Xu Wenjing's father was dismissed and investigated by the imperial court due to corruption and perverting the law. Before his death, Xu's father repeatedly asked the jailer to let him quietly bring Xu Wenjing to meet him.
Looking at Xu Wenjing, who was not yet an adult, Xu's father burst into tears: "Wenjing, when you grow up, whether you are an official or a citizen, you must remember to put a knife at the beginning of the word'greed ', don't be greedy."
After the death of Xu's father, Xu Wenjing had been in the cold window for ten years, and finally Jinbang High School was appointed as the magistrate of Matang County by the imperial court. He was determined to be a clean official, so as soon as he took office, he personally led the people to dig trenches and pick sand, repaired several water canals that ran through the county, punished a group of bullies who had harmed the village with thunder, and also reconsidered several unjust cases wrongly convicted by the previous magistrate. For a time, the people praised him as Bao Qingtian's reincarnation.
One day, Xu Wenjing was resting in the back hall when Zhao Liu, the head of the yamen squad, hurriedly came in and handed over a greeting invitation.
Xu Wenjing took the post and looked at it, and couldn't help but frown. The post said "Ma Tang Tea Merchant Wu Fang Daoton's First Hundred Salutations", and below was the greeting list. The list said: gold hundred taels, silver thousand taels, ten boxes of pearl jadeite, and many antique calligraphy and paintings.
Xu Wenjing asked Zhao Liu, the head of the team, "What kind of character is Wu Fangdao? Why is he so generous?"
Zhao Liu smiled and said, "My lord Wu Fangdao is a famous tea merchant in the Ma Tang Dynasty. He is rich and has more than a hundred semicolons in the north and southern provinces, and is known as the tea king. To tell the truth, this gift is not generous, the gift he gave to the former governor of the county is 10,000 gold taels at a time."
Just as Zhao Liu was about to say something, Xu Wenjing's expression changed and he immediately stopped.
Xu Wenjing remembered that when he first took office in Ma Tang, the rich gentry of Ma Tang came to pay a visit with generous gifts, among which Wu Fangdao gave a coral full of rare treasures. At that time, Xu Wenjing was furious, not only did he expel all the gift-givers from the mansion, but also gave each person a board. After that, he sent someone to hang a notice: Anyone who pays bribes in the future will be punished with a rod and imprisoned for three months. At that time, he remembered that the first person to be beaten was the servant sent by the tea king Wu Fangdao.
Team leader Zhao Liu tentatively asked, "My lord, the gift list is not thin. Do you want to accept it or not?"
Xu Wenjing snorted and threw the gift list to the ground: "This official has already posted a notice that bribes are not allowed, and this Wu Fangdao dares to openly resist this official's decree. Come, blame the eighty big boards for those who come to salute, as an example!"
Xu Wenjing originally thought that after punishing Wu Fangdao this time, he would definitely not bother him again. Unexpectedly, a small sedan chair came outside the mansion a few days later, and after the sedan chair curtain was lifted, a seductive beauty walked down. When the beauty saw Xu Wenjing, she said a long blessing and opened her cherry lips lightly: "The little girl was originally the top brand of Furong Tower, Yuengniang, and thanks to the love of the lord, she redeemed my body. Yuengniang is grateful, and she is willing to be a cow and a horse, and serve the lord for the rest of her life."
Xu Wenjing was at a loss as to when he would redeem this Yue Niang? He quickly asked carefully and learned that this was actually Wu Fangdao's doing. Xu Wenjing was so angry that his face turned blue, and he immediately ordered someone to send Yue Niang back to Wu Fangdao, and scolded him.
One day,, half a month later, Xu Wenjing went to Wenbaozhai to pick up framed calligraphy and painting. The owner of Wenbaozhai smiled and took out a silver ticket of 10,000 taels: "Lord Xu, the painting you framed in our store was photographed by a foreign businessman.
What? Xu Wenjing was shocked. The Yu painting framed in Wenbaozhai was just his graffiti work, and it was ready to be framed and given to a friend. Unexpectedly, it sold for 10,000 taels of silver. Xu Wenjing asked the shop owner in surprise: "What is the surname of the person who bought the painting, what is it called, and where is it?"
The shop owner was hesitant to say, only saying that he was a foreigner.
Xu Wenjing became suspicious and slapped the silver ticket: "This official is here to frame calligraphy and painting, not to sell paintings. This official gives you three days to recover this painting, otherwise don't blame this official for being ruthless." After that, he left Wen Baozhai.
Zhao Liu, who was following Xu Wenjing, said, "Isn't it just a painting? Since they are willing to buy it, why don't you go with the flow and accept the money? This is not bribery, my lord is too careful."
Xu Wenjing said: "If I guess correctly, this painting must have been bought by Wu Fangdao. This person has tried every means to curry favor with me, and he must have something to ask me. Since ancient times, businesspeople have been so stingy. Since he spent so much effort bribing, it must have been a violation of the law. If I sell the painting to him, he will hold my hand and blackmail me in the future." Sure enough, the painting was indeed bought by Wu Fangdao. After Xu Wenjing took back the painting, he burned it and told his subordinates to be careful about Wu Fangdao.
A few days later, Xu Wenjing's teacher, Ma Shilang, returned home and passed by Ma Tang. Xu Wenjing hurriedly welcomed the teacher into the county yamen and hosted a banquet. After three rounds of wine, Ma Shilang saw that the county yamen was dilapidated, Xu Wenjing's official clothes were patched, and there was only one fish on the table, which was a meat dish. He couldn't help but admire: "This old man has countless students in his life, and only Wen Jing is so clean and honest, which is really admirable." He asked his family to bring a few fresh fish and gave them to Xu Wenjing: "I know you are no better than others, you only like to eat fish, so I specially brought you a few thornless fish."
Xu Wenjing was stunned: "Teacher is joking, there is still a thornless fish in this world?" After the chef stewed the fish, Xu Wenjing took a chopstick and tasted it, only to feel that the fish was delicious and abnormal. The entrance was soft, the lips and teeth were fragrant, and there was really no thorn.
Xu Wenjing said in surprise, "The student has lived for most of his life, and this is the first time he has eaten thornless fish. Ma Shilang smiled and did not answer vaguely.
Xu Wenjing liked to eat fish since he was a child, especially carp and grass carp, but since he ate thornless fish, his taste has become very picky. He only wants to eat thornless fish, and put other fish in his mouth, all taste like chewing wax.
After eating the few thornless fish presented to him by Ma Shilang, Xu Wenjing was greedy and sent people everywhere to inquire about where there were thornless fish for sale, but all the people sent were in vain. Xu Wenjing was helpless and had to give up, but he always thought about the delicious food in his heart and didn't think about it all day. Mrs. Xu was anxious and sent people to inquire around.
That day, a maid excitedly ran up and said that there was a new fish restaurant on Qianmen Street, and there was a thornless fish dish in it, but this store was very strange, selling only one thornless fish every day. After Mrs. Xu heard this, she quickly sent someone to buy it.
The store owner heard that the prefect came to buy the fish, so he quickly cooked the fish and sent it to the county yamen. After Xu Wenjing ate it, he was full of praise, and the store owner also sent the thornless fish to the mansion on time every day. Xu Wenjing was addicted to thornless fish, and if he didn't eat it for a day, he felt weak and weak.
Unexpectedly, a few months later, the store suddenly stopped delivering fish. Xu Wenjing felt uncomfortable all over, and urged the yamen to buy fish. When the yaman came back, he said that the fish house had been closed, and the store was missing. After not eating fish for a few days, Xu Wenjing yawned again and again, feeling unspeakably uncomfortable. At this moment, the servant came in to report that the tea merchant Wu Fangdao had come to see him. Xu Wenjing was upset and was about to say no, but when he saw Wu Fangdao's gift list, it turned out to be ten thornless fish, so he had to invite Wu Fangdao in. Wu Fangdao smiled and said, "How is Lord Xu always nice?" Xu Wenjing reluctantly responded: "Boss Wu is here, I don't know what you are doing?" Wu Fangdao said, "Just meet the Lord, nothing else." After chatting with Xu Wenjing for a few words, he said goodbye. After that, every now and then, Wu Fangdao brought a few thornless fish to pay a visit. Xu Wenjing didn't want to accept it, but the greedy insects in his stomach made him uncomfortable.
On that day, Wu Fangdao came again. Xu Wenjing said with a sullen face, "Since ancient times, there has been no free meal, and Boss Wu doesn't need to pretend. If you have anything to ask me, please tell me." Wu Fangdao was stunned and smiled: "Master Xu is really cheerful, in fact, it's not a big deal. I have a younger brother named Wu Fangyou, who was sentenced to beheading by the lord half a year ago for accidentally injuring people, and will be executed in a few months..." Before he could finish speaking, Xu Wenjing waved his hand: "You want me to let Wu Fangyou go? This matter is absolutely not allowed, Boss Wu should go back." Unexpectedly, Wu Fangdao laughed: "The lord also underestimates me too much. Since ancient times, I have killed people to pay for my life, and I can't protect my younger brother. I just miss my family and have no children. In order to leave him some blood, I would like to ask your permission to ask someone to borrow the fetus for my family and leave him some bone and blood. "The so-called borrowed fetus is a criminal sentenced to death in ancient times. In order to carry on the family, he had sex with the woman chosen by the family in prison, and after the woman became pregnant, he would be executed to continue the incense. It turned out to be a trivial matter. Xu Wenjing breathed a sigh of relief, and the borrowing of the fetus was not illegal, so let him go. So he turned a blind eye and let the woman chosen by the Wu family have a tryst with Wu Fang. And in order to show his integrity, after receiving the fish from the Wu family, he gave the Wu family a few taels of silver as fish money.
Not long after the incident, Xu Wenjing suddenly received a court document saying that death row prisoner Wu Fangyou had injured people again thousands of miles away.
Xu Wenjing was shocked and thought to himself, isn't Wu Fang locked up in the prison, how could he run thousands of miles away? He hurriedly took people to the prison, only to find that there was a scapegoat in the prison who looked similar to Wu Fang. Under the big punishment, the man confessed that he was actually the "woman" who borrowed the fetus.
Xu Wenjing only realized at this time that Wu Fangdao had stolen a beam in order to save his brother. Xu Wenjing was shocked and angry, and was about to send someone to arrest Wu Fangdao, but the imperial court's decree arrived first. The imperial decree said that Xu Wenjing was greedy and perverted the law, sold to death row prisoners, and was immediately dismissed and investigated.
Xu Wenjing shouted that he was wronged, saying that he only ate a few fish from the Wu family and gave money.
The official who issued the order sneered: "Just a few fish? Simple, do you know how Wu Fangdao raised those thornless fish in order to curry favor with you?" With that said, he ordered someone to bring Xu Wenjing to the Wu family.
There was a fish pond in backyard of the Wu family. The bottom of the pond was paved with gold, and the surrounding area was lined with silver. The water was filled with pearls and gemstones, and hundreds of thornless fish swam in the water.
Xu Wenjing was dumbfounded. The official ordered: "These thornless fish were born in the East China Sea and are bloodthirsty by nature, and like to live in the land of gold and silver, so they are called'greedy fish '. As long as someone eats their meat, they will become addicted, and if they don't eat thornless fish for a day, they will feel uncomfortable all over. In the end, they will become greedy people without conscience because of this fish. Ma Shilang and the thornless fish in the fish restaurant are all set up by Wu Fangdao to lure you into addiction."
Xu Wenjing stared blankly at the thornless fish in the golden pond, regretting it: "I didn't expect the word 'greed 'that I hated the most in my life to fall on my head in the end. Greedy fish, greedy..." He suddenly understood, shouted, jumped, and bumped into the golden pond.
The decreed official sighed: "There is a knife at the beginning of the word greed, I don't know how many people don't understand this truth!"