Qi Ning smiled and said: "The Poison King does not need to be in a hurry. If you want to see the Emperor, you must inform him in advance. I will inform the Emperor that the Poison King has come to Beijing as promised. If the Emperor summons him, I will immediately send someone to inform the Poison King. By the way. , I don’t know where the gambling king will stay in the capital?”
Zhuo Qianyi didn't waste any time and told him where he would stay. After Qi Ning wrote it down, he said: "The Poison King will be staying there these days. As soon as there is news, I will send someone to find you immediately, so as not to let the emperor I summoned him, but there was no trace of the Poison King.”
Zhuo Qianyi sneered and said, "Are you worried that I will cause trouble for you in the capital? You brought me to the capital. If I really kill people and set fires, you, Jin Yihou, will have nothing to do with it."
Qi Ning smiled bitterly and said: "The Poison King is a master of the world. If he really wants to kill people and set fire in the capital, his style is too low."
"Don't worry, I won't kill people or set fire. If I really want to kill people, I will only kill one person." Zhu Qianyi said calmly: "Duan Qingchen has taken refuge in the Shenhou Mansion, and may be hiding in the capital. I will naturally search for his whereabouts. " His gaze was like a knife: "If I find him, I will naturally cut him into pieces."
Qi Ning just smiled and didn't say much. Zhuqian Yi stood up and said, "I'm leaving first." Without talking nonsense, he walked to the door and suddenly thought of something. He stopped and didn't look back. He just said : "Qining, you have a good spirit as a kid. It's no wonder that generations of heroes in the Jinyi Qi family still have some skills." Without another word, he left quickly.
After breakfast the next day, Qining asked Gu Qinghan about the location of the Gu family's pawnshop. Gu Qinghan was in a low mood and said: "After today, the bank will take over the pawnshop. If you go today, you can still see it is the Gu family's pawnshop. Tomorrow , so he changed his surname to someone else." Qining told her that she would try her best to keep the pawnshop, but Gu Qinghan knew very well that if the money from the bank was not returned, others would not be polite, but where could she find tens of thousands of taels of silver at a time.
Although there is still some money in the treasury of the Jinyi Hou Mansion, it is impossible to transfer the money from the Hou Mansion. The expenses of the Hou Mansion are still dependent on that sum of money. Besides, even if Qining agrees to use the money to meet urgent needs, but the Hou Mansion still needs money. The government's treasury is far from reaching that amount.
Qi Ning gave a few words of comfort and said nothing more. He left the house and went directly to Gu's pawn shop.
The Gu family's pawnshop was deserted. Gu Wenwen arrived at the pawnshop early in the morning. Shopkeeper Jiang had already fled. There were originally five or six clerks in the pawnshop, but after what happened to the Gu family, everyone knew that it was a chain of businessmen. The wages could not be paid, and they had already left, leaving only one member of the Gu family to guard the place.
The pawn shop was deserted, and the closure sign had already been hung outside the door.
"Uncle, is this shop really going to be taken away tomorrow?" Seeing Gu Wenwen sitting blankly on the chair, the servant came closer and asked cautiously: "Is there really nothing the Third Madam can do?"
Gu Wenwen shook his head. This setback also made him lose all his energy. He smiled bitterly and said: "What else can I do? I was just confused for a while. If I had known better now, I shouldn't have come to the capital in the first place. I should be honest." There won’t be so many things in Gangneung.”
The servant said: "Sir, even if we close the shop, it's not a dead end. Let's go back to Jiangling. We can have food and clothing without any problem. The Gu family still has land and property in Jiangling...!"
"That has all been mortgaged." Gu Wenwen said angrily: "It is not under my control now. After today, the man named Qiao will really take over Jiangling's village and land, and I will be helpless."
The servant said in frustration: "Master Marquis won't help me either. He is such a big official. If he just says something, who dares to take over our Gu family's shop?"
"There's nothing he can do about this kind of thing." Gu Wenwen understood, "It's natural to pay back debts. Even if the palace owes money from outside, can it still default on the debt?" He raised his hand and slapped himself, "Anyway, this is It was all because of my confusion that I am still worried at this age. Alas, now that everything has been done, how can I still have the nerve to go back to Gangneung...!"
As soon as he finished speaking, he heard the sound of footsteps outside, and then saw several figures entering the pawn shop. The servant immediately went up and said, "I'm sorry, the pawn shop is closed and won't accept the pawns. You guys are still... !" Before he finished speaking, someone laughed and said, "We are not here to pawn something, we are here to redeem it."
Gu Wenwen was originally in no mood to care about these people. He was sighing to himself when he suddenly heard a sound. He raised his head like a reflex and looked over. He suddenly jumped up from the chair, rushed up in two steps, raised his finger and pointed at the person coming: "Yes." ... Is it you? You bastard, you... How dare you blackmail me?" He raised his fist and was about to hit me.
The man immediately took two steps back, but two people next to him came forward. They were both tall and strong, and stopped Gu Wenwen. One of them reached out and grabbed Gu Wenwen's wrist with such force that Gu Wenwen couldn't move for a moment, but Seeing the man smiling, he said, "Uncle Gu, what do you mean? If you don't receive customers well when they come to your door, and you even beat them up, it's no wonder that your shop has to close down."
Gu Wenwen recognized that the person who came to the door was actually the owner of the two fake paintings.
He originally thought that this man had missed hundreds of thousands of taels of silver and had long since disappeared without a trace from the capital. However, he never expected that this man would actually bring someone to redeem his pawn.
The big man holding Gu Wenwen's wrist pushed hard, and Gu Wenwen took a few steps back before barely regaining his balance. His eyes were filled with tears and he said angrily: "Who are you?"
The man laughed and said: "My surname is Kong, my nickname is Kong Erhu. Uncle Gu, you accepted my painting without even knowing my name. Hahaha, you are really good at this business." "He walked over and sat down on a chair. The four big men who followed him were all green and thick-armed. Standing behind Kong Erhu, they all looked fierce and arrogant.
Gu Wenwen tried his best to calm down and asked: "You defrauded me of my money, why are you here?"
"Uncle Gu, I don't understand what you are saying." Kong Erhu crossed his legs and pressed his nostrils with the fingers of his right hand, "My two paintings are pawned, and we agreed that they can be redeemed within half a month. , today happens to be the last day, I brought the money here to redeem it, there won’t be any problem, right?” He reached into his arms, took out a thick stack of silver notes, put it on the case at hand, and patted it gently. , and took out the deed with the handprint hidden from his arms, and said: "We made it very clear that day, you can take back the two paintings for 130,000 taels of silver, and I will redeem them for 160,000 taels of silver. Uncle Gu, Here are the banknotes for 160,000 taels of silver, every penny is a lot. Bring the two paintings, and the 160,000 taels of silver will be yours."
Gu Wenwen was stunned for a moment, and his heart sank. The two paintings had been burned by Qining in Cuideyuan last night, so how could they bring them out now
After all, he was not a fool, and he understood in his heart as soon as his mind turned around.
If Cui Deyuan hadn't burned the paintings last night, Kong Erhu would never have come to redeem his debt today. It was precisely because Kong Ergou knew that the two fake paintings had been burned that he came arrogantly.
"What, Uncle Gu, is there any problem?" Kong Erhu said proudly: "Is there something wrong with those two paintings? We have agreed in advance that if those two paintings are damaged, you You have to pay me three hundred thousand taels of silver."
Gu Wenwen sneered: "Kong Erhu, those two paintings of yours are fakes, how dare you pass them off as real."
"Uncle Gu, I never said it was true." Kong Erhu said with a smile: "It was the shopkeeper of your pawn shop who told you that it was true. I just brought two paintings over. A layman like me can't I don’t know whether those two paintings are real or fake. It’s always good to have some extra money for urgent use. But I keep my word. Even if they are two fake paintings, I will not cheat anyone. I will come back today to redeem my pledge as promised. ." He leaned forward slightly, "It doesn't matter whether those two paintings are true or false. What's important is that you must exchange those two paintings for me now." Picked up the thick stack of banknotes, "Two paintings Give me the painting, and the 160,000 taels of silver will be yours. If you can't hand it over, then you have to give me another 170,000 taels of silver. Is that right?"
The servant couldn't bear it anymore and said angrily: "You are cheating and deceiving, you... uncle, let's report it to the official!"
"Report to the official?" Kong Erhu laughed and said: "Don't worry, if I really can't get those two paintings, you don't need to report to the official, we will do it ourselves." Shaking the deed in his hand, "It says It’s very clear that even when you meet the officials, you have nothing to say. Yes, I know that Jin Yihou is behind you, but Jin Yihou must also be reasonable and not bully others."
"That's right, Jin Yihou never bullies others." As soon as Kong Ergou finished speaking, a voice came from outside the door: "Jin Yihou can only reason with people." Amidst the words, several figures came in from outside the door. , the first person in charge was Qi Ning.
When Gu Wenwen saw Qi Ning coming, he was as happy as a drowning man seeing straw. He hurried over and said: "Master Hou, this... this guy came to redeem his pawn."
Qi Ning smiled and nodded, turned to look at the person beside him, and said with a smile: "Master Yuan, did you hear clearly what I just said?" Beside him was Yuan Rong.
Yuan Rong smiled and said: "I heard it clearly."
When Kong Ergou saw Qi Ning bringing someone in, he looked a little panicked. At this moment, many people gathered outside the gate. There were shopkeepers on both sides of the pawnshop. They all knew that the Gu family pawnshop had been tricked and something big had happened. At this time, I saw a group of people coming to the pawn shop. I couldn't help but be curious, and they all crowded in front of the door to watch.
After Qi Ning entered the room, Gu Wenwen immediately ordered someone to bring the chairs. Qi Ning and Yuan Rong sat down opposite Kong Ergou, looking at Kong Ergou with a smile. Kong Ergou was looked at by Qi Ning with a half-smile but not a smile, feeling His body was a little hairy, so he dared not sit still. He stood up, but still tried his best to stay calm. He cupped his hands and said: "Little Kong Erhu, greetings... greetings to the Marquis!"
"Kong Erhu, what a name!" Qi Ning said with a smile: "Kong Erhu, the accent sounds like he is from the capital?"
Kong Erhu forced a smile and said: "My father... my father moved to the capital twenty years ago, and the villain... the villain also followed him to the capital, and has lived in the capital for more than twenty years... he is considered... a person from the capital."
"I wonder where you got those two paintings?" Qining asked with a smile: "Are they inherited from ancestors, or did you get them by chance? Or did someone ask you to send them to the pawn shop?"
Kong Erhu changed his color slightly, and said with a forced smile: "Master Hou, how do you get it? This... This doesn't seem to be important, right? It's not convenient for me to say. I came here today to redeem my debt as promised. This... This does not violate the king's law. Bar?"
Qining laughed and said: "No, no, repaying debts, borrowing money to redeem mortgages, these are all natural things, there is no mistake."