Chapter 1: Winter in Jinling Chapter 28: Destroying the Corpse
Zhao Hao looked at the closed door of the blacksmith shop and sighed helplessly, but in his heart he valued Gao Wu more and more.
But today was not a suitable day for them to meet again, so he returned home dejectedly.
After entering the yard, Zhao Hao took out two more ingots from his arms, threw twenty taels of silver to Zhao Shouzheng and said, "A thousand times is too much. I will just insult my father twice for now."
"Okay, okay." Zhao Shouzheng was overjoyed, holding the four ingots and examining them for a long time. "Old friend, why didn't I think you were so cute before?"
But after appreciating it, Zhao Shouzheng still reluctantly returned the money to his son and said:
"I've also come to understand that life has to go on. The money is with me, and it will be gone in a blink of an eye. You should take care of it, and I'll ask you for it when I need it."
Zhao Hao couldn't help but well up in tears, and a sense of relief for the elderly parents rose in his heart.
It turns out that people can only grow through suffering, what a shame.
"This is pocket money for dad." He stuffed the silver back into his father's hand and said with a smile, "As the saying goes, money is the courage of a hero. How can you be a real man if you are short of money?"
Zhao Shouzheng stopped refusing and said happily, "Then I'll accept it."
After the conversation, the father and son went their separate ways. Zhao Shou was setting the table in the main room while Zhao Hao returned to the west room where he lived.
He first pushed open the broken bed he was sleeping on and lifted up the blue bricks that originally supported the legs of the bed. Under the blue bricks was a small hole he had dug in advance, and there was an empty wooden box inside.
All of this was prepared by Zhao Hao with great care in advance.
He only kept ten taels of silver on him for daily expenses.
He put the remaining twenty taels of silver and the deposit slip into a small wooden box, covered it with blue bricks, and finally pressed the bed legs on the bricks. Only then did Zhao Hao breathe a sigh of relief.
When he returned to the patio, Zhao Shouzheng had already prepared water for him to wash his face.
"Wash up and have dinner quickly." Zhao Shouzheng urged his son with a smile.
Although he smiled every day, it was not until today that he felt relieved and laughed as heartily as before.
Zhao Hao was also very happy. Just as he was about to tease his father, he suddenly heard someone outside the yard shouting:
"Don't eat yet, wait for me!"
Hearing the sound, the soap in Zhao Hao's hand fell to the ground with a plop.
Through the low wall, one could see a large head with a pair of protruding ears running excitedly toward the door. Who else could it be but Fan Datong, the lottery expert?
Zhao Shouzheng's face also changed color, and he covered his purse and said, "Can this guy smell the scent of silver? He came to me as soon as I had money in my hand?"
"Not really. We just got home, how could he know?" Zhao Hao shook his head, bent down to pick up the soap, and whispered to his father, "It must be something else. Keep the money and don't let him see it."
Zhao Shouzheng hurriedly bent down to scratch his itch through his boots, and stuffed the purse into his boots.
As soon as I stood up, I saw Fan Datong kicking open the half-open courtyard door and running in, sweating profusely and carrying large and small bags.
"Come and pick me up." Fan Datong shouted at the two of them, "Look, what did I bring?"
Under the astonished gaze of the father and son, Fan Datong displayed packages of chopped pork and mutton, two bighead carps, and some cooked food one by one.
"Roast chicken, salted duck, pork head, and this..."
As he spoke, Fan Datong took out a large wine gourd with a square red paper pasted on it from his bosom. The word "Daqu" was written on the red paper.
"Good stuff..." Zhao Shouzheng's eyes lit up. When he reached out to take it, he remembered what his son said in the morning and said unhappily, "I have to stop drinking for a while."
"Uncle, why is he so generous today?" Zhao Hao couldn't help but ask curiously as he brought raw meat and fish into the kitchen.
"It's a celebration of moving. I refused the money I gave you yesterday, but I'll buy you some wine and meat today." Fan Datong said with a smile, "My dear nephew, I saw that the rice jar was almost empty, so I bought a stone of rice and a barrel of oil from the rice shop on the street. The waiter will deliver them to you later."
Rice is expensive in Nanjing, one stone of rice costs one tael of silver, and the price of oil is even higher. Add to that the wine, meat and food, and he's probably going to spend half of the money he had yesterday.
"You should be more frugal and not spend money so lavishly." Zhao Shouzheng, who had reached a higher level, naturally taught Fan Datong a lesson: "The sage said, frugality fosters virtue."
"Oh, brother, why has your temper changed? Didn't you always say that even if you spend all your money, you can still make it back?" Fan Datong wiped his hands on his body, then tore the plump roast chicken into several pieces, handed two chicken legs to the father and son, and started to eat half of the chicken himself, saying:
"How can spending money on my brother be considered wasting money? I wanted to invite you to Deyue Tower to celebrate the housewarming, but I thought five taels of silver might not be enough..."
"Ahem..." Zhao Hao almost choked to death. He and his son had not spent a single tael of silver on food in the days since they moved here! This included the half tael that Zhao Shouzheng had shown off.
This rice bucket really doesn't take money seriously!
"Don't be surprised, nephew." Fan Datong said indifferently, "You are also from an official family, what does this little money mean to you? The boarding fee for the Qinhuai River pleasure boat is fifty taels, and Deyue Tower is also a famous building in Nanjing. You can't eat anything good with five taels of silver..."
"Indeed ." Zhao Shouzheng nodded, and it was obvious that he had often been to such places before. But I don't know whether he went to the place where the money was five taels or the place where the money was fifty taels...
“Okay…” Zhao Hao rolled his eyes. How come I can’t live a whole day like this kind of rich man?
He went into the house and brought out some braised dishes for dinner, and put them on the table together with the food brought by Fan Datong. The three of them began to eat and drink in the courtyard.
After Fan Datong had eaten and drunk his fill, he picked his teeth and asked, "Brother, how are you going to make a living in the future?"
"Don't worry about that, my son..." Zhao Shouzheng was about to show off, but was secretly stepped on by Zhao Hao.
He immediately shook his head and changed his words: "My son... let me take the imperial examination. There are thousands of bushels of grain in the books, and I won't have to worry when the time comes."
Fan Datong smiled bitterly when he heard this, wondering where his brother got his confidence from. But a man like him was used to flattering others, so how could he say something that would spoil the fun?
He raised his glass and said with a smile: "Then I wish you good luck in the imperial examination and success in getting on the list of top scorers!"
"Then I must drink this cup."
Zhao Shouzheng was in a very good mood and he particularly liked Fan Datong. The two of them ate and drank, talked and laughed, and when they got excited they even sang brothel tunes, which was extremely sexy.
He couldn't stop drinking. Zhao Shouzheng's alcohol tolerance was poor. After three cups of Daqu, he forgot everything else. He put his arm around Fan Datong's arm and said with a big tongue, "As the saying goes, a friend in need is a friend indeed. Today you can come to my house again and buy so many things for me. I think your friendship is not in vain. As the saying goes, happiness is shared. Come on, as a brother, I won't let you suffer any loss..."
As he said this, he reached into his boots and took out five taels of silver, slapped it in front of Fan Datong and said, "Take it and spend it!"
Fan Datong was surprised, obviously not expecting that Zhao Shouzheng could still come up with money.
He glanced at Zhao Hao and waved his hands, saying, "This is not appropriate. Brother is no longer the same as before, I can't..."
While speaking, he kept watching Zhao Hao's reaction, but saw that Zhao Hao looked normal and obviously didn't care.
"You can't take so much, give me two taels..." Fan Datong changed his words and said, "Two taels is enough."
Zhao Hao couldn't help but shake his head and smile bitterly.
"Just take it! Why so much nonsense? Just spend it sparingly!" Zhao Shouzheng was so generous that he stuffed five taels of silver into Fan Datong's arms without giving any explanation.
"Hehe, I dare not refuse the gift from my brother. I promise to spend a few more days this time." Fan Datong happily put the silver close to his body.
Fearing that Zhao Hao might suddenly get angry and ask for the money back, he guzzled two more glasses of wine and stood up to leave impatiently.
After sending off the satisfied Fan Datong, Zhao Shouzheng's drunkenness wore off. He looked at his son with a guilty conscience and said, "You don't blame me for giving him money again, do you?"
But Zhao Hao shook his head and said with a smile: " It's my father's pocket money, so you can spend it however you want."
After a pause, he said quietly, "Didn't father promise that I would stop drinking before the competition?"
"Aren't you happy today? Don't do it again, don't do it again." Zhao Shouzheng smiled awkwardly and gestured with his fists and feet, saying, "Besides, I'm not drunk. Look, I'm so agile!"
"You're not drunk, are you? Come on, help me."
Zhao Hao greeted him unceremoniously and asked him to help carry the dozens of pounds of sugar residue from the kitchen to the backyard.
Then the two of them dug a big hole with a shovel and poured all the sugar residue into it.
"What a pity! If I sell it, I can only buy food and wine for a month..." Zhao Shouzheng couldn't help feeling pain in his heart. He was indeed making progress.
"If someone finds out, it will be troublesome." Zhao Hao shook his head and explained, "Selling dozens of kilograms of white sugar will already be eye-catching. If someone knows that we bought so much brown sugar and sold so much sugar residue, they might wonder if we have a way to refine it."
Shouzheng finally understood why Zhao Hao stepped on his foot, and couldn't help but praise him: "My son is indeed cautious. I just said it casually, and I will listen to you."
Zhao Hao originally wanted to bury the body directly, but he was afraid that too much sugar would attract a swarm of ants, so he went to the street and bought a large bucket of quicklime, mixed it with water and poured it on the body. After completely destroying the body, he covered it with a thick layer of soil.
