My wife has a secret

Chapter 17: Lifelong Mistake

This kick that could have cut off his offspring caused the man's legs to close tightly together, and his face, which was covered in black dirt, was filled with pain.

Xu Qing clenched his right fist and hit him hard in the face.

"Boss! This kid uses all kinds of dirty tricks. How can he be more rogue than us?"

The leader also noticed something was wrong.

Although the scar-faced man was a good fighter, he still couldn't take care of the people around him if a group of people rushed over.

But no one knew where that boy in servant's clothes came from, and his actions were even more ruthless than theirs.

"It's okay. We have a lot of people, and this time the customer gave a lot of gold and silver."

The ruthless leader shouted loudly, and in an instant, thirty or forty staggering refugees appeared from all directions and approached Xu Qing and the others.

When Xu Qing saw this scene, he felt very disappointed.

He had already beaten a dozen people until his hands were sore, how should he deal with so many more? Jiao Tingzhang didn't bring any weapons, so he couldn't even scare them.

"Stop it now! Do you know who is in front of you? He is Xu Qing, the eldest son of the Xu family. If the Xu family finds out that you did this, none of you will be able to escape."

Second, stupid, pig teammate!

Xu Qing looked at Jiao Tingzhang in astonishment, wishing he could shut this guy's mouth.

If he could introduce himself as the person handling the matter, he would have introduced himself as soon as he came up.

If we report the Xu family's name now, wouldn't that force these desperate criminals into a dead end?
"What are you looking at! If he was the eldest son of the Xu family, he would have died here today! Do you think he would spare us after returning to the Xu Mansion?"

As expected, the others were still hesitant when they heard the word "Xu family", but after hearing the leader's angry shout, they all understood their own fate.

Who doesn’t know Xu Qing’s bad reputation?
If we let him get away, how would this group of people survive?
The refugees who originally attacked for money, now rushed towards Xu Qing for their own lives.

Just when Xu Qing was forced into a corner by this dark mass, suddenly a sharp sound of breaking through the air came and directly nailed the refugee in front of him to a wall.

The refugee covered his injured arm and blood gushed out.

"kill."

In an instant, two teams of armored guards with swords rushed into the crowd. With the rise of their hands and the fall of their swords, several broken limbs and arms flew into the sky.

How could those refugees be a match for these regular troops? Just seeing the cold light in the soldiers' eyes was enough to scare them to death.

Xu Qing didn't care who the person was and shouted loudly.

"stop!"

Just as he had imagined, after hearing his voice, the guards all stopped what they were doing and took a step back to keep their distance.

Not long after, a man in armor appeared in Xu Qing's sight, accompanied by an old man. The man wore a black gauze hat and a dark blue fourth-rank official uniform.

"Prefect Xu."

When Chief Jiao saw who was coming, he stepped forward and bowed, not daring to breathe.

After taking a look at Prefect Xu, Xu Qing turned his attention to the man in the bright silver armor.

The production of copper and iron was extremely scarce in ancient times. Anyone who could wear a gold and silver phoenix-wing helmet and wrap his body in bright armor must be a famous military officer in the court.

When he was strolling in the city a few days ago, he saw the guards guarding the city.

Those soldiers were protected by simple rusty body armor, and didn't even have decent skirt armor. They were incomparable to the people today.

"Master Xu."

Prefect Xu ignored Chief Jiao and walked over to greet Xu Qing first. The man in armor also clasped his fists in a proper manner.

"Master Xu, I have heard of you for a long time... Who is this person next to you?"

Prefect Xu knew that Xu Qing had lost his memory a few days ago, so he had to patiently explain to the young master, "This is the Zhaowu Captain of the Zhennan Zhongwu Army, Shan Yongpei."

Xu Qing showed a look of sudden enlightenment and commented: "Oh, he is very quiet and quite shy."

"Yes Yes Yes."

Prefect Xu didn't know what was wrong with young master Xu Qing, why he spoke so bluntly.

But it’s better to have less trouble than more, so now just go along with him in everything.

Zhaowu School Captain Shan Yongpei glanced at Xu Qing and said nothing more.

"Master Xu, it is not suitable to stay here for long. Why don't you return home first? I will go to Madam Xu's house to apologize some other day."

Facing the longing look in Prefect Xu's eyes, Xu Qing waved his hand.

"No, this place is great. I still have some things I don't understand."

Prefect Xu thought Xu Qing was blaming him for his poor management, so he quickly explained, "Mr. Xu, the refugee area in the southeast corner of the city is actually mostly inhabited by refugees fleeing famine, and it is not a problem of our Suzhou."

"I'm asking about the case at Zuiyuan Pavilion on East Street."

Prefect Xu was stunned for a moment, obviously not expecting that the eldest son of the Xu family would pay attention to this case.

"Here are clues to the case, so keep these people here for me to question."

"This... this is against the rules."

Prefect Xu was caught in a dilemma. Investigating cases was the job of their government office, so how could they let outsiders get involved?
What's more, the young master of the Xu family is of noble status. If he encounters some danger, the empress dowager will definitely vent her anger on the officials of Suzhou.

"Isn't Chief Jiao here? I'm just doing this as a part-time job."

After Xu Qing finished speaking, he no longer cared about the look on Xu Zhifu's face, and walked straight to the side of the previous leader and asked, "What's your name?"

The man took one look at the messy ground, and his eyes flashed with rage.

"Are you sure you don't want to tell me?"

Xu Qing glanced behind him and saw that the armored guards had not yet put away their weapons. The bright flashes of their swords were so dazzling that they hurt his eyes.

Many refugees huddled together in a corner of a ruined wall, holding their heads in their hands and trembling.

"I don't have a name, everyone calls me Taro."

Xu Qing sat on a flat stone as if no one was around, and said with a smile: "Brother Yutou, I just heard you say that someone wanted to bribe you to kill me. Is this true?"

"it is true."

"who is it?"

Yutou wanted to keep silent, but after taking a look at the brothers who were surrounded, he had to speak the truth. "I don't know who he is. I just remember that he was wearing a nightgown and was thin. He came to my tent late last night and gave me two silver ingots as a deposit for the uprising."

Xu Qing didn't expect to get the murderer out of Yutou, because someone who could get the Mandrake poison and poison him for three months would definitely not reveal his hand in such a small matter. But he also had his own judgment.

It's interesting that the person who hired the murderer knew that he would come to look for the oil seller's whereabouts today.

"Then do you know an oil seller named Fang?"

"Fang...Fang Xiuyuan?"

Yutou was stunned for a moment, then said the oil seller's full name.

He looked into Xu Qing's sharp eyes, swallowed with some effort, and told him everything he knew.

"Fang Xiuyuan is the son of the owner of the oil shop at the intersection of Baolin Street. Before the fire, he and his father often helped us homeless refugees, so everyone here knows him."

"Later, a big fire broke out here, burning down more than 300 households. Fang Xiuyuan's father was guarding the oil shop that was burned down. After this incident, we rarely saw him."

Xu Qing caught the loophole in Yutou's words and said, "Rarely seen... Does that mean you have met each other a few times in the later period?"

Yutou nodded. "Yes, in the middle of this year, around the eighth day of the summer solstice, Fang Xiuyuan came here to meet me. He asked me if I could take on a big job and bring a few of my trusted brothers to kidnap someone."

"Kidnap someone?"

"He said he hooked up with a rich woman. She's a popular girl in Zuiyuan Pavilion and has saved up a lot of dowry over the years. As long as he tricks her into eloping, he can definitely bring all the money out and share it with us... After that, he can sell the woman to a farm outside the city and make some more money."

"What? Do you still have humanity?"

Chief Jiao had always taken it as his responsibility to maintain the public security in Suzhou. Now, upon hearing that Fang Xiuyuan was such a conscienceless villain, he became furious and shouted at him.

Xu Qing covered his forehead and glanced at Jiao Tingzhang with disgust.

"Why are you so anxious, Lao Jiao? What happened in the summer has nothing to do with what's happening now."

Jiao Tingzhang was choked for a moment.

He also realized that if Yutou had really agreed to Fang Xiuyuan's proposal, Chun Shisan Niang would have disappeared from Zuiyuan Pavilion long ago.

Taro said as if he had given up on himself: "Your Excellency is right. We have no humanity for food, but Fang Xiuyuan's idea is to ruin a woman's life. I rejected it on the spot and let him go back on his own."

Xu Qing pointed at himself and asked, "Why are you treating me differently? The girl's life is hers, but mine is not?"

Yutou looked up at Xu Qing, then lowered his eyes again.

"You are different. We just want to teach you a lesson. Besides...if anything happens to you, it is to get rid of harm for the people."

Xu Qing was amused when he heard this. It seemed that his identity as a playboy was well-known wherever he went.

"Is there any other news about Fang Xiuyuan?"

Taro frowned and thought for a while, "I can't remember what happened in the first half of the year... Oh, by the way, he said that if I change my mind, I can go to the gambling house on West Street to find him."

"check!"

Prefect Xu waved his hand and ordered, "Jiao Tingjing, take people to search all the gambling houses on West Street to see if there is an oil seller named Fang Xiuyuan."

Prefect Xu and Zhaowu Captain Shan Yongpei both stood there without moving. Now that he had heard the general idea, he began to understand that the tragic death of Chun Shisan Niang was not that simple.

It seems that there is no way to explain to the Xu family unless this matter is thoroughly investigated.

"Yes."

Jiao Tingzhang took the order, asked for a fast horse, and headed straight to the government office.

Xu Qing also asked for the information he wanted and prepared to follow Jiao Tingchang to West Street.

"Hey hey hey...Mr. Xu."

He had only taken two steps when Prefect Xu reached out to stop him.

"Investigating a case is such a small matter, you can just leave it to our subordinates. How can you, a noble and beautiful woman, risk your life?"

Xu Qing stood on tiptoe and found that Jiao Tingzhang had gone far away, so he gave up the idea of ​​chasing him and said to Xu Zhifu: "Then you must inform me of the results of the investigation as soon as possible, otherwise I will be depressed and always want to write a letter to my aunt to complain."

Prefect Xu was already afraid of the big Buddha behind him, and now when he heard Xu Qing was using the Empress Dowager's name to bully him, he immediately broke out in a cold sweat and nodded repeatedly.

"Of course! Don't worry, Master Xu. I will investigate this matter thoroughly... Hey, why are you guys still standing there? Hurry up and prepare a car for Master Xu to go back home."

The confidant brought by Governor Xu winked at him, and the latter understood his meaning and immediately stepped forward to hold Xu Qing's arm.

"Wait! Don't rush to drag me away. Governor Xu, I will give you some advice."

Prefect Xu was eager for Xu Qing to leave, but he couldn't force him to leave. He could only pretend to be taught and said unwillingly, "You say."

In his heart, he felt that Xu Qing was the biggest obstacle to his promotion and wealth.

"How long has this southeast corner of the land been abandoned?"

"Four years."

Xu Qing pointed casually and asked, "Look, it's been four years, and moss has grown on the burnt ruins. Is this normal?"

"Young Master Xu, you don't know that although our Suzhou Prefecture has a lot of tax revenue, 80% of it has to be handed over to the treasury in the capital. The remaining 20% ​​is used to pay the salaries of scholars and officials, as well as to repair government offices, city walls, roads, and water conservancy projects..."

Prefect Xu counted on his fingers for a long time, and when he got to the end, he said helplessly: "Not to mention the troops to maintain the city defense and provide relief to the refugees. Five streets in the southeast corner were burned down, and there must be at least 300 houses. How can we rebuild it?"

Xu Qing originally thought that Prefect Xu was an official who only knew how to flatter, but he did not expect that he had a clear understanding of the situation in Suzhou City.

Xu Qing smiled faintly, "I don't want you to spend the government's money."

Prefect Xu was slightly stunned and asked, "If we don't spend the money from the prefecture, how can we repair these houses?"

"You can gather famous local merchants together and ask them to buy land. These refugees can build houses, and the government will send people to act as guarantors to supervise them until the houses are built. After the project is completed, these merchants can sell the houses themselves. The government will be responsible for collecting taxes and can also earn extra money from the land."

Prefect Xu was stunned when he heard this. This way, the problem of refugees and houses could indeed be solved.

"This, this... Mr. Xu, this has never been done before in our dynasty. Moreover, selling land and reselling houses... isn't this considered a mean act, speculation?"

"Just sell them for a period of 10 to 20 years, and then take back all these houses and lands. Everything will still belong to Suzhou Prefecture."

Xu Qing patted Prefect Xu on the shoulder, hummed a little tune and left the place, leaving Prefect Xu standing there in a daze with a look of astonishment on his face.

It was a long time before Magistrate Xu reacted.

When he came to his senses, he saw that the Zhongwu Army led by Xu Qing and the Zhaowu Commander had already left.

Now only the people from the government office were left, surrounding the refugees.

A confidant came forward and asked in a low voice: "Master, what should we do next?"

(End of this chapter)