Lao Sun, who was carrying the ferry, came lazily to the Bian River, looked at the sky, sat down by the ferry, and leisurely watched the scenery.

A woman came over not far away and asked timidly: "Master, are you crossing the river?"

Lao Sun looked up and saw that the woman was in her thirties, with a slim and elegant appearance. She stood up and said with a kind look: "I have been raising a boat here for more than ten years, and I came earlier today. It only costs five cents to cross the river, which is extremely cheap."

The woman showed a look of embarrassment on her face, and she twisted for a while before saying, "I have no cash on me, only a good golden carp. I wonder if I can pay for the boat? I want to go to the county town, so the owner can take advantage of it."

Lao Sun smiled and said, "This place is right by the river. There are many big fish in the surrounding ponds. What do I want your fish to make! I also have old and young people to raise, but there is no tuition, so what can I eat at home. There are many people in the pier there, so you might as well take the fish and have someone buy it and exchange it for a few cents."

The woman looked at the other side of the pier and sighed: "It's not yet dawn, so where are there people buying fish? Alas, what should I do?"

Lao Sun said: "Wait for an hour or two, and there will naturally be more people. Why should you be anxious for a while?"

The woman didn't speak, but just walked around there, her face full of sorrow.

Lao Sun couldn't bear it after seeing it and asked, "You are in a hurry to cross the river, why do you have something to do? If it's convenient, I'll do it for you."

The woman thought for a while before saying, "I want to go to the yamen to examine something, and others can't do it for them."

After hearing this, Lao Sun couldn't help but laugh: "Why do you have to cross the river when the inspection village is ready-made? Now a prosecutor has come to the state. The official matters involved in the dock here are mostly cooks there. Just go there, and you don't have to cross the river."

The woman hesitated a little when she heard this: "I don't leave the gate all year round, and I don't go out of the second gate, so I don't know what happened on the official side. I just heard that everything nearby has to be handled at the yamen in the opposite city. Why don't there be any more now?"

"Just go to the inspection camp there, it's all the same as the yamen."

The woman hesitated for a while and headed towards the inspection camp not far away.

Jin Shu summoned her to bury the case and cooked the official documents. A man came in from outside and crossed his hands and said, "Kongmu, a woman came outside and said that there was something to do. He asked her what she was doing, but she was shy and didn't say anything, but she just refused to leave."

Jin Shuzhao pushed open the official documents and waved his hand: "There is only a wharf on the river, and there are very few people, who come to report to the officials. - Forget it, bring people in, I'll ask. If you drive people away, it's not good to bump into officials on the road."

The man sang his promise and turned around and went out. Du Zhongxiao was stationed in the inspection camp. He went out these days and encountered several times blocking the road and complaining. Fortunately, it was not a big deal, it was nothing more than the wages at the dock and the business disputes were too high. The people here were not convenient to cross the river, and they did not have the habit of submitting complaints in the yamen. When something happened, they went straight to stop him on the road, which made Jin Shuzhao and others very troubled.

After a while, the man brought a woman in her thirties in and stood timidly in the hall.

Jin Shuzhao stood up and said aloud: "What's your business? You can tell me what you have to do. - If you have any questions in the future, remember to write Zhang Zi to come and report it to me. How can you see the things in the yamen as you please?"

The woman responded in a low voice and whispered: "Minister Tan Erniang--"

Jin Shuzhao couldn't hear clearly, and he whispered loudly impatiently: "Your voice is louder, otherwise how can I hear it clearly! - Forget it, speak closer!"

The woman bowed and walked up carefully. Wanfu said, "Minister Tan Erniang is from Mengcheng, a native of this province. She has always done some medicinal materials with her husband in the city. A few years ago, she sold medicinal materials here and handed them over to Yaman Ma Daguan to sell them. She lost money and owed Yaman's money. Ma Daguan urged her to pay back the money. There was no way, and her husband stole my concubine here and went back to raise the money by himself. But she didn't want her husband to have no news from now on. She stayed here for several years and was not allowed to return home."

Jin Shuzhao frowned when he heard this: "In this way, was the man named Ma who was watching over and wouldn't you let you go? He owed debts and paid the money, of course there is nothing to say. You can write a letter to the documentary that you owe money to the year, and the documentary that you owed in the Ma family. How much did you pay in the past few years? Let's see how much money you still owe to pay it back. The two families will discuss it separately. Then ask someone to bring a letter and ask your husband to take you back."

The woman said, "Officials, where is there any literary contract? At that time, our goods were handed over to Madashi. After a few days, he said that most of the medicinal materials were corrupt and could not be sold, and urged us to pay back his capital. He is powerful here, so who can compete with him? My husband returned to the city to raise money, and Madashi sent a relative, Lu Yuhou. A few days later, the Lu Yuhou came back and said that my husband had escaped and was not allowed to leave."

Jin Shuzhao was confused when he heard this and waved his hand to ask the woman: "According to what you said, just by the words of Yaren named Ma, your husband would go back to the city to raise money to him? He said that the medicinal materials were corrupt, but who knew whether it was true or not? Are the business people so confused!"

"On that day, Ma Daguan also showed us some decayed medicinal materials, and the rest were gone. He was very powerful here, and when he asked again, many witnesses came out and said that the medicinal materials were really broken and were thrown into the river. Where could they be found?"

Jin Shuzhao thought about it and asked again, "If he said this, do you believe it? Also, if he keeps you here, you must have a name. For a servant or a concubine, you must have a documentary contract and a price. You must not be so unclear. If there is no toothless person to protect and no documentary contract, and force a woman to stay at home, isn't it robbing the population? After several years, you have not figured it out?"

The woman looked at Jin Shuzhao, lowered her head, tears flowed out, and whispered: "I'll ask the official to take charge."

Jin Shuzhao only felt that it was extremely absurd and paced back and forth with his hands behind his back. He was an old official for many years and had seen a lot of things in the world. He knew that the common people were ignorant and some people were confused. This kind of thing could really happen. Moreover, Ma Meng is a big family here, rich and powerful, and it is not uncommon to bully a foreign businessman.

After walking for a while, Jin Shuzhao's mind flashed, suddenly turned around and looked at the woman and said, "You said that you are from Mengcheng and do medicinal materials business in the state city. There is a Marquis of Lu Yu who comes home to raise money with your husband. Then I ask you, is there another son named Tao Shiqi?"

The woman raised her head, not caring about wiping away the tears in her eyes, looked at Jin Shuzhao and said nervously: "Return to the official, my son is Tao Shiqi. I heard that he committed a crime in the state city, but is it true?"

Jin Shuzhao stomped his feet: "Of course it's true! Your son killed someone in the street in Zhoucheng, and it was Lu Yuhou who died! Oh, everyone said that he recognized the wrong person and killed the wrong person. It was said that the whole city was a joke, but he didn't expect that there would be such a thing!"

When the woman heard this, she couldn't stop crying: "I heard from the Ma family that my husband took his son to nowhere, but he didn't want him to be in the state city. What should I do? Officials, is there any news about my husband? For so many years, he has not come to see me and ran away, allowing his son to cause such a huge disaster. What should I do? I have been waiting for several years, but my family was destroyed in the end."
Chapter completed!