The Stepmother is Unkind

When the Xie family reunited, Chu He and others finally caught up with the convoy and followed them all the way to the port on the southeastern border of Nanyue State.

Nanyue Prefecture has always been very closed, and it has been shown to the outside world that it is extremely poor and backward. After they visited in person, they found that the common people were indeed poor, and many people only reluctantly depended on the mountains and forests to make ends meet, and had no other livelihood.

Therefore, in the 31st year of the founding of the Great Ye dynasty, both commercial and agricultural taxes were paid very little.

In the beginning, Daye needed to secure a stable imperial leadership and recuperate. The road had to be taken step by step. There were many disadvantages in the development of Lingnan. Naturally, he focused on other places first, and he had no time to take care of Lingnan.

As far as Chu He knows, the seaports in Nanyue are not used much. One of the important reasons is that the seaports in Lingnan are often looted by water bandits, and they will suffer heavy losses if they encounter them.

But today, Chu He and the others were hiding in the distance, watching the port they thought was quite deserted and bleak. A huge merchant ship was parked and the port was crowded with people loading and unloading goods.

The convoy they followed along the way, unloaded huge boxes, so tight that they couldn't see what they were, but it was still difficult for the two of them to lift each box together.

And the rut marks left by the carriage along the way also showed that the box was not filled with ordinary light things.

The things that were loaded on the trolley after it was emptied, the boxed ones, could only be approximated by the size of the box and the effort required to lift them, but looking at how they were being lifted carefully, Chu He suspected that they were fragile items. , possibly porcelain or something.

When the later car was full of cloth, Chu He roughly guessed that the re-hit should be this kind of thing that can be used for life.

Chu He didn't look at these carriages anymore, and instead concentrated on writing down the appearance of the passenger ship, carefully looking for some special marks.

Until the passenger ship left and the convoy returned again, Chu He ordered a few guards to continue to follow to see if they returned to Butterfly Valley, and then rushed back to the state city overnight.

In the prefecture city, the people discussed the newly arrived Mrs. Governor, sleep as usual, and have to get up as usual tomorrow to make a living.

On the contrary, those powerful and powerful people in the prefecture city could not understand the temperament of Mrs. Prefect. They were suspicious of her for tying up such a group of people into the city. They were worried that her arrival would have an impact, and some people could not sleep.

In the prefecture's house, except for the Nanke sisters who hugged and cried for a while, they went to bed very late. The last ones were Yin Mingyu and Xie Qin.

Xie Qin was so elegant and self-controlled back then, but he would entangle someone.

Yin Mingyu had enjoyed it before, but he didn't want to eat until he got tired of it, but stopped in time and spoke directly.

If it was in the past, she would have to beat around the bush to achieve her goal.

Everyone is changing, Xie Qin hugged her, noticed her change, his eyes were gentle, and he gently dropped a kiss on her naked shoulder.

The night in Lingnan was still cold in January, and his body was warm. Yin Mingyu didn't push him away. He closed his eyes and quickly said in a daze: "Go to bed earlier, I have to visit Qi Jiedu tomorrow."

Xie Qin asked, "Let me go with you."

Yin Mingyu disliked it, "I will take Xiao Langjun there, you are affecting our performance."

Xie Qin heard the words, pinched her nose, opened her mouth to see that she couldn't breathe, and kissed her. After intertwining, she pressed her chin to her shoulder, kissed her earlobe and asked, "I'm so useless?"

A little green stubble grew under his chin, and there were some thorns on his shoulders.

Yin Mingyu held his earlobe away, and whispered softly: "Xie Qin, don't renew your beard in the future, I don't like it..."

Xie Qin chuckled and came down, "Okay."

After a while, Xie Qin kissed Yin Mingyu's earlobe again, and whispered in the ear of the sleeping person: "It's okay to settle accounts or anything else, I'm happy if you can tell me bluntly."

Xie Qin is unilaterally in love here, Yin Mingyu sleeps soundly, but hundreds of people in the prefecture's prison are suffering because of this couple.

The prisoners are all criminals, and the jailers don't pay much attention to them, so the prison is extremely dark and damp, and there are all kinds of extremely unpleasant smells mixed, even the young and strong people of the Yan Clan have suffered a lot. They were also uncomfortable, not to mention those young men in Nanmeng who used the women in their clan to enjoy themselves.

In this case, it is most likely to stimulate people's irritable emotions, especially in the nearby prison where there are other criminals screaming madly, etc., people's emotions are even more unable to calm down.

Nanmeng's group couldn't help it. One jumped to the fence and shouted, and the others couldn't bear to complain.

Yan Jun was originally dissatisfied with these people, and when he was bored with their noise and stopped them, he taught a black hand.

It wasn't the elbow hitting the stomach, or the foot stomping hard, and those who took the opportunity to scratch their faces... Those Nanmeng clansmen were very agitated, and the noise was even worse.

The jailer came over to stop it, and everyone from the Yan Clan quickly persuaded them to make amends while retreating, leaving only the Nanmeng Clan people in front of them, which was particularly conspicuous.

The Nanmeng women are good-looking, but the men are worse, but even if they have good facial features and have never suffered, their skin is different from ordinary rough men. In the eyes of this group of black and thin men, it looks even better in comparison.

The jailer has no power or power and has never seen any good-looking people. He doesn't avoid meat and vegetables. When this person arrives at their territory, he will tease him and touch him again.

The men of the Nanmeng clan were humiliated all over their faces, and they scolded the jailer with justice and awe: "It's so deceiving, we are not guilty! The clan will definitely seek justice for us."

"If you dare to bully us like this, take us out, you must sue and teach you to be punished."

Looking at them, Yan Jun felt nauseated.

When he thought of what Nanke might encounter, he couldn't hold back his anger, and when he raised his fist to teach these people a lesson, the guards sent by Xie Qin interrupted the fight that was about to break out.

Those jailers nodded and bowed instantly, and the Nanmeng clan also died down.

The guards didn't care what happened to them before, they directly took out the laws of Great Ye in the sight of everyone and read them out one by one.

For the first quarter of an hour, the minds of everyone in the prison were still clear.

After two quarters of an hour, not to mention Nanmeng and the Yan people, even the prisoners in the other cells dared not speak up.

The jailer wanted to escape, but the guards were not allowed, and some guards read the law, and other guards woke up one by one in the cell, in short, no one was allowed to sleep.

One hour later, two hours later... "Article 1 of the Law of the Great Ye" circulated in the ears of all the people in the prison, but there was no light in their eyes.

The sky finally brightened, and the governor called a few guards back. The dazed eyes of everyone in the prison were looking forward to it, but then they saw new guards coming to replace them, and continued to chant: "The first law of the Great Ye..."

Prisoners: "…"

I am guilty and can be judged and punished, why should I suffer such cruel torture...

Xie Qin didn't plan to judge them for the time being, but after hearing the guard's report, he felt that this move was quite effective for the people to know the law.

The prefectural government officials learned and discouraged: "Lord Inspector, wouldn't this delay the students' study, and the prefectural government has never made expenditures here, so it is not easy to record..."

Xie Qin has made up his mind and will not change it because of this.

He even kindly provided a few horses for the students to ride.

But Xie Qin taught people to go back to pay the money, and the young servant returned empty-handed, but he said: "Langjun, Sister Qingyu said, you just ordered all the money to be given to the young lady in the morning, and now the young lady is awake, take the money... Do you want it?" Will the prophet meet the young lady, or should I postpone it for a few days before giving it to the young lady?"

Xie Qin: "…"

It was never thought of, but...it's amazing.

"I'll just take a walk back home."

On the other side, Yin Mingyu was awakened by the sound of Xie Ce's reading in the yard. She opened her eyes and found that it was very late. She had to go out and hurriedly greeted Jin'er Yin'er to come in.

Jin'er and Yin'er pushed the door open and came in, followed by Red Silk and Dye Liu. Both of them were smiling. When Yin Mingyu saw them early in the morning, he was instantly in a good mood.

The two were not familiar with each other before, but now, for some reason, like twins, they walked to Yin Mingyu from left to right, and waited on her to get dressed and flattered.

No matter who it is, there are such two lovely and lovely maids by her side, and she will not be in a bad mood. Yin Mingyu directly shows it on his face, and his smile never fades.

Xie Qin came back and saw her smiling like a flower, calmly waving her hand to teach the maid to go down, and only then said that she wanted to withdraw some money.

Yin Mingyu didn't know which one came out until after listening, and felt ashamed of Xie Qin's self-consciousness.

The aristocratic family is full of talents everywhere, and Xie Qin's salary is not enough for ordinary spending, so it is still the Xie family's family business that supports it.

Yin Mingyu and Xie Qin settle the accounts, accepting his salary and being his housekeeper are two different things, and Xie Qin is completely making simple things troublesome.

She didn't hide it, and directly stated her reason: "Qingyu manages it well, even if you hand it over to me, it's also in her hands, why bother taking it from me?"

Xie Qin said: "I don't want you to be involved, I just value you."

Yin Mingyu climbed the pole and said with a smile: "Yesterday we agreed on 80 taels, but I want to pretend to be my own private room. Since you pay attention to me, Langjun, you don't need to pay attention to this matter. I gave it to Lang for nothing. Your Excellency, today I am going to see the envoy Qi Jiedu, and the price is two hundred taels, and it will be paid in installments with your salary, how about it?"

Xie Qin was amused, and pointed his finger between her eyebrows, "You helped me a lot when you went to see the envoy Qi Jiedu. It's only two hundred taels, isn't it a loss?"

Yin Mingyu smiled, "Small water will continue to flow, so you can continue to earn income."

Husbands and wives are most likely to be together for a lifetime, with a community of interests. Some things cannot be lazy, but they should always be done. She takes the initiative and receives some rewards, and she is also happy, right?

Moreover, she promised to save Nan Ke, which is also self-satisfaction, double the happiness, and kill two birds with one stone.

Xie Qin agreed to the number of two hundred taels, and the couple once again reached a harmonious consensus.

Later, Xie Qin asked, "Do you want me to take you to the Jiedu Envoy's Mansion?"

Yin Mingyu waved his hand, "Lang Jun still has official business, I will arrange for someone to accompany me."

Xie Qin trusted Yin Mingyu, so he didn't ask any further questions. When he heard the noise when he was working in the main office of the former government office, he saw a group of people following Yin Mingyu and Xie Ce. They were silent for a moment and then returned to normal, not like the state. Ya other people make such a fuss.

Yin Mingyu and Xie Ce didn't dress up as exaggeratedly as yesterday, but they also looked extremely rich.

But the most attractive thing today is not her, but the six maidservants behind her, Jin'er, Yin'er, Red Silk, Dye Liu and Nan's Conan Duo sisters, all wearing the same clothes, standing side by side behind her , full of limelight.

Nan Ke and Nan Duo are not maids. Yin Mingyu only planned to take Nan Duo out to show off at first, but Nan Duo stuck to Nan Ke, so she brought them out together.

Not only that, she also specially selected 20 guards with handsome features among the guards of the Xie family, and accompanied them around, it was a very beautiful scenery.

Xie Qin sent? How can Xie Qin send this pomp.

Wherever she was going, Manzhou City knew that the lady of the prefect was coming, and she wanted to tie her up, so it would take a lot of consideration.

Yin Mingyu looked at these people she chose with a smile on her face, and began to like Nanyue. If it was in the capital, how could it be so ostentatious.

Before getting into the carriage, Yin Mingyu saw Xie Qin and gave him a blessing from a distance.

Xie Qin nodded in return, and then watched her get on the carriage. Her series of maids also got on the carriage, and the guards followed.

Seeing that Xie Qin was going back to the main hall, Liu Sima followed him a few steps and asked inadvertently: "Lord Inspector, I just heard that Madam Inspector is going to see the envoy Qi Jiedu and his wife?"

Xie Qin said calmly: "My wife and Qi Jiedu are related to each other's family. It is rare to meet here, so naturally we should get closer."

When he said such words, his tone was extremely ordinary, and coupled with his consistent image, he would not be suspicious at all.

Several officials of the prefectural government exchanged glances behind, and Liu Sima also had some thought in his eyes, and said with a smile: "I saw that the governor and Qi Jiedu had little interaction before, and I thought they didn't have deep friendship..."

Xie Qin looked at Liu Sima meaningfully, "I just want to do something practical for the people of South Vietnam during my tenure, but why..."

After half the words, Xie Qin left, leaving Liu Sima and others to guess what he was after "Nai He".

At the same time, in the Yanzu Village, Yanxia was carrying a package on his back, looking like he was about to escape, and quietly left the village secretly.

But he had just left the village about a mile when two people suddenly sprang from the woods next to him. A piece of cloth covered his mouth and nose. It didn't take long for Yanxia to roll his eyes and fall into a coma.

They were afraid that he would wake up and make a noise, so they blocked his mouth, tied his hands, and put a black cloth bag on his head, so they called a carriage and took him away quickly.

On the other side, Yin Mingyu swaggered through the market, and when he reached the east of the city, he heard a lot of people in the carriage, and was a little surprised, so he opened the carriage window to take a look.

Xie Ce was lying on the carriage window, "Wow—a lot of people!"

Yin'er also sighed in surprise: "Miss, this place is so lively!"

Yin Mingyu looked at the various shops on the other end, and was a little interested, and said, "Let's go back and see what's going on in front of us for a while."

Xie Ce, Jin'er and Yin'er nodded together.

When the carriage entered the area of ​​the noble mansion in the southeast corner of the state city, Yin Mingyu looked at the particularly imposing door of the two surnames Fan and Hu, and only hooked the corner of his mouth and did not say anything.

Qi Jiedushi's house was so far away that it seemed to be separated from other houses. As soon as he approached, the surrounding area became empty and heavily guarded.

Yin Mingyu's carriage entered and was also questioned, and then he took the invitation and went to the gate of the Jiedushi Mansion.

Previously, Jin'er and Yin'er had specially trained the Nan Conan Duo sisters in an emergency, so after the carriage stopped, the four red silk, dyed willow, Nan Ke, and Nan Duo walked off the next carriage, and then respectfully and neatly. Standing next to the first carriage.

The soldiers guarding the gate of Jiedushi's mansion had a very serious expression, but when they saw the four of them, they all glanced at them involuntarily, and their majestic expressions couldn't hold back.

Afterwards, Jin'er and Yin'er came down, stood beside the carriage, and respectfully reached out to help Yin Mingyu and Xie Ce down.

Their style was very different from Inspector Xie, who came in a low-key manner nearly a year ago. People from Jiedu's envoy welcomed them in, and they couldn't help but look sideways at Madam Inspector and a series of maids behind her.

Because Yin Mingyu visited Qi Jiedu and his wife as a junior in the pilgrimage the day before, both of them were waiting to see her in the main hall.

Once the news of Yin Mingyu's arrival was reported, both the husband and wife put on a kind and kind smile. When Yin Mingyu and Xie Ce stepped in, Mrs. Qi greeted warmly: "Mrs. Xie Shao, my aunt has long been..."

She had just finished speaking when she saw the person behind her, her expression stagnant.

But Mrs. Qi came back to her senses, and immediately glared at the envoy Qi Jiedu. Seeing that the envoy Qi Jiedu was also fascinated, her eyes instantly became more fierce.

Qi Jiedushi noticed the danger, and immediately withdrew his gaze, his eyes signaled that she was in front of an outsider, to save him some face.

Mrs. Qi glared at him again with a warning, before turning to Yin Mingyu, as if nothing had happened, and continued affectionately.

Said: "My aunt mentioned you in the letter a long time ago, and I can see you today."

Yin Mingyu has already noticed the lawsuit between the husband and wife, and now, looking at the very similar demeanor of the husband and wife, he can't tell that they are in agreement.

Originally, she was already prepared to meet the cold here today, but she didn't expect to find out unexpectedly.

Yin Mingyu's smile was also very affectionate, he performed the junior salute, greeted the two of them, and then taught Xie Ce to also salute the two elders.

Today, she didn't have any special requirements for Xie Ce, Xie Ce was her usual appearance, she raised her hands to the top of her head when saluting, and said in a milky voice: "Xie Ce has seen Lord Jiedushi and Mrs. Jiedushi. "

The older people are, the more tolerant they are towards children. Xie Ce is so cute, and Mrs. Qi's eyebrows show a bit of liking, which is more sincere than her previous enthusiasm for Yin Mingyu.

"Look at this child, who came to Lingnan with his father, and something like that happened, it's really pitiful~"

The Qi family had sons and daughters, and two grandsons, but they were reluctant to have their grandson stay with them in Lingnan, so they all moved with their eldest son elsewhere, and they hadn't seen each other for several years.

Mrs. Qi was usually just like the envoy Qi Jiedu. She stayed in the house and didn't get involved in Nanyue's affairs. It was rare to see a child as old as Xie Ce, and it really hurt.

Xie Ce didn't understand the pitiful nature of Wai Fang, so he honestly said, "Madam, it's not pitiful, Ce'er is happy."

When Mrs. Qi heard it, how could there be such a sensible child, she immediately waved to him to come closer.

Xie Ce looked at his mother, Yin Mingyu nodded at him, and he walked towards Madam Qi.

Mrs. Qi held his small hand and looked at his fleshy cheeks for a while, but she couldn't say the words "hard work on the road", so she turned to say: "This child is really good-looking."

praised again.

Xie Ce said with a smile: "Madam has vision, Madam looks good."

Mrs. Qi stayed for a while, then laughed heartily, and was coaxed very happy by his little one, and taught people to take the gift of meeting.

Yin Mingyu secretly gave Xie Ce a "well done" look.

Xie Ce was encouraged, and became more and more cute and cute. Even when he received the greeting, he lay down on Mrs. Qi's lap and raised his head to talk to her.

Mrs. Qi's voice became softer, and she was almost bribed by Xie Ce.

When Qi Jiedu saw this, he cleared his throat and reminded him.

Mrs. Qi immediately took it away, and when she turned to Yin Mingyu, she turned into the kind and extremely polite look before.

Yin Mingyu was unaffected, and suddenly remembered it, and said, "I almost forgot, Sister Qi asked me to send a letter, but I delayed it for a long time before sending it over."

After she finished speaking, she turned her head and said, "Red silk, send it to Mrs. Qi."

The letter was in Jin'er's hand, when Jin'er heard it, she reacted very quickly, took out the letter and stuffed it into Hong Silk's hand.

Hong silk was not slow to respond, and when she received the letter, she held it in both hands and presented it to Mrs. Qi.

Qi Jiedushi couldn't help but look at the red silk, but he didn't mean anything lewd, just walking around, he would definitely look at her.

But Mrs. Qi gave a "cough", and he immediately looked at his nose and heart again, and didn't look at anyone again.

Yin Mingyu's brows moved slightly, and he was more convinced that where the breakthrough was for this couple.

And they didn't mention much about Yin Mingyu and Xie Ce being held hostage before, but Yin Mingyu mentioned it himself, "Thank you for sending our adults, otherwise we wouldn't be able to escape the danger, so we specially prepared a thank you gift, Uncle Aunt must accept it."

Previously they were "Master Jiedushi" and "Mrs. Jiedushi", but after a while, they became "Uncle", "Auntie"...

Mrs. Qi read the letter and handed it to the envoy Qi Jiedu. In the letter, Mrs. Qi also said that she and Yin Mingyu were quite close and asked them to take care of them.

Qi Jiedushi took it over and glanced at it, complaining in his heart that his daughter was troubled, but on the surface he still said with a polite and distant kindness: "Mrs. Xie Shao is too polite..."

"Uncle, you are the polite one. You two call me 'Second Mother' directly. We are not outsiders."

Qi Jiedu: "..."

Lao Youzi has a thick skin and can't tear his face, and there is no way.

Qi Jiedushi didn't want to talk more about their being held hostage, so he had to accept the thank-you gift from the Xie family, and after chatting a few words casually, he asked Mrs. Qi to entertain them on the pretext of business.

When he was leaving, he saw that Mrs. Qi was still holding the Xie family boy, and gave her a reminder.

Mrs. Qi remembered, but when Yin Mingyu wanted to coax someone, she didn't care about her figure at all. In addition, there was also a Xie Ce. The two of you talked to me, and it didn't take long for Mrs. Qi to let go of them. .

So much so that when Yin Mingyu and Xie Ce left, Mrs. Qi said half politely and half sincerely: "It's rare that the house is so lively, I really can't bear you..."

She still doesn't know Yin Mingyu. Yin Mingyu is a real person. Since Mrs. Qi said she was reluctant, Yin Mingyu thought she really thought so.

So Yin Mingyu immediately answered: "I also can't bear my aunt. If my aunt doesn't give up, we'll play again tomorrow."

Xie Ce immediately asked in a milky voice, "I like Grandma Qi, can I still come tomorrow?"

He said "Grandmother Qi", just like "grandmother." Mrs. Qi... didn't hold back and agreed.

In the front yard, the envoy Qi Jiedu, who learned that the mother and son of the Xie family will be here tomorrow: "..."