After the Registrar and Deputy County Magistrate left, Zhang Zhong and his companions returned to Jinlai Building, where they had already prepared a place for them to rest. Zhang Zhong could have had the most well-protected courtyard, but no one had expected that he would choose a courtyard with a bad location.
Zhang Xiaobao thought that there were 20 guards protecting the courtyard, and the environment was very good now. It was impossible to assassinate a county magistrate, so he agreed. When they were having dinner, he went to find his father.
"Dad, let me have a look at that seal. I'll take a good look at it tonight and give it to you tomorrow." Zhang Xiaobao said to his father before he and Wang Juan went to rest.
If it were someone else, Zhang Zhong would not give it to him. But since his son wanted to have a look, then he had to. He wrapped the seal with a silk cloth and asked his two children to take it back.
That night, the lights in the courtyard where Zhang Zhong was resting were not extinguished the entire night. If one were to lean against the wall from outside, they would be able to see a figure with his back to the window moving from time to time in the study room.
In a private house in Huayuan County, Deputy County Magistrate Xiao and Registrar Zhan had not slept. They sat on the floor with some wine and dishes on the small table in the middle. They were eating and drinking slowly.
"Brother Buyong, do you think we can get rid of this new county magistrate? We know his family. They don't lack money. It's not easy to get him to be greedy or accept bribes. "
Registrar Zhan asked Deputy County Magistrate Xiao.
Deputy County Magistrate Xiao picked up the wine and took a sip. He picked up the cleaned cucumber beside him and dipped it into the sauce bowl directly. He took a bite and chewed slowly. This cucumber was not bought by him, nor was it given to him by Zhang Zhong. It was given to him by two yamen runners. They wanted to please them, so they sent the cucumber to them.
Seeing that they had accepted the cucumber, the two bailiffs were quite happy. However, they didn't know that the two men had taken note of the two bailiffs and decided to find an excuse to resign. The two men's thoughts were simple. After giving them so many things, they just gave them some cucumber to fool them. If they didn't resign, who would they resign from?
After finishing the cucumber, County Deputy Xiao said, "Brother Xiangyun, if you want to get rid of him, it's impossible to make him accept bribes. But we can use other means. He took those booklets back. What did we say at that time? Huh? Hahahaha. "
As he spoke, Deputy County Magistrate Xiao burst out laughing. Registrar Zhan was stunned for a moment before he also burst out laughing. He said, "Buyong is so thoughtful. We deliberately left some flaws in those booklets. When he finds them, he will continue to look for them based on these flaws. At that time … he will offend someone he shouldn't offend."
"That's right. And the person he offends has nothing to do with the flaws in those booklets. What do you think that person will do to him? What a pity. With so many booklets, it will take him a while to read them. Every month, he definitely won't be able to finish reading them. Even if he reads them for a month, he will just take a quick look at them. Those booklets are accumulated over several years. "
Deputy County Magistrate Xiao laughed for a while and finally stopped. He took another bite of the cucumber and said, "He is also a fool. He clearly gave the recipe for the winter vegetables, but he didn't want to be an official in the capital. It's not that others don't want to be an official, but he didn't want to be an official in the capital. It's not that others don't want to be an official, so the credit for giving advice will be gone.
A good top scorer ran to a county. After a while, who will remember him? If I were him, I would be a sixth-grade official in the capital. My family is rich, so I can find some people to get together and recite a few poems. My reputation will spread far and wide. The Emperor has also built a Pear Garden. At that time, the Emperor will definitely pay attention to him. Maybe he will be given a higher official position. "
"Of course. Who doesn't know that the Emperor likes music? As long as he writes a few more poems and the Emperor sings more, it may be easy for him to be an assistant minister."
Registrar Zhan also said with regret. At the same time, he was jealous. Why could a fool be the top scorer in the exam and come here to be a county magistrate? Wasn't this cutting off the road for him and others?
The two people chatted while eating. They ate slowly. There were no hot dishes on the table, so there was no need to heat them up. It didn't matter if the wine was cold. They ate until it was almost midnight, but they still hadn't finished eating. They were still in high spirits.
After eating for a while, there was a knock on the window. Deputy County Magistrate Xiao went to open the door. A man in gray lowered his head and said, "Zhang Zhong hasn't gone to sleep yet. He has been reading the booklet."
"Okay, go back quickly and see when he goes to sleep. When he falls asleep, come and tell us." Deputy County Magistrate Xiao ordered and closed the door. He went back to the place where he was sitting and sat cross-legged.
"Brother Buyong, how is it?" Registrar Zhan didn't hear the conversation between the two people, so he asked.
"Okay, he hasn't gone to sleep yet. It seems that he is really a newcomer who doesn't know anything. Let's go and see. We will arrange something for him tomorrow. Let's see if he can still read at night. It's best if we can give him some refreshing medicine. At that time, we don't need to do anything else and he will be exhausted to death."
Deputy County Magistrate Xiao smiled sinisterly. He picked up another beef tendon and threw it into his mouth. He chewed hard and said angrily, "I didn't expect that Jinlai Restaurant is also owned by their family. In the past, when we ate there, no one dared to charge us. But they are good. They charge us nothing.
I only found out today that there is an embroidery pattern of rice seedlings on their clothes. I don't know who drew the rice seedlings. It is so ugly. The waiter of Jinlai Restaurant has such rice seedlings on his clothes. Zhang Zhong's son and that little girl also have the same pattern on their clothes. "
"Yes, I only found out about it today. It's just that the picture doesn't look too ugly. It's quite interesting. It looks like a person. There are even eyes. Well, it's not that ugly. Let's do what we thought of yesterday tomorrow."
Registrar Zhan originally wanted to praise the cartoon rice seedlings, but when he found Deputy County Magistrate Xiao's expression was not good, he quickly changed his words and talked about other things.
"Well, let's do that. Don't let him be idle all day." Deputy County Magistrate Xiao was very satisfied with Registrar Zhan's attitude. Originally, he should be in a lower position, but Registrar Zhan was a little stupid and always listened to him.
*****
The next day, when Zhang Zhong woke up and saw that it was almost time to do something, he walked out of the courtyard of Jinlai Restaurant with a pair of red eyes. Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan's work and rest schedule had always been relatively stable, so they also woke up and skipped around for a while to do morning exercises.
After freshening up and having breakfast, they also followed their father to the yamen. They were still holding the silk cloth package with the seal yesterday. When they saw their father, they gave it to him.
"Xiao Bao, you two take some guards and walk around this county. I have to deal with something in the yamen." Zhang Zhong saw that the two children wanted to follow him, so he said to Zhang Xiaobao.
"Father, I have never been to the hall of the yamen. I don't know how they solve the case. I want to go and have a look." Xiaobao knew that the two silly playthings were going to play tricks on his father today. Of course, he couldn't go anywhere else. He wasn't a child. He didn't have any thoughts and only thought about playing all day.
"At that time, the yamen runner asked you and Cuckoo to go and have a look at the hall, but you didn't go. Now you remember. Besides, there may not be a hall today. How can there be so many things?"
Speaking of this, Zhang Zhong didn't know whether to be proud or laugh. The yamen in Sanshui County was no different from his own. When the yamen runners had nothing to do, they would ask his son and daughter-in-law to go there to play. However, the two children wouldn't go no matter what. The emperor's nephew also asked his son and daughter-in-law to go there and have a look, but the two children also refused.
Now, the two children wanted to go with him. They were not ordinary people. It was not easy to go to the court, but it was easy to go to the court. When they returned to Sanshui County, they would go to the court from time to time. Presumably, Na Xiangxiang would not refuse, and the people would not say anything. Couldn't the children of the Zhang family go to the court to play once?
Zhang Xiaobao could guess his father's thoughts, so he said, "In fact, I have been waiting for this day. When you get a hall, I want to see your majestic appearance."
"Then let's go." Zhang Zhong didn't want to drive his son and daughter-in-law away, and the two children wouldn't make trouble.
Under the protection of the guards, the three of them arrived at the yamen. As soon as they arrived, before they could go to the signing room at the back to take a look, there was a person wearing mourning clothes pounding on the silent drum. The pounding sound was ear-piercing.
"Sir, you are finally here. Someone has been beating the drum since dawn. The yamen runner tried to persuade him several times, but it was useless. They didn't dare to do anything to him, so they had to let him continue. Fortunately, the drum is not loud. Otherwise, the people around would be awakened."
Deputy County Magistrate Xiao came earlier. As soon as he saw Zhang Zhong, he trotted over and said to Zhang Zhong.
Zhang Zhong looked at the broken drum and naturally knew that it was not loud. He yawned and asked, "Do you know what happened?"
"Sir, I have asked. His father is dead. He said that he was killed. He wants to come here and ask you to help find the murderer."
Deputy County Magistrate Xiao told the case. He didn't write a complaint, but just said it with his mouth. This man was called Zhang Mazi. He came to Huayuan County with his father five days ago. As a result, they met a group of criminals on the mountain in the east of Huayuan County. They were attacked by the criminals. As a result, his father died.
Zhang Mazi was lucky. But he didn't want to give up, so he secretly followed the masked criminals. He followed them to Yushu Village in Huayuan County and found that one of the criminals entered a yard. He waited there for three days. Then he knew that the criminal was Tian Gouzi, a villager of Yushu Village.
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