Records of the Lost Cases of Helaitang in the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 30
Where the song begins,
The sun is setting and half of the river is red.

The soft green pole adds to the plum rain,
The light yellow shirt is resistant to lotus root silk style.

My home is in Wuhudong.

The official who wrote the song "Remembering the South of the Yangtze River" was Wang Fengzhou, a native of Taicang Prefecture in the south of the Ming Dynasty.

The land sinks to the southeast. In the southeast corner is Suzhou Prefecture, which governs one state and seven counties.The old comment said: "Gold Taicang, Yin Jiading, Tong Changshu, Tie Chongming, Tofu Wujiang, Beggar Kunshan, Zhichangzhou, and Kongxin Wuxian."

People at that time said that gold and silver are rich, copper smells, iron is strong, tofu is light, begging turns dirty, paper is thin, hollow and hypocritical.

Looking at the officials, could it be that Taicang Prefecture is the richest, followed by Jiading, Changshu, Chongming, Wujiang, Kunshan, Changzhou, Wuxian and so on. Those who are good at it will take exams for gold, silver, copper, iron, tofu, beggar, paper, and hollow. The real thing refers to the fatness of the official vacancy, which means that the official income in Taicang Prefecture is the highest, silver is one level lower, copper and iron are still lower, tofu can only cover the expenses, beggars are poor, and the expenses have to be posted, the paper is thin and hollow Rejoice in the void.

The storyteller let out a long sigh.

In late spring in March, beside the official road, under the old willow tree, there was a big tea character, one old man and one thatched shop, with seven or eight bamboo chairs, three or two diners, and some crude tea snacks.

On the official road, two young people came walking. The leader was a boy of sixteen or seventeen. He was wearing a blue straight jacket and a neat uniform. The boy next to him was wearing a white spring shirt and was a little smaller. His face was full of childishness.The young man in white coat sat down on the bamboo chair and gasped: "Master, I can't walk even one step."

The young man in blue shirt took out two copper coins and put them on the counter, and said to the old man: "Shop, please pour two bowls of Perrin tea and two scallion pancakes."

The boy in white coat swallowed his saliva and said, "Since we need to take a break, we might as well have a bowl of wontons here."

The young man sneered and said: "My little talented brother, it is easy to go from simplicity to luxury, but it is difficult to go from luxury to frugality. You have gained the true inheritance of my wife."

The young man was dissatisfied. When he was about to say something, the young man in blue shirt dumped his blue cloth bag and said, "Before I went out, my wife gave me a lot of money and we took a boat ride to eat. I still have two pence left. I'm going to Zhouzhou." There are still fifteen miles of land in the city."

Wang Cai smacked his tongue and said: "Before I left, He Xiucai from Zhuangyuanfang sent me 100 taels of Chengyi per person, and my wife gave you a drop of money for transportation? My mother also gave me a few taels of silver to take with me, and the rest was deposited in the bank account. . It’s okay for me to treat you to a few meals, but my father often tells me that we are here to help others, and we pay attention to each guest doing as he pleases, so that we can get along well with each other."

Wang Heng said: "My wife is worried about money all night long. If it weren't for these 100 Liang Chengyi, all the shops would have to come to settle old debts at the end of the month. Besides, my sister organized it for Women's Day on the third day of March. For that haircut gift, the drinks were brought by a shop I knew well, and I still owed something. The phoenix hairpin was custom-made by Lao Chengxiang, so I had to settle the bill with them. I gave the money to my wife, and she left without being seen. To be pure.”

Wang Cai sighed and said, "I just have money for a while, and I'm afraid I won't be able to pay off my old debts. Believe it or not, the eldest young lady is inciting my wife to hold a flower viewing party right now."

A young man wearing a gray cloth shirt in the seat stepped forward and saluted: "Fei Yue from Changzhou County, may I ask if you want to go to Taicang Prefecture City?"

The young man in blue returned the courtesy and said, "Your Majesty, Wang Heng, is going to Taicang Prefecture City."

Fei Yue said: "I followed my mother's order to go to the city to visit my relatives. Because I didn't know the way, I took the liberty of going the same way as Brother Wang."

Xiao Cai said proudly: "Mr. Tip, you have asked the right person. I, Wang Cai, am an old land in Taicang. There are several bridges, trees and houses in the city. I guarantee that you will find your dearest relative." ."

Fei Yuogong cupped his hands and said, "Thank you for your help, little talented brother. My cousin lives in the third house under the Gao Bridge in Ximen."

The three of them chatted and laughed, walking moderately, and walked several miles away without realizing it.

Suddenly Fei Yue looked panicked and said: "Oh, I forgot the box of books I brought with me at the tea shop. I'm so polite and sweep the floor." He gave Xiaocai the blue cloth bag he was carrying and shouted: "Brother Wang, just move forward. , I’ll come and get it.”

Xiaocai frowned and said, "What a stubborn person. You can catch up with us along the official road later." After saying that, he grabbed Wang Heng and left.

The two of them walked slowly, and after about a stick of incense, they didn't see Fei You chasing after them.

Wang Heng said: "Just wait for him here, I'm sure the book box is too heavy."

But he saw three or four people riding horses on the official road. They were all tall and well-dressed men, with swords hanging from their waists and rude looks.Several people caught a glimpse of the blue cloth bundle Wang Cai was carrying and dismounted from their horses.

The leader had a thick beard, pointed his riding crop at Xiaocai, and shouted: "Where is the owner of the baggage?"

Xiaocai looked at the men and was surprised. He pointed at the bridge in the distance behind him and said, "I went to the tea shop to look for something."

The man with a thick beard made a gesture to his men on the left and right, and the two horses galloped away. After going around in a circle, they seemed to find nothing, then turned the horse's head and came back to report: "Xu Tou, there is not even half a human figure."

Xu Tou said angrily: "If we search again, I still won't believe he has wings and can fly."

As he spoke, he stretched out his hands toward Wang Heng and the two of them and said, "Give me the baggage."

Wang Heng was horrified and winked at Xiaocai. The two turned around and tried to escape, but were hit by a rider's whip. He snatched the baggage away with his backhand and took a look. It was just a few rags. It was obvious that they were not looking for anything. thing.

Xiaocai was so angry that he shouted loudly: "You have rebelled against me. How dare you beat my young master? We are the sons of officials. Come on, come on, catch the robbers."

The man asked Xu Tou: "How to deal with these two people?"

Xu Tou pondered for a moment and said, "Take it back and talk about it later."

In an instant, Wang Heng was hit hard, stars popped out in front of his eyes, and he fainted to the ground.

I don't know how much time passed. Wang Heng regained consciousness slightly and stretched his body. Except for the dull pain in his head, there were no wounds on his body and his limbs were not restrained.

In the darkness, he tiptoed forward, and seemed to have touched a pile of straw. After moving it away, the entrance of the cave was exposed, and a pre-dawn night sky appeared. The morning star in the east was very dazzling. Wang Heng speculated that it was around Yin time (five o'clock in the morning). ).

With the light of the morning star, he looked back and saw someone lying in the cave. Wang Heng hurriedly picked up the person. It was Xiaocai. He shook him gently and it took a while before he woke up.

Xiaocai said in astonishment, "Master." Wang Heng covered his mouth and lowered his voice and said, "Keep your voice down."

Their luggage was also thrown on the ground. Fortunately, the passing vouchers and replacement clothes in the package were not lost.

The two of them were silent as they walked out of the cave. It was getting a little brighter again, and they could see that the place where they were just resting was a mountain of mud piled up in the farmland. The earth dug out of the artificial river for the construction of water conservancy projects in the south of the Yangtze River was piled up in the farmland. Sometimes a hole is dug out for easy placement of farm tools and for resting in the field.

The two stopped and observed for a while, but no one was watching outside.

Without further ado, they ran along the field ridges without distinguishing anything. Enduring their hunger, they ran seven or eight miles away in one breath. They thought they were out of danger, so they slowed down their pace.

The sky was getting brighter, and some farmers went to work in the fields. The two of them just pretended to be lost guests. An enthusiastic old man showed them the way. It turned out that this land was farther away from the city than the official road yesterday. , it is still more than twenty miles to the west gate of Taicang.

Xiaocai covered his chest and said, "The boat capsized in the sewer and was killed by that boy Fei Yue."

Wang Heng gave a wry smile and said, "When I think about it carefully, it's probably a girl."

"Fei Yue's green cloth baggage is old and used. It has obviously been used more than once. The baggage skin is blue printed cloth with the pattern of mandarin ducks playing in the water. It seems inappropriate for young men of our age. The pattern of our baggage is usually The first prize, or the peaceful scene, etc., but if it is carried by a big girl, then it is almost the same."

"There is no callus on the middle finger of Fei You's right hand, which shows that he is definitely not a scholar. However, he is wearing a Lan shirt, so we can only infer that he is deliberately disguised. This cannot directly indicate that he is a woman. The strange thing is that there is a layer on both his left and right palms. Thin cocoon, judging from his demeanor, he doesn’t look like someone doing rough work at all.”

(End of this chapter)