[Red Mansion] The third master of jade-like stone treasures

Zhou Qi was imprisoned and starved for several days.

He nestled in the corner, very depressed.Cloudy eyes occasionally stare at the long-locked, unkempt, half-dead prisoners next door.

Then, with difficulty, he stood up and asked the jailer for water and food.

The two jailers were drinking and eating peanuts, impatient with Zhou Qi's call.But anyway, Zhou Qi was an important prisoner, so they didn't dare to starve him to death, so they dawdled for a while, randomly found half a bowl of cold water and a cold steamed bun for him.

Zhou Qi was very hungry, and he didn't care that the steamed buns were cold, hard and unpalatable, so he ate slowly with half a bowl of cold water.

After gaining some strength, he stood up again, grabbed the cell door and called out, "Oh, I have something to say, call me Jia Baocong."

The jailer smiled at each other and ignored Zhou Qi. Zhou Qi didn't know why, so he raised his voice again: "I said, did you hear me? I have something to say to Jia Baocong, you call my servants quickly?"

"Do you hear? Are you deaf?"

"It's not deaf, it's better to have bad ears!" The jailers laughed and sneered: "Officer Zhou, do you think you're sitting in the lobby of the government office? Mr. Jia is busy, how can I see you!"

"You'd better stay here and save your energy! There are still two mouthfuls of steamed buns to eat here. When I go to the capital tomorrow morning, I won't even be able to eat steamed buns!"

Are you leaving for Beijing tomorrow?

Zhou Qi heard the clue and became even more anxious.

Regardless of the embarrassment of being ridiculed, he hurriedly said: "Call him for me, I really have something important to say to him!"

"Our two families were almost in-laws before! You pass on the word, he won't miss me!"

The jailer was even happier when he heard it. The news about Zhou's and Jia's marriage and repentance has been secretly spread among Jiangxi officials, big and small. Who doesn't know the truth behind it?

First, Zhou Qi cheated Jia Zheng through the marriage, and later, Jia's family sent the girl to marry in order to regret the marriage.Now everyone in the world knows that Princess He'an, who married mightily, is Jia Baocong's younger sister?

Zhou Qi is embarrassed to talk about this?

Chewing the peanuts and holding the wine glass, the jailer deliberately walked to the door of the cell, spit on Zhou Qi, and said cheerfully: "Your in-laws are so affectionate, Mr. Jia brought someone to raid your Zhou's house, Even sent someone to arrest you and put you in prison, why don't you tell him to arrange a good room for you for the sake of your in-laws?"

Another jailer immediately answered with a laugh: "Where did Prisoner Zhou not be taken care of? Isn't Prisoner Zhou alone in our prison? The other prisoners are all crowded together in several other cells? "

"Hahaha, that's right! The single room is already taken care of specially!"

Seeing that the jailer only made fun of him and ignored his request at all, Zhou Qi was very angry.

But he also understood that the jailer was used to seeing prisoners, and he would not get any preferential treatment at all when he was reduced to this point, but he had to work hard for his family.

After thinking about it, Zhou Qi suddenly cursed at the top of his voice: "Jia Baocong! Your Jia family is treacherous! Shameless villain!"

"The girl from the Jia family has one daughter and two marriages. Do you think your sister will have any good fruit if she becomes the princess?"

"She's just rushing to find death! Your Jia family deserves to die in vain!"

"Jia Baocong! You come out! You shameless villain!"

The prisoner yelled at the court officials, cursed Baocong's family, and even cursed Heqin Princess, is that okay?

The jailers hurriedly opened the cell door and rushed forward, punching and kicking, "Shut up! Stop cursing!"

Then she gagged Zhou Qi's mouth and tied him up by the way.

"Bad luck! It's a waste of steamed buns for him, he might as well be hungry!"

After spitting, the jailer closed the cell door again, and only Zhou Qi, who had dark eyes, a bruised nose, and a swollen face, was left staring at them on the ground.

In the middle of the night, the prison caught fire, and Zhou Qi, who was tied up, had no time to escape and was burned to death!

"What's going on? Well, how could this happen!" Feng Tang, who got up to fight the fire before dawn, was furious.

Originally, everything was ready and he would be able to leave for Beijing at dawn, but unexpectedly such a mistake happened!

Fortunately among the misfortunes, among the prisoners who were about to be escorted to Beijing, only Zhou Qi encountered an accident.

"Strange, why is Zhou Qi locked up in this prison?" Bao Cong asked suspiciously, "Shouldn't these criminals be locked up together?"

Feng Tang and Feng Ziying also found it strange, so they called the jailer in for questioning, and after questioning, they felt even more strange.

Bao Cong pointed at himself in shock: "I asked someone to lock Zhou Qi there? Why didn't I know?"

Asking Dongming, Dongming also shook his head blankly, saying that he didn't know about it at all.

Feng Tang interrogated the two guards again, and asked the guards who escorted Zhou Qi to the cell alone from the guards, and then checked the guards, but they couldn't find anyone.

Bao Cong stood on the side with peace of mind and acted as a wallflower. Anyway, everyone he brought was there, nothing went wrong, and it was none of his business...

Unexpectedly, the jailer who was interrogated over there was wronged: "We really didn't beat prisoner Zhou for no reason. It is impossible to kill him! It is even more impossible to set him on fire!"

"It's all because of Master Jia! We are venting our anger for Master Jia!"

Bao Cong was innocent, and asked: "You beating people, how does it have anything to do with me?"

The jailer then told Zhou Qi what he said about Baocong, Jia's family and Tanchun. Baocong was very angry when he heard this, and immediately scolded: "You bastard! I didn't trouble him, but he has the face Come scold my family!"

If it wasn't for Zhou Qi's death, Bao Cong felt that he would have someone beat him up too.

After scolding, he suddenly felt something was wrong, so he asked the jailer to repeat what Zhou Qi scolded, and said in confusion: "It's okay to scold me and Jia's family, how can I properly curse Princess An?"

Feng Tang and Feng Ziying also felt strange.

Feng Ziying said: "Princess He'an is appointed by the Holy Majesty, because being married is different from other princesses, no matter how angry Zhou Qi is, he shouldn't be blindsided to scold the princess and curse the princess, right?"

Could it be that it is not enough to fear that his Zhou family's house will be ransacked, and he still wants to change from Emperor Zhao to Zhu Jiu Clan?

Feng Tang felt that there was something tricky, so he asked the two guards again, and said: "You tell the cause and effect, as well as the strange things about Zhou Qi during his lifetime, and you must not hide a single word."

The two jailers faltered and said that Zhou Qi first said that he wanted to see Bao Cong.No matter how strict the interrogation was, the two guards couldn't say anything.

After ordering the two guards to be locked up, Feng Tang said to Bao Cong, "It seems that someone knew what Zhou Qi wanted to tell you, and deliberately set fire to him and killed him."

Bao Cong looked solemn, "I don't know what Zhou Qi is going to say?" Could it be related to Tanchun?

But when Tanchun goes to Xinjiang, there is a special army escort, bandits and bandits, you shouldn't have the guts to provoke them, right?

I searched and searched, but I couldn't find anything useful.After two days of delay, Feng Tang determined the case as an accidental fire, and decided to escort the other criminals to Beijing first to avoid further accidents.

But Bao Cong had doubts and wanted to avoid Feng Tang's limelight, so he took the initiative to ask Ying to stay in Jiangxi for a few days to investigate, and by the way to clean up the mess in Jiangxi's officialdom.

Feng Tang asked Bao Cong a few words, with a serious face and a happy heart, and took Feng Ziying back to Beijing first.

As soon as Feng Tang left, Bao Cong welcomed Liu Xianglian who had been refusing to show up.

"Hurry up, hurry up, I'm waiting for you to have a celebration banquet!" Liu Xianglian pulled Bao Cong and went straight to the cottage of the boss of Jiangxi Landlord Shelong.

It was thanks to these green forest heroes that the escaped prisoners were surrounded before.Bao Cong summoned them, so it's not easy to show his face at this moment, and they also saved Chen Ping.

So, let Dongming take 20 taels of silver notes as a thank you gift, and go to the celebration banquet with Liu Xianglian.

When we arrived at the cottage, we could see brightly lit lights from a long distance away, as well as the sound of rough men laughing, jingling bells and palm nuts.

As soon as Liu Xianglian entered the gate, he was surrounded by several big men, who dragged him to play Cuju, obviously they were very familiar with him.

However, because Liu Xianglian was carrying Baocong, she refused to go, and led everyone to introduce Baocong and said, "This is Brother Chen's boss, brother Jia Baocong!"

Unexpectedly, one day when he was introduced, he would also have to become "Chen Ping's so-and-so"...

Bao Cong was a little taken aback, but he quickly came to his senses, and greeted these green forest heroes with a smile.

Those big men were also a little stunned, they didn't expect Chen Ping's boss to be a thin, gentle-looking, handsome boy...with no four hands, no six legs, and no height of nine feet. .....

After staring at each other for a while, the big men led Liu Xianglian and Bao Cong into the lobby, and saw a group of people crowded around the long table in the lobby.

The one that stands out the most is Chen Ping.

Half-exposed, with gauze wrapped on the back of his head, his left foot limping on a cane, and shaking the dice cup with both hands, Chen Ping turned his back to Bao Cong and shouted at the top of his voice, "buy it!" Buy big and buy small, buy and leave! Your grandpa Chen lost a lot of money today, and everyone who came to bet will make a profit! It depends on your courage!"

A group of men around him suddenly came up one after another: "Okay! Good! Good!" "Big big!" "I'll buy small! Small!"

With a bang, the cup is opened!

Chen Ping shouted loudly again: "666! The banker takes all! Give money, give money! It's a man, don't renege!"

"Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo-" and then another: "Grandpa Chen, do it again! I don't believe it, I can't win again!"

So Chen Ping began to shake the dice cup frantically.

"This!"

Bao Cong subconsciously looked at Liu Xianglian, smiled wryly and said, "No wonder I told him not to come back, so I had a good time here..."

After half a stick of incense, Chen Ping limped down, and when he learned that Bao Cong was coming, he hurriedly leaned on his crutches, "Master, why didn't you ask me to serve you when you came?"

Bao Cong said with a half smile but not a smile: "Your grandpa Chen is still busy making money with a limp, how dare I block your way of making money?"

Thinking of his crazy appearance at the gambling table just now, Chen Ping smiled sarcastically, and explained: "Isn't this the celebration banquet today, and I only played two games with them." Then he swore to the sky: "Third Master! I Guaranteed! I didn't gamble in the mansion! I didn't go out to do errands either! I've just been idle for the past two days and played a little bit twice, and I will definitely not gamble when I return to Beijing!"

In the past, in the Rongguo Mansion, gambling was very strict, but now it is even more strict in the Lin family's other courtyard. Once found out, they will be kicked out of the mansion.

While pouring wine for Bao Cong courteously, Dong Ming gloated at Chen Ping's misfortune.

Chen Ping made a great contribution this time, and Kuang also gambled outside. Bao Cong didn't want to embarrass him too much, and was about to say something, but heard a few big men next to him bragging.

The big man said: "This time we are bragging a bit. Others charge protection fees for catching petty thieves, but we are the ones who helped the imperial court arrest criminals!"

Another big man said: "That's right! Those stinky and shameless officials in the past arrested us. They didn't expect that one day they would be caught by us and thrown into prison!"

The stinky and shameless official Bao Cong: "..."

Chen Ping quickly poured a glass of wine for Bao Cong: "Third Master, they have been guilty of drinking and can't hold back their mouths..."

Dong Ming looked indignant, and said in a low voice: "No matter how drunk you are, you can't talk about court officials like that, right?"

Bao Cong just shook his head helplessly.

Suddenly, another person said: "A few days ago, I heard the brothers from Xinjiang bragging, saying that the son of the Bogda family invited them to snatch the marriage, snatch that... the bride of the princess! Damn, I still envy you It's been days!"

"Now they have nothing to do with me! After all, snatching a marriage is a crime! We are helping the court to arrest people, and we have done a good job!"

Bao Cong, Liu Xianglian, and Chen Ping Dongming all heard something wrong with this passage.

Without waiting for Bao Cong to wink, Chen Ping hurriedly walked over on crutches, patted the man, and asked: "Then Princess He'an just married to Bogda's family? Why is his son robbing him? Could it be that he can't wait?" , want to snatch the marriage as soon as possible?"

The drunken man shook his head and said with a smile, "It's not that son, it's the eldest son of the Bogda family!"

"What eldest son?"

"That's it! Bogda Asen, the eldest son who forced his mother-in-law to death and robbed women, and was kicked out of the house by Bogda!"

"It should be almost time now, anyway, if it is done, I will give you 30 taels of silver!"

It's true!

Bao Cong and Liu Xianglian looked at each other, stood up secretly, and asked the big man in person: "The princess and relatives, there are thousands of officers and soldiers escorting the wedding team, like your cottage, there are no more than a hundred people at most, how to snatch it, isn't it sent to death?" ?”

"Do you also do this kind of life-threatening business?"

The big man laughed and said: "Where is the real robbing? I heard that Bogda Asen just asked them to make trouble, and there is no real robbing. Isn't it trivial to make trouble and break up the team? If you don't do it for nothing, if you can take advantage of it Randomly grab some property, and earn more!"

Bao Cong frowned, and hurriedly asked: "Why is that necessary? Isn't it superfluous to snatch the kiss and pay the money? Is this Bogda Asen just to humiliate his brother?"

The big man giggled, then suddenly lowered his voice, and said, "You don't know more about the affairs of the officialdom than I do? The Bandit or something is just a black name, and the ones who really helped him snatch the marriage are your own people!"

"My own?!" Bao Cong was shocked, and suddenly came to his senses.

I'm afraid that bandits robbing the bride is just a cover, and the one who made the deal with Bogda Asen is the one in the wedding team!

Tanchun is the marriage princess who was appointed by Emperor Zhao to marry Bogda Aman. If the marriage is robbed, even if it is only an hour a day, it will be a slap in the face of Emperor Zhao, and the consequences...

Could it be that this is what Zhou Qi wanted to say but didn't say?

"Sorry, we have something important to do, so let's say goodbye first!"

Bao Cong and Liu Xianglian bid farewell to Boss Long in a hurry, and took Dong Ming with them, riding their horses and galloping away without looking back.

A group of big men were still in a daze, only to hear Chen Ping grabbing a big man and screaming: "Xiao Liu, something serious happened! Get me a car!"

The big man named Xiao Liu looked bewildered, and subconsciously blurted out: "Grandpa Chen, what's wrong?"

Chen Ping shouted at the top of his voice: "Then Princess He'an is my third master's sister!"

=== 888 ===

For more than ten days in a row, Bao Cong rode fast on horseback, only resting for one or two hours a day, even with the wind and rain, lightning and thunder, and continued on his way.

As soon as we arrived in Xinjiang, when we were getting closer and closer to the wedding procession, Bao Cong became more and more anxious and frightened!

He remembered that before Tanchun got married, Lin Daiyu asked him, Tanchun is not afraid, what is he afraid of?

He is afraid, afraid of everything.

Even if he had made 1 mental preparations, he didn't want to face this possibility so soon-the person is gone, and he will never see each other again in this life.

The wind blew the veil off, and the rain slapped his stiff face.He was soaked through.

Liu Xianglian and Dongming were calling him loudly behind him, but he could only hear his own breathing.

Gotta hurry up!