Chapter 47 The Eleventh Gambler's Wife

Psychological abnormalities often block people's intelligence.Mrs. Wei was frightened by this dream. She didn't think that when she was storing those stolen goods, no one had seen them. At this moment, she found the key under the pillow, and immediately went to unlock the third box next to the bed.The keys and boxes were originally placed in old places, and there was nothing suspicious about them.At this time, I found the key under the pillow, and felt that the key was not in the original place. My heart skipped a beat, and then I went to the box and looked at the lock on the box, but it was locked upside down.She couldn't help but said: "It's not a problem. Someone opened the box and then locked it again." So she rushed to open the box and reached into the clothes to feel it.During this critical moment, I still remember that the two diamond rings were placed in the pockets of the clothes.She quickly reached into the bag to touch, and the two rings were still there.But when I touched the banknote, check, cashier's check, and gold savings certificate, they disappeared.

She was in a hurry, and reached out her hands to grope inside each piece of clothing, but there was still nothing, and the sweat that had just dried up broke out for the third time.When she opened the second box, she always simplified the procedures and did not move the small box above.He lifted the lid of the second box and reached inside to pull out the clothes.This time she is no exception, she still does that.Now that she felt something was wrong, she moved the small box away, took out the clothes in the box one by one, and put them all on the bed.I cleaned up the clothes and looked at the bottom of the box, but I still couldn't see the three kinds of tickets.

She was stunned.She sat on the edge of the bed and thought about it. It was really strange.Thief, why don't you steal the two diamond rings too?If he didn't know there was a diamond ring, how did he know that there were so many banknotes?She thought for a long time, sighed a few long breaths, and had no choice but to stuff these clothes into the box listlessly. When most of the clothes were sent in, she found many clothes on the bottom of a pair of trousers. Paper bills, when you pick them up to look at, cashier's checks and savings certificates are all there. She laughed to herself.When putting these things into the box, I was looking for a big bag.Unintentionally, he touched the opening of his trousers and stuffed things into it.Where anyone came to steal, it was completely insane.At this time, I understood it myself.But the spirit is relaxed, and the strength is exhausted. Waking up in the middle of the night, this kind of self-disturbance for a while is really tasteless.Seeing that there are more than a dozen pieces of clothes piled up on the quilt, I can't just fall asleep.First take out the purse under the pillow, put all the things that make you rich into the purse, and then put the purse in the box.As for these clothes, I looked at them, I was really powerless to deal with them, so I threw them into the box with both hands.Although they are stacked a few inches higher than the edge of the box, don't worry about it for the time being.Swipe down hard on the lid of the box and it closes easily and locks it.As the small box was pressed down on the big box, the commotion was over.

But with this commotion, her nerves were already overexcited, and she couldn't fall asleep when she lay down on the bed.The only thing is that I can't sleep, so I can't help but think about what happened today and tonight.Fan Baohua didn't seem to come in a good way, but when he left, he felt a little sympathetic. Maybe he was angry with Hong Wu first, so he came to pick up the stolen goods.He later said that it was better to avoid it, but that may not be a lie.You see, when Hong Wu went to Grandma Zhu's house, she was very tolerant of him, and she was indeed a little angry.It doesn't matter if you avoid it, with millions of dollars in your hand, what can't be done, how can you let him take it back for nothing?

She was half awake and lay in bed until dawn.As soon as he got up, he went to the gate and looked into the street.The weather is too early. Cebu on the peninsula has not dissipated. There are few pedestrians on the road, but the long-distance bus going to the countryside is tinkling, and the wheels are rolling up the road, passing by continuously.Next to the car, there is a wooden sign that says Yuge Special Car.She suddenly thought of Gele Mountain. There were quite a few relatives and friends who wanted to visit many times, but they were delayed because they were afraid of being crowded in the long-distance bus.Now you don't have to worry about the congestion of the cars, and it's important to keep those money safe.

She suddenly had this idea, called Aunt Yang, told her to go to the countryside, and packed her things while she was there.Fortunately, the family members of civil servants during the Anti-Japanese War did not have more than two suitcases of clothes.She put all the new clothes and shoes in one box, and the other children's clothes packed into two big bags.Invite Mrs. Tao from the next door and tell her that because of Wei Duanben's lawsuit, she has to go to Nan'an to find some friends. I'm afraid I won't be able to come back that day, so I have to take the two children with me. The door is locked, so please take care of her.Of course Mrs. Tao believed it too.Please rest assured that she is willing to take care of this portal for her.

Mrs. Wei seemed to be 24 times careful about her husband, and immediately took her two children and Mrs. Yang to hire a rickshaw to go out.When hiring a car, what she said was the bus station instead of the ferry terminal. Mrs. Tao felt strange, but she also had something on her mind, so she didn't ask her.Her behavior is the opposite of Mrs. Wei's. Except for shopping, she doesn't go out much, and she always finds a little sewing in the house.It was just these two days that the female worker left on sick leave, and the housework was even busier, so she didn't have the heart to pay attention to Mrs. Wei's housework.

This afternoon, Li Buxiang came.He also has the same style as Tao Bosheng, always carrying a leather bag under his ribs, but his leather bag is much more worn than Tao Bosheng's.When he came here, he was already very familiar with it. Mrs. Tao took a thread sock and used blue cloth to mend the heel.The first half of the sock was already half-filled.Standing and laughing, he said, "Mrs. Tao, why are you bothering? These socks are not very comfortable to wear after mending the soles. You only need to follow up two cards less when Lao Tao teases you. How many socks do you want to buy?" Mrs. Tao stood up, pulled the drawer of the small table, and rummaged through the pile of newspapers on the table.

Li Buxiang shook his hand and said, "Can you find me some cigarettes? No, I'm just here to ask a few words. Is the guy next door at home now?" Mrs. Tao said, "Do you have anything to do with her? She took the child with her early this morning. We have gone to the South Bank, and the doors are locked." Li Buxiang said: "I don't want to look for her, but Lao Fan should ask her. If she is at home, let me hand her a letter. I entrust you to deliver this letter. "As he spoke, he opened the leather bag, took out a letter, and handed it to Mrs. Tao. Seeing the seven words "Miss Tian Peizhi's exhibition" written on the envelope, she tapped the envelope on the edge of the table and said, "You guys are really troublesome. A mother who has added two children must send it to you. Treat her as a young lady. It turned out that she was just gambling, and now you have taught her to dance. Life is so high, and there are many troubles in the family..." Li Buxiang cupped his hands and said: "Sister-in-law, don't tell me that , I can't talk about communication at all. I don't want to bring this letter. According to Lao Fan, there is no love in it. There is a negotiation of money, and the amount is not small. Originally, this letter could be Let Lao Tao bring it, Lao Tao can't get off the stage, so I had to bring it first. Who knew she wasn't at home."

Mrs. Tao shook her head twice and said: "Old Tao gambled so much that he forgot his family. He went out last night, and he still couldn't get out of the game by this time. How much did he lose?" Li Buxiang said, "I didn't gamble here, so I don't know if he lost. How much. In fact, you don’t have to worry about this matter. Anyway, you fled to Sichuan and didn’t bring gold and silver treasures with you. If you win, he will settle down with you. A naked man, who can hold him up?" Mrs. Tao said: "I'm afraid I don't know this, but this is not the end after all, is it? Just like you, Boss Li, you are not like us, carrying a mouthful of money on both shoulders, and did not bring money to Sichuan. A leather bag runs around all day long, so there are ways to do it, let’s say buy gold, I’m afraid you won’t buy two or three taels. Every two taels earns 20,000, and you also get five or six hundred thousand. Look at our old Tao, what What kind of name?... It is to recognize a group of friends who talk big. It is hundreds of thousands and millions. Who sees where the money is? If you open his purse and look at it, you will laugh out loud. Also I don't know which company closed its doors. Some parts of the subscription prospectus were left behind. He asked him to pick them up in the wastebasket and put them in his leather bag. Besides, there were more than a dozen envelopes, two stacks of letter paper, and some The evening paper bought at the bus station. It’s so inconvenient to run around with such a thing.”

Li Buxiang said with a smile: "Let me say something for Lao Tao, it is a habit to carry a purse. It seems a lot of inconvenience not to bring this thing. Not only letter paper and envelopes, I even change clothes, towels and toothbrushes, sometimes I put them in my purse , in order to go to the countryside to go to the market, this is the luggage bag. Boss Tao is different from me. He has plans to find a deputy in the company in the future. My old Li is destined to run the streets. Do it, if you don’t make a fortune, you can get by every day.” Mrs. Tao listened to his very ordinary words very pleasantly.Then he asked: "Boss Li, I would like to ask you, can we women do business in your business?" Li Buxiang shook his head twice and said: "It's not interesting. I get up early every morning and go to the cigarette market first. Upstairs in the teahouse, crowds of people stuck out banknotes from their heads, and snatched a few cigarettes from their heads. Sometimes their throats were dry and they were drenched in sweat. It was because of these cigarettes. Then they walked to the department store. Shopping malls, look at department stores. If you can shop well, you can check them out cheaply. If you can’t shop, you can spend two hours in vain. These are two of my duties, and I must go every day. In addition, there are mountain goods market, cotton yarn market, and gold market. Drill it all." Mrs. Tao laughed and said, "Are you still going to the gold market?" Li Buxiang shook his head and smiled, "That's just a beggar standing at the door of a restaurant, watching people eat meat. But this also has an advantage. Gold is different from other things. If it If the price increases, the value of the legal currency will depreciate, and if the value of the legal currency depreciates, the price of things will increase.” Mrs. Tao smiled and said: "What is depreciation of French currency, what is called black market, and what is called interest rate, where have we heard these things before, and now even my mother often talks about them. These years have really changed. I said that Boss Li , let me tell the truth, that is, you have to take me to run around the few markets you just mentioned, okay?" Li Buxiang took off the hat on his head, and scratched the monk's head with two other fingers under the hat. looked at her and said with a smile: "You are going to run to the market, it is hard work, and without Bosheng's consent, I dare not take you out for a run." Mrs. Tao stood leaning against the table, lowered her head and thought for a while, then nodded and said, "Let's talk about it later. I hope that when you see Bo Sheng, you will advise him not to stay up late today. The first reason is that his body can't resist it." The second is that there are always some things in the family. It is not good for you to let me be the master, and it is not good not to be the master." Li Buxiang said: "That's right, Bo Sheng is not half as important as me. Playing cards, one Cigarette after cigarette down, it really knocks people down." Mrs. Tao said: "Please, please, please persuade him to come back." Seeing how deeply she frowned when she said the word please, Li Buxiang felt a little worried.He said: "Okay, okay, I'll send you a letter. It's not yet four o'clock. I'll go find him and come back for dinner. If I'm free, I'll just accompany him back, maybe it's annoying You have a meal." After finishing speaking, he covered his hat and left. When Mrs. Tao heard that he was coming to eat, she couldn't help feeling a little worried, and immediately went to the inner room, and lifted the lid of the rice tank on the corner of the room to have a look.This is the second time she has looked at the rice in the rice jar today.It turns out that the rice in this rice jar is only for one meal.Mrs. Tao looked at the leftovers in the bamboo dustpan, there were about three or four bowls.I brought two children to school with me, and they only ate five or six bowls, so the difference was limited, so I bought two handfuls of Chinese cabbage, prepared to add some oil and salt, and cooked a meal of soup with Chinese cabbage.At this time, Li Buxiang said that he wanted to send Tao Bosheng back, so he had to prepare fresh rice.There is now a bowl for scooping rice in the rice jar. She scooped the bowl and scraped the bottom of the jar until it creaked. After scooping, there were only two and a half bowls of rice. If these two bowls and a half rice were used to make a meal , that is not enough. She stood by the rice jar in a daze for a moment, so she had no choice but to fill up the two bowls and a half of rice and put them in a clay bowl, took the bowl, and walked slowly into the kitchen.The kitchen of his house is also an alley next to the house.There are earth stoves, slats, water tanks, and bamboo cabinets all the way here.But except for the water tank, which is half full of water, the rest are empty and deserted.In order to be afraid of mice, the leftover bowls of rice were packed in small tile bowls, and two handfuls of cabbage were placed under the big tile bowls.In this way, for all the empty bottles and bowls, and the half tank of clean water, it is impossible to tell what it is like in this kitchen. She thought of her husband who went out to gamble, no matter whether he won or lost, he must be full of energy and inject a few poker cards with half a cigarette in his mouth at this time.There were banknotes piled up on the table, and people were sitting around the table, their arms touching their arms, and the electric lights above their heads might also be on during the day.For they must have gambled behind closed doors and windows in a secret house.The room was smoky and sweaty, which was the exact opposite of the cold kitchen. She thought about it and sighed, but she couldn't find any way to relieve it. She found the mess of firewood and sticks under the table, first lit a fire in the stove, and then washed the rice and cooked.These two things were quickly done by her.She moved a square bamboo stool and sat against the small board, looking at the empty bowls on the board, which were stacked upside down.I saw that there were two handfuls of cabbage on the bottom of the big bowl that was covered upside down, and there was nothing else to treat guests.She folded her hands in her arms and stared blankly at the surrounding walls in the alley. She seemed to be very interested in the wood-smoky wall, and she looked at it again and again without moving her eyes.She didn't know how long she had been in this ecstasy, but she suddenly smelled a burnt smell in her nose, she stood up suddenly, lifted the lid of the pot and took a look, it was terrible, the water in the pot was boiled dry, the rice was not cooked yet, but there was a big smell. Half of it was burnt to burnt yellow.Hurry up to remove the firewood from the stove, the burnt smell from the rice pot came out from the crack of the pot cover, the whole small kitchen was covered by the burnt smell, and she couldn't control the rice in the pot So, I took a bowl of cold water, poured out a few pieces of firewood that had been put on the ground, and sat on the square bamboo stool. She thought that before the pot of rice was burned, at least the rice could be filled.Now she can't even invite people to eat, and the kitchen has returned to deserted, so she simply stopped sitting in the kitchen, went to the house, cleaned up all the stored items in the box, and ordered some.This surprised her greatly. All of the more than 100,000 yuan banknotes that remained were gone, even the 4 taels of gold savings coupon that Tao Bosheng snapped up a few days ago was gone.I fumbled a few hands at the corner of the box, and found a few odd and small receipts, not only ten or five yuan, but also one yuan.At this time, matches can be sold for two yuan a box, or several hundred yuan, so what can be done?I have no choice but to buy a box of cigarettes to entertain guests, right? She stood still leaning against the box, and was in a daze again, but at this moment, she heard Tao Bosheng laugh, and Li Buxiang followed his voice.He said: "You have some money to lose it, can you use it as a small capital?" Tao Bosheng said with a smile: "It doesn't matter. My surname Tao spent so many days in Chongqing, and I didn't starve to death. Losing One hundred and eighty thousand, that's nothing to worry about, I'll get it back if I find a chance. Hey! Where's Mrs. Tao?" When he wasn't very happy, he called his wife Mrs. . After Mrs. Tao heard this tone, she knew that something was wrong, so she agreed, "I'm here." Following her words, she immediately ran to the front room.She saw that her husband had shaved off half of the muscles on his cheeks during a fierce battle all night, and he was holding more than half of a cigarette obliquely in his mouth. There was no regret on his face, and he still squinted at people with a faint smile on his face.He said: "Do we have any food at home, leave Lao Li here to eat, I want to drink three or two tunes, get me something to go with it." Mrs. Tao smiled and said: "Of course, Mr. Li came to our house twice in one afternoon for your business." Tao Bosheng touched the teapot on the table, pushed it towards the table, and said with a smile: "Stay up late People like to drink some good hot tea. Is there any ready-made boiled water at home? I still have some good Longjing in my tea bottle. You can make a pot for me, but the water in the hot water bottle is not good. You need to find it for me. Get some boiling water." Mrs. Tao didn't say no, she took the teapot and hurried to the inner room to find tea.On the small table, there is a foreign iron tea bottle ready-made, but when the bottle cap is lifted to look at it, it is only covered with a thin layer of tea powder on the bottom of the bottle.She sighed slightly, took the teapot, and went straight to a cigarette shop across the street. This cigarette shop also sells some miscellaneous goods, such as tea, soap, candles, hand towels and the like.They were family stores, with old owners who looked after the store, kept the accounts and did a little usury.The young boss ran to the market to stock up.The young proprietress deals with the store.There was a refugee in her fifties, a homeless woman from her hometown.The old boss recognized her as a relative, and the old boss made the bed. As for the tea and rice cooking, laundry, and sweeping of the whole store, he was fully responsible.The rights enjoyed include food and shelter, and no wages are paid.Her surname is Liu, and the whole family calls her Aunt Liu. They don't treat her like a servant, and they don't pay her for this honorable title.Aunt Liu also has a distant nephew, Lao Liu, who is in his twenties and is also a refugee. The old boss asked him to carry water, coal and goods.Although wages are not paid, 15% of the profit from being a hawker is raised.If he doesn't work as a peddler for a day, he won't get a commission, so he is exhausted in the shop every day, so he has to spare time to run.The whole family is a producer, and the business is very good.The whole family has a good relationship with Mrs. Tao.Because she introduced people who borrowed money from them, and there was a gambling scene, Tao Bosheng must have bought foreign candles and cigarettes at his house. Mrs. Tao came to their store, first took off a gold ring on her finger, put it on the counter, and then said with a smile: "Boss Zheng, I am here to trouble you again. My friend asked me to borrow ten thousand yuan from you." , take this ring as collateral." The old boss was reading the account on the table, took off his reading glasses from his nose, and walked to the counter.He didn't look at the ring, and said in a dragging voice: "Money is very tight these two days, and we have a batch of cheap goods today that we can't afford to buy." Although he said so, but for this ring, there is nothing Without ignoring it, he raised the glasses in his hand to the tip of his nose, picked up the ring, pointed the glasses at it, took a closer look, and weighed it a few times in the palm of his hand. Mrs. Tao said: "This is a penny and eight cents." The old boss shook his head twice. He took a handful of rings from the counter drawer, weighed the ring for about two or three minutes, and looked at the glasses on the ring. carefulness.She laughed and said, "It's less than seven cents. It's too much to bet ten thousand." Mrs. Tao said, "Now that the silver building is listed, it's about eighty thousand. Eighty-eight gets eight. Eighty-eighty-sixty-four, it should be worth ten thousand. Two thousand yuan. They won't sell it, Boss Zheng, you can deposit ten thousand." He pondered for a while, then nodded and said, "Okay. The interest is 12 cents, due in one month. The interest will be deducted first." Mrs. Tao looked at the old guy's melon-shaped face, with a few mouse whiskers sticking out, without the slightest smile, anticipating that he didn't have much money to negotiate, so she had to agree.The old boss accepted the ring and gave her eight thousand eight hundred yuan in bills.Mrs. Tao immediately bought two taels of tea and a pack of cigarettes here.It happened that Aunt Liu came out with a pot of boiling water to make a bowl of tea for the old boss.Then he laughed and said, "Shall we share some boiling water?" Boss Zheng said, "I'm afraid it's not much, right? Boiling a pot of boiling water now costs a lot of money for charcoal." Then Mrs. Tao took out a cigarette, passed it to him across the counter and said, "Old boss, smoke a cigarette." He took it, and said to Aunt Liu, "Tea and cigarettes are not separated. You and Mrs. Tao make this pot of tea." , probably there is a visitor, and there is no time to boil water at home. Make a pot of tea for Mrs. Tao just bought." Mrs. Tao really laughed or was angry, she opened the tea bag and put a pinch of tea into the pot.The old boss looked at it and said: "It doesn't matter if you put less tea, we are boiling water, and the juice will come out after soaking." Mrs. Tao smiled and said nothing. The old boss picked up the tea leaves scattered on the counter one by one with his fingers and put them into the glass tea bottle on the counter.He didn't smoke the respected cigarette, and put it in the retail cigarette tin in the drawer of the counter to deal with it.When Mrs. Tao saw it, she didn't say much, took the teapot, and walked home.Tao Bosheng saw that she had all the tea and cigarettes here, nodded and smiled and said: "Okay, let's prepare the meal." Mrs. Tao said: "Hurry up, how about some noodles?" Tao Bosheng said: "Noodles and rice are not restricted. Get us some Serve wine on two plates." Mrs. Tao peeked at him, but she still didn't have a big smile on her face, and Li Buxiang was always a guest, so she couldn't disobey her husband's orders.She said yes, took the 8,000 yuan she bet on the gold ring, and went out with a small vegetable basket.She has planned both economically and deliciously, and within half an hour, she brought back the food and wine. After another ten minutes, a jug of wine and two plates were sent from the kitchen to the outside room.It is a plate of sauced beef, a plate of celery and peanuts mixed with five-spice dried tofu.The celery needs to be soaked in boiling water, which is impossible at first, but when I bought the sauced beef in Xiajiang noodle restaurant, I cut it after soaking it in the boiling water pot used by others to cook the noodles.Tao Bosheng is a skinny person, so he likes to eat something crispy and salty, but this suits the master's wishes, and she can save a few pennies.The husband accompanied the guests to drink, so she had time to cook for her. She lit a fire in the kitchen for the second time to serve the host and guests.When I was busy, although I couldn't help but look at the gold ring on my finger, but I felt that this errand was over, and my heart was at ease.