At three o'clock in the morning, it is the time of midnight in the Yamen. In the past, Magistrate Zhu was never absent. After getting up, he came over to supervise personally without even brushing his teeth.
Today is strange. It's almost time and I haven't seen his shadow yet.
Seeing that the delay was getting longer and longer, it was not possible for everyone to wait here, so the second-in-command Wang Xiancheng stood up and was ready to go to the inner courtyard to ask questions at the risk of being beaten.
It happened that the magistrate's wife, who was all dressed up, passed by and saw a group of people still standing stupidly in the lobby, so she casually mentioned, "Your Excellency is not feeling well today, so he will not participate in the meal. You can go and do what you are supposed to do."
After saying that, he turned around and left, completely ignoring the people below.
Everyone was speechless, but they dared not speak out in anger, and quickly dispersed.
Xu Xingmu took advantage of the situation and slipped back home.
He had already visited the county government office before to retrieve Father Xu's robe. After taking it home, washing and drying it, he hurried back to the government office.
I originally thought about asking for leave for my father who had been drunk all night, but I didn't expect that the magistrate himself didn't come, so that was just spared.
After touching the fish for a while, he ran away!
As soon as I entered the house, I found that my father was awake and seemed to be in good spirits. At this time, he was drinking tea with a young man and talking about the governance of the country.
The topic was too high-end and Xu Xingmu couldn't understand it, but he recognized the young man.
"Brother Lin!"
Xu Xingmu was quite surprised and exclaimed, "You actually managed to escape! The county magistrate's wife couldn't even let you stay?"
When he left the inner courtyard last night, he clearly heard the sound of Lin Qing banging on the door. This was the rhythm of seeking death.
And when he walked quickly to the yamen gate, the roars of Master Zhu and his wife also sounded.
It stands to reason that anyone who is targeted by that couple will at least be scratched by the wife, and then given thirty army sticks, fifteen days in jail, and three hundred taels of silver before they can escape unscathed.
But at this moment, Lin Qing was not only intact, but showed no symptoms of injury.
His face was red and beaming with joy, exuding an aura of happiness from the inside out.
Those who didn't know thought he was cuckolding the county magistrate.
Lin Qing stood up and said with a smile, "Although the county magistrate's wife is quite aggressive, fortunately Lord Zhu is reasonable and he didn't make things too difficult for me."
"Master Zhu, are you being reasonable? Did I hear you correctly?"
Just as Xu Xingmu was about to complain, Xu Pingsheng's reprimand came, "Feng Lin, what are you talking about? Don't talk about others behind their backs, especially the magistrate. Be careful that walls have ears!"
Xu Pingsheng subconsciously glanced at the Wang County Cheng family next door, his eyes full of vigilance.
Xu Xingmu thought to himself, you drank too much last night and didn't you scold me enough?
He ignored Father Xu and turned to look at Lin Qing, "So your affairs are all done? When will you return to the capital?"
Lin Qing said, "Hurry! If nothing else happens, we can return at Youshi today."
"That's good!"
Xu Xingmu took Lin Qing's hand and dragged him out of the house, "You are a guest from afar. Before you leave, my host will invite you out for a meal. The roast chicken and elbows at Quanfu Zhai on West Street are the best. You will definitely be in the capital." can not eat!"
"Don't worry yet!"
Lin Qing broke away and calmly smoothed the wrinkles on his sleeves, feeling a little embarrassed and said, "Brother Xu, you might as well put the meal aside for now. I came here shamelessly to bother you today. In fact, I just wanted to find a place to have a good sleep. "
He sighed, "I'm really tired after traveling all night. If I don't get a good rest, I'm afraid I won't be able to rush back to the capital tonight. So what I need now is a big bed, not roast chicken and elbows. Please forgive me, brother Xu." .”
"I was negligent!"
Xu Xingmu slapped his forehead and said, "After traveling thousands of miles and being tired from traveling, you really need a good rest. In this case, you go to my room to sleep first, and I will buy the roast chicken and elbows myself and eat them when you wake up."
"etc!"
Lin Qing immediately called out to him again, but stopped talking.
Xu Xingmu asked doubtfully, "Brother Lin, do you have any other instructions?"
"Um, do you want me to sleep on your bed?"
Lin Qing laughed awkwardly, "Isn't it a little inappropriate?"
Xu Xingmu didn't react for a while, "It's okay if you don't sleep in my father's bed."
After saying that, he immediately looked at Xu Pingsheng, "Dad, go and clean up and throw away the unused toilet paper on the bedside..."
When Xu Pingsheng heard this, he couldn't stand it anymore. He widened his eyes and said, "I'm full of knowledge on my bedside. Where did I get the toilet paper?"
Feeling confident, he began to move towards the house.
Lin Qing's head hurt when he saw it, and he quickly stopped Xu Pingsheng and said bluntly, "Brother Xu! Uncle! Stop working! To be honest, I have mild obsessive-compulsive disorder and mysophobia, and I am not used to sleeping in other people's beds."
Upon hearing this, Xu Pingsheng immediately laughed, "Mysophobia is a good thing, mysophobia is clean!"
Xu Xingmu blinked, "Brother Lin, are you a Virgo?"
"Virgo? What is this?"
Lin Qing expressed confusion.
"it's okay no problem!"
Xu Xingmu waved his hand, "What should I do? There is no extra bed at home! There is a room in the house, but there is only one desk in it. It is usually used by my father for his office, and it can be used for writing documents. , but it’s a bit reluctant to use it for sleeping, it’s annoying!”
"It doesn't matter!"
Lin Qing finally breathed a sigh of relief, "When I was in the capital, I often fell asleep at my desk. I'm used to it. Brother Xu, don't say any more, that's it!"
If you have a bed and don't sleep on the table, you're not a mysophobia, you're a weirdo!
Xu Xingmu cursed secretly for a moment, then took Lin Qing into the study to stay.
He then rushed to Quanfu Restaurant, and he was sure to eat the delicious roast chicken and pork ribs today!
At this time, Lin Qing entered the room and took a look. After a while, she nodded and felt good.
The house is a little dirty, but considering that there are only two old men in the house, it is understandable that they neglect cleaning.
What's rare is that the layout is not messy, which is good news for Lin Qing, who is in the late stages of obsessive-compulsive disorder.
There are some debris piled up in the corner. Judging from the dust scattered on it, it must have been idle for a long time.
He stared at the clutter for a while, then suddenly forced an exposed end of something into it, making sure it was on the same plane as the other clutter. Then he nodded with satisfaction and looked at one wall. side.
There was a bookcase set up there. Lin Qing opened it and saw that it was filled with various scholarly books and folklore books from the Great Xia Dynasty.
What's rare is that Xu's calligraphy creations over the years are also hidden in it. He opened it with anticipation and took a look, then put it back after half a breath.
He hesitated for a moment, but finally spent a quarter of an hour organizing the bookcase and carefully classifying each book.
Xu Pingsheng's original works are also classified one by one in the order of poems, lyrics, articles, biographies, and calligraphy, and are well marked.
Everything is organized and perfectly laid out.
"I can finally sleep peacefully."
Lin Qing took a long breath, leaving no regrets in his heart.
Just as he was about to turn around and fall asleep at his desk, a piece of red paper suddenly fell from the cracks of the bookcase and landed at Lin Qing's feet.
"A fish slipped through the net!"
Lin Qing shook his head and laughed, and hurriedly leaned over to pick it up. He took a quick look and was about to classify it.
But suddenly, the smile on his face disappeared.
The eyes that had moved away once again returned to the red piece of paper in his hand.
It was from this moment that the gears of fate began to turn.
…
