The Happy Life of Small Officials in Northern Song Dynasty

After leaving the gate of the Gongyuan, I saw that Juzi was standing under the wooden pillar at the gate, looking around, as if he was waiting for someone.

Su Jin was very curious about this man. Seeing his calm demeanor, he was not in a hurry when he was about to take the exam, and he explained some questions for himself in gentle words. He had a good impression of him in his heart and wanted to make friends with him; He cupped his hands and said, "This brother invites you."

The lifter turned his head to see that it was Su Jin, and bowed his hands in return, "Hello, brother."

Su Jin smiled and said: "I take the liberty to disturb you, but I sincerely thank you for your kindness in helping each other in the examination room."

The lifter raised his eyebrows and said with a smile: "Small things are worth mentioning. It is my honor to be able to serve the people of Sushe."

Su Jin was startled and said, "You know me?"

The man said with a smile: "Who in the capital does not know Mr. Su, if Mr. Su doesn't know about grain affairs, punishing Mohist officials, and expelling Liao envoys, isn't he blind?"

Su Jin cupped his hands and said, "But Xiongtai is also from the capital? Dare I ask Xiongtai Gao's name?"

The man said with a smile, "Han Jiang is a small Zhailang from the Taimiao Temple. Although he is a small official who can't get on the stage, he is still familiar with Mr. Su."

Su Jin hurriedly said with a smile: "It turned out that he was an official in the same dynasty. Although I don't know what kind of official Zhailang is, he must be the same kind of idle job as I am. I think it's because I can't be promoted without the imperial examination. That's why I took part in the undergraduate imperial examination."

Han Jiang smiled and said: "That's not true. I am ordered by my father to participate in the Enke Entrance Examination. My father will return home this year, so he ordered me to participate in the Enke Enke..."

Su Jin smiled and said: "So that's how it is. Your father asked you to come out to honor the lintel of the Han family, and the father's honor will return to the son to replace him. The father and son will serve the Song Dynasty in succession. It's really a good story."

Han Jiang smiled and said: "I'm sorry, I just followed my father's order. Brother is the pillar of the Song Dynasty. Seeing that brother is not nervous in the past two days, he must have won the first place in the test. Let me congratulate you first. "

Su Jin waved his hand and said, "You're not the same. I thought I was the first to hand in the paper, but I didn't expect that Brother Han was earlier than me, and Xiongtai is the first one."

Han Jiang smiled and said, "We'll wait and see, Mr. Su, my carriage is here and I'm leaving. Let's talk about it another day."

Su Jin hurriedly handed him off, but when he saw a carriage approaching from the street, Han Jiang bent down and got into the carriage, waved his hands and left.

Su Jin clicked his tongue secretly. This guy seemed to have been prepared for a long time, and he called the carriage at home to pick him up at this time. It can be seen that he didn't plan to stay until tomorrow at all, but knew from the beginning that the third game would not take too long , this self-confidence is not covered.

In the carriage, the young Han Jiang thought to himself with a smile on the corner of his mouth: "I thought this famous Su Jin was just smart, witty and lucky, but now it seems that he is quite talented. I hope you are really only a high school student." Fighting, not swollen face to pretend to be fat; I handed in the paper early with confidence, but you handed in the paper early, but it is not a state of mind; but it is a compliment to say that you are the leader, and I, Han Jiang, can’t come out to take the exam. , How can we let the leader fall aside..."

……

Su Jin strolled from the Gongyuan Square to the street. Wind lamps were specially hung on the wooden pillars on both sides of the street, and the street was brightly illuminated; A small company of soldiers hurried past.

Su Jin went straight to Yan's house and Fenglou across the street. He had a vague feeling that Yan Biyun would be hanging around here for the past few days. Tomorrow was the end of the day, so there was no reason why Yan Biyun wasn't in the building.

But when I went to Hefeng Tower to inquire, the shopkeeper said that the owner was indeed here in the afternoon, but left in the evening, and it was said that there was an urgent matter at home.

Su Jin knew that he couldn't ask anything, and Yan Biyun wouldn't tell the shopkeeper too much, so he asked the shopkeeper for a carriage to take him back to Desheng Bridge; the shopkeeper didn't know Su Jin at all, but Yan Biyun explained before leaving, If someone claims to be from the Su family, he must not be negligent; therefore, even though he does not know who the young man in front of him is, he would not dare to be negligent if he asks if his surname is Su. Besides, this person paid double the fare for the car, which is even more unreasonable. He refused, and hurriedly ordered a young man to drive Su Jin back to Desheng Bridge in a carriage.

Sitting in the car, Su Jin was very puzzled after thinking about it. It's fine if Yan Biyun wasn't there, but Xiao Sui'er and Rou Niang Huan Niang had agreed to wait in Hefeng Tower in advance, and they also said that they would be in Hefeng Tower after the exam Why is there not even a single person who set up a table to welcome the wind and feast. [

When the second watch was approaching, Su Jin just returned to his house in Deshengqiao. After sending the carriage, Su Jin came to the door, but he heard a commotion inside, and he could hear Ma Han's loud voice talking about something. Look for it... turn it upside down or something.

Then a woman's voice seemed to be saying something, Su Jin felt more and more uneasy, and hurriedly knocked on the door.The inside fell silent for a while, and the small door opened after a while, revealing Wang Chao's vigilant face, and shouted in a low voice, "Who?"

Su Jin said: "Who else? Open the door!"

When Wang Chao heard that it was Su Jin's voice, he was overjoyed, and hurriedly opened the door, and at the same time shouted loudly: "My lord is back!"

Everyone in the hall was stunned for a moment, they didn't know why Su Jin came back at this time, and rushed out to welcome him.

Su Jin saw that Yan Biyun, Xiao Xian'er, the Four Great Foodies, Xiao Sui'er, and Huanniang were all present, and felt very strange, and asked, "What's the matter today? It's not August [-]th, everyone gathered together Are you looking at the moon?"

Everyone was silent and stood blankly. Su Jin frowned and said, "I handed in the test papers and came back ahead of time. I didn't even unload the test basket. What's going on?"

Zhao Hu hurriedly stepped forward to help Su Jin unload the test basket. Su Jin loosened the muscles on his shoulders and asked, "What's the matter? Everyone has a dark face. Are you unhappy when I come back?"

Everyone looked at me and I looked at you, and finally focused on Yan Biyun, Yan Biyun sighed and said: "Let's talk in the room, your son is very tired, Xian'er go make a cup of tea."

Su Jin said: "Who can tell me quickly, what happened at home? Do you want to kill me?"

Suddenly Xiao Sui'er couldn't hold back and burst into tears, whimpering and saying: "My lord, sister Rou Niang is lost!"

"What? Lost it?" Su Jin could hardly believe his ears, and the excitement of passing the exam suddenly vanished: "How can a good living person be lost?"

Huanniang said softly with red eyes: "My sister, Xiao Sui'er and I went to the Gongyuan together in the evening, and planned to stay at Sister Yan's Hefeng Building for one night and pick up the young master tomorrow, but my sister saw me on the way. The sugar-fried chestnuts on the food stand were very fragrant, so we stopped to buy some to eat; we each packed a bag, and Sui Er and I walked away, but we returned to the carriage and waited for a long time without seeing my sister When I came up and looked back, my sister seemed to have disappeared suddenly, and I could never find her again."

As Huanniang spoke, tears rolled down her cheeks.

Su Jin frowned into a pimple: "Stop the car and buy a candied chestnut and then disappear? Why does it sound a bit unreliable to me?"

Wang Chao whispered: "Master, it's all my fault that I didn't take good care of you. I should have followed them..."

Su Jin waved his hands and said, "It's none of your business. In broad daylight, who would have thought that such a thing would happen. Besides, you are busy training the brothers and sisters brought by An Dun recently, and it is impossible to follow and protect them every day."

"But...my lord, this is my negligence."

Su Jin said: "Now is not the time to blame yourself, you must find him quickly."

Wang Chao said: "I'll immediately organize people to go out to look for it again. We looked at the terrain, and it happened to be the intersection of a street and two alleys, but that alley was a dead end. I guess someone tied Rou Niang and turned over the wall of the dead end. Flee away; I was afraid that something might happen at home at night, so I hurried back to take a look, it would be best if the young master came back, let Ma Han take a few people to guard the house, Zhao Hu and Zhang Long and I will take people to continue looking."

Su Jin said: "You are right. Don't go out in a hurry. Let's find out the situation first. You all searched all night and found it. This kind of scrambling like flies will inevitably end up. Let's go into the house and let's make a good calculation. .”

As Su Jin's expression returned to calm, everyone calmed down a bit. As long as the young master doesn't panic, they won't panic too much. [

After entering the room, Su Jin ordered Xiao Sui'er and Rou Niang to tell the story of the evening again. Su Jinzai listened carefully, thinking continuously.

The three of them went out at the same time, but Shan Rou Niang disappeared, while Huan Niang and Xiao Sui Er were fine. This matter is indeed strange; and the dynasty said that there were footprints on the high wall of the dead end, so it seems a bit like kidnapping. However, it may not be to escape from the wall. It is absurd to tie a person in broad daylight and then climb over the wall to escape. Su Jin does not believe in the judgment of the dynasty.

Since the three of them went out together, they were all weak girls, and only Rou Niang was kidnapped, which made Su Jin naturally think of one thing, that is, when Liu Binhua was lured and killed, it was Rou Niang who acted as the bait. Rou Niang suddenly disappeared again. Is there any connection between the two?

If it is true that Rou Niang disappeared because of this incident, then in all likelihood it was Xia Song's hands. There is only one possibility, that is, Rou Niang showed her face in the car that day and was seen clearly by Liu Binhua's companions. That's when he was kidnapped.

But Rouniang obviously put on makeup that day, and even Su Jin felt that her appearance had changed, so how did those companions recognize her?

And even if they recognize Rouniang's face, how do they know where Rouniang is? Most of the time, Rouniang lives in secluded places. They only take part in the test these few days before they go out by car. How can others know Rouniang? He was about to go to the Gongyuan, so he took the opportunity to kidnap people on the way?

Summarizing all the questions one by one, Su Jin came to two conclusions: First, Rou Niang must have been kidnapped, and it is absolutely impossible for her to disappear out of thin air.The second is that Xia Song instigated the kidnapper in nine out of ten cases. It is very likely that there was a flaw in Rou Niang's appearance that day, which was recognized by Liu Binhua's companion, so she was kidnapped to ask for a confession.

The reason why Rou Niang was discovered by them was probably because Xia Song suspected her head, and ordered someone to keep a close watch on her family's movements, so they recognized Rou Niang and kidnapped Rou Niang when the time was right.

As soon as these two conclusions were drawn, Su Jin couldn't help sweating, this matter is troublesome!