However, Yan Yu thought too much. Qin Zhuen really didn't want to cause any trouble this time, so he just suggested leaving separately because it was too troublesome.
He has always been undisciplined and full of problems. It was annoying to be on the road in a hurry, and it was annoying to have many people and things to do, so I only took Sanshou out with me this time. Dafu and Erluquan were left in Beijing to take charge of various affairs.
The master and the servant traveled all the way to the west, traveling around the mountains and rivers, stopping and walking, and they were quite happy. I don’t know how many days I walked, but I finally reached Jiyang County in Luozhou.
It was almost noon, and although the sunshine was still good, it was still the middle of winter, so the two of them were not in a hurry and found a clean and tidy inn on the outskirts of the county to have a meal by the fire.
Unexpectedly, as soon as I entered the store, I found that this small store called "Yelai" was actually very popular. Just because the shop happens to be located at the junction of the two prefectures, people who are traveling through the prefecture are willing to eat and rest here.
The front hall is full of diners, and the back yard is full of hotel guests.
The boss here, whose surname is Qiu, has not hired anyone. He only lets his eight or nine-year-old son work as a waiter, while he cooks in the kitchen. The store is not big, but it is clean and the food is delicious.
Qin Zhuen felt lazy for a while after having lunch here, so he patted his belly and thought, it would be better to stay here, and it would not be too late to take a leisurely stroll tomorrow.
At this moment, I suddenly heard the noise outside the door, and then a large group of people rushed in with a shout. The leader was a beautiful woman.
It is rare to meet such a beautiful woman in the countryside. Although this woman was already in her mid-twenties and wore her hair in a woman's bun, this did not prevent Qin Zhuen from sitting in the dark and looking at her one by one. He was no longer in a hurry to stay in a hotel at this time, and sat leisurely where he was, looking at this group of people with interest.
Unexpectedly, this group of people did not eat or stay in the hotel, but came to pick up people.
"Take it!"
As soon as the woman entered the door, she waved to the slaves behind her, and everyone immediately swarmed up and grabbed Shopkeeper Qiu and his son.
There were a few timid customers in the store who were so frightened that they ran away immediately when they saw something happened. But there were only a few bold and curious diners left, including the tenants who heard the noise in the backyard and ran to watch the excitement with Qin Zhuen.
"You, what are you doing? In broad daylight, robbers can't do it?" Shopkeeper Qiu was shocked. He struggled to question and tried to turn his head to look at his son.
"Huh? Robber? Bold slave! You stole the master's property and fled privately. Now you dare to falsely accuse others of being robbers?!"
The beautiful woman sneered again and again, and then turned to look at an old man beside her: "Uncle Li Zheng, I have to ask you to go on this trip. Now our fugitive slave from the Wu family has been captured. This private thief Naturally, the small shop opened by the owner's property will also be taken over by my Wu family. I will send someone to take over the Yuelai Inn in the past two days. After all, it is on uncle's land, and I will trouble you to take care of it in the future. The little girl Wu I’d like to thank uncle in advance.”
The beauty is very gentle and courteous, and her gentle words are completely different from the decisive and aggressive attitude she had when she first entered the house.
Li Zheng looked at Shopkeeper Qiu and couldn't bear it, but he still looked back and bowed his hand to the woman. However, before he could speak, Shopkeeper Qiu shouted:
"Fugitive slave? What kind of escaped slave? What kind of private theft of the owner's property? This small shop is the property that I, Qiu Rongfa, saved little by little through hard work. Why did it belong to someone named Wu! You bandits! In broad daylight, in public Robbery..."
Shopkeeper Qiu shouted and struggled desperately, while his son beside him had already started crying. The servants who were escorting them tried their best to suppress them.
"Madam Wu, is there... is there any misunderstanding in this?" Li Zheng saw this and became more and more intolerable, "The Qiu family came to the local area six years ago and opened this small shop. They have always been law-abiding and kind to others. The poor man who was on his way came to this shop to ask for a cup of hot tea, but shopkeeper Qiu never asked for money... He said he was an escaped slave who had stolen his master's property..."
"Uncle Li Zheng is kind-hearted, but it's normal for him to be intolerable." Mrs. Wu smiled cutely, very endearingly, "But I also showed you the sale contract written by Qiu Rongfa. According to our Daqi law, the slave is the master's family. Their property can be bought and sold at will. How can they own any property? This shop will naturally belong to the owner..."
"What kind of deed of betrayal?! I have never written any deed of betrayal!" Before Wu could finish her words, Shopkeeper Qiu screamed. He turned around and stared at Li Zheng, his eyes splitting with anger, "Uncle Qu, how can you believe this?!"
Li Zheng was even more embarrassed. He looked at Shopkeeper Qiu and couldn't bear it. He hesitated and said: "Rongfa, I didn't believe it at first. But this Mrs. Wu showed me your deed of betrayal. I was right again." The handwriting on the tax account book signed by me is indeed... exactly the same...
"I think there may be some misunderstanding. Why don't you go back to the master's house and explain it to me. If the misunderstanding is resolved, everything will be fine..."
"No! It's impossible!" Shopkeeper Qiu tried his best to push away the suppression, but was kicked down by the slave behind him. He touched his face to the ground and made several strong men pin him to the ground.
The son next to him had been stuffed with a rag in his mouth because he was crying too noisily. At this moment, his nose and tears were streaming down his face, but he couldn't make a sound. He was so suffocated that he almost lost his breath.
"Is there any justice in this? I, Qiu Rongfa, am an honest man and I never harm heaven or justice! You bandits! Robbers!"
Shopkeeper Qiu's eyes were so red that they were almost bleeding, his face was dusty, and he was yelling curses. In desperation, he struggled to look around and happened to catch sight of Qin Zhuen who was watching the fun next to him. He is dressed in gorgeous clothes and has an extraordinary demeanor. Perhaps he is a person...
"This master! Do good deeds and do good deeds. Good people will be rewarded! Save the villain and the children..."
"Too noisy! Gagged him and dragged him away!" Wu frowned in disgust and scolded her in a sweet voice.
"Wait a minute!" The servant of the Wu family was about to step forward, but suddenly heard the young man in brocade whom Shopkeeper Qiu asked for help stop him.
Qin Zhuen is always a nosy master, and he usually gets involved in every trivial matter, not to mention that today there has been such a big fight. Sanshou didn't stop him, so he rushed out and stood in front of these two groups of people.
"I've heard a lot here. Since we want to capture the father and son and take them back as slaves, and take over their shop, we have to explain the whole story, right? Otherwise, it's just us who say that the father and son are not convinced. Even those who are watching the fun have some doubts in their hearts. So why don’t we all go to the lobby of Jiyang County together and ask the county magistrate to put an end to it."
Wu wanted to take Qiu and his son away by force, and didn't care about others. Anyway, I have already said hello to Li Zheng, who is in charge of taxation and security, so others naturally don't need to pay attention.
But when she raised her eyes at this moment, she was faced with Qin Zhuen's smiling peach blossom eyes, which were indescribably enchanting. I also saw that this man was dressed in luxurious clothes and had an air of grandeur. Although he was dusty, he could not hide his dignified air. I couldn't help but think that this man was not ordinary, but he was not really a person involved with the government.
So she suppressed her displeasure, forced a smile on her face, and said softly: "Young Master is absolutely right. The little girl will explain a few things here to clear up the confusion of the villagers.
"The little girl's surname is Wu. She lives in Wujiazhuang, nearby Jiutian County. Her father is Wu Wanguan, a local wealthy family. Since she is the only daughter in the family and has no brothers to support her, when she was fifteen years old, her father decided to recruit a son-in-law to join the Wu family.
"It can be said that this little girl has a hard life. Her husband died when she was seventeen years old. From now on, if all the business is supported by a weak woman like me, the hard work cannot be done by outsiders." Wu said this. As if feeling something, he suddenly became sad. He reached out and took out the handkerchief and pressed it to the corners of his eyes.
Turns out she is also a miserable woman who has been treated poorly by God! Qin Zhuen couldn't help but feel slightly moved. This fell right into the eyes of the mournful Wu.
She said that she really wanted to win sympathy due to her life experience, but she didn't expect that by chance, she met Qin Zhuen, who was both compassionate and sympathetic to widows.
Wu raised the corner of her mouth imperceptibly and continued: "This talented dog Qiu Rongfa sold himself to my Wu family thirteen years ago because his family was poor and could not survive. In my small rural place, I have always been honest, so I gave him With the ten taels of silver he paid for selling his body, he took the dog's deed and considered buying this person. But we, small households in the countryside, are always afraid of dealing with the government, so we didn't rush to the Yamen to register. This dog It was considered his duty at first, but who would have thought that the year I lost my husband, he actually took advantage of the commotion at home, stole the property and escaped privately! He didn't know where he went to marry a wife and have children, and then came here to open an inn.
"Qiu Rongfa, a foreigner from the capital, came here with his son to make a living six years ago. Little did he know that he was a runaway slave from my Wu Wanguan family in Jiutian County, Luozhou Prefecture. It was just to avoid being pursued by his master that he fled to Lin. County Jiyang comes to make a living..."
"Nonsense! Nonsense! What a load of nonsense!" Shopkeeper Qiu was shaking like chaff, yelling and retorting at the top of his lungs, but he couldn't move.
"Ha! Am I talking nonsense? I have here the deed of betrayal written by Qiu Rongfa, your genius, thirteen years ago! Can it be fake? If you don't believe it, you can come and fight a couple."
As Mrs. Wu said this, she glanced at him, and immediately a servant rushed to the counter, rummaged through it, found the account book containing shopkeeper Qiu's daily journal, and respectfully presented it to him.
Wu reached out and turned over it a few times, smiled slightly, then took out a deed of betrayal from the tube and placed it next to the account book.
"Look, everyone, the words on this deed of sale are not exactly the same as the words he usually writes in accounting?! Even if I really go to the county government hall, I won't be afraid!"
Qin Zhuen looked over. Sure enough, the deed of sale was the same as the handwriting on the ledger.
Other guests who were watching the excitement also came over to take a look. Even those who are illiterate still want to come and join in the fun.
"Sir, do you believe the little girl's words this time?" Mrs. Wu looked at Qin Zhu'en with a smile, her eyes rippling like autumn water.
Qin Zhuen's heart was suffocated, and then he became a little embarrassed: "This... Madam Wu is right, the evidence is conclusive..."
As soon as these words came out, Shopkeeper Qiu on the ground immediately started howling heart-piercingly, but was blocked by the house slave next to him.
"But..." Qin Zhuen looked at Qiu and his son hesitantly. The Qiu family's child was already fainting and paralyzed on the ground. Shopkeeper Qiu was being held down by several slaves, and his face was bloody and bloody when he landed on the ground.
This... Lord Qin couldn't bear it, so he thought it would be better to buy the Qiu family and the inn from Mrs. Wu, which would give him a way out.
But before he could speak, a clear voice suddenly interrupted:
"Madam Wu, can I let Xiaosheng have a look at the contract of selling myself?"
Qin Zhuen looked up and saw the diner who had just been eating here, a dark-skinned and thin boy who looked to be no more than twelve or thirteen years old.
The young boy cupped his fists and raised his hands towards Wu, grinning toothily. Although his swarthy face was not very pleasing, his facial features were exquisite and his eyes were sparse.
Wu frowned and became more and more impatient, but as soon as she thought about the purpose of her trip, she didn't want to get into trouble, so she suppressed her temper and waved the prostitution contract in the young man's face.
The young boy was not angry either. He took the deed with a smile and looked at it carefully. Slowly, the smile on his face grew stronger. In the end, it was as bright as a flower. But when he spoke, he was shocked:
"How brave Mrs. Wu! How dare you forge a deed and defraud and take possession of it! Do you know your crime?!"
