The Happy Life of Small Officials in Northern Song Dynasty

Su Jin used to sleep late, and was playing checkers with a few maidservants. Su Jin used a small hammer to smash out small pits in a regular arrangement on the round mahogany tray, and then painted it in five colors of red, yellow, blue, white and black. , together with small glass balls dyed the same color, a set of five-star checkers is completed.

Su Jin, Rouniang Huanniang, Xiaosuier and Xiaomier are exactly five people together, and they can kill a game if they don't have anything to do. I quickly fell in love with this novelty toy.

When Master Zhao led Liu Dacheng to the Su Mansion panting, the chessboard was in a state of stalemate, and small balls of various colors were entangled in the middle area inextricably.

The housekeeper, Su Fu, knocked on the door outside the courtyard to announce. When Su Jin heard that Manager Zhao came to see him so late, it must be that something important happened, so he hurriedly called for him.

The few people settled down in the study room, and Rou Niang gently withdrew after delivering the tea, Su Jin asked: "The treasurer, Master Liu, there must be something important to say when you come so late."

Shopkeeper Zhao Dacheng looked worried, and looked at Liu Dacheng, the two suddenly left their seats and bowed down: "I am old and incompetent, I have failed the trust of the young master, please punish the young master."

Su Jin hurriedly pulled the two together and said, "What is this for? If you have something to say, talk about it."

Shopkeeper Zhao Dacheng said to Liu Dacheng: "Report to the Young Master without any concealment of what you have heard, and ask the Young Master to make a decision."

Only then did Liu Dacheng tell Su Jin everything he had seen and heard in the past few days. The more Su Jin heard it, the more frightened he became. He used to deal with Su Moran the old way to deal with himself, day and night, house thieves are hard to guard against, and there are ghosts inside, so it is too easy to use evil tricks, but fortunately, it is discovered in time, and it is not too late to make up for it.

Shopkeeper Zhao and Liu Dacheng's eyes followed Su Jin's figure pacing back and forth. Su Jin's gloomy and serious face made the atmosphere in the room a little frozen and suffocating.

Suddenly, Su Jin stopped and asked, "Does anyone know about this?"

Shopkeeper Zhao said: "Except for the three of us, no one else knows about it."

There was a slight smile on Su Jin's face, and his expression became brighter. Zhao and Liu were at a loss. Is the young master smiling back from anger?

"You did a good job in this matter. You discovered it in time and handled it properly. Not only should you not be punished, but you should also be rewarded." Su Jin laughed.

"But... Shaodong's family, Qin Dalang is a villain..." Liu Dacheng was a little uncomfortable with Su Jin's magnanimity.

Su Jin laughed loudly and said: "You don't have to put all the responsibility on yourself. According to the situation you just said, Qin Dalang was coerced into becoming an inner ghost after entering Suji, and it has nothing to do with you; moreover, Qin Dalang The people behind him have mental calculations and no intentions. Even if there is no Qin Dalang, other people will be coerced and coerced, but this Qin Dalang is a more suitable candidate. He has no relatives in Luzhou, is alone, and is poor. With a weak temper, he is exactly the person they are looking for; to put it bluntly, if such a person is exhausted, no one will ask him even if he is silenced."

"What? Will it be silenced?" Shopkeeper Zhao and Liu Dacheng cried out.

Su Jin frowned and thought: "This possibility cannot be ruled out. You said that the person who met Qin Dalang called himself Hei Qi with a scarred face. Is there such a person among the merchants in Luzhou City?"

Shopkeeper Zhao is well-informed, but after thinking hard, he said: "I don't have any impression, but this name is very familiar, very familiar, I just can't remember it for a while."

Su Jin lifted his spirits and inspired him: "Isn't it because this person was once famous on the street or something, which made you have such an impression."

Shopkeeper Zhao lowered his head, his eyebrows and beard were wrinkled together, and he looked extremely painful. Seeing that he couldn't remember, Su Jin said, "Then don't worry about who this person is..."

Before the words were finished, Shopkeeper Zhao shouted loudly: "It's him..."

Su Jin hurriedly said, "Do you remember who he is?"

Shopkeeper Zhao said suspiciously: "That's not right, five years ago, I beheaded dozens of Dashu Mountain bandits, and among them was a leader named Scarface Heiqi. We all went to see him when he was beheaded at Sanxiaokou. I saw the heads of those gangsters beheaded one by one with my own eyes, why did they appear with scars and black faces?"

Su Jin hurriedly asked: "Then did you see clearly the face of the beheaded man?"

"They all have loose hair, are dirty, and have cloth strips in their mouths, so they can't see clearly." Shopkeeper Zhao said.

Su Jin remained silent. It is very possible that this was a trick, but this matter can only be guessed. It would be a big leak if this matter was revealed. As a small businessman, I can't leak this matter without real evidence.

Judgment and execution are often two different things. There are only two ways to make the execution officer appointed by Yushitai not see any flaws when he proves his integrity.

One is to drop the bag after the body is verified, which is almost impossible, because the prisoner will only be verified when he goes to the prison before execution, and then all the way under the eyes of the prison officer, there are thousands of people along the street The eyes of the common people stared, there was no chance at all.

Then there is only one possibility, the supervisor was bought; the state government has the right to impose the death penalty, but supervision and beheading is the responsibility of the inspectors. However, the inspectors who clean up the court and supervise the execution of prisoners can be bribed, which shows that this matter is absolutely unacceptable.

"Stop this matter here, and there is no need to talk about scars and black faces, remember!" Su Jin solemnly warned.

The shopkeeper Zhao Dacheng is an old man, and he understood Su Jin's semantics after a little thought. Don't say it out loud, he doesn't want to think about it a second time; Their expressions were not as dignified as those of Su Jin and Shopkeeper Zhao.

"Young master, how should we deal with Qin Dalang's matter, please tell the young master clearly."

Su Jindao: "Don't scare the snakes. Tomorrow, you have to pretend nothing happened. Then Qin Dalang will inquire about the news again. Don't tell others. You should tell him and let him report to the other party; I will be of great use to keep him."

Zhao and Liu couldn't figure out what was going on in Su Jin's mind, and found that the inner ghost not only didn't find out, but treated him nicely, and he knew everything he wanted to know, which is strange.

"Is it true that he was allowed to pass on all the secrets of Su Ji? Didn't he fall into the trap of the other party? Who knows if the person behind the scenes has other more sinister plans?" Zhao shopkeeper said.

"Of course you can't tell him everything. Let him know some unimportant things. In short, it's better to be careful and not leave too many traces. I can't teach you about this. It's up to the two of you to handle everything yourself, but you must prevent Qin Dalang from Contact with other guys, if others don't know, he may be tricked into revealing the real secret."

"Understood, Young Master." The two responded in unison. Although they couldn't guess what kind of medicine was sold in Su Jin's gourd, their worries were swept away from Su Jin's confident demeanor.

Su Jin smiled again and said: "Master Liu handled it well this time, but later he told the clerk in the inn to shut up and pretended to be an official to handle the case. A thief, even if he hides his eyes, there will be something strange, Qin Dalang has a guilty conscience, and must be extremely sensitive to these subtleties, and he will startle the snake when he comes and goes."

Liu Dacheng said in shame: "What the Shaodong family said is that the villain is confused."

Su Jin said: "It can be remedied. Tomorrow morning, we will arrange for Qin Dalang to move out of the inn and find a private house to settle in, and tell him that Su Ji will pay his rent because of his seductive behavior. Our people are here to monitor, so that Qin Dalang's every move can be under control, and at the same time, the people in the inn won't be suspicious."

Liu Dacheng praised: "Young master's idea is great. I will do it tomorrow morning. There are many houses like this."

Su Jin picked up the teacup and took a sip, and the two left the room knowingly.

Su Jin sat in the study and thought carefully for a long time, Xiao Sui'er yawned and urged her a few times before going back to her room to sleep peacefully.