Daming Yinghua

Chapter 52 Hearing

"The imperial court issued an edict that our master Huang went to Nanjing to count the yellow books, and he didn't say when he would be able to return to Songjiang."

The next day, in front of the Yamen of Songjiang Mansion, Menzi told Zheng Haizhu politely.

Zheng Haizhu thought, what a coincidence.

Originally, with a little personal friendship, it was okay to ask Huang Zunsu to say hello and ask.But in front of Master Zhuang, the magistrate, he doesn't have such a big face now.

Even if Mr. Zhuang remembered that he was a grassroots citizen who had earned glory for suppressing bandits in Songjiang, after all, the trial in Shanghai County had not yet started, and he took the son of a nobleman from other provinces to ask for an interview in such a reckless way. Wouldn't it imply that the lawsuit under the Songjiang Mansion was not clear? mean?
Seeing that Zheng Haizhu didn't hide his embarrassment and frustration, Zhang Dai hurriedly said: "I am already very grateful to the girl, so let's go back to the house first, and I will go to Shanghai County today to have a look."

Zheng Haizhu cheered up and said, "If Mr. Zhang doesn't think I'm in the way, I also want to go and see what's going on around the nunnery."

Zhang Dai was willing to still have this enthusiastic and alert "local snake" by his side, at least speaking with a local accent when asking questions, so he happily hired a carriage and drove to Shanghai County in less than half an hour.

As soon as he walked past the river bank, he heard a person who looked like a floating boy shouting happily: "The nun is being judged, the county lord is going to judge the nun, go and see."

Both of them were shocked, the county government was so fawning on the case?
When the crowd came to the gate of the yamen, the hall inside had already been raised.

"Brother, Miss Zheng!"

A brightly dressed young man ran towards him, it was Zhang Yanke.

Zhang Yanke was running out of breath, but it didn't affect his strength to swear: "The trial started like fire, so the one who died was the county magistrate's brother-in-law?"

After finishing speaking, he stretched out his hand, and the servant Agui who was following him hurriedly handed over the steaming Songjiang Mansion's special early Yexie soft cake.

Zhang Dai looked at the wolf-eating cousin: "Have you had breakfast yet?"

Zhang Yanke said: "You went back to the inn last night and told about Sister He. I fell asleep in the middle of the night, but I couldn't sleep well. Later, when I dreamed that I was wearing open crotch pants, Sister He told me in shackles that she I'm leaving, I can't feed me. I just woke up, thinking about it, I'd better take a boat and come to Shanghai County to see Sister He. I don't want to just get off the pier, and I heard people say that the county master wants to interrogate the nun who was arrested yesterday. .”

Zhang Dai's eyes moved.

My third younger brother, not to mention Shanyin, even in the whole of Shaoxing, is well-known for his proficiency in eating, drinking, whoring and gambling. The elders sighed when they mentioned this kid behind their backs.Only Zhang Dai knows that the third brother is actually a hard-spoken and soft-hearted child with a strong heart.

Zhang Yanke swallowed the soft cake, looked at the people on the third floor and the third floor, turned around and said, "Where can I see or hear this, do you want Miss Zheng to sit on my shoulder and watch?"

He had already learned from Zhang Dai last night that Zheng Haizhu visited the prison with dignity, and was really grateful to this little woman.

But he was used to his glib tongue, and when he opened his mouth, his kindness turned into meat.

Zheng Haizhu looked as usual.

She remembered Zhang Yanke in history, who was a bloody man who died on the Jiangnan frontline fighting against the Qing army. Today, seeing Zhang Yanke's care and concern for his old man, it is really hard to feel bad for this ancient dandy.

Before Zhang Dai could reprimand her younger brother, she picked up Zhang Yanke's words and said calmly: "Young Master Yanke, you don't need to give me a shoulder, just give me a penny. I'll take you to the front to listen."

……

Zheng Haizhu was looking for acquaintances just now, and at this moment he finally saw that young apprentice Liu Butou standing by the door, eating sesame seed cakes, and hurriedly approached him with a smile and asked, "Master, where is your master?"

"In the hall, waiting for the county lord to ask questions."

This little catcher is also a clever one. Yesterday he decided that the woman in front of him was the God of Wealth. At this moment, he caught a glimpse of a faint silver light in Zheng Haizhu's hand, and hurriedly added: "Sister, what's the matter? speak?"

Zheng Haizhu gave him money: "Take me and the two young masters to hear the lawsuit, and find some places that are too conspicuous."

The little catcher squinted at Zhang Dai and Zhang Yanke, shook the money into his belt, raised his short stick without saying a word, yelled softly, poked left and right, and squeezed like pigs. A gap was made in the crowded crowd, and Zheng Haizhu and the Zhang brothers were brought to the side wall of the courtroom.

There were still people standing in the front and back, and there were a few scholars still wearing robes and headscarves, which made the well-dressed Zhang brothers less eye-catching.

Zhang Yanke praised sincerely in his heart: The little girl that my elder brother picked up is good, and she has a bright head.

After the three of them stood still, they all looked solemn and turned their eyes to the hall.

At this time, besides Sister He, there were two other people kneeling in front of the blue-robed county magistrate in the courtroom.

Among them, the one who was answering the magistrate spoke with a Huizhou accent, saying "my master" one after another, claiming to be the dead master Yang's servant, Yang Amo.

According to Yang Amo, after several visits between his master and the nun, he wanted to put the nun in a separate house in Yangzhou, but the nun was unwilling and insisted on entering the Yang family's house.

"You're talking nonsense!" Sister He turned her head and scolded loudly, "What I discussed with your master was about engraving books. You suddenly made up these things after the master passed away. Could it be that you were responsible for killing Master Yang?"

"Pa--", the magistrate knocked on a gavel and shouted: "No roaring!"

Then he ordered the tolerance officer to show a piece of ink-stained yellow paper to Sister He, and asked solemnly: "Wife, the poem note on the deceased's body, the paper is from your nunnery? Did you write the words?"

Sister He leaned forward, and after taking a closer look, she spoke a few words to Tolerance, who told the county magistrate with a straight face.

The people in front of and behind Zheng Haizhu's body were curious.

"What did you write?"

"I guess it's a beautiful language."

"Didn't it mean that the dead were fished out of the river? This word can still be read clearly after being soaked in water?"

"What do you know, you bastard? The merit books in monk temples and nunneries are all high-quality paper products allocated by the county. The ink is very penetrating. Unless it is boiled in boiling water, the handwriting will fade away completely. If it is only soaked After a day or two of cold water, at most it will be blurred, but you can still see clearly."

While everyone was chattering, they only heard the majestic majesty of the county magistrate: "The good church will let you know that the prisoner's wife used the merits in the nunnery to write obscene words and obscenities on the pages of papers and gave them to the deceased: Qingsi blows to the courtyard, shakes the spring Like a thread."

Zheng Haizhu was taken aback for a moment, thinking, it turned out to be this sentence, and he couldn't help but look away.

Seeing that Zhang Dai, who is a veteran theater fan, also had an angry and disdainful expression, he muttered in a low voice: "This is obscene language, this is from the startling dream in "The Peony Pavilion"."

Sure enough, Sister He argued in the hall without showing any weakness: "Tang Zun, this sentence is the original sentence in Tang Gong's "Peony Pavilion". That day, Master Yang and I were discussing the font of the engraved edition in the bookstore, because the Song style characters also have tall, short, fat and thin characters. and the book review was written by the lady of my former master's house, so I naturally suggested using delicate fonts. Master Yang asked me to write a sample to show him, and I just received the merit book from the county, so I wrote a sentence to tear it up. Master Yang, let him hand it over to the engraving workshop."

(End of this chapter)