Chapter 83 Chapter 83 Fifty taels.
The next day, the sky was overcast. Wu Liang got off the ox cart beside the bamboo forest as usual and got on the rented car.
County Magistrate Pan prepared two thousand taels of silver and asked her to bring a fake biography from four years ago and exchange it at the foot of a hill on the outskirts of the city.
Wu Liang naturally refused. County Magistrate Pan had the government soldiers at his disposal. If she went there with the evidence, she would lose everything and never come back.
So she thought of a way. After getting the money, she asked County Magistrate Pan to arrange someone to take the brother and sister to the ferry. Before they boarded the boat, she gave the false message to County Magistrate Pan's men, and County Magistrate Pan agreed to her plan.
"If I haven't returned by dusk, it must be that Pan is playing tricks on me. Jianlang will definitely hand the things over to the Inspector General and ask him to dismount."
Wu Liang gave this instruction before leaving.
The wheels of the ox cart squeaked as it drove towards the outskirts of the city. Wu Liang was already thinking about the good days ahead.
It was not until he saw the oxcart moving in the opposite direction that he stopped his gaze on the rented man.
She had found this servant under the locust tree in advance and had agreed that he would pick her up and drop her off at the bamboo forest every day.
I saw that he was wearing a bamboo hat today, which was pulled down very low, so that I couldn't see his face clearly. I was suspicious and asked:
"You don't even know the road outside the city?"
The man ignored him and continued driving. Wu Liang saw that there was no one around him. He was angry and horrified.
"Did Pan send you here? Don't forget what I have in my hand!"
Wu Jian saw her off and was in a good mood. He bought some wine and dried meat at the nearby market before returning to the pavilion in the village.
But his expression changed when he opened the door. He saw chaos inside and all their cloth bags were shaken out.
He cursed the old thief Pan and knew he couldn't stay here any longer, so he left without caring about his luggage.
But as soon as he turned around, his shoulder was clamped by a huge force from behind, and he could only quickly draw his sword and attack.
The two men fought, but the other had no weapons, only a long whip at his waist. He picked up a wooden table and blocked several of his sword swings. His strength was as strong as a tiger, and it made his palm numb.
In the end, he was kicked three meters away.
His back hit the bed frame, causing severe pain in his chest, and he spat out a mouthful of blood foam.
He finally saw the face under the bamboo hat and opened his eyes wide.
"It's you!"
This man wore a green cap and a brown robe, and looked capable. He was the one who followed behind them that day and was called Gai Yi by Tingfu.
"Are you County Magistrate Pan's man?"
He covered his chest with his hands. He thought he had been wandering for many years and had great martial arts skills, but he didn't expect to be defeated by a young man. He asked unwillingly, his breathing was already difficult.
The man seemed not to hear anything and said nothing. He picked up the big knife that had fallen from his hand, held the blade sideways, and walked slowly towards him, like a wild animal hunting, with his eyes fixed on it.
For a moment he seemed to smell the eerie air coming from the underworld.
He shouted, "How dare you, old thief Pan, plot against me! Boy! You just searched this room. Let me tell you, the fake document is not here. I put it in a safe place!"
If you kill me, your master's belongings will be handed over to the Inspectorate, and even a lackey like you will be implicated!"
Of course, he said this to deceive people. The false biography was indeed buried somewhere in the past, but because County Magistrate Pan was willing to pay money recently, they dug it out and it was now inside his clothes.
Fortunately, the man's blade stopped, and Wu Jian just thought he believed it.
But he took off a cloth bag from his waist and threw it to his feet, and a human head rolled out of it.
Wu Liang's pale face turned towards him, and it seemed as if he could still see the fear he had experienced in his lifetime.
"Cousin! Ah!"
Wu Jian's blood rushed up, he roared, and rushed towards the executioner with all his strength.
A stream of blood splattered half way around the spot, staining the green gauze curtain hanging on the bed frame.
suburbs,
County Magistrate Pan looked back the way he had come.
More than ten government soldiers were lying in ambush on both sides of the mountain road, waiting for Wu Liang to show up so that they could catch him in the trap.
This vicious woman dared to threaten him. Such a scourge must be eradicated. So he asked:
"Have you arranged all the staff near the Inspectorate?"
The confidant said, "I report to the county magistrate, everything is settled."
He dared to arrest Wu Liang because Li Duyou accepted the beauty and let the matter go, so he had no worries.
Now that Wu Liang has been captured here, her accomplices, seeing that she has not returned, will definitely go to the Inspectorate to submit evidence of their crimes, but they will only be walking into a trap.
Therefore, he was calm and composed, twirling his beard and waiting for the visitor.
After the agreed time, he hadn't been seen for a long time. Could it be that Mrs. Wu had seen through his ambush and didn't dare to come for a while?
While I was thinking, I heard people pointing to the way I came from and saying:
"Here comes an oxcart!"
County Magistrate Pan gave orders, asking the government soldiers to arrest the man.
But as the ox's hooves gradually came closer and kicked on the spot, they saw clearly that there was no woman on the ox cart, only a hired man driving the cart.
He took off his hat, revealing a slightly familiar face, as if he had seen it somewhere.
But County Magistrate Pan had no time to think about it, and pointed his finger and said:
"It must be that thief's accomplice! Catch him! Catch him!"
The soldiers rushed out of the forest, but their enemy was a tall man with a physique like a wolf and a tiger, covered in blood.
They approached cautiously with swords pointed, looking like they were testing the waters.
The man actually took the bloody big knife from the car and threw it to the ground with a clang.
The palace soldiers then dared to move forward. He did not resist and allowed them to take him to County Magistrate Pan, where he easily broke free.
County Magistrate Pan thought he was about to commit a crime and shouted for his men to protect him, but then he saw the man unfasten two black cloth bags from his waist and throw them to the ground. Two human skulls, a man and a woman, tumbled out. The man was unfamiliar, but the woman was none other than Wu Liang, who had asked him for money.
The panicked County Magistrate Pan finally calmed down, and a close confidant beside him reminded him:
"County Magistrate, he is from our county's Department of Agriculture, a farm steward named Zhuang Gaiyi. It was you who recommended him as an honest official and appointed him as the farm steward to look after the public fields."
"Mr. Tian?"
This position of Tianshoufu was insignificant. Even County Magistrate Pan himself could not remember when he had done such a thing. He was puzzled about the other party's purpose for a moment, but nodded and said,
"I remember now."
Zhuang Gaiyi said, "I'm fortunate to have been promoted by the County Magistrate. I have no way to repay you, but I can only help you solve your problems..."
County Court,
County Magistrate Pan walked around the desk, thinking deeply. He saw that the old fake biography was burning in the stove beside the desk, emitting gray smoke and gradually turning into ashes. This was the one that Mr. Tian had given him when they were on the outskirts of the city.
Suddenly, the door opened with a thunderous bang, and Qiao Lingshi rushed in hurriedly, asking:
"Why did my uncle give the place for the Xiaolian candidate to that Mr. Tian? I've been working so hard for it for so long! And it's all in vain."
"Let's discuss your matter next year. It's not too late. I see that Mr. Tian is very strong in martial arts, he fought against the enemy with his bare hands, and he is also loyal to me. He is indeed a man with great potential. If he can be sent to the Ministry of Rites, he will definitely be of use to me in the future. I always tell you that it is best to appoint people who are loyal to you. Such a man is really rare!"
Finally, he laughed out loud and said that he had already ordered people to prepare wine and feast for Mr. Tian, because he had gained an arm.
"You should stay too, and have a drink and chat with us!"
Qiao Lingshi refused, saying, "Your ability is inferior to his. Even if I recommend you to the county governor, you will definitely not be favored by him. I have no choice but to choose him. It is for your future. You should understand my painstaking efforts."
Qiao Lingshi was relieved by what he said and stayed at the banquet.
March spring,
The mouse ear grass on the mountain grows lushly, its leaves look like mouse bodies, with fuzzy white hairs, and its flower buds are yellow as if they were curved.
The three sisters of Ji Xu stayed at home in the second half of the day, and went to Niupi Mountain with the women and children of the Chen, Wang and Deng families to pick wormwood.
Because I pinched the tender core with my fingers, my fingers turned green. I picked a full basket and put it under the eaves.
Ji Feng picked up a handful and sniffed it carefully. "It really smells like mouse ears. It's stinky. Xiaozhu, do you smell it?"
Jizhu nodded as well, “Stinky!”
"The dragon tongue is cooked, but you don't feel it when you eat it. It's really amazing."
Ji Feng muttered, and Ji Xu laughed when he heard it. There is a poem in the Tang Dynasty that goes, "If you pick it deeply, you can see the ox lip liquid; if you pinch it carefully, you can smell the mouse ear fragrance."
This wormwood is a good thing. It can eliminate phlegm and relieve cough, clear away heat and detoxify. For this reason, in the Chuyue area, every March, people use wormwood to make a food called dragon tongue. The whole family eats it to prevent seasonal diseases.
Ji Xu learned this kind of food when Maeda was still alive, and he always kept it in mind.
She scooped up some flour and added water to make noodles, while her sisters squatted by the well, picked out the basket of wormwood, washed it twice with clean water, and each of them carried a wooden bucket to the kitchen.
"Sister, I'm done washing."
"I picked up all the dead grass and leaves, and I also caught two insects on the leaves and fed them to the hens." Ji Feng said.
The two younger sisters are always very enthusiastic when working. Now they are standing by the stove, looking forward to delicious food.
I remember that my mother had made this dragon tongue, but at that time our family was poor and even the flour we ground was coarse wheat bran, let alone honey. But they still loved to eat it.
Now, Ji Xu added honey to the urine noodles.
This honey was obtained from the Cangqiong Festival in the past. It was occasionally dissolved in water and eaten. There was not much left, so Ji Xu added it all to the noodles.
The wormwood was blanched in water, kneaded into green balls, and added to the dough and kneaded together.
"Sister, there's a pot of water. I'll go feed the chickens."
Ji Feng was a frugal family who never wasted anything. Besides, the water was burned with firewood and turned a rich green. She said,
"Use this water to mix with bean dregs and chaff to protect our chickens from seasonal diseases."
Ji Xu agreed, and Ji Feng took the remaining half to feed the cows and donkeys, without wasting a drop.
"Sister, what are you doing?"
When Ji Feng came back, she saw that the red beans in the pot were already cooked. She thought she was going to eat red bean porridge, but she saw her sister draining them with a bamboo basket, pouring them into a clean stone mortar, and pounding them with a pestle.
"Make red bean paste. This year, sister will make something different like dragon tongue." Ji Xu said.
"Akabean paste?"
Feng and Zhu had never heard of this before, so they came over curiously.
The red beans were quickly mashed into a paste. Ji Xu then added some oil to the iron paste, half red bean paste and half red bean grains, mixed them together and fried them. He also added brown sugar for sweetness, and at the end, he added a teaspoon of salt to enhance the flavor.
"No wonder it's called red bean paste, it really feels like sand." Ji Feng said after seeing the fried one.
Ji Xu also made meat floss, which he made by finely shaving the meat jerky that had been stewed before. He then wrapped it with red bean paste in a dough made of wormwood and steamed it in a steamer.
The heat was just building up when someone outside asked:
"Is Miss Xu at home?"
These words sounded familiar, so the three of them went out and saw that it was the village headman Liang Zhao, who had come to visit with You Youjiao.
"Sit inside."
Ji Xu invited people into the main room and poured water. The dragon tongue was just steamed, so he picked up a plate and brought it to the table to serve.
"We've come here to tell you good news. The thief Wu Liang who kidnapped you four years ago has been brought to justice! It's said that she was apprehended by Mr. Tian."
Ji Xu was delighted to hear this and said, "It's good that he's brought to justice. I don't have to worry anymore. How is Mr. Tian? I haven't seen him recently."
You Youjiao said, "Okay, Brother Yi is currently at the residence of County Magistrate Pan. Because of your meritorious reporting, the county government will reward you with fifty taels of silver."
After saying that, he pushed over a cloth bag, which was full of solid silver cakes, ten in total.
The younger sisters just came in and were stunned for a moment.
"That thief has her own gang, she's treacherous and cunning. Most of this is due to Mr. Tian's work, so you should hand it over to him."
After saying that, he distributed five silver cakes.
You Youjiao, as if he had received a warning beforehand, pressed the button first and said:
"Brother Yi was recommended to Kuaiji County by County Magistrate Pan. The clues you provided are crucial. He told you to accept this money without worry."
While You Youjiao was talking, Liang Zhao's mouth was idle. He saw the green dragon tongue on the plate and picked one up to eat.
When I took a bite, I found that there was stuffing inside, which seemed to have the delicate sweetness of red beans. I couldn't help but praise it:
"This dragon tongue tastes very different."
Ji Xu smiled and said, "This is filled with red bean paste and pork floss. Village officials and patrol officers, please try it. You're welcome."
It is not easy to eat too much at other people's homes, but the country husband had eaten it before and it was so delicious that he couldn't help but eat the one with meat floss and nodded in approval.
Seeing this, You Youjiao also tasted two.
It was the first time for his rough tongue to eat such delicate food, and he did not show any courtesy. He devoured all the leftovers on the plate in no time, leaving the village head dumbfounded.
When she sent them out, Ji Xu used ramie leaves to wrap some for each of them. There was one extra bag left, and she said:
"This is for Mr. Tian, please take it to him."
You Youjiao asked, "Is there anything you want to bring?"
Ji Xu thought for a moment and said, "Just say that I thank him for his kindness."
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