The Gallant and the Governor Ximen Qing

  "White wine?" Zhu Zhi County said with some surprise: "In this world, yellow wine is popular, white wine can't be considered high-end, unless Ximen's younger brother only likes white wine?"

  "Huh?" Ximen Qing suddenly had a feeling, was it because his method of asking questions was wrong?

  Looking at Ximen Qing's puzzled expression, Zhu Zhishou asked: "What? Isn't it the white-colored rice wine that Brother Ximen was talking about?"

  It's all wrong. Ximen Qing only came to his senses and realized that white wine might not have appeared yet: "Honorable Magistrate, Mr. Jiang, you are both heroes in the world of wine, do you know how many types of wine there are?"

  "Haha." This question scratched Zhu Zhi County's itchy spot, and he laughed loudly: "If Ximen Xian Di asked others, they might not be able to say it completely. I can say that without wine, there is no joy. Almost all the fine wines on the market have been researched by me."

  "There is Pu Zhong wine in the palace, because this wine is carefully brewed by the winemakers of Puzhou, so it has this name; there is also Su He Xiang wine, which is a medicinal wine used in the palace, with one or two Su He Xiang pills cooked in every dou of wine."

  "Royal relatives and various ministers all have their own home-brewed wine, with many names: Qiong Fei wine, Lan Qi wine, Yu Li wine, Jin Bo wine, Qing Chun wine, mostly named after the characteristics of the wine's flavor."

  "Other local wines like Dongyang wine and Rui Lu wine have their own characteristics, and there are also beautiful wines made from fruits, such as lychee wine and pomelo wine."

  ......

  Zhu Zhi County spoke eloquently, and in a short while, he had already mentioned dozens of famous wines and specialties. Jiang Jing, the divine calculator, nodded repeatedly beside him and added: "Su University said: The king's peace is made with Huang Gan wine, named Dongting Spring Color. This wine is hard to come by."

  "There is also wine, which is worth trying."

  Ximen Qing did not expect that his one question would elicit so many responses, but none of what he wanted to know. He hastily interrupted the conversation and asked: "Is there a master brewer in Qinghe County?"

  Zhu Zhi County furrowed his brow: "Small places haven't even heard of particularly famous ones, and even the ten-year-old daughters of the Haomen Lou are carefully selected by the master from Dongyang years ago and transported over long distances."

  Ximen Qing smiled wryly and nodded, wondering if he had to go all the way to Dongyang (Zhejiang Jinhua) to invite a winemaking master after all. His original plan seemed somewhat distant now.

  "This morning, wine brewing is not prohibited." Zhu Zhi County suddenly said: "It's just that the yeast is sold by the government. If Ximen Xian wants to brew wine for personal use or sale, he can go to Daming Prefecture to purchase yeast. In fact, Daming Prefecture also has many good winemaking masters."

  "It's not necessary." Jiang Jing, the abacus master, seemed to suddenly remember something: "When a certain family came from Jingyanggang, there was a small wine shop under the mountain in Yanggu County. The wine inside seemed to have some meaning, with a soft entrance and a strong aftertaste. A certain family was momentarily excited and discussed it with Liu Zhuanggui, the owner of the wine shop. Liu Zhuanggui said that this wine is all brewed by himself, with a unique secret recipe."

  "Three bowls can't get past the ridge!" Ximen Qing suddenly came to his senses, how could he have forgotten this matter, if it weren't for Wu Song killing the tiger on Jingyang Ridge, who knows whether the sign "Three Bowls Can't Get Past The Ridge" would still be hanging at the entrance of this hotel?

  "Some people have also heard of the 'Three Bowls Not Over the Ridge' saying." Jiang Jing smiled and said, "Unfortunately, that sign has already been taken down by Liu Zhuanggui and replaced with a new one called 'Wine Age'."

  Zhu Zhi County burst out laughing: "The signboard is nothing, but this county has gained a tiger-slaying hero as its leader and eliminated a great scourge, which is indeed a wonderful thing."

  "Since Mr. Chiang is so fond of this wine, why don't we choose a day to accompany me to that small hotel and see if we can win over Liu Zhuanggui? That way, Mr. Chiang and the county magistrate can drink this fine wine every day, and Qinghe County will have one more specialty." Ximen Qing struck while the iron was hot.

  "Good!" Zhu Zhixian laughed and said: "This is a great thing! If Ximen's younger brother wants to do this wine business, the county will fully support it, and taxes can also be reduced!"

  "It's indeed a good thing." Jiang Jing nodded repeatedly, seemingly convinced that he had chosen the right path by becoming the financial director and having fine wine in hand.

  The three of us looked at each other and burst out laughing, then continued discussing some detailed issues.

  At this time, a yamen runner reported: "Sir, there is someone outside the door looking for Master Shi. He says he's an acquaintance of Master Shi."

  "Oh, then you can go." Zhu Zhixian was in high spirits and directly waved his hand, telling the teacher to leave.

  The master was suspicious at this time when someone familiar came to find himself, and only saw a figure lurking in the back door.

  "Alas, Master, I'm troubling you again." The visitor's eyes were brimming with tears, almost falling to his knees in front of the master.

  "Oh, it's Wu Qianhu!" The teacher looked at Wu Qianhu and immediately understood his intention. He greeted him unenthusiastically: "What brings you here? The county magistrate is inside talking to guests and will call me over at any moment, so I won't be able to stay for long!"

  Wu Qianhu wiped away tears and rummaged through his pockets for half a day before handing over an IOU. The master took it with a nonchalant attitude, only to discover that it was a 100-guan IOU, which he promptly pocketed without hesitation. Whether you're surnamed Wu or Ximen, as long as you pay up, I'll collect the money without fail.

  "Master, we're old acquaintances now. This matter requires you to speak up in front of the county magistrate."

  "In short!" Master Wu frowned and interrupted Wu Qianhu: "Is it true that you have occupied the property of the Ximen family?"

  Wu Qianhu jumped up like a cat whose tail had been stepped on and hastily refuted: "Things are not like that! Ximen Qing set up a maidservant named Xue'er as his concubine at home, and he wants to drive my daughter Wu Yueniang out of the house to make Xue'er his legitimate wife. When did the Wu family encroach on his property? On the contrary, it was Ximen Qing who divorced my daughter for no reason!"

  "Is that so?" The teacher looked at Wu Qianhu with a strange gaze: "Are things really like this? Tomorrow, the county magistrate will hear this case, and Ximen Qing has Li the Abacus as a witness, and there are also account books. What do you have to say for yourself?"

  "Abacus Li was bought off by Ximen Qing and is now spouting nonsense, not a word of which can be believed." Wu Qianhu defended himself, saying: "Besides, the account book is right there in Ximen Qing's house, it would be easy to tamper with it."

  "Oh?" The master didn't confirm or deny, and gestured for Wu Qianhu to continue: "What do you plan to do about it?"

  Wu Qianhu gritted his teeth: "Counter-accuse Ximen Qing of false accusation. I have prepared 1,000 taels here, Master, if you help me succeed in this matter, 200 taels will be yours."

  Watching Wu Qianhu bite his teeth and spit out 1,000 guan, Master suddenly felt that the Wu Qianhu in front of him was quite stupid. He had clearly occupied Ximen Qing's large property, but at a critical moment of life and death, he only managed to come up with 1,000 guan, which even Master thought was not worth it for County Magistrate.

  The teacher lightly shook his head, looking at Wu Qianhu with a gaze that seemed to see right through him: "A thousand taels, do you know that Ximen Qing is still calling the county magistrate 'brother' and engaging in warm conversation?"

  "1,500 guan!" Wu Qianhu saw that things were going awry and hastily raised the price: "I'll give you 500 guan!"

  The teacher looked down on this price and continued to remind Wu Qianhu: "Do you know how much money Xi Menqing agreed to donate to the county magistrate?"

  "How much?"

  "Three thousand yen!!!!!"

  "What!" Wu Qianhu was almost disbelieving his own ears: "How is this possible? To think that even if Ximen Qing were to sell the house, he still wouldn't be able to come up with three thousand strings of cash."

  "Oh?" The master asked with a smile: "Why is that?"

  "Wu Qianhu was about to spill the beans, but quickly swallowed the truth: 'That's because Ximen Qing's medicine shop is losing money badly!'"

  "Wu Qianhu, Wu Qianhu..." Master shook his head repeatedly: "Do you think the county magistrate will accept such a ridiculous reason?"

  Next, Master Shi directly turned around and left, completely ignoring Wu Qianhu who was standing there speechless.

  Wu Qianhu is already in the past tense in his eyes. As long as tomorrow's trial is over, Wu Qianhu will have to pay Ximen Qing 10,000 yuan, including 3,000 yuan belonging to the county magistrate.

  "Master, please teach me!" With a thud, Wu Qianhu this time really knelt down on the ground, pulling Master's sleeve and begging bitterly: "If we get through this time, the Wu family will be eternally grateful, and we will set up a longevity tablet for Master!"

  "Living proof and material evidence." The teacher shook his sleeves and left without looking back: "Wu Qianhu, I can only help you this far."

  Wu Qianhu's body shook, and he seemed to understand the teacher's meaning. He quickly got up and hurried back to prepare.

  He didn't know that after he left, the teacher immediately told Ximen Qing the same thing.

  "Thank you, Master!" Ximen Qing raised his thumb: "This time Wu Qianhu will come, I'm afraid there's no good fruit to eat."

  Ximen Qing returned with Jiang Jing, the god of calculation, and the first task he handed over to the god of calculation was to verify from the account book that Wu's family had occupied one thousand yuan.

  Because Ximen Qing was certain that in fact, from the account book, only evidence of up to 5,000 guan could be found.

  But magistrates always stand on their own side, what's there to be afraid of? Without evidence, we can just add a few strokes and that's it. Are you still worried about not being able to do away with Wu?

  This ten thousand taels was also estimated by Ximen Qing from multiple aspects of the Wu family's current assets. Judging from Director Wu's reaction, Ximen Qing knew he had guessed correctly, and this ten thousand taels would be just enough to bankrupt the Wu family.

  Although three thousand taels are to be lost to Zhu Qian, Ximen Qing can still recover the more than five thousand taels that were embezzled, and also scrape off two thousand taels from Wu's family.

  As for the reminder from Shi Ye, Xi Menqing quickly made arrangements and waited for Wu Qianhu to take the bait.

  If Wu Song doesn't take it to heart, that's fine. But if he finds someone to get rid of Abacus Li or destroy the account book, Wu Song will probably die even faster. If this matter is publicly tried, everyone will stand on Ximen Qing's side, especially the people of Qinghe County.

  If you Wu Qianhu have nothing to hide, why sneak around to destroy evidence? That just proves that you have a guilty conscience.

  The key is tonight.