19. I didn’t rob money
The north wind blew in through the window, dispersing the mist rising above the teacup and making the handsome face of the man opposite appear even clearer. His cold, sharp eyes made people dare not look directly at him.
"Mr. Zhao, why did you go to such lengths to see me, just to say these things?"
The man in brocade clothes knew that Xie Zheng was probably referring to his words of loyalty and dedication. For a moment, he was unsure if he had violated a taboo by talking about his wife, so he hurriedly said, "Of course there is more."
He then handed over a brocade box. Seeing that Xie Zheng had no intention of opening it himself, he opened the brocade box and showed it to him, with a businessman's unique smile on his face: "I wonder if this is sincere enough?"
Xie Zheng just glanced at it indifferently: "Yellow and white things are useless to me."
The other party was silent for a moment, then suddenly stood up and bowed to Xie Zheng: "Zhao Wen is just a businessman, so he is not worthy of your attention. But last year during the Lantern Festival, my sister was captured by Wei Xuan at the Lantern Festival when she first came to Beijing, and she died tragically in the tent..."
His eyes were red, and he almost burst into tears: "If I don't take revenge, I will not be able to face my parents in the afterlife."
Xie Zheng's eyes finally fell on Zhao Wen, "You were able to find me, and you also knew that I had fallen out with the father and son of the Wei family. You are quite capable."
Zhao Wen hurriedly said he didn't dare, "The Zhao family's business is not big, but it's not small either. It happens to be spread across several major prefectures and has some dealings with the government, so it hears more rumors than others. Since Wei Xuan took over Huizhou, many important generals under the Marquis's command have asked him to demote his military rank and demoted him to the border. The group of literati under Wei Yan's command in the capital have been writing articles to denounce the Marquis, which made me notice the clues."
"I thought that the Marquis had met with trouble, and I had my men secretly searching for him, but to no avail. It so happened that a few days ago, a large number of refugees were captured in the main city of Jizhou, and officers and soldiers who came from Huizhou were looking for someone among the refugees with portraits. I used some tricks to get a portrait from those Huizhou officers and soldiers. The person in the portrait looks very heroic, so I guessed that the person they were looking for was the Marquis."
Zhao Wen said this with a look of delight on his face: "God has been kind to me. Recently, the Zhao family bookstore has received a batch of contemporary essays. The bookstore owner praised one of the essays as a masterpiece. After reading it, I felt that every word was a pearl. I thought it was written by a talented scholar from a humble family. I wanted to get to know him, so I came to visit him. Who would have thought that it was the Marquis who was here!"
Xie Zheng's slender knuckles were still tapping lightly on the mahogany table without making any sound. The "clicking" sound made by his fingertips hitting the wooden table made people feel uneasy.
Zhao Wen's earnest words made it clear why he found himself.
When Xie Zheng was writing contemporary essays, he deliberately avoided his own handwriting. It seemed like a coincidence that he was able to find it.
He remained silent for a long time, and the other party seemed to be a little uneasy, but he kept his composure and didn't say anything more.
Looks like someone who can get things done.
Xie Zheng half-raised his eyelids and finally spoke: "Exchange these banknotes in your golden box for 200,000 shi of grain before the spring."
When Zhao heard his words, he was surprised at first, but then he showed joy. He had just said that gold and silver were useless to him, and now asking him to exchange the banknotes for food was pointing him in the right direction.
However, the imperial court usually collected grain in autumn, and rice merchants also bought grain at that time. After all, it was the autumn harvest season, the people had no shortage of food, and the price of grain was cheap.
Now is the end of June, and people must have some surplus grain. It is not a big deal if the price is a few cents higher than during the autumn harvest.
But the northwest is not a place rich in grain. Even if we bought 200,000 shi of grain before the spring, it would still be a long time before the autumn harvest next year. If there was another war in this place, the local troops would not be able to collect grain locally.
Thinking of this, Zhao Wen felt his heart throb, and he hurriedly cupped his hands and said, "Zhao Wen will definitely live up to your trust!"
Seeing Xie Zheng's simple clothes, he wanted to please him, "How about I buy a separate house for the Marquis and his wife, and provide them with some servants?"
Xie Zheng glanced at him indifferently, and the scrutiny and pressure hidden beneath his calmness made Zhao Xun's already half-bent body lower by three points.
He said, "Don't be too smart."
Zhao Wen no longer dared to mention the matter of buying a maid for the mansion, and said more cautiously: "Then...should I send someone to send the Marquis back?"
When he came here, he went to the alley in the west of the city to pick him up personally.
Xie Zheng thought of Fan Changyu who had just walked down the street with a group of hooligans. He frowned and rejected the other party: "No need."
His beautiful and sharp eyes swept over the merchant in front of him, "Just do what I tell you to do, and pretend you don't know I'm here. If the news gets out..."
Zhao Wen hurriedly said that he didn't dare, "I came to Lin'an today just to meet a talented scholar from a humble family, but the scholar's whereabouts were elusive, so I didn't see him. As for buying grain, it was just because I saw that the rice merchants were making a lot of money, and I wanted to get a piece of the pie."
Xie Zheng lightly lifts the corners of his eyes.
He is indeed a smart man and understands things immediately.
He said, "Go down."
Only then did Zhao Wen bow and leave.
After the door was closed again, Xie Zheng slowly closed his eyes in the mist of boiling water in the red clay stove. His delicate face was obscured by the mist and became blurred. Only his eyebrows and eyes were free of the usual laziness and filled with a heavy bloody aura.
This Zhao Wen's appearance was too coincidental.
But what is certain at the moment is that the other party is not Wei's father and son's man, otherwise... the person who came should be someone from the government, instead of coming to him in a false way to express his loyalty.
The two hundred thousand shi of grain was the touchstone he gave. If this person could really be used by him, with the two hundred thousand shi of grain, his subsequent deployment would be much easier.
If this man had other plans, then there would be a bigger trap waiting for him and his master behind him after the 200,000 shi of grain.
A voice came from outside the private room: "Let's go and see what's going on! I heard that Wang Ji's broth across the street was jealous of the business and smashed Fan Ji's meat. The people from Fan Ji went to Wang Ji to make trouble!"
Someone sighed: "Wangji is a century-old brand, how can it do such a shameful thing?"
"What can't you do to grab business?"
Xie Zheng stopped thinking, opened his eyes, stood up, and his legs and feet were as nimble as a normal person. When he left the private room, he used the crutches.
-
A large crowd of people had gathered at the door of Wang's Butcher Shop, watching the excitement.
The shop assistant looked at Fan Changyu, then glanced at the ferocious-looking Jin Laosan and others standing behind her with their arms folded. His legs went weak and he trembled as he spoke: "What...what do you guys want?"
Seeing that the guy's face turned pale with fright, Fan Changyu couldn't help but frown. She didn't come to beat anyone up. She came to reason and seek justice. Why did the guy in the shop get so scared?
Is it because he is guilty of being a thief?
She said, "Call your shopkeeper out. I'm here today to ask for an explanation."
The clerk stuttered, "The... the shopkeeper is not in the shop."
Fan Changyu frowned, "He dared to order people to smash things in my shop. Now he is acting like a coward?"
Jin Laosan and others behind her uttered a loud "humph" from their noses at the right time, which frightened the guys so much that their faces turned pale.
Fan Changyu turned her head and glanced at Jin Laosan, her eyes twitching slightly. She had brought this group of people to confront the enemy, so how come it seemed like she had brought them to smash the store?
The clerk said tremblingly, "We have sent someone to inform the shopkeeper. If you have any questions, please wait... wait until the shopkeeper arrives."
After saying this, he moved an armchair for Fan Changyu to sit on with his legs shaking, and brought out a brazier for her to warm herself by the fire.
Fan Changyu glanced at the expressions of the store employees and onlookers and felt that something was a little strange. Why did it seem like she was the female bully who came to cause trouble?
But the other party had taken out the stools and braziers, and the weather was so cold, there was no reason not to sit down and warm ourselves by the fire.
In a short while, the shopkeeper Wang Ji came in, dragging his fat body and sweating profusely. He was a businessman who always made money by being friendly. When he saw Fan Changyu, he smiled and said, "Miss Fan, I have heard about the things in your shop from my employees. The Wang Ji signboard was passed down from my ancestors. I, Wang, will never use such means to bully an orphan girl..."
As he spoke, he glanced at Jin Laosan and others behind Fan Changyu. Although his tone was polite, his attitude was somewhat contemptuous: "Miss Fan, you identified me as Wang Ji based on these people's one-sided statements. Is there any misunderstanding?"
Fan Changyu sat on the armchair, motionless as a mountain, and only glanced at Jin Lao San: "You say."
Jin Lao San said immediately: "You have a partner named Chunsheng in Wang Ji. Yesterday, he came to the East City Tavern with five taels of silver to find the brothers and asked them to go to Fan Ji to cause trouble. Everyone in the tavern can testify to this."
When the shopkeeper Wang heard the name of the waiter, his expression changed and his attitude softened a bit. He said to Fan Changyu, "That's my eldest son's attendant. Please wait a moment, Miss Fan. I'll call my eldest son to come and ask him about it."
The young master of Wangji is a well-known playboy in Lin'an Town. He has a bunch of concubines at home, which is not enough. He sleeps with prostitutes all day long. This time, it was Wangji's employees who dug him out from the kiln.
When he came back, he was still drunk, with his clothes not properly dressed. His father asked someone to give him a bowl of sobering soup, which helped him to sober up a little.
The shopkeeper of Wang's asked Fan Changyu in front of him: "You rebellious son, did you ask someone to smash Fan's things?"
The young master of Wang's family looked at Fan Changyu with his swollen eyes. He looked her up and down for several times before he sneered, "Oh, you are really pretty. You stole my business and Yixianglou's business by sleeping with that old chef Li. You even dare to come to our door. You are really more shameless than a prostitute."
It is well known that Yixianglou often buys famous dishes from other places and puts them in its own restaurant.
The female shopkeeper always had her own way of doing business. Others said that she did not lose money by doing so, but it was because she combined the strengths of many different restaurants that the business of Yixianglou far surpassed that of other wine houses that were complacent.
After all, those who can afford to dine at Yixianglou are all wealthy country gentlemen with plenty of money. There are only a few famous restaurants in the town, and if you want to eat there on weekdays, you have to run around several times. At Yixianglou, not only can you eat Yixianglou's signature dishes, but if you want to eat local specialties, you can just call the waiter and they will serve them immediately.
Therefore, no matter whether it is selling cakes, pastries or salted meat cooked food in the town, they all consider it an honor to be able to establish contact with Yixianglou.
After hearing what the young master Wang said, the onlookers had different expressions on their faces. Some were surprised, some were in disbelief, and some were just watching a show.
His eyes kept sweeping over Fan Changyu. She was good-looking, but she had such a fierce temper. People might believe her if they said she was a female bully who robbed people of their money. It would be more convincing if they said she was just flirting with people for a little business...
Everyone shuddered. Who would dare to think of her if they saw her killing pigs and chopping meat?
The shopkeeper of Wang's also widened his eyes and shouted, "Rebellious son, what nonsense are you talking about?"
Young Master Wang didn't take it seriously. He was used to bullying men and women in the town, and didn't take Fan Changyu, a woman, seriously at all: "Dad, our business with Yixianglou has already failed, why don't you let me tell you? Are you afraid of offending that old chef Li?"
He cast a lustful look at Fan Changyu: "You stole someone so old..."
There was a loud bang.
Jin Laosan and others glanced to the side and saw that the heavy chopping board on which the brined pork was placed in front of Wang's shop was kicked over by Fan Changyu. The chopping board could not even withstand the force and a big hole was kicked out of it. The brined pork was scattered all over the floor and the drunken young master Wang's body was half pinned down by the chopping board.
He and his gang of thugs looked at the big hole in the ironwood, swallowed their saliva, and shrank to the side, thinking that this girl had been using Jin'er's trick on them when she dealt with them before.
If they had used that much force back then, they would probably have broken several bones and would still be lying in bed, unable to get out of bed.
Young Master Wang screamed in pain and ordered the two servants beside him: "You two are going to die, why don't you pull me up quickly!"
The two servants took a look at the black iron bone-chopping knife that Fan Changyu took out. Behind her, Jin Laosan and his group were also rubbing their hands, as if they were ready to join in the fight. They didn't dare to step forward and even took two steps back with their legs as soft as noodles.
Wang's shopkeeper sweated profusely when he saw this. He was also very scared when he saw Fan Changyu holding a knife. "Miss Fan, it's my son who spoke without thinking. I will definitely teach him a lesson. Miss Fan, please don't be angry..."
Fan Changyu turned a deaf ear and stepped heavily on the chopping board. The chopping board that had taken two people to lift together was made a big hole by her step. The young master of Wangji foamed at the mouth and rolled his eyes on the spot.
The crowd watching also gasped, and some timid women even covered their eyes with their sleeves, fearing that Fan Changyu would chop the young master Wang's head with the bone-cutting knife in the next second.
The shopkeeper of Wang's pointed at Fan Changyu and said in a trembling voice: "You...you still want to kill people?"
Fan Changyu glanced at him and sneered, "How could I kill someone? Killing someone means going to jail. At most, I can cut off the tongue of your good son and let him chew it up and swallow it, so that he won't gossip anymore."
The shopkeeper of Wang's was almost frightened by her words and could not stand steadily. He had to be supported by several servants to prevent his legs from weakening and he sat down on the ground. His face was pale, and he pointed at Fan Changyu with a trembling hand and kept saying "you" for a long time but could not utter a complete sentence.
The young master of Wang's family, who was being stepped on by Fan Changyu, was now afraid. His face turned pale and he looked at his father while crying: "Dad, save me..."
Wang Ji's shopkeeper trembled and said, "Report to the police, report to the police quickly..."
Wang Ji's servant wanted to report to the police, but was stopped by Jin Lao San and his men: "You are allowed to bully others, but you are not allowed to ask for justice?"
Fan Changyu slapped the disgusting fat face of Wang Ji's young master with his bone-chopping knife: "Tell me, when did I snatch the business from you guys from Yixianglou?"
The bone-chopping knife in her hand was heavy and cold. Because of years of chopping bones and cutting meat, there was still a lingering smell of blood on the blade. The half face of the young master Wang Ji was numb after being hit by her knife, and the whole person was shaking like chaff: "Wang... Wang Ji's brisket business with Yixianglou has stopped. I heard... I heard that it was Chef Li who recommended your brisket..."
Fan Changyu sneered: "Just like that, you're going to frame me?"
When the women who were watching heard what the young master Wang said, they didn't expect that what he said before was so obscene, and the truth turned out to be just like this.
A woman's reputation is so important. This is intentionally forcing her into a desperate situation!
I couldn't help but spit at him: "What a piece of shit! You're just seeing that Fan Ji's salted meat business is booming, and you're using the reputation of the girl to make trouble?"
"I was wondering why I haven't seen Chef Li go to Fan Ji to buy meat these days. It turns out that this black-hearted person framed him up and he's trying to avoid suspicion!"
"The Wang family is a wealthy family, but they bully an orphan girl. They really have no shame!"
"He spends all day in the kiln, and that's all he can think about!"
"If you ask me, Wang Ji is just bullying customers because of its size. Not only is the taste getting worse and worse, I once even bought rotten meat! No wonder Yixianglou is unwilling to continue buying brine from them!"
Wang Ji's shopkeeper listened to the discussions and became very anxious. He stamped his feet in anger and said, "Rebellious son! Rebellious son!"
The young master of Wang's cried so hard that his nose was full of snot bubbles. He begged for mercy: "Please let me go! I will give you money! I will give you a lot of money. I know your family is short of money..."
Fan Changyu remained silent, his eyes fierce, and he threw the bone-cutting knife in his hand to the ground.
Seeing this scene, the onlookers all screamed in shock. The shopkeeper of Wangji almost fainted from fright, and the young master of Wangji also screamed in fright.
Snap!
The knife did not hit the young master Wang, but directly cut off his hair and the crown of hair near his scalp. The blade also bit into the bluestone floor tile, and the blade was shaking.
It took a while for the young master Wang to come back to his senses. His face was as pale as a dead person, and a fishy smell came from under his body. There was a pool of yellow water under the chopping board.
The shopkeeper of Wang Ji was also supported by a servant, breathing heavily.
Feeling the coolness against his scalp, the young master of Wang's was already frightened out of his wits. He no longer cared about saving face and burst into tears, his face covered with snot and tears: "Don't kill me, don't kill me!"
The shopkeeper of Wang's had only this useless son, and he almost cried and begged for mercy: "Miss Fan, this rebellious son has said something that has damaged your reputation. I will definitely teach him a lesson. I will prepare a small gift and go to your house to apologize to Miss Fan in person another day. In ancient times, people shaved their hair instead of cutting off their heads. You have already shaved his hair, so please be magnanimous and let him go!"
Fan Changyu put away the knife, looked at Wang Ji's young master coldly and said, "Don't let me see you again in the future!"
She walked away with the knife in her hand, ignoring the father and son of the Wang family.
The young master of Wang's has been bullying men and women for a long time. It is really gratifying that Fan Changyu taught him a lesson today.
The onlookers even cheered and applauded, saying, "Good lesson!"
"The victim is Fan Lao Hu's daughter. If someone else was bullied like this, I'm afraid they would be helpless even if they cried out to heaven and earth!"
"That's right. There was a girl in Liujia Village. She was very pretty. But she got pregnant by the young master Wang. The Wang family refused to acknowledge her, so the poor girl ended up jumping into the river and committing suicide!"
"This is just a big deal for us. Who knows how many evil things they have done behind the scenes! Their brined pork is really not as good as Fan Ji's. Fan Ji's meat is all freshly slaughtered that day. I wonder what kind of meat they use!"
The shopkeeper Wang listened to the pointing and talking of the onlookers, and his face almost fell to the ground.
The wooden board on the young master Wang's body was finally lifted up by two servants. He, a grown man, looked at the shopkeeper Wang and cried, "Dad..."
Instead of being comforted, Wang Ji's shopkeeper, who was furious, kicked him twice, "You are a good-for-nothing! It's fine if you sleep with other women all the time, but you did this to me! You have brought disgrace to the Wang family today!"
-
Fan Changyu no longer cared about what was happening in Wang's shop behind her. She vented her anger and was about to go home when someone suddenly called her from behind: "Miss Fan, please stay."
Fan Changyu turned around in confusion and saw a man with a mustache walking towards her. "Miss Fan, you are very skilled. I am the manager of Huixian Bank. Miss Fan, are you interested in working in our bank?"
"Money?" Fan Changyu frowned. "What can I do there?"
The money manor manager smiled and said, "Collect the debt."
Fan Changyu: “…”
Jin Laosan and the others were eager to try: "Miss Fan, if you are the one who takes over the debt, we will follow you in the future!"
Fan Changyu glared at them and said, "Didn't you say you wanted to do a proper business?"
Jin Laosan and the others immediately shrank their necks and dared not say a word.
Fan Changyu rejected the manager, who didn't say anything. Before leaving, he just gave her a piece of paper that listed the various advantages of being a thug at Huixian Money House. "Miss Fan, don't rush to reply. You can think about it again."
Fan Changyu felt complicated as she held the piece of paper. What kind of person was she in the eyes of the people in the town?
She sighed and turned back, but saw a man standing at the street corner in front of her. Heavy snow was flying, and his wide robe was blown open by the wind. Behind him was a bustling street. His cold and indifferent eyebrows were looking at her very subtly.
Fan Changyu glanced at the piece of paper in his hand with the words "debt collection" written on it, and subconsciously said, "I didn't rob anyone."
When Jin Laosan and the others saw Xie Zheng, their skin tensed instantly and they all said in unison, "Hello, Auntie!"
Xie Zheng: “…”
Fan Changyu: “…”
It seems even more difficult to explain.
The author has something to say:
Sorry for the long-awaited friends. I have combined the two updates into one. Please give 100 red envelopes to the friends in the comment section~
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