high official

Chapter 154
The old servant put the food and wine on the table, Wei Wuque invited Wang Xian to take a seat, and then invited Xian Yun to take a seat.

Xianyun shook his head and ignored him.

"Don't worry about him," Wang Xian said with a smile, "He doesn't drink."

The two chatted for a drink, and after a few drinks, Wei Wuque seemed to gain courage, and said a little coyly: "Actually, Xiaosheng came to Pujiang this time to make his sister. The so-called Guanguan Jujiu is on the continent of the river. Gentlemen are fond of love. You can’t get what you want, and you can’t help but think about it..."

"It's a pity that I can't be the master..." Wang Xian smiled wryly, thinking that the one who can make the decision is standing behind him.

"That's right, marriage needs to be ordered by parents." Wei Wuquai nodded and said, "But first, you need to clear up your sister's misunderstanding about me, right, bro?"

"Who is your brother?" Wang Xian almost sprayed his face with a sip of wine.

"My lord, if I married Lingmei, wouldn't I be your brother-in-law, wouldn't you be my brother?" Wei Wuque said brazenly.

"Wait a minute, you don't want to be beaten into a pig's head again, so you should not mention this." Wang Xian felt a chill behind him, obviously Xianyun didn't want others to joke about Lingxiao's marriage.Then he said seriously: "My sister is still young, it's too early to talk about marriage."

"No matter how young you are, you have to be thirteen or fourteen. Seeing as I am, I can't be in a hurry." Wei Wuque said anxiously: "Brother may not know me, but let me introduce myself, my family is in Ningbo, and I can be considered a famous and scholarly family... "

"My sister can't read."

"Uh..." Wei Wuque hurriedly changed his words, "I just want to find someone who can't read."

Wang Xian looked at Xianyun, and thought that I had no choice. This kid is like a plaster, and it won't come off if it gets on.

After drinking for a while, Wang Xian said that he still had business in the afternoon, so he and Xianyun returned to the Yamen.

Back in Xiya, Xian Yun's jade-like face turned livid: "With your wisdom, you can completely make him hopeless."

"I really can't help it..." Wang Xian's defense was weak, so he had to change his words: "What are you afraid of, who can take advantage of Ling Xiao? If she doesn't beat him to death, that kid is lucky."

"Then you don't need to, just make fun of my sister!" Xianyun said angrily.

"I'm not joking." Wang Xian said solemnly: "I'm just going to plan."

"Just plan?" Xian Yun said in his heart, where did you have so many crooked intestines?

"That's right." Wang Xian asked Xianyun, "Do you believe that kid's words?"

"I don't believe it." Xian Yun shook his head and said, "However, according to your order, I asked Mr. Hu's people to investigate. There is indeed a Wei family in Ningbo Mansion, and there is also a student named Wei Wuque in the school."

"These are all things that can be faked. Anyone who dares to report them will not be afraid of you to investigate." Wang Xian said in a low voice, "I suspect this kid is from Mingjiao."

"Mingjiao?"

"Back when I was rounding up Ming Cultists in Fuyang, this kid was there. When I came to Pujiang to take office, this kid was the first one I met. Now he simply lives in Pujiang..." Wang Xian said in a deep voice: "His The whereabouts are too abnormal, there must be a demon in the abnormal!"

"Your inferences are always so arbitrary." Xian Yun smiled wryly.

"It's not bad for me to think of people as bad." Wang Xian said slowly: "He approached me, probably with you by my side for one purpose."

"You mean, he's also looking for that person?" Xian Yun asked in surprise.

"I'm just guessing." Wang Xian said softly, "No matter what, he will obey my orders. I have a fishing plan, but I just haven't figured out who to use as bait. Now that this guy appears, it's really a big deal. Couldn't be better..."

.

The next day, the families of the missing persons reported to Xiya.

The first one to come was the wife and children of the woodcutter Tian Wu. Tian Wu had been missing for the longest time, and they didn't think he would survive for a long time.Wang Xian asked them about Tian Wu's situation before and after his disappearance, including who helped to find him, etc., then issued a document for cancellation of household registration, and ordered them to take them to the household for processing.

After that, family members came one after another, and Wang Xian asked them one by one, but what these people said was not bad. They all said that they disappeared without warning, and there was no news at all.It wasn't until he met the family of the tea merchant Zheng Mai that Wang Xian got some unusual information...

Zheng Mai's eldest son recalled: "My family's tea is basically sold in this county, and our family is the biggest customer.Every year at the beginning of the year, my father would go to Zhengzhai Town to collect the bills, but after returning that year, he was out of his mind and had a bad year.He also said some weird things to me..."

"What are you talking about?" Wang Xian waved his hand covertly, Xian Yun and Ling Xiao monitored the inside and outside of the house to avoid eavesdropping.

"He said that the Zheng family was going to be destroyed, so he asked me to sell the tea garden quickly and take the family away from Pujiang to avoid disaster." Zheng Mai's son turned pale and said, "I asked him what happened, but he didn't say a word. , just curled up on the bed, covered with two quilts, and his teeth were still chattering. I asked him what was wrong, and he said that he would report to the police, only in this way could the whole family be saved. Then he shook his head and said no, tens of thousands of lives... It’s like getting mad, repeating these words all the time, and then getting up before dawn on New Year’s Day, saying that I went to the tea garden to set off whips, but I never came back.”

"Have you said these words to others?" Wang Xian has a good memory and knows that there is no such record in the file.

"No." Zheng Mai's son shook his head.

"why?"

"I can't say these things to my family, otherwise people will think I'm crazy too. The Zheng family is the first family in the south of the Yangtze River, and they didn't rebel. How could they be wiped out?"Zheng Mai's son said: "Anyway, my lord is going to close the case. If I don't say anything else, I won't have a chance. I'll just spit it out."

"Well," Wang Xian nodded and said, "Who organized the funeral after your father disappeared?"

"Of course it's from the same family." Zheng Mai said, "Although we are side branches, weddings and funerals are all arranged by people from the same family."

"Your father's belongings, are they also helping to clean up?"

"I didn't pay attention to this, probably." Zheng Mai said uncertainly: "But when I handed it over to me, nothing was missing."

"Okay." Wang Xian nodded and said, "You can go through the formalities."

"Master," Zheng Mai and his sons stood up, but said without moving their feet, "Is it possible that my father was killed?"

"Of course it's possible, but since you have this question, why didn't you mention it earlier?" Wang Xian said expressionlessly.

"My uncles and uncles all said it was impossible." Zheng Mai said, "They said that if they were killed, would there be no traces of fighting in the tea garden?"

"It doesn't have to be in the tea garden. The two are not necessarily related." Wang Xian took back the document and said, "If you want to track it down, the government will still do its best."

Zheng Mai thought about it for a long time, his lower lip was almost bitten, and Fang said dejectedly: "Forget it, don't investigate, just do as uncles and uncles say..."

"Okay." Wang Xian handed the document to him again and said, "Go."

.

The last one to arrive was Wu Shaoyuan's relatives, besides his old mother, there was also an elegant young woman in plain white with a sad face.Zheng Yan also came with his daughter, but the government has a rule of the government, only relevant people are allowed to wait in, so he had to wait outside.

Because it was a one-on-one interview, Wang Xian first met Wu Shaoyuan's mother.When the missing son was mentioned, the old man burst into tears. Wang Xian asked her if she would like to close the case, but she refused to answer with tears.

"Old man, why did you come here without thinking about it?" Wang Xian has always been patient with such a poor old man.

"I've thought it over," the old woman said with tears streaming down her face, "let's close the case."

"But who is coercing you?" Wang Xian said sharply: "There is no need to worry, just tell me that I am the judge for you."

"No one coerces me, but I have already promised my in-laws..." The old woman said with tears, "My son will join the Zheng family, and his life and death will be arranged by his family, and the old man can only obey." She said, clutching her chest and mourning: "Fool, why do you insist on marrying into Zheng's family? Nowadays, even life and death are decided by others...Your mother can't agree to it or not."

"Why did your son get married?" Wang Xian saw that the old woman's speech and behavior did not seem to be from a poor family.

"Isn't it an injustice?" The old woman said with tears: "That year Qingming, my son saw the eldest lady of the Zheng family who was out for an outing, and somehow became possessed, to the point of not eating or drinking. I had no choice but to fight hard." Fortunately, the daughter of the Zheng family chooses a son-in-law without looking at his appearance or wealth, but only at how he is. It's just that the evil nature of the past few years is only allowed to marry, otherwise there is no need to talk about it."

"My wife died early, so I naturally don't want him to be married to this one son, but seeing that he doesn't think about eating and drinking every day, he is getting thinner and thinner. I was afraid that something would happen to him, so I had to agree." The old woman continued rambling. : "After marriage, the daughter-in-law is reasonable, and often visits the old man with my son, which is comforting..."

"What did your son do in the first place?" Wang Xian had to interrupt the old man's memory.

"My son has been studying since he was a child, and has passed the examination of scholar several times, but he failed..." the old woman sighed.

"What does your family mainly rely on for him to study?" Wang Xian asked again.The reason why he asked this question was because studying is a costly business, and ordinary orphans and widows cannot afford it.

"My husband left [-] mu of Susukida, which was enough for my mother and son to eat and rent, but studying is absolutely impossible." Referring to her son's glorious past, the old woman said with a radiant face: "Later, he put away dozens of mu of land. The fields were all sold, and I almost severed ties with him at that time. Who knew that my son started the business with this little capital, and it became bigger and bigger..." He pointed to the outside and said: "There are a few of my family on Yaqian Street. A shop, the rent earned can barely support my son’s education in addition to living.”

"What did Shao Yuan's father do?" Wang Xian nodded and asked again.

"My husband used to be the grain chief of this county." The old woman said kindly, "Later, I was forced to give it up to the Zheng family, and then lived on the [-] acres of Susukida given by the Zheng family..."

"So there is still this relationship?" Wang Xian nodded and said: "The old lady has worked hard, please go down to have tea and rest."

When the old man went down, the young woman in filial piety came in and saluted Wang Xian generously, but he was stunned.

. .

(End of this chapter)