Chen Xiaomu stood here, like a high-ranking official holding a press conference in later generations, patiently answering the concerns of the craftsmen from all walks of life in front of him. After hearing his answer, almost everyone left with joy, but then they As the number of people decreased, some shady industries made him laugh or cry, but even these industries received satisfactory answers from him. In the end, there was only a strong man in a gray short coat and a man wearing a hat in front of him. A handsome-looking young man wearing a worn felt hat.
Chen Xiaomu looked at them both with a smile, "Which one of you will speak first?"
Almost at the same time, the two raised their fingers and pointed at each other and said in unison: "He said it first."
"Well, if you are so pushy, I have to leave!" Chen Xiaomu said, making a gesture of wanting to leave. The strong man became anxious when he saw it, and hurriedly said: "Master, let me talk first?"
Chen Xiaomu turned around again and said, "Go ahead."
The strong man scratched his head and said: "My lord, the common man is, yes, a coffin bearer. I wonder if he can find something to do?"
"Pfft, pfft" Zhou Huanhuan, Wei Yuxin and others who were following Chen Xiaomu couldn't help laughing when they heard this. Even Zhuo Yihe, who had always been upright, turned his face to one side and snickered.
Chen Xiaomu himself was extremely embarrassed. After thinking for a moment, he gritted his teeth and said, "Okay, come on, I will make my own arrangements then!"
When the strong man heard this, he immediately knelt down and kowtowed, thanked him a lot and left. Now only the handsome young man was left. Chen Xiaomu looked at him and smiled and said: "How is it? Young man, you are the only one left now. If you don't want to say anything anymore, I will really leave!"
The young man hesitated and said: "Sir, sir, can I talk to you alone?"
Chen Xiaomu's face darkened and he said angrily: "Young man, have you gone too far?"
The young man was stunned, twisted a little, and muttered: "Sir, this kid is a thief. Now he wants to quit, I don't know, I don't know...?" When the young man said this, he couldn't go on. Thinking about it, the government He specializes in catching thieves, so you can't hire him to continue stealing!
"What? It turns out you are a little thief!" Zhuo Yihe yelled before the young man could finish his words. He was so frightened that the young man trembled and turned around to escape. Unexpectedly, he was stopped by someone as soon as he turned around. Wei Yu didn't know when Already standing behind him.
The young man was so frightened that he knelt on the ground and begged, "Master, please let me go. My godmother did all the stealing, and I was just keeping watch with her!"
Chen Xiaomu walked to the young man's side, knelt down and said gently: "Where is your godmother now?"
The young man sobbed and said, "My godmother was beaten to death!"
"Oh! Where was he beaten to death? And by whom?" Chen Xiaomu asked in surprise.
Xiaonian shook his head, "I don't know those people either."
''Can you tell me more about this matter? "Chen Xiaomu's tone became more cordial.
The young man raised his teary eyes and begged pitifully: "Master, I have told you everything, can you not arrest me?"
Chen Xiaomu gently patted the young man's shoulder, and the young man's body suddenly shook like an electric shock. Chen Xiaomu quickly comforted him and said: "Don't be afraid, the government will not arrest people without evidence."
The young man breathed a sigh of relief, and then he whispered: "Master, I have nowhere to go. Can I follow you from now on?"
"Why do you want to follow me?" Chen Xiaomu asked strangely: "You are so young, what can you do that you can't do well?"
The young man said embarrassedly: "Master, you don't know something. Since I was born, my body has been weak and I can't do any heavy work at all. If I can follow the master and do some errands, wouldn't I be able to get along?" I have no worries about food and clothing."
Chen Xiaomu laughed. It turned out that this guy had this idea in mind, so he teased him: "Everyone who can follow me has a skill, but I don't know what skill you have? Can you show it to me?" Take a look?"
The young man hesitated and reminded: "My lord, I am a thief. In addition to stealing, I also run fast! As for other skills, I don't know how to do it."
What he said made everyone present couldn't help laughing. Zhuo Yihe said with great interest: "I'm here to test you!" After saying that, he stretched out his hand and took out a jade pendant. His eyes flickered, and he quickly put it back on his body. Then he spread his hands and smiled at the young man: "You said you are a thief. I just put a jade pendant on my body. Why don't you try to steal it?"
The young man looked at Chen Xiaomu and wondered: "Master, how can you steal this? We thieves all do it when people aren't paying attention. With so many pairs of eyes staring at us, it's impossible to do it!"
Chen Xiaomu smiled and said, "Try it!"
The young man sighed and shook his head helplessly: "Master, to be honest, we can't steal in a situation like this, and we won't take action unless we don't want to live anymore!"
Zhuo Yihe laughed loudly, reached out and took out a small ingot of silver from his body, tossed it in his hand, and said proudly: "Mr. Chen, you can bear witness. I'll give this thief some luck. Tonight he will If you can steal the jade pendant from me, not only will the five taels of silver belong to him, but you can also take the person away. If not, he will be the first criminal taken into custody after the new capital is sentenced. I don’t know what you think. how?"
"This..." Chen Xiaomu hesitated, then smiled bitterly at the young man and said: "Young man, Mr. Zhuo will soon be appointed as the official magistrate of Xinjing Prefecture. Naturally, you are also under his jurisdiction. I want to help you, but it's a pity that The mind is full but the strength is not enough!”
The young man was so frightened that his nose burst into tears and he wailed loudly: "Master, you have to save me, please. If I really go to jail, I will never see the light of day from now on!"
Seeing the young man in front of him crying so miserably, Chen Xiaomu felt pity and pleaded with Zhuo Yihe: "Master Zhuo, can you please be accommodating on this matter? This young man is still young after all, we can't destroy him. For the rest of my life, besides, the government has not found any evidence of his crime, so if they really take him into custody, it would be unjustifiable both emotionally and rationally, right?"
Zhuo Yihe's face turned cold, "Mr. Chen, this thief has admitted that he is a thief. How can the government not catch the thief when they see it? As for the evidence you said, I won't wait until tomorrow when I go to court. I'm still afraid that he won't arrest him one by one." Recruit?"
''this……! "Chen Xiaomu was choked by Zhuo Yihe's words and fell silent for a moment.
Seeing that something was wrong, the young man started crying again with snot and tears. Unfortunately, this time he blew his nostrils and flicked it, and a drop of snot fell squarely on Zhuo Yihe's shoes. He was so disgusted that he immediately stomped his feet. This time, the young man was even more frightened. He hurriedly picked up his clothes and rushed over to help Zhuo Yihe clean his shoes. He also said repeatedly: "Master, please calm down, I really didn't mean it." "
Zhuo Yihe bent down and pushed the young man aside, and shouted sternly: "Don't do these tricks. Mr. Chen is going to take advantage of you, but I will not take advantage of you! Come here, send this criminal to me He’s in jail!”
Two government officials who were standing guard in front of the government office heard the sound and ran over. They took out the iron chains hanging from their waists, put them on the young man's neck, and shouted: "Come on, come with us."
"No, you can't arrest me if I don't leave!" The young man suddenly became hardened.
Hearing the young man's words, Zhuo Yi smiled kindly and said, "Oh! You little thief, who gave you such courage to speak like this? If you dare to resist, I will let you know now what it means to be an official." furnace!"
The young man struggled and said: "This official, it is you who gave me the courage to dare to speak like this!"
"Me!" Zhuo Yihe was stunned when he heard this, and then said angrily: "You little thief, you dare to fabricate nonsense about me in front of my face, do you know your guilt?"
The young man stood up confidently and said, "Master, please see if you still have your jade pendant on you?"
"Jade pendant?" Zhuo Yihe couldn't help but feel his heart sink. He stretched out his hand to touch his arms. Then his face froze and he could no longer speak.
At this time, Chen Xiaomu came over and said haha: "Master Zhuo, I am willing to admit defeat, not to mention that it was you who brought up this matter!"
Zhuo Yihe didn't answer, he stood there for a moment, waved his hands at the two government officials, and said bitterly: "Let this little thief go!"
The two government officials withdrew their hands upon hearing the sound. The young man quickly took out the jade pendant and held it in front of Zhuo Yihe. Without saying a word, Zhuo Yihe gave the young man a hard look. While taking the jade pendant, he took out the jade pendant and displayed it. The small ingot of silver was placed in the young man's hand.
Chen Xiaomu saw this and shouted: "Why don't you thank Master Zhuo quickly!"
When the young man heard the sound, he fell to his knees on the ground and was about to kowtow when Zhuo Yihe said softly, turned around and left.
Originally, Chen Xiaomu wanted to say a few soft words to Zhuo Yihe. After all, he was too soft-hearted to save a thief. In addition, there were many things to coordinate with him in the subsequent handover. Unexpectedly, Zhuo Yihe was so short-faced and didn't give him any face. He didn't even say hello. He turned his head and walked quickly to the government office without saying a word.
Chen Xiaomu had no choice but to laugh to himself and followed him. However, Zhuo Yihe was still very serious about handling official matters. As soon as he entered the door, he brought a large pile of account books without saying a word and put them in front of Chen Xiaomu. Face said: "Mr. Chen, these are the two notices you posted today. The government will issue supplementary accounts for the residents of Xinjing City who are hosting refugees from other places. I have ordered people to report it to the magistrate and Tongzhi. , they will not ask anything about it, and will leave it completely to your disposal, Mr. Chen. According to what you said in the notice, I have probably calculated that for this money, I am afraid that we, the big and small officials in the government office, will be sold together with the Xinjing government office. It’s not even enough!”
Chen Xiaomu said with a smile: "Don't worry, Mr. Zhuo. Although I am about to leave office, I will never leave this burden to the Xinjing government office. Tomorrow, Mr. Zhuo can put up another notice outside the government office for anyone who comes to collect it." Those who take in homeless people to make up for their tickets, please go to Princess Qingfeng’s Mansion to get them.”
Zhuo Yihe breathed a sigh of relief when he heard this. The matter that he thought he had to argue with Chen Xiaomu was solved so easily, and a smile appeared on his face unconsciously.
After the stone that was weighing on Zhuo Yihe's heart was removed, the next handover became much smoother. Chen Xiaomu confessed to retaining veterans as yamen servants and releasing some people in the yamen jail who were often imprisoned for speaking out. Zhuo Yihe readily agreed to all the prisoners, as well as the re-investigation of the two suspicious cases of Zhang Xiuying and Wang Lianhai.
