The news of Gu Xixi's death hit Wanwan's heart like a thunderbolt from the blue, making her both shocked and sad.
"I have to go and see..."
Seeing her walking out in a hurry, Zhao Mengqi quickly stepped forward to stop her, "Wait a minute, what can you do if you go in such a hurry?"
"She is my senior sister, I can't let her die in an unknown way..." Wanwan's eyes were red and filled with mist.
This look made Zhao Mengqi feel distressed, and he couldn't help but hold her hand, but he felt cold and trembling slightly, which made him realize that this Gu Xixi was very important in Wanwan's heart.
"Don't worry, let me figure things out first, and I'll go with you later."
Zhao Mengqi used a little force on his hands to transfer the heat from his palms, comforting Wanwan, while turning his head to look at Hua Die, "Do you know where Mr. Xu and the others are now?"
Hua Die didn't know Zhao Mengqi, but seeing that he could hold Wanwan and understanding the close relationship, he replied, "When the Nu family ran out, they were still in the Wu building... Even if someone died, they didn't care at all, and Go to bed, and when the government officials come, they just take my wife’s body back to the county government office, but I don’t dare to disturb them.”
***, so arrogant! ?
Anger arose in Zhao Mengqi's heart, "Be honest!"
Geng Zhi outside the hall heard the call and quickly stepped inside, "Alang, please give me your instructions."
"Go find Hou Tao quickly. You and he will take people to the county seat and arrest Xu Tianyi and others. If necessary, you can reveal your identity. In addition, inform Chang Geng that I will go to the county seat later."
"Here!" Gengzhi accepted the order, without even wearing any rain gear, turned around and walked out of the main hall, rushing into the rain.
At this time, Zhao Mengqi remembered that the Liu family was still there, so he shouted, "Are you okay? You can go, but I won't send you far."
Liu Xiuren, who was thinking about the incident before him, was stunned for a moment, but he didn't say much. He picked up Liu Weizhen from the ground, said goodbye and walked out.
After leaving Jiang's house, there was a river not far away, and they got on the boat. Liu Xiuren did not want to go home, but ordered the boatman to go to Wujiang County.
After the boat sailed, the uncle and nephew returned to the cabin. Liu Weizhen asked with some confusion, "Uncle, why are we going to the county? That boy from the Xu family has nothing to do with our family, right?"
"It's none of our family's business, but obviously King Yan plans to intervene, so we naturally have to pay attention. Besides, I'm still the governor of the state."
Liu Xiuren must have other ideas, but he didn't intend to talk to his foolish nephew.
Liu Weizhen asked again, "Then what did you find out? Does King Yan know about our family?"
"Wait, let me think about it first..." Liu Xiuren closed his eyes and thought carefully for a long time, "In my opinion, he probably doesn't know, and he didn't notice that his identity was leaked, and he didn't take much precautions against our family. Xin, you see, in the end, in order to please Mrs. Jiang, he sent people directly to the county to pick up people, and even said that he could identify himself, which shows that he didn't take us too seriously."
"Then why doesn't he directly identify himself to us?"
"Actually, he didn't hide it too much. It was Jiang Chen who made a difference for him. After all, it's not a good reputation for a prince to steal women from his subordinates."
"Oh...then is our family okay?"
"I can only say that it should be fine for the time being. After all, the conclusions drawn may not be 100% certain. The details of the canal incident have not yet been discovered. It is not clear whether Jiang Manhai is dead. Moreover, the King of Yan has not left Wujiang for a day. This is a threat to our family. It can’t be lifted in just one day, who knows if he will find out through other channels, so we have to work hard to deal with it and get the finishing touches as soon as possible."
Liu Weizhen had a glimmer of understanding, "Well, so to speak, that boy from the Xu family has done a good thing. He attracted King Yan to him, so he has no time to pay attention to our family for the time being..."
"Exactly." Liu Xiuren nodded, with relief on his face, "It seems that as long as you calm down, you are still a bit smart, but your mind is too wandering and lacks experience and polish. What happened this time may not be good for you. It’s a good thing, but it’s a blessing in disguise... Taking advantage of the Xu family boy’s incident, we may be able to make some more fuss, try to cause some trouble for King Yan, and buy a few more days for our family.”
…
Zhao Mengqi finally had some clarity on things.
Gu Xixi is an official actress affiliated with Pingjiang Prefecture Yueying, and she has been a member of the music camp for generations. Her mother is also an official actress, and her father is said to be a (this chapter is not finished yet!)
180. Gu Xixi
The heartless scholar disappeared before she was born.
The main function of the official dancers in the Song Dynasty was to provide singing and dancing services for banquets. They were not officially organized to sell their flesh and blood. It would be more appropriate to say that they were art troupes.
Of course, there are many people who go in and out of the big dye vat of Fengyue Place all day long and sell their bodies voluntarily or involuntarily, but there are also people who can stick to the bottom line, especially those with higher skills and cultural accomplishments.
In principle, as long as they are not willing, even the prefect, who has complete control over them, cannot touch their bodies, because the laws of the Song Dynasty clearly stipulate that officials are not allowed to use official skills for personal gain.
Although the Song Dynasty was always kind to scholar-bureaucrats and did not enforce this law strictly, if someone was reported to the court, they would still be punished, and they might not be imprisoned, but there would also be punishments such as replacement, dismissal, and transfer.
In history, many people used this to attack political opponents. Zhu Xi did this. In order to deal with Tang Zhongyou, the magistrate of Taizhou, he arrested and tortured Yan Rui, the camp concubine, and asked her to admit that Tang Zhizhou had slept with her, but he failed. Thinking that Yan Rui was a strong-willed and strange woman, she would rather be beaten to death than frame Tang Zhizhou.
Wang Anshi also forced a confession from the official Xue Xitao, asking him to admit that he had an affair with Zu Wuze, but Xue Xitao refused to admit it until his death. This shows that this crime is still very serious once it is implemented.
Therefore, for the sake of their political future, officials generally will not have anything to do with officials, let alone force them. That would easily lead to trouble, and they don't have the need. After all, there are other ways to have fun, whether it's recruiting market tricks. It’s safe and free, whether it’s to raise a family’s money or not.
Under such circumstances, there are still many good officials who can keep themselves as pure as jade, and Gu Xixi is one of them.
In addition to providing singing and dancing performances at official banquets or celebrations, the official performers of the Song Dynasty also had another main function, which was to sell wine.
The Song Dynasty court should be the most profitable court in history. Basically all profit-making industries were monopolized by the government, so the wine would naturally not be missed.
Most of the wines on the market, even if they are not brewed by the government, still have to buy high-priced koji from the government. If ordinary people traveled to this era and wanted to make money by making distilled wine, it would be basically difficult, or they would have to buy it from the government. The bulk of it was either copied within two days.
In order to increase the income from selling wine and replenish the national treasury, the government specially selected beautiful officials to perform songs, dances and music in government-run restaurants to induce customers to buy wine and drink.
Not only official prostitutes have this task, even the prostitutes in private brothels will be deployed to serve, which is regarded as the obligation of the prostitution industry to the country...
Wu Tower is a government-run restaurant, and Gu Xixi is the permanent "beverage salesperson" there. Because of her talent, beauty, and stunning beauty, she has become the signature of Wu Tower. Many people directly call her "Gu Xixi" That" to call Wu Lou.
Gu Xixi has been playing music for generations, and her mother has excellent piano skills and is also top-notch in other musical instruments. Therefore, Wanwan studied musical instruments with her for a long time when she was young. She has always had a good relationship with Gu Xixi's sisters.
Even the Jiang Chen family regarded Gu Xixi as a daughter. Unfortunately, this kind of hereditary status is the most difficult to break away from and become a good official compared to other ways. Generally, it requires an amnesty from the emperor or the central government, so There was nothing he could do to get her out of her misery.
Here Wanwan was still planning to wait until the time was right to ask for a favor from Zhao Mengqi and remove Gu Xixi's low status, but she never expected that bad news would suddenly come.
At this time, her veil was soaked with tears. Zhao Mengqi gently took it off for her, revealing a face full of misery and blisters at the corners of her mouth.
"The dead cannot be resurrected... Ruochu, you have to express your condolences and don't harm your body. I will definitely seek justice for your sister Gu. You can calm down first. When Chang Geng comes, we will Go to the county.”
Wanwan nodded silently, her eyes red and swollen, "Yes, I understand."
Mrs. Jiang Chen took Wanwan back to the back house first. Zhao Mengqi walked to the gate, listened to the sound of rain in the street, and fell into thinking.
This sudden incident forced him to change his original plan. Previously, he had planned to wait a day or two for the Liu family to relax before finding a reason to leave Wujiang.
He himself is not afraid of anything, he just doesn't want to let a few young ladies take risks. Now he can only wait until Gu Xixi's matter is settled.
Mr. Li, Mr. Li, it seems I have no choice but to apologize. Who made you such a foreigner? (This chapter is not finished yet!)
180. Gu Xixi
Sun is seeking death like this. I hope you don't like him so much and don't hate me. Otherwise, I'll have to deal with you too.
Thinking about it, Zhao Mengqi couldn't help but sigh, but then he heard the old soldier sigh at the same time, which made him curious, "Old man, why are you sighing? But what's the problem? Do you need my help?"
"The old man is half buried in the ground, and he still says it's not difficult." The old soldier's face was as wrinkled as orange peel, but with obvious worry, he raised his hand and pointed at the pouring rain, "This year's rain is no less than last year. In this situation If it goes down, there's a chance that there will be another flood. It's hard to say for other places, but Wujiang will definitely suffer another disaster."
"Flood!?" Zhao Mengqi was stunned. The flood last year was rumored to be caused by his "black dragon", which impressed him a bit.
"After last year's disaster, didn't they find the cause and improve water conservancy? What does Pingjiang Mansion do for food!?"
The old army shook his head, "Everyone knows the reason. Taihu Lake originally had three rivers, but over the past hundred years, the Dongjiang River and the Loujiang River have disappeared, leaving only the Wusong River, which is still shallow and narrow. As long as there is a lot of rain, where will Scheduled in time.”
Zhao Mengqi looked serious, "Why are these two rivers gone!? And why is the Wusong River not dredged?"
"What else could it be, siltation and land reclamation around the lake? In the pre-Tang Dynasty, Taihu Lake was much larger than it is now. The two mountains of Dongting are in the middle of the lake. Over the past few hundred years, so much land has been piled up. While enclosing the fields, in order to protect the canal, many long embankments and long bridges were built at the east bank outlet to slow down the water flow. It became increasingly difficult for the sediment to be washed away, and it accumulated in the river. It was not easy to dredge it manually. , I’m afraid the imperial court won’t be able to afford that much money, food and manpower.”
Zhao Mengqi couldn't help but be surprised to hear that this old soldier had quite a lot of insights, "My father, are you proficient in water conservancy!?"
"Ah? Mr. Lang has misunderstood. The old man has been a leader all his life. He is just a rough guy. He doesn't know anything about water conservancy. What I just said was all told by an old scholar."
"Old scholar? What's his name? Where is he?" Zhao Mengqi really wanted to find this man and talk to him to see if there was any way to manage it.
"The old man only knows that his surname is Wu. He is not from Wujiang. He looks like he must have been a high-ranking official, or a very big one. Last winter, he rented for a month at Zhou's house in the next alley. He liked to wander around and was always happy to meet everyone he met. I can say a few words, if you want to find him, Mr. Lang, the old man can go to Zhou’s house and ask, maybe he can know his whereabouts.”
"Well, it seems that this is the only way. Remember to ask carefully."
At this time, Zhao Mengqi saw Chang Geng coming with his people, so he had to put it aside for the time being and wait until Gu Xixi's matter was resolved.
180. Gu Xixi
