The owner of the inn, Su Guangju, brought over the freshly stewed local chicken. Before he even touched his chopsticks, the alluring aroma already made Hu Xiaotian and his servant salivate. Hu Xiaotian greeted him: "Shopkeeper Su, let's have a drink together."
Cup!" He said this not politely. He had just arrived in Qingyun County and was unfamiliar with the place. Hu Xiaotian was eager to find a breakthrough and understand the local situation.
Su Guangju smiled and said: "No hurry, no hurry, there are still three dishes that are not ready. When the dishes are ready, I will definitely come over and offer Mr. Hu two glasses."
Hu Xiaotian said: "Sit down and have a couple of drinks before we talk!"
Su Guangju couldn't resist his hospitality and sat down after being polite. He and his wife have always run the Fulai Inn. Because Qingyun County is located in a remote place, there are not many merchants and tourists on weekdays. The business of the inn can only be described as...
We can barely maintain it, and as of now, there are only three guests in the store, Hu Xiaotian.
Liang Dazhuang helped fill up the wine. After Murong Feiyan took a bath, she changed into a blue martial arts uniform and looked full of heroic spirit. She came to sit next to Hu Xiaotian and said with a smile: "I'm sorry to keep you waiting for so long."
Hu Xiaotian smiled and said: "I have always been patient with beautiful women."
Murong Feiyan rolled her eyes at him, picked up the wine glass and said: "After all the hard work, we finally came to Qingyun, let's have a drink together." Everyone responded together and drank three glasses before giving up. The wine was rice wine brewed by Su Guangju, with a clear color.
Huang, it tasted sweet and mellow when you drank it. Hu Xiaotian was full of praise for it and asked about the origin of this rice wine.
Su Guangju smiled and said, "I brewed this rice wine myself. The chicken, duck, and vegetables we eat on weekdays are all grown and raised by ourselves."
Hu Xiaotian said that it was all natural and pollution-free, which made a few people stunned again. He quickly changed the subject and asked about the operation of the inn.
Su Guangju said: "We are just barely making a living. Although Qingyun County is located in a remote place, it has fertile land and beautiful mountains and clear waters. It is also a fertile land. At the same time, it is located in the embrace of mountains. It is located in a remote place. Since the founding of Dakang,
There are also few wars, and there are many ethnic groups around. The Black Miao and Dongman people have always been in peace. More than a hundred years ago, when South Vietnam was founded, the trade route between South Vietnam and Dakang happened to pass through Qingyun. Qingyun County has since become the center of this trade route.
An important transit place. But more than ten years ago, a group of horse bandits appeared in the Tianlang Mountain in the south. They robbed homes, killed people, and set fire to all kinds of crimes. They relied on the unique geographical location of Tianlang Mountain to guard the chokepoint leading to South Vietnam.
The former prosperous trade route was suddenly turned into a dangerous place with constant bloodshed. The merchants had no safety guarantee and no one was willing to take the risk of traveling through Tianlang Mountain. As time went by, the trade road fell into disuse. Fewer merchants came. Naturally,
It will affect the prosperity of Qingyun." At this point, he put down his wine glass, sighed and added: "When Qingyun was most prosperous, there were no less than 200 inns, large and small, in the city, but now only six are still operating normally.
That’s all.”
Hu Xiaotian nodded: "In that case, why doesn't the government send troops to suppress the bandits?"
Su Guangju said: "It has not stopped in these years. Every county magistrate has suppressed bandits, but every time the bandits are suppressed, the thunder is loud and the rain is small. The horse bandits have not decreased, but they have suppressed more and more. A few months ago
The superiors also sent people to suppress the bandits. It is said that they were the officers and soldiers of Xizhou Prefecture, but they were beaten to pieces and defeated. In the past, banditry was only on the ancient roads in the mountainous areas, but later because merchants took detours, the livelihood of the horse bandits was affected.
As a result, the scope of their robbery continued to expand, and almost all the villages and towns around Qingyun were robbed by them. They burned, killed, and looted wherever they went, leaving not a blade of grass behind."
Hu Xiaotian picked up his wine glass and drank a glass of wine with Su Guangju. Murong Feiyan said: "I think the county is quite peaceful."
Su Guangju chuckled and said, "Taiping?"
Murong Feiyan said: "When we passed by the county government today, we heard that no one has filed a lawsuit in Qingyun County government for more than a year. The public security in Qingyun seems to be good."
Su Guangju smiled bitterly and said: "No one is filing a lawsuit. That's because no one can afford it. Whether it is the defendant or the plaintiff, as long as you enter the yamen, you will definitely lose your skin. Our Mr. Xu has a nickname
,The blue sky is three feet high!”
Hu Xiaotian already understood after hearing this, what does it mean that the sky is three feet high? It means digging the ground three feet high. From what he has learned so far, Xu Qinglian is an out-and-out corrupt official.
Perhaps Su Guangju realized that he had spoken too much, so he got up and left to cook.
After he left, Murong Feiyan said: "This county magistrate is not a good person and has a very bad reputation in the Qingyun area."
Hu Xiaotian smiled and said, "You just went out just to inquire about this matter?"
Murong Feiyan shook his head and said, "Do you remember the thin man who complained?"
Hu Xiaotian nodded.
Murong Feiyan said: "I just followed him all the way there and found that this person is definitely not an ordinary person."
Hu Xiaotian was startled. When he saw the two people fighting a lawsuit in Qingyun County Government just now, he thought they were just ordinary farmers. From Murong Feiyan's tone, it seemed that there was something inside.
Murong Feiyan said: "He received ten boards in the court. At first I saw that he was struggling to walk. This man was also quite vigilant. When no one was around, I saw that he was walking as fast as flying. It seemed that the ten boards he received had no effect on him at all.
Caused any trauma, I looked at his steps and movements, he must have martial arts skills, I followed him and watched him go out of the south gate and entered a place called Hongliuzhuang three miles away."
Liang Dazhuang said: "Maybe they live there."
Murong Feiyan said: "He entered a large house in Hongliuzhuang. At that time, two people came out to greet him. They all seemed to have martial arts skills."
Hu Xiaotian said: "Are the thin man and the fat man deliberately cheating?"
Murong Feiyan nodded and said: "I think so too. The fat man must have deliberately angered Xu Qinglian and asked him to put him in prison. It seems that there must be a secret hidden in this prison cell."
Although Hu Xiaotian had just arrived in Qingyun, he found that this small Qingyun County was much more complicated than he imagined. He came here to serve as the county magistrate, and there was Xu Qinglian above him weighing him down. From what he learned,
, having basically concluded that Xu Qinglian was a corrupt official, Hu Xiaotian naturally came up with the idea of taking this guy down. Not only to eliminate harm for the people, but also to clear obstacles for himself, taking care of his own interests while being in line with the interests of the people.
, wouldn’t this kill two birds with one stone?
After lunch, Hu Xiaotian made an appointment with Murong Feiyan to go to the city for a stroll. It was called wandering, but in fact it was to take the opportunity to understand the local customs. Due to the geographical location of Qingyun, the ethnic groups are relatively complex. Black Miao and Miao people can be seen everywhere in the city.
For the Dongman people, although the market is not as prosperous as the capital city, the products with local characteristics are also an eye-opener for them.
Murong Feiyan stopped in front of a black Miao stall and was very interested in the handmade silver jewelry on the stall. Various ethnic groups in the local area lived together in peace and harmony with each other. The black Miao stall owner also seemed quite friendly to the Han people.
.Murong Feiyan played with a pair of Miao silver bracelets repeatedly, picking them up and putting them down again.
When Hu Xiaotian saw that she liked it so much, he wanted to spend money to buy a few pieces for her, but after feeling in his pocket, there were only a few taels of silver left. He was short of money and lacked confidence. Even so, this guy was still swollen.
The fat man said to Murong Feiyan: "What do you like? I'll buy it for you."
Murong Feiyan shook his head: "I don't want it!"
When Hu Xiaotian was about to make an inquiry, he heard someone shouting in front of him: "We are here to steal the wedding! We are here to steal the marriage!" Looking up, he saw five black horses galloping towards him, and immediately there were five tough men.
The leader is a strong black Miao man with dark skin and sharp features. On top of his saddle is a woman in red. The woman is wearing a common silver ornament among the black Miao people. She is leaning on the horse, her delicate body following the horse.
The bumps kept trembling. Four black Miao men protected the two sides, but it was they who made the shouts of snatching the bride.
Hu Xiaotian was a little surprised at first, thinking that this was the first time he had seen someone so blatantly snatching a bride, but he immediately remembered that this should be a national custom, and many ethnic groups have the custom of snatching a bride. Looking at the people around him, most of them smiled and stepped aside.
As they watched, they became more and more sure of their thoughts. Hu Xiaotian was about to tell Murong Feiyan to step aside and watch the fun, but when he turned around, he found that Murong Feiyan had disappeared. Hu Xiaotian secretly screamed in his heart that something was wrong, and searched everywhere for Murong Feiyan.
shadow.
A blue silhouette had already risen into the sky and flew towards the leader of the black Miao man.
Hu Xiaotian guessed right. Marriage robbery is a traditional custom of the local Black Miao people. After a young man falls in love with an unmarried girl of the same ethnic group, he can take it home by force and then find a matchmaker to arrange a marriage. In fact, before the marriage robbery, it is often male and female.
They have known each other and fallen in love for a long time. It was just a performance in front of others according to national customs. It also meant to declare sovereignty and show male charm. Otherwise, his four companions would not blatantly call for marriage robbery.
Murong Feiyan didn't understand the local customs. When he heard that someone was robbing a girl in broad daylight, he couldn't hold back his anger and rushed out immediately. By the time Hu Xiaotian reacted and tried to hold her back, it was already too late.
The worst thing was that the black Miao man was kicked off his horse without knowing what was going on. He hit the ground face first and was thrown to the ground. Murong Feiyan landed firmly on the horse's back.
He got up, grabbed the horse, then picked up the girl in red and black clothes on the horse, jumped down, and asked with concern: "Girl, are you okay?"
The black-haired girl in red had a look of surprise and astonishment on her face. She looked at the handsome young man in front of her and didn't know what to say for a moment. Although the black-haired girl had a cheerful and generous personality, she was hugged by this man of the opposite sex in full view of everyone.
She also felt shy in her arms, and her pretty face suddenly turned red.
Murong Feiyan usually dressed in men's clothing, so it was reasonable for others to misunderstand that she was a man. Before she could say a few words, four black men had already arrived, and it was their friends who were snatching the bride. These four people were
I came here specially to support my part-time escort.
Qingyun County has always been a mixed ethnic group. Everyone has lived here for a long time and is basically familiar with each other's living customs. The locals are all aware of the custom of black Miao people snatching brides, so when they see this situation, most people just laugh without saying a word and find it strange.
No wonder, just take a look at the fun and see what's new.
Murong Feiyan was just meddling in other people's business, and this time he stirred up a hornet's nest. Even the black Miao people who were watching the fun gathered around him. Murong Feiyan pushed the black Miao girl towards Hu Xiaotian: "Take her first,
I'll break it off!"
Hu Xiaotian really couldn't laugh or cry, my silly sister, aren't you just looking for trouble? The black Miao girl was pushed to Hu Xiaotian's side, and her beautiful eyes glanced at Murong Feiyan reluctantly.