Chapter 2 The second time Mr. Qian fled Shandong in fear of misfortune Mrs. He pleaded guilty and presented evidence

Boss Shen sat on the edge of the kang with soft legs and buttocks.Hao Er twisted his body and settled on the spot, and it took him a while to come back to his senses. Weng moved his lips and asked softly, "What's wrong with you tonight? Are you going to scare us to death?" Xiao Luzi smiled wryly, and took a cup of herbal tea Gudonggudong drank, took a long breath, and told Boss Shen and Hao Er about what he saw Liu Lian colluding with Sanrui to murder He Luying in the East Court just now: "Didn't you see He Daotai send Liu Futai to you?" ? That's not a 'He Daotai' at all, it was dressed up by his mother's Cao Rui! At that moment, Master He was already hanging on the beam!"

Boss Shen and Hao Er were stunned, their distorted faces were full of horror, their eyes were straight and unblinking, like two frozen zombies, they looked at Xiaoluzi motionlessly.At this time, it was midnight, and the old tree in the courtyard was swaying like a ghost, looking weird and gloomy... "Emperor Heaven Bodhisattva!" A gust of wind blew in, and the wet rain and mist slanted in. Boss Shen trembled all over, as if shivering from the extreme cold, and said in a trembling voice: "Is this true? Don't be dreaming." !" "Believe it or not." Xiao Luzi glanced at Hao Er and said, "I hope I'm dreaming. Second brother, I think you can hold on. You can go to the window at the back of the north room in the east courtyard... I will never dare to go to that land again in my life..."

Hao Er looked at the dark sky outside, rolled up his trousers and put on his coir raincoat without saying a word, seeing that the light was still on in the clerk's house in the west ear room, he said loudly: "The noon cannon has fired, isn't it quite dead? "The lights in the room went out with the sound.Boss Shen's fat face was full of sorrow, and he stroked the thin braids behind his head and sighed: "It's over now. This store has been in my hands for five generations, and now it's going to be defeated by me! This... ...How do you say this? Heavenly conscience, I have never used any black-hearted money! Some customers died in the store, and the money was returned to the owner—how could I suffer this retribution?" His voice changed as he spoke. , pulled up the skirt to wipe away tears.He added: "You should have yelled out at that time, more than a dozen people in this room rushed in and took the prisoner on the spot, how much trouble can be saved!"

"I was scared to death at the time." Xiao Luzi said, "I thought later, fortunately I didn't shout at the time. The people in this room were all brought by Liu Futai, and maybe even us men will go in and kill them. This will I’m still scared when I think about it!” As he was speaking, Hao Er walked in with his body dripping with water and his color was different.Seeing Boss Shen staring at him in a daze, Hao Er nodded stiffly, gritted his teeth and said, "These two thieves and men are really bold, and they are still burning paper in that room right now, packing Lord He's luggage!"

Boss Shen groaned in despair, sat back, and jumped up again like a spring: "Five or six of us rushed in, caught them on the spot, and went to the yamen to beat the drums and report the police. Is it possible that he will fly away?" At this time, he had completely recovered his sanity, and seeing that Hao Er was also eager to try, he hurriedly said: "Don't! They are a gang. If they turn against us in the court and say that it is a black shop, killing officials, murdering them, planting them and framing them, they will be sent to us immediately." Killed us!" One sentence caused Hao Er and Boss Shen to stare.Just as he was about to do anything, there was a sound of footsteps in the corridor outside, as if someone was walking along the corridor with shoes on.The three of them pricked up their ears alertly and held their breath to listen.He just heard the man pour a cup of tea on the square table outside the front door, drank it, but didn't leave. He pushed open the door of the west ear room and came in, asking, "Boss Shen, who is in the accountant?" When I looked up, it was a guest living in the west wing of the main house. I only knew that his name was Qian Du, and he was going to Jinan, passing through Dezhou.Qian Du was wearing a gray poplin gauze gown and a black cotton mandarin jacket, which was buttoned neatly. Boss Shen asked in surprise, "Master Qian, what's going on now? Do you want to pay?"

"Yes. You need to pay the bill." Qian Duwu has a short stature, and a pair of small black and bright eyes like pepper beans are embedded in his black and red face with Chinese characters, making him look extraordinarily shrewd.He flipped up his robe and sat on the bench opposite Boss Shen, took a sip of tea, and said with a smile, "I know everything about the shop. I have something urgent to go to Jinan, so I can't sue here." He said. and pointed to the ceiling above his head.The three of them were startled. Looking at the ceiling, they realized that the side room was connected to the upper part of the west wing, and their voices could easily be transmitted.Boss Shen thought about it, and there was no reason to implicate the guests, so he sighed: "It's up to you, it's just the heavy wind and rain, how can you walk?" Qian Du sneered, and said: "Even if the knife is cut, I have to go now. I don't To tell you the truth, I was born as a famous criminal master, and I have been in the Henan Tianzhitai Mansion for several years. This kind of lawsuit has not been settled for two or three years. Come on, so let's settle the bill and settle the bill. I have the recommendation letter from the current Henan Sun Fuyuan to stand firm in Jinan, and maybe I can help you tide over the difficulties."

Xiaoluzi's eyes lit up, and he said: "You can tell at a glance that you have read a big book, what you said is really good! Thirty-six strategies are the best, and if that is the case, we will run away from his mother!" "What are you talking about?" Easy!" Qian Du chuckled, "This case was not done by you in the first place, at most it was just a 'witness', which proved that He committed suicide and the case was closed. As soon as you escaped, you were in trouble." The name of "Fear of Sin". The surname Liu is because he can't find a substitute for the dead ghost so painstakingly designed this way. If you escape, wouldn't he just push the boat and push the crime of murder to you?" He analyzed the key points in a few simple words , as soon as you hear it, you know that it is indeed an old official. How can a few people let him go?Just begging him to help make up his mind.Qian Du sucked his lips and just muttered, "I have to walk quickly, I really can't take care of it, look at the wind, rain, and night outside..."

"Hao Er, go and pack Lord Qian's luggage, you don't have to settle the bill." Seeing Qian Du's tone, Boss Shen hurriedly begged, "At least give advice to the villains—there is a big walking mule in the shop, I Giving money to Lord Qian as a foot-strength, a little filial piety for the younger ones..." "Hmm..." Qian Du rolled his eyes, stood up with his chin in his hand, thought for a moment and said, "I don't want to hurt you at all, this is impossible. There are two meanings you must keep in mind—" He shook his hand He walked slowly and said: "First, Liu Kang didn't want to drag you directly into the case, he just wanted you to testify that He Daotai was still 'alive' when he left the store. You can prove this without waiting for torture. But you have to explain that Bai He Daotai doesn't talk much when he sees people, and he always lives in seclusion. You don't know his background. Second, you don't believe it or don't believe it when He Daotai committed suicide. I have to say the same thing - you must know that such a big case will definitely alarm the court, and there will always be times in the future when you can't hide it. If you can't stand the fight, you can just let him say, 'suicide may be true'. The big deal will be revealed in the future. Let’s say ‘torturing into a trick’.” He smiled, “With these two things, we can keep the basics, and then put some money in the yamen, get bail pending trial, and transfer the floating wealth in the store, and it’s not worthwhile for everyone to suffer here Boss Shen insists on selling the house as soon as the case is over, so as not to be involved in the future when the case is overturned." Turning around, Hao Er had already entered, and asked, "Where's my luggage?"

Hao Er hurriedly said: "It's all ready for the Lord. It's in the back corner door on the west side of the courtyard. I'm afraid that the east side will be disturbed..." "Okay, I'll go now." Qian Du said calmly: "Just do what I said. Yes, this way you will suffer the least. Don’t be afraid, you must know that they are more afraid of you—we will meet later!” After saying that, he tied his shoelaces and disappeared into the sound of rain in the night outside the door. After listening to Qian Du's words like a child listening to a teacher's lecture, the three discussed hurriedly, and decided that Hao Er and Xiao Luzi would take all the money in the store and sneak back to the countryside of Su Luling overnight to watch the wind, while Boss Shen and a few boys stayed behind. Let's go to the top of the case, and work hard inside and out to overcome the disaster together. When everything is settled, the cock crows twice.

Dezhou Prefecture is only more than 300 miles away from Jinan. Qian Du is alone, and his luggage is simple. Thanks to the big mule from Shen's old shop, he can really walk and endure. Arrived in Jinan in the early morning.Qian Du had his own idea in his mind: he is a famous criminal master, and now he is busy going to Zaotai Yamen to join Governor Li Wei, even if he takes him in, seeing such a life-threatening lawsuit in Dezhou, the province must send personnel to go to the trial.Newcomers will inevitably have to "try it out", wouldn't it be a pot of hot charcoal poured into their arms?As soon as it was daylight, Qian Du stayed in a big inn opposite the Governor's Yamen.

Lived in Jinan for three days, Qian Du fully enjoyed the green mountains, beautiful waters and Linquan Temple, swam in Qianfo Mountain and Daming Lake, and went to Baotu Spring to taste tea twice. The case of Dezhou Prefecture has already caused a sensation in Jinan.People said everything, some said that He Xunjian had "madness" and fell ill, so he couldn't think about hanging on the rope; The sins committed in the previous life will be repaid in this life, and he was killed by the wronged soul.Naturally, some said that the cause of He Luying's death was unknown, and there were other reasons.There were different opinions in the teahouse and restaurant for a while, Qian Du didn't pay much attention to it, only heard that Governor Li Wei and Governor Yue Jun had joined together to file a memorial, and the procuratorate's office had stopped hearing other cases.Ka Erliang, a native of Taiwan, went to Dezhou in person, and worked with the government of Dezhou to deal with it. After the government's shop was ready, Qian Du took the letter of recommendation from the governor of Henan and went to the Zhitai yamen to meet Li Wei.It took about a quarter of an hour before I heard a word from inside: "Mr. Qian, please sign and wait outside the room." Qian Du had no choice but to follow Geshha along the corridors and corridors for a while before arriving at the gate of the Moon Cave in Yaxi Garden.Hearing the intermittent conversation and coughing in the signing room, he knew that Li Wei was receiving guests, so he stood sideways at the entrance of the flower hall and waited quietly.Nageshha went in lightly, said something, and came out to tell Qian Du: "My lord, please have tea in the flower hall, Governor Yue and Tang Fantai are discussing business inside!" "Please do what you want." Qian Du handed a small red envelope to Geshha, and said with a smile, "I'll wait outside, don't bother." Unexpectedly, Nageshha stuffed the red envelope back without saying a word, He said in a low voice: "I dare not break the rules when working under Li Zhitai." He smiled and left.Qian Du couldn't help but move in his heart: I have heard for a long time that Li Wei is unacceptable, honest and upright, and he really has a real name! While thinking about it, the voice from the signing room seemed to be a little louder, as if saying goodbye.After a while, I saw two officials walking out of the signing room one after the other.Both of them are in their forties, one wears a second-grade coral crown and the other a sapphire crown.Dai Landingzi withdrew and said, "My lord's body is not in good condition, please stop..." Qian Du guessed that these two people were Yue Futai and Tang Fantai.A middle-aged man without robes, with a square face of medium build, two jet-black eyebrows in the shape of an inverted splayed, and a pair of triangular eyes flashed like lightning by chance, so flickering that no one dared to look straight at them.Qian Du's heart skipped a beat: This is the world-renowned "model governor", Li Wei, whom Emperor Yongzheng is extremely fond of today! "The dredging of the canal must be done quickly, and it must be completed before the white dew." Li Wei glanced at Qian Du, and smiled at the two senior officials: "You thieves, do it well! Brothers, when they come to Beijing, they must go to heaven to say good deeds." !" When the two of them left the Moon Cave Gate, Li Wei turned around and greeted Qian Du with a smile, "Is it Mr. Qian? What are you doing standing there? Come in and have a chat!" Qian Du didn't expect him to be so easy-going, so Lao Gao was half relieved, and walked in steadily. Seeing that Li Wei had already sat down, he greeted An with all his hands, and carefully handed over Governor Sun's letter of recommendation. , and said with a smile: "Sun Futai repeatedly asked the villain to pay tribute to the adults: take good care of your body. Let me bring two catties of ice flakes and two catties of white fungus, saying that these are made by the adults..." Li Wei opened the letter, He said at the same time: "Sun Guoxi is still strong, isn't he? What else did he say—his handwriting has improved!" Qian Du guessed Li Wei's temperament.The very bold one laughed boldly and said: "Sun Futai scolded you, saying that you are like an old skinny dog ​​that is about to fall apart, and you are so stingy and reluctant to eat..." "Oh?" Li Wei paused, then burst out laughing, coughing and said, "...Okay! Good scolding... This son of a bitch still misses me!" He read the letter as he spoke.Probably because there were too many characters he didn't understand, he casually threw the letter on the table and said, "Isn't it just to recommend you to be a teacher? Well, I'll keep you." "Thank you, Mr. Tai-" "Wait a minute." Li Wei waved his hand, the smile on his face disappeared, and he said solemnly: "My rules are known all over the world. One is sincerity. I can't read, so I value this one more. Play tricks with me." If you fool me with words, I will ask Shang Fang to kill you. The second article, I will give you a salary of two hundred and fifty taels of silver every month. No one in the world is willing to give so much. If you are not clear enough to find I want, just want to use the word 'Lian'. If the Japanese ghosts play with sticks in my yamen, I will only end up dead. I was born as a beggar, first a villain and then a gentleman. Ugly words come to the fore-don't say it Don't predict!" He suddenly said a sentence, smiled and stopped it.Qian Du had already stood up, and Zhengyan said: "Dong Weng, it is because of your admiration for your character, talent, and knowledge that students have traveled thousands of miles to join you. Don't worry, Qian Du is a real man!" Just as he was talking, a Goshha came in Reported: "There is a young man outside, about fifteen or sixteen years old, who said that the inner court sent him to Suzhou to urge the tribute satin. He asked the little one to report that he has something to see the adults." "Where are the famous thorns? Take a look." "Back to the adults, he said it was inconvenient and didn't bring it." "Huh? No name?" "Fucha family, Fu Heng." Li Wei trembled, got up quickly, and said, "Hurry up, take me to meet you—" He coughed suddenly, and even spat out a mouthful of blood. He quickly covered it with a handkerchief, gasped for a while, and said, "Fu Heng is Prince Bao." My brother-in-law is my half-master——Mr. Qian, please tidy up this room, and I’ll come as soon as I go.” Qian Du immediately urged the waiter in the waiter to sweep the floor and wipe the table, and personally cleaned up the papers scattered on the table. The case files were packed one by one, and then I heard Li Wei laughing: "Master is used to wearing shoes made by my mother-in-law, and said that although they are not as good as the official ones in Suzhou, they fit well. The previous son did it again. Two pairs of soap boots with black satin and green cloth with thousand layers of bottoms. I thought I would bring them into Beijing on New Year's Day. Since the sixth master is here, it's a lunch box..." As he spoke, he picked up the curtain himself and followed Fu Heng in. . Qian Du's eyes lit up immediately, and he saw that Fu Heng was wearing a moon-white solid gauze gown, a purple corduroy Baturu button-up vest, and a crimson crouching dragon bag tied around his waist, with only the beige tassels slightly exposed. A pair of soap boots are half worn, the hem seems to be powdered and washed to a snow white, on the delicate face, there are two black jewel-like pupils, looking forward to shine, and the chic and elegant posture is just like a jade tree facing the wind, which is amazing. Forget about the customs.Qian Du couldn't help thinking to himself: "The boy playing Guanyin at the temple fair is not so beautiful, I don't know his sister—that must be a fairy!" Fu Heng was already sitting in a daze. Fu Heng hurriedly said: "Forget it, you are in poor health." After finishing speaking, he glanced at Qian Du and asked, "I haven't seen you last time, this is..." Qian Du is a person who is full of news. The smart man moved as soon as he pressed it, and hurriedly stepped forward and said: "If you don't have money, the twenty-sixth generation grandson of King Qianmu of Qiantang came to Li Zhitai's mansion as a guest. Greetings, sir!" Saying this, he bowed, stood up and bowed again, Li Wei laughed as he watched from the side. "You are very clever, this rewards you." Fu Heng smiled reservedly, took out a few golden melon seeds from his sleeve and threw them into Qian Du's hand, then turned to ask Li Wei, "How is the Texas case? Oh, don't get me wrong." , I don’t interfere with your government affairs. It’s just that the emperor is very concerned about this matter. He said that he has always seen officials who owe money commit suicide, but he has never heard of debt collectors committing suicide. The emperor has ordered the Ministry of Officials and the Ministry of Punishment to find out the cause of death. The Seventeenth Prince wrote a letter asking me to ask you when I pass Shandong. I will just take your words back to Beijing.” Li Wei pondered for a while, and said: “This case is handled by Tang Junheng, and I also feel very strange. Tang Junheng has agreed with Liu Kang went to the court several times, and all the confessions were reported to me by flying horses. The prefect of the yamen and the prefect yamen will conduct an autopsy, and it is true that he died by hanging. The doors and windows were closed from the inside, and it was not homicide. Xiang forced himself to commit suicide because of love and hatred. I was a little suspicious of Liu Kang, because He Luying went to investigate his deficit, but the report from the treasury said that Dezhou only had a deficit of more than 3,000 taels, so there was no reason to kill someone for it. I testified with the innkeeper that there was nothing unusual about He before his death, and that when Liu Kang visited that night, He personally sent him out—this matter has been recalled several times by Fu Si and Jing Si, and today he said that the case will be closed by suicide. I told them to take it easy and discuss it later." Qian Du was listening, admiring Li Wei's fineness.He thought for a while, and then said slowly: "Zhatai, please allow me to interject. This is a suspicious case, and it must not be closed hastily. When I came to Jinan, I heard about this case. It's difficult to understand. As for claiming death by 'injustice', I think it's even more outrageous. The sixth master will naturally tell the emperor when he goes back. This case can't be settled now, and it's reasonable to wait and see." "Yes," Li said. Wei smiled and said, "It's just 'suicide is not going well, and homicide is difficult to reason'. You are a master!" Fu Heng nodded while listening, glanced at Qian Du appreciatively, and changed the subject and asked: "You Do you have any fame?" Qian Du hurriedly bowed and said, "The late student was a supervisor who paid donations in the sixth year of Yongzheng." "Students can also take the exam." Fu Heng said and stood up, "I don't want to disturb you here, I have to go back to the post house, and I will return to Beijing tomorrow. I won't bother you this time, and we will meet again in a few days. Yes." Li Wei got up and said with a smile: "Master Liu is not in a hurry, what's the point of waiting for a few days? Oh——you have something in your words, do you have any news?" Fu Heng just pointed upwards with his hand, and resigned without saying anything go out. A month later, as expected, the inner court sent a letter from the court, because the governor of Zhili was vacant, and ordered Li Wei to make up for it.Governor Yue Jun of Shandong Province is temporarily in office.The governor's yamen immediately became bustling like an overturned pond, with people coming and going to pay their respects, to celebrate, to drink, and to explain official business.Li Wei had no choice but to deal with it with all his strength, but he couldn't hold on anymore, so he retreated as soon as he bowed, and asked his master to accompany him on his behalf.When Qian Duxin first arrived, he was unfamiliar with people and it was inconvenient to receive guests, so he asked for an errand to deliver official documents to various yamen. Every day, he sat in Li Wei's green cloth eight-person official sedan chair to go around the yamen in Jinan City. The scenery is comfortable. In the past half a month, I was returning from the formalities of the Minting Department in the east of the city. I passed by the gate of the inspector's office. Through the glass window, I saw a middle-aged woman wearing a white cloth, holding two children, walking all the way. cry.The woman came to the sedan chair, rushed to Lu Dangyang, knelt down on her knees with her hands up, and cried out in a mournful voice: "Master Li, Li Qingtian! You are the master of the people's women, you are wronged!" Qian Du was terrified by this sudden situation, and suddenly broke out in a cold sweat.According to the Qing system, only foreign officials, the governor, the governor, and the officials in the border region could sit in a sedan chair for eight people.He took advantage of Li Wei's transfer period to discuss the sedan chair addiction with the sedan chair house on his own initiative, which violated the system.What is even more difficult is that there was a strict edict in the second year of Yongzheng, no matter whether it is a prince, noble, civil or military official, whoever stops the sedan chair to call for grievances, they will all stop the sedan chair to receive them, "it is an eternal rule".What can I do now as a counterfeit?Sweat suddenly broke out on the tip of Qian Du's nose.While he was in a daze, the big sedan chair had already landed steadily.When Qian Du came to the fore, he calmed down and was not so gentle.He picked up the curtain of the sedan chair and walked out. Seeing the crowd gradually gathering around, he waved his hands and said, "Bring the big sedan chair back first, and I will walk back by myself." 's gone. "Sister-in-law, I'm not Li Zhitai." Seeing the sedan chair going, Qian Du put his heart down, stepped forward with a smile and put his hands on his hands, and said, "But I'm working next to Li Zhitai. Why don't you blame me if you are wronged?" Siyamen file a complaint?" The woman sobbed, "I am He Li, from Ningbo—" Before he finished speaking, Qian Du already understood in his heart that this is He Luying's wife.She must have realized that the cause of her husband's death was unknown, so she rushed to Jinan to file a complaint.Seeing more and more people gathered around, Qian Du knew that he couldn't stay, so he smiled and said: "This is not a place to talk, please follow me to Zhitai Yamen, if you can see Li Zhitai, can you say it quickly? " He Li nodded with tears in his eyes, took the two children and followed Qian Du to the side of the street, along the south wall of the Governor's Office to the Governor's Office.But he didn't lead him to the main hall, and only brought his son and mother to the study room. Then he felt relieved and said with a smile: "The place is a little rough, please wait a little longer, please sit down." Said: "I'm not here as a guest, please tell the master Li Zhitai, if he doesn't come out, I have no choice but to go out and play the drums." "Please sit down, Mrs. He." Seeing her dignified manner, neither humble nor overbearing, Qian Du became more convinced of his guess: "If I'm not wrong, you are a child of Jinan Grain Reserve's congratulatory inspection, and a person with orders , how can I let you stand and talk?" Mrs. He Li was haggard and covered in dust; she had two children, a boy and a girl.They're all about the same age, and they're all ugly with dark eyebrows.Seeing that Qian Du recognized her identity at a glance, the woman couldn't help being surprised, nodded and sat down, and asked, "How do you know? Is it an old friend of your ex-husband?" Qian Du nodded vaguely, and went out to grab a Ge Shiha whispered a few words, and Nagoshha agreed to go in.Only then did Qian Du turn back and sit down, and sighed: "I had acquaintance with He Jianjian once, and now he has passed away, which is a pity. However, as far as I know, Mr. He committed suicide. Why did Ru Ren die?" How about stopping the sedan chair and complaining?" Mrs. He Li had just sat on a cold bench in the yamen of the inspector, and when she saw Qian Du being so attentive to her, her ears were hot and her nose was sore, tears rolled down her eyes, she choked up a bit, and said, "Mr.—" Qian Du leaned over and said "I dare not, my surname is Qian." Mr. Qian guessed right, I am He Luying's first wife. She wiped away her tears and said again: "But it is wrong to say that Luying committed suicide.My husband died violently in Texas because someone poisoned him and then hanged him to death! " "what?" Qian Du was taken aback, he almost stood up with his legs stretched out, then sat back down, and said in a trembling voice, "Ruren, human life is not a trifling matter!" He Li shook his fingers to untie the bundle.There was a mess inside, there were clothes and silver, and a court dress, robes and boots, spread out on the table, pointing and saying: "This is the murder certificate, the murderer is the prefect surnamed Liu!"