Chapter 14 beauty set up

Tang Zishao's house is easy to find, just go to an alley behind Gongjidian and ask, "Where does the Tang Dynasty live?" and he will be able to point it out. It was Tang Zishao who answered the door in person. As soon as they met, he said, "It's very cold today, please sit upstairs." A brazier was raised upstairs, and white paper strips were freshly pasted on the gaps in the slab walls. Although it was windy outside, it was warm as spring inside. Zhou Shaotang's fox fur robe couldn't be worn anymore, so he took it off according to the master's suggestion, and only wore a straight The tribute jacket is very comfortable.

"Mr. Zhou, do you want a 'stick of incense'?" Tang Zishao pointed to the cigarette tray and said. "Thank you! Come by yourself." Zhou Shaotang said, "I'm not addicted, but I like lying on the cigarette tray." "Then come and lean on." Tang Zishao ordered the girl to light the lantern, and then went to hold out a large brocade box, put it under the cigarette tray and said, "Mr. Zhou, let's take a look at some jade wares first." The two lay down facing each other, Tang Zishao smoked a big cigarette, and Zhou Shaotang opened the brocade box to appreciate the jade.The brocade box was made of partitions, and there were three pieces of Chinese jade on the first floor, each of which was about the same size, more than an inch long and six to seven minutes wide, and Zhou Shaotang could only read the last four characters of the seal characters engraved on it.

"This is 'Gangmao'." Zhou Shaotang pointed to the last four words and said, "There must be these four words: 'Don't dare to be me'." "Oh," Tang Zishao asked intentionally, "What's the use of Gang Mao?" "The one who wards off evil spirits." "Those who are new to Mao just understand it. Since you can ward off evil spirits, you must be strong." Tang Zishao said, "I don't understand Mao." "Mao is 'Mao Jin Dao Liu', and the Han Dynasty was dominated by the surname Liu. There is also a saying that one must be chosen in the first month, so it is called Gang Mao."

"Mr. Zhou is really an expert." "To play Hanyu, one must know these tricks." Zhou Shaotang took the second party and looked at it carefully with the lamp. "Look at these three pieces of Gang Mao, what do you think?" "It's all good. But—" Tang Zishao saw that he kept his mouth shut, so he raised his eyes and asked, "But it's worthless?" "It's hard to say it's worthless." Zhou Shaotang didn't say any more. Of course Tang Zishao understood, what he meant was that it was still a long way to pay off the debt of tens of thousands of silver with these things, so he didn't need to ask any more, he just stretched out his hand and opened the partition and said, "I'm afraid Zhou Zhou will pay for this kind of thing. Mr. has never seen it before."

Zhou Shaotang picked it up and saw that it was indeed the first time he saw it. It was a large piece of ancient Chinese jade, about eight inches square, carved into a ring, and then carved lines from the center of the ring outwards. At the end of each line was a The numerals, from one to ninety, consist of ninety lines in total, carved extremely thin, deep and even. "What is this? It's like a compass." "That's right, it's similar to a compass, it's a sundial." "The sundial?" Zhou Shaotang looked carefully over and over again, "The jade is indeed Han jade, it seems that it was unearthed not long ago."

"Fayan, Fayan!" Tang Zishao gave a thumbs up and said, "It was unearthed in only three or four years, and it was unearthed in Guihua City." "Oh," Zhou Shaotang was quite interested in this item, "What's the price of this piece of jade?" "It has just been unearthed, and there has never been a similar thing before, so the market is unknown." Tang Zishao said again, "I only wanted to pawn one thousand silver, but I paid him back five hundred, and finally pawned seven hundred silver. Such a thing, if you meet someone who knows it Yes, it can be sold at a good price."

"En." Zhou Shaotang was noncommittal, and went to remove the second partition. Underneath were jade seals of all sizes, large and small. When he was picking up one to play with, he heard a sound on the stairs, so he turned to listen quietly. "Go and ask the master, where is the meal?" The voice came from the room outside, clear and calm. From the charm of the voice, one could imagine that Yue Ru had passed her age and was about to enter the age of a young lady.Does it mean that she will not show up if she is so close to her, giving orders and commanding the girl?Thinking of this, Zhou Shaotang couldn't help but feel a sense of melancholy.

At this time the girl came in to ask for instructions, Tang Zishao had already explained that the dinner was served upstairs, the reason was still that it was warmer upstairs.Then, when the door curtain opened, Zhou Shaotang's eyes lit up. The young woman who came in was about thirty years old, tall and tall, with a pair of extremely bright almond eyes on her oval-shaped face. The eyes flashed like something. The power bounced Zhou Shaotang up from the cigarette couch, looking at the smiling Yueru, he couldn't help but also put a smile on his face. "This is my concubine, Yueru." Tang Zishao, who was burning cigarettes, pointed at the cigarette cage and said, "Yueru, this is Master Zhou, please meet me."

"Oh, it's my aunt!" Zhou Shaotang cupped his fists first. "Don't dare to do it, don't dare to do it!" Yue Ru bowed in his lap, "Master Zhou, I don't think I've seen it before." "Of course you have seen it." Tang Zishao said, "That day a high platform was set up at the entrance of Fukang, and the person who spoke a few words in silence was Master Zhou." "Ah! I remembered." Yue Ru's eyes sparkled, full of surprises, "I came back from watching the fun with my neighbors that day, and talked about Master Zhou for two or three days. Master Zhou's eloquence is really nothing to say , this is the second thing. Everyone says that Mr. Zhou's loyalty is really rare. Mr. Hu Da is the God of Wealth, and he is usually praised as the God of Wealth. Only Mr. Zhou couldn't see it, and he came out to say something fair. Now, looking at Mr. Zhou's appearance, one can see that he is a kind gentleman who has done good deeds and accumulated virtue.

These words made Zhou Shaotang's heart as submissive as ironing, of course, he also knew, "You have to forgive others and forgive others", the idea has already been conveyed in the words. "It's easy to say, easy to say!" Zhou Shaotang said, "I've heard for a long time that Mrs. Tang is a virtuous and capable wife, and she is our old Tang's good helper." As soon as Tang Zishao heard that he had changed his address, he knew that Zhou Shaotang would fall into the trap, "You'll be raped like a ghost, and you'll have to eat my old lady's footwashing water." He was secretly proud, threw the pipe, and stood up, saying, "It's delicious wine! .”

At that time, the square table had already been set up, so Zhou Shaotang was naturally invited to sit on it, but Tang Zishao was the only one to accompany him.The dishes are not very particular, but they are quite tasty.Zhou Shaotang loves badly pickled food, so he especially appreciates the three dishes of badly steamed white fish, hometown meat, and drunk crab. Hearing that hometown meat and drunk crab are not sold in the market, but handmade by Yueru, he is full of praise up. Zhou Shaotang's eloquence is very vigorous and interesting, and Tang Zishao is deliberately flattering him, so he has a quick drink and talk, which is quite speculative.Of course, the topics are light and interesting. "Old Tang," Zhou Shaotang asked about Tang Zishao's line of work, "All the court officials in the world are from Huizhou, just like the ticket offices are all from Shanxi, and I heard that there are only people from the two or three prefectures of Taigu and Pingyao. This is What's the point?" "This, Mr. Zhou, if someone asks me, I'll just pretend to be confused, and just perfunctory a few words. If your brother asks me, I have to tell you about my background. But it's not a decent thing to say." "Oh, what's the matter?" "During the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, there was a Huizhou native named Wang Zhi, did you know that?" "I only know that there was Zou Yinglong who 'beat Yan Song' during the Jiajing period, but I don't know what Wang Zhi is." "You don't know that I told you that Wang Zhi is a traitor." "Traitor? Could it be that he has fornicated foreign countries like Qin Hui?" "That's right." Tang Zishao replied, "But it's not the Jin soldiers that Wang Zhi had an affair with, but the Japanese, who were called Japanese pirates at that time. When the Japanese pirates came to our China, they landed in the coastal areas of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and their eyes were dark. Wang Zhi and his subordinates acted as guides and led them all the way to rape and plunder. The Japanese pirates are very low-handed. Wang Zhi used his brains and opened pawns, everything is easy to pawn, the common people come to pawn things, it is just a cover, to put it bluntly, it is just selling stolen goods for the Japanese.” "No wonder, your handwriting looks like a ghostly talisman, and you use 'cut' when you speak, so you have to be particular about it." Zhou Shaotang said, "This is against the law, of course you use fellow villagers." "However, having said that, Huizhou is very miserable. The local production cannot support the local people, so I have to go out to make a living, recruit friends, and take care of my fellow villagers. I have no choice." "You Huizhou people are really good at doing business. Like the big salt merchants in Yangzhou, more than half of their ancestral home is Huizhou." Zhou Shaotang said, "Like Wang Zhi, he became a traitor and sold stolen goods for the Japanese, so he is not afraid of being caught by the government. What can he do?" "There is also a reason for this. Hu Zongxian, the inspector at the time and later the governor, was also from Huizhou. Although he didn't say that he was a cover-up, he was a little bit better than a master in the name of a fellow villager. The matter was over. The lawsuit is not afraid of big , as long as there is friendship, it is always easy to discuss." Tang Zishao raised his glass and invited, "Come, come, Mr. Zhou has a toast." The last two sentences, together with the gesture of toasting, meant more than the words, and it was clearly visible, but Zhou Shaotang pretended not to notice, drank the wine, and changed the topic, "That Hu Zongxian, you said he is the inspector censor, I'm afraid There is no authority to protect Wang Zhi." He asked again, "Is it really so powerful?" "Then just watch Wang Jinlong in "Three Trials"." "Wang Jinlong is pretended by Xiaosheng. He seems to have just debuted. How can he have such prestige? Drama is always drama." When it comes to this aspect, Tang Zishao is much more expert than Zhou Shaotang, "The Jinshi in the Ming Dynasty is different from the present. If the current Jinshi, if they don't go to the Hanlin or go to the Six Departments to be an officer, they are just "tiger class" when they are released. County magistrate. A Jinshi in the Ming Dynasty, a little 'inspector censor' to reward Shangfang's sword, is equivalent to the emperor personally inspecting it, which is extremely prestigious. Let me tell a story, Mr. Zhou, you will know the authority of the inspector censor." It is said that there was a rich man in the Ming Dynasty who had two daughters. The eldest daughter married a military officer, and the second daughter married a poor scholar.When the second son-in-law ranked first in the two rankings, he was selected as the patrol censor in Henan, and the eldest son-in-law happened to be the general soldier in Nanyang, Henan.The censor ranks seven, and the chief soldier ranks two, but the censor is "on behalf of Tian Xunhun", and his status is different, so the second son-in-law went to Nanyang for inspection, and at five o'clock the next day, before he got up, the eldest son-in-law has come to report, please open During the military parade, the son-in-law thought of how the Yue family treated the two brothers-in-law with different degrees of warmth and coldness. He felt a sigh of relief and said on his pillow: "There are thousands of armored soldiers in front of the Huangcao slope, and a scholar in the green gauze tent. Today, he should know poetry and literature. Listen to Yuan Rong report the fifth watch." Since "there are poems to prove it", Zhou Shaotang had to believe it, and he learned something by analogy, "In this way, the red robes and blue robes around the "Three Halls Trial" should be the same as the governor?" He asked, " Am I right?" "Not bad." "The vassal and the judge sit next to the jury, so the one sitting in the middle should be the governor?" "Hu Zongxian was changed from the censor of Zhejiang to the governor of Zhejiang." "That's it." Zhou Shaotang said regretfully, "It would be great if Mr. Hu Da met his family." That is to say, if Hu Xueyan meets a governor who can take care of his fellow villager Wang Zhi like Hu Zongxian, his pawns will not be seized.Tang Zishao understood what he meant, but he didn't want to talk about it. "Mr. Zhou," Tang Zishao said suddenly, "Gongji has a lot of stuff, would you like to come and see it?" Zhou Shaotang didn't want to be greedy for such a small gain, but he didn't want to refuse it outright, so he immediately asked, "Is there anything special that's rarely seen outside?" "Yes, yes, there are a lot of them." Tang Zishao thought for a while and said, "The Chinese New Year is coming soon, and there is a lantern. I advise Mr. Zhou to buy it and hang it up on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month to ensure it will be wonderful." Hearing this, Zhou Shaotang couldn't help being surprised, Shangyuan's lanterns were pasted with bamboo strips and colored paper, novelty was the most important thing, he couldn't understand why they could be pawnshops? Therefore, he was stunned for a moment and asked, "Isn't this kind of lamp made of paper?" "Of course. Otherwise, how can it be easy to use?" Tang Zishao said, "The lamp is a silk lamp, not many shapes, roughly in the style of palace lanterns, mainly hexagonal. Characters and ladies are painted on silk, and various stories are drawn, and the shelves are movable. , clean up after use, fold it up and wrap it up, and use it next year. This kind of lamp is used in the Haining area. Mr. Zhou has not seen it?" "No." "Mr. Zhou knows it after he has seen it. This kind of lamp is not a paper lantern for coaxing young children. If you have a family, you should treat the guests with status to have spring wine. Hang it on the hall and corridor, and hold a glass of wine in your hand. , slowly appreciating the paintings of various families on the silk. Of course, you can also make some lantern riddles, hang them on the lanterns, and invite guests to play. This is a gentle and quiet way of playing. Mr. Zhou has enough status now, he should Set up such a lamp." Zhou Shaotang's income is not bad in recent years, and he often wants to strive for the upper class in terms of status, especially for Fukang's affairs recently. He has dealt with the government, and he is already in the ranks of Mr. Jinshen, so he was quite tempted by Tang Zishao's words, and thought about it for a while Asked: "I don't know how much it will cost to run such a lamp?" "You can spend as much as you want!" Tang Zishao said, "The quality of this kind of lamp varies greatly. The quality depends on the painting. It depends on whether it is a famous artist. Even if a famous artist is not willing to paint lanterns, the value depends on it." These places. For example, today, Fei Xiaolou is the number one painter of ladies, and if you ask him to paint lanterns, he will refuse." "Then, what about the full lamp in your place? Who painted it?" "Speaking of this man's great reputation, Mr. Kangxi asked him to draw a 'Picture of Carnival'. I don't know how many people. He is from Yangzhou. , the name of the official is Honglu Temple Preface Class. According to the rules, this official is asked to be a bannerman, I don’t know how he became this official—” "Old Tang," Zhou Shaotang interrupted him, "let's leave his officials alone and talk about his paintings." So Tang Zishao returned to the main story, saying that the silk lanterns painted by Yu Zhiding had a total of 24 lamps, six styles, and six stories in the paintings: Xi Shizhao Wu, Wenjun Danglong, Zhaojun went out of the fortress, Wenji returned to Han , Concubine Mi stays pillow, Mei Yang competes for favor, Mei is Mei Concubine, Yang is Yang Yuhuan, so there are seven beauties in six stories. "Many of Yu Zhiding's paintings are fake, but this lamp is definitely not fake, because the origin is different." Tang Zishao added, "During the Kangxi period, there was a famous man in front of the emperor named Gaojiang Village. He used to be from Hangzhou. Later, he lived in Pinghu County, Jiaxing Prefecture. During the Jiaqing period, his descendants declined. This lamp was painted by Yu Zhiding from Gaojiang Village, so it is true. Mr. Zhou, I will send someone to deliver this lamp to the government tomorrow. superior." "No, no!" Zhou Shaotang shook his hands and said, "Look at the things, and then make sense." When Tang Zishao was about to continue talking, a girl came in and said, "Gongji sent someone to inform that 'Shougui' has a sudden illness, please go to the master immediately." Pawnbrokers are divided into two types: "internal shortage" and "outside shortage". The brains of external shortage are called "the first cabinet". As usual, they sit at the far left of the counter at the entrance. Appraisal and valuation of the first cabinet is an extremely important task, so when Tang Zishao heard the news, he immediately became worried, and Zhou Shaotang couldn't sit still. "Old Tang, please feel free to ask if you are in a hurry. I will take my leave too." "No! No! I'll go and have a look and come back. Our business is also important." Then he shouted, "Yueru, Yueru." When the girl called Yue Ru to come, Tang Zishao ordered her to accompany the guest on her behalf, and then bowed to Zhou Shaotang, saying goodbye, and went downstairs. Faced with such a situation, Zhou Shaotang naturally thought of the legend of the beauty trap in Hu Xueyan, and became a little wary.But Yueru was gracious, serving dishes and wine, while asking about Zhou Shaotang's family situation. Mrs. Zhou asked about the children, because of the conversation, the conversation was very healthy, but it was natural, and it was completely informal gossip. Zhou Shaotang felt that Yueru was a capable and virtuous housewife, so he felt incredible about the legend between her and Hu Xueyan. Of course, it is also necessary to talk about Hu Xueyan's failure, and Yueru has shown the old master's love and loyalty related to weal and woe.Zhou Shaotang really wanted to take the opportunity to talk about Gongji, but in the end he still didn't open his mouth. "Auntie," the girl came to report again, "Master called someone back and said that the first cabinet is seriously ill, and he still has to wait there to take a look. Please don't leave Master Zhou, there are important matters to discuss." "Understood. Go and boil another pot of wine." "Enough wine, enough wine." Zhou Shaotang said, "There is no need to boil it any longer. I want to eat a bowl of porridge." "The fragrant japonica rice porridge is prepared there, and there is still some wine." "Then take a pot as the measure." After drinking the wine, porridge, and tea, but there was no news of Tang Zishao's return, Zhou Shaotang hesitated. "Master Zhou," Yueru came out from the room, she had reapplied makeup, she said openly, "I'll take a puff of cigarette for you." "I'm not addicted." "A tube of incense for fun." Saying that, she lit the cigarette lamp by herself, lay down by herself, and picked up a cigarette with a cigarette stick to burn it.The girl brought a small pot of hot tea and a plate of pine nut candies, put them on the cigarette tray, and then walked out without saying a word. "The smoke is ready." Yueru greeted, "Please come here!" Zhou Shaotang involuntarily lay down opposite Yueru, the two shared a long pillow, and they could smell the scent of sweet-scented osmanthus oil as soon as they lay down. The combination of demons and obstacles has become a suffering for Zhou Shaotang, starting from the osmanthus oil on her head, nose, eyes, and touches are all extremely provocative, "Zhou Shaotang, Zhou Shaotang!" He said to himself, "You fool After decades, he is no longer a young man in his 20s or 30s, so is he still so 'tender'?" With self-warning like this, my heart seemed to be settled, but soon I became confused again, and I needed to warn myself a second time, just like this, before the smoke came to my mouth, I had already struggled in my heart three or four times. up. Yueru finally made a "yellow, long, loose" bubble, put it on the "Doumen" of the bong, and gently twisted it through with the stick, then turned the bong upside down, and stretched the mouthpiece to Zhou Shaotang's lips. Say: "Taste and see." For Zhou Shaotang, this is no different than a kind of help to resist the "thief in the heart". Although he is not addicted, he can quite appreciate the beauty of opium smoke. as in everything. After finishing the cigarette in a few puffs, his mouth was dry and bitter, but if he took a sip of hot tea "mouth to mouth" and pressed down the cigarette, he would be very addicted, so he didn't dare to drink tea, and only took a piece of pine nuts Sugar into the mouth. "Master Zhou," Yueru said, "you and our master are already familiar, right?" "I didn't know him well, but he is a person on the scene. Of course, I have heard his name for a long time." "Our master told me that there is something that needs to be taken care of by Master Zhou. I don't know what it is?" Hearing this, Zhou Shaotang couldn't help being surprised. I don't know if she asked knowingly, or if she just didn't know. After thinking about it, she asked, "Didn't Lao Tang talk to you?" "He didn't. He only said that he bought more than 100 mu of West Lake Field, and he should sell it quickly, otherwise, Mr. Zhou will have a hard time explaining it." "Why is it difficult to explain?" "He said that he needs to ask Mr. Zhou for help. Empty words are useless." Yueru suddenly sighed and said, "Oh, our master is also the same. I often persuade him that you are at a disadvantage. Tell Mr. Hu Da honestly, Mr. Hu Da Mr.'s temper is a big deal, as long as you are honest, there is no one who will not let you go through the door. He always feels that he is sorry for Mr. Hu Da, "eight jars and seven lids", and the lids are not fully covered. In the end, I still lose face, why bother?" "Oh," Zhou Shaotang asked attentively, "What hole did Old Tang make?" Next, Yueru lamented a lot of hardships. It was nothing more than Tang Zishao being shrewd on the outside and muddle-headed on the inside. He partnered with others in business and suffered a secret loss. , burst into tears, even Zhou Shaotang felt sad for her. "You said that Old Tang suffered a secret loss, and you said that there was a suffering that you can't tell. What kind of loss and what kind of suffering is it?" "It doesn't matter if you talk to Master Zhou." Yueru asked, "Mr. Hu Da has a friend whose surname is rare. His surname is Gu. Does Master Zhou know?" "I heard that it is for Mr. Hu Da to do foreign affairs." "That's right, it's the old man who made the land and invited our master to form a joint stock company. His calculations were pretty good at the beginning. Who would have thought that once the foreigners went to war, the market would not be right. In the past, when they 'fleeing from long hair', they all fled to Shanghai, because no matter how ruthless the long hair is, , and dare not attack the foreign concessions, as soon as the foreigners want to start a war, it is the turn of the Shanghainese to flee, and the house they built cannot be sold, and they have lost hundreds of thousands of dollars, Mr. Zhou, think about it, how did you get it?" Yueru said again , "The bitterness is that it is hard to talk about this matter with Mr. Hu Da." Because first, Tang Zishao had promised back then that he would devote all his energy to managing pawns for Hu Xueyan, and he could not trade privately.Although this promise gradually deteriorated later, it only belonged to the business related to Hu Xueyan, such as collecting cocoons and selling silk, which was equivalent to attaching shares, and operating real estate was a new business. "Another reason is that the old man is a good friend of Mr. Hu Da. If he lost money in real estate with the old man and told Mr. Hu Da, he would be unhappy. Why?" Yueru asked herself Answer, "Mr. Hu Da will think in his heart, when you partnered with him back then, you didn't come to tell me, but if you lost money, come and tell me, do you want me to subsidize it? Besides, why did the business lose money when you partnered with the old man? There are some words It’s inconvenient to say it at all, not only is it useless to say it, but Mr. Hu Da thought that he deliberately said bad things about the old man, which would lead to misunderstanding.” "Why?" Zhou Shaotang asked, "Is there something wrong?" Yue Ru kept silent, because a puff of cigarette was burning to an important place, and she could see her dexterous fingers busily baking the rolls, concentrating on it, and had no time to answer. : "It's really enough, I'm not addicted." Yue Rufang put down the cigarette stick and answered Zhou Shaotang's words. "Master Zhou, think about it. I'm in Hangzhou. I'm not familiar with the market in Shanghai. The market is not working well. I'm afraid that Mr. Hu Da will know, so I dare not inquire about it. If this kind of business is said to make money, I'm afraid the sun will come out from the west. .” These words clearly indicated that Gu Yingchun was embezzling.Zhou Shaotang was skeptical about this, and he couldn't find out. The thought in his mind was: why Tang Zishao has not returned so far, is it also the intention of setting up a beauty bureau? This was another big doubt, so he asked, "Where is Old Tang? Should he be back?" "That's right!" Yue Ru called her maid to take care of her, "Hurry up and go to Gongji to see why the master hasn't come back yet. Tell me, Master Zhou is going back home." The girl agreed and left.Yueru also left the smoking couch, took a Tianjin duck pear from the big ice tray, and slowly peeled the skin with a sharp foreign knife with an ivory handle, but Zhou Shaotang was still lying on the smoking couch, planning to wait for Tang Zishao to come back, How to negotiate. Just as she was thinking about it, she suddenly heard an "ahhh", and saw Yue Ru holding her left thumb with her right hand, a foreign knife on the table, and a pear that was about to be peeled. Needless to say, she accidentally hurt her finger with the knife. "Is it heavy, is it heavy?" Zhou Shaotang ran over and asked. "It doesn't matter." Yueru stood up, went straight to the dressing table, and directed, "There is a clean handkerchief in the drawer, please tear one off." "Pa'er" in Hangzhou dialect is handkerchief.Zhou Shaotang opened the drawer and saw that there were several squares of silk handkerchiefs of various colors folded squarely inside, the white one was at the bottom, he flipped through and found a book. "There's still a book here." Zhou Shaotang said something casually, and when he was about to turn it over, he heard Yueru yell loudly: "Don't look, don't look!" Zhou Shaotang was startled, and hastily withdrew his hands. Seeing Yueru's face, cheeks flushed, slightly embarrassed, he thought about it and suddenly realized what the book he couldn't read was. So he smiled and took out a white silk handkerchief, cut a hole with scissors, tore off a long strip about an inch wide, held it in his hand, uncovered the powder container with the other hand, stretched out two fingers to pick up a pinch of powder and said: "Let go." Waiting for Yueru to let go, he applied the pinch of powder on the wound, then quickly bandaged it up, and found a thread to bind it tightly. "Does it hurt?" Zhou Shaotang asked, but still held her hand. "It's okay." Yue Ru replied, "It's a good thing you're here, otherwise the blood would flow all over the floor." As she spoke, she tried to pull back with her hand, but Zhou Shaotang didn't let go, so she didn't struggle up. "Sister-in-law, your hands are so white." "Really?" Yueru asked, "How is it better than your wife?" "That can't be compared." "You said that your wife is filling the house, so you are still young." "She is a monkey, thirty-six this year." Zhou Shaotang asked, "What about you?" "I am a cow, and she is five years older than me." "It looks more than fifteen years older." Zhou Shaotang took her hand, returned to the square table in the middle, let go of his hand, and sat down. "Pear cut in half—" "I'll peel it." Zhou Shaotang said, "This pear is extra big, let's eat it separately." "Pears are not easy to divide." Yueru said, "You can eat it slowly by yourself. Pears can reduce phlegm and clear fire, and people who eat cigarettes are best to eat in winter." "Actually, it doesn't matter whether I share pears with you or not." Zhou Shaotang said, "As long as you don't share pears with Old Tang." The homonym of the word "pear" is "li", which is a metaphor for each other, and it is used to test each other. Yueru seized the opportunity and said a word that hit the point. "I am inseparable from Old Tang. It all depends on whether you, Master Zhou, have accumulated virtues." "Words are serious, words are serious. I don't have such great power." "You're welcome. I've also heard that whether Old Tang will go to court or not depends entirely on whether you are willing to help Mr. Zhou. If you are willing to help, I am still with Old Tang. If you are not willing to help, I see the separation. deal." It was only then that Zhou Shaotang discovered that even if she had never participated in Tang Zishao's actions, she must have fully understood, and Tang Zishao had arranged to negotiate with him.But I have to think about whether to talk to her, if not, it's time to go now. But when I thought of leaving, I suddenly felt reluctant to give up, so I naturally thought, how should I talk about the Dharma?Decided to understand the situation before making a reason. So he asked: "Sister-in-law, do you know how much Lao Zhou has lost money?" "I think there must be thirty or forty thousand silver?" "more than." "Oh, how much is it?" "At least double it." Hearing this, Yueru was in a daze, and stared at Zhou Shaotang in a daze - she didn't know what the bleakest thing in her life was thinking in her heart, but she actually burst out a pair of "urgent tears". Zhou Shaotang couldn't bear it very much, "Sister-in-law, you don't have to rush, just discuss it slowly. If I can help, I will definitely help." He asked, "How much cash can Old Tang get together?" "Cash silver?" Yue Ru thought for a while and said, "There are only two or three thousand cash silver, and only my jewelry." "How much is your jewelry worth?" "It's only two or three thousand at most." "Two for two or three thousand, that's five or six thousand silver." Zhou Shaotang asked again, "Where's your West Lake Field?" "The field is worth more than 10,000 silver, but I can't find a buyer for a while." "West Lake Field is very pretty, but within ten days and a half months, there will be buyers." "Is it too late for ten days and a half month?" This sentence made Zhou Shaotang very surprised, because when asked this question, it seemed that she knew business well.The so-called "it's too late" refers to the reinstatement of "Master Ma". Since he was entrusted by the feudal constitution, he must return to his order within a certain period of time. From this point of view, Tang Zishao must have thoroughly studied the case, thought of various consequences, and taught her how to speak up and how to deal with it in advance.Be careful yourself, don't fall into a trap. So he thought for a while and asked, "What if it's too late, so what if it's too late?" "It's best if it's in time. If it's too late, I'd like to ask Mr. Zhou to discuss it with Mr. Ma, so we can press the business and don't report it?" "I'm afraid it's difficult." At this moment, Zhou Shaotang had already made up his mind. After discovering that Tang Zishao and Yueru were planning to deal with him in the same way as they did to Hu Xueyan, Zhou Shaotang aroused the idea of ​​revenge, and decided to take advantage of it first. "Sister-in-law," he said suddenly, "the boat will be straight when it reaches the bridge, so you don't have to think too much about it. When the sky falls, there will be a tall man on top. When Old Tang comes, we can discuss a solution and I will definitely help you. However, Sister-in-law, what's the benefit of my help?" "Master Zhou, what you said is too petty." Yue Ru glanced at him, "A good friend, you must have benefits before you are willing to help?" "That's not the case. When a person helps a friend, he must always think of it from his heart and think about it all the time, so that he can help effectively. Otherwise, when he thinks about it, he forgets it later. This is human nature. Not stingy." "So, tell me, what benefits do you want?" "As long as sister-in-law treats me well. Thinking of sister-in-law's benefits, I will naturally think of what sister-in-law told me." As he spoke, Zhou Shaotang stretched out his hand, pointed to her thumb and asked, "Does it still hurt? " "It doesn't hurt anymore." "Let me see." Zhou Shaotang took her hand, and slowly reached into her sleeve, she just smiled. "Are you okay?" she asked suddenly. "What's good?" "My arm! Does it feel good to the touch?" "Comfortable, really comfortable." "This is my benefit." Yueru said, "Think of my benefits, and don't forget what I entrusted to you." "No, no! But, unfortunately." "What's the pity?" "There are too few benefits." "How much benefit do you want?" As she said, Yueru stood up, turned her feet, and simply sat on Zhou Shaotang's lap. This time, Zhou Shaotang naturally played up and down, wanton and frivolous.However, his mind was still very clear, his eyes fixed on the door, his ears listened carefully to the movement on the stairs, and he said in his heart, as long as he didn't take off his clothes and didn't go to bed, it didn't matter if Tang Zishao bumped into him. Having said that, it is not easy to grasp it. His heart is like a fire. Time and time again, the desire to take further actions becomes stronger and stronger. When he is about to be unable to bear it, he suddenly thinks of He figured out a way, pushed Yueru away, picked up a cup of cold tea that was placed on a table and a half by the window, poured it into his mouth, drank it in one go, and felt more comfortable. But he refused to stop there, panting and said: "Sister-in-law, no wonder Mr. Hu Da is fascinated by you." "Nonsense." Yue Ru stared and said, "Listen to others talking!" "No wind, no waves, there must be some troubles, right?" "Yintou, just like you are now, if you like me, I'll let you touch and kiss me, what else can I do? Do you think I'm so cheap?" "How dare I?" Zhou Shaotang sat back to the original place, grabbed her, and returned to the original state, but this time he felt more confident, "Okay, since you said you like you, let me touch and kiss you, I will give you a kiss." Just do as you say." As he said, he put his arm around her and kissed her on the mouth. Yue Ru was very docile, without any sign of struggle, let him kiss for a while, then tilted her head back and asked, "Is the benefit I gave you enough?" "Enough." "how about you?" "how do I?" "What you promised me." "I will never forget." "What if you forget it?" Yue Ru said, "You cast a curse on the Light Bodhisattva." The God of Gambling Punishment Curse is also very important to Zhou Shaotang, and after a little calculation, he said: "Sister-in-law, I promise to help you, and let Mr. Ma suppress your affairs for a while, but the suppression is not nothing. Don't get me wrong, this is official business, even if Master Ma is my son, I can't tell him what to do, and he won't listen to me." "I understand this level, but I want to ask you, what do you plan to tell him to do?" "I asked him to make a discount." "How much discount?" "What do you say?" "If you want me to say, it's better to make big things into small things, and small things into nothing. If you are willing to do this, I will give you benefits." Zhou Shaotang's heart moved, and he asked with a smile: "What's the benefit?" Yueru remained silent, her nimble eyes kept turning, Zhou Shaotang knew that there was a new trick, so he was calmly on guard. Suddenly, the noise on the stairs broke the silence, and it was a man's footsteps, of course it was Tang Zishao who had returned. "Master Zhou," Yueru said solemnly, "don't say anything crazy in front of our master later." Then, she got up and greeted him. This exhortation made Zhou Shaotang feel quite strange, it was obviously a prank agreed upon by the couple, why Yueru wanted to pretend to be serious in front of her husband, and why she was worried that he might be in front of her husband. Can you say "crazy words"?These are all very interesting questions, but there is no time to think about them for a while, because Tang Zishao has already returned, and he must also consider politeness, and stood up to greet him with a smile. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Tang Zishao rushed forward, cupped his fists in apology, "I'm really sorry that you've been waiting so long." "It's nothing, it's nothing!" Zhou Shaotang deliberately said crazy things, "I had a good talk with my sister-in-law. She peeled a pear for me to eat, and even cut her hand." "Yeah!" Tang Zishao turned to look at Yueru, "I saw it as soon as I entered the door, how did you cut your hand? Is it important?" "It doesn't matter." Yueru asked with concern, "How is Mr. Zhao?" Mr. Zhao was the "first cabinet" of Gong Jidian's sudden illness. Tang Zishao replied, "It doesn't matter for now. Thanks to the good ginseng that Mr. Da gave me, the blind 'Double Ginseng Soup' finally brought it back." Next He said again, "Hurry up and light up two tubes of cigarettes. It's important for me to enjoy myself first. Come, come, Mr. Zhou, let's lie down and talk." So the host and guest lay down on both sides of the cigarette tray, Yue Ru sat between them with a small stool, turned on the light and lit the cigarette, Tang Zishao talked about Mr Zhao's condition, Zhou Shaotang didn't care to listen carefully, he hesitated to answer , paid close attention to Yueru's expression, but couldn't see anything. After the two barrels of opium were smoked, Yue Ru said, "Just now, I lamented your hardships with Master Zhou, and there is nothing you can do if you lose money." She said, "Master Zhou is very helpful, please ask Master Ma to take care of the business. ，我们赶紧凑一笔钱出来，了这件事。” “是啊！事情出来了，总要了的，周先生肯帮我们的忙，就算遇到救星了。” “周老爷说，亏空很多，只好打个折扣来了。我们那笔西湖田，周老爷说，有十天半个月就可以脱手。你如今不便出面，只好请周老爷代为觅个买主。”月如又说，“当然，中人钱或许周老爷，我们还是要照送的。” 谈来谈去，唐子韶方面谈出来一个结果，他承诺在十天之内，凑出两万四千银子，以出售他的西湖田为主要财源，其次是月如的首饰、唐子韶的古董。如果再不够，有什么卖什么，凑够了为止。 现在要轮到周少棠说话了，他一直在考虑的是，马逢时呈报顺利接收的公事一报上去，唐子韶的责任便已卸得干干净净，到时候他不认账又将如何？当然，他可以要唐子韶写张借据，但“杀人偿命”，有官府来作主；“欠债还钱”两造是可以和解的，俗语说，“不怕讨债的凶，只怕欠债的穷。”唐子韶有心赖债，催讨无着，反倒闹得沸沸扬扬，问起来“唐子韶怎么会欠你两万四千银子，你跟唐子韶不过点头之交，倒舍得把大笔银子借给他？”那时无言以对，势必拆穿真相，变成“羊肉没有吃，先惹一身臊”，太犯不着了。 由于沉吟不语的时间太久，唐子韶与月如都慢慢猜到了他的心事。唐子韶决定自己先表示态度。 “周先生，你一定是在想，空口讲白话，对马大老爷不好开口，是不是？” 既然他猜到了，周少棠不必否认，“不错，”他说，“我是中间人，两面都要交代。” “这样子，我叫月如先把首饰捡出来，刚才看过的汉玉，也请你带了去，请你变价。至于西湖田，也请你代觅买主，我把红契交了给你。” 凡是缴过契税，由官府钤了印的，称为“红契”。但这不过是上手的原始凭证，收到了不至于另生纠葛，根本上买卖还是要订立契约，没有买契，光有红契，不能凭以营业，而况唐子韶可用失窃的理由挂失，原有的红契等于废纸。 唐子韶很机警，看周少棠是骗不到的内行，立即又补上一句：“当然，要抵押给你，请老杨做中。” 周少棠心中一动，想了一下说道：“这样吧，明天上午，我同老杨一起到公济典来看你，商量一个办法出来。” “好，好！我等候两位大驾。” “辰光不早，再谈下去要天亮了。”周少棠起身说道，“多谢，多谢！明朝会。” “这一盒玉器，你带了去。” “不，不！”周少棠双手乱摇，坚决不受，然后向月如说道，“阿嫂，真正多谢，今天这顿饭，比吃鱼翅席还要落胃。” “哪里，哪里。周老爷有空尽管请过来，我还有几样拿手菜，烧出来请你尝尝。” “好极，好极！一定要来叨扰。”