Xie Wengshan winked at Xie Yun. Xie Yun understood, cupped his hands and said, "My dear nephew, can you allow us to discuss it for a moment?"
"Senior, please excuse me!" Although Xie Yun changed his title, showing a bit of intimacy, Liu Ziqiu did not follow suit, but reminded, "This matter should not be delayed for too long!"
Most of the Xie family are scholars, and bloody scenes like this have not been seen for nearly a hundred years. But after all, they are the most prominent family in Jiangnan, and they still handle things in an orderly manner.
Two maids came over early and asked Liu Ziqiu to go to the side hall to bathe and change clothes. Someone also brought clean clothes for Ah Fu and the others to change into. The bodies of more than a dozen bandits and four domestic slaves were also carried out. The doctor of the Xie family
I came over to inspect them one by one, and I was secretly speechless. These corpses only had one wound, and they were all fatal with one blow.
The only ones that were difficult to deal with were Wang Zimao and Lu Da. Before Mr. Xie and the others came up with the outcome of their discussion, they could not let them go, and it was inconvenient to arrest them. Fortunately, they were still unconscious. Mr. Xie's doctor checked their injuries.
It was nothing serious. Luda was hit on the head by Agui with the handle of his knife, but Wang Zimao was knocked unconscious by Luda. However, with Afu and the others watching, there was no need to worry that these two would seek an opportunity to escape.
If Liu Ziqiu knew that Xie Zhiwen, a man who does not look like a man, was behind all of this, he would definitely look at him with admiration.
…
In the back house of the Xie family, the three brothers, Xie Wengshan and Xie Wengshan, sat together again, with Xie Yun still standing beside them. They were faced with an embarrassing choice, and there were only two ways to go.
The first way is to report to the official according to Liu Ziqiu's suggestion. This may be the best way to get the Xie family out of trouble, and even get a reward from the court. But at the same time, the hundreds of years of friendship between the Xie and Wang families will also be destroyed.
Will be completely disintegrated and turn against each other.
The second option was to kill Liu Ziqiu and apologize to Lu Da and Wang Zimao. Although this incident was very violent, it was still within the scope of the Xie family compound. With the strict laws of the Xie family, there was no need to worry about the news leaking out.
The problem is that both Xie Wengshan and his son have seen Liu Ziqiu's skills with their own eyes, so I'm afraid no one can kill him.
The faces of the four people were extremely ugly. Xie Wengshan suddenly said in a deep voice: "No! There is a third way to go!"
Xie Wengming and Xie Wengda said in unison: "Brother, please speak quickly!"
Xie Yun also looked at Xie Wengshan nervously.
Xie Wengshan let out a sigh of relief and said: "The only thing I can do is to persuade them to put aside their past grudges and join hands!"
Xie Wenda frowned and said, "Don't you want to tell him what you are planning?"
Xie Wengshan waved his hand and said: "This person is exactly the talent that my Xie family is lacking. Isn't that why everyone is looking for him? You have to tell him sooner or later, why not take this opportunity to explore him again!"
…
It is said that it is easy to go from frugality to luxury, but it is difficult to go from luxury to frugality. Liu Ziqiu had been served by Sister Ninglu and Ningshuang for two days, and he had begun to enjoy this "decadent" life. He stretched out comfortably in the bathtub
Lazy, straightened up and said: "Let's change clothes."
These two young and pretty maids are not young girls like Ninglu Ningshuang. When helping Liu Ziqiu take a bath, they would make provocative movements with their hands from time to time. Unfortunately, Liu Ziqiu's determination was too strong and he remained unmoved. Now Liu Ziqiu stood up.
When he got up, they wiped him and changed his clothes, but their eyes kept glancing at that place. It was such a big lump that they wanted to reach out and touch it.
Suddenly I heard another maid outside the door saying, "Master Liu, my Alang has invited you."
The two maids who had just served Liu Ziqiu to bathe sighed secretly, knowing that they would never have another chance.
…
The previous banquet was turned upside down before it even started. Although the hall had been cleaned, there was still a smell of blood in the air, so this meeting was arranged in a flower hall in the back house. Here, outsiders
It was rare to come in, which showed that the Xie family paid more and more attention to Liu Ziqiu.
The flower hall is not big, but it is divided into two rooms, the inner and the outer, separated by bead curtains. Some famous people's calligraphy and paintings are hung on the walls of the outer room, and evergreen flowers and plants are placed in the four corners. In a corner of the room, there is a woman in full dress, lowering her head and caressing the Yao Qin. Two pairs of
The beautiful girl is dancing.
Liu Ziqiu was led down to the inner room by his maid, and saw Xie Wengshan and his son coming to greet him. Liu Ziqiu even said he did not dare, but still asked them to go ahead and separate the guests and hosts into their seats.
The decoration in the inner room was more luxurious than that in the outer room, but there were only three mats, three sets and tables. The dishes were equally rich, but there was no wine. Xie Yun patted his palms twice, and a maid came out from behind and served them.
Fragrant tea.
Liu Ziqiu knew that there was something important to discuss, so tea was substituted for wine. However, in this era, drinking tea requires adding some oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, etc. Liu Ziqiu was not used to it, so he quickly waved his hand and said: "Thank you, senior, tea will be waived.
Junior, just drink some plain water."
Xie Yun smiled and said: "This is a new way of drinking tea invented by my little girl. Please try it."
Liu Ziqiu took the teacup from the maid's hand and took a look, but he didn't add those messy things. He picked it up and smelled it, and it smelled of fragrance. He couldn't help but smile and said: "The tea is good, but it's just not brewed properly.
"
Xie Wengshan frowned, but then he remembered that Liu Ziqiu was a commoner, so he felt relieved, waved his hand and said, "Go and get some seasonings."
Liu Ziqiu hurriedly stopped him and said with a smile: "Senior, you have misunderstood. With the addition of those things, it is even more difficult to eat. It is already very good as it is. If we want to discuss the Sutra of Tea in detail, it will take three days and three nights to finish it. Let's still
It’s important to talk about business.”
Xie Wengshan nodded and said to Xie Yun: "Let them come in."
The beaded curtain was lightly lifted, and three boys and girls came in. The one in the middle, known to Liu Ziqiu, was Xie Zhiwen, the eldest son of the Xie family. The expressions of the three people were different. Xie Zhiwen remained calm, and the boy on his left had a bit of admiration in his eyes.
, the girl standing on his right suddenly flashed a pair of big eyes, clearly showing curiosity.
Although the appearance of the young man next to him was not as good as Xie Zhiwen's, he had a bit of heroic spirit, which made Liu Ziqiu more fond of him. As for the girl, Liu Ziqiu was astonished, like a character in a painting.
After hesitating, the three of them bowed to Liu Ziqiu in unison and said in unison: "Thank you very much, sir, for saving my father. Please accept our respects!"
In fact, the target of the slave of the Wang family is not just Xie Yun, but if Xie Wengshan also owes Liu Ziqiu, the debt will be difficult to repay. It is the cleverness of the Xie family brothers and sisters to only mention the kindness of saving their father.
.
Liu Ziqiu knew that they were Xie Yun's children, so he was not willing to let them bow. He stood up in a hurry and returned the courtesy, saying: "This is a matter of personal responsibility. It's not worth mentioning. Liu can't afford it. I can't afford it."
This is also true. If he hadn't revealed Luda's identity, this killing would not have been initiated. How could Xie Wengshan and his son be in danger?
Naturally, the Xie Zhiwen brother and sister would not really bow down to a little Li Zheng, so they just went with the flow and stood up to say goodbye. The maids also withdrew, leaving only the three of them in the room.
Liu Ziqiu did not sit down, but raised his hands and said, "Thank you, senior. I wonder how the discussion went with the junior's proposal just now?"
Xie Wengshan smoothed his long beard with his hand, nodded and said: "The Wang family has indeed colluded with the Hebei thief Lu Mingming with the intention of treason. However, do you know that the Xie family has also participated in it. Reporting to the official at this time may be self-defeating."
"Oh, there is such a thing? Then I dare to ask what the old man means?"
"Yang Guang is unruly and the people are in poverty. Mr. Liu is skilled in martial arts, why not..."
Liu Ziqiu waved his hand, interrupted Xie Wengshan's words, and said: "Liu knows that the Sui Dynasty will not last long, but what does this have to do with the Xie family? People often say that a thousand-year-old family and a hundred-year-old dynasty. No matter who is in the world.
, the old timer just wants to be his own rich man, why bother to wade into this muddy water?"
Xie Yun sighed: "My dear nephew, you don't know something."
It turns out that since the Sui Dynasty destroyed Chen, no one from the Xie family has served as an official in the court. If no one in the family has become an official, what kind of noble family can we call it? Every time a new official comes to Danyang to take office, he must come to the Xie family to scrape the land. 10
Over the years, the Xie family's land has been reduced by 20%. If this continues for several decades, not only will the Xie family's reputation as the most prominent family in the south of the Yangtze River be lost, but it will also be difficult to support the entire family.
Under the lobbying of the Wang family, he took the risk.
Liu Ziqiu laughed and said: "Senior, you think too far. According to Liu, the empire of the Sui Dynasty will not last ten years. Ten years later, the world will be different again. Why risk thousands of lives of the entire clan?"
Strange danger?"
"Ten years? How did you know that?" Xie Wengshan was surprised. If what Liu Ziqiu said was true, there was really no need to take this risk.
"Yanguan County Magistrate Yuan Tiangang, have you ever heard of him?"
"Yuan Tiangang! If he said it, it would be somewhat credible."
Liu Ziqiu secretly laughed in his heart, this old bastard was framed by me again today.
But I heard Xie Yun ask again: "Yuan Tiangang is a god in divination, has he ever said who can rule the world?"
Liu Ziqiu couldn't help but think of the note on the top of the mountain. People in the world are superstitious, and a nursery rhyme can often confuse many people. Who can deny that the prophecy that "Li's family will replace the Sui Dynasty" on the note was not something Li Yuan secretly caused?
"The secret must not be leaked." Thinking of this, Liu Ziqiu smiled pretending to be mysterious and said, "Anyway, it's not the Wang family or those bandits from the north."
Since Liu Ziqiu said this, there would definitely be no future for him to rebel with the Wang family and Lu Mingyue. Xie Wengshan and his son were silent. They wanted to know who would replace Sui Dynasty so that they could make friends in advance. Unfortunately, Liu Ziqiu refused to say, and they also
There was nothing to do. However, there was no need to mention the matter of persuading Liu Ziqiu to abandon the past and join hands with the Wang family and Lu Mingyue.
Early the next morning, the Xie family organized dozens of servants to guard the courtyard and escorted Wang Zimao and Lu Da to Danyang County. Moling was only a dozen miles away from Danyang and could be reached in an instant. I heard that it was a major rebellion.
Zhao Jun, the prefect of Danyang, did not dare to neglect and immediately interrogated him.
Wang Zimao had been pampered since he was a child. He had never seen such a posture before. He poured beans through a bamboo tube and told everything he knew without any torture. At first, Luda wanted to take it hard, but after reading Wang Zimao's confession, he was used again.
After one severe punishment, he gave up.
Lu Da was Lu Mingyue's younger brother, and he knew more about the inside story. There were many details in the confession, and Zhao Jun couldn't help but not believe it. While sending a report to Luoyang on Pegasus, he also sent a letter to Wu County, asking them to monitor every move of the Wang family.
Wang Zimao and Lu Da must not bite the Xie family, but the Xie family had already said it when they reported to the government. The Xie family was just pretending to be submissive in order to lure them into taking the bait. Zhao Jun also got a lot of silver from the Xie family, so he naturally wanted to excuse the Xie family. This
The two of them fought and bit each other once, and then they were beaten. After several times of fighting, they never dared to talk about it again.
Because of the Xie family's official report, Liu Ziqiu stayed in Moling for another five or six days before packing up and preparing to return home.
Xie Yun personally sent him to the entrance of the town, stood aside, quietly took out a piece of red paper from his sleeve and handed it to Liu Ziqiu, saying, "This is my little girl's Gengjie invitation."