Chapter 18 Dismissal investigation

When I met Grandma Qigu, I felt a world away from each other. The two looked at each other, and couldn't help weeping - I haven't seen each other for a month, and I have a lot of gray hair on my head, but I don't care. I have to see each other. Only then did I know that sorrow can hurt people, especially Hu Xueyan. Thinking of Qigu's grandma who was ill, worrying so much about his affairs, I couldn't help but want to cry out. Every time we met, Grandma Qigu would ask Mrs. Hu first, except this time, because she was afraid that if she asked, it would touch Hu Xueyan's heart, so she didn't dare to ask.But Mrs. Snail had no choice but to ask.

"Where is Fourth Sister Luo? I'm afraid she's getting old too." "Why not! It's thanks to her now." Hu Xueyan then talked about many human situations, and Grandma Qigu's eyes were red, and tears oozed from time to time. "Take a breath!" Ruixiang interrupted from time to time, hoping to stop them from talking about those sad things, and finally couldn't bear it anymore, and said in a commanding tone, "I'm going to take medicine and go to bed." "Oh, oh!" Hu Xueyan couldn't help but feel guilty, "Seventh sister, take a good breath and relax your heart. With Yingchun helping me, I will definitely get through this difficult time."

So Gu Yingchun accompanied Hu Xueyan downstairs, just sat down in the study, the servant came to report, there was a visitor, and he handed over his business card to see that it was Shen Lansheng, a foreman of the translation room of the Telegraph Bureau. "Probably there is a reply call from Hangzhou." Gu Yingchun handed the business card to Hu Xueyan, "This person is a good friend, do you want to meet my uncle?" "No!" Hu Xueyan said, "It's better for me not to show up." "Alright!" Gu Yingchun nodded, and went out of the study to the living room to meet Shen Lansheng.

The study room and the living room are only separated by a wall, and the door is not closed, so the voices of Gu and Shen's conversation can be clearly heard, "There are two telegrams, which are related to Hu Xun. I specially copied a copy and sent them here." It was an unfamiliar voice. , of course Shen Lansheng. Then there was no sound.Hu Xueyan couldn't help but look through the crack of the door. It turned out that there was no sound because Gu Yingchun was reading the telegram. "Thank you very much." Gu Yingchun said to Shen Lansheng after reading the telegram, "If there is any other news, please let me know at any time, day or night. If you help me like this, I will tell Hu Guan, and I will definitely be rewarded."

"I don't want to talk about that. I'm just observing the injustice for Hu, and my energy efficiency is weak, and I'm just talking about it to the best of my heart." "Yes, yes. Hu Guan may come to Shanghai in the next two days, and then I will ask my brother to meet." "Good, good! I take my leave." When Gu Yingchun saw the guest out, when he returned to the study, he saw that his face was extremely solemn. Obviously, those two telegrams were not good news. "Ying Chun," Hu Xueyan asked calmly, "Where's the telegram? How should I say it?"

"Unexpected thing." Gu Yingchun handed him two telegrams. These two telegrams are two edicts sent by the interviewer of "Shenbao" in Beijing. The first one quotes Zhou Jiamei, the governor of Shuntian Prefecture, and Bi Daoyuan, the minister in charge of Shuntian Prefecture. Investigating the history of deposits in Fukang by Shangshu Wenyu, Minister of the Department of Criminal Justice, who co-organized the University, pointed out that there was a deposit of 460,000 taels of silver, of which 100,000 taels belonged to Wen Hui, the former Jiangxi feudal official. According to Wen Hui, it was handled by Wen Yu. Deposited on behalf of others, the other 360,000 taels were only marked with the words "Wen Zhai" on the account book, whether Wen Yu owned it or not is unknown.

For cases like this, as usual, "Wen Yu understands the answer".Wen Yu said it very frankly. In the past twenty years, he has received tax differentials many times. Therefore, three hundred and sixty thousand taels of silver were deposited in Fukang. The Shangyu believed that what he said was "true", but "the number was slightly larger", and ordered him to donate 100,000 taels for public use.The one hundred thousand taels of silver was proposed by Shuntian Mansion from Fukang and handed over to the Ministry of Accounts. "Yingchun," Hu Xueyan said after reading the telegram, "I ask you to contact Jinghao, the one hundred thousand taels of silver must be collected immediately, and it is best not to wait for Shuntian Mansion to remind you, but to send it to the Ministry of Households. "

"Uncle," Gu Yingchun had another opinion, "I think it will be included in the whole liquidation case, and we seem to be able to wait and see." "No! This is not a penny missing, it is better to hand in early than late." "Okay! Since my uncle said so, I will do as you wish." Gu Yingchun said again, "Please read the second telegram first." Seeing the second telegram, Hu Xueyan didn't feel his face change, but he quickly returned to normal, "This is a problem for Master Zuo." He pondered for a while and asked, "Master Zuo has received the 'Ting Ji'. ?”

"certainly." "What about here?" Hu Xueyan said, "As soon as the "Declaration" is published tomorrow, everyone will know." "It won't happen tomorrow, but it won't appear in the newspaper until the day after tomorrow." Hu Xueyan closed her mouth tightly and pondered for a while: "You can't hide this matter from Seventh Sister." "Yes." Gu Yingchun paused for a while and then said, "She said that she was afraid to come to this point." "She said so?" "I said it." Gu Yingchun was able to cite the exact date, "I told you four days ago."

"Okay!" Hu Xueyan stood up confidently, "Seventh sister can see this step, she must have thought about it for me, after thinking about it for four days, she has seen the matter very clearly, let's discuss it with her." So Gu Yingchun accompanied him up the stairs again, the sound of footsteps startled Ruixiang, she came out on tiptoe, first pinched her mouth with two fingers, signaling softly. "Just fell asleep." Before Gu Yingchun could answer, Hu Xueyan had already pulled his clothes, and stepped down the stairs with light steps. Hu Xueyan, who returned to the study, seemed to have a plan in mind, and he no longer spoke in a hesitant manner.

"Ying Chun, go and say hello to Shen Lansheng for me, see how you want to thank him, please make up your mind. The most important thing is to ask him not to make it public." "I just took care of him." "It's better to keep an eye on it. By the way, go to Jixianli and tell Lao Mi that I live here." Hu Xueyan added, "I'll take advantage of Seventh Sister's rest and think about it carefully. When you come back, Qi My sister is awake too, let's discuss it later." There were only three people in the bedroom, and even Ruixiang was unheard of. As expected, Grandma Qigu had prepared herself psychologically. When Hu Xueyan showed her the telegram, she asked calmly, "Is it from Beijing?" "It's an edict from the Military Aircraft Department." Gu Yingchun said, "You hit the mark." "I've become a crow's mouth." She asked her husband, "The Shangyu is not a seven-character script. I read the sentences continuously, and there are always words I don't know. You read it to me!" So Gu Yingchun read slowly: "Now Fukang's business is closed, and it owes a huge amount of public funds and deposits. Hu Guangyong, the Jiangxi alternate road of the business, is going to be dismissed first, that is, Zuo Zongtang will mention the employee , Strictly pursue the investigation, and order that many public and private funds owed to various places should be cleared up one by one. If you dare to delay the payment, you will be punished severely. It is also heard that Hu Guangyong has more than 20 pawns, which are divided into provinces, and some cocoons are worth hundreds of silver. Ten thousand taels are stored in Zhejiang Province. The governor of the province will investigate and handle them one by one, and let the decree know." After reading, he asked, "Do you understand?" "You still don't understand?" Grandma Qigu raised her eyes and said, "Grandpa, congratulations, congratulations! It's much better than I thought." Hu Xueyan was taken aback for a moment, Gu Yingchun also felt abrupt, and blurted out, "Where does the joy come from?" "Isn't it a joy for the court to entrust the case of my uncle to Mr. Zuo?" Grandma Qigu said, "This is someone helping my uncle." Hu Xueyan was the first to comprehend this point, "It's really a bystander." He said, "If there is someone to help, it must be Wen Zhongtang, who is related to Prince Gong." "Hmm, um." Gu Yingchun asked his wife, "You said it was much better than what you thought, what did you think?" "The matter is over, there is no need to talk about it." "No!" Hu Xueyan's voice was very firm, "We've come to this point, and we have to discuss it thoroughly with you. Don't be shy if you have something to say." "I originally thought that in addition to dismissal, there would be a search. Now only Mr. Zuo is 'strictly investigating', and he is not ordering the cleanup, but ordering 'cleaning up'. Later, he said that Mr. Zuo should go to the governors of the provinces to investigate and deal with it. Judging from this, Liu Futai in Zhejiang Province has to listen to Master Zuo’s command, and only check if he wants him to, and don’t check if he doesn’t. This has a lot to do with it.” After Grandma Qigu explained it, Hu Xueyan realized that it had a lot to do with it.Because Liu Bingzhang, the governor of Zhejiang who is currently responsible for the cleanup, was born in the Huai Army, but he himself is also an Hanlin, so he is unwilling to attach himself to Li Hongzhang. Having said that, because of his deep relationship with the Huai Army, he will inevitably be indirectly influenced by Li Hongzhang.Since Hu Xueyan was recognized by Li Hongzhang as Zuo Zongtang's wings and had to be cut off, expecting Liu Bingzhang to give him an extra helping hand would be tantamount to asking for fish from a tree.Now that the imperial court has handed over all the public and private funds owed by Fukang to Zuo Zongtang to sort them out one by one, Zuo Zongtang can directly direct Dexin to handle them, which is naturally very beneficial to Hu Xueyan. "Seventh sister, you wake up the dreamer with just one word. What should I do now, I ask you, female Zhuge, to give orders." "Uncle, don't say that. I have a few ideas for everyone to discuss. First, you should send a telegram to Defantai to let him know what to do. Liu Futai can't control so much." "Yes, the telegram will be sent soon." "Of course we need to contact Mr. Zuo immediately." Grandma Qigu asked, "Uncle, do you want to go there by yourself, or let Ying Chun report everything in person?" "I think I'll go." Gu Yingchun volunteered, "It's inconvenient if my uncle doesn't wear a top." These words caught Hu Xueyan's heart.Of course, those who were dismissed by order could only wear plain clothes, which was nothing to Zuo Zongtang, but Jiangning is the place with the most alternate Taoists in the country, and it is nicknamed "the Taoists are like hair".As soon as the lights came on, the Southern Gongyuan and the Qinhuaihefang area were called "a certain observer" when they bumped into each other. Of course, people still called each other, but Hu Xueyan didn't know whether he was silently accepting it, or wanted to declare that he was already a commoner?This embarrassing situation can be avoided, which is naturally desirable. Therefore, he immediately said: "Yes! Ying Chun asks you to work hard. After meeting Mr. Zuo, you are a third party, so it is easier to talk." "Yes! I'm leaving early tomorrow morning. Is there anything else to say?" "You especially want to pay tribute to De Xiaofeng. He really wants to follow Lord Zuo's path. It is also good that Lord Zuo can have one more helper among the officials in the frontier." Gu Yingchun also knew that Dexin was very enthusiastic about being promoted to governor. If he could find an opportunity to speak up for him, and get Zuo Zongtang's promise to keep him promoted, then Dexin would naturally do more to help Hu Xueyan was busy. "However, the telegram from Defan Station will not arrive today or tomorrow. It seems that it is not very good for the foreigner's side to fail to connect." Gu Yingchun said, "It is the most important thing that the silk can be released. " "The situation is different now. Master Zuo will clean it up. Whether this batch of silk can be sold is up to him." Hu Xueyan continued, "So it's best for you to go to Jiangning, and you can talk to Master Zuo face to face." "If Defan TV comes back and says it can be sold?" "Then you have to listen to Mr. Zuo." "That's not how things are done." Grandma Qigu couldn't help but said, "Nowadays it's the foreigners who are important. If you can't agree on the price, you don't need to talk about it. If you can't agree on the price, you can't sell it. You have to ask Mr. Zuo for instructions. There is a delay in time. The foreigners may Change your mind." "Seventh Sister's words are right." Hu Xueyan immediately made a decision, "I must sell the silk, but now the price has fluctuated, and the life will be a few days longer. Ying Chun, you will secure the buyer tomorrow, and you will He said that the deal must be successful, so please wait for a few days. Now foreigners also know that when it comes to officialdom, you must be patient when doing things. If you refuse to wait for a few days, you are not sincere at all. There is no regret in giving up." "Okay! I'll go tomorrow morning, and I'll leave when I get back." Gu Yingchun suddenly realized, "Hey, why hasn't Lao Mi come?" It turned out that when Gu Yingchun went to see Shen Lansheng, he followed Hu Xueyan's instructions and went to Jixianli first. Although Fukang had closed down, Mi Benchang and a few staff still stayed there.Mi Ben often heard that Hu Xueyan was coming, and immediately said that he would come to Gu's house soon to "meet Mr. Da".It has been nearly three hours since this sentence, why is it gone? "The ugly daughter-in-law always wants to meet her parents-in-law, and he will come. My uncle is waiting for him after midnight snack." Grandma Qigu said, "I wonder if you are ready for the midnight snack?" "It's already ready." Ruixiang answered loudly in the sitting room outside, then went into the bedroom and pushed Grandma Qigu out of the wheelchair. Midnight snacks are still very particular, and most of them are Hu Xueyan's favorite food. It is very cold, so there is naturally a hot pot, which uses the marinade of "Bao Bo Tou", with fish balls, sea cucumbers, winter bamboo shoots, and "jiaocai" Shandong Chinese cabbage is cooked together.This reminded Hu Xueyan of Lao Tonghe. "Ying Chun," he asked, "Did you see Ah Cai?" "Saw." "Which A Cai?" Grandma Qigu asked, "It seems to be a woman's name." Hu Xueyan and Gu Yingchun looked at each other and smiled.Because of Hu Xueyan's current state of mind, he was relieved by the news from Beijing, so Gu Yingchun felt that it would be a good idea to talk about this unexpected love affair, and immediately said jokingly: "If my uncle and Ah Cai were to talk about it at that time Let's meet, maybe he is the boss of Lao Tonghe now." Using this joke as an introduction, Gu Yingchun talked about the conversation with A Cai this morning from having dinner at Laotonghe last night, during which Hu Xueyan made supplements from time to time.This story, which lasted more than twenty years, is almost legendary.Grandma Qigu and Ruixiang both listened with great interest, and Hu Xueyan learned many plots that he didn't know or even imagined before, especially A Cai's devotion to him was beyond his expectation, so he tried his best to recall A Cai's appearance back then, But there is only a faint, almost shapeless shadow, and the only thing I remember clearly is a slender body and a pair of big eyes. Let's eat this midnight snack until midnight.Mi Benchang always came to the future, "Forget it!" Hu Xueyan said, "We will talk about it tomorrow morning, sleep is important." I didn’t sleep very comfortably that night. The main reason is that the Gu’s house newly installed a boiler, and the hot steam was distributed everywhere through lead pipes. Although exquisite, there is no such thing.But even though "a room is like spring", Hu Xueyan is not quite used to it. He was covered with a silk quilt. He woke up several times sweating in the middle of the night. deep sleep. When I woke up, the sun was full of red.Ruixiang heard the noise, so she came to take care of her and wash herself, and had to ask the whole family of Hu's family. Hu Xueyan could only answer: "Everything is fine." When I went upstairs to see Grandma Qigu, breakfast was already set up waiting for him. As usual, there was a bowl of bird's nest porridge. Hu Xueyan said, "Thank you! Seventh sister, you can eat." "Why don't you eat it?" Grandma Qigu said, "Uncle, don't insult yourself." "It's not about humiliating myself. I have enjoyed my blessings too much. Now that I think about it, I should cherish my blessings." Grandma Qigu didn't have time to answer, she just heard the footsteps on the stairs, which were extremely hurried, as if they were rushing up.Everyone looked intently, it was Gu Yingchun who had returned. "Uncle," he said, "Old Mi is dead!" "Dead?" Hu Xueyan asked, "A stroke?" "No, I found a dead end by swallowing opium." Gu Yingchun said dejectedly, "I probably swallowed a few cigarette bubbles after I left. , I climbed in from the window and looked, and my body was stiff.” Ah Zhang is Fukang’s buddy. "Why?" Hu Xueyan shook his head, "It's not worth it!" "Uncle, you are so kind." Grandma Qigu said, "He always feels that he is responsible for all the troubles, and he has no face to see you. He came here twice, and when we talked about it, he sighed and blamed himself for not going to Ningbo. went. At that time—” Grandma Qigu suddenly fell silent, and Hu Xueyan asked, "Sister Qi, please continue." Grandma Qigu didn't answer him, she just asked her husband, "How do you know that he swallowed a few cigarette bubbles after you left?" "They told me that as soon as I left yesterday, he closed the door and went to sleep. It was only eight o'clock at that time, and everyone was still awake." "Then," Grandma Qigu asked immediately, "Everyone is not surprised, why did he go to bed so early?" "It's strange, no one asked him." Gu Yingchun replied, "Ah Zhang told me that he was thinking at the time, didn't he say he was going to see Mr. Da, why was he sleepy? He wanted to go in and have a look Look, I just invited friends to watch a night show. The middle axis is Yang Yuelou's "Eight Sledgehammer Belt Storytellers". I was afraid that it would be too late, so I left in a hurry. After watching the night show, I had a midnight snack and went to bed when I came back. Until today When I got up in the morning and knocked on the door, I realized something was wrong." Grandma Qigu fell silent, but the expression on her face clearly showed that she had a different opinion. "There are still several people in Fukang, and no one would have noticed at that time?" Hu Xueyan said again, "Swallowing opium is not like hanging yourself. Before you die, you will always make a sound. Could it be that no one heard it?" "I asked them the same way. Some said they fell asleep as soon as they went to bed and didn't hear it. Some said they went shopping on the road and didn't know it at all." "It's also fate." Grandma Qigu finally couldn't help but said, "It's not that the person died, but I still said harsh words. In my opinion, it's a fake." "You mean, he is pretending to commit suicide?" Gu Yingchun asked. "It's not that you don't know that there are four cigarette bubbles in the bright corner box that he carries, and they have been lit more than once in front of people." "Oh," Hu Xueyan asked very attentively, "does he intend to commit suicide a long time ago?" "Yes!" Grandma Qigu looked at Gu Yingchun and said, "I don't know if you've heard him say it? I heard him say it." "What did he say?" Hu Xueyan asked. "He said, I am really sorry for Mr. Hu Da, and I can only repay him with my life." "Seventh sister, you didn't persuade him not to have such thoughts?" "Why not? I said, the ancients have sacrificed their lives to save the Lord, but it is useful to lose their lives. It is useless. It is useless to send a life for nothing. It is of no benefit to Mr. Hu Da." "And what did he say?" "He said, that's not the case. I feel sorry for Mr. Hu Da." Grandma Qigu said again, "If he really thought this way, he should have committed suicide a long time ago. He didn't die sooner or later, but he just waited until he was about to meet you. Go to find a way to die. According to my opinion, he really has nothing to say to you, uncle, so he has to come up with a bitter plan. Generally speaking, if a person really doesn't want to live, he will definitely think that he must not die, so he has to choose a place , but also think about the way to die, teach people that it is not easy to find out, and once found, they will not die. I think the smoke bubbles on his body have been seen by Fukang's buddies. Could it be that they didn't think of it? To see Mr. Da, he suddenly closed the door to sleep, and he would naturally become suspicious and come to rescue him. In this way, he was forgiven for his big mistake, and he didn't have to bother to say much. Good words to make amends. I don't know that people don't pay attention to this. Those who go to the theater to watch the theater, those who go to the street to go to the street, and those who go to sleep, these are all beyond his imagination. You don't have to be sad, grandpa. If he dies like this, It's good for him that he doesn't have to pay back his debts." "Dead, dead, dead, everything is gone." Hu Xueyan said, "His funeral needs someone to take care of him. Ying Chun, I know he is not very kind to you, but you can't be a friend. in spite of." "Yes. I've already asked Fukang's buddy to buy a coffin for him. I'll take care of his funeral affairs and leave tomorrow." Gu Yingchun asked again, "Should I send a telegram to him first?" Sir Zuo?" "should." So Gu Yingchun drafted a telegram signed by Hu Xueyan and sent to Zuo Zongtang, saying: "I got the telegram in Beijing, and I was severely condemned. I will go back to Hangzhou to stand by. As soon as I hear the telegram, I will report it immediately. I will write it first." Gu Jun Yingchun went to Ning and reported everything." Hu Xueyan originally had a code book given to him by Zuo Zongtang, and in order to show that he was upright and aboveboard, everything was handled in accordance with the order, and he specially instructed Gu Yingchun to send it out with a clear code. "Where are the foreigners?" Hu Xueyan asked again. "It's settled." "Okay!" Hu Xueyan consulted Qigu's grandma, "Seventh sister, do you think I'm leaving today?" "Do you want to be in such a hurry?" "I was looking for death from Mi Ben. When I think of Hangzhou, when the news of the "Shenzhen" is posted, some people will be anxious, not knowing what accidents will happen. So I want to go back, and I can get back before the "Shenzhen" arrives. Hangzhou is the best." "That's right." Grandma Qigu replied, "We only talked about business last night. I wanted to talk about housework with my uncle today. Now that my uncle has already thought about it, I don't need to talk about it. Hurry up Let's book a boat." "I'll handle it." Gu Yingchun said, "It's booked, I'll come back and let you know right away." As soon as Gu Yingchun left, Hu Xueyan had a secret discussion with Qigu's grandma until noon. Gu Yingchun came back and said that the boat had been booked, and he would spend three hundred taels of silver to hire a small steamer to tow it, and he could return to Hangzhou in two days. .