Chapter 44:

Jiangsu Caobang has a contact point along the two Huaihe Rivers. Bai Shiqi's forefoot has passed the news from the inn outside, and his subordinates came to see him at the back. Even the house has been rented for her. We respectfully ask her to live in.
"The last time I saw the young gang leader was last year when he paid a New Year greeting to the gang leader in Suzhou. I didn't expect the young gang leader to come to Baoying when he had time.
On weekdays, Bai Shiqi looked at his lack of form, but he was still very reliable when facing his subordinates: "Laibao should do something. Why did I hear that Baoying was in chaos a few days ago?"
The Caobang guy was about thirty years old, Fang Zheng's purplish-red face, rough hands and feet, he didn't even hit his eyes when he was thrown into the crowd. He seemed to be just an ordinary coolie guy on the street, and he spoke in an orderly manner: "News from Young Gang Lingtong, the official salt shop of Huang's family was smashed a few days ago. When the county government sent people, the official salt inside was robbed and cleaned, and the mastermind has not yet been found."
Zhao Wujiu and Yu Ang both pricked their ears to listen, but Bai Shiqi asked the point: "Brother Deng knows why the private salt dealers have disappeared recently?"
The man's surname is Deng, and he ranks third in his family. The brothers on the dock all respect Deng's third brother. He was called by Bai Shiqi. He didn't even dare to say: "You can call me Deng Laosan. The younger brother is called brother." He smiled honestly, but his eyes were shrewd, his eyes swept to the left and right, he hesitated and said: "This is something...the little one is a little heard, but it's inconvenient."
The implication is obvious, Zhao Wujiu and others are outsiders, not suitable for sharing news.
Zhao Ziheng didn't see the outside even more: "I and your family leader are brothers, so let's talk quickly."
Elder Deng hesitated for a moment, and said nothing.
Bai Seventeen: "It's okay, these people are close friends, besides, it is a matter of the salt gang, it has nothing to do with our Cao gang, but Brother Deng said it's okay."
Deng Lao San: "The private salt dealers disappeared. I heard that there is a reason. They are all spreading on the road. Some time ago, a famous official was sent to investigate the Lianghuai Salt Road. I don’t know how old the salt is, but that’s unfortunate. Guan'er encountered several waves of water bandits only when he stepped on the boundary between Lianghuai and Huai, and was finally sunk into the river to feed fish."
Yu Ang, the unlucky official who sank into the river to feed the fish: "..."
"A hapless official, Shenhe will sink. What does it have to do with private salt? Everyone can't eat salt, so they have to run to the official salt shop?" A smile flashed in Bai Shiqi's eyes. Someone seemed to have swept Yu Ang, staring at the inconceivability from his square expression, and deliberately said, "Master Yu has any ideas?"
Yu Ang couldn't bear it, his face turned into a pig liver color, and he still couldn't pretend to be deaf and dumb to the savior's behavior of treating the court's laws as nothing. How can the magistrate condone private salt dealers like this? If conclusive evidence is found from above, he will throw his black hat!"
Deng Lao San heard that this tone was a bit wrong, so he stopped cautiously, but his young master quickly blocked the mouth of the old man Yu, and he seemed a little ironic: "Yes, the people above only care about taxes. Who cares about the life and death of the people? The price of official salt is so high that the people can't afford to have anything to do with their high-ranking officials? All put on a posture of worrying about the country and the people, just count the taxes and collect them. How can you not know how to count the number of people in the people’s banknotes? The number of people who are sick due to lack of salt? Sure enough, the silver banknotes are the root, and the people are just ants!"
Yu Ang was loyal to the monarchy for half his life, studied the law, and accepted many special lawsuits, only to be sent a plaque "Yu Qingtian" to hang at home. Even the Emperor often praised him, but he did not expect to be in Baoying County. Being silenced by a half-sized boy.
This half-year-old has a bad temper. After blocking his anger, he is still not polite, and suddenly he is polite: "Lao Yu, I saved your life, but I didn't let you come to my house to show off. Since you are penniless, Starting from today, I have been doing some chores at home. Even if my body is not well, I can clean the table and dust, right?"
The blue veins on Yu Ang's forehead couldn't help beating. For the first time, he missed the board used to interrogate the prisoners in the platform. It was thick and wide, and the head of the rod was black. It was a color formed by not knowing how many people were contaminated with blood. It was extremely deterrent and ordinary. When the people saw it, their calves turned tendons, and they wanted to kneel down and beg for mercy.
It’s a pity that Bai Shiqi didn’t know the thoughts in his mind, and was too lazy to talk nonsense with him, and directly ordered:
Brother Deng, turn around and divide Lao Yu’s head with a rag and a feather duster. He can’t do heavy work, but he can do light work. Yes, I don’t have the money to raise idlers. Besides, the poor people are not struggling to make a living. It’s unreasonable for Master Yu to become tender after being injured, and he can’t even lift a feather duster."
Zhao Wujiu: "..."
Doctor Yushi wipes the table to remove dust, seventeen, how dare you!
Zhao Ziheng eats melons with relish, as long as the unlucky ghost in the hands of his good brother Bai Shiqi is not him, everything is easy to say.
Yu Ang: "..."
The old man should copy the words "Misfortune comes from the mouth" a hundred times to show self-cultivation.
A penny of money stumps the hero, not to mention that he is sick and poor now, not to mention the money for medicine, and he has to stop eating at the house of Bai Seventeen. He is funny considering the national taxation, and the official seal is not known. No matter whether you stay in Lianghuai or return to Beijing, I am afraid that your life will be narrow. What is there to dispute?
He succeeded in becoming dumb again, and Li Kee became quiet in the living room.
Bai Shiqi signaled Deng Lao San to continue.
Deng Laosan went on to say: "Since the hapless official fed the fish, news has been spreading everywhere that the imperial court may send another official to investigate the Lianghuai Salt Road. It sinks one, so you can't have one sink and one pair, right? It is better for everyone to converge. When the officials from Beijing have checked and left, they will come out to find a living, so the brothers on the salt road have withdrawn. As a result, the official salt shop sees a profit, and the daily price of birth has increased by 30%. Many people can’t afford to eat salt. There are old and young at home, so they can only rush to the official salt shop to vent their anger."
The 17th National Congress of Bai was regretful, and he was about to stumble:
I’m late and I didn’t catch up with the good things, otherwise I will try the feeling of smashing the shop.
My store is reluctant, and others can’t smash it without complaint. She still understands the unscrupulous high-priced official salt shop for everyone to vent their anger.
"After all, it's not quite right to hit the shop. If you have something to do, you should first find the government." Zhao Wujiu said this, even he felt hypocritical.
If the government manages the price of salt in the official salt shop in Baoying County, it will not lead to a looting incident.
Usually when the government comes forward and is not effective, it can only rely on everyone's strength.
Bai Shiqi feels that Zhao Wujiu is boring and boring, so he said: "The government can do anything other than cashiers?" According to the governance of the country, the tax revenue is also engaged in public infrastructure construction. what. But officials seem to have no such idea. When building bridges and paving the way, the government calls for donations from wealthy households. The preparation of the township school is also a matter of the local gentry, which seems to have nothing to do with the government.
Zhao Wujiu doubted, and if he argued for a few more words, he might also follow in Yu Ang's footsteps. Bai Shiqi arranged a job to sweep the courtyard, but he could only shut his mouth wisely.
The room finally calmed down, Bai Shiqi: "Then why the Wu family master is unconscious?"
Mr. Deng smiled and sighed:
Master Wu’s family may be out of luck. Standing in the doorway of his own shop, he can be mistaken by the salt thief. It is now spread all over the county, thinking he is It has been suffered for generations."
Bai XVII: It may not be the case that the generation has suffered, but it is a real thing to get hurt by mistake.
After Jianyin's reunion, Deng Laosan had something to do on the dock, so he hurriedly left.
Poor Yu Ang still didn't know what words he touched on Young Master Bai's Ni Lin, so he turned to ask Zhao Wujiu, and the other party thoughtfully: "I seem to...understand a little."
Although Bai Shiqi is a mischievous temperament, from the perspective of cherishing the lives of the people under her hands, she must have a lot of compassion for ordinary people. Yu Ang only starts from the state tax, but she is unable to eat salt. The ordinary people of China were aggrieved, and suddenly looked down upon the official.
Yu Ang still slurped his head: "What do you understand?"
Zhao Wujiu smiled and said, "Since Master Yu doesn't understand, please dust off the table, and think about the words of Bai Shao."
Yu Ang: Do you participate in Zen?
It's like playing dumb.
Wu Dai was in a coma for a few days, and the family's heart was floating. He invited Huang Youbi to come over to see his pulse, and then he asked Zhu Shoumei to come forward for another diagnosis. Only after he found the thickest needle from the acupuncture bag he carried, he started to go to himself. Guess where to tie.
Wu Dai was unconscious, and there was another possibility that he had no protective measures when he was beaten, perhaps because he had a blood clot in his head.
Huang Youbiyi is bold, and the needle is simply and neatly placed. It turns out that the thickest needle is hollow. After it is inserted, there will be blood dripping out slowly, and the sky will be darkened, and Wudai slowly opened. Closed eyes.
"I finally woke up."
Under the light, Wu Dai woke up from a coma and spoke unfavorably. He could only look at Huang Youbi with a pair of grateful eyes, and was patted twice on the quilt: "Recover well, don't worry." He fell asleep again.
Wu Jing and Wu Rong heard that their father was awake at first sight. Before they woke up from the ecstasy, they saw that he fell asleep again softly. They were shocked. They held Huang Youbi on the left and right: "Uncle Huang, my father fainted again. Go over! Help him!"
Huang Youbi took the pulse again and announced Wu Dai's condition with a smile: "Your father's illness has finally stabilized. It's just that his body is too weak, so he went to sleep again. When he wakes up completely, he will be fine."
The master and apprentice were busy for half a day. At this moment, they felt hungry. Besides, there were people like Bai Qiyi. When asked about the others, Wu Rong was immediately ashamed—he was anxious about his father’s illness and threw him to the housekeeper. No more attention.
The housekeeper was called in urgently, and only then did Huang Youbi know that Bai Shi and the others went outside to find a place to rest and left a contact address.
Wu Rong was extremely ashamed: "I...I remember my father's illness..." Even the guests had forgotten, and they were hanging out in the side hall for a few hours, not to blame for finding a place to stay.
Wu Jing complained to her elder brother: "Brother is worried, so I shouldn't neglect the guests." She poured tea to Huang Youbi and his apprentices personally, and when it was Zhu Shoumei's turn, she smiled friendly at him and lowered her head slightly.
It's a pity that her eyes are red and swollen recently, and it is pleasing to the eye when crying, but it is quite difficult to laugh. In Zhu Shoumei's eyes it is an unfriendly expression. She regretted two steps quickly, took the tea she poured, and thanked again and again: "Trouble Miss Wu!"
The two masters and disciples Huang Youbi stayed at Wu's house all night until Wudai was out of danger, and then they insisted on finding a place for Bai Shiqi and others to stay.
Wu Rong couldn't keep it, so he had to send a sedan chair over.
The teacher and apprentice Huang Youbi first touched the contact point of the Caobang. When they found the house of Bai Shilien, they saw Yu Ang who was wiping the dust in the living room. He also regarded this as the work he volunteered to find. His activities are conducive to wound recovery."
As a doctor, I like seeing patients obediently following the doctor's advice.
Yu Ang had a hard time saying that, for the first time after serving as an official for many years, he learned to serve tea and pour water, and he personally made a cup of tea for Huang Youbi. The technique was unfamiliar and he wetted the robes of his lifesaver.
As expected, Bai Shiqi acted as the master, and he scolded, "I can't even serve tea. Why do you want it? You still want to go back?!"
Yu Ang's old face was flushed and there was almost nowhere to put it.
Breakfast was a bowl of thick white porridge, with no taste, only the smell of rice. He didn't feel it after he swallowed it. After lunch and dinner were served, the food had no salt at all, and it was too weak to swallow. He finally woke up. GuoweierThe savior is young and energetic, and tells him how unpalatable meals without salt are.
Yu Ang has been in a high position for many years. He was stubborn and refused to surrender. After three days of unsalted meals, the birds would fade out of his mouth. Finally, he couldn't help but cried out to Zhao Wujiu, "The master Bai is too much. Be careful, she didn't give salt to the ministers for three days, so how can she have strength?"
Zhao Wugui smirked in his belly, but his face was serious, and he wanted to persuade him: "Seventeen eyes are a bit small, and he loves to hold grudges, but he is kind by nature. Why don't you go and apologize to her, and the matter is over. "
Yu Ang's old face can't wipe his face: "His Royal Highness, Weichen... Weichen is her father's age..."
Zhao Wujiu tried to persuade him again, and found that Yu Ang was a figure who walked all the way to the dark, and had no patience, so he was driven away under the excuse of rehabilitation.
He has been able to walk a few steps against the wall recently, before pushing his wheelchair to stand up, and he heard the questioning voice above his head: "I have a little heart? Still love to hold grudges?"
When Zhao Wujiu looked up, he saw that Bai Shiqi was sitting on the wall. A tree was planted here. The leaves had not yet fallen, but her figure was covered by more than half, and a pair of anger was exposed between the branches. Eyes: "Since you think so, I can't bear the nausea in vain?!" After saying that, I jumped down and disappeared into the wall.
"Seventeen"
"Seventeen, come back and listen to my explanation!"
Zhao Wujiu was inconvenient to move. It was extremely difficult to catch up with Bai Shiqi. Shu Changfeng went out again. Zhao Ziheng, a lazy guy, was still sleeping, and he didn't know what to do.
Bai Shiqi has done what he said. As long as he has to be a careful person, the food that Zhao Wujiu brings to the courtyard is the same as Yu Ang, all without salt.
Zhao Ziheng slept until the meal started, squeezed the chopsticks and carried the vegetables, and then he started to vomit: "It's so terrible, why don't you put salt? Can you not even eat salt?" He followed Bai Shiqi to the official salt shop to ask for the price. The high price impressed him.
Zhao Wujiu also ate chopsticks. The food in his mouth was plain and tasteless. He is a prince, and he should be angry because of this negligence, but God knows which of his tendons is wrong, and he smiled after eating two bites I am afraid that only Bai Shiqi in the whole world dare to let him eat the food without salt below?
He gulped and grilled the rice, and it was delicious. Looking at Zhao Ziheng, he suspected that they were not eating the same dish: "Cousin, is it delicious?"
Zhao Wujiu opened his eyes and smiled, "It's delicious."
Zhao Ziheng also grabbed a chopstick in the place where he had held it, and tasted it, the same faint taste, without any salty taste: "Cousin, is it really delicious?"
"It's delicious."
Zhao Ziheng thought: It's broken! My cousin treated his legs, but his brain was broken!
He put down the tableware and panicked to look for Huang Youbi, and said with a gesture of excitement that he dragged the master and apprentices over: "My rudder is sick and I can't taste it anymore. Mr. Huang hurry up and take a look?"
Huang Youbi was halfway through the meal, and was dragged over by Zhao Zihengsheng. After asking the reason, she couldn't laugh or cry: "Seventeen this monkey is pranking again!" She has many tricks of playing tricks, and she still doesn't change her nature when she grows up.
Zhao Wujiu was eating food that was not salty. He thought of Yu Ang’s complaints, and suddenly said: "Mr. Huang, the price of official salt is so high, it has also caused riots among the people. You said if you give it to those salt officials Can they experience a bit of civil suffering for meals without salt for a month?"
Huang Youbi was surprised by his whimsical imagination: "Master Zhao Ruo is joking? Those officials are full of brain fat, even before serving the delicacies of mountains and seas, they have to weigh whether they are rare enough. Who would dare to eat unsalted meals? Serve the table for them to enjoy?"
Zhao Wujiu: "The old man was right, who would dare to serve it?" It was like asking Huang Youbi, but also like asking himself.
Bai Shiqi’s prestige in the Caogang seemed to be good. She ordered to send unsalted meals to the Zhao Wujiu courtyard, and the people below would not discount them. Not only did they not add salt to the meals, but even a salted duck egg would not even be delivered. .
When he ate the first day, he estimated that Bai Shiqi would appear in the evening.
The result was miscalculated, and Bai Shiqi didn't even see a shadow.
On the second day, he thought that even if Bai Shiqi refused to come, he would send a maid to look for the news, right?
As a result, except for the auntie who delivered the meal, her mouth was closed like a clamshell, and even the servants who were sweeping in the courtyard seemed to have an appointment and began to act in a pantomime.
On the third day, the food was delivered. Bai Shiqi did not show up. Zhao Wujiu couldn't help himself. He sent Zhao Ziheng to ask Bai Shiqi: "Just say that I said something wrong. Ask her to come over and apologize to her."
What Yu Ang didn't do, but unexpectedly he had to do it first. It's really impermanent.
Zhao Ziheng went around the house and didn't find Bai Shiqi. He went to the dock to look for Deng Lao San. However, the Cao Gang brothers who stayed behind told me that the Young Gang leader and Deng San Ge set off for Qinghe Road two days ago.
"The court has sent someone to clean up the river. When is it necessary for the people from the labor gang to clean up the river?" Zhao Wujiu was puzzled, wondering what the local officials had forcibly assigned.
Unexpectedly, Zhao Ziheng mysteriously attached to his ear and explained in a low voice: "When the 17th left, the brothers on the dock did not hide it from me. Cleaning up the river is not digging silt, but... to clean up the water bandits."
Zhao Wujiu thought he was listening: "Clean up the water bandits?"
Zhao Ziheng has a frown, and has already begun to worry for his brother: "Those water bandits even dared to chop Yu-sama. After the seventeenth, they won't be able to sink the mud and feed the fish?"
Zhao Wujiu had also seen Bai Shiqi like a fish in the canal, but when he heard her cleaning the channel, he was still worried for no reason: "Those water bandits are fierce and cunning, Shiqi... can she kill people?"
In terms of brutality, the two are not at the same level.
Zhao Ziheng: "The brothers at the dock said that every year when the water bandits are flooding, the Seventeen always takes the brothers of the water gang out to clean up a wave. The adults at the coastal guards can only clean up by themselves. "
Zhao Wujiu: "Did he say when he will be back?"
Zhao Ziheng shook his head: "There is no fixed number for this kind of thing, as long as ten and a half months, as long as one or two months, if you run into..." He snorted twice, and swallowed the rest: "I won't say anything bad."
When Yu Ang heard about this, his heart was complicated.
He was very grateful to the savior Bai Shiqi, but he was accused of being a casual eater and asked him to clean up and do work. Even the rice was not salty. It was unavoidable that she didn’t know how to treat him like this. A court ordering official was really bold and irritated in his heart.
But when I heard that she took the water gang brother to clean up the water bandits, she wanted to praise her as a "young hero."
As a person who has experienced life and death and escaped from the hands of the water bandits, Yu Ang still feels timid when he thinks about it, but Bai has taken people to the river to fight his life at the young age of seventeen. The danger is self-evident. .
"Blanker Bai...how is the skill under his hand?" Yu Ang was also a little worried.
Zhao Wujiu: "...Don't you remember to hate her for letting you eat meals without salt?"
In the past few days, Yu Ang has also inquired about the price of the official salt shop from the servants who are waiting. Not to mention that ordinary people can’t afford it, because his salary also feels that the price is outrageous. Now he has to admit that Bai Shiqi’s intelligence is too high. "I would also like to thank the young master for this move. It allows me not only to look at the private salt matter from the standpoint of an official, but also to understand the harm of high salt prices from the perspective of the people." He patted his chest and promised: "Your Majesty has sent The Weichen came to investigate the Jiangnan Salt Road, no matter how deep the water is inside, the Weichen is desperate to find out!"
Zhao Wujiu: "Only you? No official seal or imperial decree?"
The imperial edict had long been lost on the official ship, and the official seal was carried at the time, but he woke up but disappeared.
Wang Zhou’s words were too heart-stirring, and Yu Ang threw himself at his feet:
Weichen knows that his abilities are limited, and even his official seal is lost. Even if he wants to investigate the salt affairs of the Lianghuai, the local officials will not cooperate. Weichen wants to use His Royal Highness's banner, and ask His Highness for permission?"
Zhao Wujiu fumbled for something in his sleeve, and handed it to him: "What you lost...is this Fang seal?"
Yu Ang was excited, holding his official seal in both hands, almost grateful to Zhao Wujiu: "Thank you, Your Highness! Thank you, Your Highness! This is the official letter that Weichen lost!"
Zhao Wujiu said indifferently: "You don't have to thank me. This Fang seal was picked up by the river when the Seventeenth rescued you. She thought it might be something more important, so she left it to me for safekeeping. See you before. You have not healed from a serious injury. If you get the official seal, you must be anxious to handle the errand. It's better to press on me.
"Young Master Bai?!" Yu Ang had mixed feelings, and only hated that Bai Seventeen was not in front of him, otherwise he would kneel and kowtow to the other party-she not only saved him, but also his whole family!
The family members who lost the official seal were also implicated, so he followed King Zhou closely, so that he could return to Kyoto in the future and beg the King Zhou to intercede for his family before His Majesty.
Zhao Wujiu looked far away and sighed: "Seventeen with good intentions, let you and I eat meals without salt for a few days, and experience the suffering of the people. I really want to check the salt roads in Jiangnan, and I can think about today. Determined and selfless!"
Yu Ang looked like he was being taught: "Sao Bai, the leader of Gao Yi, the Weichen will keep in mind, I only hope that she will return safely, and the Weichen will apologize to her at that time!"
Zhao Ziheng chuckled beside him: "Then I can be a testimony, I hope Master Yu will not break his promise."
A good brother always teases him, but he can't see that he is wronged by others, and he always feels that she should live as she wants.