In the Rongguo Mansion, in order to build the Provincial Courtyard, the treasury was already severely depleted. Now that it is the birthday of the Supreme Emperor, the Jia family, as the former leader of noble families, naturally wants to cash in.
Mother Jia: "Yuanyang... take a few treasures from my cabinet that are at the bottom of the box, pawn them, and exchange them for something decent."
By the way, don't let anyone know that it was pawned from our house."
Yuanyang was a little embarrassed: "Old lady, should you be a dead man or a live man?"
Mother Jia closed her eyes and thought for a while: "It's better... to pawn it to death! You can't pawn it live for a lot of money. There are a few objects on the left and right, let's pawn it..."
After Jia Mu finished speaking, she closed her eyes and leaned on the soft couch and stopped talking.
But everyone in the room understood how sad Jia Mu was. She had been famous for most of her life, but she didn't expect that she would have to pawn her body to support Jia's family when she got old.
Jia Zheng knelt down with a plop and kowtowed heavily: "My son is incompetent, and my mother is tired and worried."
Jia She sighed: "According to me, as long as our family doesn't build a family villa, it will be more than this. It's better..."
As soon as these words came out, Mrs. Wang held the handkerchief and said sternly: "No! The villa for relatives is related to the empress's face and future. How can we not build it?"
Jia She sneered: "Then the house will be so impoverished that even the old lady's dowry will be pawned?"
Jia Zheng was so embarrassed by these words that he could not speak. It was Jia Mu who came to the rescue: "Okay. Your Majesty is also my biological granddaughter. Now that we are blessed, our Jia family will naturally pave the way for your Majesty."
Mrs. Wang looked at the changes in the house now, and her mind started to change again: It seems that I still need to find a wealthy family to take care of my Yuanchun and Baoyu...
…
The trio wore regular clothes, walked on the street, ate street food, and wandered aimlessly.
Xue Hong ate half a candied haws in her mouth.
Among the trio, Zhu Hui likes whoring, Chen Chen likes gambling, and Xue Hong is delicious.
Zhu Hui's prostitution was different from others. He had to be in good shape and appearance to be worthy of his eyes. Moreover, he never went to a brothel to have sex between men and women. The main purpose was for spiritual enjoyment.
Chen Chen is even more interesting. He is obviously very good at a thousand skills, but he has always gambled just for fun. He relies purely on skill and luck. Winning or losing doesn't matter.
Finally, there is Xue Hong. Although he is now a noble man, he still prefers ordinary food, especially street food.
In Xue Hong's words, folk delicacies have the flavor of fireworks. They are passed down from a long time ago and are gifts from our predecessors. This is more precious than anything else.
Food is like a story. Only food that can withstand the test of history is good food. Whether it is high or low, authentic or not has never been the criterion for judging food.
It is enough to eat comfortably and be happy.
Therefore, basically every time Xue Hong and the two of them went shopping, they had to eat from the street to the end of the street.
Suddenly, while the three of them were playing, they heard a noise not far away.
Zhu Hui snatched the candied haws from Xue Hong's hand, bit off one and handed it to Chen Chen: "By the way, the quarrel was over there in front of your pawn shop!"
Chen Chen: "That's right, um... Junchen, where did you buy this candied haws? It's so sour it's going to make your teeth fall apart."
Xue Hong: "I think it's okay. By the way, it seems like someone is making trouble in front of your pawn shop. Why don't you go and take a look?"
Chen Chen chewed the candied haws, endured the sore teeth, and folded the fan: "Let's go over and have a look, maybe we can make some money. How can we make trouble in front of my pawn shop without spilling some blood?"
…
At the door of Chen's pawn shop, Yuanyang was holding two jade heads and faces covered with red cloth and was about to go inside when he happened to bump into a young man who was walking out of the pawn shop.
"oops!!"
Yuanyang was hit by this collision, and the head and face he was holding in his hands were almost thrown out, and he glared angrily at the young master who bumped into him.
Liu Xianghan had just stepped out of the pawn shop and was furious when he was bumped into. But when he saw the appearance of the mandarin duck, he immediately became interested and led the other two gangsters to surround the mandarin duck.
Liu Xianghan first pretended to apologize to Yuanyang: "I'm really sorry, girl, I was so abrupt. I wonder whose family this girl is from in the capital? I will send someone to take you back soon."
Although Yuanyang is a slave, her silk and satin clothes are no weaker than the lady's. She must be a maid from a wealthy family, so Liu Xianghan asked this question.
As for why it's not a young lady, who would show up and come to the pawn shop carrying something?
Yuanyang didn't want to get entangled with him, and besides, he couldn't reveal the identity of Rong Guofu, so he suppressed his anger and said, "My little lady has important matters, so I won't bother you, young master."
Liu Xianghan saw Yuanyang's abnormality, smiled and stopped Yuanyang again: "Girl, you don't have to be so cold! Looking at the girl's dress, I guess she belongs to some house. It just so happens that I am the prince of Duke Li Guo's house, maybe
Do our two families still know each other?"
Yuanyang stopped answering and wanted to go around, but the door of the pawn shop was blocked tightly.
Liu Xianghan looked at Yuanyang's graceful figure, and his heart suddenly became lustful. He raised his hand to touch Yuanyang's body.
Yuanyang quickly retreated, but his retreat was also blocked by two henchmen.
Liu Xianghan: "Humph! No matter who's maid you are, it's your honor for me to fall in love with you. I don't believe any house would offend me for a maid!"
The pawn shop owner: "If you want to make trouble, go make trouble elsewhere. Don't delay the business of the shop."
Liu Xianghan: "What if I cause trouble in front of the pawn shop?
I'm in a pawn shop, and if I want this girl's body, what do you dare to do to me?"
The pawnshop owner's face darkened: "My master is Marquis Ying! How dare you be so presumptuous! Aren't you afraid of the king's law?"
Liu Xianghan smiled disdainfully: "He's just a young man who has gained some merit and has been granted the title of Marquis. Can he compare to me in running the Duke's Mansion? Wang Fa? I am Wang Fa!
Not to mention the Yinghou Chen Chen, the Bowenhou Xue Hong, and..."
Before Liu Xianghan finished speaking, he felt someone tapping his shoulder and turned around.
Bang!! Two fists the size of sandbags hit Liu Xianghan's eye sockets hard, causing him to sit on the ground.
It was Zhu Hui and Chen Chen who threw the punches.
Zhu Hui withdrew his fist and said with a look of disdain: "This is what you can do. Am I the prince or are you the prince?"
Liu Xianghan covered his eyes, and it took him a while to wipe out the stars in front of his eyes: "Hey! You two, come on!"
Just as the two thugs were about to take action, they suddenly fell limply to the ground as if they had no bones, motionless, and passed out.
Xue Hong stepped over the two weaklings lying on the ground and said with a smile: "Tsk! Isn't this the way to get rich?"
Chen Chen ordered someone to take out paper and pen from the house, write an IOU for thirty thousand taels of silver, and give it to Liu Xianghan for his signature.
Xue Hong: "Don't think that the three of us are openly robbing... No, we are asking for compensation.
But our charges are reasonable and we charge per head. The three of you caused trouble in front of our store and seriously affected the reputation of the store, so we charge you 30,000 taels of silver. Is that cheap?"
How could Liu Xianghan be willing to sign: "Do you have any other methods? You are robbing me openly!"
Zhu Hui: "The king's law? The king's law is all decided by my father. If you don't want to sign it, two people will come over and make a set of maintenance for him.
Take him down, spread the whip on his back, take a bath with boiling water, and make arrangements for cupping with a soldering iron. He will be released when he is willing to sign, and I will be responsible for anything that happens!"
Liu Xianghan struggled desperately: "Look, the three of you are also scholars, why are you so unreasonable!"
Chen Chen sarcastically said: "Talking to other girls about their backgrounds and reasoning with us, you really deserve it."
Xue Hong: "It is very reasonable for us to take your money. The sage said: A gentleman loves money and gets it in a proper way."
Liu Xianghan: "What does this sentence have to do with you robbing me?"
Zhu Hui said speechlessly: "When I see how bad you are, I don't study hard.
The meaning of this sentence is: The three of us are gentlemen, we like money, so we take your money, which is very reasonable."
Liu Xianghan's brain suddenly shut down: "Is this how you translate it? Something doesn't seem right."
In the end, Liu Xianghan was willing to sign the IOU, thanks to the three people's persuasion of virtue and persuasion.