"I sent people to deliver everything my nephew wanted to your villa." The old man lowered his head and glanced at the shackles and chains that bound him, and smiled bitterly.
"There are only so many good nephews I can have with you."
"No matter what, Uncle Zhong was once a queen of a famous family - not to mention, Uncle Zhong is the county magistrate, why do they want to kill you?" Xie Yuan was very puzzled.
"In this world, corrupt officials can do what corrupt officials can do, but honest officials cannot." The old man did not reply, but murmured absentmindedly.
Xie Yuan pursed his lips and wanted to speak again, but the officer who ran away had already brought someone in and dragged the old man to the execution platform.
He stopped the officer and asked him carefully about the old man.
Then I realized that although the old man was the county magistrate, he came from a poor family and his status was so low that even his subordinates would bully him.
Forget it, on weekdays, the superiors asked him to plunder the people's wealth and pay more respect to several prefects and governors.
Youzhou is far away from Jiankang, and the governor is a local emperor.
The old man did not want to plunder the people, and he wanted to report corruption to the court, but he was discovered by the governor. In anger, he was charged with treason and sentenced to execution.
"How can an official be a bad person these days? Tell me, isn't this the beginning of Tai Sui's rebellion? Chun Chun is looking for death." The official sneered.
Xie Yuan was silent for a while and asked, "I have a thousand pieces of money, can I redeem his life for him?"
"There seems to be a saying, where is your money?" The officer's eyes lit up and he asked quickly.
"Just a moment."
Xie Yuan took Huo Qubing away for a while and took a box of money from the bank closest to the execution place.
The official took the money and gestured to the executioner behind him.
The executioner raised his knife and dropped it, and the old man's head fell to the ground.
Xie Yuan was stunned and looked at the official with a cold look in his eyes: "What do you mean?"
"Ouch, young master, I made a mistake in remembering that. The laws of the Jin Dynasty do not provide for ransom for prisoners on death row - and that was decided by the governor. Who dares to disobey it? Since you have given me the money, I will let you
Go collect a corpse." The official asked someone to drag the money away and said with a smile.
Xie Yuanmo.
Now that he couldn't tell that the official was trying to trick him into thinking he was a fool, he was really stupid.
"Aren't you bullying me? Give us the money back!" Huo Qubing was so angry that he gritted his teeth when he saw his little lord being treated so openly.
"What's the matter, you still want to steal money from the official?" The official narrowed his eyes, and soldiers from all directions immediately stepped forward.
Huo Qubing was already furious. When he heard this guy talking, he immediately reached out and grabbed the sword at his waist.
When he was about to pull it out, Xie Yuan reached out and held it down.
He glanced at the official indifferently: "In that case, I will thank this official on behalf of Uncle Zhong."
"I thought he was a kid from a famous family, but he turns out to be a coward from a poor family. The money he has on him must be dirty. Brothers, when you go back, take the soap locust and wash the money inside and out three times. Do you listen?"
"Here!" A uniform voice sounded on the execution ground.
The officer sneered, snapped his fingers and led the soldiers away leisurely.
"Lord, are you just going to watch them bully you?" Huo Qubing was furious.
"To cure a disease, if you want to be a big deal, you must first be patient." Xie Yuan took a deep look at the direction the official was leaving, then looked at the falling head, and slowly clenched his fists.
One year, give him one year.
He wanted these people to know that even if they were from a poor family, even if they were outcasts, they could not be bullied to death.
Xie Yuan took a deep breath, found a straw mat from nearby, wrapped the old man's body in it, and chose a quiet place near his villa to bury him.
Later, Xie Yuan looked at the dozen or so large boxes sent by the old man.
He opened them one by one.
All bamboo slips, all ancient books - these are the things he entrusted the old man to bring.
He wants to recruit talented but unpopular children from poor families in the villa, and the best temptation to recruit them is these ancient books that they dream of.
He knelt down and tremblingly picked up a bamboo slip.
In this day and age, if you want to read a book, you have to go to an aristocratic family.
It is almost impossible for children from poor families to read a lot except for a few volumes of books handed down from their families.
These were passed down from several generations in the old man's family - there were quite a few originally, but some were taken away by his mother and taught to him.
It's a pity that those books were sent back to Xie's house when he was knocked unconscious.
But it doesn't matter, he has already memorized it by heart and can write it down at any time.
It rained heavily.
In the empty room, Huo Qubing watched Xie Yuan holding the ancient book in his arms for a long time.
He sighed and turned away.
In the evening, when Huo Qubing pushed in the door with a roasted pheasant, boxes of ancient books inside had already been arranged on the bookshelf.
And Xie Yuan was lying on a pile of bamboo slips, writing something.
Huo Qubing was stunned: "Master, where did you get the Hsinchu slips?"
So much, it must cost a lot of money.
"It was prepared early in the morning." The reward of system space is just in use.
Xie Yuan talked nonsense seriously.
Huo Qubing nodded and handed over the roast chicken: "Would you like a bite?"
"Not hungry."
"You haven't eaten for a whole day. Do you really don't want to eat?"
"Don't eat."
Huo Qubing took a bite of the roasted chicken, squinted his eyes and smacked his tongue, "It smells so good."
"...leave me a chicken drumstick."
"Okay."
Huo Qubing left a whole roast chicken to him.
After finishing writing a volume of ancient books silently, Comrade Xiao Xie broke off the already cold chicken legs and ate them with the water from the mountain spring nearby.
While he was eating, he was thinking about attracting customers.
Recruiting children from poor families is not an easy task.
In addition to needing ancient books, you also need to have a certain reputation.
Although the children of poor families come from humble backgrounds, they still have pride in them, and they will not bow down to everyone.
Just like not long ago, a great scholar resigned from his official position and returned to his hometown without giving up for five buckets of rice.
Here, if you want to be famous, you either have to make a difference in your official career, or...
That is to say, he was praised by famous hidden scholars.
In the case of the former, recommendation is required to become an official. He has no reputation and no backing, so it is simply not feasible.
The latter is feasible.
(System, help me search for nearby famous hidden scholars.)
After making up his mind, Xie Yuan thought silently in his heart.
【Searching...】
Hearing the voice in his head, Comrade Xiao Xie slowly smiled at the corners of his eyes.
This is a reward given by the system, and you can search for any character for free.
This is how he found the old man.
It's a pity that I found it too late.
[Search results: Ten miles eastward, a famous Confucian appears on the mountainside. 】
[Friendly reminder, there are wild beasts on the way, please host to bring weapons for self-defense~]
With the accurate positioning, Comrade Xiao Xie took Huo Qubing and set off directly.