Early the next morning, Xu Ping came to the sugar shop and took Zheng Tianlin, Liu Xiaoyi and a few small servants to move the old tea in the library to the side of the road.

There are still stalls within a few steps in front of the store, and there is no need to put out the sugar, all of which are placed on the tea leaves, piled up high like a wall.

At this time, the tea is basically divided into group tea and loose tea, the price of group tea is high, and all the people who come back from the shop are group tea. Xu Ping looked at the imprints, some of which had been in the library for nearly ten years. Although it is the same tea cake, the group tea is not Pu'er, it will rot after a long time, exuding a strong musty smell, where can it still be eaten.

The sun rose, and there were more and more people on the main road by the Bianhe River. At this time, it was spring, and the people in Kaifeng City had the habit of watching willows along the river, and they walked to this road when they had nothing to do.

Someone saw the tea leaves on the shop and laughed loudly: "Master, do you have bricks here?" Building a house is still too crispy! ”

Zheng Tianlin said: "Don't talk nonsense, this is a good group tea on the Wuwei Army, sixty-eight wen a catty, the reason for coming out of the treasury of the three divisions, Tong Su is not bullied!" ”

As he spoke, he hung the copied notes on the corresponding tea piles. Because there was too much tea received, it couldn't be placed in front of the store, so Xu Ping only let the so-called high-quality tea come out. These teas are the most expensive, but they are all rotten and unusable.

There are many idlers in Kaifeng City, or it won't be long before the front of the shop is crowded with people, pointing to the pile of tea. At this time, the news has spread, and everyone knows that this shop was pitted by the third division, and they are angry here. But everyone watched the excitement and didn't think about other places.

Xu Ping just watched coldly from the sidelines. Just on the not far Zhou Bridge, how many government officials come and go every day, and it won't be long before this matter spreads all over Kaifeng City. At this time, people were still simple, and there were those who were bullied so hard that they went to beat the drum, and there were even fewer people who wanted to fight this kind of crooked and evil way.

While everyone was watching the excitement, suddenly a few rats ran out of the tea pile and squeaked into the crowd. There were female dependents in the crowd, and several mournful screams immediately rang out.

An idler said: "The tea you sell here still has rats?" ”

Liu Xiaoyi said solemnly: "Don't underestimate this nest of mice, but they are all from the third treasurer, and I don't know how many good things I usually eat!" We were careful when we carried tea, for fear of scaring them away, knowing that there would never be such a precious mouse anywhere in the future. Who knew that when you screamed, they were all scared away. How good is that? It's hard for me to ask the host! ”

The crowd burst into laughter.

Look at the approaching noon, the more people gather. Xu Ping was a little tired, so he wanted to find a place to sit and drink tea. is bypassing the crowd and colliding with Shi Yannian.

After seeing the ceremony, Xu Ping asked Shi Yannian: "Where is Brother Shi going?" ”

Shi Yannian sighed: "It's exactly here to find you." There's a tea shop over there, and we used to sit and talk. ”

This tea shop is facing the Bianhe River, and the five or six tables are also clean and tidy. Xu Ping and Shi Yannian sat down and asked for two fruits to eat.

After taking a sip of tea, Shi Yannian asked, "Brother, what are you doing in front of the shop in such a big battle?" ”

Xu Ping smiled: "So this is the case! A few years ago, I sold 20,000 catties of sugar in my shop to the palace, but I didn't see any money, just brought back this pile of rotten tea! The weather was good, so I took it out to dry. ”

Shi Yannian said: "You don't know, when several ministers retreated from the dynasty and passed by the state bridge today, they all saw that you were making trouble here, and most of them must have sent people to ask things clearly." Zhang Xianggong specially asked me to ask what was going on and if there were any other secrets because of the friendliness between the two of us. ”

Xu Ping saw that Shi Yannian was serious and couldn't laugh anymore, so he said to him: "Our own people, let's tell you the truth." For this money, my father was already sick in bed and couldn't get off the ground for a few days. I can't do anything about it, so I have to do it, and it would be nice if any noble person saw it and helped. ”

"Now all the nobles in the world have seen it, and even the emperor and the queen mother will know about it today. You really know how to choose a place, half of the courtiers have to walk from the state bridge, and it's hard to see it. ”

Shi Yannian just smiled bitterly and shook his head. His level is too low to understand the thoughts of those officials at the top, but it is certain that some people will make a fuss. Zhang Zhibai is considered a lonely person in Zaizhi, without a party or faction, but he has no other thoughts, so let him ask to see if he can help.

Xu Ping didn't care, he abided by the law and set up a stall to sell things. As for who will use this to attack political opponents and what, what does it have to do with him?

However, he said that Ma Jiliang quit the court, went to the official office to deal with some miscellaneous matters, and returned to his home in the capital. His family has money, and now the official is not small, and he has his own mansion in the inner city.

I had just changed into my regular clothes and was about to order tea, but I saw a personal servant coming over, and said to him: "Official, something happened at the state bridge, have you heard?" ”

Ma Jiliang was stunned for a moment, then sat down and said slowly: "What's the matter?" Tell me. ”

The servant said: "Do you remember that the Xu family opened a sugar shop with Li Fang's family near the Zhou Bridge?" They sold 20,000 catties of sugar to the palace a few years ago, but a few days ago, they only received a bunch of rotten tea, and they didn't see a penny, and they were making trouble there! ”

Ma Jiliang frowned: "What does this have to do with me?" ”

The servant paused for a moment before saying, "Officials, their tea is all from the treasury of the three divisions, but it is all under the control of the officials. Now it has spread all over the city, saying that the officials let their subordinates make things difficult for the Xu family, and deliberately gave them rotten tea and their money. ”

"What kind of gibberish!"

Ma Jiliang stood up vigorously. One or two thousand yuan of tea, where does it need to go through his hands, and after the formalities are complete, it can naturally be withdrawn from the library, what does it have to do with him? The conscience of heaven and earth, he doesn't even know the sugar transaction between the Xu family and the palace, where will he move these hands and feet.

Seeing Ma Jiliang's anger, the servant said cautiously: "Official, it's not a small mouthful, our family already has old grudges with the Xu family, and when it comes to this kind of thing, someone will definitely talk nonsense." No one can tell the inside story of the matter, and those things that chew their tongues must be pushed onto the officials. ”

Ma Jiliang paced back and forth a few steps, his face changing. He has been in the business industry for so many years, how can he not see the stakes here? It doesn't matter if no one asks in the Xu family's tea court, as long as he asks about the board, it will hit him, and there is no place to shout grievances. Now that he is back in the yamen, it is useless to arrest and find out the people who handled it that day, and the courtiers must still impeach him.

The most important thing now is to eliminate the influence, it is better to send someone to send the money to the sugar shop immediately, take back all the tea, and punish a few more petty officials to make a fool of the matter. But when he remembered the scene when he was with Xu Ping and Zhang Zhibai years ago, Ma Jiliang was very unhappy, since that day, everyone knows that the restaurant was taken from the Xu family, and from time to time someone will take it out to talk about it.

In the end, Ma Jiliang gritted his teeth and said to the servant: "You took my name thorn and went to Kaifeng Mansion to let them seal that shop!" I didn't know about this, so how could I let the rumors spread? Even if there is something wrong, we must wait for the yamen to find out clearly, how can they be allowed to make trouble! ”

The servant wanted to say something, but in the end he didn't speak, but just took Ma Jiliang's name and stabbed out of the door, got on the horse and went to Kaifeng Mansion.

He really wanted to tell Ma Jiliang, Kaifeng Mansion was not opened by the Ma family, if you let him seal the shop, he will seal the shop? Knowing that Kaifeng Mansion is a candidate for Zaizhi, will he take a Ma Jiliang in his eyes? What's more, at this time, Wang Zhen of Kaifeng Mansion was the previous president's promotion of the treasurer in Beijing, purely to avoid suspicion, he would not interfere in this matter.

In the past two years, Ma Jiliang has been too smooth as an official, and his brain is dizzy.