died. All the evidence pointed to the current crown prince. In the end, the current crown prince was deposed and committed suicide, and the third prince became the crown prince.
Now that so many people have been captured alive, the Third Prince will probably not be able to get what he wants.
Minhu said regretfully again, "Tang Moshan committed suicide last night. We were secretly arresting Gui Fu and Manager Jin. I don't know how he smelled the scent." He looked very pained.
Tang Moshan was a key figure, it's a pity that he died.
Minhu also said that everyone in Hebei Province associated with the Yiju Restaurant had been arrested, including County Magistrate Wang and others, roughly two hundred people. Captain Zhang... no, now we're talking about Zhang Black Panther, who had also come to the provincial capital as a witness, testifying to Zhang Gangdan's involvement.
It turned out that Zhao Wu had been in contact with Zhang Heibao the year before and knew what Zhang Gangdan had said to Zhang Mobao before his death. Zhang Heibao killed Zhang Gangdan out of righteousness and provided a lot of evidence, so the Zhang family should be able to atone for his crime.
The same is true for Hong Zhen. Although Hong Xihuan and others committed the heinous crime of exterminating their entire family, Hong Zhen also made great contributions. Except for the Hong family members who followed Hong Xihuan to do evil, the Hong family members who did not participate in this incident might be saved.
Xu Lanyin smiled and said, "Congratulations, Lord Min, for solving this major case of collaborating with the enemy and plotting to murder the former crown prince and the court officials."
Minhu said, "This case isn't over yet. That man and his accomplices have already begun impeaching the Crown Prince, alleging he instructed the Hongs to collude with the Western Xia Kingdom to murder the former Crown Prince, sacrificed the interests of the Daimyo Dynasty, sold intelligence, and committed numerous other crimes that damaged the Daimyo Dynasty. They've even produced a wealth of evidence... He must be thinking that since everyone directly connected to him and the Yiju Restaurant is dead, as long as Shopkeeper Jin holds his tongue, no one will know he's also a traitor. Even if there are suspicions, he has the Emperor's trust and favor, and we lack concrete evidence, so there's nothing we can do about him. Humph, let's wait for him to gloat for a few days, and then we can shut him up when they return with more compelling intelligence..."
They must be referring to Zhao Wu and the old demon. Zhao Wu has been out for so long, and I don't know why he hasn't come back yet.
The news brought by Min Hu made Xu Lanyin feel mixed emotions.
According to people in Fujian, the Nanping County government was greatly shaken. Not only was County Magistrate Wang arrested, but more than a dozen clerks and yamen runners who helped him with his work were also arrested. Now County Magistrate Tang is temporarily serving as acting county magistrate.
Xu Lanyin then told the story of Xu Ershi, and Min Hu picked up his pen and wrote a short letter to County Magistrate Tang.
In the evening, Min Hu ate mutton hotpot at Xu's house before returning home. He did not take Min Jia home with him because he was still busy trying a case and would be going to the capital again in a few days.
Min Jia had long considered the Xu family her own home, and had no intention of returning home with her father. In her opinion, as long as her father came to see her occasionally, she would know that she had a father, that was enough.
Xu Lanyin handed Qin the text message from Minhu, and Xu Ershi's situation was resolved. She also gave Xu Lanzhou and Xu Lanting a "people education" and a "beginner's guide to officialdom," explaining who they could associate with and who they couldn't, and why. They also emphasized the importance of establishing boundaries and not crossing them.
She often told the two brothers this, and this time she explained it more clearly.
Xu Lanzhou was especially reminded, "You're old enough and have lofty ambitions. You should think more, observe more, and talk less. Especially when it comes to making friends and choosing sides, you must be extremely cautious. Look at County Magistrate Wang and the others. They only cared about immediate benefits and were bribed, which harmed themselves and their entire family. Although Zhang Heizi was overbearing and unreasonable and had countless enemies, he had a bottom line and saved the family at a critical moment..."
County Magistrate Wang was a negative example. Xu Lanzhou nodded repeatedly after hearing this, expressing his determination from time to time.
Xu Lanyin didn't have too many extravagant expectations for this older brother. As long as he could distinguish the important from the unimportant and not make any big mistakes, that would be enough. Expecting him to be particularly generous and completely unconcerned about money and gains and losses was impossible.
The next day, Qin and Xu Lanzhou returned to Nanping. Xu Lanzhou had to go back to register for the county exam, which was scheduled for mid-month. Xu Lanyin didn't go back because the teahouse was hosting its monthly tournament for chess, military chess, and checkers on February 20th, and she couldn't leave.
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