Crossing the Ming Dynasty to be the magistrate

When Wen Yu asked about Qiujiao's background, Mother Tu hesitated.After a long while, he murmured: "This Qiujiao girl... she, she is not from our building, and I don't even have a body deed."

Wen Yu was puzzled, it was the first time I heard that the old bustard had no body certificate.

Seeing Wen Yu's confusion, Mother Tu continued: "This Qiujiao suddenly appeared here half a year ago and said she wanted to come into our building to be a girl. To tell you the truth, I saw her behavior and figure. I knew that she was in this business before, and she came from a big place with many rules. At first, I didn’t dare to accept it, because I was afraid of making mistakes, but she showed me Luyin, and I knew she was The good people made a contract with him later. Who knew that this woman would be so bold as to dare to kill someone!"

Mother Tu looked remorseful, but Wen Yu knew in her heart that it was probably because Qiu Jiao was not hers that she was afraid of going to the trouble of reporting her, otherwise how could such a cash cow brothel abandon her.

Wen Yu asked again: "Mama Tu, please tell me what He Kun did when you came here that day. The more detailed the better."

Mother Tu didn't even dare to dare, and recalled for a moment: "Master He used to be a regular customer in our building, but he always ordered other girls. Qiujiao's price is high, and there are many rules, he can't afford it. Recently, he has made a fortune in business. I often come to Qiujiao to accompany me, because he paid four or five times as much as others, so Qiujiao held her nose and endured it. Some time ago, because he was busy with family business, he came only after a long time. Just now When entering the building, Qiujiao is required, and our most famous cook cooks a table for him..."

Wen Yu asked curiously, "Is he still eating in the building?"

"That's it," said Mama Tu proudly, "it's not my wife who sells melons. Our cooks in Chunxianglou are better than half of the restaurants in Mengyang, especially the fish, which is even more famous. You have seen it too, my lord. Jing’er and our girls here, I, Mama Tu, will make this one from Mengyang City!” She gestured with her thumb.

Wen Yu was silent, indeed, along the way, he found that the style of Chunxiang Tower was similar to that of the gardens in the south of the Yangtze River. It made comprehensive use of rockery, lotus ponds, trees, corridors, and pavilions, thus forming a unique landscape style. garden.Not only is it not chaotic, but it creates an unworldly living atmosphere, which looks elegant and clean, full of poetic and picturesque atmosphere.At the same time, the layout of the rooms in the building gives people a sense of safety and comfort.

Mother Tu was proud, when suddenly Xu Jing said, "So He Kun is poisoned by eating at your place?"

Mama Tu was shocked, and hurriedly denied: "I am wronged! Because we have all kinds of people, so the dishes are inspected by someone before they are served, and the food for Mr. He is extremely clean! I think it is Qiu Jiao, she secretly poured it in while Master He was asleep!"

Hearing what she said, Wen Yu didn't pursue it, so he asked her to back down. He and Xu Jing wanted to search the room to see if there were any clues.

Mother Tu closed the door with a low eyebrow, and the two began to search for the layout of the house.

Finally, Xu Jing found daggers, leather whips, awls and other things in the compartment of Qiujiao's bed. Most of these things were wrapped in jade or jewelry.

Wen Yu was speechless... The ancients are so powerful, but he is as ignorant as a bumpkin.

Xu Jing frowned and said, "Then why is Qiu Jiao hiding these things?"

Wen Yu was gratified that someone was purer than herself, and was about to explain to him when Xu Jing said, "You don't need these kind of brothels, especially Qiu Jiao's position doesn't need to be humiliated."

Wen Yu: "..." Unexpectedly, you are such Ji Qing!

He asked sullenly: "Oh? Then what is the process of this kind of brothel?"

Before Xu Jing could react, he replied subconsciously: "First of all, you have to "go to the door", then "promote", then "enter the hall", then "sit for a long time", and finally "determined love", regardless of status No matter what, you need to follow the above steps. And after making love with the girl, you must be gentle, even if it is really rough, you must never use utensils like this."

Wen Yu was not feeling well, and said in a strange way: "Master Xu said before that he would not go to this kind of place, so it seems that you are a veteran, disrespectful and disrespectful."

Xu Jing froze and panicked: "It's true that I've never been here before. I'm so familiar with it because when I was on duty, it was said that there was a gang of rebels hiding in the brothel all year round. I just went to find out a little bit about it to handle the case."

Wen Yu was curious: "Why arrest people for knowing this?"

Xu Jing rarely answered.

Seeing him like this, Wen Yu felt that this was also the other party's private matter, so it was not good to inquire too much.

But Xu Jing mistakenly thought that he was angry, and immediately confessed honestly: "That group of people is very cunning, we were worried that we would scare the snake away and make them run away, so we planned to send a man disguised as a woman to investigate. At once……"

Wen Yu was dumbfounded, and after thinking about it, it was true that with Xu Jing's temperament and beauty, if he turned into a woman, it would probably be the little dragon girl Zhou Zhiruo alive, who would definitely kill a lot of people in an instant!

Xu Jing looked at Wen Yu who had fallen into fantasy, and felt a little funny. He always hated outsiders caring about his appearance, but now he was a little grateful for the good skin his parents gave him.

Wen Yu came back to his senses, and now he was a little grateful for the sex and indifference decoration in this room, at least it could keep him awake all the time.He coughed in disguise, but he couldn't find anything, so he simply asked Xu Jing to go back to the mansion.

The two were walking on the deserted street, Wen Yu was still a little confused, and followed Xu Jing blindly.But after walking for a while, Xu Jing stopped and grabbed Wen Yu's hand.

Wen Yu was surprised, and just about to speak, Xu Jing glanced behind him, and Wen Yu immediately understood.The two continued to move forward without compromising, and walked into an alley. Xu Jing pulled Wen Yu behind him.

After a long while, I heard light footsteps, and a man's figure sneaked out.

Xu Jing restrained him, and seeing that he was still resisting, he kicked his waist again, and the man immediately arched his body in pain.After confirming that there was no danger, Xu Jing signaled Wen Yu to come over.

Wen Yu approached and took a closer look. Lying on the ground was a young man in his twenties, wearing a patched sackcloth suit, with an ordinary appearance and an honest and honest face.The man struggled to get up from the ground, and Wen Yu noticed that he seemed to be on a slope, and it was obvious that his feet were of different lengths.

The young man seemed to be frightened by the two of them after he got up, and knelt down on the ground and kept kowtowing: "I beg your two adults to spare your lives, the grassroots have no malicious intentions."

Wen Yu asked, "Who are you and why are you following the two of us?"

"Caomin Bian Xiaofei is the one who delivers water in Mengyang City. This time I came to see you for Miss Qiujiao." Bian Xiaofei replied, and then made another big gift: "Please be careful! Miss Qiujiao is really not The murderer who killed Master He!"

Seeing that he was so sure, Wen Yu asked curiously, "What evidence do you have for saying that?"

Bian Xiaofei was stuck, and he couldn't say anything: "Evidence...I don't have any evidence, but it is absolutely impossible for Miss Qiujiao to kill someone!"

Wen Yu was confused: "You are a man with nothing to prove, but now all the clues point to her. How many times have you met Qiu Jiao as a water delivery person? How can I believe you?"

"No!" Bian Xiaofei denied: "I knew Miss Qiujiao before she arrived in Mengyang! I was the one who brought her into the city!"

"Oh?" Wen Yu was curious, just as they had some doubts about Qiu Jiao's origin, they asked Bian Xiaofei to explain clearly, and Bian Xiaofei spoke slowly.

It turned out that more than half a year ago, Bian Xiaofei took over the work of the medical clinic and went to the mountain to collect medicine.He was abandoned since he was a child, and grew up in the mountains with an old hunter. Although it was not good for walking, he was familiar with the mountain roads.As a result, when he was halfway up the mountain, he saw Qiu Jiao.

"Could it be that Qiujiao was killed in the mountain forest, and your hero rescued the beauty and took him down the mountain?" Wen Yu asked enthusiastically, isn't this the plot in the novel, and he actually met him!

"No, it's not." Bian Xiaojiang told Wen Yu the truth in embarrassment.It turned out that he himself saw Qiu Jiao and was intimidated by her beauty. He slipped and rolled down and fell unconscious. In the end, it was Qiu Jiao who saved his life.

Wen Yu: "..." Well, the novels are indeed deceptive.

When Bian Xiaojiang woke up, he saw that it was already late at night.They were still in the deep mountains and old forests, and the woman was warming up by the fire, and when she saw that he was awake, she threw him a grilled fish.He couldn't help but secretly glanced at the beauty while eating fish, and was caught several times, but the beauty was not annoyed, and let him see with a sneer.

After eating the fish, the woman took the initiative to ask him about the situation of Mengyang City, and he told him the truth. After hearing that Mengyang was developing well recently and the people were very comfortable, the beauty said that she would go to Mengyang to be her hometown. OK.

Bian Xiaojiang plucked up the courage to ask her what her career was, and seeing her smile, Bian Xiaojiang was fascinated, only to feel that the surrounding fires dimmed a bit.Two words were coldly protruded from the beauty's mouth: "Chang prostitute".

"Chang prostitute... wait! Chang prostitute!?" Bian Xiaojiang was taken aback, and immediately wanted to dissuade him, but he didn't know where to start.

The other party couldn't help but feel amused when he saw how he remembered Tuan Tuan Zhuan: "I used to do this, but now I have no money, and I don't know anything. Why don't I sell myself and wait for others to support me?"

Bian Xiaojiang's face was red, he groaned for a long time, and whispered: "I, I will support you!" Seeing the surprised expression of the beauty, Bian Xiaojiang said faster and faster: "Yes! I will support you! I mean, the girl is mine. My savior! I should have repaid you!"

The woman looked at him with a complicated expression for a while, and then chuckled: "Poor boy, do I use you to support me? You can sew your trousers first, then we can talk about it."

Bian Xiaojiang looked down, only to find that the pants he had worn for several years had a big hole in the back of his buttocks because he rolled down the mountain just now.He hastily covered it with his hands, wishing he could find a crack in the ground and get in, his expression was gloomy and he stopped talking.

After a few hours, the two of them saw that the sky was about to dawn, so they planned to go into the city together.Before leaving, the woman said: "Hey, little poor ghost, please give me a name, I don't want the old one anymore."

Bian Xiaojiang couldn't read, so he scratched his head and scratched his head for a long time, when he suddenly saw the face of that woman, Bi Huajiao, and thought that it was autumn, so he said, "Why don't we call it... Qiujiao."

The beauty read a few words, thought it was good, and said with a smile, "Okay, from today onwards, my name will be Qiu Jiao." The two parted.

Bian Xiaofei slowed down for a moment, and then said: "Afterwards, I went to Chunxiang Building to deliver water, only to find out that Qiujiao became the top card there. I saved some money in the past few years, and used the money to meet Qiujiao. Qiujiao Jiao was also happy to see me, not only confiscated my money, but also introduced me to a job in Chunxiang Building, and now I gave all the water in that area."

Speaking of this, Xiaofei smiled happily, and Wen Yu was also infected by him, and said congratulations to him.

Bian Xiaofei thanked her, and then said sadly: "Because of work, I often go to Chunxiang Tower, and I also got to know Miss Qiujiao well. Gradually, I discovered Miss Qiujiao's secret."

Wen Yu asked, "What secret?"

"She... She often hides scissors, daggers and other things in the room, and then hurts herself." Bian Xiaofei said as if recalling something, with a mournful face: "The worst time she even drank a little arsenic, Shuang, luckily I found out and forced her to spit it out."

Wen Yu thought of the sharp weapons they found in Qiujiao's room before: "You mean... she bought the arsenic and frost for herself?"

"Yes! My lord, Qiujiao is kind-hearted. She gives alms to the temple every month, and often helps low-class people like us. It's really impossible for her to kill people!" Bian Xiaofei said as he knelt down again. Yu Lian helped him up, and assured him: "You go back first, if Qiu Jiao is really innocent, I will handle it fairly."

Bian Xiaofei thanked him again and again, then staggered away.

After returning, Wen Yu felt that if what Bian Xiaofei said was true, then there were too many doubts in this case.Tomorrow Wu Zuo will come to He's house for an autopsy, so he should go with him, so that he can find out the details.

On the second day, Wen Yu came to the He Mansion early in the morning, and the tall and handsome butler of the He Mansion led them in, and the members of the He family greeted him early in the hall.

In addition to He Tong and He Lian in the court that day, there were a man and a woman standing there, and the woman was He Kun's wife, Xia Shi.

To Wen Yu's surprise, although Xia is not young, she looks very young. Wearing a Taoist robe, with slightly frown eyebrows, she looks even more gentle and demure. None of the two children, He Tong and He Lian, are like her.

The other one is He Song, the second son of the He family.

Before coming here, Wen Yu had sent someone to investigate the He family carefully. This is probably the epitome of a small rich family in the Ming Dynasty.

He Kun has four children in total, and He Tong and He Lian are all born to his original wife Xia.He Song was only three years younger than He Tong. He Kun had an affair with a maidservant, and he was raised by Xia's side since he was a child.There is also a younger son who is also living with him, and he is only five years old, let alone.

He Tong is not a prodigal son, but his qualifications are mediocre, his education and business are mediocre, so he will be a conservative patriarch.In the past, He Kun was just a small businessman, and he was not even ranked well in Mengyang.But recently he boarded the big boat of Mengyang County Government, and his business has grown bigger and bigger. At this time, He Tong is not enough.

On the contrary, the second son, He Song, has gradually emerged in recent years and has managed several big deals one after another. He Kun is very satisfied.

At the time of the incident, He Song was working in Peng County. Yes, the project of building a peony garden in Peng County was also taken down by He Song.He Song originally planned to come back today, because He Kun wanted to completely hand over the business in Sichuan to him, and he planned to go to the capital to develop himself.As a result, He Kun died, and the matter could only be delayed.

Wen Yu looked at everyone's expressions one by one, and calmly led them into the place where He Kun's body was buried.

It was the cold winter, and the body had not decayed yet. Wen Yu ordered the yamen servant to open the coffin, and He Kun lay inside with his eyes closed.Over there, He Lian let out a sob, Xia family bowed her head and recited a few words of the Heart Sutra, and the rest of the people also showed mournful expressions.

Wen Yu sighed, no matter how many times, he couldn't get used to facing the relatives and friends of the deceased.

Wu Zuo inspected He Kun's body, and then reported to Wen Yu: "The time of death is basically the same as when the report was reported, and the deceased's limbs had slight convulsions, and some hair fell off after death. He really died of arsenic. Frost poison. "

He Tong was excited at the side: "My lord! There is nothing to doubt! It is that vicious woman! Please pronounce the sentence this morning, my lord!"

Deng Wu couldn't stand it any longer, and scolded: "Bold! You have to obey your orders to decide the case!" He Tong's face turned pale, and he was too frightened to make a sound.

Wen Yu shook her head, the boss of the He family really can't do it, no wonder his father doesn't like it.Wen Yu said to everyone: "There are still some doubts about this case, and I will investigate it carefully. But don't worry, I will give you an explanation this morning."

Afterwards, Wen Yu and others left under the leadership of the housekeeper of He's house. Before leaving, he asked the housekeeper, "I wonder if you could tell me the itinerary of Master He's death day."

The housekeeper thought for a while: "That day, the master was handling sundries at home during the day, entertained some local business partners in Mengyang in a courtyard outside the city in the afternoon, and went to Chunxiang Tower in the evening. There was nothing else to do."

Wen Yu was silent. There was nothing special about the timeline, so I had to go back and investigate.

After lunch, Wen Yu walked back and forth in the mansion to digest food.

As soon as he walked to the garden, he saw Wen Qiong standing upside down in the pavilion. The temperature outside was less than ten degrees, and the brat was wearing a single shirt, and his small body was shivering from the cold wind.

"Wen Qiong! What are you doing!" Wen Yu scolded angrily, and Wen Qiong fell to the ground in fright.

Wen Yu quickly stepped forward to help him up, and Wen Qiong scratched his head: "Brother? Why are you here? I recently got a headache from reading, and I read a book that said that inversion can regulate the body's yin and yang, making people refreshed Feeling refreshed, I just wanted to try it here.”

Wen Yu raised his forehead. Although his younger brother has improved, he has become more and more unscrupulous: "Where did you find out the pseudo-scientific health-preserving method? Don't you use your brain? If you catch the cold I'll see what you do!"

Wen Qiong was so scolded that he didn't dare to raise her head. After a while, seeing that his anger had subsided, she stepped forward and flattered her: "Brother has worked hard recently, what can I tell my younger brother? Is there another case in the yamen?" ?”

Wen Yu couldn't laugh or cry when he saw his cheap look. Reasonably, this kid is quite likable if he is not nervous, but he is sweet-mouthed and submissive. Mother Wen treats him best when he is alive, so she will He Kun told him about the case.

After hearing this, Wen Qiong was a little disapproving: "What else can there be? First of all, it is impossible for the second son He to kill his father. He will soon own half of the He family, so Mrs. He and her pair of children are left. They Definitely not reconciled."

Wen Yu shook her head: "I've thought about what you said, but the timing didn't match. He Kun was in Chunxiang Building all night, and the incubation period for arsenic was not long, so the He family didn't have a chance to do it. I also sent someone to investigate Chunxiang The He family has never had contact with the servants in the building."

Wen Qiong frowned: "Then I don't know, maybe we all think too much, it was Qiu Jiao who did it, brother, why don't you ask her again."

Wen Yu thought about it, yes, Qiujiao still has a lot of doubts, and she can break through.So he drove Wen Qiong back to the house, and went to the county government jail by himself.

The head of the prison guarding the county government was obviously very nervous when he saw Wen Yu coming: "My lord, why are you here, why don't you take a rest first, and I'll ask someone to clean the inside so as not to dirty your eyes."

Wen Yu knew that there was something tricky in it at a glance, and his face darkened: "Get out of the way." The prison chief didn't dare to speak any more, and turned sideways to let Wen Yu pass.

Walking into the prison, because Wen Yu ordered rectification before, the prison is relatively clean.He went straight to the place where Qiujiao was detained, and before he arrived, he heard someone talking to Qiujiao: "Miss Qiujiao, you can eat more, it's cold in the prison, I brought you a quilt this time. What do you need? Tell me." The person who spoke was Bian Xiaofei.

Wen Yu glanced at the jailer.The cell boss bowed his head in embarrassment: "My lord, I really can't stand being tortured by him. Seeing the pity of that silly boy, I swear to confiscate a penny from him."

Wen Yu also knew that Bian Xiaofei was infatuated with Qiujiao, so he said with a sullen face, "This is not an example."

Over there, Xiaofei was still coaxing Qiujiao softly, but Qiujiao remained silent for a long time before saying: "I am a dying person, why are you so kind to me?"

Bian Xiaofei panicked: "Because, because Qiujiao saved me, I will always remember the grace of saving my life, and Mr. Wen said that he will return your innocence! Now take care of your health, and I will pick you up later Get out!" After hearing this, Qiu Jiao still didn't say anything, but looked at him with complicated expressions.

Seeing that the two of them had almost finished talking, Wen Yu coughed twice to wake them up.

The author has something to say: about marriage in the Ming Dynasty

In all fairness, although women in the Ming Dynasty did not have the right to inherit property, the "Law of the Ming Dynasty" still protected the rights and interests of regular wives. For example, there were clear regulations on domestic violence, bride price, and dowry. After that, it is not allowed to divorce a wife legally, which basically put an end to the act of abandoning a bad wife from the law.

However, although the rights of the first wife are protected, this does not mean that the rights of the first son are also protected.In fact, during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the gap between concubines and concubines was not as big as before. The most obvious is the statistics of imperial examinations. education.Moreover, the Ming Dynasty clearly stipulated that children born to concubines can also be allocated family property.The son is like this, and the difference between the daughter is even smaller.Of course, unless you have a title in your family, the succession to the title must still be based on the eldest son inheritance system, and ordinary people really don't pay so much attention.

In addition, our country has been monogamous since ancient times, and the Ming Dynasty even stipulated the number of concubines. If you are a prince, you can marry at most one concubine.If you are the king of the county, you can take two concubines at the age of 25 without a son, and four concubines at the age of 35 without a son.Ordinary civilians, you have to be 4 years old. If you don't have a son at this time, you can take a concubine.However, the average life expectancy of our people at that time was only about 40 years old, which is equivalent to that ordinary people can only have one wife in a lifetime.So what should you do if you are rich and want to marry a concubine? At this time, you can buy a "supervisor" status through "donation". However, there are also quantitative requirements.

In short, it is really difficult for common people in ancient times to marry a wife. If you are a little poor and unlucky, you will be a bachelor for a lifetime. Sometimes you see people on the Internet who say they want to restore the ancient system of three wives and four concubines.If this is the case, it is estimated that many people would rather be a wife of the second generation of rich and handsome than marry them...