Farmhouse Green Plum

Chapter 137 Reporting to the Official

"How much does it cost to hire a carriage?" Song Ying asked again. From childhood to adulthood, she had never been to the provincial capital, nor had she ever hired a carriage.

"More than ten years ago, my father went to the provincial capital to take the imperial examination. He and his classmates hired a horse-drawn carriage. It cost 200 wen at that time. The price now should be about the same." Yuan Qing was a little uncertain.

Song Ying felt relieved when he heard this. Even if the fee had increased, it would not be much more than 200 Wen.

When I arrived at the carriage and horse trading company, I found that the price had only increased by 12 cents in more than ten years.

They arrived at Shunqing Prefecture in half an hour by carriage. The driver was very familiar with the city and took them directly to the Education Department's office.

Yuan Qing straightened his clothes and walked towards the door. Before he could say anything, he was like shooing away a fly, "Go away, the Education Office is not something you, a commoner, can enter. Hurry up and leave."

Song Ying: “…”

Are these doormen all acquaintances? What they say is almost the same.

Yuan Qing was not annoyed. He bowed to the doorman and said gently, "Please let him know that we have something important to discuss with the Supervisor."

"What's the big deal, little brat? Hurry up and leave. If you don't leave, I'll punish you for disturbing the government office!"

"I am Yuan Qing, a student from Jiahu Academy, and a disciple of the Grand Master. I left in a hurry and forgot to bring my name card."

Hearing about Jiahu Academy, Menzi's expression improved a little, and he finally looked at Yuan Qing straight in the eye, "Are you really a student of Jiahu Academy?"

"Exactly."

The doorman frowned, thought for a while, and finally said, "You wait."

Soon, the doorman came out and said to the four people, "Follow me."

The four followed him, crossed the high threshold, went around the left side of the screen wall, and went to a side hall on the west side.

"Wait here, don't walk around." After saying this, he closed the door and left.

After a long time, no one came. Song Ying and the other two couldn't help feeling a little nervous. This was their first time entering the government office. In the past, they were frightened when they just looked at it from a distance.

Song Ying turned around and found that Yuan Qing was also very nervous. She asked in a low voice: "How long do we have to wait? Can we get back to the village before the sun sets?"

Yuan Qing shook his head, "I don't know."

At this time, footsteps were heard outside the door approaching. Song Ying swallowed the words at the tip of his tongue and looked towards the door nervously.

A middle-aged man dressed as a scholar pushed the door open and walked in. Song Ying had seen this man before. He was a member of Wu Tixue's entourage when he was studying at Guanfeng Society.

"Mr. Xu." Yuan Qing stood up and saluted quickly.

Song Ying and the other two had not learned the etiquette of scholars, so when they saw him stand up, they quickly followed suit.

Seeing Yuan Qing, Mr. Xu smiled and said, "So it's you, young friend Yuan. You have a solid academic foundation. After returning, Mr. Dong still praised you highly. You are really a young hero!"

Yuan Qing said modestly: "Mr. Xu, that's not true. I still need to ask you for more advice with my limited knowledge."

After a few simple greetings, Mr. Xu got straight to the point and asked, "Why did you come to the city today, young friend?"

Yuan Qing pointed at Song Ying and the other two and said, "These people are from my neighboring villages. They happened to see three criminals on the wanted list in Qingshui County. They were the three people who killed the entire family of the magistrate of Ping'e County in Southern Yunnan Province."

Mr. Xu's expression suddenly changed, and he looked at Song Ying and the other two, "Is what he said true?"

Song Ying nodded: "It's true."

Then she described it all again.

Mr. Xu's expression became more and more solemn. He left after saying "You wait here."

But this time, they didn't have to wait too long, and he came back with Wu Tixue, and then Song Ying was asked to describe it again.

Wu Tixue looked at Song Ying in surprise: "Can you read?"

Is your focus wrong?

Song Ying secretly complained in his heart and said respectfully, "That day in the community school, after your teaching, the elders in my family realized the importance of studying and sent my little cousin to the school. I watched him review his lessons every day, and after a while he learned some words."

Wu Tixue nodded, "They are indeed a well-off family. They are good people who learn from books. Girls should also read more books to understand the world."

Song Ying was a little anxious. She wanted to remind Wu Tixue that now was not the time to focus on the issue, but she did not dare to speak casually.

On the way here, Yuan Qing urgently informed everyone of the etiquette for meeting officials, and to try to answer only when the other party asks, and not to speak on one's own.

"Yuan Qing, how are you doing in the academy these days?"

Song Ying was surprised and anxious. Why did he start asking about Yuan Qing's schoolwork again?

Next, Wu Tixue kept testing Yuan Qing's academic performance and was very satisfied with his progress.

Just when Song Ying thought that this was also a ridiculous education commissioner, Mr. Xu came in with a man in official uniform.

A quarter of an hour later, Song Ying was sitting behind a constable, running at lightning speed on the official road.

She never expected that she could ride a horse, even though she was being carried by someone else, but this was enough to excite her.

For generations, many villagers have never even touched one, let alone ridden one.

But to be honest, riding a horse didn't feel good. The horse ran too fast, and the whistling wind made her face deformed. She could only shrink her neck and hide behind the constable who was riding her.

The rapidly receding trees on both sides of the road made her feel a little dizzy.

Just now, after the official arrived and greeted Wu Tixue, Wu Tixue asked Song Ying and others to leave with the official's entourage.

When he got outside and saw people wearing official uniforms of constables, Song Ying realized that these people were constables from the yamen, and the official in the house was the prefect of Shunqing Prefecture.

The problem was, she had no idea when Wu Tixue notified the prefect.

She quickly put this doubt aside. Now that their goal had been achieved, the government office was very proactive and immediately sent out constables to arrest them and take them back to Qingshui County, saving the money of hiring a carriage.

"Besides that restaurant, have you seen those three people anywhere else?" the constable in front suddenly asked.

It turned out that the detectives took them with them so that they could take the time to ask them details on the way.

Song Ying suddenly realized what was going on. He quickly turned his head, stretched his neck forward, and shouted, "I'm still here..."

As soon as she opened her mouth, a gust of wind rushed into her mouth, and she could hardly hear what she was saying.

At this moment, her admiration for the constable reached its peak. In such a whistling wind, not only did he not slow down his horse's speed, but he could also speak clearly.

Song Ying retracted his neck, not caring about being polite, and spoke behind the other person, "I also met the man named Tang Tingbin in front of a bookstore on East Street..."

At that moment, she described in detail the entire process of meeting Tang Tingbin.

Riding horses was almost twice as fast as riding in a carriage. After about quarter of an hour, they arrived at the east gate of Qingshui County and stopped in a small woods far away from the gate.

The leading constable called out to a skinny man and said, "Go to Yuji Restaurant and Zhichun Bookstore to find out what's going on."