Chapter 25 Chapter 25 Scroll-style map display...
The scroll-style map was unfolded, showing details like a painting. Qilan County was a little smaller on the map.
However, all the lines converge together in Qilan County, but the mountain road around it is more conspicuous.
Hezhou's brows twisted unconsciously, and his fingers extended in the opposite direction of the ruined temple.
“Why are there so few people passing through Cailan County?”
He looked up at the merchant, then at the map: "I see there are only mountain roads and waterways around here."
The two merchants held the reins in their hands and smiled awkwardly, "There's a dilapidated... temple on this road, making it difficult for large caravans to pass."
"Is it the problem of the dilapidated temple?"
Hezhou stared at the map. He had been to the back during the first case. There was a road there, but it was not wide.
No one had passed by for a long time, and weeds grew around it.
"Yes! It's the temple." One of them clapped his hands repeatedly: "You can't pass by the temple! The master said that you can't get rich otherwise! That's why so many people take a detour!"
"Right, right, right!" The other one also echoed, and the two of them sang in unison, talking about the world in an exaggerated way.
Hezhou's lips moved, and what he was thinking was nonsense. He waved his hand to stop, "I was just asking casually."
He put away the map, patted his horse, picked up the blue and white porcelain vase that he had just placed on the ground, and looked at Xie Xunzhi.
"Xunzhi, do you think this looks good? Are there locust trees planted in the government office? Why don't we put some in there when the time comes?"
"Yes, I think it's good. Take it." Xie Xunzhi tapped it with his bent fingers.
They were walking down the street holding the blue and white porcelain. Perhaps because they were frightened, the two businessmen were walking very fast.
He disappeared in a flash, and Xie Xunzhi was left holding the blue and white porcelain, holding him up all the time.
"This time the injury is even more serious." He said in a sullen voice, with the corners of his mouth tense.
"What are your plans for tomorrow?"
Hezhou took advantage of the fact that there were few people around and walked with an exaggerated limp, as his legs lost their strength.
He stared at half of Xie Xunzhi's face. His long eyelashes fluttered like cicada wings, and half of his face looked like a piece of finely carved jade.
Xie Xunzhi was dissatisfied with his silence, straightened his back, and his shoulders shook violently.
"Nothing, aren't I going to the academy with you?"
Hezhou chuckled. Whenever Xie Xunzhi was dissatisfied, the corners of his mouth would be straightened, and his cheeks would bulge out like a hamster.
The temperature difference is huge on late summer nights. The icy wind makes me sneeze, and the stall is left behind.
There were no lights hanging on the street anymore, only the moon in the sky was missing one side, and two people were leaning against each other vaguely.
Hezhou pulled Xie Xunzhi in through the back door and called out to Hehua to bring the suggestion box and put it at the foot of the wall.
It was pitch black all around, and Chunjuan was holding a dim lantern, lighting the corner of the wall.
The corner of the back door is adjacent to a high wall. The suggestion box is placed here, leaving a square box mark on the ground.
The box was locked, with a long mark on it the thickness of three copper coins, enough for a letter to be put in.
"Okay, go in."
When he got to the inner room, Hezhou sat down with his hands on his waist. His feet were numb from leaving the ground. "It was really hard today. I pretended to be fine in order not to lose momentum. I don't know you..."
He watched Xie Xunzhi turn around and leave. The door was not closed and the cold wind blew in, and his voice became quieter.
When he jumped to the door in his flat shoes, he was just about to meet Xie Xunzhi who came in with water. The water in the wooden basin was steaming and swirling around the edge.
The water was sloshing in the basin, and the heat blurred the scene in front of Hezhou.
The awkwardness continued to spread between the two of them————
Hezhou stood in front of the door, scratching his hair awkwardly. "I...I want to drink some water. You...you are..."
"Sit down, I've prepared some footbath water for you, soak your feet." Xie Xunzhi placed the wooden basin in front of the stool and motioned him to sit down.
"What?" Hezhou laughed, fumbled to sit down, and the heat really rose.
He took off his socks and tested the water temperature. It was almost hot. Soon his feet turned red. Xie Xunzhi applied the ointment without blinking for a moment.
Hezhou leaned sideways and tapped his brow.
The burning touch made Xie Xunzhi exclaim in surprise. When he looked up, his eyes were blank for a moment: "What's wrong?"
"It's nothing, you're almost an old man." Hezhou said jokingly.
"Nothing, just a little..." He paused for a moment, his fingertips still rubbing the ointment: "I'm just a little confused. You haven't told me what you do today."
The lights hanging in the room were made of cheap wax and gave off a dusky hue.
Hezhou came forward and hooked his finger, looking mysterious and refusing to say more.
The round table seemed particularly long. Xie Xunzhi pushed aside his scattered hair and put his small ears close to it.
He blew a few times mischievously, and his earlobe immediately turned pink and moved unconsciously.
"That's right! I want to rebel against the Chen family."
Xie Xunzhi rubbed his ears and relaxed: "I thought it was something else?"
"Aren't you afraid?"
Saying such things in Qilan County is like running to the emperor and saying you want to rebel. Besides, the two of them have no ability to back themselves up except for their mouths.
In this situation, he thought Xie Xunzhi would persuade him and break the window paper, and both of them would feel much more relieved.
Xie Xunzhi raised his lips and smiled: "What's there to be afraid of? It's just a matter of time."
The water quickly became clear, so he wiped it clean with a towel and thought about pouring the water out. Before he was ready, Xie Xunzhi took it out and came back to carefully apply the ointment.
In the next few days, Hezhou followed Xie Xunzhi to school, and when he came back in the evening, he would pass by the snack street to listen to his advice.
His injury was not serious. He could walk normally after resting for seven or eight days. He waited a few days before going to Miss Huang for a follow-up visit, and this time he was alone.
Miss Huang obviously wanted to say something, but she swallowed it all in the end and just mentioned some precautions as usual.
Hezhou wrote them down one by one. On the way, he saw a carpenter carving table legs in front of his house. The wooden parts were snapped together, so he went forward to look at them for a while.
"Where do you buy all this wood?"
The carpenter was shirtless, with a sweat cloth hanging from his arms. He stopped what he was doing and said, "It's priced differently. The more expensive ones are imported from outside, and the cheaper ones are cut down by ourselves in the mountains."
"I cut it down myself." Hezhou looked into the distance and saw dense forests. In fact, the mountains in this area were not very high.
"Well, cut it yourself. Live by the mountain, eat by the mountain; live by the sea, eat by the sea. This is the same principle since ancient times." The carpenter looked at him, picked up the wooden table leg and turned away, no longer paying attention to him.
He touched his nose, thinking that he probably didn't say anything wrong, but he was wondering why he was considered to be looking for trouble.
He didn't stay long and went around to the back door of the yamen. The painted alley was still there. He took out the key and opened the lock, thinking that it would be empty as before.
I didn't expect that there was a letter underneath this time, and it felt quite thick.
Strange!
He took it out and locked it again. He went into the house and slowly opened the envelope. There were three sheets of paper inside, all written in wrinkled classical Chinese. He could only understand a little bit.
The Chen family...deceives their superiors and deceives their subordinates...does all kinds of evil...has a long history of bad deeds...
Hezhou walked straight to the kitchen with the envelope. Xie Xunzhi was standing in front of the stove washing vegetables. His jade-white hands were frozen red in the well water. The letter fell in front of him.
"Master Qi, our county has suffered from the Chen family for a long time..." He shifted his gaze and stared at Hezhou: "Where did you come from?"
"It's from the suggestion box." Hezhou shrugged. "I took a look at a few of them. If three of them are true, the Chen family will be in big trouble."
"I guess it's all true, but..." He wiped his hands and his tone became serious.
"This letter has only just appeared after such a long time, and the handwriting is crooked. Without an attribution or facts, it can't be considered evidence at all. The Chen family has been here for quite some time, and the local people have long been numb to it. If you really open the court now, you might not get any good results."
Hezhou put the letter aside and folded his arms, sighing, "Tsk! What's this? It's not that bad. Can we start from what's written above?"
"Yes, but we must not be discovered."
"Understood." Hezhou stood by and helped, taking charge of the tasks of washing, cutting and tasting the vegetables.
Chunjuan had already prepared the bowls and chopsticks in the room, and started serving rice when he brought the first dish.
He saw an envelope and some silver on the desk inside.
Hezhou's eyes lit up instantly, and he jumped to the kitchen. He clung to the door frame, half of his head sticking out. "What's on Xunzhi's desk?"
"The money approved by the higher-ups allows us to find civil servants and quick-rescue officers, so that we don't have to be left alone when we make the arrest." Xie Xunzhi put out the fire and served the last dish.
Hezhou took it, his tone slightly excited: "Finally!"
The roasted meat in his hand smelled much more fragrant. He quickly put it on the table and shook his hands: "Xunzhi, your cooking skills are getting better and better. When did you learn this?"
"I asked twice when I was buying vegetables, and then I tried them first."
"Don't smell as good as last time." Xie Xunzhi handed him a pair of chopsticks and pulled him to the main seat.
Before Hezhou even sat down, he picked up a piece and put it in his mouth: "It's delicious! Actually, it was delicious last time too, but it just didn't have the flavor. I don't care about that."
His eyes lit up. Although he had eaten a lot of meat in the past few days, today's meat was the most delicious. He picked up a piece and put it in Xie Xunzhi's bowl.
"As long as it tastes good, I'll show you something later."
"What is it?"
Xie Xunzhi said nothing. He imitated the way he looked the last time he came back from school, smiling silently. His eyes twinkled as he uttered two words: "Guess."
Hezhou was confused. He took a mouthful of rice and tilted his ear: "Tell me, tell me!"
"Eat first."
Hezhou was very anxious while eating this meal. He stared at Xie Xunzhi every time he ate a little. The food on the table did not attract him at all. It seemed that the delicious food next to him was the one to go with the meal.
Xie Xunzhi was getting nervous under his gaze and couldn't help but tap him with the end of his chopsticks: "Focus on eating! I found the deed to the wasteland out back, but the problem now is that you, the county magistrate, can't claim it, and I, an illegal resident, can't claim it either."
"ah?"
Xie Xunzhi put down the bowl in his hand and looked him in the eyes: "In fact, as long as it is confirmed to be wasteland, even if you are sued and the land is confiscated, the things are still yours."
"That's fine! Just having the land is enough, and I don't expect to make any money. By the way, Lotus, Chunjuan, are your indentures still in the hands of the traffickers?"
Chunjuan held the bowl and raised his head, his round eyes hidden under his hair: "No, he's at our place..."
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