Chapter 145: The Square-Faced Man in Horse City (2 in 1, 4000 words)
The doctor asked doubtfully, "Is your wife also pregnant?"
Mrs. Ding nodded and said, "Please help me check on my wife's health, old man?"
"Okay." The doctor then took Cheng Yingzhen's pulse.
Lu Dani looked embarrassed and went to Shu Tong's side, "How can I let the doctor feel my pulse first?"
Yes, Shu Tong was wondering, if the lady was also pregnant, shouldn't he check her pulse first? Why did Madam Ji wait until the young lady went out before calling the doctor? Wouldn't the second lady know about it?
Su Ruojin really had no idea that her mother was pregnant again, and had been pregnant for more than two months. She and Hua Ping went to the horse market, and Hua Ping explained while they were walking around where all the horses in Bianjing City came from.
She had read the court bulletins in Su Yanli's study and had some understanding of the four major trading places in the Dayin Dynasty, namely: Xizhou and Hezhou in the northwest, Yazhou in the southwest, and Yongzhou in the south.
The word "Que" means monopoly. The Quechang was established due to the need for economic exchanges between regions and was set up at the border between two countries. The government had the priority of trade. The Quechang was strictly controlled by the courts of both countries and also played the role of controlling border trade, providing economic benefits, and maintaining border security.
But according to Su Ruojin, horses are still in short supply in the Dayin Dynasty, and sometimes you may not be able to buy one even if you have money.
"Uncle Hua, can we buy a horse today?"
Hua Ping: "As long as you bring enough money, I will guarantee that you can buy a horse."
Su Ruojin quickly flattered him: "Wow, Uncle Hua, you are so awesome!"
Huaping:......
Why do I feel like I've been cheated by this young lady?
The horse market was very lively and bustling, and it was hard to even squeeze in. The weather was getting warmer, and the smell in the horse market was quite wow. Su Ruojin blamed herself for not being well prepared and not getting a mask. She really couldn't stand the smell.
Although it is a horse market, there are not many stalls selling horses. Most of them sell donkeys. There are also many stalls in poor locations that sell cattle, sheep, pigs and other livestock. The only few stalls selling horses are occupied by the managers of the wealthy families, and they can't even squeeze in.
"what to do?"
Hua Ping smiled confidently, "Don't worry, I will definitely ask you to buy a horse today."
There was no other girl as fair and delicate as Su Erniang in the whole market. She attracted a lot of attention and attracted many people to turn their heads to look at her. Hua Ping wanted to smear some mud and yellow powder on his face and take Su Ruojin to sneak into the crowd like a dog with its tail between its legs.
Why buy a horse? Su Ruojin thought thoughtfully.
After squeezing through the crowds, they finally arrived at a small stall. The stall owner saw Hua Ping and came out to greet him with a smile, "Little brother Hua, how come you have time to come to this filthy place of mine?"
Hua Ping said, "Stop making sarcastic remarks. I'm here to select horses for my boss."
There is business, but the stall owner is not enthusiastic. "We have horses, but let me be frank. The price is not cheap."
"How much silver?"
"Low-quality ones range from fifty to eighty taels, medium-quality ones range from eighty to one hundred and fifty taels, and I don't have any good ones here."
Su Ruojin followed the stall owner's gaze and looked at the cheapest horse. It was so skinny that you could even see its ribs. It could buy several slaves with just this much. It was really expensive!
Hua Ping looked at the young lady.
Su Ruojin had inquired about the price of horses and knew that horses were expensive and hard to buy, but the high price did not match the quality of the horses she saw and the value for money was not worth it. But when she looked at other stalls, she found that they were all occupied by wealthy families, so there was no chance for ordinary people to buy horses.
Okay, since you’re going to buy it, of course you have to buy a better one.
“Buy it according to the good ones.”
Hua Ping was not surprised that the young lady dared to spend money, because the Su family shop had always been managed by the young lady. She might think the horse was too expensive, but if she was sure to buy it, she would be willing to spend money, so he helped her choose the horse.
In addition to Mao Ya, Qiu Yue also came out with Su Ruojin today. The two of them stood behind her, one on each side.
It was the first time that Mao Ya came to such a messy place with her little master. She was very nervous, looking around and taking all kinds of precautions. Suddenly, she saw a familiar face in the crowd. The man's demeanor was completely different from the one she had seen outside the shop before. She was very puzzled and kept her eyes on him.
Hua Ping was selecting horses, and he went over one by one. Su Ruojin covered her nose and tried to follow, but Mao Ya held her back. She turned around and found that Mao Ya was not looking at her, but was staring at the noisy and crowded crowd. "What's the matter?"
"Second Madam, that square-faced man of medium stature is the man who had been thinking about Aunt Gui a while ago."
Missing Aunt Gui? Su Ruojin took a closer look, but only for a second. She was about to go and see how Hua Ping chose horses, but Mao Ya grabbed her arm and refused to let go. "Second Madam, this person is different from the one who squatted opposite the shop before. He is sneaking around like he wants to do something bad."
Mao Ya's words successfully caught Su Ruojin's attention. She stared at the moving crowd again. It looked like a pickpocket at the train station. Perhaps he felt someone was staring at him, so the square-faced man looked over here.
Su Ruojin and Mao Ya quickly hid behind the tall pedestrian and avoided the square-faced man. Just as she turned around to avoid him, she saw from the corner of her eye that the square-faced pickpocket seemed to have succeeded. He looked left and right, pretending to be casual, and squeezed into the crowd and walked away.
Su Ruojin subconsciously covered her sachet. After grabbing the sachet and touching it twice, she laughed to herself. There were only a few coins in the sachet, and her money was now with Mao Ya.
He quickly urged: "Sister Ya, be careful, don't let anyone take your purse away."
Mao Ya shook her head, "He is not a thief."
Su Ruojin: ...
Maoya: "I saw him stuff something into the bearded man's hand."
Stuffing? Before liberation, it was underground party contacts, and after liberation, it was spies sabotaging. Making contacts on the territory of the Dayin Dynasty, isn't that espionage?
Su Ruojin felt that her imagination was too wild. Maybe it was just ordinary human trafficking or the sale of Wufo Powder? Both were possible.
But they were all bad people and bad things. Su Ruojin hurried to Hua Ping, reached out to pull her, and looked like saying, "Let's talk alone."
Hua Ping's eyebrows twitched and he looked at the horse he was touching. It was a brown horse of medium size with a relatively gentle temperament. It was okay for a scholar like Su Yanli to ride. He was just about to ask the young lady for her opinion, but he didn't expect that she had chosen it first.
She is indeed a smart girl. She is so good even when she is looking at a horse for the first time.
Hua Ping was dragged to the side of a horse at the edge by the young lady. Su Ruojin motioned him to bend down and bow his head. "Uncle Hua, Sister Mao Ya said she saw the square-faced man who used to squat opposite the breakfast shop thinking about Aunt Gui. She saw him slip a note to a bearded man. The bearded man didn't look like a Central Plains man."
Hua Ping suddenly looked at the crowd with a gaze as sharp as a falcon.
The attitude and aura he instantly gathered were completely different from the previous second. If Su Ruojin didn't have the heart of an adult, she would have been frightened. She watched Hua Ping's eyes move calmly, and finally retracted them seemingly unhurriedly.
"It's okay, it's just a little thief."
Su Ruojin: ...Who are you trying to fool with the look on your face as if you were facing a formidable enemy?
In the past, Su Ruojin had doubts about Hua Ping's identity, suspecting that he was a street stalker sent outside by wealthy families to gather information. But the falcon-like eyes just now were exactly the same as those of the counter-espionage intelligence officers in film and television dramas. Could he be a spy sent outside by the Imperial City Bureau?
The Imperial City Bureau is similar to the Jinyiwei, with a different name but the same function. If the people they investigate are extremely evil, they are spies. If they report everyone's secrets without distinguishing between good and bad, they are the court's minions.
Su Yanli is a teacher at the Imperial College, a pure scholar, and has nothing to do with the court. Even with Su Ruojin, she doesn't know much about the Dayin court. She hopes Hua Ping is an eye for justice and not a lackey of the court.
Hua Ping never expected that when he accompanied the young lady to buy a horse, a glance would reveal his identity. However, he, as an "eyes and ears", was not a spy sent to observe the movements of the subjects and report to the emperor, but a spy who specialized in spying on the spies of the enemy country.
Hua Ping had seen the square-faced man before. When he was squatting outside Su Ji's breakfast shop for a while, Hua Ping had someone check his background. It turned out to be very ordinary, just an ordinary resident in the alley with only a mother and no father. He had no money to marry a wife, so he was almost thirty years old and still single. Like many hangers-on, he would work when there was work, and squat in the market waiting for work when there was no work. Nothing was found out about him, but he didn't expect to meet the young lady today.
Because of the incident, no one was in the mood to buy a horse, so the stall owner picked a gentle chestnut horse based on Su Yanli's personality and height and paid 150 taels of silver for it.
The horses of the Dayin Dynasty are so expensive!
Why is it so expensive? Of course it’s because of Ma Shao.
Su Ruojin thought of the Song Dynasty. He heard that the military power of the Song Dynasty was not strong. The most important reason was the lack of horses, which led to the lack of cavalry, so they could not defeat the northern ethnic minorities. In fact, the Song Dynasty was not only short of horses in the army, but also in social life. For example, in the famous "Along the River During the Qingming Festival", horses are particularly scarce.
Unexpectedly, the same was true in the Dayin Dynasty. Among the small officials in the capital who were similar to the Su family, it was rare to see anyone with horses at home. If the Su family had not had some wealth in the past two years, and if Su Ruojin had not deliberately caught Hua Ping off guard, she probably would not have taken her to the horse market to buy a horse, because sometimes, even if you have money, you may not be able to buy a horse.
Su Ruojin kept her eyes on Hua Ping and the stall owner. The two of them were joking around like old customers. After paying the money, Hua Ping handed the purchase and sales certificate issued by the government to Ma to her with a smile, "Here, don't lose it."
"Thank you, Uncle Hua."
Hua Ping acted as if he didn't care about favors with a little brat, "Don't order me around. I owe you a favor, how can I pay it back?"
Su Ruojin chuckled, "Uncle Hua is so smart, he will definitely be able to think of a way to repay the favor."
Huaping:......
How can you be so shameless, young lady? Isn't it because of you that I owe you this favor?
After buying the horse, Su Ruojin felt sorry for the money for only a moment, and then she was left with excitement. As soon as she left the horse market, she asked Hua Ping to take her to ride the horse.
Huaping:......
Oh, it's so tiring to deal with the young lady! But why is the corner of my mouth still curled up when I'm so tired?
It's another day to snatch someone's daughter. A soft and sweet little girl is sitting in front of Hua Ping. She is so cool. She attracts more attention. People passing by are all envious. When they go home, they ask their wives to give birth to a daughter and spoil her.
The big horse pulled home, not only attracted the family to gather around, but also the neighbors came to watch the fun. Yang Si Niang finally caught Su Ruojin, "So you went to buy a horse."
Su Ruojin smiled at the neighbors at the door and said, "Why don't you come in and take a look!" What she meant was, I'm going to close the door.
The little kids really came in, and the adults felt embarrassed, so they all went back with a smile.
"Wow, what a tall horse. It's bay red, so beautiful."
Su Ruojin also thought the horse had a beautiful color. "When my father comes back, I'll ask him to draw a portrait of the horse."
Yang Si Niang praised: "Your father must be a good painter."
"Of course." Su Ruojin accepted the flattery without blushing.
Huaping:......
He bowed to Madam Su and said, "I will go back first."
Cheng Yingzhen invited him to have dinner.
"The Second Lady has already treated me to lunch, so I won't eat in the evening."
People who practice martial arts cannot eat too much, so Cheng Yingzhen did not want to keep him any longer and asked Lu Dani to pack a portion for him. "Heat it up and eat it when you are hungry."
"Thank you ma'am."
Hua Ping seemed to be unhurried with the lunch box, but in fact he walked briskly. In a blink of an eye, he was out of the alley and disappeared into the crowd on the street.
Half an hour later, he appeared in the courtyard with a serious face, "Did you catch Fang Lian?"
Mr. Shen nodded, "He was caught, but the bearded man who was in contact with him disappeared, and our people were not found."
"Has it been tried?"
"Old Du is conducting an interrogation."
Hearing that the trial was going on, Hua Ping relaxed and leaned back in his chair to rest.
Mr. Shen asked, “Who discovered it?”
"Mao Ya."
"The girl that the Su family asked you to teach?"
"Um."
Mr. Shen stroked his beard and said, "He's a good candidate."
Hua Ping's expression tensed when he heard this, "You want to get someone into the Investigation Department?"
Mr. Shen smiled and said, "I deal with your apprentice every day. You know his character and habits best. It's up to you whether to let him in or not."
"The Su family trained her to be Su Erniang's bodyguard, but you want to snatch her away when you see a talented person."
"Who am I doing this for? It's all for our Great Yin Dynasty. Serving the country is the responsibility of every citizen."
Huaping:......
For a moment, the two of them were speechless.
I don't know how long it took, but suddenly, he said, "I'm afraid Su Erniang has guessed my identity."
Now it was Mr. Shen's turn to be surprised, "No way."
"This girl is very clever. I think her guess is almost right."
Su Ruojin never expected that what she said about others would be returned to her one day.
"This..." Mr. Shen was a little troubled. Anyone who knew their identities would either disappear far away or find their weaknesses and threaten them so that they would not dare to speak out.
How to deal with Madam Su Er’s identity... and her relationship with the young prince?
Hua Ping said, "Aren't you good at handling this kind of thing? Go away and worry about it."
Mr. Shen was angry at his disrespect for others and said, "Why don't you sit down properly? What a disgrace." He didn't even have the spirit and energy of a soldier.
Hua Ping smiled and didn't care. He pointed at the food box and said, "I'll help you calm down."
"That's more like it."
But just as Mr. Shen put it on the table, their host arrived.
Zhao Lan took the towel and wiped his face, and asked, "What happened?"
Mr. Shen was about to ask someone to find Lao Du to get the interrogation records when Lao Du came in. "They are not from the Central Plains. They followed the disaster victims into the capital ten years ago and became the refugees in the city. The old woman is not his mother. They are the spies of the Liaoxia Kingdom planted in our Great Yin Dynasty to spy on the horse market. Through his information, the northern market determines how many horses to sell to our dynasty in order to control the horse price in Bianjing City."
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