Qiao Lan and her family took away a small amount of incense from the wing room on the left, distributed a few sticks to each person, and then went to the Lingtai Hall to burn incense and kneel down.
In the Taoist temple, there is only one statue of a clay-born deity, painted with simple three-color paint, with a kind and peaceful face.
Originally, Mr. Qiao believed in Buddhism and often went to temples to worship, but did not recognize the gods in Taoist temples.
Although Qiao Lan is a staunch materialist, she still prays to the God of Wealth on a daily basis. She worships the God of Wealth when she is short of money, worships the Stove God during the New Year, worships Confucius and Mencius during exams, and occasionally passes by a temple in a scenic area, so she always goes in to worship.
She doesn't expect gods to appear, but she just wants peace of mind.
After worshiping the clay sculptures in the temple, Qiao Lan saw that the pilgrims who were passing by were stuffing some silver into the merit box nearby. She also took out her money bag and stuffed a few taels of silver into it.
Although many people came to worship, there were no devout believers in front of the temple, so I couldn't help but feel curious.
Qiao Lan took a look in the direction of the crowd and realized that all the pilgrims had gone to the backyard to seek divination. The Taoist priests at Lingtai Temple were extremely effective in fortune-telling, and most of the pilgrims coming and going came here for divination.
Maybe it was the New Year's Eve, so there were a lot of people, and the queue for signing up in the backyard was long, circling several times between the two plum trees. It was crowded but quiet.
There were no Taoist priests around to maintain order, and it seemed that they had long been accustomed to this scene in the Taoist temple. In contrast, the place in front of the statue was quite deserted.
Seeing Mrs. Liu looking at the team in the backyard, as if she wanted to join in the fun, Qiao Lan began to persuade her, "There are too many people, and we have to wait until dark! Next time, wait until Qing'er and the others come back, and wait as early as possible
Come here,"
Mrs. Liu nodded.
The family found a farmhouse at the foot of the mountain, had some simple meals, and then drove the carriage back to the city.
When the carriage reached the city gate, it suddenly stopped.
Qiao Lan thought she would queue up to enter the city, so she didn't pay much attention.
After a while, Mo Qiming approached Qiao Lan's carriage and shouted, "Old madam, the guard guarding the city said that officials will be passing by here later, and the city gates are not allowing entry or exit. We have to wait for a while.
.”
"It's okay, just wait." Qiao Lan said calmly.
As soon as he finished speaking, he heard some faint noises coming from the city gate. Qiao Lan opened the curtains and took a look. What she saw was a group of young men wearing official hats and sabers around their waists, riding out of the city on horseback.
Even from a distance, Qiao Lan could feel the ferocious aura coming from those people, making people consciously stay away from them.
He thought about it for a moment and figured out that this group of people were young officials from the capital and might be related to the fraud case in Tongzhou.
But it was getting late now, so what were they doing in such a hurry out of the city?
The group of people walked very fast, leaving little room for Qiao Lan to guess. Seeing that order had been restored at the city gate in front, Mo Qiming drove the carriage back to the city.
-
The house in the west of Zongcheng is the quietest, but the Duan family lives in this alley, and it is inevitable to hear the discussions of the neighbors in the alley, and can be heard through a wall into the courtyard.
It was nothing more than talking about the investigation at the government office. Today we went to whose house we arrested whom, and threw the whole family into jail. Who was arrested today?
Because of arrests, Tongzhou City only allowed entry but not exit.
Ordinary people these days don’t have much entertainment, and they have too much time during the New Year.
The high-ranking officials above were investigating cases and arresting people, and all they arrested were officials, gentry, and wealthy businessmen. They had nothing to do with them, so they relaxed and chatted.
Then combined with the short stories heard from others, such as what year and month the arrested person did something bad, it was told with nose and eyes, as if they saw it.
After hearing this, each one of them immediately made a conclusion in their mind! They must have caught the bad guys, and they were applauding. I just hope that more bad guys can be caught, and it is best to let these captured people never return.
We were discussing this day and night with great enthusiasm.
Mrs. Liu listened through the wall, her face became paler, and even the children at home had nightmares.
Qiao Lan saw it. Although they were neighbors, people were free to chat. But chatting at their house every day was too boring.
Qiao Lan called for Mrs. Song and whispered a few words to Mrs. Song.
After hearing this, Mrs. Song nodded and left the yard.
Most of the people chatting at the entrance of the alley were old women with children. Mrs. Song pretended to be affectionate and went up to inquire. After a while, she got into a group with them, followed them, listened to some of the excitement, and agreed from time to time.
A few sentences.
After listening to it for a while, several old women recounted the recent news. When Mrs. Song saw that it was almost time, she took the opportunity to say: "I'm still stewing something on the stove. I have to go back and take a look."
If there is no fire, it will go out.”
"Then you should go back quickly."
Ms. Song walked out of the crowd with a smile. After walking a few steps, she suddenly bent down.
"Ah, I thought it was a stone, but why is it such a large piece of silver?" Mrs. Song pretended to be surprised.
When they heard that someone had picked up silver, the old women stopped chatting and hurriedly looked in the direction of Mrs. Song.
Mrs. Song spread her hands, and there was a large piece of silver on her palm, at least three or four taels.
Three or four taels is not a small amount!
Everyone immediately didn't care about anything else and touched their wallets to see if it was the money they had dropped.
Logically speaking, neighbors who live in the neighborhood chatting at the intersection every day would not bring such a large sum of money out to chat. Even if they want to buy something, they don't need to bring money, and they usually prepare some broken copper coins.
But someone picks up the money for no reason, what if it really is yours?
"Hey, this piece of silver is quite a lot! Who lost it?" Mrs. Song said with emotion.
After touching their purses one by one, they looked at the silver in Mrs. Song's hand.
"Who was standing here just now? Maybe who lost it?" a woman said, and after speaking, she looked around.
Mrs. Song was no longer in a hurry to go home now. She looked carefully at the silver in her hand, pinched the tip and said loudly, "This silver looks to be newly twisted, and it has a tip half the size of a fingernail!"
I didn’t take any money with me when I went out today, it’s not mine. Sisters-in-law, please look carefully to see if you lost it yourself.”
The crowd was quiet for a moment, everyone looked around, but no one responded, as if they were waiting for someone to speak first.
"I want to go home to add fuel to the fire, so I will put the silver here first. If anyone can take out the other half of the twisted silver, it must be who dropped it! Just come to my house to get it. I live in that alley, so remember to come.
Ah!" Mrs. Song said generously and went back with the money.
A group of women were left sitting there, curious about the owner of the money.
They were all sitting here just now, why didn't they see the money falling on the ground? But they saw it as soon as Madam Song left! They all looked at Madam Song's leaving figure with some envy in their eyes.
Three taels of silver is not a small amount. Even though prices in Tongzhou are high, it is enough for a family to use for more than half a year.
Most of the people chatting here are older women who have already experienced the hardships of life. Those trivial problems are inseparable from the word money. If their families had money, they would have moved away from the west of the city long ago.
Who dares to be so wealthy and throw away three taels of silver when they go out?
For a time, the topic of discussion was no longer the criminals who had been arrested in recent days, but the money that had been lost to someone.