Lin'an Never Night

Chapter 318: Please ask Mr. Qiao to be a witness?
Qiao Zhen from the Transportation Department has been paying no attention to anything going on these days and has been focusing solely on the Transportation Department.

After a few days, everything was safe and sound, and he felt at ease.

That evening, half an hour before the court was closed, Mr. Qiao planned to slack off again.

In fact, he is the only official in charge of the Transportation Bureau now, and the affairs are really complicated and numerous.

It was indeed tiring for him to handle it all by himself.

However, the official institutions of the Song Dynasty were not only stacked up against each other, but also had many departments stacked up against each other within a government office, hindering each other.

Now, Master Qiao is the only one in charge. Of course, he is tired, but he doesn't have to argue with each other or pass the buck. He actually enjoys it.

Because Mr. Qiao is not afraid of being tired of work, he is afraid of being tired of people's hearts.

Qiao Zhen hummed a little tune and locked the seal and other things into the cabinet one by one. Just as he was about to slip away, a yamen runner came in and reported that it was the Second King of Longshan who wanted to see him.

When Qiao Zhen heard Wang Er's name, she frowned, thought for a while, and finally said, "You're welcome."

Then he opened the cabinet, took out the seal and other things again, and also took out two more stacks of files and piled them on the table.

When Yang Yuan walked into Qiao Zhen's custody room, he saw Qiao Caosi buried in his case. Only the black gauze hat on his head was dangling above a pile of documents; he could not even be seen.

"Qiao Caosi, Wang Er is here."

Yang Yuan called out, and Qiao Zhen poked her head out from the pile of documents, with a look of joy on her face: "Aha, Erlang is here, please take a seat. Someone, bring the tea."

Qiao Zhen stood up with a smile and sat in the guest seat with Yang Yuan.

Yang Yuan looked at the pile of documents on the desk and sighed, "Chief Qiao Cao's work is really heavy."

Qiao Zhen sighed and waved his hand, saying, "It will be fine once the Ministry of Personnel fills all the vacancies. Right now, Qiao can only tread on thin ice, not seeking merit, but just trying to maintain the position without making mistakes."

At this time, the tea came up, Qiao Zhen offered some tea to Yang Yuan, and asked with a smile: "Erlang, what is the matter with you this time?"

Yang Yuan said: "Oh, isn't this the case when we invited Qiao Caosi to a banquet last time, but ended up being ruined by that rich guy from the Shen family.

Wang Er was deeply uneasy, so he booked a pleasure boat and invited Qiao Caosi to go sightseeing in Jinghu Lake and drink fine wine together tomorrow to make up for the regret of last time.

"Oh, Erlang, you are too polite. The most important thing in friendship is to be open-minded. A meal of wine and meat is nothing. Besides, look at this..."

Qiao Zhen pointed at the documents on the table, shook her head repeatedly, and sighed, "I'm so busy with official duties that I can't get away!"

Yang Yuan smiled and said, "I know that Mr. Qiao has worked hard, but the boat has been rented, the dishes have been ordered, and the famous Shanyin chef has been hired. If you, Mr. Qiao, are not in place, won't all my good intentions be wasted?"

Qiao Zhen's cheeks trembled twice, and he laughed and said, "Erlang, please don't joke with me.

Hahaha, Qiao heard that Erlang, you just took in two beautiful concubines, one is a beautiful girl, and the other is a young girl. They were originally nuns who practiced asceticism, hehe.

Now that you have nothing to do, Erlang, you can take Meiji and ride on a pleasure boat, where the water and the sky are one color, the frost and the moon shine together, the lotus flowers are blooming by the lake, and Buddhist sounds and Sanskrit chants are heard. Isn't it beautiful?

Why do you insist on dragging me, a blockhead who doesn't understand romance, into this and ruin your mood?"

Yang Yuan smiled and said, "Mr. Qiao, you can speak so beautifully and elegantly about romantic matters, and you still say that you don't understand romance? Mr. Qiao, you must fulfill Wang's intentions."

Qiao Zhen frowned, slapped his thigh hard, and sighed, "I really don't want to go, but I'm too busy with official duties to get away. But I can't refuse Erlang's kindness.

How about this, Qiao asked my brother-in-law to go on my behalf. He is also a businessman and runs a pawn shop. He has extensive knowledge of antiques and cultural relics. You two can meet him and maybe we can have business dealings in the future. "

Yang Yuan also sighed after hearing this and said, "Master Qiao, you are really hard to ask. I would like to ask you, Master Qiao, to help me with something. You are in trouble and need a written order from the Prince of Yongjia.

Is it possible that I need a written order to invite you to dinner? Here..."

Yang Yuan reached his hand into his arms, as if he was about to take something out.

Qiao Zhen stroked his beard and glared at him, watching all his movements. When he saw this movement, his eyelids twitched.

He immediately interrupted Yang Yuan and said, "Erlang, if you say that, I will be ashamed. Forget it, just take a day off.

Qiao will be off duty later today, so I can finish some of the work I need to deal with. But I don't know when and where we will meet tomorrow."

Yang Yuan smiled and took out an invitation from his bosom, and handed it to Qiao Zhen with both hands: "The time and place are all on it. Then, Wang will be waiting for you tomorrow."

"Okay, okay, Qiao will definitely be there on time."

Qiao Zhen readily agreed and still politely escorted Yang Yuan out of the ceremonial gate.

Seeing Yang Yuan walking away, Qiao Zhen sighed deeply and looked worried.

"Is it impossible to avoid those people in the Privy Council's Speed ​​Room? He invited me to a drink. Is he still suspicious of me and wants to investigate me, or does he have other intentions?"

Qiao Zhen twirled his beard, unable to figure out what was going on for a long time, and could not help but let out another long sigh.

Qiao Zhen was the deputy envoy of the Liangzhe East Road Transportation Bureau, and the Liangzhe East Road Transportation Bureau was the hardest hit area after the outbreak of this major smuggling case.

As the only survivor of the senior management of the Transportation Bureau, how could he not inquire about the whole incident and the next move of the court?

Therefore, Qiao Zhen knew that it was a deputy secretary of the Privy Council who pretended to be a merchant, gained the trust of the Arab merchant Pu Yama, and went out to sea with him, thus catching the Arabs smuggling goods for the Jin people. Qiao Zhen always believed that although the court arrested all the officials involved in the case of the Transportation Department and took them to Lin'an for interrogation, it was impossible not to send personnel to Shanyin to conduct another search and investigation.

It was at this time that Wang Er, a merchant from Lin'an, appeared.

The deputy secretary of the Privy Council's Mechanical Department once brought more than a dozen foreign beauties with him when he returned from his voyage.

Many people at the Zhejiang Ferry Terminal saw it at that time.

Now, by the side of the Second King of Longshan there is a blonde, blue-eyed beauty from a foreign country, one in a million.

From then on, Qiao Zhen became wary of Wang Er, whom she had never met before.

After Wang Er failed to get him to do something, he brought a handwritten letter from Zhao Shicheng, Prince of Yongjia, the next day.

Since Wang Er was able to obtain Zhao Shicheng's handwritten letter, why did he need Lu You to help him introduce the famous scholars of Shanyin?
The person in charge of this case in Lin'an now is Prince Pu'an Zhao Yuan, so how was Wang Er able to easily obtain Zhao Shicheng's handwritten order?

At this point, Qiao Zhen became extremely wary of Yang Yuan.

Wang Er came here to do business, and the person he met was Chu Nianqiu. The person behind Chu Nianqiu was Shanyin Military Commander Chu Yuan, who was promoted by Privy Councilor Qin Hui. The government was frantically trying to cut off Qin Xiang's wings on the grounds that he was harming the country by selling private property...

After all these events, Qiao Zhen became wary of Yang Yuan.

Businessmen believe in making money through harmony. Even if you are a powerful business man, you will not easily offend a local snake.

What's more, the Longshan Wang family cannot compare to the Shen family in terms of financial resources or background.

In this case, if Wang Er had offended Shen Xi, shouldn't he have prepared a generous gift and gone to the door to apologize?

But he was a businessman's son who was ostracized by his elder brother in Longshan and had to come to Shanyin to seek development. Why wasn't he afraid of Shen Xi?
Not only was Wang Er not afraid, he even dared to ridicule Shen Xi in public, and he did so again and again. Where did his confidence come from?

At this point, Qiao Zhen began to doubt Yang Yuan.

Eight points, that's enough.

As long as there is a little uncertainty, he will not say anything for sure.

As long as there is one thing he is unsure about someone, he will not offend him to death.

Nothing is absolute in this world. How do you know how a person you look down upon or a thing you despise will develop in the future?
What on earth did Wang Er want to take out just now? Shouldn't the invitation be handed over first?
Besides, how could Wang Er be so persistent as to force guests to come?

Ever since Wang Er came in today, his words and actions have been unusual.

Therefore, Qiao Zhen is now 90% sure that Wang Er is the person sent by the court, and is very likely the great hero who uncovered the smuggling case, the deputy secretary of the Machinery and Speed ​​Room.

Such a meritorious minister and promising person, who also performed brilliantly in this case, was noticed by Zhao Yuan, the Prince of Pu'an who presided over the case, and was sent to Shanyin for investigation. Isn't it reasonable?

So, nine points!

Qiao Zhen is now 90% sure that this Wang Er is the deputy imperial secretary of the Speed ​​​​Room.

He felt that if he had continued to refuse, what Wang Er would take out would most likely not be an invitation but a warrant.

The reason why Qiao Zhen only gave Wang Er a 90% conclusion after layers of analysis and judgment was that nothing in the world is absolute. Words cannot be final and things cannot be done to the extreme. People should always leave some way out so that they can meet again later.

If Wang Er had been forced to reveal his identity just now, he would have had no way out.

At that time, if someone needs his cooperation in the investigation, he will have to cooperate.

If someone needs his cooperation to investigate others, he has to investigate others.

It is better to pretend to be confused. As long as the other party's true identity is not revealed, he can continue to play dumb.

Thinking of this, Qiao Zhen ran home immediately. As soon as he entered the house, he hurried to the courtyard of his concubine Tian.

His old wife was sitting in the yard at this time, teasing the child in her arms, who was born to Tian.

Although the child was born to a concubine, she was still called mother, while the child's own mother was called aunt.

In addition, Qiao Zhen has always handled household affairs well, and the relationship between the Qiao family's wife and concubines is very good, so they naturally love their children more.

Suddenly, she found that her husband was in a hurry and didn't even notice that she was sitting in the corner of the yard, and he rushed into Tian's yard.

The old wife couldn't help but cursed sourly: "This old guy, look how anxious he is, just like a loach in a hot pot.

Why is it that he has never been so impatient when he comes to my yard? Eh? That's not right, shouldn't he stay at my place tonight? "

Qiao Zhen hurried into the flower hall, where Tian was sitting embroidering. Suddenly she saw Qiao Zhen coming in, and she stood up in surprise, saying, "Why did the master come to my courtyard today?"

Qiao Zhen waved her hand and said, "I have something to tell you. I will go to your eldest sister's yard after that. Tian'er, at 2:00 pm tomorrow, you will accompany me to Jinghu Lake to keep the appointment with Wang Er of Longshan.

"When the time comes, you must remember that if there are some waves on the lake, I will get seasick. If I drink two glasses of wine, I will get drunk. You must cooperate well and don't let anyone know!"

(End of this chapter)