"Yanei, besides you, are there any other children of officials in the capital who were taken to Wuyou Cave?" Zhang Shixun asked him.
Gao Yanei lowered his head and thought for a moment before saying, "A few years ago, the daughter of an imperial censor was taken to Wuyou Cave. However, the censor later refuted the rumor, saying it was not true."
"Is this true?"
"Of course there was. After he paid to redeem his daughter, he said it was a rumor out of consideration for her chastity."
"oh!"
"I also heard from my father that a prince's nephew was kidnapped. The prince was furious and swore revenge on the thieves. However, the next morning after he made his threats, he saw his concubine's long black hair had been cut off at some point. He was so frightened that he never dared to mention revenge again. As for his nephew, he eventually paid money to redeem him."
"Have the thieves in Wuyou Cave killed many people?" Zhang Shixun asked.
"This group of people don't seem to kill easily. They commit crimes mostly for money."
"oh!"
"They don't easily kidnap the children of wealthy families. What they do most is defrauding and cheating." Gao Yanei was afraid, so he tried not to keep his mouth shut. "Last year, a scholar from another province was transferred to the capital to serve as an official. This scholar's family was very wealthy, and he came to the capital with a fortune. He was new here, so he wanted to make some friends."
"More friends mean more paths. It's normal to have this idea."
"Not long after, he indeed made two friends, one named Zheng and the other named Li. These two were generous and righteous. They took the scholar out for food, drinks and entertainment every day, and never let the scholar spend any money. The scholar felt that they were true friends, so he obeyed their every word."
"Haha! This is a typical example of giving something before taking it." Zhang Shixun commented.
"Zheng and Li were very patient. They spent more than half a year with the scholar before they took action against him."
"How did you do it?"
"One day, the two of them led the scholar to a large mansion, explaining that it had once been the home of a prominent official. Due to his demotion, the place had become empty and had been transformed by a wealthy merchant into a paradise, a den of luxury rarely seen before. The scholar looked around and saw that it was indeed a great place. He took almost all his money and began to frequent the place, eating, drinking, and having fun. But one day, just as he was enjoying himself, the wealthy merchant excused himself, saying he was feeling unwell and wanted to stop playing. The scholar had no choice but to take his leave. As they passed a room, they heard bursts of women's laughter. Listening carefully, the scholar heard not only the sounds of dice being rolled but also of pitching pots, a lively scene. Quietly approaching a window, he curiously peered in, only to see a brilliant light. In the center of the room stood a large table, surrounded by seven or eight stunning women, playing a game of gua..."
"Wait, what is Guanpu?" Zhang Shixun asked.
"Guanpu is a gambling game. Whoever loses gives the money to the other party."
"I see. It's gambling. Please continue."
"The scholar, upon seeing this, felt an itch so strong that he couldn't help but walk in. His two good friends, Zheng and Li, accompanied him, and they played with them, seduced by the beautiful women's charming words. Before they knew it, they had played all night and lost all the gold and silver they had brought with them, leaving only the clothes they were wearing. After the scholar emerged, his mind cleared up, and the more he thought about it, the more he felt something was wrong. When he went to look for Zheng and Li, they had already slipped away. The scholar quickly reported it to the authorities, and Kaifeng Prefecture sent people to investigate. It turned out that the so-called mansion was actually a restaurant that had closed due to poor management and had been rented out to trick the scholar."
"This deceptive plan is clever, one thing leads to another, and he is patient and calm." Zhang Shixun clapped his hands and laughed.
"Haha! This is absolutely true. Someone from Kaifeng Prefecture told me this themselves. Later we found out that these scammers came from Wuyou Cave."
"The world is full of dangers. This scholar has suffered such a great loss. I hope he can wake up and stop making friends with random people in the future. Especially, don't get involved with bad things. You know, flies don't bite seamless eggs."
"Hehe! For things like this, I can't blame anyone else, I can only blame this scholar for being stupid and not smart enough. He deserves to be cheated." Gao Yanei said, boasting, "I also like those bad things you mentioned, but I have never been cheated by anyone. This shows that I am smart and have a good brain."
"Yanei, the fact that you haven't been cheated doesn't mean you're smarter than others. It's just that those scammers haven't targeted you."
"I am smart, I have been like this since I was a child." Gao Yanei said shamelessly while looking at the door of his house not far away.
Zhang Shixun found it amusing and said half-jokingly, "Okay! I admit that you are sometimes very smart. This kind of intelligence may be related to your big head."
"My head is indeed big. If you don't believe me, let's compare it." Gao Yanei didn't hear the teasing in his tone and touched his head. "When I was a child, my playmates always liked to make fun of my head."
"What do you say?"
"Big head, big head, it doesn't flow when it rains. Others use umbrellas, but I use my big head."
Zhang Shixun couldn't help laughing when he heard Gao Yanei say "ouch!" and asked hurriedly, "What happened?"
"Is there a bump on the back of my head?" Gao Yanei said nervously.
"Let me touch it." Zhang Shixun reached out and touched it, and sure enough, there was a big lump.
"Maybe it was when you fainted."
Gao Yanei thought about it and felt that this should be the case.
"Do you know that the situation was very dangerous when you fainted?" Zhang Shixun said.
"Thanks, brother."
"If they had killed me at that time, you wouldn't have been able to escape." Zhang Shixun said, stretching out his fingers and wiping his neck.
Gao Yanei shuddered.
"It seems that these people really want to kill us."
"Wang Fu, I will not let you go." Gao Yanei gritted his teeth.
"Even if we know he did it, we can't produce any evidence to sue him."
"Don't worry, there will be a way." Gao Yanei said gritting his teeth.
After walking for a while, Gao Yanei pointed ahead and said, "We're almost at my house. Taiping Bridge is just ahead, and that's the house on the other side of the river."
Zhang Shixun looked in the direction of his finger and saw a large house with a deep gate on the south side of the bridge. With the help of the bright moonlight, Zhang Shixun roughly counted and found that it should be a courtyard with five entrances.
Zhang Shixun accompanied him all the way to the door and only stopped when he saw the servants coming out to greet him.
Gao Yanei stood at the door and said to Zhang Shixun, "It's too late today, so I won't invite you in. I'll definitely invite you to my house someday when I'm free."
Zhang Shixun hummed, bowed, and said, "You've been out for so long today, you must be tired. Go home and rest now. We'll see you tomorrow."
"I'll invite you to have a drink and have fun tomorrow." Gao Yanei also bowed.
Zhang Shixun nodded, this guy was sure to defeat him.
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