Volume 1 Chushan Bandits Chapter 26: His True Face in Front of People and Behind Their Backs
"Ge Laitou is a scoundrel. He is used to bullying in Willow Lane by relying on the Tang family. He comes here every now and then to collect debts. I give him more smiles and he won't take Miss Liu's makeup knife. You rascal, you slapped him so hard today. It's ok for him to hate me, but if he goes to trouble you in the future, Xu Wujiang may not be able to protect you. What should I do?!"
"Jianxiong, don't rush over here to join in the fun. Can Ge Laitou smash this shop? If he does, they can no longer expect to get anything from me. Go and get busy now. Don't keep me here. Hutou Village has committed two major crimes on Zoumadao this month. Merchants traveling east and west don't dare to cross Tongbai Mountain as carelessly as before. If you help run errands to make a living, be careful not to run into danger, and don't cause trouble with the Tang family. If you really offend the Tang family, which camel and horse team would dare to hire you?"
"They are all trying to get Xiao Huan, why are you being polite to them, Master?"
"It's their business if they want to do something. They didn't come to rob us, did they? Besides, I owe them a debt. I haven't paid it back for several years. If I sue Mr. Deng, I'm in the wrong."
Xu Wuliang looked at the disheveled figure of the lazy man after being beaten up by Xu Huai, and was full of worry. He kept nagging Xu Huai and the three young men to stop causing trouble in Huaiyuan Town.
If it weren't for the powerful tendons between Xu Wuliang's arms, Xu Huai would have found it hard to imagine that the sturdy man in front of him was the fierce soldier who returned home from the Jingsheng Army and was deeply feared by the assassins in Bian Jing!
When Liu Qiong'er saw this scene, she also shook her head secretly.
If this strong man in front of him has no fighting spirit, even if he is dragged over by force, how much help can he expect to contribute to resisting the Bian Jing assassins who may actually be controlling the Hutouzhai bandits?
The three young men asked Xu Wuliang to drive them away. Xu Huai and Liu Qiong'er looked at each other and no longer mentioned the original intention of coming here today. They just said that Liu Qiong'er had redeemed herself from Yuehonglou and was going to settle down in Tieshi Lane, so they wanted to hire him to help out.
Xu Huai thought that with Xu Wuliang on Liu Qiong'er's side, the assassin would be somewhat cautious and would not dare to break into the house and kill her. However, he could not expect Xu Wuliang to participate in ambushes and killings.
While chatting, Xu Huai learned that the three young men headed by Zhou Jianxiong were all from poor backgrounds and lived with their families in a shanty on the south side of Liutiao Lane. They started out as apprentices in a blacksmith shop and had learned boxing, kicking and stick fighting from Xu Wuliang for several years. Xu Wuliang could not even support his family of three, and the blacksmith shop could not accommodate more people, so the three men found odd jobs in the streets, such as carrying things on their shoulders or backs or pulling oars to make a living, but they always regarded Xu Wuliang as their master.
Xu Huai had not been to the blacksmith shop in the past few years. After arriving at the military camp in the past two years, he still deliberately avoided Xu Wuliang, so he did not know Zhou Jianxiong and others.
They also had to find a broker to take over the yard in Tieshi Lane. After chatting for a while, Xu Huai accompanied Liu Qiong'er away. Xu Wuliang said that after the silver-made knife was made and the handle was attached, he would send it directly to Tieshi Lane or Junzhai Posthouse tomorrow morning, so as not to bother Liu Qiong'er or Xu Huai to make another trip. However, he did not say that he was willing to help Liu Qiong'er.
…
…
Liu Qiong'er is a smart person. In the past few years, she has come into contact with all kinds of people in Yuehonglou, which is far beyond the reach of ordinary women. After leaving Liutiao Lane, she first took Xu Huai to find two acquaintances who were expelled from Yuehonglou.
It was said that these two old women were kicked out because they broke the rules of Yue Hong Lou, but in fact, they were over 60 years old and had no value to be exploited. Yue Hong Lou was unwilling to support them anymore, so they just found an excuse to kick them out.
Liu Qiong'er was also a thoughtful person. These two old women had served her. After they were expelled from Yuehonglou, they had no savings and had to make a living by washing clothes for wealthy families. She had helped them several times.
Now that Liu Qiong'er had redeemed herself from Yuehonglou and came to the door to say that she wanted to take them in, the two maids immediately agreed with joy; the straw hut they were living in, which was a doghouse, was not enough for them to even take a lingering look at.
One of the two maids was surnamed Zhou and the other Xu. The maid surnamed Xu was a married woman from the Xu family and was sold to Yuehonglou by her husband's family in her early years.
The Xu family has spread out in Tongbai Mountain. Over the past two or three hundred years, there have been several thousand people with the surname Xu. They can be said to be members of the same clan, but except for a very small number of people who live a luxurious life, most people live in poverty. It is inevitable that some people are even destitute; there are even more married women who have a miserable life.
Nanny Zhou and Nanny Xu were both over sixty years old, but still in good health. They were more familiar with every corner and every business in Huaiyuan than Liu Qiong'er was, and they took over all the renting and buying matters, so Liu Qiong'er and Xu Huai no longer needed to run errands for them.
As soon as Xu Huai and Liu Qiong'er returned to the inn to rest at noon, they called the broker over.
Liu Qiong'er originally intended to buy the yard in Tieshi Lane, but Xu Huai wanted to rent it first.
If Wang Bing unfortunately died at the hands of an assassin, Xu Huai was still thinking of running away. By then, wouldn't he have to prepare some silver in case he was killed by "a penny" on the road?
Of course, this money belonged to Liu Qiong'er. He was just a gigolo and didn't have the courage to say it out loud. He wanted to keep it for his future escape.
Xu Huai only said that whether the yard was rented or bought directly, he should pay the money, but he was really short of money now, and he didn't have the face to ask Liu Qiong'er to pay more than two hundred taels of silver to buy the yard all at once, so he suggested renting it first with a small amount of silver.
Besides, if you want to buy the yard, you have to go to the county government to get the land deed and house deed from the household department. The procedures are complicated and it may take three to five days to complete. You will also be exploited and extorted by the county clerks.
Finally, they decided to rent the yard. The agent made two more trips and the owner agreed to the rent. The lease was obtained at dusk.
Xu Huai hired a carriage, and together with two maids, he helped Liu Qiong'er transport valuables, chess, poetry, and books across the river, and moved them to the new courtyard in Tieshi Lane overnight.
Xu Wujiang, Xu Xin'an and others still hadn't returned to the military camp at night. Su Di was very worried and had no time to pay attention to Xu Huai.
Xu Huai had been thinking about this matter all the time, so he asked the Xu family members in the Inspection Office. It turned out that no one in the military camp knew that his uncle Seventeen and his companions were going to Hutouling to investigate the bandit situation. He was sure that Deng Gui was still tight-lipped at this time, so there was no need to worry too much for the time being.
If Deng Gui deliberately released the news at this time, he would have to be careful and vigilant, and might even have to rush to Hutouling to find his Seventeenth Uncle to report the news before he could feel at ease.
…
…
The two maids were very quick and nimble, and it didn't take them long to clean up the three-courtyard house:
The main courtyard is naturally Liu Qiong'er's musical instrument studio and living place, and is also the most exquisite. The floors of the main house and the wing rooms are paved with polished bluestone. From this point alone, it is clear that the price of two hundred taels of silver offered by the owner for this small courtyard is not too high.
The front yard, which has three back rooms, is simpler, but it is also paved with blue bricks. It is naturally the residence of Xu Huai and the helpers, servants and guards who will be hired in the future. The front yard is where guests have to pass through. They come in from the main gate, through the stone-paved corridor to the hanging flower gate. There are small gardens on both sides that have been neglected for some time, and there is also a lake stone rockery in the corner.
In addition to the kitchen, the back room was the bedroom for the old women and maids. Outside the yard, there was a small vegetable garden between the ditches, separated from the houses on both sides by a bamboo fence.
He went to sleep directly in Tieshi Lane at night, but Xu Huai was still worried about his Uncle Seventeen and Xu Xin'an and the others. After waking up the next day, he strolled around Tieshi Lane twice, and seeing that there was no movement, he ran to the military camp to inquire.
This is also the difficulty that he has no trustworthy people, Xu Huai is too busy to do anything:
Xu Wujiang and Xu Xin'an didn't come back. He was worried that Deng Gui might deliberately spread the news to harm them, so he needed to come back from time to time to check on them, but he didn't dare to leave Liu Qiong'er for too long.
Arriving at the military camp, Xu Huai first went to Di Niang's place for a breakfast. After listening to Di Niang's worried and concerned chatter for a while, he confirmed that everything was normal in the military camp. Then he took his knife and hurried back to Tieshi Lane. He was in a hurry, as if he had really rushed back just for a meal.
Many of his acquaintances in the military camp asked him with a smile whether he had slept in the same bed with Liu Qiong'er last night. Xu Huai said with a confused look on his face that it would be very crowded for two people to sleep in one bed, which always caused obscene laughter.
…
…
"Why did you come back just now?" When Liu Qiong'er saw Xu Huai rushing back from the military camp, she hurriedly pulled him into the house.
"What's going on? I just came back. I didn't see any suspicious people around Tieshi Lane?" The sun hadn't climbed over the treetops yet. Xu Huai asked curiously, "Did you find anything before I came back?"
"Madame Xu went to the porcelain shop early in the morning to buy bowls, plates and chopsticks, but came back saying that Ge Laitou, who was in charge of collecting bad debts at the Tang family's warehouse, drowned in a smelly ditch in Qiantian Lane last night. The Tang family didn't think it was an accident and didn't even report it to the police. They also posted a notice offering a reward for anyone who knew the truth - did you go out last night while we were sleeping?" Liu Qiong'er peeked at the movement in the yard through the crack in the door. She had witnessed many of Xu Huai's actions in the past few days, and she would no longer treat him as a naive sixteen-year-old boy. She stared into his eyes and asked.
"I didn't..." Xu Huai took a breath. He knew that Liu Qiong'er didn't suspect him of running off to kill Ge Laizi without saying a word, but rather suspected Xu Wuliang. She asked, "Are you saying that we made a mistake yesterday?"
"But why did he kill Ge Lai Tou? It doesn't mean he can cancel the debt owed to the Tang family! The Tang family doesn't think that Ge Lai Tou's death was an accident and they will probably suspect him." Liu Qiong'er asked puzzledly.
"Uncle Wu Liang said he would send a makeup knife over today. Has he come yet?"
As soon as Xu Huai asked, he heard Xu Wuliang shouting outside the yard: "Miss Liu, have you moved in? I'm Xu the blacksmith, and I'm here to bring you the silver makeup knife that I made!"
"Don't show up yet. Let the old woman ask Uncle Wu Liang to go to the backyard to find you alone!" Xu Huai ordered.
Xu Huai went to the backyard with a knife first, tiptoed and hid behind the corridor of the ear room. After a while, when Xu Wuliang half showed his body from the corridor, he stood up and chopped at Xu Wuliang's head with the knife and sheath.
Xu Huai was also very aggressive. If Xu Wuliang was completely unprepared, the huge force of the blow might cause the blade to break out of the sheath and injure someone.
However, Xu Wuliang's reaction was also very quick. When the sheathed knife came close to his head, he lowered his body and almost subconsciously avoided the blade. He stretched out his right claw and grabbed Xu Huai's chest, like a hungry tiger opening its huge mouth. At this moment, Xu Wuliang's eyes no longer had the timidity and cowardice of yesterday, but were full of brilliance, as ferocious as a tiger or wolf...
