Traveling through the Prosperous Pastoral of Peasant Girls

Chapter 8
Chapter 9 Judgment in Court

The actual operation is very troublesome. Fortunately, there are more people, and even the willow hairs can do the job. The disadvantage is that there are too few shrimp eggs. After peeling for a day, there is no more than three catties, and even less after drying. .After it is ground into powder, put three or two in a hundred catties of fish slips.In order to deceive the public, the two of them also reformed the minced ginger, squeezed the ginger and added the ginger juice to the fish slip.Later, Uncle Liu sent back a message saying: "Why is your fish slip different from other people's?"

Liu Tao asked calmly, "What's the difference?"

"I can't say it, but your home's taste is good. You can't eat it if you haven't eaten it. You can understand it after comparing the ones you have eaten. Those customers like to eat your fish slippery. The same dish, Yushanju has now It has been divided into two grades, and the difference between the two grades is ten cents!"

"Maybe it's because the fish in my family doesn't put ginger in it. We think it tastes better without ginger, so we cancel the ginger..."

"Oh, that's what happened. I won't tell the shopkeeper when I go back. In order to protect your rights and interests, I'll keep it a secret for you. After all, he has a big business in Yushanju and doesn't care about the money. .” Liu Tao secretly rejoiced, this Uncle Liu is really not a spy.

Jin Yang told everyone in private: "This shrimp egg powder monosodium glutamate is a unique commercial secret of our own, and it cannot be sold for any amount of money. Remember it, everyone, and don't spread it to the outside world."

Seeing that the two families were making money, Liu Tao's uncle also came to beg his father to take him to work together, and the village chief also came to discuss joining.Jin Yang's uncle seldom walked with Jin Yang's family, so he begged his grandma to join him.Since the third uncle said that he wanted to study, the two families knew that such things would still happen.Some were still difficult to evade, so they asked Uncle Liu to verbally send a letter to shopkeeper Jin: "When you go back, tell shopkeeper Jin that the method of making dried fish and dried shrimp was taught to him by his big shopkeeper in the capital. , he passed it on to us, the secret of making such a lot of money is unique to his family, and we are not allowed to spread this exclusive secret recipe to the outside world. 'Or, how can we come up with the method of eating black wolf fish? From Yushanju The Dadong family is a high-ranking official in the capital, who dares to destroy their good deeds and want to lose their heads? If you really need to expand the supply of goods, you have to get the consent of the treasurer of Yushanju Jin!"

These words were conveyed to shopkeeper Jin, who of course did so unconditionally. The village head actually went to Yushanju to ask shopkeeper Jin at the instigation of his grandmother, but was flatly rejected by shopkeeper Jin.In this era when everyone is afraid of the government and dare not provoke the rich, this excuse effectively stops everyone's greed.

After a few days of observation, everyone has a good impression of Lao Huang's family. Lao Huang's wife and daughter work quickly. He must have done it well, and the job of guarding the Miracle Formation belongs to him. Except for the two families, no one is allowed to come near it.Who dares to go down the river to see the layout of the ecstasy array: "I'm sorry, hurry up and get out of there, if you don't listen to advice, I will greet you with a walking stick!"

Since grandma took the dried fish back that time, she ate the braised dried fish. Not only did she not get poisoned, but she also tasted sweet.Aunt Liu Tao, who came to pick up the shrimp crumbs, said; now it is popular to eat this dried black wolf fish in Fucheng County, and it is very expensive in restaurants.If you can make it, you will make a lot of money. When the time comes, you can bring it to my shop and I will sell it to you. It is best to learn how the enchantment array is arranged. When the time comes, you can also make one, and it will be a huge profit. No I'll give you the money to buy online movies, and then I'll be counted as a dry stock.After hearing what the aunt said, their minds became lively at that time, and they came to Liu Tao's new house the next day.

Seeing grandma coming to play the autumn wind again, the family greeted them indifferently. In fact, grandma came to see how the black wolf fish is made into the structure of dried fish and ecstasy array. Can't hide it.After they finished watching the dried fish making, they went to the river to watch the ecstasy array. Grandma was not allowed to go into the water, and Big Fatty volunteered to go down. Lao Huang hurriedly stopped him, but he could not use violence against the nephew of the owner. He just threatened: "You You can’t go down, there are traps on both sides of the net curtain, if you fall down, you will die.”

"Tch, you're fooling around. I saw Brother Jin Yang walking past this (net curtain) the other day, and you still fooled me?"

Seeing that he really went into the water, Lao Huang picked up a small stone and threw it beside him. The splash of water made him startled, but he didn't care and walked inside anyway.This time, Lao Huang changed his face. He lifted a big stone weighing more than 20 kilograms and threw it towards him with a "plop". "Wow" cried loudly.

Grandma quit, yelling at Lao Huang, picking up stones and throwing them at him in a vengeful manner.Only then did grandma realize that she was bored, and led Big Fatty back home.

When I woke up early the next day and went back to the warehouse, there was no abnormality in the shrimp warehouse, but there were only a few fish in the fish catcher’s warehouse. Several people were puzzled, turned over and transferred to the other side to study, and finally let the golden seedlings in A foot-long opening was found cut by a sharp knife at the end of the back block.Needless to say, the fish was stolen by someone. The person who stole the fish did not untie the rope that blocked the warehouse to facilitate pouring the fish without lighting. Instead, he directly cut the opening to catch the fish. Not many, most of the fish escaped through the mouth.

At night, Lao Huang secretly made more than a dozen bamboo sticks and stuck them on both sides of the net curtain. A bamboo stick made him suffer.In order to avoid piercing people too hard, the bamboo sticks are only exposed to the bottom of the river by more than an inch, so that people who don't know can't find it.

In the early morning of the next day, they backed up and blocked the warehouse. Before going down the river, they found a few blood-stained footprints. Everyone knew that the fish thief had come again. Huang Ying directed the black dragon to follow the direction of the footprints and sniff them all the way. That is to track down.Watching it go all the way to the village under the leadership of Huang Ying, Dad called her back.Said: "It is the fish thief who has been punished. We all live in the same village. I am sorry to tear your face apart. You don't need to investigate. The paper can't cover the fire. He was injured and he will not heal for a while. I want to hide it." We can’t hide it, just wait for the fish thief to show up and let us know it well.”

Old Huang's duty is to take care of the ecstasy formation. His owner's ecstasy formation was destroyed and suffered a lot of damage. He felt guilty and put up all the bamboo sticks and didn't use them anymore. At night, he took a reed mat and a ground dog to watch the night by the river at close range. , No matter how everyone persuaded him, he would not listen.Dad had no choice but to bring him the quilt again, took food and wine, and let him drink some wine in the middle of the night to keep out the cold.

One day later, Liugang Liutong and his third uncle came to work in the field, and accidentally told Liumao that the uncle walked barefoot in the middle of the night, and the tiles pierced the soles of his feet, which was seen by the doctor in the town. One foot is now one size bigger.The speaker has no intention of listening, but now they understand that the fish thief who has been making trouble for a long time is one of their own!
Dad, as the brother of the uncle, heard that the elder brother was injured, so he and his mother took presents to see him, and went into the yard they shared with Liu Tao's grandparents, but saw a row of dried fish drying, and his family The dried fish produced are similar in appearance.When Dad was wondering if his dried fish had been stolen, Grandma came out of the house hurriedly after getting a notification from Big Fatty. Letting them into the house, when they finished watching the uncle and came home, the dried fish in the yard were gone.

The thing that surprised them was still to come. A few days later, the second uncle led a catcher to his home and said that his dried black wolf fish was sold to the grocery store of the aunt, and the aunt sold it to the shopkeeper in the town. The restaurant has eaten two people to death now, and the county magistrate ordered that the father and father-in-law who made the dried fish be arrested.Now everyone is blinded, and my mother will cry when she is blinded.Lao Huang also defended them on their behalf, Liu Tao held him back, but she guessed very well, her family did not sell dried fish to aunts at all, and there would be incidents where the dried fish made by her family would eat dead people , there must be something hidden in it.Since people were eaten to death, the government would not listen to anyone's excuses, so the suspects had to be gathered together for interrogation, and it was useless to argue with the second uncle, a yamen servant.

The other policeman was still drinking tea, and the second uncle signaled his father and father-in-law to go out: "This matter is not trivial because it involves human life, and it may cost you your life. I think your in-laws should run away first, and then I will be on the road. Unchain him in the name of brother-in-law, and then let him escape. If you don’t leave, once you are convicted and sent to prison, you will never escape again..."

"Second Uncle, we are not afraid of being crooked in the shadow. Those dried fish did not come from us. As long as the county magistrate is not confused and does not bend the law for personal gain, we can prove our innocence!"

"The magistrate of the county is an upright official, but the more upright the official, the harder it is to intercede?"

"It's fine if you're an upright official, you'll have hope if you're an upright official..."

At that moment, Jin Yang took his family's carriage and was about to send them to the county government office. Liu Tao told his mother not to panic, and the family work must not be left behind, and she wanted to send them with Jin Yang.She put on a 50 taels silver ticket, and thought of something just as she was going out, and then she packed ten dried fish and set off with them.

The mother cried: "Girl, why don't you bring more money, what's the use of bringing dried fish, and what if you eat someone to death?" Liu Tao ignored her and went out to chase them all the time.

When I arrived at the county government office, I saw that my aunt had been escorted here early, and the rest were my uncle, Liu Tao's grandfather, the shopkeeper and the chef of the restaurant.The sufferers of the other two families also came to four people, all of whom were women leading children.After a while, the eldest cousin and maid Chunxiang also showed up. They had nothing to do with the case, but cared about their relatives.Liu Tao and Jin Yang lived in the same room, "It's really an enemy and I'm so jealous when they meet." The two looked at them and wished they could bite them to death.But the two of them proudly looked at them with a look of contempt and disgust.

Residents in the county town don't usually have any recreational activities except watching opera for a few days during the New Year. When they heard that the county government was going to try a major drug and homicide case, hundreds of people flocked in to listen in a short while, and the follow-up was still continuous.

Everyone involved had to kneel down, even though Liu Tao and Jin Yang were reluctant, they had to kneel down.Auntie turned her head and wanted to speak to Liu Tao, but was scolded by the magistrate and dared not speak.

The county magistrate first asked the eldest aunt. In this case, the eldest aunt played the role of purchasing and selling, and played a connecting role. The aunt said truthfully: "I bought the dried black wolf fish at my natal father's house. Twenty catties, 130 copper coins per catty, a total of two taels of silver, I didn’t eat any of them, and sold them to the shopkeeper Yao of the restaurant at two hundred copper coins per catty, for a total of four taels of silver.”

The county magistrate ignored her and turned to his grandfather: "The criminal Liu Botong, is it the dried black wolf fish that you sold to your daughter?"

"It's my lord, I sold it"

"Why did you involve your second son and neighbor Jin Hui?"

"Because three dried black wolf fish were brought from his house, our family was reluctant to eat them, so we sold them together with the ones made by our own. We knew in our hearts that the ones made by our own would not poison people to death. Only he I haven’t seen them make it, so I reckon it must be that the ones made by his family are not clean, so they will eat dead people!”

"In this way, both of you are suspected?"

"What suspicion can there be in my family? I have handled all the dried Wulang fish in my family, so there is nothing wrong with it."

Liu Tao raised her head and said, "My lord, can I say something, I am Liu Botong's granddaughter, I also have a share in making dried fish?"

"Since you have a share, you can make an excuse."

"My lord, there is a whole set of procedures for making dried fish. It's just a little bit different, and the toxins of the black wolf fish cannot be completely eliminated. I want to ask Liu Botong, who is my grandfather, what is your production procedure like?"

Before grandpa could answer, Liu Tao said to the magistrate: "Sir, I should avoid Liu Botong when he was talking, lest he falsely accuse me of eavesdropping and say the same thing as he said. Is it okay if I come back after he finishes speaking?" ?”

"Hahahaha" the county magistrate smiled: "You little girl understands the truth, well, yamen servant, go and lead the little girl a little farther, and you will come in when I call you."

Liu Tao went out with the yamen servant, she was walking around with her sore knees moving, and she didn't know what grandpa said, but his brain was not idle, and he organized the key points of what he should say in a while.

"The dried black wolf fish made by my family is made of fresh and lively fish. The poisonous fish head and internal organs are removed, and then sprinkled with the best salt to marinate for two days. In order to prevent flies from laying maggots, the old woman and I specially Boom flies, so it is the cleanest, it is impossible to eat dead people!"

Liu Tao was brought back: "My lord, my dried black wolf fish is fresh black wolf fish of choice. After removing the fish head and internal organs, I also dug out the most poisonous glands hidden in the fish meat, and then soaked it in clean water. After an hour, put it in a pot and scald it with boiling water, then place it in a wooden barrel to ferment for two days, because there are residual toxins in the meat of the black wolf fish... then wash it with clean water and then scald it with boiling water , of course, this is also to clean up the residual toxins, and then evenly mix with salt and ferment for two days, then take it out to dry and it will be the finished product... Today I brought ten dried black wolf fish made by myself, I can do it in front of everyone The pasta was cooked, and then the four of us ate it together. If we were not poisoned, the responsibility would not be on our side...."

Even my father, father-in-law, and Jin Yang were surprised when I said this, and it turned around after a while, it turned out that Liu Tao was fooling everyone!Not only is it very different from grandpa's production method, but it also indirectly frightened everyone, keeping their own secret recipe, and did not reveal the difference in toxicity between the dark-striped black wolf fish and the purple black wolf fish.A fresh term "poison gland" was also proposed. In this world, except for Jinyang, no one knows what a poison gland is.

Look at grandpa's brow full of sweat. He didn't understand the process of making dried fish in Liutao's family. He just heard the old woman and grandson tell it orally. How did he know that there are so many ways of cleaning, soaking, fermenting, and boiling water? , and poisonous glands, I have lived for half my life and don't know what poisonous glands are, they are still the most poisonous...It seems that today is not good.Being in a big prison is like beheading, and when I think of it, I can't get up and I feel weak.Dad is father and son linked heart after all, he hurried forward to give him first aid.

The magistrate of the county asked about this, and ordered the servants to bring two pots, as well as firewood, oil, salt, sauce and vinegar.Because the shopkeeper's dried fish was also confiscated, they were asked to cook their own and eat it for inspection.

Auntie served as another chef, and Liu Tao served as the chef here. The county magistrate began to observe them with gusto, to see which side would show timidity first.Those spectators were several times more than before, and they also watched their cooking performance curiously.

Liu Tao’s spicy fried black wolf dried fish is first out of the pan. The aroma of dried fish mixed with the aroma of chili makes people salivate.After she filled a large plate, there was still a lot in the pot. Because there was no dry food, she would get thirsty if she ate too much, so she put less salt.When grandpa recovers, aunt's steamed dried fish is also ready, and the fragrance is also attractive.

At the order of the magistrate, the four people here started to eat with chopsticks. Usually, because the price of dried fish is expensive, Liu Tao seldom cooks for his family. Who doesn't want to eat' means that the four of them have been hungry for a long time, no one is pretending, and they are not afraid of hundreds of people's attention, so they let go of their cheeks and started eating.

On the other hand, after hearing Liu Tao's remarks, they all became afraid of the dried black wolf fish they processed.Grandpa and aunt grinned and did not dare to move the chopsticks. The shopkeeper moved the chopsticks with a mournful face. He just flipped the dried fish a few times without eating a bite. The chef just stared at the dried fish while biting the chopsticks, as if it was delicious. It's all in the chopsticks, and it's delicious to bite.

The four of them quickly ate up a large plate of dried fish. When Liu Tao went to put the plate in the pot again, the magistrate said with a "haha" smile: "Little girl, please stop, don't eat it, and leave some for me." , I haven't had any food or drink tonight!"

(End of this chapter)