It turned out that Zhao Cheng found it difficult to deal with three people at the same time, so he saw the opportunity and went straight to Meng Zhiyuan.
Several servants were unprepared and were surrounded by him. They hurriedly called Meng Zhiyuan to remind him to take shelter.
When Meng Zhiyuan reacted, Zhao Cheng had already rushed in front of him. It was too late to run away, so he pulled out the knife in desperation.
Zhao Cheng hit the horse on the head with a stick. The horse stood up with a long neigh of pain, and immediately knocked Meng Zhiyuan to the ground.
Zhao Cheng hit Meng Zhiyuan on the wrist with another stick, and the long knife fell to the ground with a clang.
With quick hands and quick eyes, he grabbed the knife that fell on the ground. At this time, three servants rushed over desperately and immediately protected Meng Zhiyuan.
Bai Jingtao specifically told him that protecting Meng Zhiyuan was the most important thing. If Meng Zhiyuan had any shortcomings under the noses of the three of them, it would be irreparable.
Therefore, the three servants were also startled and broke into cold sweats, and no one acted rashly again.
Zhao Cheng also secretly said it was a pity that his body was too weak after all.
"Who are you, and why did you come to arrest me without saying a word? And all of them are armed with knives. Do you want to openly commit murder?"
Although the fight started, Zhao Cheng was indeed reasonable. Even if the Yamen came to arrest someone, they had to reveal their identity first. Bai Jingtao and other servants were all very arrogant and did not take ordinary people into consideration. Unexpectedly, This time I encountered a tough opponent, Zhao Cheng.
Meng Zhiyuan stopped the shouts of the servants. Although he himself was in a very embarrassing situation just now, he admired Zhao Cheng's character very much.
Meng Zhiyuan dusted himself off and said to Zhao Cheng, "We came to Beijing. Do you recognize Bai Jingtao?"
Zhao Cheng shook his head: "I don't remember this person."
Since he traveled through time, he knew almost nothing about this world. The only information he learned was from Zhou Rushuang's mouth.
Therefore, the previous memory of this body is completely blank. Naturally, it cannot remember what its predecessor did.
Meng Zhiyuan said: "It's not a big deal. You owe Bai Jingtao dozens of taels of silver. We happened to be passing by and took a look."
Then he said to the servant: "Call Mao Wu to come over and deal with this matter."
Then he got on his horse again, turned the horse's head and galloped towards the road he came from.
Maowu is Bai Jingtao's personal attendant. Bai Jingtao usually takes Maowu with him wherever he goes, so if there are any chores such as IOUs, Maowu should be handled by Maowu.
Besides such trivial matters as debt collection, coupled with Zhao Cheng's civilian status, once there was a conflict, Meng Zhiyuan felt that he and Bai Jingtao would lose their status if they participated.
If the young men in Beijing find out, they will definitely make fun of it.
It's better to leave this kind of matter to the subordinates. No matter what the means, it has nothing to do with young masters like them.
Bai Jingtao was far away and couldn't see clearly. He didn't know whether Meng Zhiyuan had dismounted or took the initiative. He felt a little uneasy. Later, he saw Meng Zhiyuan returning with his servants and he was relieved.
"What's going on?" Bai Jingtao asked, looking at the small village in the distance in the morning light.
Meng Zhiyuan recounted the general situation: "The servant was eager to bring the person over, so he didn't speak clearly."
In fact, Bai Jingtao was not doing it for the dozens of taels of silver. What was important was the inscription on the stele that he had been thinking about. After listening to Meng Zhiyuan's words, he told Maowudao: "Then you stay here, or return to Qinghe County, and wait until the matter here is settled. , then go to Peidi to find me."
After Bai Jingtao made arrangements, he urged the convoy to hit the road again. He sat in the car and asked Meng Zhiyuan: "Why do you feel you are urging me to leave? That man injured my servant and didn't even give me any punishment."
Meng Zhiyuan took a look and saw that there was no one in front or behind him. The servants were all following the carriage for some distance. Then he approached the window and whispered to Bai Jingtao: "When you come out this time, did Uncle Shi tell you something?"
Bai Jingtao nodded and remained silent.
Then his eyes widened: "You mean..."
Meng Zhiyuan did not answer directly, but said: "We will find a time to talk in detail after we arrive in Peidi."
Bai Jingtao and his party left, leaving only one servant, Mao Wu, who stayed behind to deal with Zhao Cheng's affairs.
He is Bai Jingtao's personal attendant, and almost all chores, large and small, go through his hands, so he has a high status among the servants.
Zhao Cheng saw these people coming and leaving in a hurry. Just when he felt confused, Mao Wu had already arrived in front of the ruined temple.
"Zhao Cheng, you borrowed sixty taels of silver from my young master last month. It's time to pay it back now."
Zhao Cheng looked at the middle-aged man in his thirties in front of him. He was obviously the same servant as the servant just now, and they were all Mr. Bai's subordinates.
He frowned: "There is no basis for what you say. You said that I owe dozens of taels of silver. I must have a receipt, right?"
Maowu took out a clearly written IOU from his pocket and showed it to Zhao Cheng: "Of course there is, and there is also your handwritten monogram."
Bai Jingtao first met Zhao Cheng at a casino in Qinghe County.
Zhao Cheng took advantage of him and struck up a conversation while gambling, focusing on the things that Bai Jingtao was interested in. Bai Jingtao liked strange stones, so he said he had strange stones, and Bai Jingtao liked steles, so he said there were old stone steles in his village.
In fact, Zhao Cheng was just talking nonsense, hoping to get Bai Jingtao's appreciation and cling to the powerful.
Bai Jingtao has seen many people like this since he was a child. He was half convinced and half suspicious, and he didn't take it to heart. After more than ten days, when Bai Jingtao thought about it, he didn't find Zhao Cheng, so he left it alone.
However, this matter was known by Shao Yutang, the son of Shao Dianshi in Qinghe County. With the convenience of his father being a pianshi in the county, he found out that Zhao Chengnai was from Liuxi Village in Qinghe County, and used this to claim credit for arresting Bai Jingtao. .
Bai Jingtao didn't bother to have anything to do with local officials, not to mention that he was just the son of a subordinate official. He looked down upon him at all. He flatly denied Zhao Cheng's claim of cheating money and only said that he had remembered the wrong address and would go get it another day without any trouble. Others worry.
Shao Yutang was disappointed before he gave up.
In terms of status, Bai Jingtao didn't bother to tangle with people like Shao Yutang, let alone ordinary people like Zhao Cheng. If he hadn't been thinking about the inscriptions Zhao Cheng said, he wouldn't have come to him at all, whether it was to cheat him out of dozens of taels of silver. Borrow it or leave it at that.
Passing by here today, it just happened that the servants at home said that the boy selling tablets and stickers was in a nearby village and happened to be on the way to the ancient battlefield of Peidi, so Bai Jingtao sent people to find Zhao Cheng.
Maowu shook the IOU in his hand: "How is it? Don't remember? For these sixty taels of silver, you brag a lot. Where are the stone tablets? Where are the strange stones?"
Zhao Cheng shook his head: "I was seriously ill and almost died a few days ago. When I woke up, I couldn't remember anything except my name."
"I don't know anything about the strange stone tablets you are talking about, but if you have an IOU, the money I borrowed will naturally be returned to you, and you don't have to worry about me defaulting on the debt."
Maowu pointed to the fingerprints on the IOU and said, "Can you compare it yourself?"
