AWB Chapter 109: Keep your mouth shut about this matter
Chapter 109: Keep your mouth shut about this matter
"Husband, why did you hit that servant?" Seeing that her sister-in-law looked unhappy, Liu asked Xia Zhaofeng to be careful and not let his sister feel resentful.
"Oh, there are some things I need to clarify." Xia Zhaofeng sat down next to his wife and took the tea from her hand. "You didn't sleep well either. Why don't you go back to your room and continue sleeping? Don't drink this tea."
"Ah, maybe it's because I'm old. Once I'm woken up, it's very difficult to fall asleep again." Liu wanted to take back her tea, but she pulled her hand back halfway. "Would you like to drink some to wake me up, husband?"
She suddenly thought of something, "By the way, where is my daughter? She wouldn't have been woken up too, right?" Damn slave, if anyone dared to wake up Xia Weiwei in the middle of the night, she would skin him alive.
"In reply to Madam, I did not send anyone to disturb the young lady." Liu Nanen knew too well the position of Xia Weiwei in the couple's hearts. He was like a birthday star who was about to hang himself - he was too dissatisfied with his life to wait, so he sent someone to call Xia Weiwei in the middle of the night.
"Well, Hehua has taught well!" Liu turned to Aunt Xu who was standing behind her and praised her son, saying that her son was smart and did things without her having to explain.
"It's all thanks to Madam's good training!" Nanny Xu was very happy to be praised. Her third son was praised by Madam Liu for his work. No matter which young master was in charge of the Xia Mansion in the future, Liu Nanen's chances of becoming his confidant would greatly increase.
"Sir, this servant said that Young Master Sun was murdered in a brothel. It was late at night, and Young Master Sun was sleeping with Miss Qi Yu. The murderer broke into the house alone with his face covered and wearing a black tights to kill people. He did not attack the girl, but just knocked her unconscious. After killing her, he jumped out of the window and escaped!" Judge Cao reported Hu Zi's confession to Xia Zhaofeng.
"Well, what does Joey think about this?" Xia Zhaofeng asked Pan Cao. Although he already knew who the most likely murderer was, he was still unwilling to believe it. He still wanted to hear other people's opinions.
"This murderer dared to go to the fireworks place alone to kill people, and he escaped without panic. The most likely person is..." Sun Xuanli did not make any enemies. The targets of his previous robbery were all civilians. If he had the ability to retaliate, he would have done it long ago. Cao Tongpan pointed to the sky. He did not dare to name this person.
He and Ying Jian were classmates when they were young. When Ying Jian came to Guangping Prefecture, he received him as the host. Ying Jian got drunk and let the cat out of the bag. Only then did he know that the emperor wanted to hire Xia Weiwei as the crown princess and was investigating his father's situation from many sources.
Judge Cao knew that given how favored she was in the Xia family, there was absolutely no way Xia Zhaofeng would be willing to allow this marriage.
"You should go back and have a rest first, and keep your mouth shut about this matter, otherwise you and I will be the ones to be exterminated soon." Xia Zhaofeng was upset. He thought his nephew was completely harmed by him. At the same time, he made up his mind that he really could not become a relative of the royal family. This person was too cruel and cold-blooded.
"Madam, please go to Jiahe County in person and bring Xiao Youli to the Xia residence," Xia Zhaofeng instructed his wife. Xia had a five-year-old son, and he wanted to take him back. He didn't know why the emperor wanted to kill Sun Xuanli. Logically, the two should not know each other. For safety reasons, he decided to arrange for both mother and daughter to stay in his own residence to protect his little nephew.
Liu turned around and saw Xia Zhaofeng staring at his sister who was still wiping away tears. They had been married for so many years, how could she not know what her husband was thinking? "Madam Xu, take someone to clean up the Huanyun Courtyard. From now on, my aunt will rest there."
Liu originally wanted to find an opportunity to tell her husband about Sun Xuanli, but this man was already dead, so let everything return to dust.
With this idea in mind, Xia Zhaofeng naturally didn't know about the dirty things Sun Xuanli had done. This nephew was really an insignificant person to the emperor, and he didn't understand the reason why he wanted him to disappear.
The next day after Yang Biao returned home, he went to the largest farm to see how the fermented fertilizer was doing.
Seeing Wu Cheng coming over with a large bundle of ramie on his back, he asked, "What is this?"
"This is ramie, used to weave cloth."
It was Yang Biao's first time seeing this ancient method of making it, and curiosity made him stop and watch. Wu Cheng soaked the bark of the ramie tree he had picked, set up a pot by the river to light a fire, scooped a ladle of stove ash into the pot, and dissolved the gelatin in the ramie.
First, boil the ramie until it is soft. Add stove ash while cooking and cook for about an hour. Then put it into river water to wash off the mud and water. Then start the hammering and cleaning process. Grab the ramie and hammer it against the stone continuously. Swinging the ramie back and forth requires great patience and strength.
After hammering, the ramie needs to be cleaned for the second time. After washing, it is hammered continuously with a wooden hammer. While the men finish hammering here, the women do the cleaning process over there. This relay process greatly saves time.
The women took a bucket of ash, drew water from the river and put it into the bucket, stirring it continuously until the water and ash in the bucket turned into white dye. They could then use it to dye the hammered ramie. When it turned grayish white, they could dry it in the sun. After drying, it would become white hemp threads that could be spun into cloth and then sent to the dyeing workshop to be dyed into cloth with various patterns for sale.
"Is it tiring to do this?" Yang Biao saw that everyone was working hard and sweating. In the ancient times, everything was done by manpower, which was inefficient and people were exhausted.
"The rice in the five farms has been harvested, and the government has sent soldiers to collect half of the harvest that has been dried. These people don't have anything to do now, so they do this work to keep themselves from being idle." Fugui disagreed. They have always lived like this.
"Let's go and check out other farms!" Yang Biao saw that the dried rice was neatly stacked in the storage room and the fertilizer was well fermented, so he inspected other farms.
"Yang Biao, what have you been busy with these days?" That day, Judge Cao came to him. He originally wanted to buy some land or properties confiscated by the Zhang and Ji families, but he was scared by the actions of Zhang Shixian and Ji Fang. He thought that not only did he not get any advantage, but also killed all the lives of his family.
"President Cao, does the lord want to see me for something?" No one comes to you for no reason, and it's best not to beat around the bush when speaking.
"Well, it's like this. Zhang Shixian and Ji Fang were beheaded. Did you know that?" The entire Guangping Prefecture is in a panic now. For fear of being implicated by corrupt criminals, the people are basically closing their doors to visitors.
"Yes, I heard that the two were beheaded in public in the vegetable market." At that time, he organized everyone to plant some trees beside the fields in the village to provide shade.
The people in ancient times might have lived a dull and dull life, lacking some excitement, so most of them liked to watch bloody beheadings, but he thought the scenes were too bloody and he dared not watch them.
In the past two days, the vegetable market in Guangping Prefecture can be described as a river of blood. All the people who were killed were officials who the common people usually had to look up to and who were previously high and mighty in the prefecture.
These officials were all reported by Ji and Zhang, but Xia Zhaofeng, taking into consideration his past friendship with them, only sentenced them to beheading and confiscation of their property, while all their family members were exiled.
He was not afraid that the emperor would investigate the matter, for he knew that the emperor only wanted to have enough money to send to the north to provide relief to the victims, and he did not care whether the corrupt officials' families were exterminated or died.