Qingyu Case: Female Minister of Dali Temple

Zhao Tianhai and Zhao Qiang's smiles suddenly disappeared.

Zhao Changping secretly looked at Chen Shao, and seeing that Chen Shao had no intention of helping, he had no choice but to bite the bullet and said, "I, I'll buy it, but I'll have to wait a while before I can pay you. Also, after I raise it, I'll have to trouble you to tell the caravan in the village to sell it for me, too."

"You can raise them or sell them if you want," Zhao Qiang glanced at Zhao Tianhai and saw that he had no intention of objecting, so he said, "But you all know the rules, right?"

Zhao Changping nodded repeatedly, "I know, I know!"

"That's good to know." Zhao Qiang glanced at his family and said, "You have a large family, so you should raise more. But you have never raised animals before, so it's not good to raise too many at once. How about this, do the same as Daniu's family, 20 chickens, 10 ducks and 5 geese. Once this batch is raised and you have gained experience, you can take more back to raise."

Zhao Changping bowed and agreed. It was already very good to be able to raise it. He was not very picky.

"But let me be frank with you," Zhao Qiang said, "take good care of it after you get it. Don't regret it after just three or five days."

"Absolutely not!" Zhao Changping looked at his wife. His wife quickly said, "Don't worry, Qiangzi, if we want to go back on our word, you can beat us and scold us, but we will never fight back."

Zhao Qiang said disapprovingly: "Then you can go to my house and get it when you have time."

Their family had done too many unscrupulous things, so Zhao Qiang didn't take her words to heart. It was just a loss of one or two strings of cash, but it would make a good impression in front of Chen Shao, and he could afford to lose this little money.

"Wait for your sister-in-law to send these back, and we'll go get them now." Zhao Changping said happily.

Zhao Qiang nodded in agreement.

Zhao Tianhai turned around and was about to leave, but was kicked by his wife. Then he remembered that Chen Shao hadn't spoken yet. He quickly stopped and turned back to look at Chen Shao.

Chen Shao said: "Go ahead."

After the whole family left, Chen Shao said, "Just do what you did before. You don't have to take special care of them."

Zhao Qiang thought that her words were not just a courtesy, so he agreed.

After lunch, led by Zhao Qiang, Chen Shao left Zhaojia Village and headed for Taojiazhuang.

On the way, Chan Yi said, "Second Master refused to take the money. Before leaving, I put the money under the pillow."

Chen Shao nodded to show that he understood.

Chan Yi said, "I have to keep this money in mind and ask Master Zhang to make it up to me later."

As she spoke, she took out a pen and paper from the low table beside her and took notes seriously. "The silk and satin that Lord Zhang and Lord Ding are wearing are all made of top-quality materials. When I was in the capital, I went to the cloth shop to ask about it. Even a piece of this kind of top-quality material with the most ordinary pattern costs twenty taels. What they are wearing is not ordinary pattern. How much is their salary? It would be fine if they have spare money to buy one or two sets of clothes. I saw Lord Zhang and Lord Ding walking around in the mud of Zhaojia Village yesterday, but they didn't look distressed at all. It shows that they have a lot of such good clothes.

"Where do they get so much money to squander? They must have been corrupt, so they don't feel wronged to pay."

Chen Shao said: "If you are not wronged, then why did you only write twenty taels?"

Chan Yi immediately changed the twenty taels to one hundred taels.

The sky was completely clear, but the mud on the road did not dry up so quickly. The carriage was shaking and had not gone more than two miles when Zhao Qiang, who was leading the way, suddenly stopped and Fu Jiu quickly pulled the reins.

A few feet ahead, a man and a woman were slipping towards this direction.

Zhao Qiang has already recognized the two people.

After saying to Fu Jiu, "It's A-mei's second brother and second sister-in-law," he raised his voice and asked, "Second Brother Tao, Second Sister-in-law Tao, where are you going?"

Tao Erge and Tao Ersao had already recognized him, but they didn't dare to recognize him because of the carriage behind him. After hearing his call, they quickened their pace and approached him, and then stepped aside and asked, "Where are you going?"

Zhao Qiang said: "I was just about to go to your village to look for you, and I happened to meet you here."

The expressions of Brother Tao and Sister Tao both changed. "So, my sister is really..."

Zhao Qiang sighed and got off the horse, "You guys get on the horse first, we'll talk while we walk."

Brother Tao said, "Don't dirty your horse. We can just walk back."

Zhao Qiang said, "Come up, the master is here too, we can't afford to delay any longer."

After Brother Tao and Sister Tao looked at the carriage fearfully, they dared not refuse. Zhao Qiang helped them to sit on the horse, and then he came back to sit beside Fu Jiu. After they were on the road again, he said, "I went to your village yesterday and saw your father... so I came back. I originally planned to inform you in a few days, when your father's business was done, but I didn't expect you to get the news so quickly."

Brother Tao tried hard to hold back his grief and said, "Tao Ming told us, otherwise we wouldn't know."

Zhao Qiang asked, "Isn't he studying at the Imperial College?"

Brother Tao said, "I just came back this morning."

Tao Ersao couldn't wait any longer and asked hurriedly, "What happened to Amei? Tao Ming didn't explain it clearly, and I didn't understand it very well. She was fine when Dad left that day, so why is she so..."

Zhao Qiang sighed: "You also know that the murderer started killing again this year. It was dark and raining heavily when A-mei came back. The murderer happened to run into her, and then..."

"Impossible." Before he could finish, Mrs. Tao retorted, "Amei is the most cautious, and she is famous for her great strength. Ordinary men can't do anything to her."

Brother Tao also said: "When she went back that night, she deliberately brought a kitchen knife with her. Unless the murderer had several people, they would definitely not be able to beat her."

Chen Shao, who was in the carriage, heard this and asked Chan Yi to raise the curtain. Then he asked, "When did A Mei leave Taojia Village?"

Hearing her voice suddenly, Brother Tao and Sister Tao were startled. They instinctively turned around and saw that she was so young and fair. They couldn't help but look at her a few more times. It was not until Zhao Qiang reminded them that they both withdrew their gazes and replied, "It gets dark early on rainy days. Usually, she goes back at the end of the afternoon. She came out just after the afternoon the day before yesterday."

Chen Shao asked: "When did your father die?"

Brother Tao replied, "It was just after noon."

Her father had passed away and it was raining heavily, but she still insisted on coming back. Chen Shao didn't know what words to use to describe her. Looking at the simple couple on horseback, Chen Shao found it even more difficult to understand: "Didn't you keep her?"

Mrs. Tao could not hide her dissatisfaction, "How could she stay? When Dad died, Mom cried and fainted several times. Her elder and second brothers also tried to persuade her several times, but she insisted on going back, saying that the family was waiting for her to go back and cook, and come back tomorrow morning. Now, Mom finally felt less sad, but when she heard that she was in trouble, she cried and fainted again."

The Tao family’s funeral has not yet been completed.

When Chen Shao arrived, his house was still in plain clothes.

"Make way, make way quickly," Zhao Qiang jumped off the carriage and was about to ask Brother Tao who had just come out of the yard to drive everyone out when Tao Ming suddenly rushed out from the side, waving his hands and shouting loudly, "Master Chen is coming, make way a little further, don't bump into Master Chen."

The villagers who came to the Tao family to do business quickly dispersed to both sides of the yard.

Tao Ming rushed to meet Brother Tao and greeted him cordially: "Sir, please come in."

After Fu Jiu glanced at him, she drove the carriage into the Tao family's yard.