Chapter 84: Driving the Tiger to Devour the Wolf
"Of course. One thousand taels of silver. You heard right."
"Oh my god." Even though Huang Yazi was a scoundrel, he was so shocked that he collapsed on the ground. He seemed to have thought of something, his eyes rolled, and a plan suddenly came to his mind, "Not enough."
This time, Zhao Bantou couldn't help himself. Even though he was one of them, he looked down on Huang Yazi's behavior. He sneered and said, "Not enough? Huang Yazi, don't be so greedy. You might die of overeating."
Huang Yazi was beaming this time, not feeling cold or in pain anymore. He said playfully, "Don't worry, squad leader. I'm pregnant, so I'm not afraid."
Lian felt her heart beating wildly, and she had to hold her chest tightly to keep herself standing.
Huang Yazi stared at Xu Qingying, whose face was expressionless, and chuckled, but said word by word: "I also want your soap recipe!"
"Huang Yazi! That's enough!" Zhao Bantou stood up suddenly, as if a mountain was pressing down on him, and his momentum was shocking in an instant.
But Xu Qingying's voice rang out crisply, "Okay."
One stone can cause a thousand ripples.
Without waiting for anyone to react, Xu Qingying continued slowly, "I can give you the silver, and I can also give you the recipe. But you should also know that I don't have anything valuable on me anymore, so if you increase the price, I will have to take both the silver and the recipe back."
"We can't give him the soap recipe!" Xu Degui regained consciousness and immediately let go of her hand. He walked over to stop Xu Qingying and said anxiously, "That's what we rely on to make a living. If we give him the soap recipe, what hope will we have in our lives? We gave him the five thousand taels of silver as a way to save the fourth girl. After all, human life is at stake. But this recipe isn't ours. It belonged to your grandfather. We have no right to sell it to him!"
Upon hearing this, Lian Shi could no longer care about anything else and immediately knelt down to beg Xu Degui, "Third brother, I beg you, I beg you, please save Yin Xi. I also know that this prescription is important, and I know that I am sorry for your second branch, but...but...I can't watch my daughter die...You have seen what kind of person Huang Yazi is. You have watched Yin Xi grow up since she was a child. Do you have the heart to let Yin Xi marry such a scoundrel? I...I...I..."
Lian knew how serious her request was. She kowtowed and spoke incoherently, "I beg you, I beg you, can I be your slave for the third room from now on... Can I be your maid, your servant for the sixth girl..."
Although Xu Qingying had not thought much of her second aunt in the past, she suddenly felt very uncomfortable when she saw this crazy woman who had thrown away all her dignity for her own flesh and blood.
Who can not be moved by the mother's love?
No matter what kind of person Lian is, no matter how Lian treats the third wife, her love for her son is real.
Why did I suddenly think of Old Man Xu again?
Xu Degui was reluctant to try to persuade Lian Shi, and only tried to avoid Lian Shi's kowtow. "Second sister-in-law, don't say such things. This prescription... really can't be given..."
Xu Degui was helpless, but he hardened his heart, "Just think of it as me watching someone die without helping. You can't let all three of us die just to save Yin Xi, right?"
Even Zhao Bantou chimed in, "Madam Xu, this recipe can earn you ten thousand taels of silver a day. If it were sold to the public, it would be worth at least several hundred thousand taels. You're asking people to spend several hundred thousand taels of silver to redeem your daughter. You... you... you're asking too much... If you're making things difficult for outsiders... why don't you make things difficult for Master Xu? After all, he's Miss Xu's biological father!"
How could Zhao Bantou not be anxious? If this recipe fell into Huang Yazi's hands and he sold it again, what would they have to do with the soap business of the Great Zhou Dynasty from then on?
At this moment, the fire finally reached Zhao Bantou. Zhao Bantou became anxious and wished he could strangle Huang Yazi to death.
When Huang Yazi heard this, his eyes turned rapidly. He never expected that this soap recipe was worth hundreds of thousands of taels.
His mind was so dizzy that he couldn't think of Xu Yinxi anymore.
With hundreds of thousands of taels in hand, what kind of woman can you ask for?
I'm afraid all the women in the entire Zhou Dynasty would throw themselves into his arms.
Huang Yazi was afraid that Xu Qingying would change her mind after being persuaded by the Xu family, so he quickly agreed: "Okay, okay, I agree. Give me the silver and the prescription, and I don't want you as my wife anymore."
"I have one more request." Xu Qingying ignored everyone's objections and continued, "You must pack up and leave tonight. And before you leave, you must explain the reason to everyone. You must say...you pushed my fourth sister into the water, and she climbed ashore on her own. You can't swim at all, so you didn't save her and didn't see anything. The reason you insisted earlier that you saved her was because you coveted my fourth sister's beauty and wanted to possess her. Now that we've discovered your true intentions, you're overwhelmed with shame and have decided to leave tonight."
Xu Qingying's words were like a thunderclap, which made everyone dizzy.
She glanced at Xu Degui again, reached out and gently patted his wrist, her eyes solemn, "Father, trust me, I won't do anything rash."
Xu Degui was torn between his conscience and his desires.
Just as he said, he just gave away the five thousand taels of silver. It was earned overnight, so he should just consider it as saving a life and doing good deeds.
But Fangzi, even if you beat him to death, there is no way he will hand it over.
Every family's recipe is kept secret and passed down from generation to generation, ensuring prosperity and wealth for several generations.
It would be better to gouge out his heart and liver than to just hand him over like this.
What's more, that person is the child of the second wife.
It was a prescription worth hundreds of thousands of taels. He had never seen so much money in his life, and he had to give it all to the second wife?
Xu Degui finally understood what it meant to be heartbroken.
Xu Huijia was so shocked that she was completely speechless.
Oh my god, that soap recipe is worth hundreds of thousands of taels?
He must have heard it right.
What’s even more terrifying is that Xu Qingying is willing to hand over the recipe just for Xu Yinxi?
Xu Huiming was also deeply shocked, and for a moment she couldn't even look directly at her sister who had been in control of the situation.
Xu Qingying, who was so calm that it was frightening, suddenly made him understand why his parents treated his sister so well, why his grandmother valued her so much, and why his second uncle was so angry with her.
All the people in the Xu family combined are not as important as this sister.
Everyone had their own agenda, except Huang Yazi, who seemed to be stunned by a pie in the sky. He was so happy that he almost fainted, and didn't even hear what Xu Qingying said next. He nodded hurriedly, "Okay, okay, I'll do whatever Miss Xu says. I didn't see anything tonight. It's all my greed, it's all my cheapness. I coveted Miss Xu, so I secretly followed Miss Xu Si and pushed her into the water. I was so scared that I jumped in too, pretending to save her. In fact, I'm a landlubber and can't swim at all!"
Xu Qingying smiled with satisfaction, but out of the corner of her eye she saw Zhao Bantou hesitate to speak. She had no choice but to say to Huang Yazi, "Pack your things first and go outside to tell them. I'll give you the silver and the prescription later."
Huang Yazi naturally refused, "That won't do. Give me the silver and the recipe first, and I'll go out and explain. This is such a big black pot, and it concerns my reputation in the underworld. How can I believe you just because of your empty words?"
Xu Qingying had expected him to say this, and Huang Yazi's reaction was exactly what she wanted. "Okay, I'll give you the money first. After you go out and explain in front of everyone, I'll give you the recipe."
Huang Yazi was thinking in his mind.
It was late at night, and he didn't want to travel at night, but there was no other way. He had so much silver in his pocket, and Huang Yazi was afraid that Xu Qingying would not be able to make the decision and would go back and regret it. He was also afraid that the other people in the escort team would find out and might kill him for money.
After all... this is hundreds of thousands of taels of silver...
Huang Yazi forgot all about Xu Yinxi and Zhao Bantou. He only wanted to get the prescription and get rid of it quickly!
So he had no choice but to nod and agree, "Okay, give me the silver first."
Xu Qingying ignored Zhao Bantou's eager gaze and said to Xu Degui, "Father, take the money."
Xu Degui glared at Huang Yazi fiercely, as if he was staring at the murderer of his father. Huang Yazi chuckled, straightened his clothes, and said provocatively, "Why are you glaring at me like that, Mr. Xu? This is money I earned with my own ability. You can only blame your bad luck. Earning this kind of money is not surprising, but being able to keep it is a real skill."
Lian stared at the two of them blankly, as if she was afraid that Xu Degui would turn against her at the last minute. She didn't even dare to blink until the last moment.
"Dad, give it to him." Xu Qingying's voice came from behind, "Someone go out with him and make sure he explains everything. If he's vague, bring him back immediately. I have my own way to deal with him."
Huang Yazi took the money and didn't care about Xu Qingying's arrogance. At this moment, he was so happy that he couldn't close his mouth. He just stared at Xu Degui's hands counting the banknotes.
One, two, three...fifty!
Xu Degui gritted his teeth as he counted, while Huang Yazi looked like he was crazy.
The Xu family watched in horror as the banknotes were counted one by one. Xu Degui slammed Huang Yazi's face. Huang Yazi didn't mind, he even grabbed the banknotes and sniffed them fiercely.
He…Huang Yazi…will never have to worry about food and drink for the rest of his life!!
"Take the money and do the job immediately!" Xu Qingying shouted, and then signaled Xu Huiming to follow Huang Yazi.
Huang Yazi happily rolled up the banknotes into a stack and carefully put it in his pocket amid the different looks on everyone's faces until his pocket was bulging.
It’s like a death sentence. This huge wealth has finally fallen to Huang Yazi!
"I know, I know. I'll do it for the money. I'll go out and explain clearly that I have nothing to do with Miss Xu Yinxi, and her future marriage has nothing to do with me. Miss Xu, you have to write me a prescription quickly and give it to me when I come back. Otherwise, hehe, I will immediately shout that your Xu family wants to kill me to silence me in order to prevent you from marrying me."
"Of course not." Xu Qingying said.
"Okay, Miss Xu, you are so generous. I still believe what you say."
Huang Yazi was about to go out with the silver bills in his pocket, but he saw Zhao Bantou suddenly stand up and stand in front of him like a mountain pressing down on his head.
Huang Yazi felt a little scared.
Although Zhao Qiaonian looks easy to talk to, everyone in the team knows that this man with a kind smile is actually a tough guy.
No one dares to underestimate those who can become the leader of the exile team.
Now this man was standing right in front of him, with a gloomy expression. He just stared at him without saying a word. Huang Yazi felt a little uneasy.
The Xu family didn't dare to kill him, but Zhao Qiaonian did!
Lian was so afraid of making any more mistakes that she didn't even dare to breathe. She even thought that if Zhao Bantou also wanted to stop Huang Yazi from taking the prescription and leaving, then she would have to abandon her dignity once again and kneel down to beg him.
The atmosphere in the room suddenly became tense.
Xu Qingying leaned over and glanced at Zhao Bantou. The corners of her lips twitched, revealing her two signature dimples. "Bantou, let him go first."
Zhao Bantou glanced at Xu Qingying deeply, his expression calm. Their eyes quickly crossed, and finally Zhao Bantou took a half step back and said in a deep voice, "I'll follow this kid too."
Huang Yazi and Lian both exhaled at the same time.
Huang Yazi was almost forced out by Zhao Bantou and Xu Huiming.
As soon as Huang Yazi left, Lian's body instantly went limp and she fell to the ground. Tears flowed without warning as she murmured to herself, "My daughter is saved, my daughter is saved. She doesn't have to marry Huang Yazi anymore. Thank God... Thank the Jade Emperor... Thank all the gods..."
Xu Dechi said gloomily, "Second sister-in-law, the one you should be most grateful to is the sixth girl. Do you know how much that recipe means to the third branch and the entire Xu family? Hundreds of thousands of taels, enough to buy hundreds of Xu families! Just to save Yinxi..."
Lian quickly wiped her tears and said, "I know, I know, Sixth Girl is the biggest contributor. If it weren't for Sixth Girl, Yinxi would definitely not have escaped this disaster."
Lian Shi held Xu Qingying's hand with genuine sincerity this time. She was so moved that she couldn't express it in words. Tears welled up in her eyes before she could even speak. "Sixth girl, I, Lian Qiuzhi, will remember your kindness to us mother and daughter. If I can't repay you in this life, I'll be your slave in the next."
Lian looked at Xu Degui who was silent beside her. She felt a little guilty, but she also knew how much favor she owed the third house. No, it couldn't even be described as a favor. It was a favor that could never be repaid even if she died a hundred times.
"Third brother, I..."
"That's enough. Stop talking." Xu Degui's lips twitched, and he clutched his chest. "Hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, just given away as soon as they said they would. What are we going to do in the future? Huang Yazi will definitely sell it as soon as he gets the recipe. When he starts making soap, what will we have left?"
"Cousin, please go get some paper and pen." Xu Qingying called out to the completely stunned Xu Huijia. Xu Huijia seemed to have come back to his senses. This time he just responded quietly twice and went to find paper and pen.
After Xu Huijia was sent away, only Lian, Zhao and Xu Degui were left in the room.
Xu Qingying no longer concealed it, "Dad, don't worry, he can't take this recipe away."
Xu Degui was stunned. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, no matter how much he eats, I'll make him vomit it all out for me."
Zhao asked hurriedly, "Then why did you agree so readily just now?"
Xu Qingying lowered her voice and pointed outside the door. "Squad leader Zhao isn't on the same page with us. If we don't provoke him, how could he bear to kill Huang Yazi? If we had tried to deal with Huang Yazi the moment we arrived, Zhao would definitely not agree. We still need Zhao to do things for us right now."
Lian suddenly came to her senses. "Only if I hand over the recipe and threaten Zhao Bantou's interests will he be willing to take action against Huang Yazi?"
Xu Qingying glanced at Lian with approval. As the daughter of a noble family, she was naturally sensitive to this kind of struggle.
"That's right." Xu Qingying nodded. "This is called driving a tiger to devour a wolf. Huang Yazi is too greedy. He's taking advantage of the escorts' cake. These escorts won't let him go. Zhao Qiaonian wants to be a fence-sitter, so I'll force him to board my boat!"
Lian asked, "What is a cake?"
"It's delicious." Xu Qingying couldn't help but smack her lips, recalling the taste of the thousand-layer cake in her previous life. "Everyone wants a bite. You can think of it as profit. Huang Yazi is affecting our interests. We don't need to do anything next. Let Zhao Bantou's men fight Huang Yazi, and we can just watch from the sidelines."
Xu Degui, however, was not as calm as Xu Qingying. After much thought, he was still puzzled: "What if Huang Yazi ran away with the recipe?"
Xu Qingying said slowly, "The closest place to us is Xingyuan Mansion. He'll definitely go there to sell the recipe quickly. I'll think of a way to quietly tell him that the second Miss Qi, the biggest buyer of the soap, will also be in Xingyuan Mansion. He'll definitely go find Miss Qi. Then we can catch him in the act. Then I'll make sure he returns the money, both alive and dead."
When Xu Qingying said this, there was even a faint smile on her face. That smile showed the calmness of being in control of everything, the nobility of a superior looking down on all living beings, and even more so, a coldness that went deep into her bones.
horrible.
This was the first time Xu Degui used this word to describe his daughter.
evildoer.
This was the second word that came to his mind.
At this moment, everyone was silent. Xu Huijia had already returned with a pen and paper. Xu Qingying raised her hand and wrote a prescription. The ink rustled, and for a moment, no one in the room dared to speak.
Zhao broke the silence and coughed softly, "Sixth girl, your handwriting is getting better and better. How come you know so many characters all of a sudden?"
Zhao was really good at talking, but Xu Qingying's handwriting was crooked and not very good. At best, it could only be considered a beginner's brushwork.
The original owner only knew some common characters and had not learned them systematically.
But the characters of the Great Zhou Dynasty have something in common with modern simple drawings, so it would not be difficult for Xu Qingying to pick them up.
It's just that the brush is soft. Even though she took calligraphy classes for a few months when she was a child, she still needs to spend time practicing if she wants to write smoothly.
Lian said, "Sixth girl is studious. Whenever she has free time during this exile, she goes to borrow books from Mr. Fang. I often see her squatting on the ground late at night, holding a branch, writing and drawing on the book."
This time, Zhao was really shocked.
She only knew that Xu Qingying had become smarter, but she didn't expect that she was so diligent and studious. Not only was she busy with soap making during the day, she also had to study the Four Books and Five Classics at night.
Lian praised again: "No wonder Master Fang likes you so much. Who doesn't like a diligent student?"
After an unknown amount of time, Zhao Bantou came back carrying someone.
Huang Yazi got up from the ground and saw Xu Qingying actually writing the prescription. He was overjoyed and came over to grab it.
Xu Qingying had just written the last word, and before the ink had dried, it was quickly taken away by a pair of rough hands.
Huang Yazi read it over with great joy, but Zhao Bantou mocked him, saying, "Huang Yazi, do you even know how to read?"
"I don't know!" Huang Yazi confidently handed it to Xu Huiming, "Tongsheng, come here and read it to me. Read slowly."
Xu Huiming was drafted. He glanced at Xu Qingying and, after receiving her approval, took the prescription and read it through carefully. Finally, he asked, "Huang Jiecha, do you understand? Do you want me to read it again?"
Huang Yazi tried very hard to remember what Xu Huiming had just read, "Five cents of pig pancreas, half a bowl of alkaline water... stir..."
Zhao Bantou was furious and threw the recipe in Huang Yazi's face. "Take the recipe and get out of here. From now on, we will pretend that you don't exist in our exile team. Whether you live or die has nothing to do with us!"
Huang Yazi naturally wondered whether the prescription given by Xu Qingying was real or fake, but he could not read and could not tell the truth.
He just thought that he had already got the banknotes, so if the recipe was real, it would be great, but if it was fake, he didn't have to worry... He had seen these people making soap, so he naturally knew the raw materials and the general process. If he went back and bought a few dozen more people and studied it more, wouldn't he be able to crack the recipe?
Thinking of this, Huang Yazi happily put the prescription into his pocket. He secretly calculated in his heart that he must leave quickly. Just now, when Zhao Bantou carried him out to explain to everyone, the murderous look on his face really scared him.
He didn't want to stay under Zhao Bantou's command for even a quarter of an hour longer.
Under the gaze of everyone, Huang Yazi grabbed two pieces of clothes and some dry food. He had money on him, so what could he not buy in Xingyuan Prefecture?
Huang Yazi was quick and efficient, and packed up the items quickly. Before leaving, he smiled and said to Zhao Bantou, "Old Zhao, this job of a trafficker is not a human job. It's hard work, and you don't make much money all year round. When I get rich, come and work with me. I promise I won't treat you unfairly."
Zhao Bantou gently pushed his hand away and said, "Huang Yazi, if you don't leave now, aren't you afraid you won't be able to leave?"
Huang Yazi quickly withdrew his hand, sneered, and said hello cheerfully to everyone, "Alright, thank you Miss Xu for giving me a fortune. We're so far apart, we won't meet again. Oh, and remember to tell Xu Yinxi that I'll miss her. If she ever comes to her senses, I'll keep her as my concubine."
"Get out!" Lian picked up the wooden stick beside him and hit him.
Huang Yazi ran away immediately.
After he left, the room fell into a brief silence. Only Zhao Bantou bowed and said, "Miss Xu, it's getting late and the dew is heavy. Now that the matter has been handled, you might as well go and rest first."
Xu Qingying stood up and returned the greeting, "I'm sorry to bother you, Brother Zhao this time."
"There's no need to be polite between you and me." Zhao Bantou said this and left temporarily.
Xu Qingying stared at the hurried figure and felt a little funny.
You are so good, Zhao Qiaonian. Now that your trick has been taken away, you can’t sit still anymore.
Okay, let you deal with Huang Yazi first.
Everyone looked at each other, and for a moment they couldn't believe that the matter was resolved so easily.
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