Sima Xin, the prison officer of Xianyang South City, finished a day's work, returned to his home near the north bank of Weiqiao, stretched out his hands, closed his eyes slightly, and let the maid take off her piggy crown and black official uniform.

When he changed into his regular clothes and walked into the inner room, he saw his wife Cao coaxing his son.

"Don't cry, don't cry, taste what it is?"

The child, who was originally crying and making trouble, was handed the small lacquer bowl to his mouth by Cao, and after taking a sip, his eyes widened, and then he burst into laughter, babbling and waving his hands, and wanted to drink.

On weekdays, this child has to eat honey and syrup to be so happy.

Sima Xin smiled, went over and hugged his son into his arms, first raised it high, and then his mouth full of prickly beard couldn't help but kiss his tender face, which made his son cry again.

After Cao Shi took his son over, he looked at the reddish-brown soup in the lacquered bowl again, sniffed it, and frowned: "What is this?" ”

"It's a fresh thing that the concubine went out to buy this morning, called brown sugar."

Cao handed over the child to the maidservant and began to babble about the novelties that had become popular in Nanshi in the past few days.

"Honey is expensive, good Zhongnanshan honey, seven or eight hundred yuan a catty! It's cheaper, but it's not sweet enough......"

The reason why these desserts are so expensive is because after Qin Zishang changed the law, he announced: "The price of expensive wine and meat is heavy on rent, making it ten times more simple." "Raising the price of luxury goods can both discourage merchants and save food.

Honey and glutinous rice are also considered luxuries, especially those made from malt and glutinous rice, which are considered to be as wasteful of food as wine.

But on the other hand, if you can get permission to sell it, molasses can also become a huge profit!

Xianyang's wealthy households have complained about the high price of molasses for more than a day or two, and now there is suddenly a cheap substitute, how can you not like it?

Cao Shi seemed to have taken a big advantage, and said to her husband: "Brown sugar is different, it only costs 400 yuan a catty, and it sells more." ”

Four hundred yuan, this is already a month's salary of a small eater, and ordinary people can only shy away from brown sugar.

But for Sima Xin's family, a generation of military nobles and a "rich family" with a net worth of millions, brown sugar is a good thing at a good price.

In the past ten days, thousands of catties of brown sugar have been sold to many similar wealthy families, which has also led to the recent lack of interest.

"I really don't know how this brown sugar is made, I've never seen it before." Cao's nagging was finally over, and he was still unfinished.

After listening quietly, Sima Xin asked his wife to put her son to sleep, and said to her: "Today, someone reported to the city officials, saying that the price of brown sugar is different, the production method is suspicious, and it may be harmful to eat. ”

"Scared!"

Cao Shi was shocked, and hurriedly ran to shake his son awake, and wanted to buckle his throat and spit out the sugar water he drank, crying and scolding while tossing: "Why didn't you say it earlier? ”

Sima Xin stopped her and said with a smile: "This case is under the jurisdiction of the Nanshi Prison Officer, and I have asked my subordinates to order Shi to investigate thoroughly, and I found that the people who reported it were all honey and gluttony vendors, or out of jealousy, and most of the reports were false. Some Ling Shi has also eaten brown sugar, and there is no difference, as for why the sweetness is far more than the sweetness, which can be compared with honey, the city man from Nanjun confessed that it is because the preparation method is very different from the starch, and it is not a grain ......"

When Cao Shi heard this, he put his mind at ease, and said curiously: "In this way, wouldn't those who are correcting themselves be falsely accused of sitting back?" ”

"It's not that simple."

Sima Xin asked his wife to close the door and whispered to her: "Nanshi honey is mostly from Zhongnanshan, and it is secretly operated by the Shi family, the fifth doctor. As for the gluttony, it is also made from the wheat grown by Zuo Shu Changmai, and these two have been doing this business for more than ten years, which has been the default practice of the market. ”

"Last month, those Nanjun merchants suddenly came in and relied on brown sugar to squeeze into the market, making honey and starch difficult to sell, how could Shi and Mai not be annoyed? Those city people were just instigated by two families! ”

"I see."

Cao Shi was a little surprised, he never thought that there was such a deep entanglement behind the simple molasses.

"What is the lover going to do?"

Cao has been married to Sima Xin for many years, and knows that he has been carefully walking between national law and human feelings.

Sima Xin said: "Let's take a look first, although the children of the Shi family and the Mai family have no high-ranking officials in real power, their titles are not low, but they are not something that I can afford to offend as a small official doctor." ”

Cao Shi said worriedly: "Are you going to bend the law for personal gain? Don't be caught by the imperial history......"

"That's what I'm worried about."

Sima Xin hesitated: "If it is an ordinary businessman, if it is wronged, it will be wronged, even if they bow to Xianyang, I can suppress it, and if it fails, it can also be pushed to the trial of Ling Shi." ”

"But the strange thing about this matter is that those businessmen from Anlu in Nanjun have become confused. If they dare to do business in Xianyang, they must have their confidence, but no matter how Ling Shi asks, they refuse to tell the people behind them. The more this happens, the more scared I become, if I offend some big guy, it will be bad......"

Therefore, Sima Xin scolded the Shi family, the Mai family and their businessmen for forgetting their wisdom, probably because they have been used to bullying small traders for more than ten years, and as a result, they have thrown all the problems on their heads, and they really think that they can protect them in everything by secretly giving sugar and honey to officials on weekdays?

Sima Xin didn't want to get used to them anymore, so he decided to drag the case for a while, and wait for him to find out the forces behind those Nanjun businessmen.

However, when he and his wife were about to fall asleep, the servant knocked on the door, saying that Dong Jun had sent his brother to bring a letter to Sima Xin.

Sima Xin got up and dressed angrily and said, "This Dong Peng, in the middle of the night, what kind of letter is he sending?" ”

Cao Shi slept in a daze on the side, and muttered: "Or the end of the guard, finally it's Xiu Mu's turn, and I will ask you to have a drink again." ”

"That's right, after Zhang Shaorong left, I haven't been together with him for a long time."

Sima Xin, Zhang Han, and Dong Peng are all from Xiayang, the internal history, and they are of the same age, and the three of them almost joined the army. Zhang Han and Dong Peng were elected to the palace as langs after enlisting for a few years because of their better family backgrounds. Only Sima Xin took the route of promotion of minor officials outside, and finally got into the position of official doctor and prison official of Xianyang South City.

The relationship between the three has always been very good, not brothers, better than brothers, but unfortunately after Zhang Han was released, there were fewer reunions.

However, after Sima Xin opened the letter scoldingly, his eyes widened!

This is not Dong Peng's letter, but it was delivered on behalf of someone!

Sima Xin calmed himself down, walked under the lamp and candle to look at it again, but saw a line of words written at the beginning of Jian Mu:

"Zhonglang Hu ordered Heifu to say goodbye again!"

……

When Sima Xin saw this name, he was stunned for a while.

No matter how lonely he is, it is impossible for him not to know about the emperor's order to "discuss the honor" of his ministers a few days ago, so he naturally knows who the two people who are in the limelight are.

"This black man has been quite loved by the emperor recently......"

Looking further down, I found that it was all inconsequential.

This Zhonglang household commander talked about his "long-standing admiration" for Sima Xin, saying that he often heard his friend Zhang Han and his subordinate Dong Peng mention Sima Xin's proficient laws and regulations, handling cases strictly, and yearning for him. After he came to Xianyang, he was promoted by the emperor and had to stay in the palace to guard the palace, and he failed to travel with Sima Xin.

"Strict handling of cases? Impartial law enforcement? Sima Xin felt that something was wrong, and asked himself, when he had just graduated from the school and put on the crown of the pig, he was indeed like this.

But slowly, he discovered that even Xianyang at the feet of the Son of Heaven had many shadows that could not be illuminated by the law.

There are too many powerful people here, and the social relations are complicated, although even the sons and grandsons dare not openly bully men and women, but small transgressions violate the law and occur from time to time......

The fairness of the Qin law is relative, and when the status of the two parties is very different, the law often fails to work.

After soaking in the big dye vat of Xianyang for a long time, Sima Xin has also become sophisticated and sleek, and he has begun to turn a blind eye to some cases.

He shook his head and continued to look down.

Heifu finally talked about the topic, saying that he finally got a break now, and hoped that after Sima Xin was busy with official business, the two of them could get to know each other under Dong Fei's introduction.

At the end of the letter, he said: "A few gifts from the countryside are not respectful......"

The letter was modest, referring to the person who wanted to make friends with him, Sima Xin was flattered, and hurriedly asked his subordinates to hand him the small box he brought together.

Waving his hand to let the servant go down, he carefully opened the lacquer box, but he almost bit his tongue!

What's in here is nothing else, it's a piece of reddish-brown brown sugar! It's exactly the same as the candy bar his wife bought to feed her son!

"That's right!"

Looking at the letter, and then at the piece of brown sugar, Sima Xin suddenly realized.

"Nakaro Toling Heifu is a native of Nanjun Anlu!"

"Those businessmen who sell brown sugar are also from Anlu County!"

……

Half an hour later, Sima Xin, who was blowing a cool breeze in the yard and thinking about half a night's life, finally got back into the warm quilt.

After a long silence, he hugged his wife Cao, who was sleeping in a daze, and whispered something in his ear that woke her up completely.

"Tomorrow, I will handle the case impartially! Wash away the grievances of Anlu businessman Jia Yan! ”