Yan Cigui

Chapter 276 Two Gold Bricks (two updates in one)

 It rained again before noon.

 It came with great force, but fortunately it stopped before it was corrected.

Xu Jian took Shen Chen to Chenmi Hutong again.

This time when I entered, most of the alley was in a mess.

Wantang was determined to dig three feet into the ground and mobilized manpower since going to court this morning.

Xu Jian stood at the entrance of the alley and looked at the house. Half of the trees that originally ran high up the courtyard wall were gone.

On the contrary, in the open space outside the house, there were piles of sawed tree trunks, and there were many broken branches that were simply arranged but not neatly arranged. They were all blocking the road. The alley, which was not very wide, became more and more crowded, making it difficult to move down. .

Xu Jian took some effort before walking in.

The gold bricks were a little heavy on his body, and because of the road conditions, he sometimes had to be careful about where he stepped.

When Wantang heard that Xu Jian was coming, he quickly came out of the house to welcome him. He looked up and saw the slightly unstable figure of Duke Fu, and felt quite sorry.

 He never thought that Xu Jian was "walking forward with a heavy load", he just thought that his legs and feet were not good.

Wantang has two sons, who started to grow up in their teens. Nowadays, when they are most uncontrollable, they have squandered most of their energy by practicing martial arts since childhood. They crawled and rolled all day on the school field, and they were so tired that they were out of breath and had no energy at all. Sora caused him trouble.

The two brats complained that they were tired every day, but Wantang knew that their little hard work was nothing compared to the generals' disciples who were actually trained to fight on the battlefield.

For someone like Fu Guogong, the hardships and sweat he endured while practicing martial arts cannot be explained clearly in just a few words.

The young man who once galloped on horseback was now in trouble because the road was blocked by tree trunks and branches.

This is really...

Wantang looked strangely uncomfortable.

"Let you all pile aside, why are you making such a mess," he shouted, "I don't even have anywhere to stay, so hurry up and clean it up. If you stumble and lose your teeth, don't come to me to apologize. I I reminded you."

 Xu Jian said hello to Wantang, and they entered the house together.

 The inside of the house is even more chaotic than outside.

The trees were dug away, leaving holes one by one. It rained for days, and the soil was full of water, turning it into mud and making it sticky.

Wantang did not let Xu Jian walk on the muddy ground, but only walked along the corridor: "If you can dig out the whole yard before dark, light the lamp at night, and then dig out these rooms."

Xu Jian said: "Have you checked all the flower halls and elegant rooms? Didn't you find the secret cellar?"

"No, this place is very fancy. I thought it would be there, but I haven't found anything yet," Wantang sighed. "Didn't the Duke of Guo also stay here for a while yesterday? I think this house is used for The person who entertains the prince is very careful, where will he leave any clues for us? "

“Then we can only use the earth method and dig little by little.” Xu Jian said.

Wantang wiped his face.

There was mud on his hands, and the left half of his face was stained. He didn't care, and just said the case: "The method is muddy, and I'm afraid that if I dig it, I won't get anything."

The posture this morning was exactly as we guessed yesterday, everyone had their own agenda.

 They can still bear it now, but in a few days, we will still have no progress here, hey! "

Xu Jian smiled.

Wantang said again: "The Duke went to the Imperial Study Room later. What did the Holy One say?"

“The Holy One is wise,” Xu Jian said succinctly, “someone has ulterior motives and it is difficult for the government to do things, and he knows it in his heart.”

"He knows it, but his son doesn't know it..." Wantang muttered, realizing that he said something he shouldn't have said, he couldn't help but smile, "I didn't say it, I didn't say anything."

"Master Wan, please do your work first," Xu Jian said, "I'll look around again, it would be great if I can find something."

 Wantang will naturally respond.

 Xu Jian took Shen Chen to the inner courtyard and walked to the house where Li Shao and Liu Xun were found that day.

This place has been raided several times, valuable things have been moved away, and worthless things have been staggered here and there, leaving a mess.

 Xu Jian didn't look at the ground, raised her head, looked at the roof beams carefully, and then called Shen Chen.

 “Go up and find a corner,” he said.

 He knows how to copy things very well.

He once raided An Yibo's Mansion as his deputy, and also experienced the confiscations of Chengyi Bo's Mansion and Fuguo Gong's Mansion. He knew which places would be raided and which places would be ignored.

Unless there is a blood feud and you want to delay the other party, no one in charge will check between the beams and pillars and under the tiles, and the government servants below will not do such a thankless thing.

The place is small and there is nothing to hide, but for Xu Jian, hiding two gold bricks is enough.

 The gold brick is wrapped in a piece of cotton cloth.

To be more realistic, Xu Jian dug out this piece from the corner of the warehouse.

The material itself is good, but it has been there for many years and is dirty.

 Shen Chen is very careful in his work.

 After selecting the location, according to the size of the cloth bag, first gather all the ash from that piece onto the cloth, and then press the cloth bag up.

 After making sure that everything was ready, Shen Chen lowered his head and looked down, and nodded to Xu Jian.

Xu Jian was not in a hurry. After walking around the flower hall a few more times, he gestured to Shenchen.

 The clouds thickened, and suddenly it started to rain again.

Wantang was already suffocating, and he kept complaining because of the thick weather.

Hearing someone calling him, he turned his head unhappily, but was startled by the appearance of the person.

 The one who came was Shen Chen.

He didn’t know what he had just done. His clothes were full of dust. He should have dusted them off, but he didn’t. His originally fair face was also stained with dust.

 Very embarrassed.

Wantang hurriedly asked: "What's wrong?"

“I found something,” Shen Chen said. “The Duke asked Mr. Wan to take a look at it.”

When Wantang heard this, he hurriedly asked him to go with him: "Where did you find it? What is it?"

"There was no darkroom or cellar, so the Duke said we couldn't look for it above, so I climbed up to the roof beam," Shen Chen said. "There was a package hidden in a corner. I took it out, and there were two pieces of gold in it. brick."

Wantang felt a toothache from hearing it.

 I blame myself for not thinking broadly enough. I even thought of digging the ground, but I didn’t think of demolishing the house first.

 Secondly, this harvest is a bit strange.

 However, something gained is better than nothing gained.

Wantang walked all the way around and saw Xu Jian standing outside the flower hall.

 “Take a breath,” Xu Jian said.

Wantang took a look inside and understood immediately.

The bundle had been there for who knows how long. It was covered with thick dust. When they opened the bag earlier, the dust was scattered inside the room.

Wantang covered his mouth and nose and took a gold brick.

 It was heavy and full of weight. Shen Chen probably looked through it after unpacking it. There was a little dust on the surface.

 Xu Jian pointed to Wantang: "I found it in that corner. I also checked it on the beam next door, but there was no harvest."

"If you have money," Wantang clicked his tongue, "Just stay here and they have forgotten about it?"

Xu Jian pretended to think: "I wonder if Mr. Wan still remembers that when I was in Shuntian Mansion last year, Mr. Shan tried a case. In the sixth year, Wang kept saying that he was looking for two boxes of gold bricks."

Of course Wantang remembers: "What Duke Fuguo means is that this is what's in those two boxes?"

“I don’t know,” Xu Jian said. “The BRIC doesn’t have a name either. It’s just this thing that comes to mind.”

 The news was sent back to Shuntian Mansion.

Shan Shen hurried over and looked at the two gold bricks with a confused look on his face.

 Wantang came down from the roof beam. He went up to take a look in person. The man was very tricky. If he hadn't looked carefully after mounting the beam, it would be difficult to find out what was hidden on it.

Shenchen's skills are quite good. In order to move on it, he left a lot of marks and wiped them here and there.

"I see it's thick gray," Wantang said as he patted his clothes. The dust rushed into his mouth and nose. He choked several times, but finally calmed down and continued, "This cloth bag has been hidden there for at least seven or eight years. "

Shan Shen doesn’t have the same ability as them.

The yamen servant brought a ladder, and Master Shan set it up nearby. Holding the ladder in one hand and an oil lamp in the other, he leaned over and took a closer look.

 According to his eyes, it is not easy to distinguish.

 It was too dark, and it was checked by Shen Chen and Wantang one after another. The situation here was naturally different from before the discovery.

 Hand oil lamps should not be too close to avoid accidents.

Shan Shen landed on the ground and looked at the cloth bag again: "The material seems to be good."

“It’s covered with gold bricks,” Wantang said.

Shan Shen picked up the gold brick and looked at it.

He looked very carefully, looking back and forth towards the oil lamp, and naturally discovered the trace.

 He said "Huh".

Wantang asked hurriedly: "What did you find?"

Shan Shen handed the gold brick in his hand to Wantang, then took another one and continued to look at it.

Wantang painted a gourd in the same way.

 “Is there a Dao seal?” Wantang frowned, “Did you knock it?”

“You won’t hit this position even if you knock it,” Shan Shen said, dipped his hand in some water and drew the mark, “Are the two pieces like this?”

Hearing this, Xu Jian took the two gold bricks.

 He just observed it carefully, as if it was the first time he saw it.

"It seems to be the same," Xu Jian said, "the traces on the mold?"

Wantang didn't say anything. He was silent for a long time while facing the traces drawn by Shan Shen, and then he said: "Old Dan, this, does this look like what the person wrote before..."

Shan Shen didn’t react for a moment: “Who?”

Wan Tang's heart skipped a beat: "The deposed prince, Li Mi, the master of the sixth year of the reign of the King, is this how he used to write the character Mi?"

Shan Shen saw stars in his eyes.

How could he forget this?

How many times did King Wang shout out the golden bricks in front of the golden bricks and the golden bricks in the back in his yamen in the sixth year of his life!

 The appearance of two gold bricks suddenly gave the case a way forward.

Shan Shen interrogated Liu Xun again and asked him if he knew Li Mi? What does it have to do with Li Mi’s old ministry? Was he being tricked, or was he trying to trick the prince?

 Liu Xun was stunned.

 Of course he knew Li Mi, but he had no relationship with Li Mi.

 He just found a good place for His Highness the Crown Prince, but why did the subsequent development become more and more outrageous?

"So, the person who introduced the place to me is Li Mi's people?" Liu Xun asked Shan Shen, "He is a deposed prince and a commoner, and he still comes to harm His Highness?"

 In Qianbu Corridor, Liu Jing also received the news and hurried to Shuntian Mansion.

“Xun’er has absolutely nothing to do with Li Mi,” Liu Jing and Shan Shen said. “How old was he when Li Mi was demoted!”

Shan Shen patted Liu Jing on the shoulder: "Master Liu, you have been working hard in the officialdom for so many years. You can understand all the troubles in the court. You can judge for yourself what is the current situation of His Highness and the situation of the Young Master. . My advice to you is to make some choices.”

 Liu Jing's face was pale.

 After the incident happened, he knew what he would face, but he was unwilling to give up until the last moment.

"If you touch Li Mi, you will have to shed your skin even if you don't die," Shan Shen said again, "I know you are reluctant to let go, after all, he is your biological son, but you don't think about yourself, but also consider your wife and your concubines. They still want yours. Support. If you insist on going with me, who cares about them?"

Liu Jing was distraught and blurted out: "Isn't there still Duke Fu?"

Shan Shen glanced at him.

Liu Jing knew that his tone was wrong, so he wiped his face and apologized to Shan Shen: "I'm really upset."

"I understand," Shan Shen added, "but think about it, the Duke of the State is also a son, right? Previously, the Duke of Xu's Mansion..."

　　　point to the end.

 Shan Shen said this and did not continue.

 Liu Jing's mood was worse than before.

How could his situation be the same as that of Xu Guogong?

Of Xu Guogong’s three sons, Su Ke was not the only one with the surname Su, and there were two older brothers above him.

 Xu Guogong gave up Su Ke for the future of his family. He still had two sons.

 But what about Liu Jing?

 Would Xu Jian recognize him as his father?

 Xu Jian’s surname is not Liu at all!

 The only person who can carry on the Liu family's legacy is Liu Xun.

 The only son he loves is Liu Xun.

How could he be so cruel as to give up his only son?

"Where is the Ajian man?" Liu Jing managed to calm down and asked Shan Shen, "I want to ask him again."

Shan Shen shook his head: "He has entered the palace. Such an important matter must be reported immediately."

 Liu Jing left Shuntian Mansion.

 I staggered on my steps and almost fell when I went down the steps.

He barely managed to steady himself and returned to Liu's house in a sedan.

 The door of Liu's Mansion is ajar.

Liu Jing pushed the door open and went in, but no steward came to greet him. He felt suspicious and continued walking inside.

 Before reaching the second gate, I heard a commotion inside.

 “What’s going on?” Liu Jing strode over.

Hearing this, Manager Tao rushed over to help him: "Grandma is clamoring to go back to her parents' house and has to move all her things back."

Liu Jing raised his head and looked at the boxes and cages.

Zheng Liu also saw him, raised his chin, and said, "Liu Xun is seeking his own death. You Liu family, don't drag me to death. These are all my things, and I'm not taking advantage of you."

"What are you talking about?" Liu Jing asked angrily, "The Holy One has not made up his mind, how can you say..."

"I won't listen! I won't listen!" Zheng Liu said loudly. She had no intention of fighting with Liu Jing and just threw away her trump card. "If you want to stop me, I will go find my wife.

 I will tell my wife, let the prince see Liu Ping. In fact, you nodded, you know everything.

You still blame Liu Xun for taking Liu Ping to the Yamen of the Ministry of Rites to frighten the enemy. "

Liu Jing's face turned green and black.

 glaring at Zheng Liu, he finally gave in.

No matter how much you argue with Zheng Liu, it will be meaningless.

Zheng Liu left. Before leaving, he said that in a few days, people would continue to move things according to the dowry booklet.

 Liu Jing did not let Manager Tao wait on him, so he walked back to the study and slumped down on the chair.

The thunder started again, and another heavy rain was about to fall.

 He knew that there was not much time left for him.

Perhaps, tomorrow morning.

   Xu Jian: Plan.

　　-

　　　Thanks to book friend Xu Bicheng’s official girlfriend for the reward.

 (End of this chapter)