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Shi Jie's house is located in Jiming Lane, which is across an alley from the Imperial College. The Imperial College said that this official was not a big one, just a sixth-grade official, let alone Qingshui Yamen, so Shi Jie lived in poverty.
Shi Jie is a scholar, and he has the bad habits of a scholar. He likes to collect some good literary works. In this way, most of his limited salary is spent on this, and the rest of the money can only be used for daily expenses.
I have a cook and a servant.
Brother Jin was Shi Jie's personal servant. When Brother Jin was fourteen years old, Shi Jie was serving as an observation officer in Yunzhou. Brother Jin had no food to eat and stole things on the street. He was beaten half to death by a shopkeeper. Fortunately, Shi Jie passed by.
After saving him, he saw that he was also shrewd, so he stayed with him as a servant.
Ten years later, Shi Jie went from Yunzhou Observer to Secretary of Zhennan Army Jieduzhang to Jiazhou Tongpan, and even now to the Imperial College Zhijiao. He passed through several positions in three or four state capitals, and Jin Geer has been following him.
With Shi Jie at his side, over the past ten years, Brother Jin has grown from a fourteen-year-old boy to a twenty-four-year-old young man.[
After Shi Jie was arrested, Brother Jin seemed very panicked, but this was understandable. The owner of the family was arrested, and everyone was naturally panicked. After a few days, Brother Jin recovered. In addition to handling normal family affairs
, and also asked someone to send money to visit Shi Jie once. The master and servant held each other's arms and cried endlessly.
In the eyes of outsiders, Brother Jin is definitely a loyal servant.
But Su Jin just suspected that he had fallen in love with this brother Jin. Since Shi Jie and Fu Bi were temporarily determined to be guilty, he could only think about the problem from this standpoint. Moreover, the seal matter was quite strange, so Su Jin specially ordered someone to invite his colleagues.
A stonemason carved two seals of the same material, same font, and same size for himself, but even if they were made by the same person, there were many things that could be distinguished between the two seals.
From this, Su Jin denied that the two seals were broken, and compared the correspondence between the two people found in the homes of Shi Jie and Fu Bi, and reached a definite conclusion that the seal on this fake letter was
It's definitely Shi Jie's one.
This leads to two further theories. One is that Shi Jie's seal has been lost and Shi Jie did not know about it. After all, although it is a personal belonging, it cannot be carried with it when sleeping, eating, and going to the toilet. It is always lost at night or at certain times.
If you put it somewhere in the house, the person who forged it will have trouble. Send a gentleman from Liang Shang to sneak in, stamp the seal and return the thing to its original place. It can be said that no one is aware of it.
The second possibility is that he was caught stealing, and if it is the second possibility, the biggest suspect is Brother Jin.
The first possibility cannot be verified temporarily. Su Jin can only start the investigation from Jin Geer. For two days in a row, Su Jin's people have been keeping an eye on Shi Jie's residence. However, within two days, they have found something. Jin Geer
The daily schedule is very normal. I get up early in the morning, clean the yard as usual, and then pack things at home. I am very busy, or go out to buy some necessities such as rice and grain. I can't see anything out of the ordinary.
Zhao Hu, who was in charge of the surveillance, was a little impatient and suggested to arrest Brother Jin directly for questioning. Su Jin reprimanded him and asked him to follow patiently, what he did every day, where he went, and what he did.
Everyone, jehu, must be touched clearly.
Zhao Hunai had no choice but to lead people to follow him. After another two boring days, someone finally came to report that Brother Jin had gone out with a package on his back, as if he was going on a long trip.
After receiving the news, Su Jin hurried to Bianliang Xicheng in a cart. The news sent by Zhao Hu was that Brother Jin was heading west to Liangmen.
Brother Jin seemed to be extremely vigilant, looking around from time to time while walking on the road. Su Jin ordered Zhu to stay far away so that he could not be spotted being followed. The further to the west of the city, the fewer and fewer the pedestrians on the road. After passing the Wuqi Temple, there were almost
It was all in the wilderness. Su Jin could no longer let this large group of people follow him, so he ordered Zhao Hu and another entourage to follow him. The three of them pretended to be pedestrians and walked far behind.
The avenue had a fork next to the Wuqi Temple. In the blink of an eye, Brother Jin who was walking in front disappeared when he reached the fork. The withered grass and thorns on both sides were the best hiding places. Su Jin was worried that Brother Jin would find out.
He was being followed, so he hid in the grass and watched, so he whispered to Zhao Hu and the guard to walk by without looking away, until they reached a few hundred steps ahead, and then with a gesture, the three of them slipped into the roadside.
He squatted down in the grass.
After waiting for a long time, Brother Jin didn't follow him. Su Jin concluded that Brother Jin must have gone off the side road. The three of them turned back, turned onto the side road, and used the cover of the grass to move forward. After a few hundred steps,
, there was a scratching noise in front of them, and the three of them hurriedly moved forward slowly from the grass, pushing aside the cold long grass and thorns, and vaguely saw Brother Jin bending down beside a grave.
What are you digging at?
The three of them looked at each other. Is this Brother Jin actually a tomb robber? Why did he go to the wilderness to dig into other people's graves?
The three of them watched with bated breath, and saw that Brother Jin was digging very happily, and soon dug a big hole into a grave. Suddenly, he heard the sound of metal collision, and Brother Jin looked around alertly.
After making no sound, he bent down and reached out to pick up a small iron box from the soil. Su Jin looked over and saw that Brother Jin opened the iron box, took out two ingots of silver, kicked it into his arms, and kept the iron box in his arms.
Inside the tomb, it was piled up with soil and covered with turf, giving it the appearance of an old tomb.
After finishing this, Brother Jin wiped his sweat, stuffed the small hoe into the package, washed his hands and feet in a puddle on the side, got up and left the fork in the road to return to the city.
The three of them waited until Brother Jin left before they dared to speak quietly. Zhao Hu said, "What is this guy doing so sneakily? He was careful enough to bury the money here. Are he afraid of attracting thieves?"
Su Jin waved his hand and said: "Dig out the iron box and bring it out."
Zhao Hu and the guards took out their swords and dug around. After a while, they dug out the iron box and opened it. There were more than 20 silver ingots neatly arranged inside, ten taels per ingot. There were signs of being taken away.
Let's see, the total is about three hundred taels of silver.[
Su Jin sneered and said: "It's a huge sum of money, three hundred taels of silver. Ordinary people can't earn that much in a lifetime. This brother Jin is quite good at making money."
Zhao Hu said: "Could it be that Brother Jin collected Shi Jie's money and hid it here for fear of being confiscated?"
/
Su Jin said: "This is not difficult to do. Just ask Shi Jie and you will know the clues. Shi Jie should know very well how much money he has."
The three of them returned the same way, went straight to the prison, and asked Shi Jie about this matter. Shi Jie opened his mouth for a while and shook his head: "Where do I get so much extra money? I am a sixth-grade official, and my monthly salary is only fifteen guan."
, five guan for firewood, five pieces of silk cloth, and other subsidies, the total does not exceed 40 guan. The monthly expenses are very tight, where is the balance of money? Brother Jin complained more than once that there is not enough money.
For expenses, I borrowed 80 taels of silver from Yan Guo to pay for New Year gifts a few years ago, and these 300 taels of silver are definitely not mine."
Su Jin smiled and said: "This time you should know that Brother Jin is not a simple man. If you say that he worked as a servant in your house, I will never believe that he saved these three hundred taels of silver in ten years. Even for food and clothing, it is not enough."
It's yours. I'm afraid it won't be enough even if you save the salary plus extra money. Your salary is not high, so the salary you pay him every month should not exceed three guan."
Shi Jie said: "There are no three passes, there are only eight passes."
Zhao Hu shook his head beside him. This Shi Jie was extremely stingy. When he worked as a nurse with the young master, the young master was still an official businessman and received a monthly salary of five guan. Now one month, the king of Ma Han and
The monthly salary of 150 guan for himself and others, plus the salary of the commander of the Ma Army, was already too much to use up. Zhao Hu not only supported his mother and Aunt Zhao's family, but also saved a lot of money in the bank.
Qian Guan: We are the same people today, and the difference in treatment is huge.
"Eight Guan? Well, ten years, one hundred and twenty months, calculated as two Guan, it can only save two hundred and forty taels, and the combined silver is only two hundred taels. Brother Jin's source of money is quite impressive.
People are having fun.",
Shi Jie vaguely guessed something and couldn't hide the pain on his face. His feelings for Brother Jin really treated him like a brother. He had no wife and no children. Brother Jin seemed to be his relative and suffered
The feeling of betrayal by a loved one is extremely bad.
"Master Su, please investigate carefully and don't accuse a good person unjustly," Shi Jie said.
Su Jin smiled and said: "Don't worry, we won't unjustly accuse good people, but we won't let bad people go either. You should be happy. I think it won't take long for your charges to be cleared."
…
That night, Brother Jin was well-dressed and walked out of the house through the back door and came to a brothel in Xijier Hutong. It looked like the old madam knew him very well.
The giggling Jin brother went upstairs.
Su Jin and Zhao Hu also swaggered into the courtyard. They were already handsome, and they were dressed like Mr. Guijie. Suddenly, a lot of vulgar powder came forward and pulled their arms.
, those who hug their thighs hug their thighs, and the warblers chirp and make endless noises.
Zhao Hu stepped forward and knocked seven or eight pink heads around with one arm. He clenched his fists and angrily shouted: "Whoever comes to bother you again, be careful with my fists."
All the fans scolded each other and spat all over the ground, and they all cursed secretly: They came to the yard without having fun, and even pushed people out of the way by arms. Such a rude person did not know how to show mercy to women; even though the young master was handsome.
It may make someone feel itchy somewhere, but since he doesn't understand the style, he doesn't hesitate to serve him.
Su Jin grabbed Zhao Hu's hands and smiled and apologized. The women stopped scolding, and the old bustard came forward with half a catty of white powder on his face and said: "This little official has a tight face. It's his first time here."
Right? All the girls here are incredible, so hurry up and pick one, I’m sure you will."
Su Jin smiled and said: "It is indeed my first time to visit the treasure land, but today I am not here to have fun, but to inquire about something."
The smile on the old bustard's face immediately disappeared, and he said coldly: "We are not a teahouse here. If you want to inquire about someone, go to the teahouse street. We don't have time to chat with people... chat......"
After pulling for a long time, he couldn't pull it out, because Su Jin had already taken out a silver ingot with a smile. Judging from the weight, it must be an official five-tael silver ingot. Of course, the old bustard couldn't pull it out.
"Bring a pot of tea, find a clean room, I'll ask you a few questions, and if you answer, this ingot of silver will be yours." Su Jin said with a smile.
"Oh, the little official ordered me to disobey you. Xiaohong, hurry up and clean up the private room, put on the lotus tea on the pot, and get two plates of fruit. Go quickly, you damn girl, you are standing there in a daze. What?" The thick powder on the old bustard's face fell off with the sudden change in expression, just like the lime peeling off the wall. Su Jin was horrified to see it. [