The Happy Life of Small Officials in Northern Song Dynasty

Su Jin chatted enthusiastically with this group of people. Although they were in a small border town, the taste of the officials was not as bad as that of the officials in the big cities. Anecdotes and anecdotes from all over the world were topics they liked to talk about, and the new Although the Master Zhizhou who came was young, he seemed to be a kindred spirit, and he was very sympathetic when he talked. Although everyone was still wary, they vaguely regarded this Lord Su as one of their own, and the atmosphere in the room was harmonious.

Su Jin also ordered people to give some of the cakes and snacks brought from Bianliang as gifts to the officials. Su Jin also brought a lot of new tea this year, and one person gave a pack of new tea as a gift, and everyone even gave it to the officials. Thank you for the treasure, but the trade route is blocked, tea and pastries are happier for these officials than giving them gold, silver and jewelry.

After making a fuss for a while, Su Jin sent all the officials away, sat alone in the hall and sneered, Ma Han rolled his eyes and stepped forward and said: "Young Master, why are you so hot with these guys? Didn't you say that you should check them out, now And with such enthusiasm, this group of people seems to be the masters who are not doing business."

Su Jin smiled and said: "Don't talk nonsense, whether you want to do business is not based on appearance, but evidence; I am here to be the magistrate, and they are all my subordinates, so naturally they have to treat each other with courtesy. Give me 1000 taels of gold, and put it in the back hall of the government office."

Ma Han said in amazement: "The hands and feet are so fast, have they all been sent to the inner hall? But why didn't you stop checking because of the 1000 taels of gold? We are not short of this money."

Su Jin smiled and said: "You know the temper of the master, we don't want to give up the cheap delivery. To be honest, I think they give too little."

Wang Chao frowned and said, "My lord, don't blame the subordinates for talking too much. The money is not for nothing. As the saying goes, a man must ask for something when he is courteous. If you take a man's hand, you will eat someone's mouth. What's the point of taking gold from others?" Check? The people in the city will starve to death."

Su Jin waved his hand and said, "Don't I know this truth? Take it back and take it back and check it. Besides, I didn't want their gold in vain. Didn't I give them tea and pastries and delicacies? This is a person who traveled thousands of miles and risked being robbed." The things that danger brings from the capital are just like they spent money to buy things, but the things are more expensive, but this is a matter of wishing and suffering, and I didn't force them to buy it."

Everyone petrified. It turned out that Su Jin gave them tea and cakes not as a gift, but as a commodity. The cakes and tea are too expensive, so 20 taels of gold is not worth it, but it is worth 1000 taels of gold. He was born as a merchant, and he was extremely wicked.

Su Jinwu said to himself: "At that time, if anyone says that I have accepted bribes, you have to testify to me. I have sold them the things that I have worked so hard to bring from Bianliang. Rare things are expensive, and they are actually quite valuable. , give them money and they have no land to buy.”

Everyone was speechless, looking at Su Jin with deep contempt in his eyes, Wang Chao took a deep breath, replied and asked: "Then how do we find out the truth and obtain evidence? Please tell me clearly, I will go later act."

Su Jin waved his hands and said: "You don't need to work hard, it's not good to scare the snakes. This time, I want to get along with them again, give them a black tiger to dig out their hearts, and let them speak out by themselves."

Wang Chao and others hurriedly said: "Then why should we go? How about me and a few brothers go to help the people."

Su Jin hurriedly waved his hands and said: "Don't do it, you first get to know the soldiers deployed locally. Your identities are the Guards Horse Army. As long as you are willing to make friends with them, they are what they wish for, but there is one thing. , don't do good deeds, you can do things that bully people, let them think you are a bunch of scum, and if they give you money, they will also collect all of them, just remember that every time you collect, you must If you want to give back some gadgets, learn more from me, and treat them as if they bought our things with money, so we can talk about them in the future; we can ask Xiao Sui for things, but fortunately, we brought a lot of private goods Come on, save some money and exchange it for one hundred and eighty thousand yuan."

"Damn!" Everyone rolled their eyes at the same time, forgetting that he is not a thing, and dragging everyone into the water, asking everyone to pretend to be garbage, it is really unbearable.

Su Jin looked at the crowd and said solemnly: "My lord, I'm telling the truth, I'm not joking at all, if any of you reveal the truth, it will spoil the big business of the lord, but don't be foolish; with these When people make friends, they often get close and inquire about some information secretly. They don’t want to say and don’t ask too much, so as not to startle the snake, do you understand?”

Everyone had no choice but to agree in unison.

……

The inner hall of the government office is also neat and clean, a small square courtyard with two entrances, some flowers and trees are planted inside, and there are several ancient locust trees on the west side, and a grape trellis under the ancient locust tree, covering a large area of ​​shade .

Su Jin walked into the inner hall with a gloomy expression. Xiao Sui'er and Xia Siling had already set up a jug of wine and some seasonal dishes on the stone table under the grape arbor. Seeing Su Jin coming in, they both stood up to greet her.

Su Jin sat down on the stone bench, picked up the wine glass and drank it down, sighing deeply.

"What's wrong? Are you in a bad mood?" Xia Siling asked with concern.

Su Jin raised her head and took a look. Xia Siling was wearing a light yellow trousers today, she looked graceful and sexy, with a white gauze tube top on her chest showing a large white breast, Su Jin felt a strange feeling in her heart when she saw it.

Xia Siling sensed Su Jin's eyes, which shuttle patrol was in her chest, and her face was slightly red, but she still straightened her chest, as if she was watching.

Su Jin knew that he shouldn't bring his emotions into the inner house, man, no matter how heavy the wind and rain outside, it couldn't scare the family members in the backyard, so he adjusted his mood, pointed to the stool beside him and said, "Sit, you all sit, Have a drink with me, I have been so busy with handovers these days that I don't have time to eat together."

Xia Siling glanced at Xiao Sui'er, but Xiao Sui'er sat down next to Su Jin unceremoniously, picked up the flagon and helped Su Jin fill up the wine.

Xia Siling slowly sat across from Su Jin, frowned and asked, "Is business not going well? You look so sad, take your time. It's the first time you're an official and you have nowhere to start. My dad... my dad used to... When I first became the magistrate of Huangzhou, I also looked like this, but later I became more comfortable."

Su Jin smiled and said: "What I said is that everything is difficult at the beginning. I understand. You don't have to worry about me. The place here is barren and there is no place to go. The outside is not peaceful. You may have to hold back for a while."

Xiao Sui'er said: "My lord, don't worry, I don't know how satisfied Miss Xia and I are here. Sister Xia promised the little maid to teach the little maid how to read, draw, paint and play the piano."

Su Jin looked at Xiao Sui'er's delicate face and said with a smile: "Then our Sui'er is going to become a talented woman?"

Xiao Sui'er said coyly: "The talented girl didn't think much of it, she just heard the Young Madam and a few sisters talking about poetry and painting together, the little servant girl didn't know anything, couldn't get in the conversation, she was so anxious."

Su Jin laughed and said: "Then you should learn from Sister Xia, she is a famous teacher, if you can't become an excellent apprentice, you will ruin her brand."

Xia Siling spat and said: "What a famous teacher, when it comes to writing poems, the young master is an expert. Don't forget that you are the number one scholar in the dynasty."

Xiao Sui'er clapped her hands and said: "That's right, I forgot, the young master taught me to compose poems and lyrics, and the apprentices taught by Zhuangyuan Lang will definitely not be bad."

Su Jin was sweating like a waterfall, waved his hands and said: "I can't teach you, I myself was forced to do nothing, people say that ten years of hard work means that studying is a hard job, I finally got through it, so don't throw me into the fire pit pushed."

Xiao Sui'er and Xia Siling covered their mouths and smiled coquettishly. There are really few champions in the world who are so afraid of reading, but Xiao Sui'er just joked with Su Jin to relieve Su Jin's gloomy mood. Seeing Su Jin talking and laughing this time, the goal was achieved Of course, I won't be entangled anymore.

The three drank a few glasses of wine with simple side dishes, and Su Jin naturally asked about the fact that someone gave 1000 taels of gold. I can't even catch up with him, and the little maid can't do anything, the gold is on the table in the study, the little maid is right."

Su Jin smiled and said: "I don't blame you, it was a meeting gift from a group of officials who respected me. I was afraid that I would not accept it, so I had to cut it first and then put it down and ran away."

Xia Siling frowned and said: "Brother Su, it's better to take it and return it to others. Why do we want other people's money? We don't have to tie our hands and feet when we do things in the future."

Su Jin raised his big finger and said: "You are insightful, you are worthy of being a tiger girl in the general gate."

Xia Siling gave Su Jin a graceful look.

"But this time we accept it. In the future, anyone who gives us money will not refuse. If someone gives me money, I won't accept it. Are you a fool?"

Xia Siling asked: "Brother Su is short of money? The slave family has a lot of private houses. Last time... the last time I brought a lot of money from the old house. If Brother Su wants to use it, the slave family will just give it to you. You can't be a Corrupt officials will ruin their reputation."

Su Jin waved his hand and said: "Don't worry, I have a purpose. As for the purpose, it's just a matter of official business. You will know later; besides, your private money is the future dowry. How can I use your dowry?" money."

Xia Siling blushed blushing, Xiao Sui'er was present, Su Jin said such a thing, Xia Siling couldn't help it all at once; Xiao Sui'er stuffed a green vegetable into his mouth, chewed with his mouth puffed out, the look in his eyes changed, of course it was supercilious mostly.

Seeing Xia Siling's shy expression, Su Jin was overjoyed, the cool breeze was blowing, and after drinking a few glasses of wine, he felt a little ecstatic. Looking at Xia Siling's beautiful face and exquisite figure, his thoughts flew back to him In the small pool in the valley, recalling the lingering days that day, I felt hot all over, so I hurriedly immersed myself in drinking and eating vegetables, for fear that I would not be able to bear the prostitution in broad daylight.