Chapter 51 Hand over the money

Ma Ruier was not very well-behaved when she slept at night. She liked to kick the quilt and put her legs on her, which made her unable to sleep well that night.

Wen Zhenyi looked at his cousin sleeping next to him, smiled helplessly, and covered her with the quilt again.

In the early morning, I heard that more people in my family were exercising, and several people from my uncle's family also joined me in running around the village.

Wen Zhenyi doesn't plan to go out to the stall these two days. He plans to stay at home and spend time with his family. However, things that need to be solved still need to be solved.

After saying goodbye to his family, he followed Old Lady Wen to the town.

Wen Zhenyi arrived at the door of the bank and saw a copper coin symbol on the plaque: "Grandma, is Liu Si here?"

"No, this is a bank. We need to exchange the banknotes for silver first."

Wen Zhenyi followed Old Lady Wen into the money shop. The hall of the money shop was decorated in an antique style. There were some tables and chairs placed in the front of the hall, and opposite it was a long row of counters.

There are wooden partitions above the counter, which are somewhat similar to the glass in modern banks, except that they are replaced with wooden boards and wooden fences.

When they walked into the counter, there was an accountant sitting inside, clacking away on his abacus. A clerk saw them and came over to them, "Guests, do you want to exchange silver or banknotes?"

Old Lady Wen handed the banknote to the clerk and said, "We will exchange the banknote for silver."

The clerk took the bill, examined it carefully, confirmed it was not fake, and gave it to the accountant.

The accountant confirmed again that there was no problem before nodding to the clerk.

The waiter came over with a smile and said, "Sir, this banknote of yours is worth one hundred taels. After deducting the exchange interest, it's ninety-nine taels. Would you like to exchange it now?"

Mrs. Wen nodded: "Exchange."

"Wait a moment, I'll get the silver for you." After saying that, the man walked towards the backyard.

Wen Zhenyi pulled Old Lady Wen's hand and said, "Grandma, do I have to pay a fee when exchanging silver notes for silver?"

"Of course, we have to deduct money when we exchange copper coins for silver. We have to pay an extra ten cents for one ounce of silver."

“There’s no interest on depositing money here?”

Mrs. Wen shook her head: "Not only is there no interest, but I have to pay interest."

“It’s really a highly profitable industry.”

The waiter came out a short while later with a tray filled with silver. He placed the tray on the counter and handed the scale to Old Lady Wen: "Keep it."

Old Mrs. Wen carefully put the silver into her arms and walked out of the money shop with Wen Zhenyi.

The two went to an alley in the town, where there were many cloths hanging. Wen Zhenyi didn't recognize the words on them, but she could guess roughly what the dice drawn on them were.

Just after walking a distance, I could hear people shouting from inside: "Open, open, open."

"Big big."

"Buy it and leave it."

“…”

Wen Zhen saw that the gambling house in this alley was very lively and there were many people inside. "Is this also Liu Si's business?"

Old Lady Wen nodded and said, "Yes, if we want to borrow money, we can only come to her. Banks won't lend money to ordinary people like us."

As he was talking, a man was thrown out of the gambling house: "Get lost, why are you gambling here if you don't have money? If you want to make a comeback, go to the alley behind and borrow some money before coming back."

The man who was thrown out was dressed in rags and his face could not be seen clearly. He stumbled towards them.

Wen Zhenyi pulled Old Lady Wen aside.

Old Mrs. Wen subconsciously covered the place where she kept her money, and it was this action that happened to be seen by the man.

He looked around and found that there was no one in the alley. He rushed towards the two people with a murderous look in his eyes, and took out a sharp knife from somewhere in his hand. He approached the two people and said, "Hand over all the money you have. Hurry up."

Wen Zhen pulled Old Lady Wen behind him and looked at him with red eyes. This was obviously abnormal. "Are you planning to use it to make up for your loss?"

"Yes, I want to make a comeback. When I do, I will return it to you with interest."

"Why should I believe you? You've lost all your money in gambling."

"No, that's not the case. I won a lot of money at the beginning, a lot, but then I got unlucky and kept losing."

"Are you lucky now?"

The man looked at Wen Zhenyi and smiled, revealing a mouthful of yellow teeth: "Isn't it good luck that I met you? Give me the money, give me the money."

He almost shouted at the end.

Wen Zhenyi pulled Old Lady Wen back a little to avoid having his saliva sprayed all over her face.

Old Mrs. Wen looked at the man nervously. She didn't even have anything to protect herself with.

She was really careless when she came out today. She should have called Wen Chengwen along. What should she do now? But before she could think of a solution, Wen Zhenyi, who was holding her, had already let go of her hand and rushed towards the man.

"all."

Wen Zhen raised her foot and kicked the man in the abdomen, then reached out and grabbed his wrist holding the knife, twisted it back, and the sharp knife in his hand fell into her hand.

He took the sharp knife in his hand and poked the man's wrist, breaking his tendons.

"Ah!" Blood flowed from the man's wrist. He knelt on the ground in pain and wanted to cover his wrist with his hands, but found that his hands could not move.

Wen Zhen threw the knife in his hand to the ground and pulled the stunned old lady Wen into the alley.

Mrs. Wen took a few steps before she came to her senses: "Yi Yi, you cut his tendons."

Wen Zhenyi hummed calmly, "Grandma, do you think I'm cruel?"

Old Lady Wen shook her head: "People like him will get into trouble sooner or later. Losing his hands is not necessarily a bad thing for him."

Wen Zhenyi was a little stunned. He thought that Old Lady Wen would think he was cruel, but unexpectedly, she was very clear-headed. "Why do you think so, Grandma?"

"He looks to be in his thirties. He might have elderly parents and young children at home. He might have gambled away all his family fortune. Losing his hands might not be a bad thing for his family."

Wen Zhenyi turned his head and looked at the gambling house in this alley. He wondered how many people had lost their lives and families here.

"We're here." Old Mrs. Wen stopped and looked at the shop.

There was no sign or any other symbol here. Two ferocious-looking Khans were standing at the door. When they saw them, they just glanced at them with contempt and didn't care.

As soon as Mrs. Wen pulled Wen Zhenyi up the stairs, they stopped her and asked, "What are you doing?"

"Pay back the money."

The two big men let them in, and as soon as they entered, they heard Li Niang's crying.

"Ah! Master Liu, please give me a few more days."

"Ah! Stop it, stop it."

Liu Si lifted his legs onto a table, holding a file in his hand, and was trimming his nails: "Give him some material."