It was already dusk, and the sunset spread over Mingsheng Lake to the west, as brilliant as a brocade.
Chen Caozhi, his sister-in-law Ding Youwei, Zongzhi and Runer were sitting on their knees in the small hall on the third floor. Chen Caozhi held a scroll in his hand and congratulated: "Sister-in-law, I wish you a happy birthday!"
Ding Youwei had never heard such a birthday greeting before, and he was a little flustered. He said "ah" and said in return: "I also wish Xiaolang a happy life."
Run'er pursed her lips and said nothing, sitting in a beautiful posture. She looked at Chen Caozhi and said to her: "Run'er, I wish you a happy birthday!" and held up a scroll.
Run'er said with a smile: "Uncle Chou is also happy - is this a gift from Uncle Chou to mother and Run'er? Is it a painting by Uncle Chou?"
Chen Caozhi smiled and said: "Sister-in-law, Run'er, I couldn't prepare any other gifts for you in Yuhuang Mountain, so I painted two paintings for you."
Run'er had already unfolded the scroll, and Jianshui's pupils suddenly widened. He said in surprise: "Ah, the painting is me - Run'er, it's so beautiful." He then added in awe: "I mean Uncle Chou's paintings are so beautiful."
Xiaochan, Qingzhi and the four maids all went over to look at the painting. On the three-foot scroll, they saw a young girl holding a paper kite in her hand, in a running posture. The girl's features were picturesque and her expression was as if -
Xiao Chan praised: "The painting is really realistic, and the beauty and cuteness of the little lady Run'er are captured in the painting."
Ding You slightly moved his knees to look at it, nodded and said: "Xiao Lang's painting skills have improved greatly, and his expression is more beautiful."
Run'er said: "Mother, Uncle Chou gave me a gift. Let's see how the painting turns out."
For some reason, Ding Youwei was a little afraid to unfold the scroll, so he handed the scroll to Run'er and said with a smile: "Open it and take a look."
Run'er slowly unfolded the scroll, and soon her mouth formed an "O" shape. She looked up at her mother in front of her, then at the person in the painting, and exclaimed: "Uncle Chou painted my mother so beautifully!"
Xiaochan, Qingzhi, Yuyan, and Axiu all marveled, saying, "The lady is so beautiful!"
Ding Youwei's face turned red and she was very curious. She didn't know what Xiaolang had painted her like. He leaned over to take a look and saw a woman in plain clothes kneeling on a green mattress. In front of her was a dragon-shaped body and a phoenix-shaped body with golden green algae.
The woman in plain clothes has eyes like autumn waves, eyebrows like distant mountains, her face and body are slightly to the left, and she is playing the konghou. Her bright jade-like wrists reflect the golden green algae of the konghou, and her plain skirt complements the green mattress.
The colors are gorgeous and textured, with a quiet beauty——
Ding Youwei's heart was pounding. The painting was indeed very similar, and the elegant and gentle temperament was shown. After Gu Kaizhi came to Chenjiawu last year, Xiaolang's figure painting techniques were really used skillfully and sophisticatedly, but let
It's not this that makes Ding Youwei's heart beat, but the small mole beside the left ear and on the neck of the person in the painting. Although it is just a faint, insignificant spot, Ding Youwei knows that it is a mole.
, because there is such a mole next to her left ear, which can be clearly seen when looking back and forth in the mirror. Now, Xiaolang has painted all this small mole on her. This is certainly the observation ability that a painter should have, but
Ding Youwei still felt a little shy——
Chen Caozhi smiled and asked: "Sister-in-law, am I good at painting?"
Xiaolang's eyes were deep and calm, which made people feel at ease. Ding You smiled slightly and said, "Okay, my sister-in-law is very happy."
Lai Gui's wife, Mrs. Zhao, came up to say that the Shui Yin Pancake was ready and invited the young mistress, young man and others to eat it.
Chen Caozhi and Ran Sheng ate a few bowls of water cakes and walked back to Yuhuang Mountain. Ding Youwei took the two children to the gate.
The semicircle moon had risen, no lantern was needed, and the road was clearly visible. When he was about to turn, Chen Caozhi looked back. His sister-in-law was still standing by the gate holding Zongzhi and Runer, thinking that his mother had always seen him off or waited like this in the past.
When he returned, he couldn't help but feel a pain in his heart——
…
Jia Bizhi, together with 16 officials from the Temple Department and the Ministry of Civil Affairs, also went to other prefectures and counties to confer official lands to the Lu family and the Zheng family. They left Qiantang on April 15th. Chen Caozhi and Chen Shang went to the Yiting to meet each other.
Seeing off, Jia Bizhi didn't mention a word about Xie Daoyun.
Wang Shao continued to stay and try the case. The Lu family's case of falsely registering as a scholar had already been tried last year. Except that the relationship between the Lu family and the Chu family was deliberately concealed, the rest of the case was very clear. Chu Jian had already sent
Several people who were familiar with the Lu family were threatened, saying that if the Lu family dared to mess around, they would be demoted to the Danshu official household. The household registration came from prisoners and criminals. The household registration was made of red paper, which was the so-called Danshu official household.
The most despicable, if they were demoted to the subordinate status, it would be extremely miserable. Naturally, the Lu family did not dare to say anything, and dragging the Chu family into the quagmire would do them no good. If the Chu family does not fall, they can still take care of the Lu family in the future.
Some people of the Lu clan knew this, so when Wang Shao's subordinate officials summoned them for trial, they never mentioned that the false registration of scholars had anything to do with the Chu clan——
However, the people of the Lu family were very angry, and other farmers kept coming to accuse them of bullying men, dominating women, and seizing people's land. Many of the evil deeds were actually done by the Chu family under the instructions of the Lu family, and most of the occupied land belonged to the Chu family. The Lu family could not support it.
Come on, if all these evil deeds were taken into account, the Lu family would really be demoted to the subordinate status, so he finally confessed that the reason for pretending to be a scholar was because of the support of the Chu family, and he successfully avoided the first two registration inspections.
The Chu family, through the Lu family, occupied as much as 100 hectares of land. The Chu family owns about 150 hectares of land. Adding the more than 100 hectares of land acquired in the past ten years, the Chu family has become the richest man in Qiantang.
The land property surpassed the Quan clan, which ranked first among the Qiantang gentry——
Seeing that the matter was exposed, Chu Jian used his last trump card, which was the twenty hectares of land given to the Chen family. On April 21st, Chu Jian came to see Wang Shao at night and falsely claimed that the Chen family in the Outer Tang Dynasty was also related to the Lu family.
Collusion, Chen Caozhi's elder brother Chen Liu had a close relationship with Master Lu. Last autumn, Chen Liu killed Master Lu because his wife had an affair with Master Lu, and then committed suicide. This was a common practice in Qian and Tang Dynasties.
As everyone knows, the relationship between the Chen family and the Lu family in Qiantang is entangled. Moreover, this time the Chen family used the Lu family's case of impersonating scholar status to blackmail the Chu family and forced the Chu family to cede twenty hectares of farmland to the Chen family.
, these are all well-documented. If Wang Shao insists on rigorously investigating the case, then Qian Tang and Chen will not be able to escape responsibility.
Chu Jian knew that the reputation of a high-ranking disciple like Wang Shao was the most important. Ten days ago, Wang Shao praised Chen Caozhi as being comparable to Xia Houxuan and Liu Kun. Now, the Chen family of Qiantang was suddenly involved in the Lu family's case of impersonating scholar registration, and the news spread out against him.
Wang Shao's reputation will be tarnished and he will be ridiculed for being clumsy and ignorant. Therefore, Wang Shao should handle the case lightly so that Chu can escape easily. Of course, Chu will definitely have no hope in his career in the future, but
It is better than depriving him of his official status; even if Wang Shao Fu San has a bad temper and insists on pursuing the case regardless of the damage to his reputation, it is much better to drag it with the Chen family. If they want to sink, then they will sink together——
This is Chu Jian’s sinister and profound intention!
Wang Shao, the internal historian of Yangzhou, gently waved the jade handle in his hand and listened with a smile to Chu Jian's speeches that sometimes begged for mercy and sometimes threatened. He only found it funny and secretly admired Chen Cao's intelligence. Chen Caozhi seemed to have expected Chu Jian.
Finally, this trick comes, haha, Chu Jian’s words and deeds at this time are really as funny as an actor’s performance when he knows the whole story.
Chu Jian's mouth went dry as he spoke, but Wang Shao just smiled and did not get angry. This made Chu Jian frightened. He didn't understand why Wang Shao could be so calm, so he also shut up. For a while, the room was extremely quiet.
Wang Shao flicked his tail and asked: "Chu Chenglang, do you have anything else to say? Just say it, I will listen."
Chu Jian was a little flustered and said: "The king's history clearly shows that everything Chu said is true. Chen Liu and the head of the Lu family died together. The Chen family threatened my Chu family to cede twenty hectares of fertile land. Wang Neishi sent people
A quick investigation will reveal that, of course, Chen will quibble and deny, but this is the fact and cannot be changed no matter what."
Wang Shao knocked twice on the mahogany table in front of him with his jade handle. Then an attendant brought a stack of books and placed them on the table. Wang Shao said warmly: "Chu Chenglang, look, this is the twenty-area area."
Records and deeds of fertile land?"
Chu Jian took a closer look, and suddenly his vision went dark, and he simply fainted to the ground, but he did not pass out. In his ears, he heard Wang Shao say coldly: "On the day you sent the land deed book to Chenjiawu, Chen Jian
The clan members sent this generous gift from Chu Chenglang to me. As for Chen Liu, he was expelled from the clan by the Chen clan of Qiantang the year before last. This is something that can be known as soon as you ask - what else can Chu Chenglang say? "
Chu Jian struggled to sit up. He knew that this time it was over. Chu was completely finished. No one could save Chu. He was about to drown and the last straw slipped away from his hand. Chen Caozhi, didn't you say that with straight
Are you complaining? You are adding insult to injury!
…
On April 25, the case of Chu Wenqian misappropriating official treasury to expand the county residence, and the case of Lu's impersonation of scholar registration were all settled. Chu Wenqian was dismissed from office. Lu Jun, who had been detained in the county jail, was sentenced to exile in Guangzhou for life-long hard labor, because Chu Jian was
Wang Shao had no authority to deal with the sixth-grade prime minister, and had to report it to the governor of Yangzhou and the Ministry of Civil Affairs. Wang Shao's verdict recommended that the Chu family be removed from the scholar list and that Chu Jian be demoted to a commoner - based on Wang Shao's qualifications and reputation
, these two judgment suggestions will definitely be adopted. The Qian and Tang gentry still have eight surnames, but the Chu family has been eliminated and replaced by the emerging gentry Chen family.
Wang Shao was a wonderful man. Before returning to Yangzhou, he visited Chen Caozhi again and took the deed of the Chu family's twenty hectares of farmland to Chen Xian, the chief of the Chen family. He smiled and said, "This is a generous gift from the Chu family. Chief Chen must make sure it is done."
Take it, the Qiantang Chen family only has fifty hectares of land. I hate it less, but these twenty hectares of fertile land can make up for it, haha."
This was a real surprise. In order to lure the Chen family to accept these twenty hectares of land, Chu Jian chose the most fertile land on the south bank of the Qiantang River, and it was not far from Chenjiawu——
When Wang Shao saw Chen Caozhi, he only asked one thing: "Chu Wenqian has been dismissed from office. Who do you think can temporarily replace Qiantang County Magistrate?" This is again building momentum for Chen Caozhi.
Chen Cao said: "Thanks to the inquiry from the king's internal history, Cao Cao made a bold statement. Cao Cao believed that Feng Mengxiong, the Prime Minister of Qiantang County, was of good character, talent and knowledge, and could take on this responsibility."
When Wang Shao returned to the county townhouse, he invited Feng Mengxiong to meet him. Feng Mengxiong was well versed in Confucianism and was particularly good at Zhou etiquette. After the meeting, Wang Shao was quite satisfied and immediately appointed Feng Mengxiong to temporarily act as the county magistrate of Qiantang. If his political reputation was good after a year, he would
To express the official appointment of the imperial court.
