Zhurou

Chapter 96
Before Caizhou set off, Zhao Mingzhi tried to get to know the officials of Jingzhao Mansion.

Liao Mian was a newcomer at first, and he was not born in martial arts.

After the Di people invaded, they captured many courtiers and went north with the emperor, and a few officials who had returned to Beijing from the northwest also went with them. As a result, she questioned for a long time, but few of them were familiar with the situation in the northwest.

In the end, Zhao Mingzhi had no choice but to simply recite everyone's resumes.

This time, since she was asking for help, she asked Li Xun's subordinates for help, and she got a reply on the same day. The newspaper listed Liao Mian's background, habits, hobbies, etc. in great detail. There was nothing wrong with it, so I no longer doubted it, and went out to do the shopping accordingly.

Knowing that Liao Mian loves weapons the most and loves his wife very much, she plans to look for sharp weapons and a beautiful outfit.

It doesn't need to be too expensive, just pick the exquisite ones as gifts, but it's a haste now, weapons are also controlled items, so it's easy to find, and what's more, all you can see outside are ordinary goods, it's even more difficult to catch Liao Mian's eyes.

Zhao Mingzhi thought about it, so he had to find another way to buy it in antique shops.

After Mu Xiang learned about it, she persuaded her: "It's better to just buy the face, now that you are in such a hurry, you should go to the Escort's warehouse to look for the weapon."

He also said: "The old master used to like to collect some rare antiques, among which rare weapons are indispensable, but now no one cares about them, they are just vacant, so it is better to give them away."

Zhao Mingzhi asked curiously, "Don't you need to send back the old master's things to his family?"

Mu Xiang smiled and said: "Don't worry, girl, the two have already been clearly distinguished. The return of Jingzhao Mansion to Jingzhao Mansion has nothing to do with the Xu family in Junzhou."

Zhao Mingzhi was inaccurate, so he didn't ask any more questions, he just said: "Go to the shop outside to have a look, if there is really nothing suitable, it won't be too late to come back and look for it."

As far as she is concerned, it is already a helpless move to use Li Xun's relationship to pursue Pei Yong. Naturally, it is better to take advantage of such details as little as possible.

Mu Xiang didn't know that "going back to search again" was just an excuse, but she had no choice but to lead the way honestly.

The two ran to four or five places and asked for a long time, but there was really no suitable one.

When I got to the last room, the shopkeeper almost took out all the things from the bottom of the press box, filled the cabinet, and explained: "If you want to find ancient weapons, this place may be hard to find. There are chaos in the east and south." At that time, there might be some people who took out family treasures to exchange for money, and I’m afraid that one or two can be found in those antique shops in the capital, and the rest with some names have long been taken away by Shezhe’s family.”

"As for the northwest part, it has been stable for many years, but it is very difficult to find."

While putting the things in the box himself, he couldn't help looking at Zhao Mingzhi's waist, and asked, "These two things that the girl is carrying should be ancient objects? I wonder if it's convenient for the little old man to open his eyes." ?”

Zhao Mingzhi looked down, and saw that the other party was pointing at the two sharp knives on his waist.

One of the daggers was her mother's dowry, and it was cut like clay. Because she was afraid of attracting attention, Mo Xiang specially found someone to make a new sheath for it before she set off.

The second one was given to her by Li Xun himself on the way. Zhao Mingzhi didn't know much about weapons, so he didn't think it was very strange.

Because the shopkeeper said that both of them were ancient relics, she took down the dagger, put it on the wooden cabinet, and said, "I got it by accident many years ago, and I haven't heard of any name."

The shopkeeper hurriedly put a layer of cloth between his hands, took out the new sheath of the dagger, held it up in front of his eyes for a closer look, and said: "It looks like something from the previous dynasty, and it looks like a common shape when the dynasty was founded. Not sure."

As he said that, he grabbed the square cloth from the side, pinched the two corners, pressed it on the blade, and pulled it with one stroke, the cloth was already broken in two.

He immediately praised: "Good knife!"

Before the words fell, someone answered from the wooden ladder: "What good knife?"

Zhao Mingzhi followed the prestige, but saw several people climbing up the ladder. He was an ordinary vassal man in leather and hat, and before he got close, the smell came from his body.

Behind him was a woman dressed as a feudal vassal, a young man in brocade robes, and then two followers.

Hearing the man's words, the shopkeeper's expression immediately changed, he hurriedly put the dagger back into its sheath, before he had time to cover it up, he heard the man in charge say: "Shopkeeper, tell me to see what good things you got again? "

As he said that, his feet were already striding forward, and he almost grabbed the dagger.

He acted without any scruples and was extremely rude, ignoring Zhao Mingzhi and Mu Xiang who were standing in front of the cabinet, once the dagger fell into his hand, he pulled out the scabbard, threw it on the ground, and flicked the blade with his fingers, hearing "" After a crisp sound, he lowered his head and saw a corner of the wooden cabinet in front of him, raised his hand, and with one click, cut off the corner with the dagger.

When the half piece of triangular wood fell to the ground, the attentive attendant had already picked it up and sent it over.

The fan first went to touch the counter, saw that the fracture was smooth, and then touched the broken piece of wood sent by his hand, with a satisfied expression on his face, he said: "It really is a good knife, I want this knife!"

As he spoke, he took out a piece of silver from his pocket and threw it on the counter.

The shopkeeper's face turned pale, and he hurriedly pushed the silver forward, saying: "Mr. Pei! This is not something from a small shop, it is something from a customer next door. Why don't you come here to see how our own things are?"

Just as he was talking, he hurriedly put away the things he had put away and put them out again.

The vassal first grabbed the dagger and refused to let it go. He stood aside and glanced at it, and said in disgust, "This is all rags!"

Then he turned his head to look at Zhao Mingzhi, pointed at the tip of the knife in his hand, and asked, "Is this knife yours?"

After finishing speaking, without waiting for her to reply, he squeezed out another half of the silver, threw it on the cabinet, and said: "I took the knife away, and the extra silver is your reward!"

At this time, Mu Xiang's complexion changed drastically, she immediately blocked Zhao Mingzhi behind, stepped forward in two steps, and said angrily: "This is our girl's own property, and I don't sell it. It's in broad daylight. How dare you in Jingzhao Mansion?" Do you want to grab it by force?"

She took out a silver coin from her sleeve, threw it on the cabinet as well, and said: "For your reward, leave the knife behind."

Seeing this, the shopkeeper hurriedly said: "Don't blame the official, this is a trivial matter, take this girl's personal belongings, the official should not be joking - I also have a lot of things in this building, Why don't you sit for a while and take your time?"

As he spoke, he wanted to step forward and take the dagger.

The fan sneered, received the scabbard from the servant, put the dagger back into the scabbard, put it in his arms, and said: "I have been to your place many times, and every time I only have those few old things. Calling you to find a good weapon, and there has been no news for ten days. From my point of view, this is not a "girl"'s own thing. It is clear that you don't want to sell it to me. You got a good thing and want to sell it to others at a high price. !"

He said again: "If you want to see it, take something good for that 'girl' or 'miss', but don't care about the knife. Since I took it, it's mine!"

Mu Xiang was furious, and said: "This is Jingzhao Mansion, not another place, you dare to rob things in the street?! And wait until I report to the official, you can talk again!"

As he spoke, he pushed open the wooden window on the side, and shouted at the following attendants: "Go to the patrol shop and report to the officials! Just say that someone here has robbed our girl!"

As soon as these words came out, everyone in the room was startled.

The shopkeeper hurriedly stepped forward and said: "Don't worry, little lady, if you have something to say, speak up, if you really recruit officials and be taken to the yamen, it's really not good for both sides..."

The fan's face was a little ugly, but he said angrily: "If you really dare to report to the officials, you are a mouse who has entered the cat's nest! Do you know who I am?! You will see me soon!"

However, the other female vassal has already rushed forward, and she didn't know what to say, looking very anxious.

And the brocade-robed young man who was following behind also hurried forward to persuade him: "Brother Pei, why is this so? Well, Pei Jiedu is about to come back soon, one thing more is worse than one thing less, wait for the place to be taken care of..."

Nafan said humanely: "Pei Jiedu is coming back, this time we have to prepare well, and make arrangements up and down!"

He said again: "Besides, this is Jingzhao Mansion. If you really go to the Yamen, can't your father be the master?"

In the middle of winter, when the young man heard this, his forehead was covered with sweat, he hurriedly wiped his sleeves, and said, "Brother Pei may have misunderstood, my father died early..."

The vassal said impatiently: "I know, what you Jin people say about "foster father" already has the word "father". Isn't it father?"

He said again: "It's not about horse racing, it's the second largest person in the Northwest, and Pei Jiedu is your father? He also said that your father can actually control Pei Jiedu..."

"It's nothing more than the right to supervise on behalf of the emperor. It's not second or third. In fact, he has no real power in his hands." The young man took two steps closer and said, "Since it is someone else's own property, it is better to return it first, and then we will return it." Go to see someone else? If you really went to the yamen, it would be bad to be rumored by outsiders and into Pei Jiedu's ears."

He reached out to pick it up again.

The vassal took two steps away, didn't speak, showed a ruthless expression, and even drew the vassal knife from his waist with his backhand, and blew at the edge of the knife.

The young man immediately took a step back, not daring to talk anymore, and hurriedly turned to Zhao Mingzhi.

He saluted first, and then said: "Boy, please excuse the girl, these two are from the domain, although they can speak and listen to the official language, in fact, they don't know many rules, please don't be offended."

He asked again: "The vassals are stubborn, and it's hard to tell him some reasons, but no matter what, you should pay attention to the visitor. I don't know how much the girl's dagger is worth. Why don't you make a price and I will help you add some and buy it for you. gone."

Zhao Mingzhi asked: "But you don't know your son's last name?"

The young man hesitated for a moment, and had no choice but to say, "My surname is Chu."

Zhao Mingzhi said quickly: "Young Master Chu, I don't want to sell my dagger, but just exchange it. You can ask that person, if he is willing to exchange the dagger in his hand for my dagger, I will have nothing to say. How about it?"

The young man was taken aback for a moment, then turned his head to look, only to see the vassal holding the sheath in one hand and the knife in the other.

He doesn't know anything about weapons, so naturally he can't see anything from the edge of the knife, but there are some jewels inlaid on the scabbard, although there are not many, but they are all pearls, gems, and hawksbill corals, and they are so valuable that he dare not even look at them. Go forward and pass on the word.

Zhao Mingzhi said again: "I heard that there has been a custom in the Xifan tribe since ancient times. When the son of the patriarch is born, he will be given a knife by the elders. Others will bring their own jewels and put them on the scabbard. After that, every time they make a contribution, every time they win , you can get a treasure, and then make inlays, often there are great talents and abilities, who are still underage, and the scabbard is already full of inlays, but I don’t know how old this person is?"

"I don't even count how many jewels he has, just exchange them."

As she spoke, she still had a smile on her face, and even her tone was very gentle, but everyone present could tell the meaning behind it.

In fact, according to Zhao Mingzhi's own opinion, it's better for her to keep a low profile when she's new here.

It was only just now that I saw that Mu Xiang had the same attitude in dealing with it, because I didn't know where the Li's bodyguard was located here, I was afraid that the handling was too gentle and it would lose prestige, so I learned a little from what Mu Xiang did.

The distance between the two sides is so close, the vassal on the opposite side could hear clearly, his face darkened, and he didn’t react when Mu Xiang threw the silver in front of him just now, but now he seemed to have suffered some great humiliation, he walked over with a knife in his hand, and shouted angrily: "What do you think you are! How dare you stand in front of me..."

Zhao Mingzhi was about to dodge backwards, but unexpectedly, the man's feet suddenly stopped, first he heard two "dong dong", followed by an exclamation of "ah", he actually knelt on the ground with a "thud".

Looking at the ground again, two pieces rolled around, and they turned out to be the two dimes of silver he had put on the counter.

And Mu Xiang who just threw the silver nugget snorted coldly, and said: "What are you, you dare to take a knife in front of the girl!"

Just as he was talking, he still did not forget to stretch out his hand to protect Zhao Mingzhi behind his back, and said: "Girl, stay away, be careful that this dog will jump over the wall in a hurry."

The fan was so angry that he got up and stretched out his hand to grab the fan knife on the ground, but Mu Xiang stepped on it.

He was so angry that he was about to use all his strength to knock him over, and many of his followers hurriedly surrounded him. Seeing that a conflict was about to break out, he suddenly heard the sound of footsteps going upstairs in a blink of an eye. Many officials rushed up early to block the two sides.

The one in front stood in the middle and asked, "Who is making trouble here, what's going on?!"

The fan immediately shouted: "I am the second prince of the Hungu tribe! Who dares to arrest me!"

Just as he was screaming, he was about to scold, but the soldiers who had already prepared took cloth strips to strangle him, and then pressed him hard on the ground, and he could no longer resist.

The master was treated like this, not to mention those subordinates, even the young man in brocade robe just now was stunned, and couldn't help reminding: "This brother, his identity has not been faked, so it's probably not good to act like this? Right now The vassals have accepted the surrender, if there is disharmony between the two sides..."

The man at the head said: "What is not in harmony is the business of the superior officials. I just take care of my own affairs. I will arrest whoever makes trouble. I can't snatch people's things when the king of heaven comes!"

With a wave of his hand, the people behind rushed up, restrained the fan and some of his followers, and dragged him down.

He asked again: "Who reported to the official?"

Mu Xiang immediately stepped forward and said, "I called someone to report it."

"Then go to the yamen together." The man said, seeing Zhao Mingzhi behind him, obviously hesitant.

(End of this chapter)