Better to live forever [Rebirth]

Since Ning Heng linked Bad Yin with Li Dang, his investigation has become more targeted, and in the past few months, the more he investigated, the more he knew how deep the water was.After several months of investigation, relying on the Ning family's targets, they could only lock down a few suspects, and they were all just small ones. Now that the Xiong family said with great fanfare that they had clues about inferior silver, Ning Heng naturally remained skeptical. .

Regardless of whether he believed the so-called evidence of the Xiong family, what made Zhu Dingbei frown was that the visitor was not kind.

The Xiong family had evidence and did not report it to the government, but turned to the head of the Ning family. At least it can show that he knows Ning Heng's other identity, and also knows the emperor's entrustment to Lord Changxin.

Furthermore, Xiong's high-profile buying of properties that others are eager to sell at a time when all merchants are eager to be a man shows that they are arrogant, and now they have messed with Ning Heng, which shows that he still thinks that his family is not conspicuous enough.Zhu Dingbei didn't know what the Xiong family's guard of honor was, but he really didn't like his way of doing things.

Seeing that Ning Heng didn't like the Xiong family either, Zhu Dingbei asked: "The Xiong family is acting differently, you should have investigated it before, right?"

Ning Heng nodded. That's true. Nanhai County is also the headquarters of the Ning family. If a newcomer joins, it is natural to find out the details. "The Xiong family was originally a merchant in Yangzhou. They were the brothers-in-law of the Su family back then. After the Su family collapsed, they sold the family business and fled to Guangzhou. They also transferred the family's children to be a good farmer. They have not been in business for these years. .”

Zhu Dingbei raised his eyebrows.

The Su family was involved in the imperial examination fraud case when Su Yi, the number one scholar, was not happy. Later, the family property was confiscated by the emperor's old son.The Su family used to be the richest businessman in Yangzhou, if the Xiong family's brother-in-law must have suffered heavy losses in that crime, since they haven't been in business for these years, where did they get the capital to buy so many shops in one go?

If it wasn't the Xiong family's own money, then who provided this large sum of money?

Ning Heng saw his doubts, and told him the results of the Ning family's investigation: "Later, the Cheng family was squeezed out by merchants in Yangzhou and suffered successive losses. The night before the Xiong's family left, a serious theft occurred at the Cheng family. It should be Xiong's family. What the family does."

The Cheng family was the father's family of the scholar Lang Cheng Wen at that time, and it was because of Cheng Wen's blood letter that the prelude to the fraud case started. It is reasonable for the Xiong family to hate the Cheng family.But what puzzled Zhu Dingbei was why the Xiong family had no intention of covering up the money since the money came from an unclean source, and instead acted carelessly as if they were not afraid of people knowing.

If something goes wrong, there must be a demon, and there must be something wrong with the Xiong family.

Zhu Dingbei asked him if he would go to the appointment, and the day after tomorrow was the day they left Guangzhou Mansion. After that, Ning Heng had no intention of delaying the return trip for him after the Xiong family invited him, so he explained to Uncle Ning twice, and arranged for the Xiong family to meet tomorrow.

Xiong's family treats him like a dish, but Ning's family doesn't treat him like an onion, so naturally they don't like them.

On the second day, the head of the Xiong family went to the house to attend the appointment.He came alone, and Zhu Dingbei didn't know whether to admire his courage or be dumbfounded by the other party's "etiquette".

"I have admired Patriarch Ning's demeanor for a long time, and it is true that a hero is born as a young man. I am disrespectful and disrespectful."

Xiong Dangjia is an old man who has passed his destiny. He is energetic, black-haired and white-faced. He doesn't have any merchants in his body. On the contrary, he has a dignified posture like a Taoist priest. Zhu Dingbei was surprised when he met him.

"I heard that Xiong Dangjia has clues to the bad bank case, please tell the truth." Ning Heng went straight to the point, and did not respond to Xiong Dangjia's hypocrisy.

Xiong Dangjia didn't mind being neglected, so Gu Zi sat down and drank a cup of hot tea, exclaimed a few words about the top-grade taste of the tea, and then stopped embarrassingly under Ning Heng's expressionless face, explaining why he came: "It's a coincidence. The owner of the family also knows the reason why my Xiong's family fell down here. Two years ago, we accidentally discovered that there was a large amount of bad silver in the Cheng family's money. Back then, the Su family was able to dominate in Yangzhou Prefecture because of Mr. Su's insight Arbitrarily, in the bad silver case before the first emperor, Mingzhe saved his life and did not suffer losses, and this is how to expand the property. The Su family has its own way to distinguish bad silver. It was only when Cheng’s family found out that their gold and silver were adulterated.”

Ning Heng and Zhu Dingbei looked at each other, they didn't believe his statement, but they still listened to him continue.

"When I found out about this back then, I deliberately reported to the government office to sue the Cheng family. But I didn't expect the Cheng family to retreat bravely, destroying the bad silver in advance and fleeing privately with the money. Cough, this is the way for the heavens, and I hired someone to act as a bandit Robbed their treasures." Although he was famous for his revenge, it is not an upright thing to embezzle other people's property, and Xiong Dang's expression was a little unnatural, and he continued: "The Cheng family also escaped at that time. The shop I was running couldn't continue without the support of the Su family, so I didn't make any troubles, and went to Nanhai County to visit relatives according to the original plan."

"That's it?"

Ning Heng rolled his eyelids.

Although the clues about the relationship between the Cheng family and You Yin are of certain value, it is not enough for him, the head of the family, to handle it himself.The Xiong family was so confident before, it should not be the only clue.

Sure enough, the Xiong family was embarrassed and continued: "After that, I inquired about the Cheng family's news, but found that their family seemed to have disappeared out of thin air, so I asked someone to check the background of their family. The Fu family also made a sudden fortune overnight. I have received some news over the years, and now I think about it, the Cheng family's bad silver is not a gift from others, but made by themselves."

Oh?

Zhu Dingbei became interested. If the Cheng family was really a craftsman who made inferior silver, then this clue would be valuable, but how did he determine this?

Xiong Dangjia took another sip of tea, and then said: "The Cheng family was not a small family in Yangzhou Prefecture. After the scandal of bad money was revealed, I was the first to think of them. I have written to ask several families in Yangzhou Prefecture. Merchants, they have a lot of business contacts with the Cheng family, but none of them found any bad silver. It can be seen that the bad silver made by the Cheng family is not for their own use. Where is it used, so I want to take the opportunity of the birthday banquet to talk to Patriarch Ning. If there is any presumptuousness, Patriarch, please don't blame me."

If possible, he didn't want to find the Ning family either.

However, they knew that the source of the news was not clear, so they didn't want to deal with the government, but seeing that the Ning family was relentless about the inferior bank, they would not let it go, so they approached the Ning family to sell it.

Ning Heng said: "Thank you, Master Xiong, for letting me know. Since that's the case, the Ning family will investigate thoroughly and will help you with all my might."

Xiong Dangjia said that he should, and then he made a little courtesy to see Ning Heng's indifferent attitude, he was a little disappointed on the face, but he said his goodbyes and left.

After he left, Zhu Dingbei who was watching said, "Aheng, how credible do you think his words are?"

It's not that he is suspicious, but that the Xiong family is not a clean person. The credibility of news about his marches and wars is often more important than his strategy. points of credibility.

"The fact that the Cheng family is a silver maker should be true. As for whether the Xiong family or the Su family were involved, it is unknown."

Ning Heng said.

After hearing this, Zhu Dingbei was stunned for a moment. Now that he thought about it carefully, he realized that Mr. Xiong's sentence "Mr. Su's eyes are decisive" and the fact that the Su family had a special way to distinguish bad silver were a bit strange.

The Ministry of Industry has promulgated the identification method for inferior silver. The reason why it is complicated and troublesome is because the inferior silver is so fake that it is absolutely impossible to recognize it with the naked eye. Where did the Su family's method come from?There are only two kinds of people who can recognize a guy at a glance. Except for the master of the eye, there is only one possibility left, and that is the owner or manufacturer of the fake.

Even the treasurer of the Ning family can't recognize the bad silver, so naturally the Su family won't have a better hand master than the Ning family.

So that means...

Zhu Dingbei narrowed his eyes, and after sharing his guess with Ning Heng, he murmured, "Could it be that this Xiong Boss came to you to save himself?"

He knew that the Su family, like the Cheng family, was inseparably related to You Yin, even more deeply involved than the Cheng family and You Yin, so he wanted to sue in front of Ning Heng to separate the Xiong family from the Su family, and to show his innocent position , to balance the merits and demerits?This is not impossible, the Xiong family is not a flatterer, and there must be a purpose for him to sell him to the head of the Ning family.

There is also a suspicious point, that is, why the Xiong family wanted to quickly gather such a large amount of property in Nanhai County at this juncture.Although there is only this one-sided relationship with the Xiong family, it is certain that his actions have nothing to do with the high-profile and arrogance they thought before. Presumably, the Xiong family has a reason for being high-profile, and this reason may be related to his today. Intention is also related.

Uncle Ning looked at Zhu Dingbei in surprise.

He didn't know much about how Master Zhu got along with the Patriarch in private, so this was the first time he saw the intelligence of this young man with his own eyes.Unexpectedly, Zhu Dingbei's mind turned so fast that he could think of this level. At least he only felt suspicious when he heard it now, but he didn't have such a directional judgment.

Uncle Ning was able to stay by Ning Heng's side as his personal guard, so he was naturally a smart person, and because of this, he could see the rareness of Master Zhu's keenness.

Ning Heng: "I will let people pay attention, let's go back according to the schedule."

Zhu Dingbei nodded, and asked about the return date and surname of the brothers from the Lou family, and told them to escort them back to Luojing as soon as possible after their return, and then went back to the house to meet Mrs. Liang.

They wanted to leave, but Mrs. Liang couldn't go with them.Ning Heng had already arranged a perfect status for her in the Ning family, and let her personal servants stay with her for more than two months. Seeing that the old lady had adapted well, they dared to leave.Before leaving, of course, I have to spend more time with the old lady to reassure her.

The next day, the two of them set off for home when the sky was dim.

It was March when he left Beijing, and now it's September, Zhu Dingbei even missed his grandmother's birthday, so it's natural to return home now.At this time, neither he nor Ning Heng expected that when they really returned to Luojing, it would already be the snowy twelfth lunar month.