good season

Chapter 113 Cui Rong (two chapters in one)

Jiang Han understood that this matter had nothing to do with his second young lady, but that the chef Zhang and his wife were most likely a pair of thieves.

Jiang Han didn't want to embarrass the child, so he put away the three notices and was about to leave.

But the little boy called him: "Can you leave one for me?"

Jiang Han was startled, but heard the little boy continue: "My mother is up there."

Anyway, the three notices were the same, so it didn't matter if there was one more or one less. Jiang Han took out one and gave it back to the little boy, then turned around and walked out.

A few days later, Zhao Shiqing and his party entered Liangdi. Zhao Shiqing borrowed Zhen Wuduo's guards and delivered the letter she had written on the road to Wang Ling.

My eldest brother is the lord of Liangdi, so there are some things that need to be informed in advance.

Then, she took her team, together with Cui Sanshao and Zhen Wuduo, to Fuyun County.

When they were halfway through the journey, the guard who delivered the letter caught up with them and brought Zhao Tinghan's reply.

There were only a few short words on the letter: Got it, go home early.

Zhao Shiqing felt warm in her heart. Going home, these two words were really good, even though the Liang Palace was no longer her home.
Cui Rong, you are an official who loves the people like your own children, but you even hurt your own son. People like you are not worthy of being an official.

This girl has brought your son with her to take you in!

Fuyun County is administratively under the jurisdiction of Changwei Prefecture, which is named after Changwei Lake. It has a unique geography and is the place with the most water areas in the entire Liangdi.

Changweizhou is under the jurisdiction of Yuncheng Prefecture.

Although Fuyun County belongs to Changwei Prefecture, it is far away from Changwei Lake and is surrounded by mountains on three sides. Murong Linlang's hometown is located in Banshan Village not far from Fuyun City.

A major case occurred in Fuyun County a few years ago, making this small county notorious.

There was a wealthy businessman named Wang in Fuyun County. He was a horse dealer in his early years and made his fortune by selling horses. Later, the management of horses in the Yong Dynasty became increasingly strict, and the horse trading business could no longer be continued, so he returned to Fuyun County.

Not long after, Mr. Wang opened the largest brothel in Fuyun County. How big is this brothel? People who have been to Liangdu said that the scale of this brothel is not inferior to Liangdu.

Not only was the brothel large, but the prostitutes were all extremely beautiful and talented. It is conceivable that the small Fuyun County could not afford such a large brothel.

A month later, another big gambling house opened in Fuyun County. Then, guests from Changweizhou and other places came to Fuyun County one after another. One reason was to look for beautiful women, and the other was to gamble forever.

The increase in the number of guests from other places has also boosted other industries, such as inns, restaurants, pawnshops, etc.

For the next five years, Fuyun County became a famous den of brothel in Liangdi.

Until one day, the procession of the old King Liang (Zhao Shiqing's adoptive father) passed through the street of Liangdu, and suddenly a middle-aged man rushed out from the side, stopped the sedan chair and cried out for justice, thus revealing the darkness behind the prosperity of Fuyun County.

During these five years, Mr. Wang forced women of good families into prostitution, colluded with officials and businessmen, robbed and killed people to silence them.

Old King Liang ordered a thorough investigation and eventually found out that the prefect Chang Wei, the magistrate Fu Yun, and officials in the Yuncheng government office, a total of ten people, all held shares in Mr. Wang's business.

Only 30% of the money earned by Mr. Wang belonged to him, and the rest belonged to these people.

This case lasted a whole year from the time the people stopped the sedan chair to protest their injustice to the time the case was finally settled.

Although there were only ten officials who held shares, there were dozens of officials involved in the case, and Chang Weizhou and Fuyun County were completely wiped out, and the Yuncheng prefectural government was also greatly affected.

Cui Sanshao's father, Cui Rong, was the second county magistrate transferred to Fuyun after this case occurred.

The one Zhao Shiqing met in Fuyun that year was the first one. He was transferred away after only one year, and was succeeded by Cui Rong.

Although there was a term in between, the one who came was mainly to deal with the aftermath of the previous case. After that, he was transferred away.

Therefore, when Cui Rong took over, the government office was not completely in order, and Fuyun was still a mess, because the big brothels and gambling houses were uprooted, and the shops that relied on them for survival were also closed down. The originally prosperous county was now in a state of depression.

If there was a better choice, Cui Rong would not come to Fuyun, and then, he had no choice.

When Cui Rong was the magistrate of Lang County, an earthquake occurred in Lang County. As a result of the earthquake, nearly a hundred people were killed or injured, and countless houses collapsed. Not only did Cui Rong fail to provide disaster relief in the first time, but he also did not fulfill his due responsibilities in resettling the victims. If he had not spent a lot of money, even if he was not punished, he would have lost his official position.

Therefore, he sat on the bench for a year, spent a lot of money, and finally came to Fuyun County.

But things did not go smoothly after he arrived in Fuyun County. After he had finally adapted to the situation, he was fined a whole year's salary because of a case.

This case is actually very simple, it is a case of uncle and uncle misappropriating property.

The father died, leaving behind a widowed mother and two children. The son was only eight years old at the time, but the elder sister was very capable. She started doing business at the age of fifteen. She not only developed the one shop left by their father into three shops, but also built a big house.

For the sake of her parents' family, my sister didn't get married until she was 25 years old.

The mother and brother didn't want their sister to suffer any injustice, so they gave one of the shops to her as a dowry.

Because the younger brother only wanted to take the imperial examination and had no interest in business, the mother and son discussed and decided to let the older sister continue to manage the remaining business of the family. In other words, the younger brother would only need to study, and 70% of the annual income from the remaining two shops would belong to them.

Regarding this matter, my sister is satisfied, my mother is satisfied, my brother is satisfied, and my sister's in-laws are also satisfied.

However, my uncle and uncle were not satisfied.

Using their status as elders, they did not allow the sister to receive such a large dowry, nor did they allow the married woman to continue to manage the family business.

Although my younger brother has no interest in business, he still has cousins. If all else fails, my uncle and aunt can manage the shop for him. It is not the turn of a married girl to take care of her parents' affairs.

Finally, the matter was brought to court.

Cui Rong made the following judgment: two choices: first, if the elder sister still wanted to manage her mother's shop, she could stay in her mother's home as a grandmother (because there were males in the family, they could not marry into the family), and her nephew would take care of her in her old age and see her to the end of her life after a hundred years.

Second, the shop can be given to my sister as a dowry, but she has no right to manage her mother's shop. Since her younger brother doesn't want to do business, then she can leave it to her uncle and aunt.

My younger brother was a scholar and had already become a student at that time. After the case was decided, my younger brother went to find his classmate without saying a word.

This classmate of his had a cousin who worked as an aide to the newly appointed prefect of Yuncheng.

So the matter reached the ears of the prefect at a speed that Cui Rong could not have imagined.

It was originally a dispute over family property. An official from the government office happened to be passing by Fuyun on his way to work, so the prefect asked him to take a look. Coincidentally, when the official went there, he saw the widow of the family kneeling in front of the government office with her hair disheveled. She said that the uncles in the family bullied them, an orphan and a widow, and that the magistrate not only did not stand up for the people, but also forced her daughter to break off the engagement, so she didn't want to live anymore and wanted to die here.

Although the widowed mother was later forcibly sent back home, the matter was reported to the prefect through this official.

The prefect was furious. You have to know that Fuyun had just been involved in a major case of collusion between officials and businessmen, and the public anger had not yet subsided. Now Cui Rong had caused another incident. If the widowed mother really died in front of the yamen, not to mention Cui Rong, he, the prefect, would also be implicated.

The prefect called the prefect Chang Wei over and gave him a scolding. The prefect felt wronged because he knew nothing and was still the first to be scolded.

He called Cui Rong over again and scolded and threatened him, but in the end he told him that the family had been separated for many years and that there were boys in the family. His younger brother was already eighteen years old and was the head of the family, so he was the one who made the decisions on family affairs.

So the elder sister got married smoothly with her dowry, and continued to manage her mother's shop after marriage. Her widowed mother and younger brother had no worries about food and clothing, and her younger brother devoted himself to reading his books of sages.

Cui Rong also left a bad impression on the prefect and was fined one year's salary.

There was negligence in earthquake disaster relief in the beginning, and there was unfair judgment in the end. These two things made Cui Rong’s career as a county magistrate the same for more than ten years.

Zhao Shiqing didn't know about these things at first, and although Young Master Cui knew a little, it was only a little.

Before this, he even thought that his father was deliberately ostracized and slandered because he was too outstanding. Yes, this is what the Cui family themselves said.

As soon as Zhao Shiqing arrived in Fuyun, he went to the Murong family. His master Murong Xiang and his wife were out traveling and were not at home, so they were received by the second master of the Murong family, Murong Li.

Murong Li used to be a general in the Imperial Guard, but later he had to retire due to severe rheumatism.

When Zhao Shiqing asked about County Magistrate Cui Rong, Murong Li immediately asked someone to inquire, and in less than two hours, he had found out everything clearly.

Young Master Cui was so ashamed that he wanted to find a hole to hide in. Unless he went to Liangdi, he would never believe it even if he was beaten to death. His father was not only not a good father, but also not a good official.

Zhao Shiqing didn't try to persuade him. There was nothing to persuade him.

However, what Zhao Shiqing found even more interesting was that no one in Fuyun County knew that Aunt Wang was a concubine. Even Murong Li thought that Cui Rong had brought his wife with him when he took office.

Young Master Cui clenched his fists in anger. If Cui Rong took the initiative to tell others that Wang was just his concubine, then how could outsiders mistake his concubine for his wife?

So everything was caused by Cui Rong.

Yes, if there is no favoritism towards concubines and killing wives, how can there be killing the legitimate wife and praising the illegitimate child?
"I'm going to sue him. I'm going to file a complaint in Liangdu!"

Although officials in Liang were appointed by the Ministry of Personnel, if the King of Liang wanted to dismiss someone, he could execute him first and report to the Ministry later. It was just a matter of sending an official document to the Ministry of Personnel afterwards.

In other words, after these officials arrived in Liang, although they still had to manage the capital, they had to obey the leadership of the King of Liang.

Therefore, Mr. Cui went to Liangdu to file a complaint.

He seemed to have thought of something and looked at Zhao Shiqing: "Second Miss, you are from Liangdi, you must be very familiar with Liangdu, you must know where to complain, right?"

Zhao Shiqing shook her head: "I'm not familiar with him, I don't know."

She looked at Shen Guanyue, then at Niu Qiu, and they both shook their heads. Yes, it seemed that they had indeed not mentioned Zhao Shiqing's true identity in front of Master Cui.

So this silly child still doesn’t know that this second young lady is actually the second young lady of Prince Liang’s Mansion.

Zhao Shiqing: "Was Cui Rong guilty of treason, high treason or rebellion?"

Cui Sanshao shook his head, not understanding why Zhao Shiqing asked this: "Neither."

Zhao Shiqing looked at Shen Guanyue: "Do you know how to answer this question?"

Shen Guanyue nodded. As an unfilial son of the princess's mansion, he was also forcibly indoctrinated with the Dayong Law.

"According to the Dayong Code, any descendant who sues his grandparents or parents shall be caned 100 times and sentenced to three years in prison. If the accusation is untrue, he shall be hanged.

You want to sue your father, do you have evidence? If there is no evidence, or the evidence is false, then you will be sentenced to death by hanging. "

Young Master Cui was stunned. Yes, how could he forget? It is simply impossible for a son to sue his father.

He is an educated man, so of course he knows that he was just acting on impulse and his brain is filled with water.

"Then what should I do? Should I just let him and Aunt Wang go? Wouldn't my death be in vain?"

Zhao Shiqing narrowed his eyes: "Think of a way."

The group did not stay in an inn as that would make them too conspicuous, so they stayed in Banshan Village.

Banshan Village is a small village with only more than 30 households, all of whom are tenants who work as farmers for the Murong family. Although Murong Xiang and his wife are not at home, Murong Li was able to make all the arrangements for Zhao Shiqing and his party.

In addition, Murong Li also sent over a long-time attendant of his named Xiao Wu. Xiao Wu's sister's home was not far from the county government office and she opened a snack shop. The bailiffs in the county government office often frequented the snack shop, and even Xiao Wu became familiar with them.

The next day, Niu Qiu and Cui Sanshao appeared in the snack shop. Not long after, Xiao Wu walked in with a maid.

The old woman's surname was Li. She was a servant in the back yamen and belonged to the county government. Her husband was a jailer in the yamen, her two sons were yamen runners, and she had a little daughter who worked with her in the back yamen.

Three county magistrates have come and gone, but their family is still there.

Loach handed over a silver ingot with a smile, and Mrs. Li looked at Loach more affectionately than her own son.

"Ask the magistrate's wife. Oh, I've never seen anyone so shameless at such an old age. I saw it with my own eyes the other day. She was sitting on the magistrate's lap. Tsk, tsk, tsk, oh, what about the magistrate's wife? Why are you two blushing? You are both grown men. You will be married in two years. What are you blushing about?"

"Who is the magistrate's wife close to? You've asked the right person. No one else would know. She has a good sister, the lady who works at the pawnshop in the east of the city. Every time the lady comes to the back office to look for her, she acts very sneakily, afraid to be seen."

"Oh, there is one more thing you must want to know. This is something special."

Niu Qiu handed over another ingot of silver, and Mrs. Li smiled and said, "Although this matter is unusual, if you want to know, I can tell you."

"When Magistrate Cui first took office, in addition to his wife and two daughters, he was accompanied by a young lady of eighteen or nineteen years old. We all called her Miss Cousin. She was the niece of the Magistrate's wife.

Later, the girl left, saying that she was going home.

But guess what, just last month, my cousin had a new grandson, and I went to his third birthday. Her home is quite far away, and I haven’t been there for several years.

I didn't expect to see the girl just after I came out of her house. She had changed into women's clothes. There was a woman with her, and the woman was holding a child in her arms. Looking at the child's appearance and calculating the days since she left the back office, it turned out that she didn't go back to her hometown, but was hiding here to give birth to a child! "