Chapter 39 Chapter Sixteen

For the past two days, Lin Fan hadn't moved. He seemed to be hiding at home and buried himself in his studies, or he was sick. Tao Gan came to report that he took advantage of the opportunity to clean up the rubble field next to Lin's house, and had been monitoring Lin's house. ——I saw the fat black manager walking in and out to handle daily purchases, but there was no sign of Lin Fan. Qiao Tailai reported that there was nothing unusual in Lin Fan's garden, and two or three big carp were caught alive and kicking. Ma Rong was responsible for monitoring Mrs. Liang's movements. He rented a vacant room upstairs in the silk shop not far from Liang's house, and taught several disciples boxing sticks.He came to report that Mrs. Liang hadn't left the house for the past two days.There were no suspicious figures walking around the Liang residence.

On the third day, the military academy guarding the south gate of the town caught a suspicious Guangzhou native with a letter to Lin Fan hidden in his pocket. The military academy did not dare to neglect, and hurriedly sent soldiers to deliver the letter to the yamen.Mr. Di read it carefully, and there was nothing suspicious, it was purely a transaction receipt between Lin Ji Company and Jingshi No. 1 Company, but the amount of money filled in the receipt exceeded three thousand taels. On the fourth day, Qiaotai disguised himself as a strongman by the canal, intercepted one of Lin Fan's men, and found a letter. ——The letter was addressed to a senior official in the household department of the capital, and there was a flying ticket of five thousand taels of silver in the letter. ——Di Gong carefully hid the flying ticket, guessing the purpose of the money.

During the seven days, Duke Di did not move, but hid in his study to read the official documents sent by the counties. ——Sometimes I go back to the mansion to see Huang Xing and Bitao, chat with them, and ask them if they are studying hard or learning how to sew. On the tenth day, Duke Di suddenly saw an urgent official document from Linpu County, secretly reporting that a group of bandits had gathered in the dense forest of Chonggang in Linpu, repeatedly disturbing the place and robbing people's property.Di Gong couldn't help but complained about the case, and ordered Hong Canjun to call Li Hutou, the captain of Zhechong.

Half a day later, Li Hutou came to the state government office to meet Di Gong.Di Gong chatted with him for a few words, and then he said: "Li Duwei, a group of bandits appeared in the mountains of Linpu County. Advance and suppress, urgent state government, I order you to quickly dispatch all the troops of the town army to go and destroy. The time limit is half a month, and the news of breaking the bandits must not be wrong." Li Hutou understood what he heard, but he was worried, and asked: "If there is an emergency in Puyang City, what should I do?" Di Gong said with a smile: "The people in Zhoucheng have always kept their own law and order. There will be no disturbances within half a month. You can go to suppress the thieves with peace of mind and don't have to worry about it."

Li Hutou was ordered to leave, and sent out an army call overnight. It is said that all the troops in the town are ready to go to Linpu at dawn the next day. Di Gong ordered Hong Canjun: "Here I have four important letters, and I hope you will submit them immediately tonight. The first letter is sent to Wang Wenjun, the deputy envoy of observation, the second letter is sent to Sima Bao Weiyuan of the military town, and the third letter is sent to the official academy. My lord, Wen Xiaolan, send the fourth letter to Jinlingfeng, Puyang City. ——I want them to be witnesses in a public case for me. Please prepare the four of them and wait in your mansion tomorrow morning.

"You send someone to replace Tao Gan, Qiao Tai, and Ma Rong. You will personally lead all the government officials and servants of the prefectural government to gather in the government courtyard before dawn tomorrow. Prepare my official sedan chair and put it in the sedan chair in advance. My official robe, soap boots, and black gauze hat. Prepare extra lanterns and torches, but do not light them. I have to go back to the mansion to take care of some minor matters. We will meet in the outer hall of the yamen before dawn tomorrow." When Duke Di returned to the mansion, the three wives were taking a nap, so he went to the Lotus Fragrance Court to chat with Huang Xing and Bi Tao, and then they talked about something, and they nodded with smiles.He went back to the room again, dressed himself as a fortune teller, and held up a green cloth sign with three big characters "Peng Shen class" written on it, and "Mai Xiangfa, Liu Ren Shen class" on the bottom. "Eight small characters.He straightened the Xiaoyao scarf on his head, then shook a Jin Duo and slipped into the street from the corner door in the backyard of the mansion.

Di Gong disguised himself very much.When someone came up to ask for fortune-telling, he politely declined, saying that a big family in Xicheng had made an appointment for him to go to divination, and he dared not delay. He wandered around the city's third-rate teahouses, restaurants, brothels and casinos for a whole afternoon, but he didn't find anything suspicious.He suddenly felt hungry, so he went to a small, dirty restaurant, had a hasty dinner, and then turned to the street again.When I was not in the mood, I suddenly thought of the Shengming concept that I heard Ma Rong vividly narrated a few days ago. There is also a group of beggars and rascals led by Shen Ba. I am bored at the moment, so why not go and see for myself.He remembered that Ma Rong said that although the Shengming Temple was closed by the government, the temple was often haunted by ghosts.

After Di Gong asked the way, he swayed towards Shengming Temple.In a short while, we arrived at Shengming Temple—as expected, we saw a group of ragged gamblers gathering under the dilapidated wooden shed in front of the temple, throwing dice. Di Gong stepped forward and cupped his hands and said: "Brothers, please ask me, is there a gentleman named Shen Ba nearby?" Shen Ba was sitting against the wall, humming a ditty, when he suddenly heard that the divination man in front of him wanted to look for him, he suddenly jumped up straight, swayed to Duke Di: "Why do you seek him, a fortune teller?" What are you doing?"

As soon as Duke Di saw him, he immediately realized that this person was Shen Ba, so he took out two strings of copper coins from his sleeve and said, "A brother from Jianghu entrusted me to hand over these two strings of coins to him." Shen Ba squinted his eyes and smiled, reached out and snatched the two strings of copper coins, wrapped them around his belt, and asked jokingly, "Mister, can you really tell fortunes?" Di Gongdao: "Shen Xianggong doesn't believe it, you can calculate it. If the calculation is not accurate, you can tear this green cloth trick into pieces."

Shen Badao: "Let's listen to it and see if it makes sense." Di Gongdao: "In the appearance of a person, suffering and optimism are determined by siblings, and wisdom and ignorance are determined by fur. From my perspective, Mr. Shen has a short head and a round head, so he must be a man of prosperity; a strong body and muscles, he is also a hero; the sky is towering, and he has no food and clothing in his life. Loss; the corner of the land is round and thick, and there is no doubt that it will be prosperous in the later years..." Shen Ba yelled: "Mr. is talking nonsense. I have no fresh clothes on my body, no taste in my mouth, so poor, and it is difficult to take care of my duties and physiology. How can I get rich and prosperous? Don't lie to me."

Di Gong said with a smile: "I see that Mr. Xiang's stagnation has opened up, and good luck is coming, but it will only be half a year in March." Shen Ba sternly said: "I never believed in this kind of stuff. You don't even think about defrauding me of a penny. But Mr. is really capable, you might as well tell the fate of this fox actuary in the temple." Di Gong was shocked and said: "When did the fox fairy appear in this Shengming Temple? To be honest, I have some fate with the fox fairy. I have seen the fox fairy in Hebei and Henan, and they all have friendship. Sometimes I encounter the fox fairy in fortune telling. As for those who have a strange fate, they are not allowed to report, and they are often recruited to discuss. Whatever they point out, there is no failure. —— I wonder if Mr. Shen can take me into this Shengming Temple to have a look? Maybe meet an old acquaintance or two." Shen Badao: "Sir, if you have the ability, you might as well go in by yourself. We are mortal flesh, how dare we go to fight with goblins." Di Gong smiled faintly, stepped forward to the blood-red gate, went up a few stone steps, looked up and saw two large envelopes stamped with the seal of "Puyang Prefecture Government" crossed on the gate.The date it was signed was two years ago.Di Gong went around to the ear door on the left. Although the ear door was covered with a cover, there were several cracks and a wormhole on the door.Di Gong put his eyes close to the wormhole and peeped in. Inside the ear door is dark and gloomy, and the shadowy palaces look desolate and dilapidated under the hazy moonlight.Di Gongyi was waiting to take a closer look, when he suddenly heard footsteps in the hallway of the hall.When I listened carefully, there was silence, only the sound of the night wind blowing the bells and the rustling of the weeds.Suddenly, Duke Di heard the sound of the door closing far away, but it disappeared again soon.Di Gong thought about it, although the sound of footsteps and door closing sounded unreal, they were not hallucinations.He felt that no matter what, it was necessary to conduct a serious survey of this concept of sages. ——The movement of the "Fox Fairy" in the temple is unbelievable. He shook his head and walked down the steps talking to himself. Shen Ba was startled and said: "Sir, did you see the vixen?" Di Gong said in dismay: "Shen Xianggong, listen to the next thing. There are goblins in this holy view, not just fox fairy, but nameless people like barren mountain ghosts and rotten wood ghosts. I don't know them at all. This holy man Seeing the ghostly aura around the front, back, left, and right, Mr. Shen respected himself. I didn't dare to stay for long, so I left in a hurry." Shen Ba was shocked, and was stunned for a while. After Di Gong left Shengming Temple, he stayed at the Eight Immortals Hotel not far away.At this time, the night clouds were like ink, and the stars and the moon were dark.Di Gong made a pot of tea and lay down with his clothes on.One hour before dawn, he had to rush back to the state office. ——It was inconvenient for him to stay in the state office all afternoon and night, so I hid outside.