Chapter 145： Square-faced Man in Horse Market (2-in-1 4000 words)

Chapter 145: Square-faced Man in Horse Market (2 in 1, 4000 words)

The doctor asked doubtfully, "Your wife is also pregnant?"

Ding nodded, "Can you please help me, old man, to see how my wife is doing?"

"Okay." The doctor took Cheng Yingzhen's pulse.

Lu Dani looked embarrassed and came to Shutong's side, "How can I let the doctor take my pulse first?"

Yes, Shu Tongzheng was wondering, if Madam is also pregnant, shouldn't she take her pulse first? Why did Mother Ji call the doctor after the young lady went out? Wouldn't the second lady not know?

Su Ruojin really had no idea that her mother was pregnant again, and it had been more than two months. She and Huaping went to the horse market. While shopping, Huaping explained where the horses in Bianjing City came from.

She read the Di newspaper in Su Yanli's study and had some knowledge of the four major consultation areas in the Dayin Dynasty. They were: Xizhou and Hezhou in the northwest, Yazhou in the southwest, and Yongzhou in the south.

Discussion means monopoly. Due to the needs of economic exchanges in various regions, the government has the priority of trade in the border between the two countries. The market was strictly controlled by the imperial courts of the two countries, and it also played a role in controlling border trade, providing economic benefits, and ensuring border security.

But according to Su Ruojin’s understanding, horses were still in high demand during the Dayin Dynasty, and sometimes even if you had money you might not be able to buy them.

“Uncle Hua, can we buy a horse today?”

 Hua Ping: "As long as you bring enough money, I will help you buy a horse."

Su Ruojin quickly flattered her: "Wow, Uncle Hua, you are so awesome!"

Huaping:…

Why do I feel like I have been tricked by the little lady?

The horse market is very lively. It’s so busy that you can’t even squeeze in. The weather is getting hotter, and the smell in the horse market is quite overwhelming. Su Ruojin blames herself for not being prepared well and not getting a mask. The smell is really unbearable.

Although it is a horse market, there are not many stalls selling horses. Most of them are donkeys. There are also many stalls in poor locations that sell cattle, sheep, pigs and other livestock. There are only a few stalls selling horses. The entrance was occupied by stewards from high-ranking families, and they couldn't even squeeze in.

"what to do?"

Hua Ping smiled confidently, "Don't worry, I will definitely ask you to buy a horse today."

There is no such tender young lady as Su Erniang in the whole market. The rate of attracting her was so high that Hua Ping wanted to take some mud and yellow powder and smear his face with him. Su Ruojin looked like a dog with its tail between its legs. Get into the crowd.

What about buying a horse? Su Ruojin was thoughtful.

 After squeezing one after another, we finally arrived at a small stall. When the stall owner saw Hua Ping, he came out with a smile and said, "Why did Hua Ping come to my dirty place when you have time?"

Hua Ping said, "Don't say sarcastic words, I'm choosing a horse for my boss."

There is business, but the stall owner is not enthusiastic, "There are horses, but there are scandals ahead, and the price is not cheap."

“How much silver?”

"The low-grade ones range from fifty taels to eighty taels, the medium ones range from eighty to one hundred and fifty taels, and I don't have them here."

Su Ruojin followed the stall owner's gaze and looked at the cheapest horse. It was so skinny that you could see its ribs. It could buy several slaves. It was so expensive!

Huaping looked at the young lady.

Su Ruojin had inquired about the price of horses and knew that horses were expensive and difficult to buy, but the price did not match the quality of the horses she saw, and the value for money was not worth it. But when she looked at the other stalls, they were all occupied by wealthy families. Then there is an opportunity for ordinary people to buy horses.

Okay, since you want to buy it, of course you have to buy it better.

“Buy what’s good.”

Hua Ping was not surprised that the young lady dared to spend money. The young lady had always taken care of the Su family's shop. She might think the horse was expensive, but if she was determined to buy it, she would be willing to pay for it, so he helped her choose the horse.

In addition to Mao Ya and Qiu Yue, those who came out with Su Ruojin today were standing behind her, one on each side.

This was the first time Mao Ya and her little master came to such a messy place. She was very nervous and looked around, taking precautions. Suddenly, she saw a familiar face in the crowd. The man's expression was completely different from the one she had seen outside the shop before. She was very puzzled and kept following his movements.

Huaping chose the horses and touched them one by one. Su Ruojin covered her nose and raised her feet to follow, but Mao Ya stretched out her hand to hold her back. She turned her head and found that Sister Mao Ya was not looking at her, but was staring closely at her. Looking at the noisy and crowded crowd, "What's wrong?"

“Second wife, the man with a square face and medium height is the man who was thinking about Aunt Gui some time ago.”

Missing Aunt Gui? Su Ruojin made Su Ruojin take another look, but only once, and wanted to see how Huaping chose the horse, but Mao Ya grabbed her arm and refused to let go, "Second lady, this person is different from the one who squatted opposite the shop before. He is so sneaky." He seems to be doing something bad."

Mao Ya's words successfully caught Su Ruojin's attention, and she stared at the moving crowd. She looked like a pickpocket at the train station. Perhaps she felt someone was staring at him, and the square-faced man looked this way.

Su Ruojin and Mao Ya quickly hid behind the tall pedestrian and avoided the square-faced man. The moment she turned around to avoid it, in the corner of her eye, the square-faced pickpocket seemed to have succeeded. He looked around and pretended to be casual. Get away from the crowd.

Su Ruojin subconsciously covered her sachet. After grabbing the sachet and touching it twice, she secretly laughed. The sachet contained only a few change, and all her money was now on Mao Ya.

Hurryly asked: "Sister Ya, be careful, don't let anyone take your wallet."

Mao Ya shook her head, "He is not a thief."

Su Ruojin:…

Mao Ya: "I saw him stuffing something into the bearded man."

Stuffing something? In later generations, before liberation, they were underground party connections, and after liberation, they were spies doing sabotage. Isn't it a spy to engage in connections on the territory of the Yin Dynasty?

Su Ruojin felt that she was too imaginative. Maybe she was a general human trafficker or a peddler of Five Buddha Powders? It's possible.

It's just bad people and bad things. Su Ruojin rushed to Hua Ping's side, stretched out his hand to pull her, and looked like we were talking alone.

Hua Ping raised his eyebrows and glanced at the horse he was touching. It was a medium-sized brown horse with a fairly gentle temperament. It was not bad for a scholar like Su Yanli to ride. He was about to ask the young lady for her opinion, but he didn't expect it first. Fancy it.

She is indeed a beautiful little lady, she is so good even when she sees a horse for the first time.

Huaping was dragged by the young lady to the edge of a horse. Su Ruojin motioned for him to bend down and lower his head, "Uncle Hua, Sister Mao Ya said she saw the square-faced man squatting opposite the breakfast shop and thinking about Aunt Gui. When she saw him I gave a note to a bearded man, who didn’t look like a Central Plains person.”

Huaping suddenly looked at the crowd with eyes like a falcon.

The attitude and aura he gathered in an instant were completely different from the previous second. If Su Ruojin hadn't had the heart of an adult, she would have been frightened. She watched Huaping's eyes move calmly, and finally seemed to Take it back calmly.

“It’s okay, it’s just a little thief.”

Su Ruojin: ...You look like you are facing a formidable enemy, who are you kidding?

In the past, Su Ruojin had doubts about Hua Ping's identity, suspecting that he was a street kid who was put out by wealthy families to find out information. But the falcon-like look in his eyes just now was exactly the same as the counter-espionage intelligence officer in the movie and TV series. Could it be that he Are they the spies placed outside by the Imperial City Division?

The Imperial City Division is similar to the Jin Yiwei, with different names, but the function is the same. If the person they are investigating is a treacherous person, they are the eyes and ears. If they tell everyone's secrets regardless of whether they are good or bad, then they are the eyes and ears. Court minions.

Su Yanli is a master of the Imperial Academy. He is a pure scholar and has nothing to do with the court. Su Ruojin does not understand the Dayin court when she brings her with her. She hopes that Huaping will be a righteous eye and ear, not a lackey of the court.

Hua Ping never expected that when he accompanied the young lady to buy a horse, his identity would be revealed with a look. However, his "eyes and ears" were not spies sent to monitor the movements of the subjects and report to the emperor, but spies who specialized in detecting spies from enemy countries.

Hua Ping had seen the man with the square face a long time ago. When he was squatting outside Su Ji's breakfast shop for a while, someone checked his background. He was very ordinary, just an ordinary household in the alley with no father and only one mother. Because I have no money to marry, I am almost thirty, and I am still single. Like many helpers, I work when there is work, and when there is no work, I squat in the market and wait for work. I really didn’t find anything. I didn’t expect to be met by the young lady today. On fire.

Since something happened, no one was in the mood to buy a horse, so the stall owner chose a bay-red horse with a gentle personality and paid one hundred and fifty taels of silver based on Su Yanli's personality and height. Horses in the Dayin Dynasty were so expensive!

Why is it expensive? Of course it's Master Ma.

Su Ruojin thought of the Song Dynasty. He heard that the Song Dynasty's military power was not strong. The most important reason was the lack of cavalry due to the lack of horses, so it could not defeat the northern minorities. In fact, the Song Dynasty not only lacked horses in the army, but also in social life. For example, in the famous "Along the River During the Qingming Festival", horses are particularly scarce.

Unexpectedly, this was also the case in the Dayin Dynasty. Among the junior officials similar to those of the Su family, it was almost impossible to see anyone with a horse at home. If not for the Su family's small wealth in the past two years, or if Su Ruojin hadn't deliberately caught Huaping off guard. , I probably won’t take her to the horse market to buy horses, because sometimes, even if you have money, you may not be able to buy a horse.

Su Ruojin's eyes kept falling on Hua Ping and the stall owner. The two of them were joking with each other as if they were old customers. After paying the money, she took the purchase and sale receipt issued by the government to Ma and Hua Ping handed it to her with a smile, " Hey, don’t lose it.”

“Thank you, Uncle Hua.”

 Huaping looked like he didn't care about favors with a little kid, "Don't call me too much. I owe you favors. What can you give me in return?"

Su Ruojin chuckled, "Uncle Hua is so smart, he will definitely be able to think of a way to repay the favor."

Huaping:…

Why is the little lady so thick-skinned? Isn't this favor owed to you?

After buying a horse, Su Ruojin only felt distressed for the money for a moment, and then she was only excited. When she left the horse market, she asked Huaping to take her to ride it.

Huaping:…

Sigh, it’s so tiring to deal with the little lady! But why are the corners of the mouth turned up from exhaustion?

It’s another day to steal other people’s daughters. A soft and sweet little lady is sitting in front of Hua Ping. Don’t be too trendy. She has a higher rate of turning heads. Everyone passing by is envious. When she goes home, she also asks her mother-in-law to give birth to a daughter. Come out and pamper.

When the big horse arrived at home, not only did the family members come around, but the surrounding neighbors also came to watch the fun. Yang Siniang finally caught Su Ruojin and said, "So you went to buy a horse."

Su Ruojin smiled at the neighbors at the door and said, "How about everyone come in and take a look!" It meant that I wanted to close the door.

The kids really came in, and the adults were embarrassed, so they all went back with a smile.

“Wow, what a tall horse. It’s maroon and so beautiful.”

Su Ruojin also thought the color of the horse was beautiful. “When my father comes back, I will ask him to draw a portrait of the horse.”

Yang Siniang cheered: "Your father must be good at painting."

"Of course." Su Ruojin accepted the flattery without blushing.

Huaping:…

He bowed his hands to Mrs. Su, "The younger one will go back first."

Cheng Yingzhen stayed with him for dinner.

“The second lady has already invited me to lunch, so I won’t eat in the evening.”

Martial arts practitioners should not eat too much, so Cheng Yingzhen stopped keeping him and asked Lu Dani to quickly pack a portion, "heat it up and eat it when you are hungry."

“Thank you, madam.”

Hua Ping seemed to be in no hurry while carrying the food box, but in fact he walked briskly. He walked out of the alley in a blink of an eye and merged into the crowd of people on the street before disappearing.

Half an hour later, he appeared in the small courtyard with a serious look on his face, "Have you caught Square Face?"

Mr. Shen nodded, "I caught him, but the bearded man who contacted him disappeared, and our people couldn't find him."

“Has it been reviewed?”

“Lao Du is interrogating.”

Hearing that the interrogation was going on, Hua Pingren relaxed and leaned back on his chair to relax.

Mr. Shen asked: “Who discovered it?”

“Mao Ya.”

“That girl the Su family asked you to teach?”

"Um."

Mr. Shen twirled his beard and said, "He is a good seedling."

Hua Ping tensed up after hearing this, "You want to get someone into the Detective Department?"

Mr. Shen smiled and said, "I deal with your apprentice every day. You know best what his character and habits are like. It's up to you to let him in or not."

“The Su family trained her to be a guard for Su Erniang, but you want to **** her when you see a talented person.”

"Who am I doing this for? It's not all for my great Yin Dynasty. It's everyone's duty to serve the country."

Huaping:…

For a moment, the two of them were speechless.

I don’t know how long it took, but suddenly, he said, “I’m afraid Su Erniang guessed my identity.”

This time it was Mr. Shen’s turn to be surprised, “No way.”

“This girl is so smart, I guess she’s pretty much right.”

Su Ruojin never thought that what she said about others would be returned one day.

"This..." Mr. Shen was in a bit of trouble. Anyone who knew their identity had either disappeared far away, or had found a weak point to threaten them so that they would not dare to say anything.

How to deal with the identity of Second Lady Su... and her relationship with the little prince?

Hua Ping said, "Aren't you good at handling this kind of thing? I'll let you go."

Mr. Shen was angry that he didn't have a formal appearance, "Why don't you sit down properly?" He still had the spirit of a soldier.

Hua Ping smiled and didn't care. He pointed at the food box and said, "I'll calm you down."

“That’s pretty much it.”

Just as soon as Mr. Shen put it on the table, their host arrived.

Zhao Lan wiped his face with a towel and asked, "How's it going?"

Just when Mr. Shen was about to ask someone to find Lao Du to get the interrogation records, Lao Du came in and said, "I am not from the Central Plains. I followed the victims into the capital ten years ago and took Fangguohu (refugees resettled in the city). That Lao Du The woman is not his mother. They are the eyes and ears planted by the Liao Xia Kingdom in our Dayin Dynasty. They spy on the horse market through the door. Through her information, the northern market determines how many horses to sell to our court in order to control Bianjing City. horse price.”