The fox minister in the late Tang Dynasty

Chapter 58
The east is pale, the mountain villages are filled with smoke, and the cocks are crowing and the dogs are barking.

The morning light broke through the gaps in the clouds and spread from the earth, pushing the black edge to cover the sky and the earth. The dew refracted the light and slid over the tips of the mulberry leaves to drip, and the sound of "pop" made ripples in the water tank.

In the fenced courtyard, Wang Jinqiu started breakfast at the stove early, and Qiao Niang also got up early, helping to start. The woman ordered something, wiped her hands, ran to the back room, and pushed the old man Geng who had gotten up to the eaves In the morning light, he carried the chamber pot in the house to the toilet and dumped it without being too dirty.

"Sir, it's time to eat." Not long after, Qiao Niang tidied up and walked to the door, calling in through the window, and Geng Qing came out fully dressed, rolled up the sketch in her hand, went to pick up the pancakes, and snorted. I drank all the porridge.

"Slow down, no one will grab you."

The woman put the other two bowls of porridge on the table, looking at the diligent girl over there, she liked it from the bottom of her heart.

"Mother told me that you don't want a cousin from her mother's house, but she brought back a thirteen-year-old cousin. If the truth is found, the marriage will be settled."

"Mother, I just took pity on her miserable life experience and being homeless. It happened that the second elder had no one to take care of her, so I took her in."

Right now, Geng Qing doesn't have any feelings for the women who appeared beside her, otherwise she wouldn't easily climb into a widow's bed.Listening to her mother's nagging, Geng Qing drank the gruel and stuffed half a piece of pancake into his mouth in two mouthfuls. It must be time for the county government to order. Wait for the shouts outside in the spring, and tell Qiao Niang a few words' Staying here for the time being, "pay attention to rest" and hurried out of the yard.

In the village of Shaba, the villagers gathered, probably heard what Mr. Geng said, and most of them came to apologize to Geng Qing, but each of the old men in the village was quite superficial, and he hesitated for a long time and couldn't say a fart.

"Everyone doesn't know, and there is resentment in their hearts. That's human nature. How can I take it to heart? Now that the matter is over, we can continue to do business over there, and the inn will be repaired as usual."

Standing on the chariot, Geng Qing bowed his hands to the crowd, comforted them not to think too much, and said: "I still have to go back to the county office, let's say goodbye first."

Immediately, he opened the curtain and got into the carriage, and ordered Dachun to drive out of the village entrance. Apart from the envoys from the imperial court coming, there was one more important matter waiting for him right now.

It was two o'clock when he returned to Feihu County, the carriage stopped at the gate of the Golden Knife Gang, and he asked Dachun to go to the county yamen to spread the word, saying that he still had important things to do and would not go to the yamen for the time being.

Immediately, he turned around and walked into the courtyard. Dou Wei, who received the notification, hurried over, bowed his hands and saluted, and went to the front yard to talk with Geng Qing.

The maid served the tea and retreated, only then did Geng Qing ask about yesterday's banquet.

"How? Which one didn't come, or all of them came, what's wrong with their expressions and words?"

Dou Wei acted as the lord of the gang, and his clothes and aura were quite different from those in the past. The black brocade fir with open moiré round neck showed a lot of majesty. At this time, he took out a stack of papers from his arms, held them in his hands and put them on the first place. Geng Qing on the left.

"It's all here, Mr. Geng, please take a look."

When the paper was unfolded, Geng Qing looked at the vertical handwriting from right to left, with a sneer at the corner of his mouth, all of which were scholars invited outside to secretly record the expressions and words of the three heads of the Wang, Li, and Cai families who were attending the banquet. There were also those who didn't come, such as the Ma family, who sent invitations and didn't even return a greeting, let alone show up.

"These people's words are subtle, and they are trying to think about it, so don't worry about it, but this Ma family can be used to scare chickens and monkeys."

Geng Qing's fingertips landed on the circled word 'horse', Dou Wei nodded, and immediately waved out: "Come here."

There was a sound of footsteps, and more than 20 swordsmen gathered outside the door. Geng Qing frowned, put the paper aside, got up and pressed Dou Wei's arm down.

"It's not necessary to kill the chickens to warn the monkeys. The imperial envoy is about to arrive in Feihu County. Don't make a fuss and let the other families feel fear. Then they will secretly sue the Golden Knife Gang, and things will become troublesome."

Dou Wei is not stupid, after thinking about it, this kind of thing is really easy to happen, once the imperial envoy finds out, let the Yamen arrest people and use the golden knife to help the status quo, it can only be mermaid.

After a while, he clasped his fists heavily: "Sir, how do we do that?"

"In the future, the Golden Knife Gang will try their best to rely on serious business." Geng Qing didn't rush to answer, and this matter is not something that can be thought of immediately, "Let me think about it."

Standing up with hands behind his back, he walked to the flower garden and among the potted plants, but Dou Wei didn't dare to urge him, so he just followed closely behind and moved in small steps, when the lady's servant girl came from a distance.

Before he could speak, he waved the person away: "Go back and tell Madam, Mr. Geng is thinking about countermeasures, don't bother me."

Looking at the butterflies flying in the morning light, Geng Qing suddenly turned around, walked straight to the gate of the courtyard, and asked Dou Wei to call two members of the gang, "Follow me to Ma's house."

Thinking that he was breaking down the door to seek revenge, Dou Wei immediately went back to get the weapons, and walked in front with two minions guarding the carriage ferociously, scaring the people and traders who were passing by to hide on both sides.

The Ma family is located in Leyoufang in the east of the city, operates a pawn shop in the city, and has three restaurants. There are also hundreds of acres of land outside the city. It is a well-known and wealthy family in the east of the city. Just ask around on the road and you will know.

"Wait a minute, don't talk, don't call the door, just follow me, if you see me laugh, you laugh too, the kind that scares people."

Arriving at the place, Geng Qing got out of the carriage and gave instructions to the three, took a booklet and carried a writing brush behind his back, walked leisurely to the archway, and walked straight past the painted door with the door plaque of "Ma Zhai" In front of the gate of the Red Courtyard, the two guards at the gate pass by in sight, looking at the courtyard wall from time to time, bowing their heads to write and draw.

"What's this guy doing? He's still wearing a yamen costume" "The one behind him looks like Dou Wei from the Golden Knife Gang"

"Always keep an eye on our house, you watch, I will report to the master."

Looking at the group of people outside pointing at the house, the guard dared not be careless, said something to his companion, turned around and ran in, the stone path under his feet extended, and in the front yard around the Fengshui wall, people in fine robes Ma Huai was talking to his son, when he heard footsteps, he turned his face, and saw the nurse stopped at the door and bowed.

"What's the matter?"

The nursing home was a little out of breath, and pointed to the outside and told the matter to the father and son. The latter two heard the "Golden Knife Gang's Dou Wei" look at each other, and hurried out of the front yard to the gate of the yard. A carriage stopped at the intersection, but no one was seen.

"What about them?"

"Go back to the master's house, they went around to the side." A guard who stayed at the courtyard gate pointed to the front.

Ma Huaila took his son and took a few servants to go quickly, turned around the corner, a group of four people were still strolling leisurely by the side of the road, one of the young men with a dark face was not looking up at the courtyard wall, There is an inexplicable uneasiness in my heart.

"Master Dou, long time no see." Ma Huai smiled, stepped forward and cupped his hands, followed by Dou Wei who was accompanying him, turned around, put his fingers between his lips and gave a 'shh', signaling him not to speak loudly.

"What are you doing?"

Seeing that Dou Wei was silent, Ma Huai had no choice but to look at the young man in charge. Seeing that he was wearing black boots, he knew he was from the yamen. Drink tea and talk."

Over there, the young man who looked up at the courtyard wall turned his face sideways, took the booklet and brush and arched it casually, and said with a smile: "My surname is Geng, and the single name is a green character. Let's take a look outside and don't go in to disturb you." .”

"This"

Ma Huai couldn't figure out what he was going to do, so he was more polite, Geng Qing led the members of the Golden Knife Gang to continue walking for a while, and said: "Let's go." Then he returned from a long distance and got into the carriage leave.

The doubts in the eyes of the father and son who came back and stood in front of the courtyard became more and more intense. Ma Huai had an impression of the young man named Geng Qing. At first, he had heard of this name in the case of Niujiaji, and then gradually Forgotten, when it was mentioned again, it was at the funeral of the leader of the Golden Knife Gang. Later, he also asked people to inquire about it, but he was just a young man who came out of a mountain village. Officials, it will be difficult to do anything in the future.

"Father, he came and walked around and then left. What is he going to do?"

Ma Huai shook his head calmly, he didn't know what kind of medicine was sold in the Geng Qing gourd, so he waved his hand to let his son follow him in: "I don't know, but just be careful and be careful, the other party won't be able to cause any trouble."

However, not long after the father and son entered, the servant waiting outside hurried in again, "Master, that man is here again, and he brought a few more members of the Golden Knife Gang with him."

"Do you know what they do?"

"Look around the house."

"It's too deceitful, what do you think my home is?!" The young man sitting next to him slammed the table angrily, and was then scolded by Ma Huai to sit down, "Why are you panicking? Follow me out to have a look."

The father and son hurried outside with their hands. The original group of four people became six people. They held a sword against the courtyard wall to measure the height. When they saw the Ma family coming out, they even grinned politely at them, and then Then he followed Geng Qing and left.

The Ma family here had no choice but to go back.

It was almost noon, and the father and son who had just sat down and picked up their rice bowls heard the members of the Golden Knife Gang coming again. It was still Geng Qing who led them to the west courtyard wall, and left again after a while, leaving a group of people behind. Mud stuck to the wall like a mark.

The young man who was still angry looked at the first father hesitantly. Ma Huai squeezed the bowl and chopsticks hard, and the veins on his forehead were bulging.

With a bang, he slammed the bottom of the bowl on the table and stood up: "What are these people going to do?! It doesn't make people feel at ease!"

"Father, does Geng Qing know what we are going to do? Liu Mang fell into his hands before."

"If you know it, you must know it. A fool can tell that my father didn't go to the banquet. It's just that he doesn't know our details."

"Will someone secretly inform you? Just like Liu Mang's case, our family colluded to eat his family. If the other families have the same idea now, we will collude and use the Golden Knife Gang."

Hearing his son's words, Ma Huai turned his head, frowning even tighter, and walked back and forth for a while.

"Prepare the presents and make up the greeting card. If you go to the Golden Knife Gang in person, you can ease the relationship. As for the matter with the Li family, Cai, and Wang family, our family will not get involved."

He didn't feel like eating, so he flicked his robe sleeves and went back to the backyard, leaving the young man behind to dig a few mouthfuls of rice, hurriedly went to the cashier's side to pay the silver, prepared gifts, and went out in a carriage.

Passing by the bustling streets and alleys, row upon row of houses spread out, and far away from the city gate to the west, a caravan of flags and banners came, and the people and merchants who entered and exited backed away one after another, watching the soldiers escorting the carriages go. Into the city.

The white clouds are like fluff, the sun shines through the gaps in the clouds, and the shade of the trees falling from the swaying fingers is swaying among the garden flowers, and the annoying cicadas are screaming one after another.

Under the eaves of the backyard of the tall mansion, Geng Qing was lying on a big cushioned sandalwood chair, the maid beside her was shaking a fan, Bai Yunxiang was dressed in a refreshing dress, and fed a spoonful of iced cheese to Geng Qing's mouth, Squeezing the handkerchief and gently wiping away the milk stains at the corners of his mouth, a chuckle spread across his face, and his red lips curled up charmingly.

"Just now, people from the front said that the young master of the Ma family came to the door in person, and that he accompanied Dou Wei, and his mouth was almost worn out. As soon as he left, the other families also sent people to talk. This cart of presents, There is almost no room in the warehouse, uncle, how did you do it?"

Feeling the cool wind blowing on his face and smelling the scent, Geng Qing lazily twisted his neck twice, and said with a smile: "Suspicion, the Ma family has dirty things in their hearts, no matter how calm they are, There are some speculations in my heart, as long as he magnifies his suspicions, and if he can't hold it anymore, it will be solved naturally, and the other families, seeing the Ma family coming, are afraid of falling behind, and they have something to do with this side, so they will naturally come to make connections. Then there is a rift between the few of them, and they can no longer unite, at least in a short period of time, they will no longer set their sights on the property of the Golden Knife Gang."

Rue Xiang opened her red lips slightly, she didn't expect such a solution to the matter, she hugged the man even tighter happily, scooped up a spoonful of cheese and fed it into the man's mouth

Geng Qing's heart was aroused by the slight coldness and milky fragrance. Looking at the smiling eyes of the woman in front of her, she was about to get up and carry her into the room. Someone came outside, and she quickly sat down and pulled the hem of her robe to her crotch to cover it up.

A maid hurried over and blessed her.

"Mr. Geng, a gentleman came outside and said that the county magistrate invited you back. It seems that an angel has entered the city and is at the county government office."

"It's time to come."

Geng Qing pinched Rue Xiang's cheek, and the beautiful woman came over to adjust the collar of his robe, "Uncle, are you coming tonight?"

"I won't come here, I have to entertain the court envoy."

Geng Qing winked at her, followed the maid to the front yard, met the official, boarded a carriage and entered the busy street.

(End of this chapter)