Tranquility

Naturally, Tangning would not accept Mrs. Zhang's kneeling, and immediately bent down to help him up.

It's just that Mrs. Zhang didn't give in, and couldn't exert all her strength. The two competed for a long time, and finally Mrs. Zhang couldn't bear it anymore because of his age, so he softened.

Tangning helped him to sit down again, but she had already made up her mind.

The information the old man gave him was not unimportant, it not only pointed out that his mother's death was not easy, but also let him know that Concubine De Gui was not as kind as he thought.

But this favor is not enough for him to protect the offspring of a prisoner.It would be easy to save an adult, give him a sum of money, and he will take care of himself; but this is a two-year-old child, this is not a matter of a bowl of rice, it consumes a lot of energy, let alone this is a girl Tang Ning would never raise the son of an enemy.

"Old man, although I have accepted your favor, I am only a juror. How can He De protect the descendants of offenders? If it is just punished as an official slave, it is okay. At worst, I will buy it with money. If it must be exiled, I can't keep it. Besides, he is Niu Niu's son, are you not afraid that I will sell him casually?"

"You don't have to worry about this. Your Majesty is merciful. The imperial decree has stated that the crime is not as good as that of the youngest son. My Zhang family does not have many relatives, and most of them have been out of five clothes. Although I still have a cousin, it is very embarrassing. On the contrary, Tang Juren is a sensible person. Kuanhe, even if Niuniu has a grudge against you, you will never make things difficult for a child, and I can't be more assured of entrusting the child to you."

Tang Ning's eyes were full of sarcasm. Is this the kindness of a human being being bullied? Jin Yongfu is like this, and Mrs. Zhang is like this. They all think that he is kind and soft-hearted, so they push forward.

Mrs. Zhang looked at Tang Ning's face and saw that he was unmoved. He felt disappointed. Time was running out and he couldn't afford to waste his time talking. So he stretched out his trembling hands and groped around for a long time before he found a one-inch-square silver... yellow sign.

It was already dark at this time, and in the dimly lit room, the sign actually emitted a faint fluorescent light. Through the fluorescent light, Tangning could still see a lilac flower engraved on it.

Tang Ning took the brand. The material looked like jade but not jade. It should be made of fluorescent stone or something.Then just for a while, the fluorescence has dimmed and finally disappeared, and the sign has turned into an ordinary gray-black.

"This is the token I used to contact the thieves when I was in the Ding family. As long as the thieves have contacts with the Ding family, they will show some kindness when they see this card. After more than [-] years, I don't know if it is still useful. This brand will turn silvery-yellow and fluoresce when you warm it up on your body, and it will return to its original shape when it gets cold. It is a strange stone produced by a mine in the Ding family, and it cannot be faked."

Tang Ning put away the sign, and secretly lamented the cunning of Mrs. Zhang. If he hadn't insisted on not agreeing, he might not have handed over the sign. After all, the road to exile is extremely dangerous, and having this sign will give you a lot of security. In order to keep his great-grandson, the old man of the Zhang family gave up his whole family.

It might be of great use to him if he kept it, or it could be used as evidence at a critical moment, or it might save his life when he encounters bandits someday, that's anyone's guess.

Now that he has benefited, the old man can only agree to his request.

So, when Tangning returned to Tang's house in the dark, there was a sleeping child lying on her shoulder.

Too many things happened today, Tangning really wanted to clear her mind, but he felt very uncomfortable holding the enemy's child in his arms. It was impossible for him to take care of the child himself. Although he didn't know why the Zhang family fell, but with him It should have something to do with it, but the Zhang family probably didn't know the reason. He wasn't worried that the child would get bloody revenge when he grew up, but he didn't want to put the enemy's child under his nose either.

It's even more impossible to sell, he's not that beastly yet.However, it is not easy to find a family to adopt. Unless it is a single-family extinct commoner, otherwise, according to the importance the ancients place on blood, they would rather adopt a child from the family.

Tangning was thinking wildly and arrived in front of Tang's house. He sighed and had to search slowly. He didn't believe that there was no such thing as an extinct family in Cangping County.

Tangning came back in a hurry. She didn't go back to the town to see Mr. Cheng and the others. She just saw them come to pay respects at Carpenter Tang's funeral and said a few words in a hurry. Originally, Dr. Lu wanted to leave some people for him to serve him, but Tangning declined , his father was exhausted, how could he have the face to order his servants, besides, keeping filial piety is not a blessing.Therefore, he only packed up a wing room in the original house to live in. He was the only one living in the whole house, which was very cold and lonely.

However, when Tangning walked around the front yard, he saw a warm yellow light shining from the side room. He was a little dazed, and it took him a while to realize that it was Xie Baiyun who was waiting for him.

The nerves that had been tense for a whole day finally relaxed. He carried the child and stepped into the door, and sure enough, he saw Xie Baiyun reading a letter by the light.

Seeing Tangning come in, Xie Baiyun put away the letter, saw the child, and asked, "Is this your son?"

Tangning frowned and said, "No, it's the Zhang family's great-grandson. I promise Mr. Zhang will find him a family."

Then he hides the part about the Ding family, and only says that Mr. Zhang met bandits when he was young, and now he has given him a sign as a token, and he can ask bandits for help if necessary. In exchange, he has to find a home for his great-grandson .

Xie Baiyun finally took a look at the jade card, and said with a solemn expression: "This card must be kept well, and it must not be seen by others. If you accidentally let people who shouldn't see it, it will be a curse. Baby, most of the bandits on the north-south road recognize this brand, so you don’t need it now, so it’s better to put it away.”

Xie Baiyun handed the things to Tangning, watched him put the child on the bed, and frowned, "Have you figured out how to arrange this child?"

Sitting on the edge of the bed, Tangning was also a little worried, "I want to find someone who has no children and doesn't want to adopt from the clan."

Xie Baiyun always kept his children at arm's length. He didn't even get close to his own son, let alone Tangning's enemy's son.

So he said without thinking: "It's hard to find this kind of person, why don't I send him to Xiangguo Temple, it would be very good to be a little monk knocking wooden fish. The monks in Xiangguo Temple are very kind, and the little monk lives very freely .”

Tangning glared at him, "How can a child be a monk? Besides, monks live in poverty. He has been a vegetarian since he was a child. How can he bear it?"

Xie Baiyun didn't think so. Xiangguo Temple is a royal temple. I don't know how many people want to go in. However, he didn't want to argue with Tangning because of irrelevant children, so he changed the subject and said,

"Do you know what happened to the Zhang family?"

Tangning was also puzzled, Mr. Zhang didn't mention what happened to his family just now, so he ignored the child, sat up straight, and cast a puzzled look at Xie Baiyun.

Xie Baiyun enjoyed every look Tangning looked at him. He was in a good mood at this moment. He took a sip of the cold water on the table and said slowly:

"It's thanks to you. If you hadn't ordered the prison chief to take care of Jin Yongfu, it would not have been so easy for him to meet Mr. Lin. The main reason he sought Mr. Lin was because he suddenly remembered his bank note. He is also a cunning Yes, at the beginning he didn't know whether the test questions given to him by the person who sold the test questions were true or not, but he guessed that the person who sold the test questions must not be able to read. He asked the test questions to sell, so when he gave the bank ticket, he gave the bank ticket for fixed deposit and withdrawal, and the bank ticket can only be withdrawn in the twelfth lunar month.”

Tang Ning realized in a flash that Jin Yongfu was really clever. In Dazhao, the bank business was getting more and more mature, and several types of bank notes were issued. These bank notes for regular deposit and withdrawal are similar to the modern day of death.In this way, if the test questions are true, the person can naturally withdraw the money in the twelfth lunar month; if it is false, after he comes out of the examination room, he can notify the bank to invalidate the bank note.

That pawn couldn't read, at most he could understand numbers, to see if the banknotes were genuine or not, but he couldn't recognize the word "regular" marked on the corner of the banknotes.As for an official of the sixth grade, the annual salary is only a hundred taels, and 2000 taels is not a small number. Since the person who sells the test questions sells money, he will definitely not destroy the bank notes, and will definitely keep them until the time comes. .

Xie Baiyun continued: "At first, Jin Yongfu didn't plan to say it. After all, there are banks all over the country, and he can't tell every bank. If the seller goes to a bank in a remote place to withdraw money, he will be arrested again Not anymore. But in the end, I was unwilling, so after much deliberation, I told Mr. Lin that he didn't know the person who sold the question, but we have doubts.

So I sent my men to Zhang Dehuai's house to search for one, and sure enough, I found Jin Yongfu's bank note. The Jin family has developed rapidly since Jin Yongfu was a scholar, and now it can be regarded as a big merchant. The ticket is very recognizable.

However, Zhang Dehuai was an official ordered by the court after all, so it was impossible to search his mansion at will without conclusive evidence.So we split the golden lock into two and reported it on the charge of stopping his wife and remarrying. We asked the government to search the golden lock, and by the way, we found a large amount of banknotes. Well, of course we added a lot to it.

Zhang Dehuai is a sixth-rank official in the Ministry of Household Affairs, how much money can he have, so the large bank notes copied from his house have to be reminiscent of money embezzled from the state treasury.

The case was transferred to Dali Temple for trial, and the rest of the matter was a matter of course. Jin Yongfu came out and identified the bank note, and the evidence was conclusive.But I don't know who leaked the news, and those who got Gao Pu's questions also pointed out that Zhang Dehuai sold the test questions. It seems that Gao Pu lost his car to protect his handsome man, and Zhang Dehuai took the blame.

This case is not big, but it is not small. The buying and selling of test questions is of a bad nature. Zhang Dehuai will definitely not survive. However, this time he was extra merciful and left a bloodline for the Zhang family. "

Xie Baiyun said it lightly, but Tangning was terrified when he heard it. Even if the Zhang family had a grudge against him, he still had to say that the imperial power was too terrifying, and a single imperial decree would ruin the family.It seems that even being an official is not absolutely safe, on the contrary, you should be more careful, otherwise you will be doomed.

"Then how will Jin Yongfu be sentenced for these fraudulent behaviors?" Tangning was a little worried. Although Jin Yongfu couldn't forgive him, the crime could not be punished with death. He didn't want Jin Yongfu to lose his life because of this.

"Others were expelled from their merits and exiled into the army. However, Jin Yongfu reported his meritorious service and was exempted from exile. The chief examiner and the deputy examiners were all executed as marquises, and their family members were exiled into the army."

Tangning breathed a sigh of relief, and was in the mood to think about the case.

"Zhang Dehuai sold test questions to Jin Yongfu. It is estimated that Jin Yongfu will come to me to answer the questions, and then report him for cheating after the test, and I will be an accomplice. It's just that this idea is too crude. What kind of crime is cheating in the imperial examination? If the student didn't make a fuss on the day when the results were announced, then when he reported it, he might pull out the carrot and bring out the mud. Those students who took the test papers for their connections would be exposed if they couldn't keep it. Zhang Dehuai poked the basket, and Gao Pu would release past him?"

Xie Baiyun snorted softly, "It's not because of his wife and his niece and daughter-in-law. 2000 taels is not a small amount for the Zhang family. Back then, Mrs. Zhang's mother-in-law and daughter-in-law were very distressed when they spent 2000 taels to redeem Niuniu. His niece and daughter-in-law are Mrs. Zhang The niece of her natal family is not only jealous but also stupid and bold, so she came up with such a bad idea, and urged Mrs. Zhang to use the excuse of her natal nephew to take the exam to let Zhang Dehuai get the test questions. Marrying a wife and a virtuous one is also Zhang Dehuai's retribution for stopping his wife and remarrying."

As soon as the words fell, the child on the bed woke up, groaned twice, rubbed his eyes with his hands, half-opened his eyes and shouted hungry, then rolled on the bed and cried, and after crying twice, he saw that the nanny hadn't brought food yet , cried even harder.

Originally, this child was loved by thousands of people at home, and he had never been hungry, but he hadn't eaten since the Zhang family's accident today, so he would be very hungry, and the world would not be turned upside down.

Tangning started to have a headache. The house wasn't in business at all. Except for this wing room, the other places were not cleaned up. Now that the children were making a fuss, he remembered that he didn't have dinner. It's just that he usually eats with the big brother next door. It's getting dark now, the elder brother and sister-in-law should have gone to bed early, so why bother others.

A quarter of an hour later, there were three more people in Tang Mu's house next door, so Tang Ning had the audacity to eat.

Fortunately, the sister-in-law was careful, guessing that he hadn't eaten, so he left some rations, and after heating them up, the three of them could eat half full if they shared them.

It's just that the little great-grandson of the Zhang family is usually too spoiled, and the Tang family is in the hot filial piety period, and the food is all ordinary people's vegetarian dishes. Then a commotion broke out, and the house was in chaos.

It wasn't until the sister-in-law finished feeding the youngest son, and the child desperately leaned against the sister-in-law's chest, that everyone suddenly realized that the baby bump of the Zhang family hadn't been weaned yet.

Seeing the child pampering his sister-in-law begging for nothing, Tangning couldn't laugh or cry, so she had to leave the child with her sister-in-law. After all, he had nowhere to sleep for him.

And Xie Baiyun originally hated this poor kid very much, but now he is secretly happy.

In this way, he can share the same bed with Tangning tonight.