Chapter 75: Miao Chu Chapter 75: Conveniently

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Protagonist:

Song Miao

Song Miao had just looked up when she heard someone shouting incoherently, crying, "My leg! My leg!"

She looked closely and saw the two small workers with panicked faces, staring toward the ground.

Tables, stoves, and various items blocked her view, so she naturally couldn't see what was happening there, but Su Shifu was nowhere to be seen in the room, only his screams could be heard; who could not know who the victim was? She hurriedly put down what she was doing and called a miscellaneous worker to go check together.

As soon as she approached, she saw Su Shifu gritting his teeth, half-propping himself up on the ground, his left face scraped black and blue, already swelling high.

The two small workers were nearby and rushed forward first, one on each side to help him up.

But before they could help him up, Su Shifu was already screaming in pain like a pig being slaughtered.

Song Miao hurriedly stopped him: "Don't move him yet, afraid of injuring the bone."

As she spoke, she stepped forward, asked Su Shifu a few questions, saw that he was conscious, and then, following the Q&A, lightly touched his bones; sure enough, as soon as she touched the tibial bone, without any force at all, he screamed as if something had happened, only shouting that it hurt.

"The sole of my right foot also hurts, it hurts so much I can't use any strength!" Su Shifu shouted.

A small worker had already removed his shoes and socks, revealing his stinky feet—the three toes near the tail of his right foot were all swollen blue.

Song Miao stepped back and let the miscellaneous worker beside him touch it; sure enough, the moment that person touched it slightly, the other howled so loudly the roof seemed about to be overturned.

"He needs to see Eldest Sister quickly."

She hurriedly called a miscellaneous worker to find a stretcher that a person could lie flat on, and also shouted for a small worker to find Zheng Guanren.

Zheng Guanren came extremely quickly; seeing Su Shifu lying on the ground, he jumped in fright, but after asking a few questions and seeing that the other could speak with his mouth, move his eyes and hands, and wasn't bleeding much, he breathed a sigh of relief.

He only asked: "Better now? Can you move? Is it only your legs and feet injured? Your hands are fine, right?"

Su Shifu, in so much pain he answered whatever was asked, gritted his teeth and said: "Foot... foot can't move, can't get up, hand... hand seems fine."

"Then is your work finished?"

Su Shifu was stunned for a long while, took a good while to react, and gasped: "The dough was just fermented, I was wrapping the meat filling, and was about to bake flatbread..."

"Since your hands can still move, why not finish making these foods first, then go see Eldest Sister?"

As soon as these words were spoken, let alone Su Shifu, everyone in the room, including the miscellaneous worker still chopping meat, couldn't help but look at Zheng Guanren.

Su Shifu was already sweating all over his head and face from the pain, his mind a bit muddled, barely holding on with a breath; hearing this, he truly wished he could faint, and only cried: "Zheng Guanren, I don't want this month's wages, you take me to see Eldest Sister first!"

Compared to money, of course legs and feet are more important.

What if, because of delay, it can't be cured and I become a cripple?

"It's not that this official makes things difficult for you, but if you just leave like that, you make it simple for yourself; what do the Left and Right Military Patrol Academy eat tonight? In such an emergency, where can I buy food for a hundred or so people?" Zheng Guanren frowned.

Su Shifu was like a drowning dog grabbing a life-saving straw, almost shouting: "That Song Xiaoniangzi cooked rice! She cooked rice!"

Song Miao stood to the side, originally already planning to go back to continue cooking, her foot already lifted; at this moment hearing Su Shifu call her name, she couldn't help but nod in agreement.

Seeing Zheng Guanren with a gloomy face, full of displeasure, she couldn't help but stand and watch for a while, then returned to the stove.

At this moment, the miscellaneous worker who went to find the stretcher also returned; Zheng Guanren had no choice but to give in.

The people came one after another, and carefully moved Su Shifu onto the stretcher; they hadn't walked two steps when the person at the back slipped, nearly fell, and only narrowly avoided it because someone beside helped.

Just as the person was sent away, Zheng Guanren returned to the kitchen to look at where that person had fallen, and loudly asked: "So perfectly fine, how is the ground so slippery?!"

The two small workers stood helplessly to the side, but unconsciously both looked at Song Miao.

Song Miao had just put shredded napa cabbage into the pot; at this moment hearing Zheng Guanren's call, she looked up, saw the three people opposite looking at her, felt strange, put down the ladle in her hand, and walked over.

Earlier, Su Shifu had been lying on the ground, with pots, bowls, ladles, basins, and wooden shelves he had knocked over all over the floor; nothing seemed wrong, but now that the person had been sent away and the clutter cleaned up, a patch of stain one chi long and half a chi wide was revealed on the ground.

The stain looked like water but not like water; Song Miao only felt strange, followed the source to find it, and it was originally coming from the lower layer of a wooden cabinet beside.

"Is there something leaking inside?"

She pointed at the wooden cabinet and said.

The cabinet was locked, but Zheng Guanren gave an order, and a following miscellaneous worker immediately found an axe and smashed the lock open.

As soon as the lock opened, the cabinet door was almost instantly knocked open from inside.

Only a "bang" was heard, and a large bucket of something toppled out of the cabinet, falling to the ground.

The miscellaneous worker who unlocked it had no guard at all; by the time he reached out to stop it, it was too late; when they lifted it up, half of the contents of the bucket had already spilled—slippery all over the ground.

Like oil.

Song Miao walked two steps closer and indeed smelled a scent of sesame oil on the ground.

Zheng Guanren managed the kitchen; naturally he couldn't fail to recognize oil; for a moment he was furious to death, and scolded the two small workers: "So perfectly fine, what are you doing stuffing oil into this cabinet!"

"No, no, it wasn't us who put it!" The small worker didn't dare take the blame, immediately informing on the hero behind the scenes: "It was Su Shifu who stuffed it in just now; the key was also only in his hands..."

Zheng Guanren was stunned for a moment, and couldn't help but say: "Su Shifu stuffed the oil; just now, what did you see that Song Xiaoniangzi doing?"

The two small workers, though not old, had already made one mistake earlier; at this moment how dare they talk back, they could only lower their heads and play dumb.

But Song Miao, an outsider who had crossed the river, was not afraid, and only smiled: "Perhaps Su Shifu was busy and forgot; he just went out with Zheng Guanren for a trip, came back and told me there was no oil in the kitchen, and told someone to go get some later."

As she spoke, she went to the side of the cabinet and looked inside.

Sure enough, inside there was a smaller oil bucket, and also a basin of already congealed lard.

No wonder such a large kitchen couldn't find oil; it was originally hidden.

But the oil bucket that fell out was larger, while the cabinet space was small; most likely it couldn't be placed flat, so it had to be leaned in diagonally; when the door was closed, it leaned even more severely; the oil in the bucket was too full, so full it overflowed, just right to leak out; who would have thought it was also accidentally stepped on by Su Shifu himself.

One can only say it was self-inflicted.

But despite working so hard, when something happened, Zheng Guanren's first reaction was to make him work to death, first handing over his own errand, which made Song Miao unable to help but sigh.

Zheng Guanren was no fool; hearing the two small workers and Song Miao explain one after another, how could he not piece together the cause and effect? He could only smile awkwardly, pretend to be stupid, praise Song Miao with a couple of sentences, urge her not to miss mealtime, and then hurriedly left with his people.

Su Shifu and Zheng Guanren left one after another; in the kitchen, only Song Miao, the cook, was left at once.

Gone were the finger-pointing and scolding, the noisy clamor — she only felt the air had turned fresh.

With twice as many hands under her now, Song Miao naturally found the work even lighter.

She told one small worker to flip the fried pork belly on time, another to watch the fire under the pot; the remaining two odd-job men kept to their original assignments, while she started another pot herself and began making beef minced spicy tofu.

Since everything followed the calculated plan, even if some steps came earlier or later — whether rushed a bit or slowed a little — they all fell in step with the progress.

By the time the beef minced spicy tofu and the first pot of vinegar stir-fried bean sprouts came out of the wok together, there was still exactly half an incense stick's time until the meal hour.

Everyone carried out the rice pots and dish pots.

The steamer basket of meat buns and vegetable buns that Su Shifu had wrapped earlier, Song Miao also had him steam them done, and sent them out together.

At the front where rice was served, several stove doors had already been shut, leaving only a low warming fire; only the stove under the fried pork belly had a bigger fire.

The pots had been set on for just a moment; the others were fine, but the fire under the rightmost stove had already seared the pork belly until it sizzled and rendered oil again, the fragrance drifting out incessantly.

Song Miao readied a knife and cutting board, took up chopsticks, and without waiting for anyone to come, first lifted two pieces of fried pork belly from the pot, cut them into thick slices, arranged them on a plate, then ladled soup and dishes into large bowls respectively.

After placing all the food onto two trays separately, she said to the two small workers and odd-job men helping: "Today is too rushed; by rights we should have eaten first ourselves before coming out, but there simply wasn't time — everyone take turns going in to eat a few bites to tide you over."

Having smelled the dish fragrance for so long and worked a good while, they were already hungry; they all agreed, and sent one small worker to carry a tray to the back to eat first.

The remaining small worker, Dabing — he was used to working in the kitchen — busily told the two odd-job men and Song Miao how to dish up faster and operate more smoothly, and only then struck the meal bell on time.

The bell rang; after a while, several yamen runners walked in from outside the door.

They brought their own rice jars and rice bowls; as soon as they entered, they headed straight for the serving spot — the leader almost ran up, glanced left and right, saw Song Miao standing at the side, and immediately grinned wide.

"I heard Xin Ge say tonight Song Xiaoniangzi came to cook; I thought he was joking! Who knew it was true! No wonder this afternoon, when I was escorting prisoners I heard magpies calling in the trees — turns out it was for this — there's good food!"

This man was actually one of the yamen runners who stood night watch at the Song Family Eatery the day before yesterday.

Song Miao naturally remembered his name; she greeted him with a smile and asked: "Does Dong Guanye want meat buns or baked cakes? There's also rice."

"All made by Song Xiaoniangzi?" The surnamed Dong wouldn't choose first, insisting on asking first.

Song Miao said: "Except the wheat foods which Su Shifu made, the rest were all done by me together with the kitchen hands."

That Dong Guanye practically slapped the board instantly and said: "The rice is made by Song Xiaoniangzi? Then I want rice! More! I'm starving half to death!"

As he spoke, he hurriedly held out his own bowl.

The first station was the rice serving.

Two large spoonfuls of rice went into the center of the big bowl; as he walked along, people added dishes to his bowl along the way.

First a spoonful of glossy tofu with minced pork — no need to eat it, just smelling it gave a full peppery-numbing fragrance.

Then a large spoonful of stir-fried bean sprouts, oily and glossy, clear fragrance, the sprout stems still looking very tender, at a glance crisp, with a hint of vinegar aroma.

Further down, Song Miao ladled a spoonful of sliced meat into his bowl — that meat was actually still sizzling, the outer layer fried golden-brown, oozing oil, making a sizzling sound, as if shouting: Come eat me!

At the end, someone placed a small bowl of soup in his tray — the soup was milky white and thick, with shredded napa cabbage and egg chunks inside, steaming hot, fragrant.

Holding this tray of dishes, Dong Guanye quickly found the nearest table, hurriedly grabbed chopsticks, and his first move went straight for that fried meat.

In the kitchen, Song Miao was busy slicing the fried pork belly and dishing up; in the rear yamen, that Han Li was also busy dealing with Xin Censor who had brought several subordinates to make a scene before him.

"Zheng Yan, that classmate of yours, the one surnamed Kong — he's insufferable! If he doesn't restrain himself, you'd better think of a way to move him aside soon, otherwise forget the brothers below, even I want to hit him!"

Han Li set down his brush and asked: "What happened?"

Before Xin Censor could speak, a yamen runner rushed out from behind, complaining loudly: "Younger Brother Han, Laozi has worked in the Capital Prefecture Office for over ten years, never seen anyone talk like this! What kind of thing is he!"

"Exactly! Just because he knows characters? Just because he's read books? Just because he's formidable?! Putting on what airs!"

Another yamen runner immediately chimed in agreement.

Han Li asked the ins and outs.

It turned out after bringing Kong Fuyang back to the Capital Prefecture Office last night, he had immediately assigned him tasks.

Result: before the handover hour even arrived this morning, the other party had already delivered the results.

Sixty-odd official documents, in just one night, he organized every single one neatly and properly, even helped categorize them, pasted labels at key positions, and wrote a search guide introduction on the first page.

With such efficiency and ability, Han Li naturally couldn't not use him, so he assigned a few more tasks.

Kong Fuyang did every single one remarkably well.

By afternoon, when it should have been time to rest, he saw Han Li not resting, so he also refused to rest, secretly snatched a task to do.

This task was originally assigned by Han Li to Qin Zong.

Because hundreds of suspects were arrested in one night, and the incident broke suddenly, the yamen had no preparation; after one night, the Left and Right Military Patrol Academy was in utter chaos.

Qin Jie summoned all his retainers, even the younger generation of his household, to help, yet it was still overwhelmingly busy.

More troublesome than the shortage of odd-job men below was the bigger problem: the prison cells, questioning rooms, and personnel capable of interrogation were all insufficient.

Arrested criminals should originally be interrogated first, then detained.

But questioning rooms and interrogators are limited; while waiting, they could only do temporary detention first.

However, even Qin Jie who manages the Zuojun Xuncha prison couldn't conjure several hundred separate cells overnight.

But if detained together, what if the un-interrogated criminals collude?

Qin Jie attended to this side and missed that side, so anxious he had nosebleeds several times in one night.

Han Li after all still planned to stay here a while, truly couldn't bear to watch, so he conveniently sorted it out for him.

He first sent Qin Jie away to find Prefect Zheng, to request assistance from the Criminal Investigation Department — a case this big, once reported up, the Criminal Investigation Department would certainly intervene in the end; since so, better to call people early to help interrogate and share the pressure.

After sending Qin Jie off, Han Li tallied all usable buildings and manpower in the Capital Prefecture Office, first simply cleared twenty empty rooms as new questioning rooms, estimated that gamblers with lighter crimes would be interrogated by ordinary Chai Guan, if issues arose they'd be transferred to Censors, if assessed as serious crimes they'd be sent to the proper interrogation room for Censors to question personally.

Additionally, he scheduled shifts for the questioning rooms and Censors and Chai Guan; everyone rested in rotation on time; unless special circumstances, one interrogation session should finish within a set time; if it couldn't finish, come out early to notify and readjust.

Since no prison could hold hundreds of criminals separately at once, they had to be dispersed to different places; he took the vacancy situation of the Zuojun Xuncha cells, calculated the foot-travel distances between each prison and the Capital Prefecture Office questioning rooms.

But to judge who might be a major criminal and who a minor one, first required experienced Chai Guan to do a screening.

The task Kong Fuyang obtained from Qin Zong was: after learning the situation from the Chai Guan, register and tally these criminals' situations, make a summary, so that serious offenders are detained near, light offenders far, ensuring that when interrogation time comes, the person can be escorted back on time, achieving interrogation of serious crimes first, then light crimes.

But Kong Fuyang almost infuriated every Chai Guan he asked; the offending points were all trivial — like arrogant tone, interrupting before the other finished speaking, or bad attitude, blaming the other for not expressing clearly enough, and so on.

(Chapter End)