The two words "no return" lingered on the top of Chen Fu's head like the sound of Buddhist scriptures.
Chen Fu became even more frightened.
Those thugs in the gambling house are not vegetarians! I heard that if you don’t pay back the money, your hands will be chopped off! They will also be stuffed headfirst into the well!
Chen Fu was hesitant to speak, sitting on the mule cart with a mixed feeling of anxiety. Seeing that everything was going smoothly, he was sure that this girl was made of iron. No matter how difficult or easy the situation was, there was only one word for her: "stick to the end"!
The mule cart swayed all the way back to Jing County. When Chen Fu, the single-celled animal, woke up, he had long forgotten his fear. He got off the cart yawning, stretched his body, and sighed, "I want to sleep for three whole days!"
When Mother Zhang saw Chen Fu’s untidy beard and dark circles under his eyes, she finally remembered who paid her monthly salary. She felt distressed and ordered someone to light a fire and boil water.
Xianjin turned around and went to the store, found Li Sanshun and Zhou Ergou, and explained the current situation, "...it's best to close the two stores now. The New Year holiday will be postponed to the fifteenth day of the lunar year. Aunt Zhong and Aunt Du's families will set off to Huai'an Prefecture today to seek refuge with Bo'er and Zuo Niang - I wrote a letter to Zuo Niang in advance, and I can temporarily settle them in the teahouse."
Li Sanshun took a few deep breaths and cursed, "...You damn girl! You are always too gambler! Do you have to do this? Do you have to take two thousand taels? They are gamblers! How dare you!"
After cursing, Li Sanshun slowed down and spat on the ground, "Damn it! I've done it! I don't know about others, but Chen Laowu and his brother are the same! One is bad on the outside, the other is bad on the inside, both are fucking bad guys! Just tell me, what do you need us to do!"
Xianjin smiled and said, "You, Lord Gou, and Brother Zheng, along with Lu Badan, should all move into the old house so that we can take care of you."
Li Sanshun threw the rack with his veiny hands, "Alright! At worst, we'll fight him to the death - I've disliked Chen Laowu for a long time!" He remembered something, "Where's the old boss?"
Xianjin smiled and said, "Manager Dong is spending the New Year in Xuancheng with his wife, children and grandchildren. No matter how big the fire is, it won't burn him."
Li Sanshun thought about it and nodded sullenly.
Zhou Ergou put the knife hidden in the corner into his belt.
Xianjin smiled and said, "Not really. Jing County is our territory. Even if he is desperate, he cannot afford to offend the local tyrant Cui Heng. The tribute of six zhang xuan next year cannot be interrupted."
Zhou Ergou's face was as gloomy as a Shiba Inu, and he said in a muffled voice, "Erlang taught me this, it's better to be prepared! With your physique, I'll chop one off if one comes, and I'll chop two if two come!"
Xianjin smiled easily, "Okay! Wait for Lord Dog to show his might!"
On the night Xianjin and Chen Fu returned to Jing County, Master Chen Wu heard from his concubine Huo that Chen Fu had gambled for five days in a row in a gambling house, lost all his money, and then found her brother to sign a pledge to borrow money at high interest. "... Haven't you always wanted to drag Chen San'er into this? Look, he's such a coward. As soon as he left his dear mother who protected him like the apple of her eye, he started to eat, drink, gamble, and do everything else. He doesn't need you to teach him at all!"
Mrs. Huo was already old, but she was still wearing the pink double-breasted jacket that Mr. Chen Wu liked the most. She half leaned against Chen Laowu's side, picked up a piece of fruit with a skewer and fed it to Chen Laowu's mouth.
Chen Laowu took it, put his arm around the middle-aged woman's fat waist, and said cheerfully, "Really? How much did you lose? How much did you borrow?"
Mrs. Huo chuckled, "I lost three hundred taels and borrowed two thousand taels. The interest rate is four percent and I have to pay it back in ten days. If I can't pay it back in ten days, I will charge four percent interest a day - we can make hundreds of taels of silver just by reselling it!"
Chen Laowu frowned as he listened, "Have you lent out all the 2,000 taels?"
Mrs. Huo let the coat hanging on her shoulders sag down, "Yes! If we borrow more, we will earn more!"
Chen Laowu's face turned stern, and he pushed Huo to the ground, "Ridiculous!"
Mrs. Huo shrugged her shoulders and knelt beside Chen Laowu's legs.
"The accountant used the store's money to gamble, and was just caught by Chen Cai--" That day when he returned to Xuancheng from Jing County, he saw Chen Cai walking out in a hurry. Later, when he asked, he found out that the dead rat bypassed him, took the twenty taels of cash from the store to gamble, and was told to Chen Cai!
Fortunately it was Chen Cai!
He quickly grabbed the accountant and made him kneel in front of Chen Cai, and slapped him a dozen times, only then did Chen Cai relent and say, "This is just the once, just pay me back and I'll let it go."...
The accountant almost exposed him, and now Chen Fu is involved!
Chen Laowu's mask cracked with a panicked look, "Two thousand taels! The cash on our store's account is only two thousand taels! Why didn't you tell me about such a large loan?!"
Mrs. Huo shuddered, raised her eyes timidly, and pouted, "...He is someone I know, not someone who showed up out of nowhere. Chen Laosan has been suppressed by his mother like a docile mule, how dare he not pay back the money? He... Even if he loses everything, doesn't he have even two thousand taels of private money?"
Chen Laowu pursed his lips and said nothing.
Seeing this, Mrs. Huo quickly pulled her coat down on her shoulders, leaned forward like a soft bone, and drew circles on Chen Laowu's legs. "It's only ten days. When Chen Laosan pays back the money, we will put the money back into the store's account! Could it be that in these ten days, the store has to pay an expense of one or two thousand taels? How can it be such a coincidence!"
The delicate fingertips circled around the thighs.
Chen Laowu's anger rose from another source.
Mrs. Huo couldn't help but hold it proudly, "If Chen Laosan doesn't return it, we will still follow the old rules. Call my brothers and bring a few men from our village to scare him! Chop off his hands! Dig out his eyes! This kind of playboy is afraid of his family knowing and afraid of suffering. How can he not obey!"
Chen Laowu groaned.
Seeing the momentum building, Mrs. Huo leaned her soft chest against Chen Laowu's crotch and said in a tender voice, "...When Chen Laosan becomes our regular customer, you must promote my brother to the position of village head - Madam, my brother is not suitable for such rough work as eating raw meat and drinking blood, fighting and killing!"
Chen Laowu pulled Huo Xiaoniang up, put the screens together, and stewed the first pot of broth.
......
Chen Laowu was indeed feeling uneasy, but on second thought, how could it be such a coincidence that he had just cleared the cash on the account of the mulberry paper workshop in the east of the city and then immediately had a large expenditure?
The large expenditure was made years ago.
Buy fodder, buy sandalwood bark, buy labor...
According to convention, the biggest expenditure after the New Year should be after March, after the Spring Examination. Those who want to express love will give love, those who want to give gifts will give gifts, and those who want to work hard will also buy paper to cheer themselves up.
Thinking of this, Chen Laowu felt a little more at ease.
Just after the tenth day of the Lunar New Year, snow fell all over the city. A mule cart left two scratches on the snow and stopped perfectly at the door of Chen's house in Xuancheng Prefecture.
A fat man wearing a tattered fox fur coat knocked on the door of Chen's house.
The doorman came to open it.
The fat man showed his standard eight-tooth smile and spoke in standard Jingxian dialect, "Please help inform that Shang Chengchun, the printing workshop in Jingxian, has a big business request to see Madam Qu."
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