On the third day, early in the morning, Mr. Xu's men brought the silver.
Qin Fang graciously let him into the living room, served tea and entertained him. He went to the backyard to invite Zheng Haizhu out and opened the box in front of his employer.
When the first box was opened, Zheng Haizhu noticed that Qin Fang was slightly startled, but he instantly wiped away his surprised expression and quickly went to the counter to get a scale.
Among the people who came to deliver the money from the Xu Mansion was a middle-aged man about the same age as Qin Fang. He was dressed most decently, wearing a long silk gown and a net crown with a jade hairpin on his head. He looked like a steward.
With a humble smile, the steward said to Zheng Haizhu: "Master, please forgive me for coming all the way north to deliver the goods. The money collected is not very neat. It is not an official-made silver ingot. I'd like to thank the shopkeeper for your trouble."
Zheng Haizhu smiled, exchanged a few polite words, and ordered the waiter to bring some finely woven handkerchiefs.
After writing the IOU and seeing off the people from the Xu Mansion, Zheng Haizhu asked Qin Fang: "You didn't expect it to be a silver nugget and not a silver ingot?"
Qin Fang nodded: "Yes, madam. Mr. Xu, the Guangxiu Bijia that I sent earlier, seems to be extraordinary. I thought they were all silver ingots from dignitaries or big merchants. After all, the delivery of silver ingots is honorable." It’s convenient and easy to verify authenticity.”
Zheng Haizhu grabbed a not too small silver nugget from the box: "Then look, what's the quality of these things?"
Qin Fang cut the silver piece into pieces and looked at it under the sunlight, his eyes becoming more complicated.
"Added lead?" Zheng Haizhu asked.
"On the contrary," Qin Fang waved his hand, "Madam, I have been working as a dentist in Tongzhou for ten years and have seen a lot of silver ingots and silver nuggets. This silver nugget has excellent frying, casting and casting skills. It should not be made in a small private workshop. What came out was not an official silver ingot, which is strange."
Zheng Haizhu thought for a while and said to Qin Fang: "Cut a dime off each big silver nugget, wrap it in a bag and give it to me. I want to go out. Now you can load the silver into our own car and deliver it to me." Go to the silk and satin shop in Chunshu Hutong west of Liulichang, it’s owned by Mr. Wang’s people.”
Qin Fang understood: "Madam, I feel that Mr. Xu may be suspicious of Madam telling the truth, so his steward will not go far and is watching our house nearby. Should he use this money to ask his colleagues to transfer goods?"
"Well," Zheng Haizhu said, "when you go out for a walk, think of others wisely, so that you won't stumble easily."
He turned back and called Li Daniu, "You go with Lao Qin. We just happened to pick up some goods from Wang's Silk and Satin Factory. Go to Jishuitan Wharf to find a warehouse to put them in, and do the whole show. Then Lao Qin will come back, and Daniu will work hard, so stay there. Look at what's going on when Mr. Xu is unloading the goods."
After Zheng Haizhu gave his instructions, he put a small bag of silver coins in his pocket and asked Hua Er to call some other friends to come out.
Chen Sanni also arrived in the past few days. Accompanying her were two senior female students from Songjiang School. They were both in their late teens and were preparing to serve as teaching assistants. They accompanied Zheng Haizhu to Ciqing Palace and followed the instructions of Emperor Zhu Changluo. , giving lectures to little princesses and clan girls.
Also included in the same boat to Beijing were Zhang Mingshi's eldest son and three or four capable cronies sent by Xu Yilong.
When Zheng Haizhu rescued Zhang Mingshi from prison, he promised to reunite his father and son as soon as possible. Chen Sanni and the Xu family's servant, Zheng Haizhu, asked them to expand Li Daniu's spy team, but it was not always easy to rely on Wang Wenyan's manpower.
Chen Sanni was one of the female canal trackers back then. Like Mu Zaohua, she was brought out by Wu Bangdang. She also went to Wu Bangde's grave in Chongming to cry once, but she didn't know that Mu Zaohua secretly went to Liaodong. When she met Zheng Haizhu, she learned that Zaohua had contracted the epidemic and died on the way north to Yanzhou. She remembered that when she had to endure the hardships of stretching, If it weren't for Zaohua's ruthlessness, the sisters would have been bullied by the men. They couldn't help but feel sad, shocked and sad.
Zheng Haizhu waited for her to finish shedding tears and said kindly: "People can't be resurrected after death. Zaohua has always been here and likes Mr. Wu. She went to heaven to accompany Mr. Wu, which can be regarded as renewing the fate. Do you feel better if you think about it this way? ?Sanni, do you have a sweetheart you like in Zhenjiang?"
Chen Sanni shook her head decisively: "What are you getting married for? I want to be like Madam. I don't look for a husband, don't have children, and come and go to the ends of the world. Among those married women, all of them fell from the clouds into the mud."
Zheng Haizhu said: "This is a good idea, I like it very much. But if you fall in love with a man one day, you must tell me, and I will prepare a dowry and send you to the sedan chair."
When Chen Sanni heard this, not only did she not feel flattered, but she felt a little bit disappointed.
Sister Zaohua is no longer here, and Madam summoned her to her side, but it seems that she still has no intention of relying on Zhong as her right-hand man and being inseparable from her.
Zheng Haizhu noticed her loneliness and said calmly: "No matter what we do, whether it is overt or covert, as long as we do not lose anything, we must not set up any barriers or obstacles for ourselves. If you don't want to marry, don't marry. Just do it well." Do things for me. If you want to get married, there is no shame in it. You can live a good life with that man in a down-to-earth manner, have children, and be with you in old age."
Chen Sanni frowned and said, "What if after getting married, you slowly find out that he is a bastard?"
Zheng Haizhu said: "What kind of bastard law? Beat you and torture you? Make you a widow without a home? Sanni, the law of this dynasty is to restrain the wife. If the husband has a hundred sticks, the wife can divorce and return to the family; the husband has escaped for three years If she doesn't return the favor after a year, the government will give her a license and allow her to marry another woman without asking for a bride price. When the time comes, just leave her and come back to teach me a disciple. How can I get stuck in the mud and not be able to climb out? Sanni, I said These are not only considerations for your future, but you also need to understand that the more you become a spy, the less you can look at people and things in a single-minded way, otherwise many clues will often be missed."
"Sanny understands."
…
At this time, Zheng Haizhu was followed by a group of young and vigorous girls such as Sanni and Hua Er. They were chatting and laughing about the famous rouge and gouache shop in Beijing. They left the alley and walked towards the market. He looked like the head of the family. Taking the women to go shopping is no different.
Walking to the vicinity of Qipan Street, Hua Er, who was dragging behind, came up and reported: "Madam, I didn't see those faces in Xu Mansion this morning."
Zheng Haizhu nodded: "You take everyone and continue to familiarize yourself with Zhengyangmen, and I'll go take care of things."
After half a stick of incense, Liu Qiao, the governor of Fusi in Beizhen, walked to a teahouse in Nianzi Hutong without wearing official uniform and sat down at a table in the corner.
"Gu Qingquan knew that you went to Fahua Temple on the Buddha's birthday, but there you met those seeking revenge and those who came to rescue you. Are they in the same group? Just like me, they also fell in love with you. ?”
"Well, that's why I didn't enter your Fusi Yamen in Beizhen. Instead, I invited Governor Liu to come out to talk. I was afraid that Gu Qingquan would see it. Because Mr. Xu just lent me three thousand taels of silver."
Liu Qiao curled his lips: "It's not a small amount, it can cover our yamen's salary for three months from top to bottom."
Zheng Haizhu spread out the handkerchief and said, "Commander, take a look. It's not official silver, but it's made of excellent quality."
As a member of the Jinyi Guards, Liu Qiao had investigated imperial cases for many years, and ransacking homes was commonplace. His eye for all kinds of money was even better than that of Qin Fang.
He rubbed the silver ingot and judged: "It's true. If it is made into the shape of a gold ingot, with words engraved on the bottom, it will be a silver ingot from Jie Bian and Jie Jing. The quality is only about this."
Zheng Haizhu asked: "Did the official silver from the treasury be melted and then cast?"
Liu Qiao blurted out: "The ingots that circulate among the people are most recognized for their inscriptions. Who had his brain pinched by a door and destroyed it and recast it?"
"What if you don't want the source of the silver to be found out? It's more likely that the person who cast it is quite powerful, so the person who fry the silver is not a small workshop."
Liu Qiao was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said, "No wonder you want to borrow money."
