Chapter 045 Chapter 45

"Don't go out casually these few days. This thief has the ability to climb walls and fly over rooftops. Yesterday, the daughter of the magistrate of Xiangfu County was murdered by this flower-picking thief." Magistrate Xie looked at his beautiful granddaughter with lingering fear.

Yao Niang was incredulous: "Flower thief?"

Prefect Xie nodded and added, "It's not just the flower thieves, there are also thieves who break into other government offices because of the flood. In short, everyone is in danger now. If you want to buy anything, just tell the housekeeper."

Xie looked at her daughter with some worry. She was impulsive and wanted to take her daughter out with her. If something happened during the journey, she would not be able to survive.

"Yao Niang, how about I write a letter to your father and ask him to send someone to pick us up." Xie discussed with Yao Niang on the way back to her room.

Yao Niang waved her hands when she heard this: "Mom, if I were alone, I would definitely be restless, but now we are together, I am not afraid of anything. We are determined to leave, if we just go back like this, it will be nothing. We are not afraid of flower thieves, we have prepared knives and sticks, and set up traps, if he encounters us, it will be his bad luck."

After hearing his daughter's words, Xie suddenly felt stronger.

When Yao Niang has nothing to do at home, she plays on the swing, draws, or reads. Reading is the best thing to do when you have nothing to do.

When she felt like it, Yao Niang also drew a picture for the old aunt. The old aunt liked Yao Niang very much. The way she liked to please her was not to praise you or talk to you all the time, but to feed you delicious food.

The thousand-layer cake on the table had not been finished yet, and the old concubine made fish soup.

"Grandma, I'm not even hungry. Mom told me not to eat so much." Yao Niang complained quietly.

The old concubine said, "Your mother loves to be vain. She used to do this when she was little. She had a flat nose bridge when she was little, so she pinched it every day. Well, you know what, she really made her nose bridge high. You don't need to learn from her. As a young girl, having a good body is better than anything else."

Yao Niang smiled and said, "Actually my mother also wanted to change my bad habit of eating snacks. In the past, when I ate candies, I would eat as much as others gave me, and my teeth would always hurt."

If Yao Niang is still young and does not know the taste of sorrow, the Ye family and the Chen family are busy. Mrs. Chen is a steady and ruthless person. She can see that Ye Tinggao is definitely not an ordinary person. His marriage is in the hands of Mrs. Ye. Mrs. Chen heard that Mrs. Ye has always had a cough, so she often sends some inexpensive gifts that cannot be returned without anyone's instructions, such as medicine for treating cough.

Now, hearing that Madam Ye had eczema, she collected several prescriptions and came to the house.

But Ye Tinggao fell in love with someone else at first sight. He asked his sister Ye Jingwan, "Who was the girl in purple that I met at the door that day?"

Ye Jingwan is a person who may not praise others in front of others, but she will definitely praise her friends behind their backs. When she heard her brother mention the girl, she thought about it and couldn't help but say, "That girl is the granddaughter of Magistrate Jie, the sister of the Yan family. Not only does she play the piano beautifully, but she is also good at poetry and painting."

Although he only had one stunning side, Ye Tinggao had endless fantasies in his heart. Miss Yan was as beautiful as a goddess, and he was also at the age to get married, so of course he hoped to marry a woman with both talent and beauty.

He was also a man of action, and he privately told Madam Ye, who loved her very much. Madam Ye had also seen Yao Niang once, and it was hard for her to forget her appearance. But she also had her own considerations. Sun'er had only seen her once, and he was so mature and prudent that he wanted to marry someone else without caring about anything.

Would a woman like Daji Meixi bring disaster to the country and the people?

Furthermore, she had met Chen Shuyi several times. Mrs. Chen was a warm-hearted person. If her son married a girl from the Chen family, the girl would be gentle, shy and never cause trouble. Mrs. Chen would treat her grandson as her own child.

And there is Miss Yan, who looks dignified and behaves like someone from a wealthy family. I heard that her father and brother are both in government, so I'm afraid her grandson will suffer injustice?

Thinking of this, Old Madam Ye simply told Lord Ye.

Lord Ye had been in the officialdom for a long time. He had once inquired about the background of Prefect Xie. He heard that he was related to the Xie family in Jinling. Perhaps the Miss Yan mentioned by my wife might be from the Yan family in Jinling? That was a family of prominent officials.

But he had always been afraid of his own family, and Old Madam Ye was three years older than him and had always been harsh and severe, so the Governor had no choice but to obey.

When the news of Chen Shuyi and Ye Tinggao's engagement came out, some people who were jealous of Madam Chen came to Xie's house to gossip, "We heard that Master Ye likes Miss Yan more, and it was all because of Madam Chen's constant fighting for her."

Xie ignored it: "Even if that's the case, it's his ability."

Privately, Xie and Yao Niang reflected: "Mrs. Chen's attitude is what a mother should be like. Even the grandson of the governor tried to marry her daughter, but mother couldn't."

"Mom, everyone has their own destiny. It's not a matter of success or failure. Isn't it because our elder sister ran away from marriage that our girl was affected?" Yao Niang said with a smile.

Xie still admired Madam Chen very much, and Yao Niang analyzed the situation: "Mother, since ancient times, the daughters of low-class families have been married to the wives of high-class families. My grandfather was the governor of the river, and my father was the assistant minister of the Ministry of Personnel. It would be good if we could find someone of equal status. There is no need to do this at all. Don't worry too much about my affairs. As the saying goes, you can't eat hot tofu in a hurry."

In fact, Xie was still under a lot of pressure, so Yao Niang had to keep comforting her. Finally, Xie figured it out herself, and both mother and daughter returned to normal.

Because the Tongzhi Yamen and the Zhifu Yamen were very close, Yao Niang personally gave Chen Shuyi a pair of love knots and congratulated her in person, "Congratulations, Sister Chen, on finding your ideal husband."

Chen Shuyi blushed and pulled Yao Niang to sit down again: "It's over after they said it, and you followed suit."

"I sincerely wish you well, sister." Yao Niang actually hoped that Chen Shuyi could marry a good man. She was gentle and honest, and dared not speak loudly. The governor of the Ye family had a good reputation. If he retired and returned to his hometown, Chen Shuyi's father would have a higher official position in the future. I heard that Ye Tinggao was also a decent person. This was indeed a good match.

Chen Shuyi was touched by Yao Niang's sincerity and shook her hand, saying, "Thank you very much."

The two talked for a few more words, and Yao Niang saw that the Chen family was busy preparing for the wedding, so she said goodbye and went back. Mrs. Chen glanced at Yao Niang's back. She also found that Ye Tinggao must have noticed Yao Niang. When they went to Daxiangguo Temple that day, when Yao Niang got off the carriage, his eyes unconsciously looked over.

But Mrs. Chen didn't care about these things. For example, her husband used to have a lover from the same village, but after getting married, she had long forgotten about that person and sent him to Java.

But she couldn't let Yan Yaoniang come to her place again. It would be bad if the Ye family saw her. She said to the people around her calmly, "I remember that Teacher Lu's daughter came back from the capital."

"Yes, she is quite capable. She can make cakes and side dishes. She makes Mr. and Mrs. Lu happy every day."

Mrs. Chen nodded: "Then please ask her to come over. If my daughter keeps being friends with Miss Yan, she will be invisible to others. Anyway, Shuyi has become much more cheerful these days."

The daughter of Lu Jiaoyu was naturally Lu Shaner. With the help of a letter from Guan, she made Mrs. Guan feel guilty and rushed to Kaifeng, Henan before Guan's burial. Unexpectedly, after Lu Jiaoyu and his wife read Guan's letter and saw that she was well-behaved and sensible, they directly adopted her as their goddaughter.

Mrs. Lu was already old and was not tired of socializing. She was an old lady who liked quiet life. Lu Shaner had parents for the first time and enjoyed their love. But she could not forget Guan's death, which was a death of despair.

Because of her illness, her husband not only did not show any care for her, but also lived far away from her. For half a year, her husband never visited her. Her mother-in-law and sister-in-law also bullied her, so Guan became so heartbroken that she jumped into a well and died.

Guan treated her well, so Lu Shaner would never give up on taking revenge on the Yan family.

But the Yan family was indeed very powerful. She had mentioned the Yan family inadvertently before, only to realize that she had no way of overthrowing the Yan family now, and it was even difficult for her to even touch the Yan family members.

When she was in the mountains, she only came into contact with the servants of the Guan family. After hearing from Sister Xi Que that after Guan's death, the servants would probably be sent back to the Guan family.

She found out that Yan Yingqi, the head of the Yan family, was the Minister of Personnel, Guan's husband Yan Jingzhao was a Hanlin in the Hanlin Academy, and even Yan Jingzhao's grandfather was the Governor of the River. Only such a government office could be so cold-hearted and force Guan to commit suicide.

Therefore, now she must strengthen herself first.

When Chen Shuyi got engaged, she did not send an invitation to Yao Niang. Mrs. Chen even sent a letter to her saying that there were flower thieves everywhere, so she kindly told Yao Niang not to go, and she didn't even invite anyone else.

When Yao Niang heard that Yu Qing'er and the others had not invited anyone, she did not go either, even though she lived quite close to Chen Shuyi.

"It's just a few steps? Madam Chen is still afraid of something happening. She is too cautious." Yao Niang smiled and shook her head.

Xie touched her daughter's head and said, "It's a good thing that you don't go out. Once we catch this flower thief, it will be convenient for us."

"My daughter thinks so too." Yao Niang breathed a sigh of relief.

She continued to do needlework at home with Mrs. Xie until after Chen Shuyi got engaged. The house of the local prefect Lu was broken into. Fortunately, Miss Lu was smart and the Lu family servants arrived in time to prevent the thief from succeeding. Miss Lu also had a face-to-face encounter with the man. Because of this flower thief, Prefect Xie was also upset.

He also had someone bring a portrait of the flower thief to show to Yao Niang and Xie Shi, so that they would be alert.

Yao Niang said, "Based on the picture, they all look the same. To be honest, Grandpa, I don't think anyone can recognize them."

Prefect Xie scratched his head and said, "But this is probably the only way."

窈娘心想你這該死的采花賊，害我不能出門，我得治治你才行，所以她道：“外公，有沒有和這位采花賊打過照面的？我想按照她們說的畫出來，這樣更準确一些。”

“這樣行嗎？”解外公道。

窈娘點頭：“當然可以了，只要咱們有精确的畫像，他若還在本府，讓捕快們拿着畫像不是一問便知嗎？”

解知府也覺得是個好法子，他見過窈娘的畫，別的不說，畫人物十分能抓住特點，就是一眼就能看出畫的是誰？

見外公同意了，窈娘提出一個要求：“外公，若是因為我的畫抓住了賊，那朝廷會不會褒獎我？”

“啊？”解知府沉吟片刻，才道：“主要是抓的是采花賊，若是你的名字在上面，我就怕別人懷疑會不會有牽扯？”

“外公，可是我不畏懼人言。”

解知府見她如此堅持，不由得道：“好孩子，你為何要這些封賞呢？其實也不過就是幾兩銀子罷了，你又不是公門中人。”

窈娘看了解氏一眼：“我想多掙些功勞，為我娘親争一個诰命。”

“原來如此啊。”解知府看了女兒一眼，知道女兒這麽多年，一直為妾身未名耿耿于懷。

可是，解知府道：“還有你哥哥啊？”

窈娘則道：“您又不是不知道，我哥哥現在還只是個庶吉士，日後還不知道授什麽官呢？外公，我聽說每抓獲一名盜賊就可以得到二十兩兩白銀，抓獲五人就可以得到百戶這一官職，我想本府肯定也有不少大案，我只要幫忙抓到五個人，就能封六品官職，我不要這個官職，只想要封我母親。”

“可這些事先沒有先例啊？”解知府也頗為踟蹰。

窈娘道：“外公，我也不為難您，若是不能，我自拿賞錢也可，但若是可以的話，勞煩您幫我在省裏可以說說好話。”

試都不試怎麽知道呢？

如此，解知府答應了。

窈娘則把自己的畫筆顏料都準備好了，還好爹給她買的顏料夠用，不用再買了，這些也不是尋常的店鋪能買的。但她就不能以平常的裝扮示人了，平日出門，窈娘都會妝辦妥當，如此才不墜顏家的名聲，現在卻要打扮的利索一點。

原本窈娘想做男子打扮，可是她面對的是女子，這般反而不好。

因此便梳了個堕馬髻，勉強選了一件花紋最少的牙白色素面妝花小襖，她對着鏡子照了照，滿意的點點頭。

解氏早已是感動的無以複加，她沒想到女兒有這樣的決心，以前她只是覺得女兒小，說着玩兒的。

其實女兒非常聰明，她甚至自己都說過，她做這件事情很有可能被盜賊的同夥盯上，但她就是意志堅決，因為有機會，所以想争取，她怎麽勸也勸不動。

“窈娘，你真的決定好了？”

“娘，恰逢其會，我不怕。您也別擔心女兒，您不是還說女兒從小出生就是福慧雙全的嗎？您就放心吧，不破不立，以前咱們是沒這個機會，現在可不就有了。”窈娘道。

解氏嘆了一口氣：“你和你爹性格還真像，本來以為你小娃娃說的話，自個兒都忘記了，卻一直都記得，你們但凡要做什麽，是一定要做成的。”

窈娘抱着解氏的胳膊撒嬌：“娘~”

**

盧扇兒的養父是開封府的教谕，也是住的官衙，因此幾步路她就到了，想起前幾日的事情她是心有餘悸，現在聽說知府這裏讓她過來描述采花賊的長相，盧扇兒也就來了。

沒想到進來時，看到的是個十三四歲的姑娘，她料想自己平時倒也自負容貌，不曾想這位姑娘不飾脂粉，如清水出芙蓉的姿态一般妍麗。

“盧姑娘，請坐，我們就不寒暄了，我是衙門的畫師。請你直接描述此人身高臉型穿的什麽衣裳，有些什麽特征就好？”窈娘道。

盧扇兒素來機靈，她那日是真切看到那人的臉了的：“他中等個頭，約莫二十大幾歲，臉型我說不上來，就是眼睛不大，鼻梁是鷹鈎鼻……”

在她說的同時，窈娘一直手沒有停，也讓盧扇兒補充自己畫的對不對？

盧扇兒湊近了窈娘，只覺得窈娘身上一股幽香，臉微微一紅，再見窈娘很是幹練，幾乎沉默畫畫，要不就是問多的細節。

“你看，是不是這樣？”窈娘最後修改完之後，直接畫了一幅人物全身的圖，拿給盧扇兒看。

盧扇兒把畫拿過來一看，不可置信的看着窈娘：“您真是神了，就是他。”

窈娘學了五年多的畫，終于算是派上用場了，她看着盧扇兒：“我也要多謝你觀察的這麽清楚，盧姑娘，你放心，我會讓他們盡快抓到犯人的。”

“解姑娘，你以前畫過很多犯人嗎？”盧扇兒驚訝。

窈娘搖頭：“這還是我第一次畫呢！”

“第一次畫就畫的這麽好，實在是另人難以置信。”

的确不可思議，從她哥哥和爹爹說起如何畫人像時，她其實就開始一直在練習，比如每天無論是刮風下雨還是替家中人畫畫像，有時候畫到想吐了，她依舊堅持，尤其是對于抓人物神韻，她都是下過苦功夫的。

只不過，窈娘不喜歡訴苦，也不愛總挂在嘴邊。

解知府也是個附庸風雅之人，之前只知道窈娘擅長畫畫，沒想到她的畫居然把人物畫的躍然紙上。

“窈娘，這人就像活生生的站在我面前似的，極好，極好。”解知府道。

窈娘又笑：“外公，能幫得上你的忙才好。”

如此清晰明了的畫像，官府幾乎傾巢出動，很快才抓住此人，大家本來以為采花賊應該是個花花太歲，沒想到采花賊卻是個平日看起來最老實的雜貨店老板。

他身邊的人一直到他被抓，才驚呼此人有問題，所有人對他的評價都是木讷老實，被人欺負了也不吭聲。

解知府不出三日就擒獲本府巨賊，也是受到了上面的表揚，甚至連本府沈巡撫也誇獎了他一句。

想起外孫女的囑托，解知府不禁道：“巡撫大人，下官有一事請問？”

沈巡撫想起這位解知府也算是背景深厚，雖然并未運作到蘇杭這樣的地方做知府，但是開封府也是河南首府，而看他履歷，簡直就是資歷平平，唯獨聽說和金陵顏家結親。

見他有話要說，沈巡撫負手看向他：“你說。”

“是這樣的，這次能這麽快找到這采花賊，還多虧了我外孫女。她畫技高超，只聽人描述此人相貌就準備畫了出來，如此才能找到。我這位外孫女，平日并不需要銀錢，她只想靠着些許功勞，給她母親一個诰封，還望您允許。”說到這裏，解知府跪在地上。

沈巡撫很吃驚，讀書人若中了秀才，在公堂之上都不必跪，更何況是解知府這樣年邁也做了二十年的官吏，居然下跪求人。

他急忙扶起解知府道：“解府臺，你這可是難為我喲？”

解知府雖然算不得官場老油子，但是聽的出來沈巡撫的話留有餘地，不免道：“要不然，讓我外孫女多破幾樁案子，若再能成，還請巡撫大人成全。”

如此，沈巡撫也贊許：“自古巾帼不讓須眉，但朝廷自有法度在，本官就姑且一試。”

解知府這才露出歡欣之色，又道：“我外孫女的生平就在這張條子上，那就勞煩巡撫大人您了。”

其實解知府也留了一手，怕沈巡撫從中搗鬼，還去信一封給三老太爺。

沈巡撫打開這條子上寫着，顏三娘子，母親解氏，祖父顏邁。顏邁？這個名字很熟悉啊，這不和咱們河道總督一個名字。

這姑娘不寫父親，恐怕很有可能父親早逝。沈巡撫有六個兒子，長子和次子已經成婚，三子臨雲尚未婚配，今年正好十五歲，正在書院讀書，為人暗鈍。俗話說巧婦伴拙夫，若是能娶得顏三姑娘這樣的奇女子為妻，倒也不介意她是否喪父。

被說成早逝的顏應祁，此時，正和顏景昭一起吃飯，父子二人吃的還是解氏留下來的小廚房的菜。

“也不知道你娘她們在河南過的如何了？”

“在外祖家應該過的很好。”

“景昭，我想通了，只要你娘能回來，沈家的事情就算了。你平日常常交游，也多替你妹妹找着适齡的男子。”

顏景昭點頭：“好，爹您放心吧，只不過要配得上我妹妹的人也很少，要不然就是家世不登對，要不然相貌不匹配，要不然就是走馬章臺之人，這可真是難啊。”

顏應祁也不好再說什麽，他吃完飯，随意洗漱之後，就躺在解氏的床上。一時，他又在想也不知道窈娘到底和沈臨風有沒有緣分，一時又擔心解氏和窈娘的安危。

沒有蘭憂在身邊，他真是吃不香睡不着。

Thinking of this, he could not fall asleep, so he put on his clothes and walked into the garden. It was late at night and the dew was heavy. Most people had already gone to bed, but somehow he could hear the intermittent sound of a zither.

"Zhou Da, who is playing the zither?"

Zhou Da asked the maid guarding the garden gate, and she replied, "My Lord, it was the cousin of the Zhen family who was playing the zither."

Yan Yingqi said unhappily, "You're still awake so late, you're calling my soul!"

Zhou Da complained in his heart that last time you said the Second Madam couldn't sleep, and you were still blowing the whistle to get her to sleep.