Huaxi Chronicle

The treasure box left the study room, went back to the room and changed into ordinary clothes, searched around, but did not find Yuzhu, so went directly to the kitchen.

In the kitchen, Yuzhu was explaining today's dinner to Cook Li. When she saw the treasure box, she smiled, walked up to her, and said, "Why did you come to the kitchen? But the third lady is looking for me?"

The treasure box said with a blank expression: "It's not that the third lady is looking for you, it's because I did something wrong, and the third lady punished me to come to the kitchen to burn fire and do miscellaneous work."

Yuzhu was surprised and said, "Third Lady, why..."

Bao He stretched out his hand to grab Yuzhu, and tapped her arm twice with his index finger.Yuzhu immediately understood, and hurriedly changed his tone: "It must be because you didn't explain well, and San Niangzi misunderstood. You just don't talk too much."

After saying that, he sighed in a vague way, grabbed the wrist of the treasure box with his backhand, and walked to Li Li's side.

Li Chef in front of the stove, although she was busy with the work in hand, her ears had already been pricked up, listening to the movement of the two people, she saw them coming from the corner of her eye, she straightened her body, her eyes were on her nose, her nose was on her heart, she was picking her hands dishes in.

Yuzhu pulled the treasure box to Chef Li's side, and introduced to her with a smile: "Sister Li, this is the treasure box that I served next to the third lady with me. It offended the third lady and was fined to come to this house to set fire to it." Miscellaneous. Let her help you here for a few days, and if you have something to do, ask her to do it, she is very strong!"

The kitchen is in the West Garden, and Cook Li stays in the kitchen all day, and even Yan Cong'an has only seen Yan Cong'an from a distance twice, so how do you know who is serving Yan Cong'an in front of him.These days, Yuzhu has always come to talk to her, and she has never seen the treasure box, and only thinks that the treasure box is an ordinary maid.

Hearing that the treasure box was punished to work in the kitchen, Cook Li couldn't help muttering in her heart: This lady of a big family is really hard to serve, and she will punish her if she is unhappy.Fortunately, I am the cook of this group, and I am far away from the Emperor Tiangao, the third wife of Yan, so I won't easily offend her, and maybe I will accidentally lose my job.

It doesn't matter if you lose this cook's job, but if you lose your private money-making job, you will suffer a big loss.Thinking of this, she couldn't help feeling a little sympathetic to the treasure box, and she worked more carefully with the work she was doing.

Bao He worked with Cook Li in the kitchen for two days, and Cook Li was very satisfied with her.She saw that the face of the treasure box was cold and clear, and she spoke very little, but she was quick in her hands and feet when she worked.He is also diligent, helping her to do a lot of things without her saying much.

On weekdays, there is only Li cook in this room, busy with eating up and down the villa.With the help of the treasure box in the past few days, she has indeed relaxed a lot.

When the two were free, Cook Li asked about the family affairs of the treasure box. Knowing that she had come out to work to support her younger siblings when she was in her teens, she felt that her background was pitiful, and she let go of her guard a lot.

On this day, the rice in the kitchen ran out, so Cook Li took the treasure box to the warehouse in Xiyuan to get rice.

The warehouse in the West Garden was in the northeast corner of the garden, and the two of them walked to the door of the warehouse within less than half an hour.

Standing outside the side room on one side of the barn is a young man, dressed in coarse cloth and short brown, with a bunch of keys hanging on his waist, he is the gatekeeper of the barn.

When the young servant saw Cook Li, his face was overjoyed, he hurriedly stepped forward to greet him with a smile and said, "Why did you come here today, did you come to see me or fetch something?"

As the boy was talking, he stretched out his hand and wanted to pull Cook's wife Li's wrist.

Chef Li dodged back a little, but she didn't let him succeed. She first glanced at the treasure box behind her, and then glanced at him: "What are you doing, didn't you see that there is someone behind me?"

The young man glanced at the treasure box behind her, but he didn't care, he still smiled and said: "You and I are both unmarried, we are in love with each other, and it's not a secret affair, why do you want to avoid people?"

Chef Li patted him, and said angrily: "There is no one to keep the door open. I ran out of rice in the kitchen, so I brought someone to fetch it. Open the door for me."

The boy took her by the hand and walked into the side room, picked up a book from the table in the middle of the room, spread it out on the table, and said to Cook Li with a smile: "It's hard to come here, and I won't talk to you about it." Speaking of which, we haven't seen each other for three or four days, and you don't even miss me?"

After saying this, the boy pointed to the notebook on the table and said, "Draw a bet here."

Chef Li's face was full of spring, she glanced at the treasure box outside the house, lowered her voice and said, "I think about it, I haven't seen you for a few days, I miss you to death, okay?"

The boy smiled and said, "That's about the same."

As he spoke, he took out a silver hairpin from his bosom and handed it to the cook: "I bought it in the county with the steward the day before yesterday. Do you like it?"

Chef Li took the hairpin with a smile, looked at it carefully, put it in her arms carefully, and said with a coquettish smile, "If you are free in the evening, you can go to my place, it's convenient for me today."

Hearing this, the young servant beamed with joy, and hurriedly replied: "It's all right, it's all right even if the sky falls tonight."

After Cook Li finished printing her fingerprints, the boy happily put away the notebook, walked out of the side door and took out the key at his waist.Opening the door of one of the warehouses, he said to the two of them, "I just harvested new rice the day before yesterday, and it was placed at the bottom of the wall on the south side. You can find it there."

Stepping into the warehouse door, the treasure box looked around, only to see that there were no other sundries in the warehouse except the rice bags piled up on the south wall.

The boy stretched out his hand to hold Cook Li, and said to her: "Just let her get it, I have something to tell you." Then he took Cook Li's hand and walked out of the warehouse.

Seeing that she was about to be dragged away by him, Cook Li hurriedly turned around and said to the treasure box, "Go to the wall and grab a bag at will."

The treasure box walked up to the south wall, and most of the rice bags were randomly piled up against the wall.She looked it over carefully, found something unusual, stomped her foot lightly, and the ground under her feet shook.

Bao He raised his leg and pushed the rice bag at his feet to the side, revealing an open space under his feet.The ground here is not flat, and there is a crack in the sand on the ground.Seeing this, the treasure box understood, and returned the rice bag that had been pushed away to its original position, grabbed the bag of rice on it, and left the warehouse.

When she walked out of the storeroom, the cook Li and the servant were still talking outside the door, seeing her coming out, cook Li patted the servant's hand and said: "I'll talk to you about that later."

Seeing that she was about to leave, the boy hurriedly pulled her wrist again, and said to her, "Now your younger brother's house has been built and you have something to do, and your family has no burden. In two days, I want my mother to find you I hired a matchmaker to go to your house to say goodbye, what do you think?"

Chef Li blushed and said angrily, "Why are you in such a hurry? Didn't you agree to bring up this matter in the spring of next year?" As she spoke, she hurriedly broke away from his hand, "Today I'll start gone."

After finishing speaking, he took the treasure box and went back to the kitchen without looking back.

The next day.

Lanxi Villa, study room.

The treasure box stood by the table, and Yan Cong'an, who was drinking tea with him, said: "I sneaked into the warehouse last night, and there really is a cellar in the warehouse, and the cellar is full of sea salt. The salt is the same as that found in the black girl's house." .”

Although Yan Cong'an had guessed that someone in the villa had hidden sea salt, he was still a little surprised when it was confirmed.According to the treasure box, the amount of salt stored in the cellar is not small.How could Guanshi Qian not know about such a large amount of sea salt being transported into the villa?

Less than a month after coming to the villa, he discovered that the money manager was not only greedy for money, but also so bold as to sell private salt.Yan Cong'an was very dissatisfied. The villa that his parents took care of carefully during their lifetime was now turned into a mess by these villains.

She said to the treasure box with a cold face: "You go back to Yan's house today, bring the remaining guards to the villa, and find someone to bring a letter to Chu Wuge, and let her come to the villa some time."

The treasure box responded and went out to leave.

Xun Feibai saw that her expression was uneasy, so he sat beside her, took her into his arms, and comforted him, "Don't let your body get ruined because of their anger."

Leaning on her shoulder, Yan Cong'an said wearily, "It's also my fault that I haven't been in Huaxi County for a long time, and let them take advantage of it. I just don't want to see this villa become like this, don't worry about Fei Bai."

Xun Feibai said softly: "I can't blame you for this matter, just blame these people for disregarding the law and lack of greed." She thought for a while, and then said: "But Cong'an wants to send them to the government directly after they are captured?"

Yan Cong'an thought for a while and said: "Selling private salt is a felony, not to mention that this happened in Lanxi Villa. If you report to the officials rashly, the villa will definitely be involved. This matter will have to be discussed carefully with Chu Wuge when he comes. Make a decision on the countermeasures.”

The two sat quietly for a while, Yan Cong'an remembered something, and asked aloud, "Does Fei Bai still remember that Gou Erlang?"

Xun Feibai asked suspiciously: "Gou Erlang?"

Yan Cong'an said in a deep voice, "Exactly. Does Fei Bai still remember what evil things Gou Erlang did?"

Xun Feibai thought for a while, and said, "Abducting young children, luring good women into prostitution?"

Yan Cong'an asked: "Then do you still remember who he sold those young children to?"

Cui Jiaze mentioned this to her the day he came to the villa, although Gou Erlang didn't admit it, he guessed that Gou Erlang probably sold those young children to the children of rich families in the city for fun.

Thinking of this, Xun Feibai suddenly realized: "Cong'an means that Gou Erlang is not only doing pimp business with big households in the city, but also selling private salt to them."

Yan Cong'an replied: "At first, I couldn't understand why Gou Erlang was silenced in prison. If it was because he participated in the private sale of sea salt, it would make sense."

Xun Feibai said in amazement: "But that Qian Guanshi is Gou Erlang's uncle, how could he be so disregarded by blood relatives, and kill him so painfully?"

Yan Cong'an explained: "Selling sea salt privately, from drying to transporting, and finally selling, the person who handles it in the middle, how can it be possible that Qian Guanshi can do it alone, there must be other people involved, let Gou Erlang die The person should be someone else."

Originally, Xun Feibai felt that Gou Erlang's incident was extremely complicated, but he never thought that there were other evil things related to him.She recalled the account book, and said clearly: "So, I know that there is nothing wrong with the other account books in the village. It turns out that Guanshi Qian has another way to get money."

These things before and after are connected in one place, but this is the only reason that makes sense.That Qian Guanshi not only greedy for money to build dams and embankments, but also store and sell private salt through the villa, really lack of support.

Xun Xibai glanced sideways out of the window, the sky was clear and blue, and the sky was bright and sunny.

She patted Yan Cong'an's hand and said, "I think it's almost time. The long table banquet in the village is about to start. Let's go out after making some preparations."

Peach Blossom Village.

The long-table banquet in the village is placed in the open space near the village’s home. Now that the autumn harvest has been completed, the rice of each family has been dried. Tables and chairs in various colors.

There are five or six adobe stoves on the east side of the open space. In the iron pot on the stove, there is white mist and fragrance.Some gluttonous children stood by early on, eagerly looking at the food in the pot, neither daring to reach for it nor leaving.

This year is quite good, the weather is good, the grains are ripe, and the family is full.The villagers were all beaming, and gathered in groups of three or four to chat.

Because of Gou Erlang's incident, most people in the village recognized Xun Feibai and Yan Cong'an, and along the way, people frequently greeted them.

When Lu Cun saw the two of them, he hurriedly came forward to greet them with a smile: "Miss Yan San, Fei Bai, you are here, come and sit here!"

He led the two of them to sit at the main seat, and shouted to the crowd at the side: "Everyone is here, let's start the table and serve!"

During the dinner, someone occasionally came to toast with the two of them, and Xun Feibai smiled back.

The rice wine was mellow and sweet, but not intoxicating. She couldn't help but drank a few more glasses, and after a while, her face flushed.

Seeing this, Yan Cong'an hurriedly ordered more dishes for her and asked her to drink less.

Xun Fei responded with a white smile, and hurriedly lowered his head to concentrate on eating, and he didn't want to drink any more.

After drinking for three rounds, everyone's faces were a little drunk.Seeing that it was getting late, Xun Feibai pulled Yan Cong'an and wanted to get up and say goodbye to Lu Cunzheng and go home.

At this time, a person came beside him, it was the Orion a few days ago.Orion seemed to have had too much wine, and his cheeks were flushed. Holding the wine bowl, he walked up to the two and said to Xun Feibai, "Thank you for your help that day, Mrs. Xun and Mrs. Yan. Cao Jiu respects you!"

Xun Feibai saw how heroic he was, and stretched out his hand to stop him: "Brother Cao, you don't have to be so polite."

Cao Jiu didn't listen to her advice, he raised his hand and drank the wine in one gulp. When the wine was finished, he opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by a man next to him.

The man's face was hot, and he couldn't help but dragged him out: "Cao Jiu, why are you hiding here, everyone is waiting for you, come here quickly!"

Cao Jiu refused and said, "Wait a moment, I have something to talk to Mrs. Yan San and the others."

The man Zui Xunxun said: "I know you want to thank the two of them. Now that you have nothing left, how can you have any sincerity? Go up the mountain tomorrow to hunt some game, and then come to the door to thank them in person, that would be decent!"

When Xun Feibai heard the words, he quickly waved his hands: "Don't do that! It was all done smoothly that day, everyone contributed their efforts, and I am the only one who deserves the credit."

Seeing this, Cao Jiu glanced around. There was a lot of voices, and it was indeed not a place for conversation.He swallowed back what he wanted to say, and after saying goodbye to the two of them, he followed the man to the next wine table.

Seeing Cao Jiu walking away, Xun Feibai and the two didn't stay any longer. After saying goodbye to Lu Cunzheng, they got up and walked towards the villa.