Chapter 4 fourth quarter

Coming out of Xingdaofang where Princess Taiping Chang'an Cidi was located, the gate of the workshop was already wide open, and there were many pedestrians on the street. Chang Baixing did not go straight back to the guest house, but went east through Wubenfang and entered Pingkangfang where high-ranking singing girls gathered in Chang'an City.Different from other neighborhoods in Chang'an, Pingkangfang, which plays and sings every night, is the most deserted in the morning, and there are no pedestrians on the cross street. Chang Baixing stood at the crossroads in the square, folded his hands upside down, and looked around leisurely, but he didn't find any tail following him on the quiet street behind him.What he was worried about was not that the people in Princess Taiping's mansion were worried about him, but that he was worried about some inconspicuous good-natured people.Now the political atmosphere in Chang'an City is extremely tense, and several political forces are secretly accumulating power. Now that the two most important forces have approached him, it will be even more difficult for him to escape if he kills a group of people along the way.

Although there was no situation behind him, Chang Baixing didn't dare to be careless. He didn't go east again, but turned north, left Pingkangfang and then went east, walked along Zhuquemenqian Street to Dongshi, and saw no one around. Noticing people's attention, he stepped into a Persian mansion. This is a firm that Chang Baixing often deals with on weekdays, mainly to exchange money for him.In the Tang Dynasty, there were no banks in the modern sense. Merchants invented such an exchange method in order to carry large sums of cash conveniently. They deposited cash in large firms with strong capital, and the large merchants issued bills to other cities across the country. The associated number is used to cash the payment, and the merchant draws the remittance water from it.According to the sixteen taels of Kuping scales in the Tang Dynasty, the price of gold at that time was 7,300 taels of Kuping 1 tael, and the alloy of 20,000 coins was more than 2,700 taels. Chang Baixing would not be able to take it away without exchange. This is one of the reasons why there is so much gold; second, what Princess Taiping paid Chang Baixing was a 2,742 taels of gold from the Ministry of Households, and Chang Baixing's dealings with the Ministry of Households were limited to secretly. Stealing one item has never been a normal business, so he will never be able to withdraw the money by himself.

Old Hu'er in the Persian mansion is about seventy years old, tall and thin, with a goatee beard under his chin, and a shrewd look on his face.This old Hu'er came to Chang'an from Emperor Gaozong's Longshuo period. He has been doing business in the Tang Dynasty for more than 50 years and made a fortune. Unlike other Hu people, he has already married a wife and had children in the Tang Dynasty, and now he is a descendant. full house.In the past ten years, taking advantage of the unstable political situation in the Tang Dynasty and people's panic, he bought a real estate mansion in Chang'an Guang, looking like he was relocating to the land.It is precisely because he lives and works in peace and contentment that Chang'an people believe that he will not flee the money entrusted by customers. For this reason, he has become one of the largest Persian residences in Chang'an city for exchange business within a few years.

"There is something wrong with this money." Old Hu'er said to Princess Taiping's household department with a sincere face. Chang Baixing is a regular customer of this Hu'er. Although Chang Baixing is not a big business person, compared with his other customers, he is not even a second-rate customer who has been exchanging money all the year round, but for no reason, Old Hu'er likes this young Man, so, when Chang Baixing came to him with such an unexpectedly huge sum of money, he wanted to give this promising young man some advice. "Why, can't the money be exchanged?" Chang Baixing asked.

"If it was stolen, it will definitely not be redeemed." "This is wages." Because this old Hu'er was also one of Chang Baixing's matchmakers scattered all over the country, Chang Baixing was not too wary of him. Old Hu'er shook his head and said, "Don't make fun of my old bones. With such a huge salary, do you want you to go to Daming Palace to steal the emperor out?" Lao Hu'er has lived in Chang'an for fifty years, and he speaks a beautiful Beijing accent, which is almost impeccable except for the stiff Western Region mutton tune that cannot be changed.

Chang Baixing pointed at Lao Hu'er's forehead with his fingers and said with a smile: "You old bastard, I just asked you to withdraw the money and store it here, not to send it out. What are you afraid of?" Chang Baixing's words mean: as long as the money is still with him, even if the pair of tickets is stolen and there is no loss of the stolen money, he will not have any serious crimes as a middleman who undertakes the exchange. Hard money. "For such a large sum of money, I can only be the guarantor myself." "The five-cent commission is indispensable to you." The five-cent commission Chang Baixing said meant that Lao Hu'er could draw 5% of the remuneration.

"I'm afraid that if I didn't take the five percent, I would lose my head instead." "What do you mean?" Just kidding, Chang Baixing still attaches great importance to Lao Hu'er's accumulated experience in shopping malls in his life. Old Hu'er stroked his goatee and said slowly: "How long have we known each other?" It makes sense for Lao Hu'er and Chang Baixing to rely on the old seller because he knows Chang Baixing's father, and when Chang Baixing officially promoted himself from a skilled ordinary thief to a master who only accepts entrusted business, this Old Hu'er was his first matchmaker.

Seeing that Chang Baixing didn't respond, Old Hu'er went on to say, "In these years, your wages combined can't exceed the amount in front of you. Why did you suddenly become capable? If a thief can make such a fortune, who will?" What about going to be an official? The salary of the governor of Yangzhou for a year, plus his corruption and bribery in this year, can there be so much? To be honest, what is going on?" "Nothing can be hidden from you, old monkey." So, Chang Baixing proudly told Lao Hu'er what had happened in the past two days. "I'm very sorry, the matter is very important, so I won't mention the name of the person." Chang Baixing spoke a little dry, took a sip from the shallow white porcelain tea bowl on the table, and said: "This matter is also important. There's no danger, if they can't do it, I'll give them a go."

After listening to his narration, Lao Hu'er, who was sitting on the bed across the high table, stroked his beard and pondered for a moment, then pushed the household registration form on the high table to Chang Baixing, and said, "This time I If I can't help you, find another place." "Old bastard, you don't know how to be flattering! Take out all the money I have saved here, and I will take it away together." Chang Baixing was furious. "Nonsense! I know who you are? How much money can I have from you? If you continue to mess around, I'll send you to the Zuowei yamen." Old Hu'er has Chang Baixing's half-life savings here, which is about Wanguan.

"You...," Chang Bai excitedly jumped up from the bed. "Come on." Old Hu'er was playing with the expensive white porcelain shallow tea bowl in his hand, and said: "Take out the rope from your sleeve and put it around Lao Hu's neck." Chang Baixing suddenly discovered a problem that he had never noticed in the past. He was extremely confident in the dark, but he never confronted anyone in the daytime.At this time, Baixing's courage was not as good as that of a street brat. "You're still playing ghost blowing lanterns with me at such a young age. Sit down for me." Old Hu'er stood up, walked in front of Chang Baixing, and said in a low voice, "You don't even care about such a bad old man like me." Dare to kill, how can you dare to pretend to be Xiaoxing to take over the job? Besides, Princess Taiping and the current prince are so easy to kill? If it is really so easy, why don't you change the dynasty every day!"

"How do you know it's the two of them?" "Why do you think I'm sitting here counting money every day? I'm in such a big business, and I don't even understand this thing. I lost everything a long time ago." Chang Baixing was a little confused by this old Hu'er's shrewdness. "Son, I'm worried about you. You don't have that ability, but you have made such a big deal. You have to make up your mind first. Anyway, you are half dead now, so don't think about money. It's important to save your life." Old Hu'er sent Chang Baixing out of the Persian mansion with great earnestness, and when he saw him walking south out of Dongshi, he also hurried out of the shop.