"The sky is dry and everything is dry, and the villain is burning..." The watchmen Mei Jiu and Qu Ba beat their clappers with a long sound, and staggered along the empty main street of Ding'an County.
Both have been watchmen for thirty years. The two of them are extremely familiar with every building in the county. They also know the stories that happen in every alley on both sides of the main street.
The largest and most luxurious building in the county is, of course, the county government office.
It covers an area of more than 20 acres, and the stone steps at the entrance of the government office alone are seven feet high. Every citizen who comes to the county government office to complain about their grievances will lose their morale before they even step onto the steps.
However, the most exquisite building in Anding County is not the county government office, but the Zhou Mansion, which is located to the west of the county government office and is only separated from the county government office by an alley.
The owner of the county government office must be changed every six years at most. However, the Zhou Mansion has not changed its owner in the past thirty years.
Zhou Chong, the owner of the Zhou Mansion, has also been the chief registrar for more than twenty years.
In the past twenty years, no matter who was replaced as county magistrate in the yamen, whether his temper was soft or hard, whether his mind was smart or stupid, he would quickly regard Zhou Chong as his right-hand man and obey his words.
It stands to reason that the chief registrar of that week was also given to a scholar with the same background as Jinshi. He had made political achievements in his post and should have been promoted to a county magistrate somewhere long ago.
However, I don't know whether it is because Chief Zhou has deep feelings for the local area or for some other reason, but this person has actually stayed in the same place for the past twenty years.
As a result, there is a strange saying secretly circulating in Ding'an County: The chief secretary is an iron man, and the county magistrate is a smooth man.
Since the position of the Registrar is as solid as iron, all the officials in the county must know who they should treat with more respect.
Only those people who don't understand shit can easily stroke the boss's beard.
Those who rubbed Lord Zhou's beard usually did not end well. Even if they had the support of the county magistrate, they would either lose their official position or pack up and get out.
It's as far away as Huang Jie, the former county captain, and as close as Han Qing, the inspector of Jinniu Village. No one has ever found the Wuzhishan of Master Zhou!
Remembering that more than half a month ago, the county magistrate and the chief clerk had just driven away inspection Han Qing, watchman Mei Jiu couldn't help but shake her head slightly.
What a good person he is, he works hard, judges cases fairly, and is kind to his subordinates.
Why don't you understand that it's hard for a strong dragon to defeat a local snake?
With the two golden signs of being a top student in Taixue and a descendant of the Han family, you will do nothing while in office and travel all day long. At the end of your term, it will not be difficult to get an excellent score and then be transferred to a prosperous place to take charge.
One county.
Why do you have to provoke Master Zhou, the shadow county magistrate!
This was good, Chief Zhou used a clever trick to squeeze him out of Ding'an County.
Although you, Inspector Han, come from a wealthy family, you do not lack the official salary and financial support of an inspector. In the future, with the strength of your family, you will be able to find another position at a similar level.
But after experiencing such a setback, my vitality and reputation have been greatly damaged. If I become an official elsewhere in the future, I will inevitably be criticized by my colleagues.
"Wow..." Just as I was feeling regretful, the sound of tiles falling to the ground suddenly came to my ears. In the silence of the second half of the night, it sounded particularly clear.
Mei Jiu immediately shuddered and quickly turned her head towards the source of the sound.
"Brother, brother, did you hear anything?" Qu Ba, the watchman who had been working with Mei Jiu for many years, was also frightened to the core. He poked the former with his finger and asked in a low voice.
Mei Jiu nodded slightly, and then pointed to the deep alley on the west side of Zhou Mansion.
Nothing could be seen in the dark alley. However, facing the main street, at the gate of Zhou Mansion, there were two lanterns that stayed on all night, making them particularly bright.
"Come and take a look?" Qu Ba also couldn't see anything, but he tried to discuss it with Mei Jiu.
Mei Jiu frowned and thought for a while, then shook her head decisively and slightly, "Wait a minute, what if it's Chief Zhou's housekeeper doing some chores. It wouldn't be good if we bumped into each other. Besides, Zhou Fuguang's servants are no less than thirty, so what?
How dare a blind thief break into his house and steal something?!"
These words are mature and prudent words.
Looking at the top wealthy households in Ding'an County, whose family doesn't have some shady things? Otherwise, why would one or two corpses of "falling into the water" be found every quarter in the river that passes through the city!
Unless there really is the legendary ranger who can fly into the sky and escape from the earth, who would risk being besieged by servants to steal the Zhou Mansion in the middle of the night?
And if the Zhou family was really taking advantage of the cover of night to deal with some "chores", and the two watchmen pressed forward, it was because they didn't have eyesight.
The consequence, if you think about it lightly, is a beating plus half a year's salary. If Master Zhou gets really angry, maybe there will be two more faces of watchmen among the corpses that fall into the water next month.
However, it is not a problem to ignore unusual noises.
Therefore, Mei Jiu and Qu Ba quickly communicated with their eyes and retreated to the shadow of the trees beside the street in a tacit understanding, preparing to observe for a while longer before making a final decision.
Facts have proved that this choice is extremely correct.
Before he could stand firm in the shadow of the tree, a cat meow reached their ears.
Immediately afterwards, a fat black cat quickly rushed out of the alley, leaped in twos and twos, and disappeared on the other side of the street.
"It turns out that the cat is catching the mouse!" Mei Jiu and Qu Ba breathed a sigh of relief together, banged their clappers, and quickly walked to the next key inspection area, "The sky is dry and the things are dry, be careful of the candles——"
"The sky is dry and things are dry, be careful about the fire--"
The watchman's shouts and banging sound became more and more distant.
On the wall on the west side of Zhou's mansion, two gray "pimples" slowly bulged out.
Han Qing's face quietly emerged from under one of the gray lumps, shook his head, and quickly put down a bamboo cage specially used for cats.
Dou Rong's face emerged from under another gray pimple, and her eyes flickered towards Han Qing. There was no fear in it, only freshness and admiration.
Han Qing shook his head with a smile, raised his hand, rolled up the gray cloth covering himself into a ball, and stuffed it into the robe behind his back. Then, while helping Dou Rong tidy up, he looked at his feet with his eyes.
There was a piece of green tile right next to his feet, which was broken into two pieces.
It fell from the wall of Zhou Mansion. It was also the one that made the noise just now and almost called the watchman over.
Han Qing immediately calmed down, gasping and shrugging.
Sure enough, if you don't practice Kung Fu for a day, you will become good at it.
Back then, when he was working as a divorce consultant, he climbed to the twelfth floor of a hotel with bare hands in order to complete a female client's commission to help her photograph evidence of her husband's marital infidelity.
But tonight, my body was stronger than before, but I almost lost my hand on the brick wall that was only two and a half meters high.
Fortunately, he had been vigilant before coming to the county. To prevent this situation, he specially prepared a black cat.
Otherwise, I will really lose myself tonight.
Thinking of this, Han Qing became more and more cautious. He first gestured to Dou Rong, telling him not to act rashly. Then he took out another copper cylinder from his bag and slowly placed it on the wall.
He quickly put his ears to the other end of the cylinder. Eliminating the interference from the sound of air circulation, he carefully distinguished the movement inside the wall.
The two dogs in the yard had obviously been overturned by the poisonous meat he had thrown in a quarter of an hour ago. The servants had already relaxed their vigilance and went back to their houses to rest.
At this moment, there are no other sounds in the yard except for the occasional mouse running by. This is the best time to climb over the wall!
After decisively putting away the copper pipe, Han Qing took out two carpentry chisels and inserted them slowly but forcefully into the crack in the wall above his head.
Immediately, he tested the firmness of the chisel again. After confirming that it would not fall off, he held it firmly with both hands, used his arms to push up, and at the same time stepped on the brick wall with his feet to gain strength.
In the blink of an eye, he climbed up more than two meters high against the brick wall.
Quickly switching his feet to step on the chisel, he reached his hand across the top of the wall. He pulled off two blue tiles decorating the top of the wall, revealing a strong enough gap. Then, he exerted force on his arms again, and his body floated upward like a leaf.
Pulling off more tiles, just in case. Han Qing turned around and waved to Dou Rong, signaling the other party to wait calmly. Then, he climbed down the wall and went straight to the location that had been discovered in advance, where Zhou Chong, the chief secretary of Ding'an County, was.
house.
He had practiced the whole process many times in the Li Cunxiao Temple. Therefore, when he repeated it, it was as smooth as clouds and flowing water.
After about seven or eight breaths, Han Qing's figure had successfully arrived at Master Zhou's side. He first raised his left arm and knocked out the woman sleeping with him on the bed with a knife, adding a layer of insurance to his action.
Immediately, he picked up the wooden hammer in his right hand and hit Master Zhou on the temple.
After two or three breaths.
The gray cloth that had been used to cling to the wall to cover the body was once again taken out of the backpack by Han Qing and wrapped directly around the unconscious Master Zhou, turning the latter into a mummy.
He listened carefully to the noise in the yard to make sure that no one had been disturbed. Han Qing quickly picked up the "mummy" and climbed out of the window. He quickly retreated along the original path, moving like a ghost.
That Zhou Chief Secretary had been entrenched in Ding'an County for twenty years, controlling several county magistrates, and he could be said to have a single hand. The servants he raised in his family had long been accustomed to working for the tiger, and they ran rampant in the county.
Therefore, no one in the Zhou Mansion, from Master Zhou to the servants, expected that there would be someone who dared to rush directly into the lair at night.
Han Qing took over without any effort, carried the "prey" on his shoulders, climbed over the courtyard wall quietly, met up with Dou Rong who had a worried look on his face, and walked away.
Half an hour later, two figures, carrying a wooden box, dodged the night watchman and quietly entered the water on a river bank near the city wall.
Above the river that passes through the city wall, the wooden fence has been in disrepair and has been tampered with in advance.
Han Qing swam over and pushed gently, and the two logs in the center of the fence immediately separated to the left and right, revealing a wide enough passage.
He nodded slightly to Dou Rong, pushed the wooden box with him, and swam out of the city.
The entire county was still in deep sleep.
Looking back in the wilderness outside the city, I saw it was dilapidated, yet peaceful.
