Why are you calling him so late?
Ah Shu didn't understand, scratched his head, but he still went. *
Zhang Biezhi was asleep, but when he heard that Xiao Rong wanted to see him, he jumped up from the bed.
He arrived at the palace in the middle of the night. Under the light of candlelight, he heard Xiao Rong say to him, "Go and lead some troops tomorrow and take them to Xin'an. Remember to bring more people. Haven't you been there once before? You should be familiar with the road."
Zhang Biezhi nodded blankly: "Yes, I went there before, to pick up Madam Xiao. Who are you going to pick up this time?"
Isn't the Xiao family empty? They can't be going to pick up those relatives. But aren't the relatives from Linchuan? And the relatives in Linchuan are all unappreciated. The respected ones have already moved to Jinling.
After so many arguments with Ah Shu, Zhang Biezhi now knows more about the Xiao family's mess than Xiao Rong. ...
Xiao Rong: "I'm not going to pick someone up. I'm asking you to find something for me, a jade pendant."
Zhang Biezhi: “?”
Under Zhang Biezhi's puzzled gaze, Xiao Rong described the appearance of the jade pendant. It was of ordinary quality and was not jadeite, but a piece of white jade with the word "Rong" engraved on it.
This is something that everyone in the Xiao family has. It is said that the ancestor of the Xiao family, who invented Xiao Gong Paper, was told by a fairy in his dream to dig stones in a certain mountain. In the end, he dug out a huge piece of jade. He left a family rule that every child of the Xiao family would get a part of this jade after birth, which would be used to carve a jade pendant to show his identity as a child of the Xiao family. ... These days, almost every powerful family has this kind of magical legend. Xiao Rong didn't know whether it was true or not, but he knew one thing: this jade pendant was not easy to imitate.
He had seen the piece that Xiao Yi had. Although his family had been driven out of the master's house when Xiao Yi was born, they were still highly valued when they had not committed any crime, so they got a piece of jade with flaws. Although it had flaws, the master's family was quite generous and could make many jade pendants from one piece of jade. Later, his grandfather made the jade pendants smaller and more delicate. When he had nothing to do, he would touch the jade and miss the days when he was still in the master's house.
The piece that Xiao Yi had was said to be white jade, but it was yellowish in color, with many brown spots on the edges and corners. His and his brother's were a pair, and when they were put together, every pattern matched up.
Xiao Rong was not afraid of someone asking him where his jade pendant was, but he was afraid that someone would come with the jade pendant that belonged to a real member of the Xiao family and ask him who this person was.
Although he knew that even if his identity was exposed, Qu Yunmie and others would not care, but one must be prepared for the worst. Moreover, the enemy was a man who could even use bones and plagues. Who knew what he could do if the jade pendant fell into his hands.
Zhang Biezhi was no longer as easy to fool as before. Xiao Rong asked him if he remembered those characteristics. He nodded, indicating that he had memorized them. Then he asked slowly: "Rong...? But Mr. Xiao, isn't your name Rong, which means melting?"
Xiao Rong said calmly, "Yes, but when I was away from home, I was too talented and worried that the Xiao family would come looking for me, so I made up a name and identity. It was not a glorious thing, and my family didn't know about it. Later, an epidemic broke out in Xin'an, so I left. It was a chaotic time, and the jade pendant was lost. I'm afraid it was picked up by someone and regarded as a relic of the patients."
Zhang Biezhi suddenly realized. Seeing that he believed it, Xiao Rong quickly struck while the iron was hot: "I wanted to keep this matter deep in my heart. After all, I was away for so many years... Everyone has times when they have to do something. But I believe in you. You are different from your brother-in-law. You won't tell this to anyone, right?"
Xiao Rong's words were vague, but Zhang Biezhi had already imagined a lot. Thinking about how a sickly Xiao Rong could make a living on his own, Zhang Biezhi looked at him with sympathy: "Don't worry, Mr. Xiao, I'm not a sieve!"
Xiao Rong: “…”
Yes, a colander in your home is enough. *
With the mission, Zhang Biezhi set out happily the next day, but he vomited as soon as he got on the boat. …
If you want to go to Xin'an, you have to cross several rivers no matter what. Finally, you arrive at Xin'an County. Zhang Biezhi, an outsider, immediately finds that Xin'an is different from the past.
Xin'an in the past was so bustling, with people wearing scholars' clothes everywhere. Although not as prosperous as Nanjing, its scholarly atmosphere was unmatched by Nanjing. The streets were lined with hawkers, and the fresh fruits there made people salivate at the sight of them.
Now all of them are gone, no scholars, no vendors, every household has closed its doors, and the streets are extremely desolate. Zhang Bie doesn't know what is going on, but since he is already here, he can't just go back after entering the city.
After finding an inn to stay in, Zhang Biezhi thought for a while and wrote two letters, one to Wang Xinyong and the other to Di Fazeng. Both of them were in the heart of Nanyong. One was searching Xiakou in a carpet-like manner, trying to get more information about the leader Chen Jiancheng, while the other had arrived in Dongyang. Of course, he could not avoid meeting the King of Dongyang, He Tingzhi. After all, among all the people in Nanyong, He Tingzhi was the one who got along best with the Zhenbei Army. He could talk to Qu Yunmie and Xiao Rong, and they had never fallen out with each other.
Since they want to investigate the Qingfeng Sect, which is a cancer, he will naturally cooperate with them fully.
Zhang Biezhi just wanted to tell them that he came here because he always felt that the environment in Xin'an was not right, so he wanted to be on the safe side.
After writing the letter and sending it out, Zhang Biezhi followed the clues given by Xiao Rong to look for it. It happened just over a year ago, so it was relatively easy to find. After asking a few people, he found the manager at that time. A plague claimed the lives of tens of thousands of people in Xin'an. The manager didn't remember who Xiao Rong was. He had a deeper impression of Xiao Yi. But the person who came was Zhang Biezhi, so he couldn't remember anything.
Xiao Rong thought that all the relics were embezzled by the steward, but the steward was not so capable. A pile of relics was worth a lot of money. It was the officers and soldiers in the whole city and the scoundrels on the street who divided up the relics.
This was a huge project. Zhang Biezhi ran around for two or three days and obtained the list of shops to be sold through coercion and inducement. As a result, less than 20% of these shops are still open.
Zhang Biezhi: “…………”
Sighing, he could only accept his fate and continue searching. He first checked the shops that were open, and then went to the homes of those that were closed. He checked one by one, and scared dozens of people to tears before he finally found the whereabouts of the jade pendant.
Sold on March 18, the sixth year of Shengde.
Zhang Biezhi's hands were shaking as he held the account book. He almost shoved the page into the shopkeeper's face, "Sold?! Who did you sell it to?! Why are there customer names under other items, but not this one? There's even a circle behind it. What does this mean? Did you take bribes and secretly keep it for yourself!!!"
Shopkeeper: “…………” It’s unfair!
He was just a small business, his own business, why would he steal his own things? It was precisely because his family had no background that he was the first one on this street to close down!
But he had some impression of the jade pendant that Zhang Biezhi mentioned. It was of poor quality and could not be sold for much money. It was given to him by a local gangster. He wanted to buy it at a low price but failed. The gangster gave him a bunch of junk. Only this jade pendant was slightly valuable. However, there were words on it, and they were people's names. With a little thought, he knew where these junk came from. The shopkeeper was upset and didn't even want to look at them, so he gave them to the clerk to sell.
I have to sell it, after all, I have spent money on it.
As for when the jade pendant was sold, he had no idea. He could only point to the circle and say tremblingly, "That means it's not a silver transaction. My store is a small one, so we don't have that many rules. If a customer doesn't want to pay and wants to buy it with something else, as long as the price is right, we'll sell it to him."
Zhang Biezhi felt like he was going crazy: "No matter what I say, you are right, right?"
The shopkeeper felt like crying. He was right! ...
Fortunately, Zhang Biezhi calmed down a little afterwards. He asked the shopkeeper who he sold the jade pendant to, but the shopkeeper didn't know and said it was sold by the clerk. Zhang Biezhi asked him where the clerk was, and the shopkeeper said he had escaped and might have gone to Jiaozhou to catch crabs and dig oysters.
Zhang Biezhi: “…………”
With a wooden face, he calculated in his mind how long it would take him to go to Jiaozhou.
It’s not too far away, but by the time he comes back, the king will probably have changed the dynasty.
And finding a buddy is not the end of the story. The next step is to find a buyer. So where is the buyer? I’m afraid he has gone to raise yaks.
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