Kong Erhu's expression improved slightly, he cupped his hands and said, "The Marquis handles matters impartially, and I admire him greatly."
Qi Ning crossed Erlang's legs, leaned on the chair, swept his eyes over Kong Erhu, and asked with a smile: "Kong Erhu, I heard that your two paintings are fake, you should know that, right?"
Kong Erhu said with a smile: "Master Hou, I just told Uncle Gu whether those two paintings are real or fake. As a common man, I really can't tell. I was just in need of money at that time. Who can give me more money?" , the villain should give it to whomever he wants. If the villain takes the money and never returns, it would be cheating, but the villain has no such intention. Today he came back with the redemption money, just to redeem the two paintings. Come on. Mr. Hou, the villain thinks it is no longer important whether those two paintings are true or false. The most important thing is that as long as Uncle Gu takes out the two paintings, the villain will send the redemption money. Mr. Hou, this should not matter. Bad rules, right?"
Qining laughed and said: "I really don't understand the rules of the pawnshop, but what you said makes sense. Since it makes sense, I think it should be in compliance with the rules."
"Yes, yes!" Kong Erhu immediately smiled and said, "The Marquis has made a clear decision."
Qi Ning sighed: "Kong Erhu, do you know what happened in Cuideyuan last night?"
"Cui De Yuan?" Kong Erhu looked confused: "Master Hou, I am ignorant and ignorant. I don't know what happened to Cu De Yuan. Please give me some advice."
Qi Ning said: "Many people saw that I burned two paintings in Cuideyuan, and they were both fakes. Haven't you heard?"
Kong Erhu shook his head and said: "The villain has indeed not heard of it." He smiled and said: "But it should have nothing to do with the villain. The two paintings that the villain burned were not the two paintings that the villain was responsible for."
"If I say that those two paintings were burned last night, what would you do?"
Kong Erhu was startled, then smiled bitterly and said: "The Marquis is joking. I have no intention of offending the Marquis, but... no matter what happens, there are rules. The court is governed by the laws of the court, the family has family rules, and the pawnshop also has the rules of the pawnshop. . The villain comes to redeem the debt today, so Uncle Gu should return the two paintings to the villain, otherwise... well, otherwise we can only act in accordance with the deed made in advance."
"Oh?" Qining frowned and said, "What does the deed say?"
Kong Erhu said: "If those two paintings are damaged, Uncle Gu will pay the villain three hundred thousand taels of silver." Shaking the deed in his hand, "It is clearly written on it, and Uncle Gu's Handprint, Uncle Gu has already paid 130,000 taels of silver before, if he cannot hand over the painting, he can only give the villain another 170,000 taels."
Gu Wenwen's face was ashen, he clenched his hands into fists and stared at Kong Erhu coldly.
Qi Ning said: "But you have also seen it. Uncle Gu, not to mention 170,000 taels, is afraid that he can't get even 17,000 taels now. Kong Erhu, what should we do?"
Kong Erhu smiled bitterly and said: "Master Hou, logically speaking, if Master Hou comes here in person, the villain shouldn't cause too much trouble. But... But those two paintings are very important to the villain. If they are really burned, Uncle Gu can't do anything. To pay compensation, the villain will... Well, I can only go to Mr. Mo from Kyoto Prefecture and ask him to make the decision for me."
"So, do you want to sue me to the government as well?" Qining frowned and said, "I burned the picture of the Goddess. If you want to sue the officials, of course you have to sue me."
"Master Hou, please don't get me wrong." Kong Erhu immediately waved his hand and said: "The villain will never dare to offend Master Hou. The villain just made a deal with Uncle Gu, and the villain in the two paintings will only look for Uncle Gu. The request has nothing to do with Mr. Hou." He turned to Gu Wenwen and asked: "Uncle Gu, are you really unable to get those two paintings? If so, can you come up with 170,000 taels of silver as compensation? I?"
"You still want money?" Gu Wenwen said angrily, "I'll just give you a punch."
Kong Erhu smiled bitterly and said: "It seems that Uncle Gu is going to break the contract. Mr. Hou, I am just a common man. I dare not argue with Mr. Hou." He put the wad of banknotes in his arms and cupped his hands and said, "Mr. Hou. , I say goodbye." He turned around and took his men to leave. Before he reached the gate, Qi Ning had already smiled and said: "Kong Erhu, don't leave in a hurry yet."
Kong Erhu stopped, turned around and said, "Do you have any other instructions from the Marquis?"
Qi Ning smiled and said: "I only ask you the last thing. If you answer honestly, things may turn around. Last time you took away 130,000 taels of silver from the pawn shop, and half a month later, you got back 160,000 taels." The amount of silver is only thirty thousand taels in just half a month. As far as I know, there is no pawnshop in the world that can earn thirty thousand taels of silver in just half a month, and that's just one business."
Kong Erhu said: "The villain was in urgent need of money at that time, so no matter what the conditions, the villain would agree."
"Oh?" Qi Ning said with a smile: "Did you know that Mr. Mo Tie Duan Mo, the governor of Kyoto you just mentioned, according to the salary of the imperial court, he only earns more than 700 taels of silver a year. This 30,000 taels of silver , The governor of Kyoto will never be able to receive it in his lifetime. Is your move too generous? Who lent you the extra 30,000 taels of silver?"
Kong Erhu's expression changed slightly, and then he frowned and said, "Master Marquis, these should have nothing to do with today's events, right?"
"It's related." Qi Ning said: "I am just worried. If you can't get back your 160,000 taels of silver today, what will happen to you? Even your life is not worth 1,600 taels." Two taels of silver, 160,000 taels of silver are thrown away like this, I'm afraid your life will not be saved."
Kong Erhu was startled for a moment, then sneered and said: "Master Hou is joking. Uncle Gu, we will meet you at the government office later." He was about to go out, but saw several figures suddenly rushing out in front of the door. They were all tall and powerful. , with a knife on his waist. Looking at his clothes, he knew he was a guard of the Hou Mansion.
Kong Erhu was not afraid, he turned around and sneered: "Master Hou, what do you mean? Do you want to use your power to suppress others in full view of the public?"
Qi Ning clapped his hands and said with a smile: "What a courage. You dare to speak in front of me like this, which shows that your backing is not weak." He stood up and said in a deep voice: "Come here, take out the things."
Then he saw two people squeezing in from outside the door, both holding a scroll in their hands. When they arrived in the hall, Qi Ning sneered and said: "Kong Erhu, come and see, what is this." With a wave of his hand, Qi Ning sneered. Someone else came forward to help and unfolded the two paintings. Facing the main entrance, Kong Erhu took a look, was shocked, and said in a voiceless voice: "This... are these two paintings?"
What was unfolded in front of the public were two fake pictures of goddesses.
Gu Wenwen also looked confused at this moment. He took a few steps forward and took a look at the two paintings. He was ecstatic and shouted: "Yes, this is... these are the two paintings, Mr. Hou, this...?"
Yuan Rong, who had been silent all the time, finally stood up and said with a smile: "Kong Erhu, you came to the pawnshop to redeem your pawn today, naturally because you heard that the Marquis burned these two paintings in Cuideyuan last night, but you didn't know , all this is just a plot set up by the Marquis." He took the folding fan in his hand, took two steps forward, opened the folding fan with a "pop" sound, and said with great ease: "The Marquis knows that you have taken hundreds of thousands of taels of silver. It's extremely secretive. It's not easy to find your whereabouts in a short period of time. Since I can't find you, I can only let you show yourself."
Kong Erhu's face turned pale and he opened his mouth, but no words came out.
"If the two paintings are still in storage, of course you will not show up. Once the time limit is up, the banker will come and take over Uncle Gu's house and store. At that time, Uncle Gu will be in a desperate situation." Yuan Rong said slowly: "But if the two paintings are destroyed, you naturally can't hold it back. After all, we have an agreement in advance. If the two paintings are damaged, Uncle Gu will pay you three hundred thousand taels of silver. This is not a small amount." , To put it bluntly, even if Uncle Gu spends all his family property, it is impossible for him to come up with so much money."
Gu Wenwen was so excited at this time that he never expected that these two paintings were not burned.
"Your purpose may not really be for three hundred thousand taels of silver, but to throw Uncle Gu completely into the abyss, and even want him to be imprisoned." Yuan Rong sighed, "Uncle Gu came out of the capital not long ago, and There is no grudge, you and your group set up a trap to make Uncle Gu fall into the trap. In the end, you are still here for the Marquis."
Kong Erhu forced a smile and said: "You...you are such a slanderer...you are all dignitaries, do you...want to bully me, a commoner?"
"People must also be divided into good people and unruly people." Yuan Rong calmly said with a smile: "Of course you, Kong Erhu, are not a good citizen. In fact, you planned this trap carefully and deliberately let people come into contact with Uncle Gu, and then let him understand It’s easy to make money from antique calligraphy and paintings, and you can also bribe the pawnshop owner with a lot of money. Everything is done step by step, which can be said to be a lot of painstaking efforts. The Marquis is in the capital, so you don’t dare to act rashly, but it is precisely because the Marquis went to Xichuan on errands that you have the opportunity Can be taken...!"
Gu Wenwen naturally understood it completely at this time, and lost his voice: "That person named Qiao...?" Suddenly he thought that Qiao Yu played an extremely important role in this incident from beginning to end. Could it be that Qiao Yu turned out to be The real culprit behind the scenes
Yuan Rong continued: "The Marquis set up a banquet in Cuideyuan and deliberately invited the literati in the capital to let them help spread the word. The Marquis designed it cleverly, but it was just a risk. The final time limit is only one day. If you survive this day and remain unmoved, you won't fall into the Marquis's plan. But... after all, you are still evil-minded and want to kill people, so you showed up here early. .”
The people surrounding the door heard Yuan Rong's explanation and understood the cause and effect of the matter. Many people already clapped their hands and applauded.
Qi Ning took two steps forward, put his hands behind his back and stared into Kong Erhu's eyes, and said with a smile: "Kong Erhu, of course you won't say that what I am taking out now is a forgery, right? Not to mention that you have just admitted this The two paintings are fakes, not to mention that Mr. Yuan from the Ministry of Rites is here to testify, so there should be nothing wrong with these two paintings, right?"
"But...but many people saw you burning these two paintings on the spot. How could it be...how could it still be kept?" Kong Erhu was puzzled.