Hundreds of miles away from the green mountains, Cui Hanzhang and Mingtang were homesick, galloping all night, and people were sleepy and tired.

In the early hours of the morning, passing by the Qingyuan Mansion Post Station to rest, thinking that Zuo Shiqi was still lying alone on the cold ground of the North Prison cell at this time, he couldn't help but have a sour nose, touched the blood book in his arms, and beckoned Mingtang to take the carriage too slowly, so he rode a horse instead, and turned to run to Qingyuan Mansion City.

Cui Mingtang asked strangely: "Daqing Yuan Mansion, it is not easy to find people, I am afraid that you and I will be delayed to return to my hometown." ”

"It doesn't matter, it's entrusted by people, and it's a matter of loyalty. Qingyuan Xiaomeng tastes a reputation, and the silk merchant Zuo's family is a wealthy family, so he will know when he enters the city to inquire about one or two. Cui Hanzhang leaned over and turned around and said.

At three o'clock, the two rushed to Qingyuan Mansion. Looking from outside the city, people in various costumes are crowded at the city gate, a bustling and prosperous scene. The city of Qingyuan Mansion is wide and wide, densely populated, convenient water and land transportation, and businessmen from near and far gather. The city is full of embroidered curtains, and the streets of one hundred and ten miles are neatly balanced, and it is not a loss that it is rumored to be the land of the rich and the three mansions. Go into the city, only to see the Xiaoqing River lying in front, more than 10,000 lofts on both sides of the river, restaurants and tea shops stand in a forest, the river is rippling, and the cargo ships and tourists come and go.

The two led the horse to a tea shop by the river, a flag was hung in front of the door, and the book was 'a pot of tea for a thousand years', and the interesting thing was that the restaurant opposite the tea shop also erected a big flag, and the book was 'a cup of wine in the red dust of the ages', it seems that the merchants of Qingyuan Mansion did include the north and the south, and even the restaurants and wine shops were well aware of the differences between the north and the south. The weather is cold, but the tea shop is steaming upstairs, and I saw that there is a storyteller in the hanging hall of the tea shop, holding the ruler board and foaming at the mouth.

I found a table near the river by the window and sat down, and I heard the storyteller talk about the confrontation between Yunlin Jiang and Jin Yuwei in the inner court, saying that it was a thousand years of courtyard once trampled by horses, although it was a few days ago that happened thousands of miles away, but this storyteller has a lotus tongue and painted sound and color, as if he was in the middle of it, so that the tea shop listeners feel vivid.

With the turn of the conversation, the Jiang's Confucian of Yunlin Academy appeared, and counted the texts of the Taikang student Mingjinlou debate, but Cui Hanzhang of Xikou Qianyanzhou had the highest evaluation, saying that his text inherited the ancient style, and the poem "The horse stepped on the dust, and the sword qi overflowed the three armies" swept away the erosion of the literary world for more than ten years, and it was unique to see the wind and bones. I saw the storyteller, patting the ruler board,

"It is said that Cui Hanzhang of Qianyanzhou in Xikou, nicknamed Spotted Tiger, is more than eight feet tall, born with thick eyebrows, broad eyes, straight nose, tiger back and bear waist, often enters the kiln to burn porcelain and has rough and black skin, absolutely different from the white-faced scholars in Taikang City, named because he often wears a spotted tiger skin jacket, and he is a good man."

Hearing this, Mingtang laughed heartily, pointed at Cui Hanzhang and said: "The nose is straight and the mouth is square, the tiger's back is bear's waist, and the skin is rough and dark?" ”

Cui Hanzhang also couldn't help laughing, it seems that the matter of false rumors is really unreliable, but the Yunlin Confucianism he mentioned, if he really commented on his text, it is really irrepressible excitement in people's hearts, Yunlin Academy is a folk Confucianism, and it is a great honor for students from all over the country to be able to enter its eyes. Although I dare not say that I will inevitably be on the list, it is certain that I will be famous.

Mingtang couldn't hold back a smile and called over to order tea, only to see the little two legs and feet of the running hall step forward briskly:

"What kind of tea the two guest officers drink, the tea break and food can be served in our store. Tea has Tianchi, pineapple, tiger hill, Longjing, Yandang, Guzhu, Yangxian, Lu'an, Tianmu, etc., and refreshments include pine nuts, walnuts, melon kernels, jujube kernels, water chestnut, yam, chicken beans, ginkgo, dried bamboo shoots, lettuce, persimmons, lotus hearts, etc. "There are a lot of people who run the hall, and they report a lot in one breath.

Hanzhang didn't want to drink tea, but Mingtang took the initiative and ordered two pineapples, and asked for four refreshments, and gave Xiao Erhan two and a half silver, and asked him to help buy a roast chicken, two bowls of Yangchun noodles, and a few vegetarian dishes in the tavern opposite, and the rest was used as an errand fee to reward him. When they were in a hurry, they didn't feel much, and when they stopped, they were both drumming in their bellies, and they were hungry.

After a while, the little second brother put all the tea and snacks together, and the two of them bowed their heads to eat without saying a word. Mingtang was the first to finish eating, and while sipping pineapple, he looked at the Xiaoqing River outside the window, and saw the boatman and the inns on both sides of the strait constantly greeting each other.

Cui Mingtang sighed: "It is said that Qingyuan Mansion is prosperous in commerce and trade, and the goods are all over the world, and it is true that I will not be deceived by the scene on this Xiaoqing River." ”

Cui Hanzhang has not eaten a normal meal since he was imprisoned, and at this time he ate very carefully, chewing slowly, and the fireworks seemed to be revealed from this bowl of hot Yangchun noodles, and he drilled into his stomach vigorously, and he slowly tasted the taste of the world.

Mingtang pushed a plate of jujube kernels in front of the little brother who ran the hall, and the little brother directly poured all the jujube kernels into his jacket pocket, and the two quickly chatted with each other. Both are keenly aware that things are not simple.

After the two of them settled the bill, they called the little brother out of the door and skillfully set it up in the alley next to him, and Mingtang handed over a few coins of silver to ask about Zuo Shiqi again. At this time, the little brother who ran the hall glanced left and right with a cautious face and said softly: "Zuo Shiqi, the eldest prince of Zuofu, because of his participation in this year's Jiangnan Gongyuan imperial examination fraud, is now being sent to the Jin'an North Prison Prison, life and death are unknown, the old lady of Zuofu is anxious and almost didn't come up, and now he is sick and bedridden, and the big Zuofu chicken and dog are jumping in chaos, I advise the two of you to hide as far as you want, Zuo Shiqi is guilty of a capital crime, and it is not good to punish the nine clans." ”

Hearing the words of the little guy running in the hall, Cui Hanzhang's heart sank, and there was an inexplicable anger in his emotions, and he was really pushed by everyone when the wall fell. I'm afraid that the news of Zuo Shiqi's death in prison is still blocked by Jin'an, and if it comes out, I'm afraid that Zuo Mansion will be completely chaotic. There was no time to think about it, so the two of them followed the route guided by the little guy, turned over and rode directly to Zuofu.

Two flowers bloom, one on the first branch.

The silk merchant Zuo's family is thin, and the old lady Zuo's original wife died early, and then he married a wife in five rooms in a row, so he was afraid that no one would inherit this huge family business. The old lady usually repairs bridges and paves roads to accumulate yin virtue, and the monks and monks are all warm and welcoming, only looking forward to God's mercy, and the five rooms in the family give birth to a son and a half daughter.

Maybe moved to heaven, the third aunt is very angry, and she really added Ding to Zuofu. Zuo Shiqi has been favored since the day he was born, when Zuofu held a banquet for three days and three nights, Qingyuan Mansion did not know, the old lady Zuo regarded his only son as a baby bump, and he was afraid of melting in his mouth, and he was afraid of falling in the palm of his hand.

The old lady Zuo believes in feng shui, and is even more obedient to the gentleman who plays hexagrams and fortune-tellers, thinking about letting his son gain fame in the examination, and thinking that one day he will enter the court as an official and shine on the lintel. Seeing Zuo Shiqi's talents, as long as he successfully obtained his fame in Jiangnan Gongyuan this time, he will come back to marry. On the day of the send-off, the eldest lady of the Qiao family couldn't sit in the boudoir and was personally sent outside the ten-mile long pavilion.

The Qiao family and the Zuo family were the two major merchants of the Qingyuan Mansion, and they were friends with each other, and they were favored by the Qiao family when the old lady Zuo had not yet made a career, and later traveled all over the world, doing business everywhere, and they all thought of the Qiao family's three points in their hearts. Qiao's family is in decline in modern times, Master Qiao died early and left only a daughter and a son, his son was young and stubborn, and he was dragged by a group of gangsters in Qingyuan City to tease dogs and walk birds, often went in and out of Qinglou casinos, and lived a fairy-like life.

The huge family business is only supported by the eldest daughter Qiao Xiangrou, if it weren't for the help of the old lady Zuo, I'm afraid that the Qiao family's woman would have been eaten by other merchants in Qingyuan City, and the Qiao family's raw silk industry is a good business for the entire Qingyuan Mansion, I don't know how many pairs of eyes are staring at it secretly.........

Qiao Xiangrou was originally a weak woman in the boudoir, how could the shopping mall be like a battlefield, and her father left her last words to help her younger brother keep the family business. Qiao Xiangrou, who had just reached the end of the house, had to walk out of the boudoir and show up, and she barely managed to hold on to the situation for several years, but the hard work was not enough for outsiders.

If it is said that it is a creation that makes people, it gives people hope. For Zuo Shiqi's scientific research fame, the old lady Zuo spent countless money along the way, and she had already sent people to work all the way from Jin'an to Taikang. Qiao Xiangrou waited for him to return to his hometown, eight sedan chairs to marry her, and the old lady Zuo was also waiting for him to come back to glorify the lintel and extend the heirs, who had wanted to shoulder the hope of Zuo Shiqi, who was involved in the imperial examination fraud case that shocked the government and the opposition.

When the officials of Jin'an Mansion arrested criminals in Zuofu, it caused a sensation in the entire Qingyuan City, Zuo Shiqi was shackled and shackled in front of everyone's eyes, and was escorted to the prisoner car, and at the same time Feng Yu and several other people were arrested, all of whom were students who went to Jin'an Jiangnan Gongyuan to participate in the scientific expedition.

For a time, Qingyuan circulated various stories about Zuo Shiqi's crime in Jin'an. Some people ridiculed, when he was in Yunliang Pavilion, he was high-spirited, and ten thousand taels of silver were just for the woman of Boqinglou to smile, who would have wanted to offend the powerful people of Jin'an. Some people also say that they were implicated in the Taikang Gongyuan imperial examination fraud case, Zuo Shiqi had a secret relationship with the children of the Yunlin Jiang family in the past, and afterwards he was hesitant at the wine venue, threatening that the imperial examination was just like a bag to get something. The rumors and rumors are spread well, and no one can verify them.

Outsiders don't think it's a big deal to see the excitement, and some people even want Zuo Shiqi to commit a big crime of stealing the family and exterminating the clan, so it's best to connect the Qiao family together. The human heart is sinister, and words are insignificant. After the eldest young master was arrested and taken away, the old lady Zuo was in a hurry on the spot, and a mouthful of phlegm did not come up, and fainted. Later, I invited several doctors in a row, and a few doses of decoction went down, and finally came to my senses, but I was bedridden in the back, but fortunately, I still had Zuo Shiqi's concubine Ruyi to take care of me at home. Master Zuo always asks when he wakes up every day, but can he send someone to Jin'an Taikang to inquire about the news?

Poor Zuo Shiqi's personal servant Zuo Mi, kept running back and forth between Jin'an and Qingyuan, but every time he brought back the news was worrying, and he was not allowed to visit him with any amount of money, saying that the imperial court had sent the three law divisions to handle the case, and no one was allowed to visit without the permission of the three law divisions. The anxious eldest lady of the Qiao family was restless at home, and a woman who had not passed the door could not run to her fiancé's house every day, so she had to ask someone to go to Jin'an to help run.

However, it was said that after Zuo Shiqi was arrested, the old lady of Zuofu fell ill, and the silk business was greatly affected. At this time, he was familiar with Zuo Shiqi, and his distant cousin Zuo Jue, who was quite close, often came to the door to visit the old lady and help take care of the housework. said that his cousin was suffering in Jin'an North Prison, and he couldn't bear to see his uncle sick and bedridden without anyone to take care of him, and the people in the house didn't know the situation, so they naturally thought that the cousin was here to help with the housework. Who would have thought that this Zuo Jue often went in and out of the inner courtyard of the mansion, and flirted with the concubine Ruyi, hooking up with each other.

Here, Cui Hanzhang and Mingtang have already found Zuofu, and after being reported, it is said that the eldest prince is a friend in Jin'an, and he has something important to tell Master Zuo. The old lady Zuo listened to her son's friend in Jin'an, sat up with embarrassment, put on his coat and came out to meet the guest, took three steps and made two steps, stepped forward and directly grabbed the hands of the two and asked:

"How is my son, have you ever suffered?"

Cui Hanzhang felt that the old man's hand was quite strong, and he was faintly painful when he grabbed it, but he couldn't bear to break away, but tears poured out of his eyes, "Don't worry, old man, Brother Zuo asked me to bring a copy of the blood book, please take a look at it first." Cui Mingtang, who saw this scene, was quite puzzled, thinking that Hanzhang's tortured arm was scratched by the old lady Zuo?

As he spoke, Cui Hanzhang took out two pieces of blood in his arms with his other hand, and handed one of the small ones to Master Zuo. Father and son are connected, Master Zuo naturally recognizes his son's handwriting, and when he sees that it is written in blood, he can't help but burst into tears. Cui Hanzhang took advantage of the old man's efforts to read the blood book, and asked the housekeeper, Qiao Xiang, Miss Rouqiao's mansion, thinking that he would go to Qiao's mansion to deliver a letter later, this trip was an explanation to Zuo Shiqi, and he felt much more comfortable in his heart.

Cui Hanzhang quickly hid it in his clothes since he got the blood book, and he never opened it in the spirit of being worthy of his heart, but he naturally knew the content like an unknown prophet. Of course, guessing is nothing more than explaining the aftermath. After all, Zuo Shiqi killed himself by hitting the wall after delivering the blood book, and his will to die was resolute. Cui Hanzhang is a glorious person, and he also deserves this blessing. Zuo Shiqi left the blood letter to the old lady Zuo, and in the first sentence, he explained in the secret language of family business: "If you see this blood book, you will give half of the family assets to Cui Hanzhang in Qianyanzhou, Xikou." "Zuo's merchant family, knowing his son Mo Ruo's father, the old lady naturally understands his son's mind when he sees this, and he is used to seeing the deception of the shopping mall, so he naturally knows how to drink and peck the road to simplicity, if Cui Hanzhang does not send a letter, he will naturally not be able to get half of the family assets.

Master Zuo raised his head and asked, "Excuse me, which one is Cui Hanzhang of Xikou Qianyanzhou?" ”

Mingtang pointed his finger at Cui Hanzhang and said, "He is, your son's cellmate."

Master Zuo directly bowed to thank Daen, and immediately instructed the housekeeper to go to the account room to prepare a hundred gold rewards, Cui Hanzhang was busy returning the courtesy to stop him, and he was also a fallen person at the end of the world, and it was just a matter of raising his hands. Moreover, Cui Hanzhang psychologically had an inexplicable affection for the old man with gray temples in front of him, and he was thinking about how to tell Zuo Shiqi about his suicide in prison.

Master Zuo replied with an unquestionable attitude: "Little brother's great kindness is not reciprocated, this gold and silver turbidity property right should be used as a road fee, allow me to arrange it for a while, and give it a big gift", the housekeeper of Zuofu acted quickly, and soon took a large bag of gold and handed it to Cui Hanzhang, seeing that he did not accept it, he simply stuffed it to Mingtang, who was with a bitter face, and did not dare to accept it, and the two people behind were helpless, so they could only pile the gold on the coffee table, and the housekeeper was a shrewd person, and beckoned the little guy to come forward and take the gold away, and put it on the saddle of the two.......

During the resignation of the three people, after reading the blood book, the old lady Zuo spurted out a mouthful of old blood, and looked up to the sky and sighed: "My son is resting." ”

Several people hurriedly stepped forward to support Master Zuo, Cui Hanzhang saw extreme pain in his eyes, and Master Zuo asked in a trembling voice: "Is Wu'er already .....?"

Cui Hanzhang couldn't bear to be deceived, but he didn't dare to tell the truth, so he could only say: "He didn't feel pain when he left." When Zuo Shiqi's biological mother, who had just rushed over from the Inner Mansion, heard this, she cried bitterly, but she didn't have a mouthful of phlegm and fainted to the ground.

Looking at this painful and chaotic scene, Cui Hanzhang felt the same way, and the idea of returning to Xikou's house in a hurry was even more urgent, and the Cui family's courtyard was not in such a miserable situation, and he couldn't allow himself to wander outside. Cui Hanzhang couldn't comfort the old man, so he could only bow down and ask for condolences, so he hurried to Qiao's mansion. The two didn't know that after they got on their horses and left, Master Zuo spat out a mouthful of blood again and passed out........

The two of them successfully found Miss Qiaofu, and after handing over the blood book to her directly, they said goodbye and left, Cui Hanzhang wanted to go back to Zuofu to return the gold first, but Mingtang persuaded him to accept it first, and it was not too late to return to Zuofu after the year, after all, looking at the current situation, Master Zuo would not accept it anyway. The two of them had precious time, and they couldn't afford to delay, so they went straight out of the city. Cui Hanzhang really couldn't see the next scene of the separation tragedy, and he just wanted to rush back to Xikou to see if his family was safe.

Qiao Xiangrou was also very sad after seeing the blood book, and the weak woman couldn't hold it anymore, so she lay on the dresser and cried bitterly.

Zuo Shiqi clearly stated in the book that his fate with her was over, and he dissolved the marriage contract and let her marry again. Although after Zuo Shiqi was arrested and imprisoned, there was already a lot of pressure in Qiao's mansion, after all, businessmen valued profit over separation, but the love of childhood sweethearts made Qiao Xiangrou believe that Zuo Shiqi would come to marry her.

After hearing that Zuo Shiqi was implicated in a monstrous case, the elders of Qiao's Mansion were thinking about how to protect themselves, leaving aside the relationship with the Zuo family, and naturally the first thing was to dissolve the doll relationship with Zuofu. Now it is unknown whether Zuo Mansion can escape this catastrophe, and Qiao Xiangrou must not be allowed to follow the widow, let alone be exterminated by Qiao Mansion along with the Zuo family........

Qiao Xiangrou didn't believe that Zuo Shiqi, a childhood sweetheart, was so ruthless, and she didn't believe that Zuo Shiqi couldn't get out of prison in this life, so she ran to Zuofu crying, how she hoped that the blood book brought by Cui Hanzhang was forged, and how heroic her brother Shiqi was, when their sister and brother were bullied and helpless by everyone in Qiaofu, it was always his Shiqi brother who helped him shelter from the wind and rain.

In the eyes of the world, Qiao Xiangrou is shrewd and capable, supporting the crumbling Qiao family with a woman's body, but when the spiritual sustenance in her heart collapses, she is just a poor weak woman, and her fragility at this time does not need to be beaten by the wind and rain, just a simple death news knocked her down and fainted, so frightened that the maid hurriedly carried her out of Zuofu and returned to Qiao's house, asking the doctor to heal.

After the old lady of Zuofu fainted, especially when he heard that the eldest young master had died in prison, the family was even more chaotic, and some young people began to steal the family's property. When the old man Zuo woke up the next day, after drinking two mouthfuls of porridge, he arranged to call the housekeeper, and asked him to leave the daily operating expenses of the live account silver of all the shops at home and in the city, and take all the others away, and go to the official bank to exchange them for treasure banknotes and silver tickets, and send them to Cui Hanzhang, Xikou, who delivered the letter yesterday.

The poor old housekeeper couldn't find Cui Hanzhang and Cui Mingtang in the city with 150,000 taels of treasure money and silver tickets, so he had to go back to Bingming's situation. After Master Zuo learned that the two had left the city on the sickbed, he immediately arranged for the little servant Zuo to drive to Xikou with the housekeeper, and asked to deliver the things to Cui Hanzhang. All this was seen by the concubine Ruyi who was waiting in front of the sickbed, and she naturally learned about Zuo Shiqi's blood book and concubine, and she anxiously hoped to find her lover Zuo Jue to discuss countermeasures.......

Master Zuo fought hard and arranged for someone to go to the Cao family to discuss with the Tao family about selling the shops in the city, only saying that it was to raise money for the rescue of the eldest young master. His heart is like a mirror, his son died in prison, and there is no proof of his death, I am afraid that this crime will not be cleared up. The felony of cheating in the imperial examination was to exterminate the family, and he could only hurry up to find a way out for this family. The only people who can eat the shops in the city are the Cao family and the Tao family, who are also the four major silk merchants, and the two families have always been at odds with Zuofu, fighting secretly.

The Cao family and the Tao family had too much appetite, but the live silver on the account was insufficient, so they could only pull the Qiao family into the house, and as a result, the old generation of the Qiao family hid from Qiao Xiangrou, and the three families ate 10,000 horses of raw silk in the eighty percent of the Zuo family's store in Qingyuan City and the dock warehouse, a total of 11,100,000 taels of treasure banknotes and silver bills, and exchanged several silver houses in Qingyuan Mansion overnight.

Master Zuo arranged for a reliable servant to take his seal to handle the transfer of ownership with the three families there, and at the same time divided the treasure banknote and silver ticket into two parts, one was immediately sent to Cui Hanzhang in Xikou, and the other part was ready to be carried with him to Jin'an to collect Zuo Shiqi's body and handle the funeral.

When Master Zuo dragged the sick body in front of the bed to arrange the sale of property, the concubine Ruyi saw it really and was anxious in her heart.

Taking advantage of the illness of Master Zuo, the concubine Ruyi saw Zuo Jue who came in a hurry in the room, after a few glasses of wine, she baked her spring heart, and unconsciously grinded her ears and temples to hook up and become a traitor.

Ruyi informed Zuo Jue of what he saw, and the two had long conspired with Zuo's Wanguan family wealth, but now they saw that Master Zuo was selling his wealth day and night, so he naturally couldn't sit still. Zuo Jue paced in the room, thought for a moment, and simply didn't do anything in his heart, and made up his mind to arrange Ruyi to poison the old lady Zuo tonight, and rolled up the treasure money and silver bills in the room and flew away.

That night, Zuo Jue took a bag of arsenic powder bought from the pharmacy on Qianmen Street, and quietly sneaked into the concubine Ruyi's room, and the two poured poison into the old lady Zuo according to the plan. Subsequently, the two rummaged through the boxes and cabinets and searched out the 500,000 taels of silver bills and jewelry in the room, swept them away and ran away.

Zuo Jue was afraid that the matter would be revealed, so when he left, he set fire to Master Zuo's room. Because of the dead of night, when everyone found out that the water was walking, the fire had spread to the entire inner courtyard, and the wind was quite strong that night, the fire borrowed the wind, the more it burned, and finally the entire Zuofu was engulfed by the fire, some of the servants of the family beat the gong and shouted, scattered and ran, some fetched water to put out the fire, struggled to put out, and some took advantage of the chaos to steal property and escaped.

When Zuo Jue and Ruyi escaped from the city in a carriage, they could still see the sky-high fire when they turned around, burning half of the sky in Qingyuan Mansion, and the angry flames rushed into the night with the help of the wind.......