Chapter 31 Hypocrite (Part 2)

Crossing the Han River on the wooden bridge that was squeaked by Fatty Lu, the ancient city of Chenghai, famous for producing lychees and seaweed, appeared in front of Fatty Lu and Wan Shi and his party. At the same time, those who appeared in front of Fatty Lu and Wan Shi, of course, there were Chaozhou prefect Fu Honglie and Chaozhou ginseng general Yang Guotai and other Chaozhou civil and military officials of all sizes.

As the legend says, the Chaozhou Prefect, who was kneeling in the front, wearing a fourth-rank official uniform, was indeed a very charming man of Yingwei. He was in his thirties, with a moderate figure and slender limbs, a national character face with a sharp edge, a tough line, and two beards with neat trimming, which looked very energetic. His eyes were bright and bright, and he looked at them as if he could go straight into his heart. Compared with him, our county magistrate Lu Dazi was actually a bit less eye-catching.

What made Fatty Lu even more angry was that when Fu Honglie came to Shang Wan's carriage to say a thousand salutes, Shang Wanyan, who was too lazy to move and even more lazy to talk to Fatty Lu, took the initiative to walk out of the carriage without anyone calling him and even bowed to Fu Honglie.

"Mr. Fu, don't be too polite, please get up quickly." Shang Wanyan tried hard to squeeze out a little smile, and blessed Fu Honglie, saying, "You are the official of the court and the great Qing official known to the government and the public. The little girl is just an ordinary woman who has not been given a title. How dare you be such a great tribute to Lord Fu? You and the generals, please get up quickly."

"Stupid girl, why don't you talk so much in front of me?" Fatty Lu suddenly noticed a little sense of crisis. After cursing secretly, he quickly stepped forward and bowed to Fu Honglie and said, "Lu Yifeng, the magistrate of Qujing, Xiaguan, pay homage to the magistrate. - I don't know how many wives and concubines are there?"

"Lu Yifeng, is there anyone in the world who can meet Shangguan like this?" Chaozhou Ginseng General Yang Guotai jumped out and asked angrily: "As soon as we met, I asked about how many wives and concubines Mr. Fu has. What do you mean?"

"Forget it, Lord Lu may just be a joke that is inappropriate." Fu Honglie smiled heartily, waved his hand to scold Yang Guotai, bowed to Fatty Lu, and said, "In fact, it's nothing to tell Lord Lu. This is thirty-two years old this year, and there is only one wife in the family, and the poor family has never taken a concubine."

"Did you hear it? This kid already has a wife." Fatty Lu turned his head proudly to look at Shang Wanshan, but saw that Shang Wanshan looked cold and still looked so ignorant of herself.

After the routine ceremony of mutual greetings and hypocritical conspiracy in the officialdom, Fu Honglie began to invite Shang Wanshan and his party to enter the city, saying that he had borrowed a garden from a wealthy businessman in Chenghai City for Shang Wanshan to stay. He also specifically reminded Li Tianzhi: "General Li, Chenghai City is a poor man, and the subordinates beg the general to restrain his subordinates and not allow them to harass the people, otherwise the subordinates would not know what to do."

"Mr. Fu, let's talk to others." Li Tianzhi, who was from Shang Zhixin faction, had no good voice to Fu Honglie, and snorted coldly, "When did my subordinate Li Tianzhi harass the people?"

"General Li, Lord Fu is talking about the truth. You have to restrain your subordinates." Shang Wanyan probably deliberately angered Fatty Lu, and even said to Fu Honglie: "If you let it go and disturb the people of Chenghai, it will be my sin."

"The last general obeys the order." Li Tianzhi held his fists helplessly and agreed, then turned around and shouted angrily from his subordinates: "Send the order. After entering the city, soldiers are strictly prohibited from harassing the people. If you disobey, don't blame the ruthless military law of this general!"

"As for the order." The soldiers of Guangdong agreed in unison. Shang Wanyan got on the bus again. Under Fu Honglie's personal guidance, he rushed to Xingxuan to collapse. It was not until this moment that Fatty Lu was surprised to find that Fu Honglie, the prefect of Chaozhou, had no even a sedan chair, and led the way for Shang Wanyan to walk into the city.

"Fu Qingtian! Fu Qingtian is here!"

"The grass-roots people paid homage to Fu Qingtian and kowtowed to Fu Qingtian."

"Friends, come and kowtow to Fu Qingtian--!"

Fu Honglie was indeed very popular in Chaozhou Prefecture. Along the way, countless people knelt on both sides of the street, rushing to kowtow to Fu Honglie. Many people even came out from the residential and shops on the side of the road to bow and kowtow, but they completely ignored Shang Wanyan and Fatty Lu who were wearing the flag of King Pingnan. Seeing this, the magistrate of Lu County couldn't help but ask Liu Zhen and others beside him: "You are from Guangdong. You know the situation in Chaozhou Prefecture. Why is this Lord Fu so loved?"

"Sir, Lord Fu is indeed a good official." Liu Zhen replied respectfully: "When young people went to Chaozhou to perform their careers, they often heard people say that after Lord Fu took office in Chaozhou, he cleaned up all the accumulated cases in less than three months, rectified many unjust prisons, and rescued countless wronged people. In addition, Lord Fu only received three points of fire and received heavy taxes from the province. Lord Fu also tried to take the black hat and didn't want to. Even Prince Pingnan dared to take the orders. It turned out that the poor people of Chaozhou Prefecture had a better life."

"But sir, don't worry." Liu Xu said mysteriously: "Young people have heard Erlang say a long time ago. You are not as stupid as Master Fu. When you come to Qujing, you are ready to collect seven cents of silver. You will definitely support you with all your strength. If there is a tough guy who dares to resist taxes and donations, you will deal with them for you!"

"Shut up! Don't learn from that idiot Xiao Erlang!" Fatty Lu scolded him angrily, and turned his head to look at the carriage beside him timidly, but saw Shang Wanyan turning his head in the carriage to look at him.

"The fire consumption of seven cents of silver? It's Lu Qingtian." Shang Wan smiled and said with a smile, her tone was full of sarcasm.

Fatty Lu felt very wronged and hurriedly said, "Little Princess, don't listen to them nonsense. I have such a dark heart?" Unfortunately, before he finished speaking, Shang Wanyan quickly put down the curtains. I don't know if he heard Fatty Lu's cry for injustice.

While talking, Shang Wanshang and Fatty Lu and his party had already arrived at the headquarters prepared by Fu Honglie. After quickly settled down, Fu Honglie and others went to the front hall to arrange a reception banquet. Li Tianzhi went to arrange for a night guard. Fatty Lu also took four dog legs to guard Shang Wanshang's back hall with his four dog legs. Finally, he caught a monk Wanshang's opportunity to talk and get along.

Taking advantage of this rare opportunity, Fatty Lu quickly pulled Liu Xu to Shang Wanyan, who was drinking tea. While giving Liu Xu a few kicks, he explained: "Princess, I just talked about Badao, this slave is here to you! Princess, please ask in person, what is charging seven coins for fire and money, it is definitely not the ones who are the ones who are talking nonsense by them."

"Princess, the little tricks are small, the little tricks are small!" Liu Xu, who was kicked a few times, kowtowed and said, "What is the cost of seven cents of silver? It's really not what Lord Lu teaches the young people. It's Erlang, the steward of the adults, Xiao Erlang, taught us to say this, it has nothing to do with our master."

Fatty Lu and Liu Xu were teaching the family slaves and kowtowed and explained, which made Shang Wanshan’s maids pursed their lips and laughed secretly. But Shang Wanshan slowly savored the fragrant tea and continued to ignore Fatty Lu. It was not until Fatty Lu was tired of beating and Liu Xu was tired of kowtowing and shouting dry throats together. Shang Wanshan then put down the tea bowl, half-squinted her big eyes, and asked Fatty Lu coldly: "What's the use of saying these words to me? Do I have to explain this?"

"This..." Lu Dafayant, hesitant for a moment, said: "Of course, the princess did not ask for the explanation of Hu Yi, but... Ke Bei Yi was afraid that the princess would leave a bad impression of Hu Yi, so he took the initiative to explain."

"So what if you leave a bad impression on me?" Shang Wan asked back, and said indifferently: "You are not my slave, I am not your boss. No matter how bad the impression you leave on me, what can I do to you? No matter how good the impression you leave on me, what can I appreciate you?"

"This..." Fatty Lu was completely speechless. Liu Xu, who had been completely damaged by Xiao Erlang, raised his head and rushed to say, "Princess, my master cares about you so much, of course because he likes you and wants to marry you..."

"Shut up!" The fat man Lu's fat face turned red. He raised his fat legs and kicked Liu Xu, finally stopping Liu Xu, who had been damaged by Xiao Erlang, from talking nonsense.

After the kick, Fatty Lu turned to look at Shang Wanshan again with guilt, and saw that the maids beside Shang Wanshan had a contemptuous look that a fat toad wanted to eat swan meat. Shang Wanshan still looked cold and there was no reaction. She only stared at Fatty Lu with big bright eyes, looking up and down, and staring Fatty Lu's heart pounding. After a long time, Shang Wanshan asked coldly: "So, Lord Lu, you like me and want to marry me?"

"This..." Fatty Lu never dreamed that Shang Wanyan would ask so directly, and her attitude was so terrible. In a panic, Fatty Lu didn't know how to answer.

"If you really want to marry me, then you can go directly to my father to propose marriage." Shang Wanyan continued to throw a bombshell with a cold expression, which made the maids and servants present widen their eyes, as if they saw a white swan jump into the fat toad's mouth.

"Really?" Fatty Lu couldn't believe his ears and asked in surprise: "Princess, do you want to?"

"Since I was born in the Shang family, I can't let me decide whether I want to." Shang Wan said expressionlessly: "My father and mother do not allow me to become a monk. Of course, they will marry me out in the future. Whether it is a chicken or a dog, it is up to them to decide. I don't have to say anything. So if you want to marry me, go to them to propose marriage. As long as they agree, I don't care - marry a chicken and follow the dog, and marry a big fat pig, follow the big fat pig."

"Hahahahaha..." Everyone present, including Xiao Erlang, burst into laughter, while Fatty Lu's fat face was flushed, so embarrassed that he wanted to find a crack in the floor to get into it.

"How is it? Now you understand what I mean?" Shang Wan glanced at Fatty Lu with a slanted glance and said solemnly: "If you understand, please walk away from me. I am a little tired and want to rest for a while. As for our marriage, go and discuss with my father, don't bother me."

Amid the laughter of the maids and servants, Fatty Lu shrugged his head and retreated dejectedly. Xiao Erlang and other unscrupulous servants immediately started a bet on the other side, betting that Fatty Lu would go directly to propose marriage to the old traitor Shang, would the old traitor Shang agree to agree to marry his daughter to Fatty Lu. The gambling game also quickly miscarried.

"Princess, Princess, something happened, something happened!" Just as Fatty Lu was depressed, a guard from the Prince of Pingnan suddenly shouted and rolled in. Hearing this shout, Fatty Lu, who had been secretly warned by Li Tianzhi in advance, rushed to Shang Wanshan without hesitation, and rushed to Shang Wanshan with his back to protect him with his arms.

Fortunately, the guard did not come up directly as Fatty Lu imagined, which was not good for Shang Wanshan. He just rushed to Shang Wanshan for five steps and knelt down on one knee, clasped his fists and said, "Report to the princess, there were a large number of people gathered outside the headquarters to shout injustice to the Chaozhou prefect Lord Fu, sued our soldiers for forcing the people to rob fruits, and beat the people without paying money, asking Lord Fu to make the decision for them."

"What a coincidence?" Fatty Lu was stunned and thought to himself that when Fu Honglie entered the city, he warned Li Tianzhi to restrain his soldiers from being allowed to do whatever he wanted. Why did it really start to make trouble as soon as he entered the city?

"Mr. Lu, why are you stopping me?" Shang Wan rolled her eyes and interrupted Fatty Lu's doubts. After driving the county magistrate Lu away, Shang Wan Si stood up and frowned and said, "What happened to Li Tianzhi when she entered the city? She only warned him when she entered the city and asked him to restrain the soldiers from doing anything wrong. Why did the robbery of people's wealth happen as soon as she entered the city? He is not like this? No, I want to go out and take a look."

"Don't worry, Princess Princess, it's just a small matter, you don't have to worry about it." County Magistrate Lu advised: "Just let General Li come forward. Taking the fruit first is just a small matter. It's great to pay some money. Princess Princess Princess Princess, you are a golden branch and a jade leaf, so don't show up in front of so many people."

"I am willing, do you want to take care of it?" Shang Wan gave a pair of hygienic eyes to Fatty Lu, and led the maid out of the back hall. Fatty Lu had no choice but to follow him with four dog legs, ready to protect Shang Wanshan from escaping.

The seriousness of the matter was obviously much higher than Fatty Lu's expectations. When he arrived at the gate of Dexingyuan, he saw that the street was already crowded with people. There were hundreds of people watching the lively people when he heard the news. A green camp soldier wearing a soldier uniform was tied up and knelt at the gate. Next to him was a village farmer carrying a fruit basket. In addition, Fu Honglie and Yang Guotai and other civil and military officials of Chaozhou Prefecture also rushed to the scene after hearing the news. Li Tianzhi stood in front of the soldier with a blue face, kicking the soldier in the accident one after another.

"Li Tianzhi, what happened?" Shang Wanshan walked out of the door and asked. When County Magistrate Lu saw that she was in public when she went out, she did not dare to neglect her. She quickly put a few dog legs on it like dog skin plaster, which naturally attracted Shang Wanshan's eyes.

"Little Princess, I am incompetent in the army. I am alarmed. I am aware of the crime." Li Tianzhi let go of the unlucky soldier and introduced the whole story to Shang Wanqi in dejectedly.

It turned out that just before a cup of tea, a Huo Chief named Xiao Liuzi in Li Tianzhi's team led a team to stand guard at the entrance of the alley. He met a rural farmer carrying fruits. Because the rural farmer sold Chenghai specialty Zhanglinlin, which was very rare, Xiao Liuzi stepped forward and tasted a fresh one. He thought it tasted good and couldn't bear to pay, so he bullied and snatched it over with his power. The rural farmer refused to support him and was beaten by Xiao Liuzi. As a result, he naturally became angry. Hundreds of people ran to the gate of the gate to ask Fu Honglie for justice. A small matter naturally started to make a big fuss.

"Please forgive me, it's all because Mo Jiang did not lead the army well." After introducing the whole story, Li Tianzhi apologized to Shang Wan in a dejected manner: "Please rest assured, Mo Jiang will definitely deal with this little sixth son with a strict military discipline."

"General Li, you don't have to feel guilty." Fu Honglie came over and advised, "Fortunately, the matter is not big, so let's do this. According to the officials, General, you should deal with this little six son in public according to military discipline, and then ask this little six son to compensate the fellow villager for the losses, and the matter will be settled."

After saying that, Fu Honglie turned to the onlookers and bowed and said, "Dear fellow villagers, please listen to my official statement. Today's incident, this Xiaoliu Zijun was indeed wrong, but I ask all fellow villagers to remember that he is also the part of our Qing soldiers. I will give him a favor and ask him to compensate the fellow villagers for the losses. If you ask him to apologize to this fellow villagers, it would be fine. If you continue like this, General Li will be rigorous in the military management, and maybe he will take the life of this Xiaoliu Zijun."

"Mr. Fu is right, let's listen to you." A commoner took the lead and shouted.

"That's right, Lord Fu is a clean official. He will not let us ordinary people suffer losses, nor will he accuse a good person of wrong." The other people shouted one after another.

The crowd was excited. Even if Li Tianzhi wanted to cover up the soldier who caused the accident, he was embarrassed to speak. He immediately ordered: "Come on, press down on this little sixth son and beat the twenty military sticks in public! After the beating, he would be exempted from the rank of Fire Chief, and he would be punished to work as a traitor in the kitchen and start from scratch."

"Get order!" Several soldiers agreed neatly and were about to step forward to punish them. But at this moment, Fatty Lu suddenly shouted, "Slow down, this is wrong!"

"Mr. Lu, what's wrong with the matter?" Li Tianzhi asked in surprise. Fu Honglie, Yang Guotai and others also looked at each other. They really didn't understand what happened to Fatty Lu. Shang Wan rolled her eyes and threw them to Fatty Lu's pair of hygienic eyes.

Fatty Lu did not answer Li Tianzhi's question, but just strode to the village farmer, took out a forest slash from his fruit basket, and asked the village farmer sternly: "Where are you from?"

"Sir, the grass people are from Zhanglin." The rural farmer replied inexplicably.

"How far is Zhanglin from Chenghai?" asked Fatty Lu.

"More than thirty miles." The rural farmer replied with a guess.

"Then what is your fruit called Lin Jian? How much does it cost per pound?" Lu Dafayant asked again.

"Sir, two cents per kilogram." The village farmer replied again.

"That's strange." Fatty Lu sneered and asked, "How come you, a middle-aged man with arms and legs, carry such a small basket of fruits to the city for sale? I just weighed the weight of this fruit. It was very light. Such a small basket, even if it was filled with this fruit, it would probably not be able to hold five kilograms, right? Even if this basket of fruits is five kilograms, you will walk more than thirty miles to the city for sale with five kilograms of fruits that can only be sold for ten cents. Are you losing money? Is your family no big basket or no basket? Or are you not having the strength to eat? A big man brings such a little fruit to the city for money, can you be worthy of your wife or your children?"

"This kid is so meticulous! He can actually see the flaws from such a small place!" Fu Honglie and Yang Guotai were both shocked, and their faces changed a little.

"The grass-roots people, the grass-roots people..." The farmers in the village were sweating profusely, not knowing how to answer Fatty Lu's tricky questions.

"And," said Fatty Lu, asking: "When did Xiao Liuzi rob your fruit? Why did so many people come to watch at such a little time? What are you going to explain this?"

"Oh no! There are such flaws!" Fu Honglie and Yang Guotai looked at each other again, and then they realized that their so-called seamless plan was actually full of flaws in front of Fatty Lu.

"Can't answer it?" Seeing that the village farmer was sweating but speechless, Fatty Lu was even more proud - this time he showed off in front of Shang Wanshang. Fatty Lu immediately stood up and said loudly: "General Li, this matter is wrong. You can't just blame the soldiers now. You have to arrest the village farmer first and question him for his real purpose! Also, those among the people who took the lead in calling for justice are also very suspicious. It is best to arrest the people who took the lead in calling for justice and interrogate them carefully."

"Sir, sir, the people are wronged!" The village farmer panicked and quickly shouted for grievances. The people around him were also in a state of turmoil. Some said that Fatty Lu was justified, while others said that Fatty Lu was bullying people by power and bullying the people by the government. He was a typical dog official. From the perspective of the Qing Dynasty, the dog official's judgment was indeed not wronged at all.

"Things are a little wrong." Li Tianzhi also felt that things were a little strange when reminded by Fatty Lu.

Li Tianzhi was about to give an order, but Xiao Liuzi, who was kneeling on the ground, raised his head and said to the Magistrate of Luda County with tears in his eyes: "Sir, you have gained the kindness of expelling the villain. But just now, the little one was obsessed with it. He forced the fellow villager to steal the fruit and beat him. The young one was willing to take the crime and was willing to compensate the fellow villager for his losses, and to use the military law to correct the military."

"Fuck your mother!" Fatty Lu wanted to kick this little six son to death. Li Tianzhi was in a very difficult position and could only turn to Shang Wanqi and ask, "Little Princess, what do you think about this?"

"Since our people have already pleaded guilty, what else can we say?" Shang Wan said lightly: "Do what to do. Don't be partial, it will hurt the hearts of the people."

"Take!" Li Tianzhi agreed with his fist, waved his hand again, signaling the soldiers to execute the execution in public. After hitting Xiao Liuzi with twenty military sticks, Li Tianzhi asked Xiao Liuzi to compensate the copper coins of the farmers in the fruit town, and finally shouted: "From today, I will be exempted from the position of Huo Chang, and go to the kitchen to make meritorious service!"

"Is this really just a coincidence?" Fatty Lu, who rolled his eyes in contempt, rolled his eyes around the streets, thought, "If this was not a coincidence, but someone deliberately arranged it, what is his real purpose? Also, Yang Guotai, who was beside Fu Honglie, blinked his eyes just now, was he winking at him? Could it be that all this was his arrangement?"
Chapter completed!