It's easy to be a villain, but hard to be a princess

At night, Han Zixiao disguised himself as a horseman, with a beard on the bridge of his nose and chin, wearing a black robe and a hat, he looked like a 40-year-old man.

Han Zixiao asked Ye Qing and one of the guards to carry a box of silver to follow him to the Zhang residence.The money was borrowed, the Han family also had a shop in Yunzhou, Han Zixiao wanted to borrow a sum of money, the shopkeeper of that shop didn't dare to say no to it.

Han Zixiao came to the door with the money, if he dared to take it, there would be witnesses and evidences, arrest him, and sue his brother for corruption and bribery.If he doesn't accept it, he can take the money back and it won't be a loss.

Holding the teacup, Zhang Mian glanced at Han Zixiao, "What's the matter with Ma Yuanwai visiting late at night?"

Han Zixiao smiled politely, "To tell you the truth, there are some things that need to be accommodated by the magistrate."

"Is it about your son?"

"Since the adults have guessed it, I won't go around in circles. The child is still young, and he likes to play around on weekdays, but he has no evil intentions. I hope that the adults will have a lot of them. Please forgive him." As he said, he gestured behind him with his eyes. Ye Qing and the guards carried the box forward and opened it. Inside was silver dangling white. Han Zixiao looked at Zhang Mian's expression, "The 500 taels here are counted as a deposit. When the child is safe and sound, the rest The ones will be sent to the adults' residence."

Zhang Mian disdainfully said, "So Yuanwai admits that his son kidnapped Yang Yumei's daughter?"

Han Zixiao raised his lips and gestured to the box of silver with his eyes, "At the moment, I think it is more suitable to discuss when the adults can release the children without charge."

Zhang Mian snorted coldly, "I think Ma Yuanwai is looking for the wrong person. I have always acted impartially. If Ma Yuan really did something harmful to nature, I will deal with it according to my law!"

"Why, my lord thinks the money is too little?" Han Zixiao stretched out two fingers to him, "How about adding twice as much money?"

Zhang Mianyi got up angrily, and said to the butler with a cold face, "See off the guests!"

Han Zixiao still didn't give up, "My lord, why do you have to make trouble with Yin Zi?"

Zhang Mian's stance was very firm, "No need to say more about Ma Yuanwai, I really hate bending the law for personal gain, and I will definitely handle this matter fairly!"

Han Zixiao tried again and again to no avail, so he had to leave the government office with the money.On the way back to the inn, Ye Qing said: "My lord, it seems that this lord is really a good official with two sleeves, the lord probably misunderstood him."

Han Zixiao took a deep breath, "Judging from the current situation, he is indeed an upright official."

Ye Qing glanced at the box of silver carried by him and the guards, "Master, then this silver..."

Han Zixiao said as he walked, "I will send it back to shopkeeper Hua tomorrow."

Back at the inn, Han Zixiao was just about to go upstairs to the bedroom, when he glanced at the hall of the inn from the corner of his eye, he always felt a familiar figure.Turning around, not far in front of the window, a man in purple was sitting at the table, sipping wine leisurely.

Han Zixiao was stunned for a moment, wondering why he was here.

It was the man in purple who spoke first, "How is the investigation?"

Han Zixiao walked over to salute, "Return to the lord, according to the observation and testing of the officials these days, the prefect of Yunzhou loves the people like a son, is honest and fair, and is a rare good official."

Chu Muqing poured herself a glass of wine, "You mean, he wasn't corrupt?"

"This..." Han Zixiao paused, "The lower official is incompetent, and his crime of corruption has not been found out yet."

Chu Muqing drank the wine in the glass, held the jug and continued to pour the wine for herself, "It's not that you are incompetent, it's that he hides deeply."

Han Zixiao savored Chu Muqing's words carefully, as if he knew that Zhang Mian, the magistrate of Yunzhou, was an upright official on the surface.There is another meaning in the words, that is, he is sure that Zhang Mian must be corrupt.

"Then in the opinion of the lord, how to make him show this fox tail?"

Chu Muqing glanced at him lightly, "Since I entrusted you to investigate this matter, it is natural that you plan it."

Han Zixiao thought he was here to help, "Then why is the prince here in Yunzhou?"

"I saw my old friend and didn't want to go back the same way, so I took a detour to Yunzhou to enjoy the scenery."

Han Zixiao smiled, "My lord is very interested."

Chu Muqing got up and looked at the night outside the window, "It's getting late, I'm tired, let's go rest first."

"Then I won't bother you."

Chu Muqing walked past Han Zixiao and went straight upstairs.Han Zixiao also went upstairs to return to the room, and only then did he realize that Chu Muqing had entered the middle room, while he lived in the upper room.There are three upper rooms in this inn, the upper room where Han Zixiao lived was occupied by people, and when Chu Muqing came, he could only live in the middle room.

Before Chu Muqing entered, Han Zixiao hurriedly called to him, "My lord!"

Chu Muqing turned around, "Is there anything else?"

Han Zixiao said: "The lower officials live in the same inn as the prince, there is no reason why the prince should be wronged to live in the middle room and the lower officials live in the upper room. The upper room should be given to the prince, and the lower officials will live in the middle room."

Chu Muqing continued to walk into the room, "No need."

"Since the prince doesn't live in the upper room, the lower officials can't live in it either." Han Zixiao turned his head and told Ye Qing, "Go and see if the shopkeeper is asleep, and ask him to change me to a middle room."

"Yes, sir." Ye Qing turned around and went downstairs to find the shopkeeper.

After entering the room, Chu Muqing turned around and glanced at Han Zixiao, raised her hand and closed the door.

Han Zixiao got his wish and lived in the middle room, took off his clothes and went to bed, tossing and turning on the bed but couldn't fall asleep.Thinking about what happened in the past few days, the prefect of Yunzhou looks like a clean official inside and out, why is the regent so sure that he is a corrupt official?Is it that the prefect of Yunzhou hides too deeply or the regent is too suspicious?

The next day, Yang Yumei, who came to the yamen yesterday to beat drums and complain, brought her daughter to the yamen to withdraw the case, and Second Sister Shen also came over yesterday.It is said that she has wronged a good person. It is true that her daughter was washing clothes by the river the day before yesterday, but it was not the son of Chengxi Mayuanwai who abducted her, but her husband's creditor.The creditor sent someone to abduct his daughter, and he would only release her if he paid the debt.

Zhang Mian had nothing to say, so he declared the case closed and released Ma Yuan.

This scene was just a game set up by Han Zixiao, Ma Yuan was not the son of a horseman in the west of the city, but was hired by Han Zixiao with money to act, and the same was true for Yang Yumei and Second Sister Shen.These people are all top-notch opera singers in the theatre, so they can naturally make this play about a dude abducting a woman from a good family look as real as possible.

Originally, he wanted to use such vulgar tricks to make Zhang Mian show his original shape, but who knew that he was upright and refused to accept bribes.He also wasted the money he spent on hiring people to act.

Han Zixiao sighed, this time he really encountered a difficult situation.

"Why are you sighing?" Chu Muqing, who was playing chess with him, asked.

Han Zixiao sighed again, "The lower officials are lamenting their own incompetence, and I don't know when and what month will be found out about what the prince handed over."

"No matter how cunning a fox is, it will show its tail. If you watch it every day, you might be able to see a flaw."

"My lord is going to step down and sit on the sidelines?"

"My king didn't say that."

Han Zixiao chuckled in his heart, always feeling that the regent was playing with himself, and specially gave him an egg to pick out the bones.He could observe for a while at most, if he could find nothing with all his heart, it would really mean that Zhang Mian was a good official, and the regent was thinking too much.

For today's plan, it is not a good idea to sit back and wait for the rabbit.The two guards appointed by the emperor around him are the top martial arts masters in the palace, and it is not a difficult task to send them in turn to monitor.

Sure enough, this method of waiting for a rabbit to sit on a tree and wait for a rabbit worked, and the guards sent out sent news back the next night.Said that Zhang Mian went out late at night with a lantern and went to a dilapidated house in the city, where many people were waiting for him.

At that time, Han Zixiao was still asleep, but when he heard the news, he woke up immediately, without sleepiness at all.Going out of the mansion alone in the middle of the night to meet people in the old house, this kind of behavior is so strange to Zhang Mian, who is known as the master of Qingtian, there must be something hidden behind it.

Han Zixiao put on his clothes and was about to go out, but the regent who lived next door heard the noise and came out, and when he heard any movement, he followed.

No matter what Han Zixiao thinks about, there are only four people around him, and one more person will give him more strength.

A group of people rode over to the old house. When approaching the old house, they tied the horses to a tree and approached on foot, so as not to startle the snake.Hiding behind the wall and looking out, I saw seven or eight carriages parked outside the house, each of which was tied with five or six big sacks.

At the gate of the house, the prefect Zhang Mian was talking to a middle-aged man in a cotton robe.Seeing that they finished talking, the middle-aged man in cotton robe jumped into the carriage and was about to say goodbye to Zhang Mian.

Han Zixiao looked back at Chu Muqing, and asked in a low voice, "My lord, should this person be arrested or not?"

Chu Muqing raised her eyebrows, "What do you think is a good time for this person to get both stolen goods?"

Han Zixiao nodded, understood.Winking at the two guards next to him, the two guards lit torches and rushed out quickly, followed by Han Zixiao and Ye Qing.

Zhang Mian was shocked when he saw someone coming, and the driver of the carriage also panicked.

Han Zixiao stood still a few steps away from Zhang Mian, first he cupped his hands out of empathy, and announced his name, "I am Han Zixiao, Yushi Zhongcheng of Yushitai, and I have met Master Zhang."

Zhang Mian didn't recognize him as the man pretending to be a member of the horse. Hearing that he was from Yushitai, he didn't feel flustered, and cupped his hands in return, "Master Han is polite."

Han Zixiao looked at the seven or eight carriages lined up, "Master Zhang doesn't rest in the middle of the night, but instead appears here, I don't know why?"

Zhang Mian was at a loss for words, he knew in his heart that Han Zixiao's appearance here was not accidental, and it was very likely that the matter had been exposed, so he had nothing to say.The man in the cotton robe jumped down from the carriage and gave the others a wink, so Qi Shushu took out the knife hidden on the carriage and surrounded Han Zixiao tightly.

The man in the cotton robe said: "Sir, don't talk nonsense with him, there are four of them, and a dozen of us, don't be afraid!"

Of course Han Zixiao understood the meaning of these words, they meant to kill people to silence them.

"There are indeed only four people on Mr. Han's side, but if you add this king's people, there will be more." At this time, Chu Muqing slowly came out with a few of his guards.

When Zhang Mian saw that it was Chu Muqing, his eyes widened, and he immediately knelt down to salute, "I will see you, my lord!"

Chu Muqing looked at Zhang Mian who was kneeling on the ground with her hands behind her back, "Master Zhang, I haven't seen you for many years, but you still recognize me. It seems that you have a good memory."

Kneeling on the ground, Zhang Mian lowered his head and said, "My lord has the kindness to know you from my subordinates, and I will never forget it."

The kindness of knowing you?Han Zixiao glanced at Chu Muqing, the two obviously knew each other before, it seemed that Zhang Mianyou was promoted by Chu Muqing today.