When Craftsman Xu returned from Jiangdu, the scenery of Taizhou was completely different. All the white silk hanging on the beams of Chen's house was removed, the lanterns were still lit, and there were debris of firecrackers on the ground in front of the door.
After asking around, he found out that on the day the murder case was settled, Chen Tongpao had remarried his bride, consummated the bridal chamber, and restored his "original surname" from Zhu Qiuguang to Zhuo Lengping.
"Artisan Xu, you are here. Chen Tongzhi wants to ask you to come to the house." Someone patted him from behind. He nodded at first, and then stared at the person blankly: "What Tongzhi?"
"Chen Tongzhi."
"Does the name belong to Gongzhou?" Craftsman Xu asked again.
"Exactly."
"Craftsman Xu, take this money."
Chen Tongpao put a letter in front of him, "You have been kind to me and helped this county, so I would like to use this as a farewell gift."
Craftsman Xu opened the letter and looked at it. When he saw fifty taels of silver notes inside, he suddenly lost his mind and said, "The master is getting promoted, how dare a villain follow me? I will never dare to ask for this note."
Chen Tongpao smiled and said: "This money is entrusted to the master. Now that I have purchased a mansion in Jiangdu and settled down, it is useless to stay here. In addition, there has been a murder case recently, and the yin energy is too strong. Master can help me." Sell it for a good price.”
Craftsman Xu took the banknote blankly and saw that Chen Tongpao had already left.
Chen Tongpao ordered the old servant to prepare the carriage and horses, and ordered the housekeeper to take many servants to get on the carriage with Leng Ping and set off for Jiangdu. It was only on the fifth and sixth day that Chen Tongzhi entered Jiangdu City. He settled down with his family first, then hurriedly put on his official uniform, put on his gauze hat, and walked into the Yamen.
There were several officials standing in the yamen. When they saw the new official coming, they hurriedly bowed and said with a smile: "Hello, Master Tongzhi!"
"You are..."
"I am the general magistrate of my office," said the high-ranking official. "I heard that you were promoted to Tongzhi, so I wanted to see you in person. As expected, you are so majestic, extraordinary, extraordinary!"
"Excuse me, sir. I wonder where the prefect is?"
"I'm talking to people from the province in the study. It doesn't matter if you go in."
Chen Tongpao opened the door and saw the magistrate sitting in front of him. He bowed his head and said, "I'm a newly promoted magistrate, Chen Tongpao, to see your lord."
"Get up." The prefect pointed to the provincial official next to him, "This is the academic administrator of the province."
Before Tongpao Chen could stand up, he turned around and paid homage to the old scholar.
The old scholar looked at him for a while and said, "You have chosen this colleague well."
"Relying on the recommendation of predecessors is not the result of a single official."
The scholar looked up to the sky and sighed: "It's a pity that a group of good ministers here have to sacrifice their lives for the Liu Party!"
The prefect was shocked and asked, "How can you say this?"
"You don't know?" Xuezheng slapped his knees, "I went to the governor last time and said that Yan Shenzheng of the imperial court wanted to transfer him back to the capital. This Yan Wen was a close party member of Liu Zhennian. When I went away, I just But it will be difficult to deal with a false position. And Yangzhou will definitely send people from the Liu Party. We have no choice but to bend our knees."
The prefect's brows tightened slightly: "I thought that the princes of Wanjun and Duke Lu Yue were here, and that guy didn't dare to lift the foundation of my Jianghuai River. But now it's a big disaster!"
"It is the most difficult thing for a local official like you to be. There are thousands of princes in the south, and the boss is Liu Dang. It will take a lot of trouble to avoid offending both places." Xuezheng said worriedly.
After hearing this, the prefect felt gloomy. He raised his head and saw Chen Tongpao distracted at the side, and said, "I forgot you were here. I have nothing important to do. You'd better go to the office first to arrange for the officials and sort out the documents."
Chen Tongpao looked at his feet all the way, thinking about something on his mind, and was walking towards the corner of the street when he was suddenly stopped by a shout.
He turned around and saw that it was the shopkeeper of the gambling house.
"Mr. Chen, you didn't expect to hear anything when you came here! I fell ill in bed outside, and I suddenly fainted just now. My face is pale..." He curled his tongue and was in a hurry.
Tongpao Chen ran down the street without saying a word. The shopkeeper sighed helplessly and ran after him.
He never thought that Chu Zi would leave Yizheng so quickly. Because he had been suffering from a long-term illness, he was alone in Yizheng and was not familiar with the place. He could not find a famous doctor, so he wrote a letter asking Wenzhong to send someone to pick him up. Wen Zhong's heart was on fire and he hurriedly ordered his men to ride a good horse to take him back home. In order to stabilize the situation, Guo Chuzi called the local "surrendered" businessmen and said that he was suffering from a minor illness and would be returning soon, so he stopped working on the ancestral hall and hurried back.
Lu Jishou watched him die, twisting beads and chanting Buddha's name every day, praying to God to avenge his son and take this family leader to die soon. I don’t know whether it was the curse that took effect or Chuzi’s poor conditioning, but his health went from bad to worse. He stayed in bed all day long and complained repeatedly. He just hoped that Yizheng would get some good news, which would make him happy. However, within two or three days, he heard that a businessman from Yizheng They all discussed business with the Lu family again, and they vomited a lot of blood over this.
Wen Zhong was busy, taking care of his dyeing workshop day and night, and taking time to check on his condition. He was sweating profusely in the cold winter of December.
"Go outside!" Chen Tongpao kicked open the door and lay down in front of Guo Chuzi's bed.
"Excuse me, are you okay?" He asked in a low voice when Chu Zi opened his eyelids slightly.
Guo Chuzi seemed to be smiling, and the smile lines on his face gradually appeared: "Are you a fellow intellectual?"
Tongpao Chen nodded.
Wen Zhong was beside him and said: "I've been accepted."
Guo Chuzi's eyes brightened, and his energy suddenly recovered a lot. He propped himself up and sat down.
"Mr. Chen, if you live in a certain destiny, you should definitely die...but if you live in a house, please take good care of it!"
Tongpao Chen looked moved: "Commissioner, don't worry."
Guo Chuzi coughed several times and waved his hand: "The illness is difficult to survive. Sir, don't worry about me anymore. Please return to the director of the treatment center."
Chen Tongpao saw that Chu Zi seemed to want to say something to Wenzhong, so he stepped back and gently opened the door.
Guo Chuzi's hands moved stiffly, and finally he held Wen Zhong's hand.
Wen Zhong's eyes were all red and his ears were close to him.
"Wen... Shopkeeper Wen, our family is unfortunate. Brother Yu failed to have a son and a half to take over the dyeing business. The family members around him are still young and cannot continue the business, but others are worried..." At this point, Guo Chu Zi looked at him with longing eyes, "How about the shopkeeper taking over my dyeing workshop?"
Wen Zhong pursed his lips, thinking that his eyes were not asking him to take over, but more hoping that he would refuse. For Guo Chuzi, everything in the dyeing workshop seemed to be a family, and no one wanted to give it up to outsiders easily. What's more, Guo Chuzi has always regarded Wen Zhong as a friend with benefits. As for Wen Zhong, although there is some friendship, taking the entire dyeing workshop as his own is really greedy, and Wen Zhong's power will reach its peak through this.
"Brother Rong, think about it, think about it." Wenzhong said carefully, word for word.
"If I think about it any more, I won't have time." Guo Chuzi's teeth were trembling.
"Come in."
A servant held a letter: "Master, your brother sent it from the countryside."
