12dz Chapter 373 Zhang Biao, leave the pot behind!
Chapter 373 Zhang Biao, leave the pot behind!
Gao Mengli and Lin Xi left the village chief's house and escorted Zhang Zhi to the academy.
They returned to the inn.
Just as the two arrived at the inn's entrance, they saw Manager Wang of Yingxian Restaurant across the street, his face bruised and swollen, peering furtively in their direction from the doorway.
Seeing Gao Mengli looking at him, he quickly shrank back into the inn, not daring to look again.
Yesterday at the county government office, he was not only flogged, but when he got home, a thief broke into his house that night and managed to find him and put a sack over his head, resulting in him getting beaten up for no reason.
His house was broken into, and he was the only one injured!
"Hi~"
He reached out and lightly touched the injury on his face. The moment his fingertips touched the bruise on his cheekbone, a sharp gasp shot through his teeth.
He angrily flung his sleeves and went upstairs, shouting, "Someone come here!"
After sitting down, he slammed his hand on the table. "Why haven't I received a reply to the letter I sent to the capital ten days ago?"
The waiter who entered the room was so frightened that he immediately bowed. "I went to the post station yesterday to ask, and the courier said... that no letters have been coming down from the capital lately..."
Manager Wang frowned even more, walked to the window and looked at the official road in the distance, then turned back and wrote furiously.
He picked up the completed letter, blew on it, carefully put it into an envelope, and handed it to the worker. "There's a newly opened security escort agency in the city. It's not well-established and doesn't have many connections with powerful families."
"Go and pay them a high price to escort this letter to the capital."
"Yes!"
Half an hour later, the letter written by Manager Wang ended up in the hands of Gao Mengli and Lin Xi.
The two glanced down at the letter, then looked up at Zhang Biao, who was munching on a large pork knuckle across from them.
"Master Lin, your braised pork knuckle is so delicious, why didn't you sell it at your small eatery before!"
"If my brother-in-law hadn't asked me to open this branch, I wouldn't have known you had this trick up your sleeve!"
While gnawing on a pork knuckle, Zhang Biao sucked on his fingers and mumbled a resentful complaint against Lin Xi.
The two people in front of him were so shocked that their faces twitched violently.
Gao Mengli tapped the letter with her fingers. "What's going on?"
Zhang Biao didn't stop what he was doing, but glanced at it out of the corner of his eye. "Oh, you mean this? It's the one the shopkeeper across the street sent to the escort agency, offering a thousand taels of silver to have us escort it to the capital."
I thought the guy was acting suspiciously and didn't seem like a good person, so I followed him the whole way.
Hey, guess what…
Lin Xi rolled her eyes inwardly upon hearing this.
What else could she do? She saw him at the door and, as if her own mother had died, rushed into the store and spun him around in circles!
Then, the person rushed into the kitchen, and now they're here.
"If you ask me, Mr. Lin, you also run a restaurant, and so does the one across the street."
So there might be something fishy about these letters that were sent out, which is why I brought them here for you to see!
Gao Mengli quickly took it, opened it, glanced at it, and her eyes showed a hint of surprise!
Lin Xi also leaned over for a look, her eyes growing brighter with each glance. "So it's the silver that's due this year, and the Crown Prince hasn't sent anyone to transport it yet..."
Gao Mengli stroked her chin, having made up her mind.
She quickly picked up a pen and wrote a letter to Dou Weiyi, which she then handed to Zhang Biao along with the letter from Manager Wang.
"Give the two letters to Dou Weiyi, and he will send someone to handle them!"
The prince is currently undergoing labor reform in Wangyue Village and is unlikely to come, so there's no need to worry about them taking the silver away.
As for Prefect Li, his loyalty still needs to be assessed, and Gao Mengli does not intend to involve him.
Zhang Biao wiped his greasy hands on his clothes, grinned, and said, "No problem, no problem!"
He nodded in agreement, but didn't move. He just kept winking and making faces at Lin Xi!
Lin Xi rolled her eyes so hard they were practically rolling her head back, then waved her hand and said, "Fine, you can pack them all up."
Upon hearing this, Zhang Biao rushed into the kitchen without the slightest hesitation.
Lin Xi and Gao Mengli came downstairs.
Then Zhang Biao, with his lightning-fast speed, lifted the entire pot away!
Upon seeing this, Lin Xi rushed forward, shouting, "You damned Zhang Biao, give me back my pot!"
When he chased after him to the door, Zhang Biao was nowhere to be seen.
Lin Xi was furious. "That pot was a huge earthenware pot that I specially made, almost half a person's height. If you take it away, what am I going to use to make braised dishes?"
Gao Mengli smiled and shook her head, then called out to the kitchen, "Hei Yi, go to the cellar and get another large earthenware pot, wash it clean and put it on the stove for Xi Xi!"
"it is good!"
Upon hearing this, Lin Xi's furrowed brows relaxed slightly. "Mengli, you were so farsighted to have the village make several backups."
"However, I simmered that pot of brine for a full three hours, and even the aged tangerine peel was stored from last year!"
Lin Xi stamped her foot, recalling the rich aroma of the braising liquid, and breathed heavily with heartache, "That glutton Zhang Biao will definitely pour all the braising liquid into the pot when he gets back, enough for him to have hot pot for days!"
What a waste of this braising liquid, which is so good even for braised shoe soles!
"Alright, I'll stay up with you some more!"
Gao Mengli pulled Lin Xi, who was stomping her feet, and quickly went into the kitchen to get busy.
A moment later, anxious voices rang out from outside. Hei Yi rushed into the kitchen, "Master, Madam, the village chief of Jiangzhong Village has arrived."
Lin Xi had just placed the cinnamon stick into the clay pot when she heard this and paused, looking up at Hei Yi: "Village Chief Jiangzhong Village? Wasn't he at the yamen to get the deed done? Is he done?"
Gao Mengli wiped her hands, her brows furrowing slightly: "Something must have happened, Xixi, let's go take a look."
The two arrived at the lobby and, as expected, saw the village chief of Jiangzhong Village sitting on a stool with a worried expression.
Seeing the two men come out, he hurriedly went to greet them, "Master..."
Gao Mengli gestured for him to sit down, poured him a cup of tea, and pushed it towards him, saying, "No rush, tell me slowly."
The village chief tilted his head back and drank a cup of tea, then put the cup back on the table. "Master, I went to the yamen to check the deeds. There's no problem with the land sold by the villagers."
However, those five hills belong to public land, and the county magistrate said it would cost forty-eight thousand taels of silver…
The wasteland and hills are cheaper than farmland, and there are discounts for buying in bulk.
The county magistrate wants 48,000 taels of silver? This isn't a contract, it's outright robbery!
Gao Mengli tapped her fingertips lightly on the edge of the table, her eyes darkening. "The county magistrate didn't say why so much silver was needed. Is there some pretext, or... is someone behind it?"
The village chief frowned and thought carefully about his previous meeting with the county magistrate before speaking, "There shouldn't be any problems... because I went to the contracted farmland before and there were no issues. When I mentioned that there was also all the hilly land in the village, the county magistrate was clearly pleased."
Originally, they were supposed to go through the legal process, but the county magistrate's advisor dragged him to the back office, and when he came out, the county magistrate disagreed...
It must be forty-eight thousand taels; not a single coin less.
Because of this matter, the county magistrate's assistant even got into an argument with the county magistrate..."
Gao Mengli paused, a knowing glint in her eyes.
They just saw that they bought all the hills at once and thought they were easy targets, so they wanted to fleece them.
As for the county magistrate... judging from the village chief's words, he seems to be an honest man...
Gao Mengli glanced at the sky; there was still half an hour before she finished her official duties. She turned and called out to the kitchen, "Hei Yi!"
When Hei Yi stepped forward, she whispered a few words in his ear, and Hei Yi nodded and hurriedly left.
After giving her instructions, Gao Mengli stood up. "Let's go to the yamen!"