The next day, Qiao Wei got up early, dressed up beautifully, and went to Tongyuan. After all, she was young, with a good foundation, and she was so tender that water could be pinched without makeup.
In Qiao Wei's eyes, Xun Lan is the most beautiful woman in the Ji family, but in the eyes of others, this may not be the case.
Xun Lanmei is beautiful, but not real enough, like the clouds and mist in the distant mountains, and like the bright moon reflected in the secluded pool, you can see it, but you can't touch it or understand it.
Qiao Wei was the one in the dimly lit place, looking back and smiling, the bright and moving beauty in the world.
Qiao Wei entered the teahouse, Ji Shangqing took her son to practice swords, and Xun Lan was not in the room, sitting on a chair covered with mink fur, holding a cup of bird's nest with rock sugar, and ate it by the spoonful.
The maid led Qiao Wei inside.
Qiao Wei saw the mink fur cushion under her buttocks at a glance. It was a whole mink fur, and the mink head, mink tail, and mink claws were all clearly identifiable.
Qiao Wei used tiger skins, deer skins, bear skins, and wolf skins, but she never used mink skins. She didn't hunt mink easily, and always felt that it was her Xiaobai.
"Is the lady's leather newly bought?" she asked.
Xun Lan smiled softly: "Does it look good?"
Qiao Wei smiled: "It's pretty."
Pretty hairy!
Xun Lan handed the bird's nest to Mother Zhou, and gently wiped her mouth with a handkerchief. Her movements were extremely elegant, as if exuding a faint scent of books.
"Today seems to be earlier than usual." She said softly.
Qiao Wei also replied gently: "From now on, I want to assist my wife in running the house, and my daughter-in-law dare not neglect."
Mother Zhou's eyes instantly turned cold.
Xun Lan's expression was the same, and there was a perfect smile on the corner of her lips, neither dark nor light: "Look at my memory, I almost forgot, I still remembered to assign you some things to do last night, thanks to your reminder gone."
Qiao Wei smiled, and if she didn't want to give it, she just said it, what are you talking about
Xun Lan ordered softly: "Mother Zhou, go and get the account book. I'll see if there is anything I haven't done this month."
"Yes." Zhou's mother glared at Qiao Wei, her nostrils turned to the sky, and after a while, she came back with a stack of account books.
Qiao Wei noticed that Xun Lan's account books were neatly organized without a single corner.
Xun Lan picked up an account book and said to Qiao Wei, "Sit down."
Qiao Wei sat down unceremoniously, and the maid served tea, how dare Qiao Wei drink her tea? If there is another five-day joy or seven-day joy in it, will she still want to dance happily
Xun Lan looked through the account books quietly, and didn't seem to care whether Qiao Wei drank tea or not: "This month's work is almost done, only one villager in Liu Town has not yet handed over this year's rent. In two days, you will be able to go out, look, would you like to go to Liu Town to collect rent?"
"Where is Liu Zhen?" Qiao Wei asked.
Zhou's mother was surprised: "The young lady is from the capital, and she has never heard of Liuzhen?"
Qiao Wei said without changing her face: "My maternal ancestor's house also has a Liuzhen, how do I know which one you are talking about?"
Zhou's mother knew that Qiao Wei's mother was from the capital of Yunnan. She had never been to the capital of Yunnan, so she didn't know if there was Liu Town in Yunnan. There's a Zhuangzi over there."
Qiao Wei raised her eyebrows: "Is it far from Rhino Town?"
Zhou's mother said in a strange way: "Young Madam, don't you know Liu Town here?"
Qiao Wei smiled faintly: "I've only heard of it, but I haven't been there. Although our Qiao family is not a big family, we still have our own rules."
Xun Lan said: "Rhinoceros Town is to the south, and Liu Town is to the north. The directions are different."
That is to go through the North City Gate. She has not been to such a far place. She has never seen anything outside Rhinoceros Town and the capital. Wouldn't the old lady blame her for going out in such a grand manner
"It's not a full moon yet," Qiao Wei said.
Xun Lan said softly: "It's only three or two days, it's okay, I'll go and talk to the old lady."
I always feel that the little stepmother is not so kind!
Qiao Wei looked at Xun Lan from head to toe. Xun Lan sipped her tea quietly, elegant and picturesque, as if she didn't know that Qiao Wei was looking at her.
After a while, Qiao Wei looked away and raised her eyebrows: "Okay, I'll go."
"Miss, are you really going?" Bi'er asked Qiao Wei worriedly after leaving Tongyuan.
Qiao Wei said: "Go, why don't you go?"
Bi'er pouted: "This servant always thinks this will be a hard job."
"Of course it's hard work." She and her little stepmother couldn't get along. The little stepmother would only assign her a nice job when she was full. ? At that time, when the old lady asked, she just said, "I want her to help with some things at home, but she doesn't want to go to little things."
"You know it's the poor lady and you're still going?" Bi'er muttered.
Qiao Wei patted her on the shoulder: "If I go, it may not be done; but if I don't go, it will definitely not be done."
The two returned to Qinglianju and found that Ji Mingxiu was actually there.
Qiao Wei was slightly surprised: "Going to court so early today?"
Ji Mingxiu said: "I'll come back to get some things, and I'm going to Duzhou with the crown prince to meet the Southern Chu envoys."
Qiao Wei raised her eyebrows: "You actually bothered the crown prince and prime minister of a country to greet you in person. Southern Chu's airs are bigger than the Xiongnu's."
"It's just a close relationship." Ji Mingxiu said.
Qiao Wei snorted, "You want me to clean it up for you?"
Ji Mingxiu didn't speak, but looked at her steadily.
Qiao Wei smiled: "I see, I'll clean it up now."
After working on it for a long time, I just waited for her to collect something. In that way, I thought she did something wrong and was caught by him.
Ji Mingxiu looked at her back without blinking: "I'm going, and I may only return in a few days. Do you have anything to tell me?"
Qiao Wei paused when she folded her clothes: "...take care?"
Ji Mingxiu's eyes dimmed: "Is there nothing else?"
Qiao Wei thought for a while: "... let's go?"
Ji Mingxiu's eyes remained unchanged: "Is there anything you need me to do, I'll take care of it for you in advance?"
Press your little green plum to death!
"No, everything is fine, there is nothing to take care of, you can go." Qiao Wei said with a smile, and closed the box, "It's finished packing, here."
Ji Mingxiu gave her a complicated look, picked up the box, and left coldly.
Qiao Wei raised her eyebrows strangely, is it her illusion? Why does it feel like this guy is a little angry...
…
Before going out, Ji Wan came to pick up the two children. Mrs. Ji was a bit of a eater. She couldn't hug her little great-grandson enough, so she was abducted by Ji Wan, a big liar.
Ji Wan smiled and took the little bun into the carriage.
Not long after, Qiao Wei and Bi'er also boarded the carriage to Liu Town.
Hearing that he was going to the farm, Xiaobai followed.
The Ji Mansion and the Duke's Mansion are all good, but there is no little poisonous snake, and the baby mink is about to starve to death.
On the day of Qiao Yuxi's marriage, Qiao Wei had been to the North Gate, but she had only stood on the teahouse and had never really gone out. Now that she finally came out, a bleak north wind was coming, and there seemed to be a little bit more in the air. Divide dry and cold.
"Wow! Out of town!" Bea stretched her arms excitedly.
Qiao Wei said amusedly, "It's as if you've never been out of town."
"I have never been out of the North City Gate." Bi'er opened the curtain, looked at the two rows of stalls and the hurried passers-by, and said, "Miss, the road we are taking is called Beiyan Avenue. I can go to the Huns!"
"Who told you?" Qiao Wei asked.
Bi'er said, "Mr. Storyteller said it."
Qiao Weiyun calmly said: "North along the main road to Huzhou, there will be no more. Going north from Huzhou, you will go through five counties and thirteen prefectures before you can reach the border between Daliang and the Huns." Jing Yun often reads geography, and she more or less followed along .
Bi'er let out a disappointment: "It's so far away."
Qiao Wei smiled and asked, "What? You want to go to the Huns?"
Bi'er shook her head, thinking of something, and said: "Then... how far are we from Nanchu?"
Qiao Wei took a sip of hot tea: "Southern Chu is closer than the Xiongnu, about seven or eight hundred kilometers away, from our town all the way south, through six counties and nine states, you can reach the capital of Yunnan, and the capital of Yunnan is Suxin Zong, after Suxinzong, there will be Southern Chu."
Bi'er enviously said: "Madam knows so much!"
Qiao Wei smiled.
The carriage became more and more desolate, from the noisy town to the barren village, and finally stopped in front of an inconspicuous courtyard.
The coachman said, "Young Madam, Zhuangzi has arrived."
Qiao Wei jumped out of the carriage and was shocked by the scene in front of her. Is this really Zhuangzi? Why is it worse than Heifengzhai? ! At a glance, there was no one, the thatched cottages were sparse, the doors were missing, or the windows were broken. A skinny big yellow dog was lying on the ground. Seeing a stranger approaching, he didn't even bother to bark. He yawned and continued to doze off.
The driver probably came a lot, with a very calm expression, he yelled towards the northeast: "Manager Cai! The master is here!"
"Come here!"
Out of a dilapidated yard, a short, fat middle-aged man ran out. He was the steward Cai that the coachman was talking about.
Cai Guanshi is really too fat. When he ran to Qiao Wei, he was so tired that he couldn't breathe: "Old... old... old slave... here... master... please be respectful!"
Bi'er frowned and glanced at him, and said, "This is Young Madam."
Cai Guan was startled for a moment, then quickly lowered his body a little: "Young Madam... Wanan!"
Qiao Wei raised her hand, motioned for him to stand down, and said straight to the point: "I am here to collect the rent under the order of the eldest lady. The annual rent is paid in two installments, and the rent for the first half of the year should be paid in July." Your Majesty, it's almost November, why didn't you hand it in?"
Cai Guanshi calmed down, and said distressedly: "To be honest, it's not that the slaves refused to pay the rent, but they really didn't receive it! There was a severe drought this year, and the tenant farmers' harvests were not good, so they didn't get all the rent!"
Qiao Wei said: "I know there is a drought this year, but it's not considered a severe drought. The imperial court has collected 15% more taxes from the people, and the farmers are so poor that they can hardly get rid of it."
Cai Guanshi nodded again and again: "What Young Madam said is very true."
Qiao Wei said again: "But our Zhuangzi doesn't pay taxes to the imperial court, how can we not make up the rent?"
Cai Guanshi said awkwardly: "Young Madam, I don't know something. The tenant's rent is heavier than the imperial court's tax. The imperial court collects 20 to 30 percent, and we get 40 to 50 percent here."
Black, really black!
How else can it be said that farmers suffer, but tenant farmers suffer even more!
Qiao Wei's eyes swept across the barren field: "I'm not the first one to collect rent, am I?"
"no."
"That's what you said before the people came?"
"Yes, young lady."
"How many are here?"
"You are the only master, but there are seven or eight stewards here."
Qiao Wei said, "You didn't even ask for rent?"
Guanshi Cai said awkwardly, "No."
Seven or eight of the Ji family's stewards couldn't figure it out, but they sent her a bride who had just entered the house and didn't have any foundation. It really was a good job!
Guanshi Cai nodded and bowed his waist and said: "Young Madam has traveled far and hard, let's go to the house and settle down first, the slave will ask the wife to make some hot vegetable soup to warm up the Young Madam!"
"I'm not hungry, take me to the field first."
"ah?"
Cai Guanshi was a little stunned.
Bi'er shouted coquettishly: "My wife asked you to lead the way, go and have a look in the fields!"
Guanshi Cai came back to his senses: "Ah, yes, yes!"
Guanshi Cai led Qiao Wei there, and on the way there, Qiao Wei introduced the general situation of Zhuangzili by the way.
This Zhuangzi has more than 400 mu of fields, and more than a dozen tenant farmers. The largest household planted 80 mu, and the least planted 20 mu. They planted everything—rice, wheat, cotton, corn, watermelon... just harvested. Chengdu is not doing well.
"Every year is not as good as every year, and I don't know how they farm. If I knew that one or two of them would not be able to farm, I would not have rented the land to them!" Cai Guanshi complained.
While talking, the three of them came to a rice field that had been harvested, and there was still yellow and yellow straw in the ridge.
Guanshi Cai jumped down and stretched out his arms: "Young Madam."
Qiao Wei didn't even look at his outstretched arm, and walked down the rice field with light steps.
Guanshi Cai couldn't help but gasped when he saw her familiarity.
Qiao Wei looked at the soil in the field and knew why the tenant farmers had no crops, it was too barren.
Generally, fertile soil has a darker soil color, but the soil color here is so light that it seems to have been drifted.
The soil layer of the fertile soil is loose and easy to cultivate, but the soil layer here is sticky, so it may be very laborious to cultivate.
And it has many cracks and serious hardening, which are not good signs.
"water."
Qiao Wei held out her hand.
Bi'er took out the water bag from the bag: "Here, ma'am."
Qiao Wei opened the water bag and poured half of it on the ground.
Guanshi Cai came over and asked curiously, "Young Madam, what are you doing?"
"Look at the soil quality." Qiao Wei said.
The fertile soil has strong water retention ability, infiltration is uniform, and the speed is slow. It can be moistened for six or seven days after watering once, but the water that Qiao Wei poured just now is all lying on the plate, and there is no infiltration at all. The water infiltration ability is so poor. The roots cannot absorb water at all.
Qiao Wei poured a little more water into the cracks between the plates, this time it seeped quickly, but it didn't moisten the compacted soil, it just flowed away along the cracks, the water retention capacity was too poor, and the crops hadn't absorbed it yet. Enough, the moisture is lost.
Cai Guanshi looked shocked: "Young Madam, do you still understand this?"
Bi'er and You Rong said: "That's right, my wife is very powerful!"
Qiao Wei stood up and gave the water bag to Bi'er. The soil quality was so poor that she was worried whether the tenant farmers would have enough to eat.
"Young Madam, what do you see?" Guanshi Cai asked curiously.
Qiao Wei glanced at him: "Nothing."
"Ah." Cai Guanshi was embarrassed, and after a while, he said dog-leggedly: "It's windy outside, don't freeze your body, turn around and ask the young master, the slave will be hard to explain!"
Qiao Wei nodded and followed him back to the yard.
There is really no harm if there is no comparison. After seeing the Zhuangzi of the Ji family, I realized how rich the Zhuangzi of the Xu family is. Buying it for four hundred taels of silver is really a fortune.
"Young Madam, please!" Cai Guanshi invited Qiao Wei into the main room.
The house was burning with charcoal, and it was very warm.
The furniture is simple, not like the residence of the steward of the Ji family, but it seems to be reasonable when thinking about how poor Zhuangzi is.
The charcoal is black charcoal, which made Qiao Wei and Bi'er burst into tears. Bi'er wiped her tears with a handkerchief and coughed: "Take it away! This is going to kill someone!"
Manager Cai hurriedly beckoned to his mother-in-law to take the stove away.
Her mother-in-law's surname is Yu, and she is also in her forties. She is dressed plainly, has simple hair accessories, and wears a silver bracelet on her wrist, which is slightly darkened. It should be many years old, but her hands are rare.
She poured Qiao Wei a cup of hot tea.
The tea is also old tea from last year.
Bi'er followed Qiao Wei and was used to drinking the new tea Ji Mingxiu sent, but she couldn't even drink this, so she spat it out: "It smells musty!"
Cai Guanshi said apologetically: "The village can't even pay the rent, and the superior fined me a lot of monthly money, and I can't afford good tea, please forgive me, young lady."
Qiao Wei took two sips slowly: "Set the meal, I'm hungry."
"Yes yes yes!" Guanshi Cai hurriedly called Yu to go.
The meal was presented, four dishes and one soup: fried bean sprouts, fried cucumber, braised fatty pork with soybeans, pickled radish, egg and pickle soup.
Bi'er had never eaten such a bad dish on the mountain, so she immediately said with a stern face: "Are you serving this to my wife? Are you feeding pigs?"
Cai Guanshi was so frightened that Fu lowered his body: "Miss Bier, please calm down, I didn't know that the young lady was coming, so I didn't go to the town to buy vegetables."
Qiao Wei looked calm: "You are a manager after all, do you usually eat these?"
Cai Guanshi sighed bitterly: "There are still lengths of ten fingers stretched out. I just have a reputation as a steward. I'm afraid I can't catch up with Ji's rough envoy maids. My monthly money is fined. After that, there are not a few copper coins in my hands, and my son is studying in the capital again, so I pawned all my money, otherwise I wouldn’t be able to afford it!”
Qiao Wei looked at the patch that was inadvertently exposed on the sleeve, and nodded: "I understand, since that's the case, Guanshi Cai and Mama Yu should sit down and eat together."
Cai Guanshi hurriedly said: "Don't dare! How dare a slave eat at the same table with the master? The young lady eats first."
Qiao Wei said lightly: "Alright, I don't have to wait on my side anymore, you can step back."
"Yes, the slave will leave."
Guanshi Cai withdrew guiltily.
Bi'er lamented: "This manager Cai is too unlucky. He was assigned to this kind of Zhuangzi who can't make any money at all. His mother Zhou's reward in a day is more than his monthly salary in a year."
Qiao Wei smiled faintly: "Do you really think he is poor?"
Bi'er didn't seem quite right when she heard this: "Madam doesn't think so?"
Qiao Wei sneered: "If he eats vegetables and radishes every day, can he grow fat? His wife's hands are maintained like a little girl, and the maintenance cost is quite a lot, right?"
Bi'er patted her forehead: "I didn't notice that!"
Qiao Wei put down her chopsticks and called out unhurriedly, "Xiaobai."
Xiaobai, who was playing with baby snakes in the backyard, ran in with a bang, afraid that Qiao Wei would find out that she had caught a snake again, hugged Qiao Wei's ankles, and rubbed her coquettishly.
Qiao Wei looked at it: "Do you want to eat meat?"
Xiaobai nodded!
Qiao Wei said: "Then go find it."
Xiaobai went to find the baby snake.
"If you can't find meat, don't try to catch a snake."
Oh~
Xiao Bai came back in a daze and jumped out from the front door.
Inside the house, Guanshi Cai and Mrs. Yu sat cross-legged on the kang, and there was a small coffee table between them. On the coffee table, there was a plate of braised pork knuckle, a roast chicken, a fish, a bowl of stewed beef, and several dishes of delicate dishes. The small pickles are simply not too rich.
"Am I okay today?" Yu Shi tore off a chicken leg, took a bite of the chicken, and said greasy.
Cai Guanshi took a bite of his big elbow, and hummed in satisfaction: "It's quite honest, she looks like a village woman!"
Yu laughed and ate another piece of beef, so beautiful that his heart was bubbling, but when he thought of something, he asked worriedly: "Let's just give her those things, she won't be angry and come back to find someone." Clean us up? The steward who came before is not as bad as her!"
Cai Guanshi disdainfully said: "What do you know? Can the steward and the master be the same? The steward is a slave, and he will coax the slave, and the young lady is the master, so she has to lie to the master! How could a yellow-haired girl think that we have the courage to take down someone?" How about honoring her with food? She will only think that we are really poor, she is young and soft-hearted, and she will talk to the master's family later, and the rent for the second half of the year may be waived!"
"Oh, that's good!" Mrs. Yu laughed until she couldn't see her eyes. "When I heard that a master was sent, I was terrified. I didn't expect it to be a little girl!"
Cai Guanshi took a bite of the big braised elbow: "Eat it, eat it, don't call that first class."
Yu gnawed the chicken leg in his hand in two or three bites, and then went to pull the other one, but suddenly, the door slammed, and a white light flashed in. Yu Shi only felt a blur in front of his eyes, but he didn't realize what was going on. The chicken in it is gone.
Yu was furious, looking at the little... small... little white dog who was holding a braised chicken bigger than his body in two paws and running on the ground with only two feet, picked up a shoe and smashed it at it!
Xiaobai's figure flashed, and his shoe hit the door!
Holding the stewed chicken, Xiaobai started to run at a speed of ten meters sprint!
The stewed chicken is too big, covering its whole small body, at a glance, only a chicken missing a leg can be seen.
Then a strange scene appeared, a stewed chicken flew out of the steward's room, suspended on the ground, suspended all the way, and flew to the main room.
When the servants hiding in the back room saw this scene, they all thought they saw the Immortal Chicken, and knelt down with a few plops.
"Little bastard, stop for me!"
Yu hit Xiaobai with a broom!
Xiaobai jumped sideways! The broom hit the ground.
Yu hit again, Xiaobai jumped again, no matter how hard he hit, he couldn't hit.
Not only that, Xiaobai also successfully crossed the high (gate) mountain (threshold), crossed the big (water) sea (pit), and went forward bravely, invincible!
Yu Shi was furious, swung the broom and swept across, this time it depends on where you jump, you little beast!
Oh, it's time to sweep baby's big cock!
Xiao Bai threw the stewed chicken into the air, and the broom swept over its head.
The stewed chicken fell, Xiaobai caught it steadily, and continued to run cool!
Seeing that Xiaobai was about to run into the main room, Yu's whole body was terrified: "Little beast! Come back to me, little beast! If you dare to run any further, I'll skin you! I'll cramp your tendons! I... I... I will eat bones for you, and you will come back to me!"
Are the bones tasty? The Diao family obviously prefers to eat snakes.
Holding the big stewed chicken, Xiaobai ran into Qiao Wei's room, exerted all his strength, jumped up and jumped onto the table!
Then he held up his trophy, like a mighty weightlifting champion, grinning his lips and showing a mouthful of small white teeth!
Qiao Wei put the stewed chicken on the plate.
Xiaobai proudly showed off his biceps.
Bi'er was dumbfounded: "It's really chicken."
Xiaobai: Of course, baby's...
"It's still marinated." Bi'er pulled a chicken leg and put it into Qiao Wei's bowl.
noob:…
Yu Shi didn't dare to chase after her, so she turned around and told her man, Guanshi Cai was so angry that he slapped her: "You can't even catch a dog, what are you doing to eat?!"
Guanshi Cai suppressed the panic in his heart, and walked in with a face full of anger: "Madam, I just bought you a stewed chicken, and in a blink of an eye, it was taken away by a dog... Ah! Here?!"
Very shocked!
Qiao Wei smiled lightly: "It tastes good, Guanshi Cai has a heart."
The clear tone of voice somehow made Guanshi Cai's heart shudder, Guanshi Cai said with a dry smile: "Where is that? The slave is thinking, the young lady is a golden branch and jade leaf, so she can't really make up for it like us servants. Get someone to buy it right away."
Qiao Wei smiled and said, "Is the town very close? It took you less than a quarter of an hour to come and go."
Guanshi Cai broke into a cold sweat and said, "Uh... There is a dealer selling marinated chicken, passing by, I just bought it!"
Qiao Wei snorted: "Then when you bought it, did you find that one of its chicken legs was missing?"
"This..." Cai Guanshi choked so hard that his face turned red, and he almost couldn't make it up.
Qiao Wei tore a piece of chicken unhurriedly: "Cai Guanshi, I have a bad temper, before I finish this meal, you'd better explain it honestly, where did you get all the money? How is their harvest?"
"The slave's money..." Cai Guanshi settled down, "The slave's money was saved before, and the tenant farmers' harvest is indeed not good, so they can't pay the rent. It's not that the slave is full of private pockets."
The stewed chicken tasted good, Qiao Wei couldn't help eating a few more mouthfuls: "The following sentences are true, and the source of this money is false."
Guanshi Cai's heart skipped a beat.
Qiao Wei tore off a big chicken wing and put it into Bi'er's bowl: "The soil in the village is badly damaged, almost no crops can be grown, so when did you save your money, Manager Cai? If I don't remember Wrong, you were in charge of this Zhuangzi ten years ago, you have accumulated gold and silver, and you can't eat it all in ten years!"
Cai Guanshi's throat seemed to be tightly strangled by a big hand, and he couldn't breathe smoothly.
Qiao Wei smiled lightly and said, "If I had so much money, I would have given up on such a worthless job. I just opened a shop by myself. Is it better than this poor manager who fines money every year? Or I can use some money to change to a fat job." , I believe it is better than now, do you think it is Guanshi Cai?"
Guanshi Cai was too guilty to speak.
In fact, Qiao Wei didn't have any evidence, so he could deny it, but when he saw those sharp eyes, he felt that his secret had been seen through.
Qiao Wei took a mouthful of the delicious chicken and said casually, "Someone is disobedient, Xiaobai."
The little white sable stared, raised its paw, and scratched at Guanshi Cai!
Guanshi Cai fell to the ground with his buttocks, Xiaobai threw himself on his head, hugged his head, and slapped his face several times, until both sides of his face were swollen into buns.
Xiaobai opened his bloody mouth fiercely, and Guanshi Cai was so frightened that he almost flew out of his wits: "Young Madam, spare me!"
Qiao Wei said lightly, "Where is the money?"
Cai Guanshi tremblingly said: "Earn, earn."
"How did you earn it?"
"Wine, tavern."
"What tavern?"
"Taverns in town, I... I put some money in."
Qiao Wei said: "Xiaobai, someone is not telling the truth again."
Xiaobai stuck his claws into his mouth, pinched his tongue, and was about to pull it out, he yelled: "Sell a girl!"
A well-known family like the Ji family firmly opposes this kind of indecent business.
Qiao Wei's eyes turned cold: "What girl are you selling?"
"Girls of farmers and tenant farmers, they can't pay the rent, so they... sell the girls to the tavern..."
"Bastard!" Qiao Wei smashed the table with a slap.
Cai Guanshi knelt down and kowtowed repeatedly: "The slaves can't do anything about it. The village can't afford to pay the rent every year. If we don't do this, what will they have to eat? What's more, the slaves didn't force them, they did it voluntarily!"
"Voluntary?" Qiao Wei glanced coldly, "Bi'er, go ask and see if it is voluntary."
"yes."
Guanshi Cai's face turned pale.
Bi'er wandered around, and soon brought back a few aunts and uncles. When they saw Guanshi Cai who was kneeling on the ground, they felt as if they had met an enemy, and they wanted to rush towards him.
Bi'er said softly: "This is the young lady of the Ji family. If you have any grievances, you can tell the young lady, and the young lady will make decisions for you."
A few people hesitated for a while, as if they were wondering whether Bier's words were credible or not. They had seen too many, they made a show when they came, and then they no longer cared about their life or death.
If they offend Guanshi Cai today, they will be the ones who will suffer in the future.
Qiao Wei glanced at everyone, and said earnestly: "I understand your concerns, I just want to ask you, did you really sell your daughter to Cai Guanshi? It was really voluntary, then I don't care, if you It was forced, so I will take Guanshi Cai, who robbed the women of the people, back to Ji's house."
"What will happen if I lose my hair?" an old woman asked.
Qiao Wei said: "No matter what, I definitely won't be able to come back to this Zhuangzi."
When the few people heard that they couldn't come back, they immediately gained courage. The aunt threw herself to Qiao Wei's feet, kowtowed her head desperately and said, "We didn't do it voluntarily! He forced us! He said that if he doesn't hand us over, we will be arrested." Go to prison! We owe rent, go in and eat in prison, and the whole family will be finished!"
"I beg your young lady to be the master!" An uncle also knelt down.
The rest also knelt down.
Qiao Wei looked at Guanshi Cai: "Thanks to you being the steward of the Ji family for more than ten years, don't you know that the Ji family doesn't engage in such careless activities?"
Cai Guanshi cried: "Slave... the slave is also forced! The tavern is not opened by the slave. The people above have spoken. The slave takes money to do things, and the slave has nothing to do!"
Qiao Wei sneered: "The person above has spoken? Who is the person above?"
Cai Guanshi lowered his head: "The slave can't say that."
Bi'er scolded: "If you don't say anything, you will be beaten to death with a stick!"
Cai Guanshi trembled and said: "If you beat him to death, the servant can't say anything. I advise the young lady not to ask. If you offend that person, the young lady will have nothing good to eat."
Qiao Wei said: "I am the young lady of the Ji family, and my husband is the young master of the Ji family. Is there anyone else in the Ji family that I can't offend? Don't say it's the old lady. The old lady loves me. I Naturally, you can't offend her."
Cai Guanshi teased: "Young Madam, don't ask. I'm doing it for your own good. Don't check. If you want to rent a house, I'll just make it up for you."
Qiao Wei looked at him coldly: "Is it a matter of renting a house now? You have robbed so many girls from good families! Your conscience has been eaten by dogs?!"
Cai Guanshi dared not speak.
Qiao Wei said lightly, "Where is the tavern?"
Cai Guanshi bit the bullet and said: "In...in the town, Mingyue Tower."
Mingyue Tower, with such an elegant name, is actually a cave of ecstasy where women are forced into prostitution.
Qiao Wei stood up: "Prepare the car, go to Mingyue Building!"
…
In the northern mansion, Ji Shuang was reclined on the imperial concubine's couch listening to the song. As the only daughter of the old lady and Ji Shangqing's only younger sister, her life in the mansion was extremely comfortable.
Her mansion is extremely luxurious, and it also has a group of little actors who are good at singing and dancing. When she has nothing to do, she will call people to sing a few words, which is very comfortable.
Halfway through hearing it, suddenly a servant girl came in with a hurried expression and said something in Ji Shuang's ear.
Ji Shuang's complexion changed: "The news is true?"
The servant girl nodded: "It's absolutely true."
Ji Shuang smashed the cup on the table, touched her slightly protruding belly and said, "Prepare the car."
The maid asked in surprise, "It's so late, where are you going?"
Ji Shuang said coldly: "Go and see who is so bold as to smash my Mingyue Tower!"