The Zhou family spent three whole days in fear and uneasiness.
During these three days, county government agents and clerks came several times and moved most of the Nuya documents from Zhou Dinghai's study.
On the evening of the fourth day, the county magistrate in Chang'an County sent a message to the community, saying that at midnight tomorrow, relatives of the Zhou family would be allowed to visit the prison.
Early in the morning on the fifth day, Zhou Jun, his mother Luo Sanniang, and his eldest brother Zhou Ze arrived at Chang'an County House in Changshoufang in a carriage early, waiting to visit the prison.
Finally, at midnight, the interrogator in the county issued a prison visit card. The three Zhou family members took the card to the county jail. After some confirmation and search, Zhou Jun finally saw Zhou Dinghai in prison uniform.
It's just that they haven't seen Zhou Dinghai for four days, but Zhou Dinghai's spirit and appearance are completely different from before. His complexion is sluggish, his expression is sleepy, and he looks like he has never closed his eyes in four days.
Fortunately, Zhou Dinghai's body was still clean and there was no blood stain on his body. He probably had not been tortured yet.
When Luo Sanniang saw Zhou Dinghai, she felt sad, and they both held their heads and cried.
Zhou Ze burst into tears and couldn't stop repeating the injustice.
Zhou Jun looked around and found that in the prison cell where he was visiting, in addition to the four members of the Zhou family, there was also a county magistrate (from the seventh rank) of Chang'an County, and a record-keeper (from the ninth rank) who was responsible for recording. lower grade).
Walking in front of the county magistrate and the recorder, Zhou Jun crossed his hands and said, "My father has been a slave Yalang for more than 20 years, and he has never betrayed his beloved. There must be something hidden in this matter. I hope the official Please watch clearly."
The county magistrate's surname is Shao, his given name is Chang, his courtesy name is Guanwen, he is about thirty years old, and his face is solemn and intimidating.
He said to Zhou Jun: "There is a law of guilt and guilt. No need to say more."
Zhou Jun lowered his head and said: "Since the ancestors of the Zhou family have been slaves for generations, how could they destroy the inheritance of their ancestors and lose their reputation in the world for a mere amount of money? This is nothing more than killing chickens to keep warm and drinking poison to quench thirst. "
When Shao Chang heard this, he couldn't help but glance at Zhou Jun and asked, "Are you the eldest son of the Zhou family?"
Zhou Jun shook his head and said: "I am the second son of the Zhou family, Zhou Jun."
Shao Chang was stunned and couldn't help but laugh: "But that Zhou Hengcai who 'wanders to the Xiang Pavilion at night and doesn't want to go home'?"
As soon as he said this, the Chang'an County Recorder, who had been keeping a straight face next to him, also started laughing.
Zhou Jun knew in his heart that the former Zhou Dandy must have done something stupid and made it known all over the city.
After blushing for a moment, Zhou Jun could only lower his head and say: "The prodigal son will never be able to exchange for gold."
Shao Chang repeated Zhou Jun's words, nodded and said, "Do you have the next sentence?"
Zhou Jun recalled it for a while and then read out the next sentence: "The beautiful woman smiled for him to see."
As soon as the next sentence came out, Shao Chang and Lu Shi stopped smiling and fell into silence together.
After a long time, Shao Chang sighed: "The writing style is of average quality, but the artistic conception is excellent."
After saying this, Shao Chang waved his hand and said to Zhou Jun: "Speak to your father more. The case involving him has all the witnesses and physical evidence. I'm afraid it will be a lot of trouble."
Zhou Jun's heart tightened. He first bowed to Shao Chang again, then came to Zhou Dinghai and began to ask what happened.
Zhou Dinghai was surprised to see Zhou Jun chatting happily with the county magistrate Shao Chang, and he also looked at his second son with a certain disdain.
So, facing Zhou Jun's inquiry, Zhou Dinghai wiped his tears and spoke slowly.
At the beginning of the month, a man named Jiang Yu secretly found Zhou Dinghai in the tooth market and said that he was offering himself as a slave and wanted to find a good seller.
Zhou Dinghai learned through chatting that Jiang Yu was a good man and a candidate for admission to the Taichang Temple Imperial Medical Office. He was an out-and-out scholar.
Because his family was in decline and he was heavily in debt, Jiang Yu had no choice but to recommend himself as a slave.
Hearing this, Zhou Dinghai felt a little respect and pity in his heart.
What Zhou Dinghai admired was Jiang Yu's status as a scholar. The place where he studied was a prestigious institution like the National Medical University.
What Zhou Dinghai pitied was Jiang Yu's character. He was devoted to his family, and was even willing to sell himself to pay off debts in order to relieve his family's poverty. He himself also had a son who was studying, and when he compared his feelings with his own, he felt how valuable he was.
When Zhou Jun heard this, he couldn't help but curse in his heart.
This cheap old man has been working as a slave for so many years and has met not only 10,000 but also 8,000 people. Why does he feel compassion at this time?
Hasn't he heard the famous saying, "For every man who slaughters dogs for justice, he will be a scholar for every heartless man"?
Zhou Dinghai continued to narrate.
Jiang Yu told Zhou Dinghai that although the Jiang family was defeated, it was still a scholarly family in the past, so it was not convenient for him to show up in public. He hoped that all the procedures and handling would be completed by the latter.
At that time, Zhou Dinghai thought to himself that it was normal for scholars to want to show face.
Although there are several links in this slave transaction that require the presence of the slave bidder and the seller, Zhou Dinghai, as an old slave owner for decades, is very familiar with the handling staff such as Fangzheng, the Municipal Secretary, and the municipal departments in the two capitals.
, even if Jiang Yu doesn't come forward, as long as he writes a letter of self-recommendation for being a slave, signs his name, and stamps his fingerprints, it is probably not difficult to complete the process.
After agreeing to Jiang Yu's conditions, Zhou Dinghai first started looking for a buyer.
He made many inquiries and finally found an official family named Xu in Shengyefang. The other party wanted to buy a death-deed slave who was a student and would train him as a family history scribe in the future.
Jiang Yu just meets this condition.
The Xu family offered a high price of 30 guan. After Zhou Dinghai told Jiang Yu the price, the latter also approved the offer.
Therefore, Zhou Dinghai, as the guarantor (intermediary), tried his best to handle the whole process from the private deed to the official deed to obtaining the market bonds.
As for Jiang Yu, he never showed up from beginning to end. Even the last 30 pounds of money for selling his body were taken by Zhou Dinghai from the officials and handed over to him.
Originally, everything should have ended successfully at this point.
However, when the housekeeper of the Xu family arrived at the door of Jiang Yu's house and wanted to take the latter away, something unexpected happened.
Jiang Yu bluntly said that he had never thought of recommending himself as a slave, and he had never signed a contract of sale.
Hearing this, Butler Xu was dumbfounded.
He immediately took out the official deed, the private deed and the self-recommendation letter, and asked Jiang Yu, "Your name is signed in black and white on these, and there are also your fingerprints. How dare you go back on your word?"
Jiang Yu read the official deed, the private deed and the self-recommendation letter, and said only one sentence: "These signatures are forgeries, not my original ones; and the fingerprints pressed here are obviously fake."
Butler Xu became angry, and he and several servants immediately sent Jiang Yu to the county government office in Chang'an County.
However, when the county government examined the handwriting and fingerprints, they came to a conclusion: the handwriting on all the documents was indeed not Jiang Yu's daily writing; and there were also certain differences in the fingerprints on those documents.
Butler Xu became angry and said, "We paid 30 pounds of death deed money."
The county government asked Jiang Yu, where is the 30 yuan?
Jiang Yu spread his hands, what is 30 guan of money? I have never seen 30 guan of money.
The county government asked Butler Xu again, who did you give the money to?
The latter said, we gave the money to Nu Yalang Zhou Dinghai, and here is the receipt receipt signed by him.
As a result, after a confrontation between the two parties, Zhou Dinghai was arrested by the county government and sent to the county jail for betraying his beloved.
At this point in the introduction of the case, Zhou Jun has already made a rough judgment.
From the very beginning, Jiang Yu approached Zhou Dinghai with the intention of falsely recommending himself and actually stealing money.
First of all, Zhou Dinghai's eldest son was studying in a private school, and he was very respectful to scholars, so Jiang Yu used his status as a student and Zhou Dinghai's carelessness to set up this scam.
Secondly, by using the pretense of not being able to show up due to his scholarly family background, Jiang Yu cut off the opportunity to meet with the buyer, the informant, the city secretary and other people, ensuring that during the transaction process, he only maintained contact with Zhou Dinghai.
.
Next, Jiang Yu tried to find a way to forge his signature and fingerprints to ensure that he would not be caught later.
Some people may ask how you can forge signatures and fingerprints?
Forging a signature is very simple. As a scholar, Jiang Yu temporarily imitated a handwriting and font, which can be said to be effortless.
Forging fingerprints is actually simpler. Song Ci’s "Washing Out Wrongs" has introduced many methods of forging fingerprints. For example, before pressing fingerprints, take the bamboo film from the bamboo joints, heat and bake it and cover it on your hands.
This will make the pressed fingerprint completely different from the original one.
After solving the problem of signatures and fingerprints, all that was left for Jiang Yu was to ask Zhou Dinghai to get the money from the buyer and then bring the money to him.
In the whole setup, Jiang Yu's methods were actually not complicated and his tactics were not clever.
However, Jiang Yu grasped a key point, that is, Zhou Dinghai was a slave and had a low social status. His eldest son was studying in a private school. When he looked at the scholars, he had both admiration and empathy. When facing the scholars, his heart
Defense is also the lowest.
As for Zhou Dinghai, he made too many mistakes.
First of all, according to the laws of the municipal offices in the two capitals, when private contracts, official contracts and market bonds are concluded, the seller and the slave must be present. Acting for the entire process was the first stupid thing Zhou Dinghai did.
Secondly, Nu Yalang should go back and compare Jiang Yu’s signatures and fingerprints on all documents and compare them one by one. Only after confirming that there is no discrepancy between the signatures and fingerprints can the documents be established.
Finally, the seller should personally take over the payment for the slave from the buyer. Transferring money on behalf of a slave is a taboo in the slave industry. Even if the seller signs a receipt, it is of no use because the receipt is written on the receipt.
Both signatures and fingerprints can be forged.
As a result, after some operations, Jiang Yu's careful setup and Zhou Dinghai's constant mistakes eventually led to this disaster.
This chapter has been completed!