Chapter 468: Authorities exhausted
Chapter 468
Getting rid of the useless Qian family and his original wife and younger sister who would only bring him trouble, Liu Zhihong originally planned to go to Beijing to rush for the exam when the Enke was held in the new dynasty of Daqi, but unexpectedly his first wife Qian was there Before he went to Beijing, he slipped out of her "convalescent" Zhuangzi, taking advantage of the slackness of her servants guarding her.
She sneaked into the first inn where Liu Zhihong stayed, and gave a dozen or so scholars, including Liu Zhihong, the croton powder she had bought with great difficulty.
In fact, she wanted to give Liu Zhihong arsenic, but now she is trapped in Zhuangzi, and she doesn't have much money on hand, and the time she escaped was not enough. Ample amounts of arsenic.
As for those scholars who were brought into trouble by Liu Zhihong, Qian said that they were all friends of Liu Zhihong, even if they were drugged together with Liu Zhihong, so what?
It was originally a group of frail scholars, but after being tormented by her like this, a dozen or so scholars, including Liu Zhihong, lay in the inn for seven or eight days, and completely missed the caravan that was scheduled to go to Beijing together.
The caravan couldn't afford to wait, so they had to wait until they got better before looking for another caravan partner. However, the caravan that happened to be on the way was not easy to find, and they lived in a small remote county at the time. The group asked the shopkeeper of the inn to inquire for half a month, but they couldn't find any caravan that was going to the capital.
In desperation, they had no choice but to return to Fucheng first and find other caravans from Fucheng.
There is a caravan going to the capital from Fucheng, but their departure time is not in sight.
In order to wait for the goods, the two caravans they managed to inquire about will have to wait until next month before leaving Fucheng for the capital.
Liu Zhihong and the others couldn't afford to wait, so they discussed hiring escorts to accompany them for protection, but when they found the **** company and asked the price, most of the scholars immediately retreated.
In desperation, they could only bravely go to Beijing with a group of people.
Although they also brought coachmen and servants with them, the coachmen and servants of their families were just like them.
After setting off, they either failed to calculate the distance and missed the villages, towns and cities where they could stay, or because they were not well prepared or were starving, or shivering in the cold wind.
Some of them were extremely weak, and even fell ill within a few days of departure.
After walking like this for more than half a month, seven or eight scholars in the team were all slightly or seriously ill.
There are only three or four remaining scholars, what capital are they going to? But don't let them get sick in a few days, and then all collapse in this foreign place, then they will all die.
A group of extremely helpless scholars finally chose to recuperate in place with great regret, and then returned to Fucheng together.
During the recuperation period, everyone discussed the matter that they had a collective stomachache.
Everyone was puzzled, wondering who would actually stare at them and add croton powder to tea and soup.
You must know that the other guests in the inn, including those scholars who went to Beijing to rush for the exam like them, are all very safe.
At the beginning, they suspected that they were other scholars who were also scholars. They were jealous that there were young and promising talents like Liu Zhihong and another scholar named Feng in their team, so in order to reduce competitors, they slapped them while they were not paying attention. soy flour.
But after some investigation, the local officials cleared the suspicion of other scholars who lived in the same inn as them.
The officials pinpointed the suspect to the strange woman who approached the waiter at the inn twice, but because the woman was wearing a veiled hat and the clothes she was wearing were nothing special, the two waiters who were almost hit by her were finally found Can accurately describe her personal characteristics.
Scholars couldn't figure out when they offended the vicious woman who wanted to ruin their futures, but Liu Zhihong couldn't help but suspect that he fell in love with his wife Qian who had been "recovering" for a while.
At that time, they were busy recuperating and going to Beijing. Liu Zhihong was temporarily unable to investigate the Qian family, but now they have delayed the first Enke after the establishment of the new dynasty. He has a lot of time to investigate the Qian family when he is free.
Mrs. Qian is more than vicious, but not smart enough. Whether she escapes or prescribes drugs, she has not made any thorough preparations. For a thoughtful scholar like Liu Zhihong, she quickly revealed her identity and was arrested by Liu Zhihong. Zhuangzi continued to "recover his illness".
After "convalescent" for less than half a year, Qian, who had been "ill" for a long time, naturally "died of illness".
Although the Qian family has already disliked Qian, this does not prevent them from using Qian's death to trouble Liu Zhihong.
However, Liu Zhihong, who had expected it for a long time, did not allow the Qian family to catch him. Even if the Qian family hired a foreman to conduct an autopsy on Qian, they did not find any doubts about Qian's death.
The Qian family hated it, but they could only watch Liu Zhihong pretend to be affectionate to the outside world, studying behind closed doors in the name of making his wife a filial piety.
Liu Zhihong studied behind closed doors for more than a year, and then followed the caravan to the capital early before the Chinese New Year.
After entering Beijing, he changed his previous style of staying behind closed doors, and started running out every now and then.
As a person who has racked his brains, Liu Zhihong certainly does not go out to see the scenery. Every time he goes out, he basically goes to participate in literary and poetry meetings.
And every time he goes to a literary or poetry meeting, he will deliberately make friends with some young masters who can bring him into a more advanced literati circle.
Using those sons as a pedal, he quickly climbed up to a certain old noble family in the capital.
The home of the current patriarch of the veteran gentry has a library, and the richness of the collection is almost comparable to the four most famous academies in Daqi.
In addition, there are more than a dozen living members of this family who have been awarded Jinshi.
Liu Zhihong took aim at their family, one is to find an opportunity to borrow books, and the other is to be able to consult closely with the Jinshi who was on the list when Xie Yuan opened Enke.
He had a clear goal and struck quickly. When Ye Jinkui found out by chance that this guy was still alive and appeared in the capital lingeringly, Liu Zhihong had already become a frequent visitor to the old patriarch's house.
Liu Zhihong, who knows how to show his talents so that he can be appreciated without arousing jealousy, took less than a month to successfully win the grandson of the veteran patriarch of the gentry.
The other party appreciates his talent, and at the same time enjoys the subtle sense of superiority he gets every time, so he generously accepts him as his little follower.
Liu Zhihong doesn't care that the other party regards him as a half-servant, he only knows that if he follows the other party, he can also enjoy the small cooking that the other party's uncle who was awarded a Jinshi in Enke gave to the children of the clan.
(end of this chapter)