Liaozhai: A scholar should draw a sword

Chapter 153 Good things come in pairs
"Young Master Tao..."

Tao Wangsan was sitting in the room reading absent-mindedly, when a familiar voice suddenly came from his ear.

"Autumn Rong!"

Tao Wangsan was overwhelmed with surprise, and hurried out.

Sure enough, Qiu Rong was standing in the yard, and Xiao Xie looked at him excitedly.

"Great, you are finally back, great..."

The joy of regaining what was lost made Tao Wangsan extremely excited, tears flowed down unconsciously, he rushed forward and hugged the two daughters tightly in his arms.

"By the way, where is Lord Hou? Didn't he come?"

After a while, Tao Wangsan couldn't help asking.

"Master Hou has already returned home. He asked us to tell you that in addition to Confucian books, he also asked you to read more Taoist books."

"Taoist books?"

"Yes, Lord Hou said at the end, let you comprehend the four words with your heart."

"Which four words?"

"Heaven and man are one."

"Heaven and man are one, husband, do you think that Tao Wangsan can understand what you mean?"

On the way back, Bai Min'er couldn't help asking.

Zhou Yu smiled and said, "He may not be able to understand it in a short time, but in time, I think he will be able to understand it."

Ying Ning was a little curious: "Sir, why are you so optimistic about that Tao Wangsan?"

Before Zhou Yu could answer, Mo Chou smiled and said, "Ying Ning, that's because Mr. is proficient in the art of knowing people.

Moreover, from a common sense point of view, if he was just an ordinary scholar, it would be impossible for him to live with Qiu Rong and Xiao Xie for such a long time. "

"Right!"

Ying Ning nodded thoughtfully.

Sure enough, Tao Wangsan lived up to expectations, and then took the imperial examination again, not only winning the Juren, but also winning the Jinshi in the next year's general examination.

However, after becoming a Jinshi, he did not become an official, but lived in seclusion in the countryside, practicing with Qiu Rong and Xiao Xie.

From time to time, he went to visit Zhou Yu, calling himself a student.

Later, he finally achieved something in his studies, reborn, and stepped into the way of longevity.

Of course, these are things for later.

A few months later, Zhou Yu held a low-key wedding.

This time there was no fanfare or advance notice, only a few close relatives and friends were invited to the event.

After all, with his current influence, once the news of the marriage spread, it is unknown how many people would come to congratulate him.

This time, if you don't marry, you're fine, once you marry, you're two.

Originally, Zhou Yu's plan was to marry Mo Chou first. After all, Mo Chou has been reborn, she has achieved success in cultivation, and the two of them are still in high school... She must be given a title.

However, Bai Min'er disagreed.

It wasn't that she disagreed with Zhou Yu marrying Mo Chou, what she meant was that since she married Mo Chou, if she didn't marry Ying Ning, the little girl would not say anything on the surface, but she would definitely feel a little disappointed in her heart.

Speaking of which, it wasn't that Zhou Yu didn't want to marry Ying Ning, as early as the beginning, he believed that Ying Ning would be his little wife in the future.

He just wants Ying Ning to grow up a little longer, let her practice hard, and marry her later.

But after some persuasion by Bai Min'er, he finally figured it out, anyway, sooner or later, let's marry together.

On the wedding night, Ying Ning was wearing a red hijab, sitting on the edge of the bed, shy, excited, and expectantly waiting...

With the sound of the door, Ying Ning was even more embarrassed, she hooked her head and kept wringing her fingers.

Seeing the shy look of this girl, Zhou Yu couldn't help feeling sorry for her, so he sat beside her and called softly: "Yingning..."

"First... sir..."

Zhou Yu couldn't help laughing and said, "What? Still called Mr.?"

Ying Ning replied honestly: "I... am a little embarrassed to change my words..."

"What's the matter with embarrassment, don't forget, the two of us have already met."

"Husband...husband...husband..." Ying Ning shyly changed her address.

Needless to say, there was a lot of love and affection that night.

After waking up the next day, a maid came to put Ying Ning's hair in a bun, which meant that her identity had changed, and she would be the little lady of the Hou Mansion from now on.

After getting married, the three daughters Bai Min'er, Mo Chou, and Ying Ning not only did not compete with each other like some women from rich families, but they were as close as sisters.

Moreover, they are not the kind of plastic sisters in face, whether in front of Zhou Yu or behind Zhou Yu's back, the relationship is very close.

In addition to chatting about some boudoir affairs, more often they are also talking about their experience in cultivation.

After all, for them, cultivation is also a very important thing.

Unknowingly, a few years later, Wendao Academy has become recognized as a top academy, except for Guozijian, no one can compare.

In the past, some established academies were still a little unconvinced, but now... they can only hold their own.

After all, there are too many students who have gone out from the Wendao Academy, and many of them have entered official careers. From the capital to the localities, Zhou Yu's students can be said to be all over the world.

In addition to Sun Li, another champion came out later.In addition, five other students won the honors of second place and first prize respectively.

There are even more candidates who have passed the examinations and Jinshi.

At present, Sun Li is the best one. He has already occupied a high position and has become an important minister of the court.

Of course, there are also some students who have no interest in official careers, and continue to study after returning to their hometowns, or set up private schools.

There was a student named Fang Ping in the academy, who was appointed as the county magistrate of Shanyang County after passing the Jinshi examination.

On the second day after taking office, some people ran to the county government to report the case.

Fang Ping called the people who reported the case into the county government office for questioning, only to find out that the person was not a citizen of the county, but came from another place.

"My lord, I'm a villain, my brother is a merchant, and he came to Shanyang County to buy goods two months ago, but there has been no news for so long.

The villain went to Shanyang County to ask around, but there was no news of my brother..."

At the beginning, Fang Ping didn't pay much attention to this matter. After all, it is normal for a merchant to disappear outside, and he might have encountered robbers or something.

However, after he got down, he looked through the backlog of files and discovered that there had been many disappearances in Shanyang County in recent years.

There are people from other places, and there are local people, both men and women.

Looking through the files carefully, Fang Ping found that the disappearance cases started three years ago, and there were dozens of them one after another.

This is only recorded, and there may be many others that have not been reported or recorded.

So, Fang Ping called Bo Xu Zhifeng, the head of the county government office, to ask about this matter.

"See you, my lord!"

"Master Xu, you don't need to be too polite, just sit down."

"Thank you sir!"

Xu Zhifeng cupped his hands in thanks, and then sat aside.

"My lord Xu, some people came to report the disappearance yesterday. I didn't pay much attention to it at first, but after looking through the files, I found that many similar cases have happened in this county in the past two or three years. What's going on?"

Hearing this, Xu Zhifeng couldn't help but smiled wryly: "To tell you the truth, the previous county magistrate was also troubled by this and sent many people to search, but there was no result.

At first, I thought it was the bandits in the county that took people away, but later they caught some bandits and tortured them. They did take people into captivity, but almost all of them were in the nature of kidnapping, and they usually released people after they received the money. up.

And after inspection, the person they kidnapped was also among the missing persons who were not reported.

As a result, the common people began to spread rumors, saying that there were ghosts and ghosts who harmed people, and even the corpses were not left behind. "

Fang Ping pondered for a while, then asked: "Well, what does Master Xu think?"

"This... I have also analyzed these people, there are men and women, old and young, some rich and some poor, it is difficult to find specific clues..."

In other words, there was nothing he could do.

Fang Ping lightly knocked on the table and said: "It's an old saying, you have to see people when you are born, and you have to see corpses when you die. Now these people have mysteriously disappeared in this county, and it has lasted for nearly three years. We, as court officials, No matter what, we have to give the people an explanation.”

"Yes, yes, your lord is right, it's just...it's just that these missing people seem to disappear out of thin air. We have searched for it in many ways, but it is really difficult to start."

Fang Ping shook his head: "I'm afraid of the word "seriousness" in everything. I don't believe it. There are so many people missing and there is no clue."

Afterwards, Fang Ping called Chen Butou from the county government to inquire.

Chen Tutou was about forty years old, with a burly figure, and he walked vigorously, and he seemed to have good skills.

"Humble position Chen Meng. See my lord."

"Chen Butou, how many years have you been a catcher in this county?"

"Responding to my lord's words, I entered the county yamen as an arrester in a humble position, and it has been over 20 years now."

"Well, since you have been a police officer for 20 years, you should have a lot of experience. What do you think of the frequent disappearances in this county?"

"This..." Chen Butou hesitated for a while, and said: "Returning to the adults, it is really strange to talk about this matter, but..."

Having said that, I stopped talking.

"Just what? But it doesn't matter."

"It's nothing, if the adults want to investigate, I will take someone to investigate."

Hearing this, Fang Ping couldn't help but move in his heart, and asked: "Then I will ask you again, is it true that the former county magistrate didn't pay much attention to this case at all, so you just muddled through it?"

Chen Butou hurriedly cupped his hands and said, "Don't dare to be humble!"

In fact, this answer was considered acquiescence, and he did not deny the fact that the previous county magistrate did not take it seriously.

"Okay, it's said that there are three fires when a new official takes office, and this official is no exception. This fire starts with the disappearance case.

In this way, you go and get the Er Niu who reported the case yesterday, and the officer will start investigating this case. "

"Yes, my lord!"

Soon after, the commoner named Erniu was taken to the county government office.

"The villain kowtows to the adult."

"Well, Er Niu, I want to ask you, can you confirm that your brother has arrived in Shanyang County?"

"Returning to the adults, the younger ones can confirm. My brother often goes to Shanyang County to receive goods, and the villain also came here twice before, and stayed at Tonggui Inn each time.

This time when the villain came to Shanyang County, he first asked the shopkeeper of the inn. The shopkeeper said that his brother stayed in the inn for one night and said he was going to the countryside to see the market of medicinal materials.

After that, no one saw him again..."

"Then where will he go after leaving the inn? Which town?"

"It's hard to say, because the towns around Shanyang County all produce medicinal materials, and my brother's receipt of goods is not fixed. It mainly depends on the market price and supply of goods. Wherever it suits, we can collect some, and then transport them to the dock."

Hearing this, Catcher Chen couldn't help whispering: "My lord, since he is a merchant, he must have cash on him, will he be targeted by someone, and murder him for money?"

Hearing this, Fang Ping nodded: "I don't rule out this possibility."

Then he asked Er Niu again: "Is your brother alone?"

Er Niu replied: "Two, and a guy named Ah Man."

"Oh?" Fang Ping frowned: "What about this Ah Man? Missing too?"

"Yes, Ah Man went out with my brother not long after they got married, and normally returned within twenty days.

As a result, there was no movement for two months, and his family members came to my house to ask for someone.

The villain is also worried about my brother, so I went to Shanyang County to find someone, and it turned out..."

Speaking of this, I couldn't help feeling sad from my heart, and said with red eye circles: "Until now, no one was born, no corpse was seen after death, and villains dare not go back. I don't know how to explain to my sister-in-law and Ah Man's family."

Fang Ping couldn't help sighing: "Okay, I know, so how about it, you'd better go home first, it's not an option to stay here all the time.

If there is any news at that time, the official will send someone to notify you and your family. "

"This……"

Er Niu was a little embarrassed.

Chen Butou persuaded: "Erniu, we all understand your psychology. However, you have heard that many people have disappeared in Shanyang County in recent years.

Therefore, adults need a little time to check.

You can't help if you stay here, not to mention wasting money, and delaying the work at home. "

At this time, Fang Ping interjected: "Chen Butou is right, Er Niu, I can promise you in person. Within one month, no matter what the result is, I will send someone to your house to inform you."

Hearing this, Er Niu couldn't stop the tears streaming down, and kowtowed to Fang Ping: "Thank you, sir, thank you, sir, you are a good official, and I trust you..."

After all, for ordinary people, the county magistrate is above all else.

Now, Fang Ping made such a promise in front of him, which naturally made Er Niu feel flattered and grateful.

Next, Fang Ping summoned the shopkeeper of Tonggui Inn.

The shopkeeper was terrified, not knowing what had happened, when he saw Fang Ping, he knelt down with a "plop", and said in a trembling voice, "I have seen the elder."

Grand Master is the respectful name some people give to officials.

Rich people are called masters, so those who are officials are naturally called grand masters.

Fang Ping said with a pleasant face, "Master Yu, you don't need to panic, I just sent you here to ask some questions."

Hearing this, shopkeeper Yu felt a little relieved, and hurriedly said: "Don't hesitate to ask questions, the younger ones will answer truthfully."

"Well, I want to ask you, does that medicinal herb dealer Da Niu usually live in your inn?"

When Fang Ping asked about Daniel, shopkeeper Yu couldn't help but feel tight...

The slight change in his expression did not escape Fang Ping's eyes, and he couldn't help asking: "What's the matter? Could it be that you want to tell me that you don't know him?"

"No, no, no!" Shopkeeper Yu quickly waved his hand: "The little one knows Daniel, every time he comes to Shanyang County, he will stay in the small shop."

"Then why doesn't he go to another inn? Only consider your inn?"

"Returning to adults, although the small inn is not big, it is fairly clean and the price is fair.

And... also, to tell you the truth, the little one and the big cow... can be regarded as talking, so he decided to live in the small inn. "

"Master Yu, I'm afraid you didn't tell me the real reason? Did you hide something from me?"

"No no……"

Shopkeeper Yu raised his hand to wipe away the cold sweat.

Fang Ping asked slowly: "Then why do I feel that you are a little guilty?"

……

(End of this chapter)