Chapter 53

In the end, Yin Zhifu still agreed that the two should be guests together. Firstly, it was because he didn’t want to offend the two sons from the capital, and secondly, he was afraid that Yan Mingting would think that he was a dish.

A group of people walked into the front hall, and Zhifu Yin called Bu Cai.

Yan Mingting said that he had already eaten, so he just had to drink some wine. So Yin Zhifu brought up several altars of good wine.

Several people sat down one after another, and Zhifu Yin came to his senses and saw that Yan Mingting was sitting on the same stool as “the most beautiful man in the capital”, while Li Yucheng was sitting on the other side with the little brother next to Yan Mingting, facing each other. There are also two lieutenants.

He smiled mischievously, and seeing that everyone was calm, he didn’t say anything, thinking that they just chose the seats randomly.

Zhao Yelan had already heard Yan Mingting mention the situation of the Yin family last night, so he looked it up secretly, and there was no one else in the lobby except the servants. After Mrs. Yin helped greet the guests, she took all the female relatives back to the backyard.

The meals on the table are quite satisfactory, not too extravagant, but also take into account the taste of the capital, half Beijing cuisine, half Huaizhou cuisine.

Prefect Yin toasted with Yan Mingting before getting down to business: “I don’t know if General Yan still needs manpower? If you need it, just mention it. I will do my best to help the general catch the thief.”

“A need is a need, but let’s wait until Pinglu’s body recovers first.” Yan Mingting said.

Prefect Yin’s smile froze slightly, and then he laughed again: “Naturally, when she recovers, I will definitely let her work for the general.”

At this time, Zhao Yelan, who had been eating food quietly, suddenly said, “What’s wrong with Miss Yin?”

“Speaking of it, I’m not afraid of your jokes. My daughter went out and suffered a lot, but she became ill after returning.” Yin Zhifu said.

Zuo Ran puffed up his face in anger, buried his head and ate food without saying a word, biting his teeth itchy.

“I also get sick from time to time, and I happened to bring a famous doctor with me on this trip, why don’t we ask him to show Miss Yin?” Zhao Yelan said.

“Don’t be so troublesome. I’ve already invited many doctors. I believe she will recover soon.” After the prefect finished dealing with it, seeing that he finally stopped talking, he was relieved and turned his attention to Yan Mingting again. , “General, how long will you stay in Huaizhou on this trip?”

“Not sure, the first thing to do is to catch those two thieves.” Yan Mingting said.

Zhifu Yin nodded, thinking secretly in his heart, he only hoped that his people could find Yin Pinglu as soon as possible, so that the two of them could get along well. The original marriage was canceled two days ago, so he turned his mind on Yan Mingting. Maybe Yan Mingting is willing to marry Yin Pinglu? Then his Yin family is really prosperous.

After drinking for three rounds, the magistrate Yin continued to praise Yin Pinglu to Yan Mingting, and everyone else could hear the cocoon.

Li Yucheng finally couldn’t bear it anymore, and said: “Prefect Yin, I heard you say that your daughter is a fairy in heaven and earth. I was so moved by what I said, and it’s time to get married again. Why don’t you marry your daughter to me? ”

“Nephew, don’t joke.”

“I’m not joking with you. If you don’t like me, my brother is fine too. Fu Qian, you send someone to the capital to inquire. Who doesn’t know his name? His father is the Minister of Dali Temple.”

Prefect Yin was startled inwardly, and looked at Zhao Yelan calmly, but saw that he didn’t seem to be moved, he just played with the empty teacup indifferently, and suddenly glanced at Yan Mingting’s hand with sharp eyes.

Yan Mingting suddenly stopped his hands, and immediately put the wine glass he had just picked up back on the table in silence.

Prefect Yin frowned slightly, always feeling that the way these two get along with each other was a bit weird, but after thinking about it, they were both well-known people in the capital, so it might not be surprising that they had known each other before.

Yan Mingting looked at the sky, realized that the prefect Yin only wanted to talk about unrelated matters with him, and prepared to leave.

Several other people also stood up one after another. Li Yucheng’s sharp eyes saw that there were several footprints on Yan Mingting’s shoe. He glanced at Zhao Yelan with a suppressed smile, and said that if he didn’t go back, Yan Mingting’s leg would be trampled on. Useless.

“Daddy, Daddy, I also want to see the general!” At this moment, a little girl ran to the lobby.

“Oh, Miss Ba, come back quickly.” The nanny quickly chased her out.

“This is the younger sister of Ping Lu’s compatriots. She is still young and a bit naughty. Please forgive me.” Prefect Yin said awkwardly.

Yan Mingting’s leg was suddenly hugged. He looked down and saw that the little girl was only as tall as her thigh. She hugged his leg and asked with a smile: “Are you a general who knows how to fight? Hold a sword and have **** with him.” ?”

Yan Mingting and Zuo Ran laughed at the same time.

“Can you teach me? I want to learn too!” The little girl stretched out her hands, “If you teach me how to breathe, I will give you a good thing.”

“What is it?” Yan Mingting asked with a smile.

“Candied haws!” The little girl took out a candied haws from her bosom and insisted on giving it to him.

“How can the general eat your candied haws? Hurry up and go back to your room to sleep.” Prefect Yin came over to pull people away.

“It’s okay, the little girl has her heart.” Yan Mingting collected his expression, exchanged a glance with Zhao Yelan, took the candied haws, and then went back to the inn with the others.

In the middle of the night, Yan Mingting sneaked into Zhao Yelan’s room again, along with Zuo Ran.

He put the candied haws on the table: “This should be given to me by Yin Pinglu.”

“What?” Zuo Ran was taken aback.

“The only people who know that I like candied haws are my own people.” Yan Mingting said, “Let the little girl give it to me, and no one will be suspicious at all.”

Zuo Ran couldn’t wait to tear off the sugar paper, put it next to the candle, carefully inspected the marks on it, and finally found that each sugar-coated hawthorn had a pattern drawn with very thin lines

There are flowers, the sun, rivers, and mountains.

“What does this mean?” Yan Mingting asked.

“Ask her.” Zhao Yelan looked at Zuo Ran.

“This is what she mentioned when she taught me how to read before. The meaning of these patterns is – freedom. She is free now, and she escaped safely!” Zuo Ran trembled, crying with joy.

“That’s good.” Chief Yan Ming breathed a sigh of relief, let her go back to the room, and then smiled, “Yin Pinglu, this girl is dead, since she gave me candied haws, she actually asked to leave her as a secret code. Ran can understand, is this because she is afraid that I will be confused by her father?”

“Why, the bad old man has spent a lot of time talking with you, but you are not tempted at all?” Zhao Yelan gave him a sideways glance.

“Just kidding, am I the one who can be said to be tempted by just a few words?” Yan Mingting smiled and stretched out his foot, shaking it triumphantly, “It’s someone who stepped on me several times a night, I don’t know I thought there was a lot of vinegar added to the tea.”

“I was about to be suffocated to death by the smell of your alcohol.” Zhao Yelan said.

Yan Mingting tentatively hugged him from behind, the other person stiffened for a moment, then turned around immediately, and the two faced each other.

Yan Mingting’s heartbeat was terribly fast, especially when he saw the other party close to his neck, his breath fell on his skin, like a fire primer, which was about to ignite him.

Zhao Yelan tilted his head and sniffed at his neck. The nostrils caressed his skin intentionally or unintentionally. When he heard the other party’s heavy breathing, he licked the corners of his mouth and pushed him away: “It stinks to death.”

Yan Mingting’s hand was empty, and he looked at him with some mourning. As soon as he took a step forward, the other party stretched out his index finger to poke his chest, preventing him from approaching.

“Go take a shower.”

“Just give me a hug first.”

“Don’t even think about it.” Zhao Yelan raised his eyebrows, “Am I trying to trick you into drinking, or because you don’t want to take a shower?”

“Okay, I’ll go back to take a bath now, wait for me!” Yan Mingting turned around and slipped back to the room to take a bath, rubbed himself hard, and was afraid that he would still smell, so he pinched his nose and took the incense in the room. He got up, smoked around his body, and then happily sneaked to the upstairs room.

However, the room was pitch dark, and the guy who was supposed to flirt with him was already dead asleep!

Yan Mingting wanted to cry but had no tears, so he could only lie down on the floor to let himself cool off.

In the darkness, Zhao Yelan silently twitched the corner of his mouth.

The next day, Yan Mingting was called to the government office to discuss the matter. The officials in Quzhou had received the letter and were cooperating in the search for the escaped culprit.

And Zhao Yelan went to the teahouse again to pay attention to Kuang Sheng’s movements.

After a while, Yu Dali came in to report the situation: “There is still no one hanging around his house, but he goes to the gate of the city whenever he is free, and asks the guards if there is anyone coming from the capital.”

Zhao Yelan suddenly had a guess in his heart, and said: “I know, leave eight people here to continue guarding, and the others will withdraw.”

“yes.”

Zhao Yelan was walking alone on the street when he suddenly saw a large group of people marching towards the government office. The escorts were tall and mighty, all holding guns in their hands, and they were transporting ten large boxes.

It should be the team escorting the disaster silver.

The common people stopped to watch curiously, but were kicked back by the officers and soldiers.

He paused, went back to the inn, picked up Li Yucheng who was still sleeping, and asked him to take him to Cheng’s mansion.

He had been to Cheng’s mansion two or three times before, and they were always eating for entertainment, and the Cheng family didn’t ask him about his identity. Because when Li Yucheng came back this time, he also brought a letter from Li Jinyu, telling them to follow the arrangement of his predecessors, not to ask too many questions, not to make any noise.

The Cheng family has accumulated some wealth over the years, but they have always listened to Li Jinyu’s warnings, never bribed other officials, and are well-behaved businessmen. Sun Sandai squandered.

Now the head of the Cheng family is Li Yucheng’s uncle, so he specially took him to the study and asked, “Master Fu, you are here today, do you have anything important to do?”

“I don’t know what is the relationship between Master Cheng and Prefect Yin?”

“Except for necessary contact, I rarely communicate with him.”

“What are the necessary contacts?”

“Such as trafficking in goods, opening up business routes, or his birthday…”

Zhao Yelan: “How is his relationship with other businessmen?”

“I used to be very good with the Wang family, but after the Wang family fell, he completely ignored the merchants. Instead, he had a heated fight with other officials, from the county magistrate to the governor, and he has connections.”

“Have you paid the commercial tax this year?”

“Not yet, but count the days, it will be handed in in a few days.”

“Let’s go now. There are too many merchants at the end of the month, and the government office will be too busy for a while.”

The government office is very busy at this time. Prefect Yin got the news earlier that the imperial court allocated the disaster money, but there is no rain these days, so it can only be temporarily stored in the government office warehouse, which is taking people to store it.

After discussing the deployment in the city with the people in the punishment room, Yan Mingting was about to leave, but at the door, he bumped into Li Yucheng and his uncle coming to pay the taxes.

He walked out of the gate of the mansion, folded his arms around his chest, and carefully scanned every corner of the vicinity with his eyes. Finally, he found Zhao Yelan’s figure in a restaurant diagonally opposite.

The other party naturally also saw him, and while fanning the wind, raised his chin at him.

After a while, Yan Mingting pushed open the door of the private room and said, “You let them go to the government office?”

“Yeah.” Zhao Yelan paid attention to the movement inside, “What’s the reaction of Prefect Yin?”

“It’s quite normal. It seems that there is no intention of corruption.”

“I don’t think he has the guts to think about making connections.” Zhao Yelan sneered.

The two sat and waited for half an hour before they saw the nephew and uncle come out. After Li Yucheng bid farewell to his uncle, he ran upstairs. When he saw Yan Mingting, he was not surprised and said, “Uncle and the people in the house After countless rounds of communication, a few or two sentences were settled, and the total amount of money put into the treasury was thirty-eight thousand taels.”

The imperial court allocated a total of 100,000 taels, divided into two teams to Huaizhou and Zhizhou, each with 50,000 taels, not only to spread the risk of transportation, but also to facilitate disaster relief. Along the way, it was handled by many people in the middle, and there was no disaster, and it was necessary to scrape a little bit of oil and water. But this is too little, and it is easy to arouse suspicion. The best way is-

“I heard that the **** team encountered a robbery of darts, and the governor sent troops to keep them.” Li Yucheng said.

“Well, it just so happens that the bandit incident has made the surroundings uneasy, which is indeed a good reason.” Zhao Yelan began to write the memorial, handed it to Yan Mingting, and found a few reliable people to personally **** him to Beijing.

After all this work, it was almost dark, and Li Yucheng went back to Cheng’s house.

The two were eating in the restaurant, and Yan Mingting suddenly remembered something very important: “Where’s Xiao Gao? Why didn’t you take him with you when you went out this time?”

“He has other things to do.” Zhao Yelan said mysteriously.

It was a little cooler at night, the two of them walked along the lake after eating, the oncoming wind brushed their cheeks, bringing a bit of coolness to this hot summer day.

Yan Mingting turned his head to the side, saw the hair on both sides of his hair raised, couldn’t help reaching out and touching it.

Zhao Yelan didn’t make a sound, but stopped suddenly, looking at the lanterns floating by the river, he remembered that today is the Hungry Ghost Festival.

After a while, when I walked upstream, I saw many people putting out lanterns. Seeing this, Yan Mingting also went to buy two: “Shall I let it go?”

Zhao Yelan took it, but didn’t move.

“I’ll give one to my parents and younger brother.” Yan Mingting said, “What about you?”

Zhao Yelan lowered his eyes, and just about to light it, a gust of wind blew over, making the candle flickering, and it was about to be extinguished.

At this time, a pair of hands surrounded it to prevent the wind from blowing it out. The flame flickered a few times, and then ignited again.

“Okay.” Yan Mingting smiled at him.

Zhao Yelan chuckled lightly.

Two river lanterns squeezed into the big team, together with other river lanterns of various colors, entrusted the thoughts and condolences to the dead, and gradually swam downstream along the current.

“They will see it.” Yan Mingting said to himself, turned his head to look sideways, and said solemnly, “They will also see that we are living well now and have a new family.”

Zhao Yelan looked moved and stared at him until the people behind urged them to return to the road.

More and more people came to set off the river lanterns, and the crowd began to get crowded. Yan Mingting glanced at his hand intentionally or unintentionally, and using the cover of his sleeve, he quietly hooked his little finger.

Zhao Yelan didn’t pat his hand away, Yan Mingting’s brows were filled with joy, his face was full of smiles, everyone greeted him with smiles, and walked towards the inn next to his shoulder.

At this time, a sedan chair passed by.

Prefect Yin’s pupils widened, and he quickly lowered the curtain, then pushed aside the curtain at the back worryingly, and looked back at their secretly intertwined fingers, horrified in his heart—mother, General Yan is really a broken sleeve? !