I am the county magistrate in Daming

30 taels were put into the treasury, more than enough to build the Yuxiu Pavilion.

However, Mu Qingtian and Li Guang were completely torn apart because of this incident. During the few days when Mu Qingtian claimed that he was ill and could not go to court, Li Guang would impeach Mu Qingtian in court even if he was sick, saying that he built a broken bridge At that time, he embezzled silver and harbored evil intentions.

Instigated by Li Guang, some admonishing officials began to impeach Mu Qingtian regardless of right and wrong, and asked the emperor to thoroughly investigate the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Household Affairs.

As expected, Ye Qi and Ma Wensheng stood up to testify for Mu Qingtian one after another, and Xu Guan, Minister of the Ministry of Industry, also bluntly stated that there was no problem in the construction process.

Ye Qi and Ma Wensheng guessed where Mu Qingtian was standing, and Xu Guan knew that what Mu Qingtian did was ordered by the emperor, so he confidently handed over everything to Mu Qingtian to protect himself.

Zhu Youtang's attitude was very clear, all papers impeaching Mu Qingtian would not be approved, or he would ask his younger brother to write a "read".Some admonishing officials were unlucky. When Zhu Youtang was in a bad mood, he would find a reason to seize the official directly and demote him back to the village.

Li Guang saw that things were a little bit beyond his expectations, even the emperor stopped listening to him, he was so angry that he couldn't afford to get sick.

"Come on, ahem, come on!"

He was lying on the sickbed, his eyes were bloodshot.

The little eunuch hurried up to meet him, knelt by the bed and waited for his order.

When Li Guang was in a bad mood, he would vent his anger on the people around him.

He grabbed the little eunuch by the ear and pulled him to his side.The little eunuch's ears were blood red, and there were faint blood oozing out.

But he didn't dare to scream or resist, so he could only try his best to raise his body so that the tearing force on his ears would be less.

"Send someone to Zimingli to investigate!"

"There is also the Mu Mansion in Taicang Prefecture, how did Mu Yushi donate to him back then, let me check everything!!!!"

Li Guang yelled into the little eunuch's ear, he couldn't catch his last breath, and fell back on the bed panting heavily.

The little eunuch's eyes were dizzy, and his ears were full of buzzing.

"Yes, yes, I understand, my lord, don't be angry, be careful of getting angry."

"Get out, get out." Li Guang said weakly.

After the little eunuch dutifully apologized, he quickly backed out and only dared to rub his ears when he was outside the room.

-

After Mu Qingtian left, He Shengcai continued to make soap and plant red gold according to what Mu Qingtian said. At the same time, he did not forget to open mountains and build pavilions and temples, which attracted more literati.

Today's Zimingli is no longer the poor and backward small village four years ago. Everyone lives and works in peace and contentment, and all of them have built wooden and stone houses.

One day, He Shengcai was counting the land tax paid this year, when suddenly a villager came to report, saying that a group of people had come outside, neither playing nor eating, and asking around about his predecessor Li Zhengmu Qingtian.

He Shengcai immediately cheered up, put down the pen in his hand and quickly followed the villagers out to find those people.

"Presumably this is Zi Mingli Lizheng, Mr. He." The leader immediately made friends with He Shengcai.

He Shengcai was not fooled, and asked on a business-to-business basis, "My lord, I dare not be fooled. May I ask what you can do for me."

"Why don't you dare to be?" The leader smiled, "I heard that Mu Qingtian was also called 'Master' when he was here in the past."

He Shengcai frowned.

"Mr. Mu is Zimingli's savior, so he can afford to say 'my lord', but He is just a reckless man."

The leader's patience ran out, and his expression changed instantly.

"Your Master Mu committed a crime in the capital, and I came here specially to investigate. You don't want to toast or eat fine wine."

The villagers next to him were obviously taken aback by his words, and immediately wanted to kneel down.

"Since you are an imperial envoy handling the case, please follow the rules and show your token."

They followed Li Guang's order to find Mu Qingtian's criminal evidence privately, so where is there any token.

"Little Lizheng, if you dare to disobey orders, you will fail!"

He Shengcai also had a strong backbone, and said loudly: "Everyone in Zimingli has never been ungrateful!"

"Correct!"

"You say Mr. Mu is guilty, show the evidence!"

"Get out, Zi Mingli doesn't welcome you!!"

"Who is making noise!"

A loud female voice sounded from behind the crowd.

He Shengcai turned his head in astonishment, only to see his wife walking towards him aggressively, holding two pig-killing axes.

Li Guang's people were frightened by her, they didn't dare to stay any longer, they said a few cruel words without pain, and fled in a desperate manner with their tails between their legs.

"Bangdang."

Mrs. He sat down on the ground, gasping for breath.

He Shengcai hurried over and asked nervously, "How are you? Is there anything wrong? Where did these two axes come from?"

Mrs. He smiled and said.

"But I'm exhausted. It's so heavy that I can't even lift my arms."

"I borrowed the ax from the pork shop. You will return it later."

He Shengcai shook his head and said distressedly: "You have never done heavy work since you were a child, why do you do this?"

"People are bullying you and Master Mu, so I have to do something." Mrs. He smiled.

As the night darkened, Li Guang's people cursed and headed for Chongming County in the distance.

Suddenly, the grass on the side of the road moved.

"What!" The leader became vigilant.

The crowd gathered together, staring at the swaying grass.

It's a cloudy night in the wilderness, so there won't be ghosts, right? !

"Come out!" the leader yelled.

"Hehehehe..."

A sinister laugh came from the grass, and then a strange thing rolled out.

"My lord, don't— be afraid..."

The leader did not dare to step forward and kicked a person next to him to step forward.

"You you you, you are a human or a ghost!"

The "thing" spoke again.

"It's a human, and it's also a ghost..." Suddenly, he straightened up abruptly.

The moonlight hit his face, and the three of them were stunned.

His face was pitted and one of his eyes was missing. He looked like a ghost crawling up from hell.

"It's a vengeful ghost!!" He yelled frantically, waving his arms that were too thin like firewood.

Then the weirdo fell silent.

"Your Excellency wants to inquire about Mu Qingtian, I know."

After speaking, he grinned.

"But I know it very well."

-

In Mu Mansion, Taicang Prefecture, Mu Yushi woke up from a dream, put on his clothes and got up to light a lamp.

Mrs. Mu was woken up by him, and asked in a daze, "What's wrong?"

"I always feel that something big is about to happen, and I feel uneasy." Mu Yushi frowned, and looked up at the bright moon outside the window.

His son has been promoted step by step, and now he is a big celebrity beside the emperor, he should be happy.

Mrs. Mu also put on her clothes and got up, leaned softly on Mu Yushi's shoulder, and said, "Qing'er is capable, didn't she send a letter a few days ago? Don't think too much, it's nothing."

"hope so."

-

In mid-September, when Mu Qingtian returned to court, the strange thing was that Li Guang didn't make any moves anymore, and his actions were much more low-key.

Usually he served the emperor, but after recovering from illness, he ran more often to the queen mother's palace.

Zhu Jingshou was wary of Li Guang, but the maid reported back that Li Guang didn't mention Mu Qingtian in front of the Queen Mother, but just chatted with the Queen Mother about literature and antiques.

The queen mother didn't like Li Guang at first, but the queen's body was getting heavier and heavier, and the crown prince Zhu Houzhao was studying with the Taifu every day. No one in the palace talked, so he could only chat with Li Guang.

Zhu Jingshou has fought against Li Guang for so many years, so he knows his character well.Mu Qingtian made him suffer such a big loss, and he will never let it go.

At the end of October, just in case, Zhu Jingshou decided to send Mu Qingtian out of the city first.

Even after he had contacted the chariots and horses, and communicated with the emperor's brother in advance, something happened in the palace.

The Queen Mother was suddenly furious and asked Jin Yiwei to arrest Mu Qingtian immediately without any mistakes.At the same time, she found Zhu Youtang and asked him to send someone to Suzhou to thoroughly investigate the Mu family's illicit shipping.

Zhu Youtang didn't have time to react, and subconsciously wanted to help his younger brother protect his sister-in-law, but was scolded by the Queen Mother Zhou instead.In desperation, he could only obey the queen mother's wishes and secretly inform Zhu Jingshou to ask Mu Qingtian what happened.

The cause of the incident was the crystal cup in the empress dowager's palace.

Li Guang used the "Book of Heaven" as a cover to "appreciate" many literary toys in the Empress Dowager's palace, and even arranged them in order, some even ranked them as "immortal products".

"This crystal cup seems familiar to me."

As he said that, Li Guang pinched his fingers in embarrassment, and read the so-called "Book from Heaven" in his hand.

Crystals are only produced in Fanbang, and have always been used as tributes or evidence of friendship with Ming Dynasty. There is one in the Queen Mother's Palace.

"Strange, why not?" Li Guang frowned.

But the face of the Empress Dowager Zhou in front of him is getting worse and worse.

If he didn't see it in the heavenly book, where did Li Guang see the unique crystal cup in this world?

"presumptuous!!"

Li Guang quickly knelt down and pleaded guilty.

"It is true that there is no record of the crystal cup in the heavenly scriptures. Please forgive me, the Queen Mother."

The Empress Dowager Zhou snorted coldly and said, "Of course there is nothing in the heavenly scriptures."

"Because the crystal cup is not my Daming's property at all!"

"Say! Where on earth have you seen this thing!"

Li Guang's goal was achieved, he acted for several months, just for this moment.

He told the Queen Mother truthfully about Mu Qingtian's possession of the crystal cup, and took himself clean.

Yao Jingdao, the former magistrate of Chongming County who accepted Mu Qingtian's "bribery", had already been beheaded by Zhu Jingshou, and there was no proof of his death.The queen mother asked Zhu Youtang to re-count the confiscated Yao Jingdao's family property, and she found a crystal cup in it.

"What a Mu Qingtian, what a Mu Mansion!!"

The Ming Dynasty was very strict in the management of shipping and commerce. Although Zhu Youtang wanted to reopen the shipping, but the law of his ancestors remained unchanged, there were few ministers supporting him in the court, and there were constant harassment from the little prince in the north, so the matter was put on hold. .

Back then, he knew that Taicang Prefecture was doing business with Fanbang privately, thinking that it would be good if it could open up the shipping situation, so he ignored it.

I didn't expect it to be so troublesome today.

The crystal cup cannot appear out of thin air, Zhu Youtang has no choice but to order and arrest Mu Qingtian.

Mou Bin led the team to Prince Qing's Mansion, only to see the gate of the Palace was open, and King Qing Zhu Jingshou stood in front of the gate.

"I was ordered to arrest the criminal Mu Qingtian, and please forgive me."

Zhu Jingshou drew his sword and said slowly.

"What if the king says 'no'?"

Mu Bin's eyes darkened.

"My lord, this matter is not trivial, think twice."

"Lord Mu belongs to this king, so of course this king must protect him."

"Then forgive me for offending."

Mou Bin drew out the Xiuchun knife and attacked Zhu Jingshou first.

The rest of Jin Yiwei also fought with the palace guards.

"Xiao Ba, the prince is resisting the decree, don't you want to die with him!!"

There was Xiao Ba's former colleague in Jin Yiwei, he shouted angrily.

"I only obey the prince's orders."

"Stubborn!"

"Stop it all!"

Mu Qingtian appeared behind Zhu Jingshou.

Zhu Jingshou turned around in astonishment, kicked Mou Bin away, and ran to protect him.

"Didn't I tell you not to come out, dear, I'm here, go back."

Mu Qingtian shook his head and pushed Zhu Jingshou's arm away.

"One person does things, and one person is in charge. Lord Mou, I will go with you."

Mu Bin put away his saber, but didn't make things difficult for Mu Qingtian, and said, "Please."

Before leaving, Zhu Youtang specifically asked him not to hurt Mu Qingtian.

"Qingqing!" Zhu Jingshou said anxiously, "I'm going too, there must be some mistake."

Mu Qingtian turned her head and pressed a cool kiss on Zhu Jingshou's forehead.

"I'll be fine, wait for me, okay?"

The author has something to say: the foreshadowing from a long time ago is recycled, and whoever guesses the identity of the weirdo first will be rewarded with a red envelope of 100jjb~

Little Theater (spoilers):

in jail

Mu Qingtian: Brother, I want to eat shrimp today.

Jailer: What flavor?

Other criminals: adults, do you want to eat pig's trotters?

Jailer: I think your hands look like pig's trotters. Why don't you chop them off and give them extra meals?