Chapter 23 traitor greedy treasure

When Hu Xueyan talked about the story of Zhu Baoru and his wife, at this point, he suddenly looked at Mr. Wu and asked, "Do you know who caught Zhu Baoru?" "Isn't it the patrol team of the training bureau?" "No. It's him. It's a bitter trick, and the patrol team was tricked out." Hu Xueyan said, "Zhu Baoru was caught, and he was asked to work in my aftermath bureau. The patrol team pretended not to believe it. " "Zhu Baoru wrote me a note, and of course I sent someone to protect him. As soon as he is released, he will be able to sing in the play."

According to Hu Xueyan, before he was released, he patted Zhu Jiaju and Wang Peili on his chest and made every effort to rescue them.At that time, the two men had already been interrogated twice by the "court" privately set up by the patrol team, and they had been tortured. Although they were not put on a "clamp" or "tiger bench", they were slapped with a "slap" and blood spurted out of their mouths. , several teeth were knocked out, and threatening words are of course not a problem - after the imperial court pacified Hong Yang, although there was an imperial edict of "don't ask if you are threatened", the long-haired remnants have become "everyone shouts and beats". "Mouse crossing the street", unless there is a case of surrender, if it sneaks around in private, the local regiment will catch it and send it to the official for punishment.Therefore, Zhu Jiaju and Wang Peili were terrified, pinned their hope on Zhu Baoru, and looked forward to it day and night until the third day.

Zhu Baoru told them that as a result of running all out, they could be deported, but it would cost money.Zhu Jiaju and Wang Peili's original money was in Fukang Bank, and the passbook is still there. He said that the deposit does not need to be touched, and they can still withdraw it when they return to Shanghai.As for the house of the Liu family, after this incident, it is useless in the present. It is better to sacrifice Dingyang and try to return it. The three thousand silver in Fukang is raised, and it is managed up and down in the Tuanlian Bureau and Qiantang and Renhe counties. Probably about the same.Fortunately, the treasure is buried in the Liu family, and the map is with them. After this turmoil passes, they can still make a fortune when they return to Hangzhou.

At this stage, Zhu Jiaju and Wang Peili only wanted to get out of prison, and they only obeyed their words, but Zhu Baoru seemed very stable in doing things. He brought his wife to visit the prison every day to deliver meals. Grind slowly and advise them to wait patiently. In this way, after ten days, I came to ask the two of them, and said that the negotiation was settled, including all the expenses, two thousand eight hundred taels of silver, and the remaining two hundred taels could be used as travel expenses, and asked if they would like willing. "You think," Hu Xueyan said, "is there any reason why you don't want to? The stamp of the passbook is with Wang Peili. After handing it over to Zhu Baoru, he will be released the next day. Jie, after returning to my hometown, I will keep myself safe and be a good citizen, and if I sneak around in various places again, and I am reported by someone, I am willing to deal with it according to the official law."

"It's amazing!" Mr. Wu said, "This is the way out for the two of them, and they will never dare to go to Hangzhou again." "The method is very strong, but the conscience is not too dark." Mr. Wu said, "Those two people complained that they should not do it every day, and that the land is not working. If they were asked to take out their passbooks, they would swallow all the five thousand silver coins, and they would be fine." Not bad. "No! Zhu Baoru has to take back that contract, otherwise he will face a lawsuit. Why? Because it is a scam from the beginning to the end. The owner of that house is not surnamed Liu at all, and Sun Si is not 'Wa Shaking his head' at all. It was Zhu Baoru who made it up. If this contract is in the hands of the two of them, it can be transferred to others. When the deadline is reached, the payment will be made according to the agreement and the diorama will be dismantled.

"Ah, ah!" Mr. Wu nodded deeply, "This man is very smart. If he doesn't swallow their five thousand silver, and let them go, then nothing will happen." "Not only will nothing happen, those two people have been kept in the dark, dreaming of getting rich—" "By the way!" Mr. Wu asked, "Where is Yan Jinshi's house?" "Let me tell you how much he cheated first." Hu Xueyan counted with his fingers, "The house price is 3,400 taels in total, paying Dingyang 400 taels is Sun Si's benefit, and the round number is 3,000 taels. I heard that the patrol team divided one thousand." Zhu Bao actually got two thousand taels, which is enough for Dianyan's house."

"Purchased the house to open a porridge factory?" "Yes! Zhu Baorulai told me that he liked the feng shui of Yan's house and wanted to buy it, but now that he lacks strength, he had to mortgage it first and rent it to the Aftermath Bureau to set up a porridge factory. To be fair, the porridge factory was opened from November of the first year to February of the second year, a total of four months, and the rent was only charged for four months, one hundred taels per month.' I went to see the house and told him:' For a house like this, the rent does not have this kind of price. Fifty taels a month is barely enough. I can’t treat the public funds of the aftermath bureau randomly. However, I can help you personally.’ In his favor, he will definitely not use it My money. But of course there are advantages to running a porridge factory."

"So, what about digging? Have you found it yet?" "I don't know. This kind of thing, only their husband and wife did it themselves, and never let outsiders intervene. However, it is true that Zhu Baoru made a fortune later." "Mr. Big!" Mr. Wu asked a big question, "How do you know these things?" "Sun Si told me some things. He only knew about the second half, and he didn't know anything about the Yan family's house." When talking about this, Hu Xueyan suddenly raised his voice and said, "If you want others to know, you have to do nothing about it yourself. Four or five years later, when I was in Shanghai, I went to eat flower wine in a hall. I met a Jiangxi native named Wang. He said, Mr. Hu Da, I have known your name for a long time, and I am still you. Customers of Hangzhou Fukang Bank."

"Needless to say, this person is Wang Peili?" "That's right. At that time, he was talking about Zhu Baoru with me, and he asked about the house of the Liu family in Wan'anqiao. I told him, Zhu Baoru, I have some relationship with him, and the Liu family in Wan'anqiao. I don't know." Hu Xueyan Then he said, "If you want to talk about serious things in the hall, you usually go to a small room, lie on the cigarette shop, and talk quietly in private. There are fights, drinking, and singing at the banquet. How can we talk about serious things? So I said something: I will talk about it when I have time. It was a perfunctory word, how would I know—"

"He really came to look for you?" Mr. Wu interjected. "I didn't come to look for me, but to invite me to dinner at the Citigroup. The post was very earnest, saying that I had something important to ask for advice, but also said that there was no other guest. Think about it, no matter how busy I am with social gatherings, I still have to go— —” Hu Xueyan said that he went to the appointment on time, and it turned out that Wang Peili was the only one. He said straight to the point that he had been a long-haired man and had been arrested together with Zhu Baoru.Only then did Hu Xueyan recall the past when he released Zhu Baoru on bail, and he immediately became wary.Wang Peili seemed to know Hu Xueyan's influence in Zhejiang's officialdom, and asked Hu Xueyan to find ways to get him back to Hangzhou.

"Did you promise him or not?" Mr. Wu interrupted and asked. "No. The matter is not clear, so it's not good for me to do such a rash thing." Hu Xueyan said, "I told him that you settled it yourself, and I can't help you. However, if you have anything to do in Hangzhou, I can help you." Do it for you. He sighed and said: I have to do it myself. Then tell me about the excavation. I listened and thought at the same time, Zhu Baoru has always had a lot of tricks, and his wife is even more powerful. ——.” Speaking of this, Mr. Wu suddenly noticed that Mrs. Luosi's expression seemed not quite right, so he interrupted Hu Xueyan and asked, "Sister Luo, how are you? Are you feeling uncomfortable?" "No, no!" Mrs. Snail shook her hand and said, "You talk about yours." She looked at Hu Xueyan and asked, "What happened next?" "Later, he told me that if I could find a way to get him to go back to Hangzhou to dig out the treasure, he would share it with me equally. At this time, I had already thought that there might be a lot to be said about how Zhu Baoru made his fortune. As soon as Wang Peili arrived in Hangzhou, Maybe we are going to find Zhu Baoru to settle the account, but this account will definitely not be famous, and it may end in death." "Human life?" Mr. Wu thought for a while and said, "You mean, Wang Peili will fight Zhu Baoru after suffering from being dumb?" "This is something that can be imagined. Or maybe Zhu Baoru preemptively sues Wang Peili first. All in all, if he gets him to Hangzhou, he will be harmed. So I refused straight away, saying that I don't want to get rich, and at the same time I want to Advise you brother, after many years, it is not worth worrying about such a vague matter. If you have difficulties in life, I can help you and find a job for you. He said that he is now in the Yangguang grocery business, and the situation is passable. Thank you, there's no need. Finally, we are polite to each other and don't hurt feelings." "Will Wang Peili give up?" "Probably gave up. It is said that his Yangguang grocery business is doing well. As long as a person is on the right track and works diligently to curry favor, he will naturally not have any thoughts of making a fortune." Hu Xueyan said, "When have you met? People who are doing well in business will buy white pigeon tickets?" "That's a very affordable word." Mr. Wu thought for a while and asked curiously, "Did you talk to Zhu Baoru about meeting Wang Peili?" "No." Hu Xueyan shook his head, "I never dig people's sores." "If you don't poach people, they will poach you." Mrs. Luosi, who had been listening silently, said, "It would be great if you had talked with Zhu Baoru." When she said this, even Mr. Wu didn't understand what she meant, and both Hu Xueyan and Hu Xueyan urged her to explain with puzzled eyes. Mrs. Snail ignored it, and just said complainingly: "We have been here for so many years, and you have never talked to me about these situations." "Your complaints are unreasonable. Zhu Baoru's matter has nothing to do with me. Why should I talk about it with you?" Hu Xueyan said again, "It's my own business. It’s past, I can’t even remember it myself, how can I talk about it with you? Besides, I don’t have the time, if a person just talks about the past, in my opinion, this person’s time in this world is limited.” "Go!" Mr. Wu hit the case and praised, "I want to listen to this sentence. What I want to persuade Mr. Hu Da now is to be ambitious and not to be depressed. Your energy is still quite strong, and it is not too late to make a comeback. " Hu Xueyan smiled and remained silent.At this moment, I heard the morning bell in the monastery started to move. Seeing from the ringing bell, the short hand pointed to four o'clock, and it was Yinzheng hour. "If you don't sleep, it will be dawn!" Hu Xueyan said, "Let's talk about it tomorrow." So when the girls cleaned up, Hu Xueyan and Mrs. Luoshi said to Mr. Wu, "Ming Dynasty meeting", and went upstairs together. Upstairs, Mrs. Luoshi still had a lot of things to talk to Hu Xueyan, the most important one was that after a whole day's inspection of the private houses of the aunts and wives on the twelfth floor, they got a lot of cash, gold bars, jewelry, etc. It was estimated to be no less than two to thirty thousand silver, so she asked Hu Xueyan, what should be done with this money? "I have no opinion." Hu Xueyan said, "It's not my turn to decide now." This sentence sounded like a complaint, but Mrs. Snail understood what he meant, "Don't say that, you can still decide now." She said, "After two or three days, it will be hard to say." "You said that I can still be the master now, then, please be the master for me." "If you want me to be the master, I will do it now." "How to move?" "Mr. Wu, please take these things out before dawn." Mrs. Snail pointed to a big box and said, "Here, everything is packed in it." "Oh!" Hu Xueyan was a little dazed, and said calmly, "Why didn't you mention it just now?" "It's not too late now." Hu Xueyan reconsidered and thought it was inappropriate. This move was not open and aboveboard, and he felt uneasy, so he apologized and expressed that he could not agree. "Fourth Sister Luo," he said, "I have more than two or three hundred thousand yuan in my hand. If I want to keep some of it, I should have planned it a long time ago, and it will definitely be more than two or three hundred thousand. Forget it, Forget it, don't do this kind of thing." Mrs. Luoshi was very disappointed, and at the same time, she heard that Hu Xueyan was absolutely opposed to sending her belongings elsewhere, which made her unable to talk to him about one thing she was worried about. "I'm really sleepy." Hu Xueyan said, "Tomorrow at least I will sleep until noon." "You go to sleep. No one wakes you." Mrs. Luosi waited for him to eat the bird's nest porridge stewed on the "five more chickens", put him to bed, put down the curtains, and moved the lamp elsewhere.Hu Xueyan asked strangely: "Why don't you sleep?" "I still have two accounts to write. You go to bed first." "I can't even open my eyes! It's up to you, don't care about you." Sure enough, after a while, the snoring gradually started in the tent. Although Mrs. Snail was exhausted, she had something on her mind and she just didn't want to go to bed.Of course, it wasn't for keeping any accounts. Leaning on the red velvet easy chair next to the brazier, he suddenly woke up from a half-asleep, covered in cold sweat. In the early morning, she only heard the slight knock of the door. She opened her sore eyes and saw that it was Ayun who walked in on tiptoe. "What?" She asked in surprise, "Don't you go to bed?" "What time is it?" she asked. "It's not even seven o'clock." "Has Mr. Wu woke up?" "not yet." "Pay attention, wait for Mr. Wu to get up and serve him breakfast, please ask him to wait and come up and call me." "Understood." Ayun took the bed blanket and covered her, and left immediately. Partly tired, partly because of thinking about Mr. Wu, and hoping to understand what was going on, Mrs. Snail actually curled up in the easy chair and had a good sleep. It was not until ten o'clock that Ayun came to wake her up. "Mr. Wu has been up for an hour." Ayun told her, "He said that he can wait if you ask you to sleep a little longer. Let me think about it. I'm sorry to make him wait." "Not bad." Mrs. Snail turned around to show Axiu her bun, "Is my hair hairless?" "fine." "Then there's no need to comb your hair again. You fetch a basin of water, and I'll go down after washing my face." Having said that, it took half an hour to modify things a little bit. When I got downstairs, I first asked Mr. Wu how he was sleeping, and then asked Ah Yun what he had for breakfast.After exchanging pleasantries for a while, with a wink, A Yun was asked to back out, and Fang Shi moved his chair to confide his thoughts to Mr. Wu. "Zhu Bao is like our Mr. Da is a cousin of 'one meter and three thousand miles'. His wife, I remember you met?" "I've seen it, and I've heard of it. She has a kind face and kind eyes. Everyone says that she is smart and capable. She does things just like the men on the scene. She is very up-to-date." Mr. Wu continued, "I heard Mr. Da talk about it last night, so I realized that she is a woman. A great character." "I heard him talking yesterday, and I was in a state of agitation." Mrs. Luozhi hesitated for a while, then lowered her voice and said, "Mr. Wu, I have something to discuss with you. I don't know if Mrs. Zhu will agree or not." Will you have a black heart and swallow my things?" Mr. Wu asked, "What did you leave with her?" "It's a pillow—" Of course, there are patterns in the pillow. The first one is gemstones of various colors, no less than forty or fifty pieces. It turns out that Hu Xueyan once heard someone talk about it in Beijing. A lot of time, called "Seductive Eyes", after returning home, the same way, this plate of gems is worth at least 100,000 silver. The second item is Mrs. Luosi's two most expensive jewelry, a pair of diamond bracelets, a pectoral, a fire oil diamond bracelet weighing more than 30 carats in the middle, surrounded by twelve small diamonds, each of which is at least two carats , is a treasure from the French court. When Hu Xueyan bought it, he spent 250,000 silver. The value of the third item cannot be estimated, and it is ten "Eastern Pearls".This pearl is produced in the mixed river where Heilongjiang and Songhua River meet. It is as big as a longan, round and white, and has always been used only by the imperial court.The pearl households that fish for pearls are also strictly controlled by General Jilin, and there has never been any business among the people, so there is no market.These ten "Eastern Pearls" are said to have been stolen by British soldiers when the Old Summer Palace was burned, and then fell into the hands of a German banker. Since Hu Xueyan borrowed foreign debts for the "Western Expedition", the banker wanted to close the deal and deliberately As a reward, Hu Xueyan will not accept any more commissions from him in the future. Mr. Wu realized that if there was a dispute over this matter, it would be a heavy blow to Mrs. Luoshi, so he thought that the first thing to do was to comfort her. "Fourth Sister Luo, the world is unpredictable. If things don't go your way, you have to be open-minded." He continued, "It's not that something has gone wrong with this matter, but we have to do it in the best place. Think the worst. Do you know what I mean?" Mrs. Snail was very confused, "Mr. Wu," she said irrelevantly, "I'm the only one who can discuss it with you now." "Well, I have a few words to ask you now: First, is this your own Mrs. Todzu's, or did she persuade you to do it?" "I entrusted her. However, she told me that she is not afraid of ten thousand, just in case, which means I have to make a plan myself." "Hmm!" Mr. Wu asked again, "Did anyone see it when you handed it over to her?" "How can such a thing be seen?" The bad is here!Mr. Wu was thinking, "When you handed it over to her," he asked, "what do you have to say?" "I said, there is something in the pillow, I leave it with you, and I will come to get it anytime." "What did she say?" "She said, I don't care what's inside of you. If you give it to me, I'll keep it for you. You can pick it up whenever you want. However, I won't type the receipt." "Of course, how can there be a receipt for this kind of thing?" Mr. Wu said, "It's useless to guess now, don't worry, just take it back." "I—" Mrs. Snail said with difficulty, "I'm afraid she won't give it to me." "You said she would deny it?" "What should I do if this happens?" Mrs. Snail sighed, "I'm really afraid to see her." It wasn't that she was afraid of seeing Mrs. Zhu, but that she would not be able to bear it if Mrs. Zhu refused to admit it.That being the case, Mr. Wu felt that it was his duty to do so. "I'll go with you, or, I'll go for you, and see what she says?" "Yes, go for me and see what she says." Mrs. Snail said, "If you bring her two things, she will know that I invited you to go, and she will tell you the truth." Mrs. Luosi immediately called Ayun and ordered her to open the medicine box and brought two brocade boxes, one of which contained a branch of Jilin Laoshan ginseng. It was when Shanxi encountered a severe drought that had not happened in a century, and Mrs. Hu donated a huge sum of money. For the aid, Zeng Guoquan, the governor of Shanxi Province, specially invited the award, and the Empress Dowager Cixi awarded one party with an imperial pen plaque of "being kind and generous", and four or two ginseng, which are extremely precious because they come from the Tian family. . In another brocade box, there are only two wax pills left, which Mrs. Zhu specially asked for her. "Our youngest mistress and second young lady each used one, and the remaining two were reluctant to give away. Mrs. Zhu asked me for it a few times, and I said I didn't know where to put it. I will give it to her when I find it. Now I can't say If you don't want to, you have to be willing." Mrs. Luozhi added, "I hope she thinks that she must cultivate blessings for her children and grandchildren, so that she will not be left behind." It turns out that Mrs. Snail really has such a deep meaning in it. Mr. Wu nodded and said: "I will give her these two things as a token. She will believe that I can be your plenipotentiary representative." '. Well, I'll go today." "Mr. Wu, I have something else to discuss with you." What Mrs. Luoshi wants to discuss is the private house found from the residences of the aunts and wives in each room. It was originally packed with a big box and wanted to be sent by Mr. Tuowu. Part of it was packaged into an unobtrusive small package, delivered to Mr. Wu, and asked what he liked. "Since Mr. Da disapproves, I can't do it." Mr. Wu said again, "not only I won't do it myself, but Fourth Sister Luo, I advise you not to do it either. Let me put it bluntly, what happened to Mrs. Zhu today, It's because you didn't discuss it with Mr. Da first, and you caused troubles yourself. If you continue to make up your own mind in private, not only will I have no friends with Mr. Da in the future, but even you, he will misunderstand." Mrs. Luosi accepted his advice, but now she can only pin all her hopes on Mr. Wu, and earnestly advises that she must put some effort into taking back the "treasure pillow" left at Mrs. Zhu's place. Mr. Wu didn't dare to be negligent, so he went home and had a good night's rest. He got up the next day and made an exception not to go to the teahouse. He ate breakfast at home and made a pot of good Longjing. I have considered several situations and thought of different countermeasures.Arrived at around nine o'clock, took a follower, and took a sedan chair to Zhu's house. The follower went up to post a post, but the concierge of the Zhu family stood in the way, "Master is out." He said, "When our master comes back, I will invite our master to pay homage." At that time, Mr. Wu had already got out of the sedan chair, and he had guessed that Zhu Baoru might not be at home, so he said calmly, "I was entrusted by the Hu family. It doesn't matter if your master is not here, I will see your wife. There are two things Mrs. Hu's snail entrusted me to send, including my name card, your wife will know." The concierge knew that the mistress is not an ordinary woman who is not good at dealing with male guests. Hearing this, he knew that he would delay seeing him. At that time, he thought about it, bowed his waist and said: "I was going to invite Master Wu to sit in the flower hall, but I just want to invite you to sit in the flower hall." Because the weather is too cold, there is no stove in the flower hall, Master Wu does not mind being wronged, please come and sit in the gatehouse, it is warmer than outside." "Okay, okay, thank you, thank you." Not long after sitting down, the concierge came back and said: "My wife said, Mr. Wu is not an outsider, and Mrs. Luoshi invited him here. Please sit in the room." The upper room is on the third hall, entering the corner door, the screen door of the main room has been opened and waiting, when entering the door is a huge snow-white copper charcoal basin, the flames are blazing, and the room is full of spring.The concierge handed Mr. Wu to a seventeen or eighteen-year-old girl, closed the screen door, and let himself go. "Achun!" Mrs. Zhu said loudly in the room on the east side, "Ask Master Wu if you have any snacks. If not, tell the kitchen to prepare them immediately." "I've eaten, I've eaten." Mr. Wu said to Ah Chun, "Thank you, wife, don't worry about it." He had just finished speaking when the door curtain was lifted, and Mrs. Zhu appeared, wearing a squirrel fur coat, her gray hair was combed neatly, and on a small bun, she inserted a jasper ear-picking ear and wore a flower on the other. Safflower, with a thin layer of powder on her face, bright eyes, and a slender figure, is "old and pretty". "Master Wu, long time no see, how is Mrs. Wu?" She said while holding hands in salute. "TOEFL, TOEFL!" Mr. Wu saluted back, "Brother Baoru is not at home." "Before dawn, I went to cook porridge." Zhu Baoru has been the director of Shantang for many years, and he has a share of any government-sponsored policies to help the poor. "Admirable, admirable!" Mr. Wu said, "A family of good deeds must have more celebrations." "It's hard to say." Mrs. Zhu paused for a while, and before finishing her sentence, she said politely, "Please sit down, please sit down!" Then she looked at the coffee table, and there was a bowl of tea, so she fell silent . "Mrs. Zhu, Mrs. Snail asked me to come here today. When I went yesterday, she happened to find the medicine you wanted and asked me to deliver it. There is also a ginseng, which is considered a New Year's gift." "Exactly!" Mrs. Zhu was very apologetic, "Mr. Hu Da has such a thing, and she still has to worry about my little things, and she gave such a precious ginseng. I can’t, how should I put it, I have to say, it’s really indescribably sad.” "As close friends with each other, there is always time to make up for each other. Oh, and one more thing, Mrs. Snail said that there is a pillow left for you." Speaking of this, Mr. Wu watched her reaction carefully, and he didn't let go until she nodded. "Yes." She asked, "How?" "Mrs. Snail said, she wants to take this pillow back." "Excellent!" Mrs. Zhu answered these two words quickly, and then said, "Master Wu, to be honest, she brought a pillow and said she would keep it with me. I didn't ask much, I knew it was a violation of the law, so I had no choice but to stand up for her. I stood up, but my heart was always up and down, worried that something would happen. Now I want to take it back, I really wish for it. Master Wu, please be a little bit Sit down, I'll take it out right away, please take it back." Then he got up and left. This remark was beyond Mr. Wu's expectations. In the situation he imagined, the best one is: Mrs. Zhu admitted that she had the item and said she would take it back without any objection, but she either sent it herself, or Ask Mrs. Snail to come and return it face to face.But she asked him to take it back. Do you want to take it?He quickly made a decision: no.Because of a change of hand in the middle, if there is any mistake, it is too uneconomical to get involved in right and wrong for no reason. Therefore, he hurriedly said to Mrs. Zhu who had just opened the curtain and entered: "Mrs. Zhu, you don't have to take it out. I'll ask Mrs. Snail to bring it back." So Mrs. Zhu came back, and waited for Mr. Wu to repeat what he had just said, and she calmly replied, "That's fine! Then please ask Mrs. Wu to tell Mrs. Luoshi and ask her to come and get it. I don't know when to come?" "Then ask her." Mrs. Zhu thought for a while and said: "Well, if she is free, she will come this afternoon and have a light meal with me. Everyone is concerned about Mr. Hu Da's affairs, and they want to inquire about it, but they are afraid that it will become unreasonable to disturb him at this time. Sensitive, since she is coming, I can talk to her heart-to-heart, maybe it will be more comfortable to vomit out the pain in my heart." With such deep affection and sincere words, Mr. Wu couldn't imagine that she would be the kind of insidious woman Hu Xueyan described. However, Hu Xueyan is famous for his knowledge of people, could he be mistaken? He didn't have time to think about this trouble in his heart for a while, all he could think of was to quickly tell Mrs. Luoshi the good news, so he stood up and said, "Mrs. Zhu, I won't disturb you." "Why don't you go have a light meal? Baoru is coming back soon, you can talk more." "Another day, another day." "Then—" Mrs. Zhu pondered for a while and said, "Mrs. Luoshi gave me such a valuable thing. According to the rules, she must 'return the offer'. However, on the one hand, I dare not trouble Master Wu; Madam will meet in the next half day, thank her face to face. Please tell me what I mean first, Mr. Wu." As a gift, return the gift immediately, and bring it back to the gift giver, which is called "Hui Pan". Mrs. Zhu's courtesy is so thoughtful, which makes Mr. Wu feel that Hu Xueyan's words do not match his impression.Sitting in the sedan chair, I have been thinking about this matter, and finally came to a compromise conclusion. Hu Xueyan is not wrong in seeing people, and his own impression is also trustworthy. I have made a fortune and want to cultivate the afterlife, and I have turned my heart to goodness. Not only was he thinking like this in his heart, but he also told Mrs. Luoshi what he was thinking. She was of course very happy, which made Hu Xueyan very surprised, because her happy expression was already very strange to him. "What's the fun?" Mrs. Snail felt that there was no need to hide it from him anymore, "Let me be honest with you! I have a pillow left with Mrs. Zhu. Now I can get it back—" She recounted the whole process in detail. Hu Xueyan remained silent, and only said: "Okay, you go and get it back and talk about it." "Yes, we'll discuss it after we get it back." She thought for a while and said, "Or don't take it home when you get it, and leave it with Mr. Wu. Do you agree or not?" "I agree." Hu Xueyan agreed straight away. He was skeptical about whether the pillow could be taken back smoothly. If he could get his wish, of course it would be better to deposit it with Mr. Wu. I took Ayun to Zhu's house and got off the sedan chair in front of the eaves of the hall. Mrs. Zhu was already in front of the sedan chair, holding her hand for interrogation. She stared at it for a while, "You're a little thinner!" Then she said to herself, "Why? Don’t be skinny? It’s like the sky is falling down, Mister Da tops half, you top half.” With these words, Mrs. Snail felt her heart warmed up, and she had more confidence in Mrs. Zhu. When I got to the room, there was a table full of covered bowls of tea and tall fruit plates. Mrs. Zhu asked someone to accompany Ah Yun, and greeted him very thoughtfully.After a while of chaos, we can talk quietly. "I want to see you every day, but I always think that you have a lot of things to do, and your heart is disturbed." Mrs. Zhu said again, "You are good at hospitality, and you can't make mistakes in etiquette. I will only trouble you when I go, so I always If you didn't go, don't blame me." "Where is it! It's because you are sympathetic to me, and I am too late to be grateful." "I'm afraid that others will gossip. The friendship that I usually have is so thick, but now it seems that I don't have any contact with each other." "Why do you care about others, we have a deep friendship, and I know it." Mrs. Luosi added, "If we don't have a close friendship, I wouldn't leave that pillow here." "Yes!" Mrs. Zhu continued her words, "When you left that pillow with me, I thought in my heart that there must be something in it. But if you don't tell me, I can't ask. This morning, Wu As for the master, if you want to take it back, no matter how good it is, I will save a lot of risk. Oh," she seemed to think suddenly, "you don't dare to give me such a precious ginseng. Mrs. Snail, to be honest, When Mr. Da didn’t have any accidents, don’t say one, give me ten, and I’m old enough to accept it, but it’s not the same now, I—” "Don't say it." Mrs. Snail interrupted her, "I understand what you mean. However, I have to be honest. As the saying goes, 'Although you are poor, you still have three loads of copper at home', I will send you a ginseng You don't have to be polite about the ceremony of the year." "Since you say that, I'm relieved. But I didn't get anything good from 'returning'." "You're welcome!" Mrs. Snail was thinking in her heart, "returning" that pillow would be the best thing. At this time, the girl came to ask for instructions: "Should we wait for the master to come back before we start dinner?" "The master is back, and he will serve dinner alone." Mrs. Zhu said, "If the food is ready, let's serve it!" This reminded Mrs. Luosi that it seemed impolite not to mention Zhu Baoru, so she immediately asked, "Master Zhu has gone out?" The next thing is gossip, just about the dismissal of the concubines by the Hu family, I can't finish talking, but Mrs. Luozhi has something on her mind, so she just talked a little bit, then eat, sit down for a while after dinner, it's time to say goodbye. "Now you are alone. Mr. Da must be waiting, so I won't keep you. Wait until I get the things out." After Mrs. Zhu finished speaking, she went back to the back room. Not long after, the girl brought out a package, a tray, and on the plate were a mink hat and a gold watch for women. Inside the package were the pillows left by Mrs. Luosi, and even the original blue cloth bundles. "There's nothing good about 'huipan', don't laugh at it." "One of my own." Mrs. Snail said, "Why bother to speak politely." "This is your pillow." Mrs. Zhu said, "To be honest, because of your pillow, I often can't sleep in the middle of the night. If there is a slight noise, I will wake up immediately. If a thief comes and steals the bones, what will I do to you?" Confession." "Really!" Mrs. Snail said apologetically, "I'm really sorry for causing you trouble." "That's all I'm saying. Based on our friendship, Baoru and I will of course share weal and woe with you." This sentence made Mrs. Luosi naturally think of Zhu Jiaju and Wang Peili. Didn't they also share weal and woe with their husband and wife? Thinking about it like this, when I picked up the pillow, I couldn't wait to know what it contained, but there was only one weight in it—a big rectangular pillow with a bright gauze pillowcase, filled with tea leaves, but there was a rectangular pillow buried in the middle. The tin box and treasures are all inside. When she took the pillow, she felt that the middle was heavy and the ends were light, which proved that the tin box was still there, and she couldn't help feeling relieved. "Thank you, thank you!" Mrs. Luozhi handed the pillow to Ayun, and saw Mrs. Zhu's girl wrapping the mink hat and gold watch, and said with a smile, "I'll put on this mink hat." It was a sable hat worn by Western women, with a very bright red and blue feather on one side.She was in a good mood, having fun for a while, she took off the jewelry by herself, and put the sable hat on her head.Mrs. Zhu's girl has brought over a mirror. She looked around and thought it was funny. "Like Zhaojun who went out of the fortress." Mrs. Zhu said with a smile, "This kind of hat is only worn by beautiful people like you. If I wear it on my head, I will become an old monster." Just talking and laughing like this, he got into the sedan chair full of comfort, and went to Wu's house as agreed in advance. Hu Xueyan had already arrived first.Mrs. Wu has been taken care of by her husband, and she has something urgent to do, so she only exchanged a few words with Mrs. Luosi, and then retreated. At the same time, all the servants were sent away, leaving only the host and the guest in the main room. "I got it back." Mrs. Luozhi took off the sable hat, "I also gave me such a hat and a gold watch." Both Hu Xueyan and Mr. Wu nodded calmly and remained silent. Mrs. Luosi untied the blue cloth bundle, and when she picked up the scissors on the table and was about to do it, Mr. Wu spoke. "Take a closer look first." Look at the appearance, whether it has been tampered with, if the heavy seams have been removed, it can be seen on the stitches, one pillow corner and one corner, carefully checked the front, back, left, right, up, down, and no traces of removal can be seen. "Cut it!" After cutting open the pillow, the tea leaves used to fill the pillow fell on the table. Mrs. Snail picked up the tin box and her face changed drastically. "It's much more frivolous!" Her voice was already trembling. "Don't panic!" Hu Yan remained calm, "Calm down." Mrs. Snail didn't dare to open the lid of the box, so she put the tin box on the table, sat down by herself, leaned on the edge of the table and said, "Open it!" "Do you have something in it?" Hu Xueyan asked. “你那盘'养眼'的宝石，我的两样金刚钻的首饰、镯子同胸花。还有，那十二颗东珠。” 胡雪岩点点头，拿起锡盒，有意无意地估一估重量，沉吟了一下说：“罗四姐，你不看了好不好？” “为啥？”螺蛳太太刚有些泛红的脸色，一下子又变得又青又白了。 “不看，东西好好儿在里面，你的心放得下来——” “看了，”螺蛳太太抢着说，“我就放不下心？” “不是这话。”胡雪岩说，“钱财是身外之物，生不带来，死不带去。这一次栽了这么大的跟头，我总以为你也应该看开了。” “怎么？”螺蛳太太哪里还能平心静气听他规劝，双手往前一伸，鼓起勇气说道，“就算她黑良心，我总也要看个明白了才甘心。” 说着，捏住盒盖，使劲往上一提，这个锡盒高有两寸，盒盖、盒底其实是两个盒子套在一起，急切间哪里提得起来，螺蛳太太心急如焚，双手一提，提得盒子悬空，接着使劲抖了两下，想将盒底抖了下来。 “慢慢、慢慢，”乌先生急忙拦阻，“盒底掉下来，珠子会震碎。等我来。” 于是乌先生坐了下来，双手扶盒盖，一左一右地交替着往上提拔，慢慢地打开了。 盒子里塞着很多皮纸，填塞空隙，螺蛳太太不取皮纸，先用手一按，立即有数，“我的钻镯没有了！”她说，“珠子也好像少了。” 乌先生帮她将皮纸都取了出来，预期的“火油钻”闪辉出来的炫目的光芒，丝毫不见，不但钻镯已失，连胸饰也不在了。 螺蛳太太直瞪着盒子，手足冰冷，好一会才说了句：“承她的情，还留了六颗东珠在这里。” “宝石也还在。”胡雪岩揭开另一个小木盒，拿掉覆盖的皮纸说。 “什么还在？”螺蛳太太气急败坏地说，“好东西都没有了。” “你不要气急——” “我怎么能不气急。”螺蛳太太“哇”地一声哭了出来，旋即警觉，用手硬掩住自己的嘴，不让它出声，但眼泪已流得衣襟上湿了一大片。 任凭胡雪岩与乌先生怎么劝，都不能让她把眼泪止住。最后胡雪岩说了句：“罗四姐，你不是光是会哭的女人，是不是？” 这句话有意想不到的效果，螺蛳太太顿时住了眼泪，伸手从入袖中去掏手绢拭泪，窗外的阿云早就在留意，而且已找乌家的丫头，预备了热手巾在那里，见此光景，推门闪了进来，将热手巾送到她手里。螺蛳太太擤鼻子，抹涕泪，然后将手巾交回阿云，轻轻说了句：“你出去。” 等阿云退出堂屋，乌先生说道：“罗四姐，你的损失不轻，不过，你这笔账，如果并在大先生那里一起算，也就无所谓了。” “事情不一样的。做生意有赚就有赔，没有话说。我这算啥？我这口气咽不落。”螺蛳太太又说，“从前，大家都说我能干，现在，大家都会说我的眼睛是瞎的；从前，大家都说我有帮夫运，现在大家都会说，我们老爷最倒霉的时候，还要帮个倒忙，是扫帚星。乌先生，你说，我怎样咽得落这口气？” 乌先生无话可答，好半天才说了句：“罗四姐你不要输到底！” “乌先生，你是要我认输？” "yes." “我不认！”罗四姐的声音又快又急，带着些负气的意味。 “你不认！”胡雪岩问，“预备怎么样呢？” “我一直不认输的。前天晚上，你劝我同七姐夫合伙买地皮、造弄堂房子，又说开一家专卖外国首饰、衣料、家具的洋行，我的心动了，自己觉得蛮有把握，你倒下去了，有我来顶，这是我罗四姐出人头地的一个机会。”螺蛳太太加重了语气说，“千载难逢的机会。有你在场面上，我天大的本事，也不能抛头露面，现在有了机会，这个机会是怎么来的？是你上千万银子的家当，一夜工夫化为灰尘换来的。好难得噢！” 原来她是持着这种想法，胡雪岩恍然大悟，心中立刻想到，从各房姨太太那里搜集到的“私房”，本要寄顿在乌先生处而为他所反对的，此刻看起来是要重新考虑。 “有机会也要有预备，我是早预备好的。”螺蛳太太指着那个锡盒说，“这一盒东西至少值五十万。现在呢，东珠一时未见得能脱手，剩下来的这些宝石，都是蹩脚货，不过值个一两万银子。机会在眼前，抓不住，你们说，我咽得落咽不落这个气？” “机会还是有的。”胡雪岩说，“只要你不认输，总还有办法。” “什么办法？”螺蛳太太摇摇头，“无凭无据，你好去告她？” “不是同她打官司，我另有办法。”胡雪岩说，“我们回去吧！不要打搅乌先生了。” “打搅是谈不到的。”乌先生接口说道，“不过，你们两位回去，好好儿商量商量看，是不是有啥办法，可以挽回？只要用得着我的地方，我唯命是听。” “多谢、多谢！”胡雪岩加重了语气说，“一定会有麻烦乌先生的地方，明天我再请你来谈。” “是、是！明天下午我会到府上去。” 于是，螺蛳太太将阿云唤了进来，收拾那个锡盒，告辞回家，一上了百狮楼，抽抽噎噎地哭个不停，胡雪岩无从解劝，阿云虽约略知道是怎么回事，但关系太大，不敢胡乱开口，只是一遍一遍地绞了热手巾让她擦眼泪。 终于泪声渐住，胡雪岩亦终于打定了主意，“我明白你心里的意思，你不肯认输，还想翻身，弄出一个新的局面来，就算规模不大，总是证明了我们不是一蹶不振。既然如此，我倒还有一个办法，不过，”他停了一下说，“你要有个'以前种种，譬如昨日死，以后种种，譬如今日生'的想法。” “'以后种种譬如今日生？'”螺蛳太太问说，“生路在哪里？” “喏！”胡雪岩指着那口存贮各房姨太太私房的箱子说，“如今说不得了，只好照你的主意，寄放在乌先生那里，你同应春炒地皮也好，开洋行也好，一笔合伙的本钱有了。” 螺蛳太太不做声，心里却在激动，“以前种种，譬如昨日死”的觉悟，虽还谈不到，而“以后种种，譬如今日生”的念头，油然而生，配合她那不认输的性格，心头逐渐浮起了“柳暗花明又一村”的憧憬。 “现在也只好这样子了！”螺蛳太太咬咬牙说，“等我们立直了，再来同朱家老婆算账。” “好了！睡觉了。身子要紧，”胡雪岩说，“'留得青山在，不怕没柴烧。'” “阿云！”螺蛳太太的声音，又显得很有力、很有权威了，“等老爷吃了药酒，服侍老爷上床，老爷睡楼下。” “为什么叫我睡楼下？”胡雪岩问。 “我要理箱子，声音响动，会吵得你睡不着。”螺蛳太太又说，“既然托了乌先生了，不必一番手续两番做，值得拿出去的东西还多，我要好好儿理一理。” “理一只箱子就可以了！”胡雪岩说，“多了太显眼，传出风声去，会有麻烦。” “我懂，你不必操心。”