Chen hour is the time for the morning meal.
Doors opened one after another, and basins of residual water poured from the front door and the back window onto the street and into the gutter. The aroma of osmanthus oil and rouge gouache filled the water, and was soon covered up by the aroma of morning food.
The aroma of wontons, cakes, steamed buns, and fried ghost spreads along with the sound of hawking. The smell of mutton soup, lung filling, fried lung, and morning wine in the foot shop is even stronger, floating around the people coming in and out.
People who eat the morning meal also have their mouths full.
"There was frost last night, and it's quite cold today."
"I added a thick jacket."
"You are wearing such thick clothes at this time, and you are not allowed to go out on the street wrapped in a quilt after the frost?"
"What happened in the middle of the night yesterday? Did you listen?"
"Seems like he's looking for someone."
"Don't worry about frost on other people's roofs. It's hard for us to survive. Now we have to rely on someone to deliver newspapers."
"The charcoal has risen again..."
Gossips were heard and flowing in the streets and alleys like running water. Suddenly, a big stone was thrown into this tranquility.
Noisy sounds swarmed in, and the center of the sound turned into a whirlpool, which continued to swim, pulling people all over the street to follow.
The whirlpool is none other than Cheng Ting.
In this cold weather, Cheng Ting was not wearing a bun, and his upper body was naked. His exposed skin was red from the cold, goosebumps were all over his body, his nose was also red, and he breathed out clouds of white air, which made him feel cold just looking at it.
He also carried a large bundle of thorns on his back.
He was a strong man, but he was not thick-skinned. The thorns had left red and swollen marks on his back, which was shocking to see.
"Master Cheng!"
"This is asking for forgiveness."
"Where can I go to apologize? With his father?"
"I'm afraid Magistrate Cheng won't take advantage of his move."
During the holiday today, the students were all wandering out. When they heard Cheng Ting's name, they all rushed over and gathered around Cheng Ting to find out what mistakes he had made.
More and more people gathered to watch the excitement. When they arrived in front of the Zhizhou Yamen, even the small vendors rushed over to sell their goods.
Cheng Ting Dong's lips turned purple and he knelt down with only his knee pants on.
As soon as his knees hit the ground, a bone-chilling chill immediately penetrated the stone slab. Cheng Ting groaned secretly and burst into tears.
Taking advantage of the hard-won tears, he let go of his throat and confessed in a loud voice that shook the house: "Uncle Wang! Wang Zhizhou! Jinghua! I was wrong. Last night, I injured Jinghua for a trivial matter. , I made a mistake, and I’m here to confess!”
He burst into tears: "Uncle Wang!! You punish me, take me to jail!"
Wang Zhizhou walked out of the door amidst the howls of ghosts and wolves. Looking at Cheng Ting's extremely hypocritical face, he felt as sick as if he had swallowed a dead fly.
Look, Cheng Ting has already taken the blame, what else can he do?
He could only force a smile on his face, walked forward, pretended to help Cheng Ting up, called his nephew, and said, "If you know your mistakes, correct them, that's good." Finally, he took off his crane cloak and gave it to Cheng Ting. Put it on.
He should do this, tear his heart open in front of the people and subordinates who are watching, so that his stomach can support the broken boats of the Cheng family.
Could he still be so stubborn in front of so many people?
He walked out step by step, walked towards Cheng Ting, gritted his teeth, helped Cheng Ting up, held back his anger, and called "good nephew".
The virtuous nephew even held hands with him, looked at each other with tears in his eyes, and called him "Uncle Wang" twice warmly.
"Uncle, I was wrong."
Wang Zhizhou's heart was churning, his face was flushed with anger, and his teeth were clenched so tightly that he couldn't utter even a single word.
His heart was beating wildly in his chest, and all the blood in his body was rushing to his head.
He tried his best to smile and thought: "I never knew that a silly boy like you had such wisdom."
After serving as an official for decades, he was not too rude in front of everyone. He let go of Cheng Ting's hand and patted Cheng Ting on the shoulder: "If you know you are wrong, just correct it. That's good. Hua'er got up sick in bed." If you don’t come, I, as a father, will feel very uncomfortable.”
He didn't hear a word of what Cheng Ting said clearly. His mind was buzzing with anger. He glanced around and saw Wu Jin selling cakes with his brother in the crowd.
Wu Jin used a piece of oil paper to wrap the cake skillfully, accepted the six cents, and put it back into the money bag. The overwhelming suffering and poverty did not leave any trace of poverty on him, but made him calmer.
Wang Zhizhou secretly thought that Wu Jin must have come up with a clever trick to plead guilty.
Otherwise, how could Cheng Ting, with his stupid head, think of it.
He withdrew his gaze, his face numb, and said a few more words to comfort Cheng Ting. He took off his crane cloak, put it on Cheng Ting, and asked his men to take Cheng Ting home.
He was so generous that it was heartbreaking - in all his life, he had never eaten such a big turtle, allowing a young man like Wu Jin to defeat two armies one after another.
Turning around and going back, he walked from the front office to the central hall. The smile on his face disappeared little by little, leaving only a gloomy look in his eyes.
The servant brought tea, and he picked up the tea cup. Only then did he realize that his hands were shaking badly. He forced himself to calm down. He took a sip, but suddenly he raised his hand and smashed the saucer to the ground.
There was a loud "bang", and the white porcelain made a crisp cracking sound on the ground. The fragrant tea splashed all over the floor and splashed on the clothes of the state judge and Tongzhi.
The state magistrate and Tongzhi looked at each other and both knew how broad-minded Wang Zhizhou was. Now that he only dropped a tea cup, it was considered a good thing.
Bi Tongzhi stood up and ordered someone to clean up the mess. He walked to Wang Zhizhou and whispered: "The Cheng family is really hateful. Let's settle the score in secret."
Wang Zhizhou moved his fingers: "Call the man named Liu."
"yes."
Bi Tongzhi and Sun Zhouxuan quietly went out. Wang Zhizhou was sitting in a chair. Suddenly, his throat felt itchy. He coughed hard and coughed up a ball of salty stuff. When he spit it into a spittoon, he saw that the sputum was filled with blood.
His vision immediately turned black, and he thought: "I'm so angry."
When Liu Boyu came, he had already learned clearly about this drama of asking for forgiveness. He even knew about the fight last night.
He also knew that if he went to see Wang Zhizhou at this time, he would not only be a punching bag, but he might also make him do something shady.
But I can't help but go.
He entered the magistrate's yamen without being seen by anyone. When he reached the middle hall, he stood under the platform, waiting for the summons.
It was still early, the hour had not passed yet, but the weather was not good. It was gray and gloomy. The ground was damp. There was always invisible water vapor coming out of the stone slabs, making people feel cold all over their bodies just standing here.
Servants came and went, sometimes changing tea, sometimes adding charcoal, sometimes delivering medicine. A servant came out of the house, lifted the curtain, and motioned Liu Boyu to come in.
Liu Boyu strode forward and walked into the room. Seeing that there was only one person sitting in the room, Wang Zhizhou, with a bad look on his face, he forced a smile, cupped his hands and bowed: "I have seen Zhizhou before."
Wang Zhizhou put down the medicine bowl, glanced at him, stretched out his hand to rub his forehead, and threw the Liu family's account books on the ground: "Too few."
Liu Boyu smiled apologetically and said, "Please Zhizhou be considerate, I really have no choice..."
Wang Zhizhou interrupted him with a sneer: "Don't use these words to deal with me, you are just trying to use a mule, but you don't dare to do it yourself, you just want me to mediate for you!"
