Emperor Qianlong: the beginning of his glory

Chapter 3 Master Qian Afraid of Misfortune and Feared Disaster
Boss Shen sat on the edge of the kang with soft legs and buttocks.Hao Er twisted his body and settled on the spot, and it took him a while to come back to his senses. He moved his lips and asked softly, "What's wrong with you tonight? Are you going to scare us to death?" Xiao Luzi smiled wryly, and picked up a cup of herbal tea Gudong drank, took a long breath, and told Boss Shen and Hao Er about what he saw Liu Kang colluding with Cao Rui to murder He Luying in the East Court just now: "Didn't you see He Daotai send Liu Futai? It's not a 'He Daotai' at all, it was dressed up by his mother's Cao Rui! At that moment, Master He was already hanging on the beam!"

Both Boss Shen and Hao Er were stunned, their distorted faces were full of horror, their eyes were straight and unblinking, like two frozen zombies, they looked at Xiaoluzi motionlessly.It was already midnight, and the old tree in the courtyard was swaying like a ghost, looking weird and gloomy...

"Emperor Heaven Bodhisattva!" A gust of wind blew in, wrapped in wet rain and mist, and Boss Shen trembled all over, as if shivering from the unbearable cold, and said in a trembling voice, "Is this true? Don't be dreaming!"

"Believe it or not." Xiao Luzi glanced at Hao Er and said, "I hope I'm dreaming. Second brother, I think you can hold on. You can go to the window at the back of the north room in the east courtyard... I I never dared to go to that land again in my whole life..."

Hao Er looked at the dark sky outside, rolled up his trousers and put on his coir raincoat without saying a word. Seeing that the light was still on in the clerk's house in the west ear room, he said loudly: "The noon cannons have been fired, isn't it quite dead?" ?” The lights in the room went out immediately.Boss Shen's fat face was full of sorrow, and he stroked the thin braids behind his head and sighed: "It's over now. This store has been in my hands for five generations, and now it's going to be defeated by me! This... ...How do you say this? Heavenly conscience, I have never used any black-hearted money! Some customers died in the store, and the money was returned to the owner—how could I suffer this retribution?" His voice changed as he spoke. , pulled up the skirt to wipe away tears.He added: "You should have yelled out at that time, more than a dozen people in this room rushed in and took the prisoner on the spot, how much trouble can be saved!"

"I was so scared at the time." Xiao Luzi said, "I thought later, fortunately I didn't yell at that time. The people in this room were all brought by Liu Futai, and maybe even us men will go in and kill them. This will I’m still scared when I think about it!” As he was speaking, Hao Er walked in with his body dripping with water and his color was different.Seeing Boss Shen staring at him in a daze, Hao Er nodded stiffly, gritted his teeth and said, "These two thieves and men are so bold, they are still burning paper in that room and packing Mr. He's luggage!"

Boss Shen groaned in despair, sat back, and jumped up again like a spring: "Five or six of us rushed in, caught them on the spot, and went to the yamen to beat the drums and report the police. Is it possible that he will fly away?" Seeing that Hao Er was also eager to try, he hurriedly said: "Don't! They are a gang. If they turn against us in the court and say that it is a black shop, killing officials, murdering them, planting them and framing them, they will be sent to the court immediately." Killed us!" One sentence caused Hao Er and Boss Shen to stare.Just as he was about to do anything, there was a sound of footsteps in the corridor outside, as if someone was walking along the corridor with shoes on.The three of them pricked up their ears alertly and held their breath to listen.He just heard the man pour a cup of tea on the square table outside the front door, drank it, but didn't leave. He pushed open the door of the west ear room and came in, asking, "Boss Shen, who is in the accountant?" When I looked up, it was a guest living in the west wing of the main house. I only knew that his name was Qian Du, and he was going to Jinan, passing through Dezhou.Qian Du was wearing a gray poplin gauze gown and a black cotton mandarin jacket, which was buttoned neatly. Boss Shen asked in surprise, "Master Qian, what's going on now? Do you want to pay?"

"Yes. You need to pay the bill." Qian Duwu has a short stature, and a pair of small black and bright eyes like pepper beans are embedded in his black and red face with Chinese characters, making him look extraordinarily shrewd.He flipped up his robe and sat on the bench opposite Boss Shen, took a sip of tea, and said with a smile, "I know everything about the shop. I have something urgent to go to Jinan, so I can't sue here." He said. and pointed to the ceiling above his head.The three of them were startled. Looking at the ceiling, they realized that the side room was connected to the upper part of the west wing, and their voices could easily be transmitted.Boss Shen thought about it, and there was no reason to implicate the guests, so he sighed: "It's up to you, but how can you walk in this heavy wind and rain?" Qian Du sneered, and said: "Even if you are under a knife, you have to go now. I don't To tell you the truth, I was born as a famous criminal master, and I have been in the court for several years in Henan Tianzhi Taifu. This kind of lawsuit is not unsolved for two or three years. So let’s settle the bill. I have the letter of recommendation from the current Henan Sun Fuyuan to stand firm in Jinan, and maybe I can help you tide over the difficulties.”

Xiaoluzi's eyes lit up, and he said: "You can tell at a glance that you have read a big book, you said it really well! 36 Strategies are the most important thing, and if that's the case, we'll run away from his mother!" "How easy it is for you! "Qian Du chuckled, "This case was not done by you in the first place. At most, it was just a 'witness', which proved that He committed suicide and the case was closed. Once you escaped, you fell into a 'fear of crime'. Name. The surname Liu is because he can’t find a substitute for the dead ghost so painstakingly designed this way. If you escape, wouldn’t he just follow the trend and push the crime of murder to you?” He analyzed the key points in a few simple words, and when he heard Then he knew that he was indeed an old official. How could a few people let him go?Just begging him to help make up his mind.Qian Du sucked his lips and just muttered, "I have to walk quickly, I really can't take care of it, look at the wind, rain, and night outside..."

"Hao Er, go and pack Lord Qian's luggage, you don't have to settle the bill." Seeing Qian Du's tone, Boss Shen hurriedly begged, "At least give advice to the villains—there is a big walking mule in the shop, I Giving money to Lord Qian as a foot-strength, a little filial piety for the younger ones..."

"Hmm..." Qian Du rolled his eyes, stood up with his chin in his hand, thought for a moment and said, "I don't want to hurt you at all, this is impossible. There are two meanings you must keep in mind—" He shook his hand He walked slowly and said: "First, Liu Kang didn't want to drag you directly into the case, he just wanted you to testify that He Daotai was still 'alive' when he left the store. You can prove this without waiting for torture. But you have to explain that Bai He Daotai doesn't talk much when he sees people, and he always lives in seclusion. You don't know his background. Second, you don't believe it or don't believe it when He Daotai committed suicide. I have to say the same thing-you must know that such a big case will definitely alarm the court, and there will always be times in the future when it can't be covered up. If you can't stand it, you can just let him say, 'suicide may be true'. The worst thing will happen in the future , put a 'beating into a trick'." He smiled, "With these two things, we can keep the basics, and then put some money in the yamen, get bail pending trial, and transfer the floating wealth in the store. Suffering. Boss Youshen will bear it, sell the house as soon as the case is over, and leave, so as not to be involved again when the case is overturned in the future." Turning around, Hao Er had already entered, and asked, "Where is my luggage?"

Hao Er hurriedly said: "It's all ready for the Lord. It's in the back corner door on the west side of the courtyard. I'm afraid that the east side will be disturbed..." "Okay, I'll go now." Qian Du said calmly, "Just do as I say. Yes, this way you will suffer the least. Don’t be afraid, you must know that they are more afraid of you—we will meet later!” After saying that, he tied his shoelaces and disappeared into the sound of rain in the night outside the door.

The three of them listened to Qian Du's words like children listening to a teacher's lecture, and discussed hurriedly. They decided that Hao Er and Xiao Luzi would take all the money in the store and sneak back to the countryside of Sululing overnight to watch the wind. Putting down the case, we worked hard inside and out to survive the disaster together, and when everything was settled, it was already crowing twice.

Dezhou Prefecture is only more than 300 miles away from Jinan. Qian Du is alone, and his luggage is simple. Thanks to the big mule from Shen's old shop, he can really walk and endure. Arrived in Jinan in the early morning.Qian Du had his own idea in his mind: he is a famous criminal master, and now he is busy going to Zhitai Yamen to join Governor Li Wei, even if he takes him in, seeing such a big life lawsuit in Texas, the province must send people to go to the trial .Newcomers will inevitably have to "try it out", wouldn't they just pour a pot of hot charcoal into their arms?As soon as it was daylight, Qian Du stayed in a big inn opposite the Governor's Yamen.

Lived in Jinan for three days, Qian Du fully enjoyed the green mountains, beautiful waters and Linquan Temple, swam in Qianfo Mountain and Daming Lake, and went to Baotu Spring to taste tea twice. The case of Dezhou Prefecture has already caused a sensation in Jinan.People said everything, some said that He Xunjian had "madness" and fell ill, so he couldn't think about hanging on the rope; The sins committed in the previous life will be repaid in this life, and he was killed by the wronged soul.Naturally, some said that the cause of He Luying's death was unknown, and there were other reasons.There were different opinions in the teahouse and restaurant for a while, Qian Du didn't pay much attention to it, only heard that Governor Li Wei and Governor Yue Jun had joined together to file a memorial, and the procuratorate's office had stopped hearing other cases.Ka Erliang, a native of Taiwan, went to Dezhou in person, and worked with the government of Dezhou to deal with it. After the government's shop was ready, Qian Du took the letter of recommendation from the governor of Henan and went to the Zhitai yamen to meet Li Wei.It took about a quarter of an hour before I heard a word from inside: "Mr. Qian, please sign and wait outside the room." Qian Du had no choice but to follow Geshha along the corridors and corridors for a while before arriving at the gate of the Moon Cave in Yaxi Garden.Hearing the intermittent conversation and coughing in the signing room, he knew that Li Wei was receiving guests, so he stood sideways at the entrance of the flower hall and waited quietly.Nageshha went in lightly, said something, and came out to tell Qian Du: "My lord, please have tea in the flower hall, Governor Yue and Tang Fantai are discussing business inside!"

"Please do what you want." Qian Du handed a small red envelope to Geshha, and said with a smile, "I'll wait outside, don't bother." Unexpectedly, Nageshha stuffed the red envelope back without saying a word, He said in a low voice: "I dare not break the rules when working under Li Zhitai." He smiled and left.Qian Du couldn't help but move in his heart: I have heard for a long time that Li Wei is unacceptable, honest and upright, and he really has a real name!

While thinking about it, the voice from the signing room seemed a little louder, as if saying goodbye.After a while, I saw two officials walking out of the signing room one after the other.Both of them are around 40 years old, one wears a second-grade coral crown and the other a sapphire crown.Dai Landingzi withdrew and said: "My lord's body is not in good condition, please stop..." Qian Du guessed that these two people were Yue Futai and Tang Fantai.A middle-aged man without robes, with a square face of medium build, two jet-black eyebrows in the shape of an inverted splayed, and a pair of triangular eyes flashed like lightning by chance, so scorching that people dare not look straight at them.Qian Du's heart skipped a beat: This is the world-renowned "model governor", Li Wei, whom Emperor Yongzheng is extremely fond of today!

(End of this chapter)