Fortunate Young Gentleman

My father-in-law's first day in office seemed to be smooth. He had been working in the officialdom for so many years, and Tang Ning was confident in his ability.

County Magistrate Zhao was only promoted half a level and took over his position as Ping'an County Magistrate. If he could also be transferred by His Majesty to serve as an assistant official like Shao Yin, with the tacit understanding between the two of them over the years, he should be invincible.

Unfortunately, this kind of thing depends on luck, and it seems that there is no such possibility at present.

So far, their family has completely established a foothold in the capital.

Although compared with those big families with decades of history and complicated foundations in the capital, their background is still a little thin, but background is something that cannot be generalized. No matter how powerful the party is or how dense the network is, it is not as safe as leaning on the big tree of the emperor.

Near the end of the year, the major shops under the Tang people entered the vision of the people in the capital because of the Sixteen Guards Competition, and sales doubled.

Tang Ning and Tang Yaoyao discussed and made some adjustments to the industrial structure. The biggest change was to separate the newspaper from Tangrenzhai and set up a separate Beijing Daily.

This organization is not profitable. If the labor cost is included, there is even a certain degree of loss, but this is also a strategic loss. As the first official news organization of the State of Chen, the significance of this is not something that can be measured by a few thousand or a few hundred taels of silver.

Near the end of the year, there is nothing big to report in the newspaper. All major government offices are working hard to ensure public security. In the past two days, many families have been robbed, including the housekeeper's mansion and the rich and powerful. My father-in-law specifically mentioned it yesterday and asked him to remind the general public in Beijing in the newspaper to raise their awareness of prevention and do a good job of anti-theft work.

The Ministry of Rites, the task of the year-end sacrifice ceremony was completely taken over by the Ministry of Shrines. Liu Jin, a doctor in the Ministry of Shrines, got up earlier than the chickens and slept later than the dogs these two days. He worked day and night and worked hard. He was so busy that he didn't even have time to eat, but he still didn't forget to read the newspaper every day.

Although if something big happened in the capital, the government offices were often the first to know about it, but how could rumors be more convincing than black and white?

What disappointed him was that nothing big happened in the past few days, especially Minister Liu, who was beaming with joy every day, as if the old lady was celebrating her 60th birthday every day.

However, he still firmly believed that good would be rewarded with good, and evil would be rewarded with evil. It was not that there would be no retribution, but the time had not come. Before dawn, there would always be a period of extreme darkness. He had survived so many days and did not care about one or two days.

After all, winter was here, so how far would spring be?

There was nothing big in the newspaper, except that many people in the capital had been robbed recently. The thieves were extremely rampant. After stealing things, they would leave a plum blossom at the scene, calling themselves the strange thief Yizhimei...

I don't know if this plum blossom robbed women in addition to money. If he could go to Liu's house and rob the evil woman in his family, his future life would be better.

Thinking about it makes people look forward to it.

…

The strange thief Yizhimei is a thief who suddenly appeared in the capital these days. He does not steal from the common people, but only from officials and dignitaries. For some reason, no matter how tight the defense of those people is, it is useless for Yizhimei. In just a few days, more than ten families were robbed, leaving only a plum blossom at the scene to indicate his identity.

The Jingzhao government has issued a warrant for arrest. If anyone can catch this thief, he will be rewarded with a thousand taels of silver. Unfortunately, this thief is so elusive that it is difficult to find his trace.

Late at night, in a high-ranking family in the capital.

Shouquanbo embraced his new concubine and walked into the room. He turned back and ordered the servants: "Send more people to patrol the warehouse at night, and don't let those thieves come in to steal things."

The guards in the mansion immediately said: "Yes, sir!"

Shouquanbo nodded with satisfaction, hugged the concubine and walked into the room. Just when he peeled her into a little white sheep and covered her with a quilt, ready to do a big job, a gong suddenly sounded in the yard.

"Catch the thief, catch the thief!"

"It's a plum blossom, catch him!"

"Don't let him get away!"

...

Shou Quanbo was in a tense and exciting moment, and was frightened by the sudden sound of the gong. He shivered twice and felt bored.

In the courtyard, the guards of Shou Quanbo's mansion saw a figure jump onto the wall, and disappeared after a few taps. He held a torch in one hand and a plum blossom in the other hand, standing in the yard, with an unwilling look on his face.

Shou Quanbo put on his clothes and hurried out of the room, asking, "Did you catch him? Did you catch him?"

The guard lowered his head and said, "Master, I accidentally let him run away just now!"

"Waste!" Shou Quanbo kicked several people in anger and shouted, "You are all waste!"

His chest was heaving and his breathing was rapid: "If you can't even catch a thief, what's the point of keeping you!"

At this time, a guard came running over with a torch and said, "Master, there is something on the ground."

Shou Quanbo frowned and said, "What is it?"

The guard picked up a booklet from the ground and said, "It seems to have fallen from Yizhimei."

Shou Quanbo returned to the room and opened the booklet. He saw some words densely written on it. He took a closer look and was stunned.

All the people recorded on it are the rich and powerful families in Beijing. That would be fine, but it even records clearly what precious treasures each family has. Censor Wang's family has collected an original calligraphy by Su Shi, Mi Fu's original calligraphy has flowed into the home of Minister Liu, and the home of Minister Qi of the Ministry of Revenue has a lot of silver, all of which was obtained through corruption. He dared not report it to the authorities if it was stolen...

There were dozens of pieces of information, some of which were marked with a "√". Uncle Shouquan thought about it carefully, and it seemed that they were the houses that had been stolen in the past few days.

Are the preparations for being a thief so detailed these days? Sure enough, no one can succeed casually. It is no wonder that Xia Yizhimei can become the number one thief in the capital. It turns out that he has also done so much hard work in private.

Uncle Shou Quan flipped through it casually, and suddenly a piece of paper fell out of the booklet.

He picked it up and looked at it, and said in surprise: "Gift list, what gift list?"

After reading it, he stood stunned and murmured: "This is not the 60th birthday. This is obviously a money-grabbing party..."

He murmured something. He always felt that something was wrong. When he looked up again, he couldn't help but take a breath, "This, this..., where did their money come from?"

A seventh-grade official, who is still a clear figure in Yushitai, has an annual salary of less than a hundred taels. A gift can easily be a thousand taels or two thousand taels...

Listed above are all officials who attended Liu Shilang's mother's 60th birthday, and these people --- are all from the Tang family and the Duanwang faction.

"It's great..." Unexpectedly, catching the thief would lead to such a big harvest. Uncle Shou Quan looked happy and said, "Quick, prepare the sedan and go to Prince Kang's Mansion!"

…

In Tianranju, Su Mei took off her night clothes and said dissatisfiedly: "Yizhimei, can't you give it a nicer name?"

Tang Ning thought for a while and said, "How about a super cute little fox that can charm the whole country with one smile and charm the country with two smiles?"

Su Mei waved her hand and said: "Forget it, just a branch of plum."

She threw Ye Xingyi aside and said, "You are really stingy. Liu Feng only impeached your father-in-law once, and you are taking revenge on him like this..."

"This is not revenge." Tang Ning corrected, "If he is really clean, nothing will happen to him. If he is not, we can eliminate harm for the people and represent justice."

Su Mei shook her head and said: "Even if he is not a breeze, those who give gifts will probably hate him to death... They said you are petty, and they are absolutely right."

"This is not to be petty, this is to protect the people I care about." Tang Ning looked at her and said, "If anyone bullies you, I guarantee that his end will be as miserable as Liu Feng's."

Su Mei said: "Am I someone you care about?"

Tangning looked into her eyes and asked, "What do you think?"

"Okay, okay, I got it..." A charming smile appeared on Su Mei's face, and she waved her hand and said, "I'm going to bed, please go back quickly."

Tangning sat by the bed and said, "There's no curfew these days anyway. You can go to sleep. I'll leave after you fall asleep."

Tang Ning felt a little sorry that she had to play the role of the thief Yizhimei every day, so she took the initiative to coax her to sleep. After finally coaxing her to sleep, Tang Ning left the room and walked out of Tiantianju.

"You've been running out every night for the past two days, just to come here to have a private meeting with Su Hu?"

A voice suddenly came from behind. Tangning turned her head and saw Tang Yaoyao standing in the darkness, her eyes flashing dangerously.