Night, Chang'an City, West Gate.
Li Ergou yawned and looked up at the moon above his head. After a moment, he looked around carefully. Seeing that no one was paying attention to him, he quickly picked up a small jar of wine from his feet.
Gu Gu Gu Gu Gu
After drinking half of the jar of wine in one go, he burped with satisfaction, casually wiped the wine stains on his beard at the corner of his mouth, and carefully put down the jar of wine.
"Haha, if you don't let people drink during the night watch, then why keep a night watch? What can you do to keep a vigil?" Li Ergou kept complaining about the unreasonableness of the night watch system.
But apart from complaining, he didn't dare to negotiate with his boss. There is no way, the official level will crush people to death.
"Who is still wandering around outside in the middle of the night?" Li Ergou stared drunkenly at several figures in the distance who were galloping towards the city wall on horseback.
"The city gate is closed. Who is so ambitious and expects the lazy guys guarding the city gate to open the door for them?"
Li Ergou smacked his lips, came to the other side of the city, and looked down.
Next to the torch, the gatekeepers were lying next to the sandbags, sound asleep, and a few wine jars were rolling down on the ground beside them.
Li Ergou felt very uncomfortable. Guarding the gate seemed like a tiring job, but in fact, among the soldiers guarding the city, it was the easiest job.
Not only do the city gate guards earn a few more coins every month than the soldiers guarding the city wall, but they can also sneak in a little sleep at night.
Because the city gates are usually closed at night, ordinary people are not eligible to enter, and the big shots almost always notify them in advance to let them leave a gate, and they can also take the opportunity to make extra money.
But Li Ergou had no choice. After all, most of the gatekeepers had some kind of relationship with the team captains, and they all came in through the back door.
Li Ergou shook his head, his face full of disdain.
"Eh? Li Ergou, what are you doing?" A man who looked like an officer with a fat head, big ears, and a big belly walked towards Li Ergou with his hands behind his back.
"Report to the captain, I am standing guard to inspect the surrounding situation!" Li Ergou said respectfully.
The captain frowned and walked to the place where he had just stood and looked down. He selectively ignored the group of sleeping soldiers below.
"Stand guard and don't look at the situation outside the city. If you look inside the city, you can see something wrong. Look outside for me. If I catch you not standing guard seriously, I will deduct a month's salary from you!" The captain lectured fiercely.
Li Ergou kept nodding and bowing, swearing to make guarantees, and flattering him with laughter.
When the captain's figure finally disappeared at the top of the city, Li Ergou straightened up, spat on the ground, and winked in the direction where the captain disappeared.
"Haha, deducting salary? In the end, the money went into your pocket. How hypocritical and shameless!"
dong dong dong
The city gate was knocked heavily, and Li Ergou was not surprised. After all, there were too many officials and dignitaries in Chang'an who were exempt from the law that closed the city gate and prohibited entry and exit at night.
He cautiously glanced around again. After seeing that there was nothing unusual, he carefully leaned out this time and looked down.
I saw a group of people in Dali Temple official uniforms slowly walking in.
As the firelight flickered, a familiar face looked up at Li Ergou.
Li Ergou was startled and quickly retracted his body and looked away.
"Isn't that Qi Zixian, the young minister of Dali Temple who was responsible for escorting the eldest prince to Yumen Pass some time ago? Why is he back? Did he find the eldest prince?"
Li Ergou was very puzzled, but he had no intention of prying anymore. After all, these officials were in charge of matters. If he, an ordinary soldier, messed up blindly, he would accidentally be involved.
Under the city gate, Qi Zixian lowered his head and continued walking.
He Shengbai on the side glanced at him and asked with concern, "What's wrong? Zixian."
"Thank you for your concern, sir. It's just that I just returned to Chang'an and I'm a little uncomfortable with it." Qi Zixian said with a smile.
He Shengbai pondered for a moment when he heard the words, and said slowly, "If you feel uncomfortable in any way, please report it to me immediately. Dali Temple can't bear any more trouble now. The case of the eldest prince is not entirely your fault. Don't be overly concerned." Blame yourself."
Qi Zixian's smile suddenly stiffened, and the corners of his mouth were full of bitterness. The government servants behind them also stopped in their steps, their faces full of sorrow.
Perhaps, in the eyes of the lazy and depraved city guards behind them, they are still the aloof and feared Dali Temple yamen, responsible for solving major and difficult cases and arresting vicious criminals. All of them are vigorous and strong.
Ordinary people would look in reverence when they saw them. There are also many ordinary parents in Chang'an who educate their children from an early age to become yamen servants of Dali Temple in the future. Only in this way can they shine brightly and have a good future.
However, these people only knew what they were facing after they actually became yamen servants of Dali Temple.
The Dali Temple yamen, who appears to be glamorous and powerful, actually lives a life of licking blood on the tip of a knife all day long. The public security in Chang'an is so chaotic that the files on the desk of Dali Temple have never been cleared. day.
Someone once jokingly said that Chang'an is a paradise for the rich and a hell for the poor. Because the rich can spend money like water and do whatever they want with the power of trading, while the poor can only watch the luxurious life of the rich and have to cater to the rich.
Others have said that even if a poor man sees an ant on the road, he will take a detour and never dare to step on it. Because it is very likely that these ants are the pets of the rich people in Chang'an City. Once they are trampled to death, they are likely to fall into a situation of eternal disaster.
Because of this, the public security in Chang'an can be said to be the most difficult place to manage among the cities in Jiuzhou. Here, the rich can't control themselves and the poor can't control them, so what else can they do?
They have tried their best, and He Shengbai also tried his best to manage the relationship between the dignitaries and the Dali Temple yamen. However, in the process of handling the case, Dali Temple still inevitably touched the interests of some dignitaries, and it was also necessary to offend some dignitaries. Unavoidable.
Caishen Hall, third floor.
Under the complicated gazes of everyone, the wretched man finally picked up a round gambling stone on the table and placed it in front of him.
The wretched man's demonstrative eyes rested fiercely on Jiang Fengqing's straw hat.
Jiang Fengqing nonchalantly blocked her sight with a straw hat and ignored him. She just looked at the slightly cracked gambling stone in front of her indifferently.
This crack happened to be in the center of the gambling stone. Looking inside from the crack, everything was pitch black.
This has made countless people give up the idea of buying it. After all, the black interior is likely to contain ordinary ore or several black gems. However, if the stone is so small, unless it is full of gems except for a layer of surface, Otherwise it is really impossible to make a fortune.
"Dealer, open the stone!" the wretched man said coldly, his confident and powerful words instantly made the wretched man's image seem to rise countless times.
The croupier nodded and bowed. The next moment he waved his slender hand, and the gambling stone in front of the wretched man lifted up without any wind and floated in the air.
The croupier's hands were like butterflies piercing flowers as he manipulated the gambling stones from a distance. As the croupier's fingers continued to beat, the gambling stones in front of the wretched man began to untie the stone clothes on their own, revealing what was inside.
The stone clothes turned into countless stone powder and fell in the air. The wretched man stared at the gambling stone spinning rapidly in the air, and his breathing began to quicken.
"Green, green! Give me a little more green, a little more green!" the wretched man muttered, and veins popped out on his forehead.
"The gambling stone selected by No. 3 is also one that I have taken a fancy to before. The surface of the gambling stone is round and smooth, with no cracks. The color has a slight yellow halo in the dark. The appearance is very correct. It looks like it is jade at first glance, but I don't know. How much jade can I get?"
"Emerald is suddenly extremely valuable, but if only one piece comes out, then it is better to settle for the next best thing and get agate. At least a large handful comes out, and the combined value is higher than a piece of jade."
Seeing the wretched man's gambling stone glowing a little green, everyone stared at it intently.
I saw more and more green lights coming out, and in the end it was as big as a pigeon egg. At this time, the green lights stopped increasing. No matter how hard the dealer increased his efforts, there was no more green light around the gambling stone. Appear.
The stone clothes completely dissipated, and the wretched man caught the dove egg-sized jadeite with a little disappointment, and silently looked at Jiang Fengqing not far away, with a look of challenge in his eyes.
Jiang Fengqing nodded and said, "Please ask the dealer to unravel the stone for me."
After the croupier bowed and saluted him, he started waving his hands again, his slender fingers dancing nimbly in the air.
"I don't know what No. 10's idea is, but he actually picked that broken stone. Could it be that he wants to take a chance on the black crystal?"
"It's hard to say. After all, Number 3 has already opened such a large piece of emerald. If Number 10 cannot open something that can compete with Number 3, it will lose the upper hand."
"Huh, in my opinion, there are several gambling stones here that are no worse than the one picked by that bullshit No. 3. However, No. 10's vision is even worse. He didn't pick any of them. On the contrary, I picked such a rubbish stone.”
Several people at the gambling table were whispering to each other, and their disdainful eyes kept wandering over the wretched man and Jiang Fengqing.
In their opinion, what these two people did could be said to be rookie behavior, but at this time they could not point it out in person and could only watch the development of the matter with a cold eye.
"One inch from the left, break the stone with one knife!" Jiang Fengqing's calm voice suddenly sounded, shocking everyone present.
The croupier's hand shook and he almost ruined Jiang Fengqing's bet.
But the next moment, the dealer's excellent professionalism made him adjust. After all, some gamblers would give instructions when the dealer was cutting the gambling stones. The dealers only need to act according to their instructions.
"Two inches from the right, cut the stone with one knife!"
"Grind the stone surface half an inch."
…
After a series of operations, the croupier's hands began to tremble a little, because only a thin layer of stone coating was left on the gambling stone, and under the stone coating, the black crystal inside could already be seen!
"For the rest, just ask the dealer to use your inner strength to grind it slowly!" Jiang Fengqing said calmly.
The croupier just nodded without saying anything, and then immediately concentrated on controlling his inner strength, carefully polishing the last layer of stone clothing.
At this time, everyone was silent, all staring closely at the stone, which was the size of a duck egg.
As the lime fell like spring rain, a black crystal shining with endless brilliance, as if it contained stars, appeared in front of everyone.
"He actually made him use the black crystal!"
"This guy...is...not a newcomer after all!"
…
As everyone's surprised words continued to fly towards Jiang Fengqing, even Lu Jinxin and the Li brothers looked at Jiang Fengqing thoughtfully.
The wretched man looked at Jiang Fengqing who was sipping tea lightly, and he already knew in his heart that this man's stone appraisal ability must be far better than his own. Thinking of this, the wretched man smiled bitterly.
