Liu Ming led the moon-hugging oolong horse and followed Li Yuanbao forward, and it didn't take long for him to come to a deserted temple.

The temple seems to have been deserted for a long time, the vines at the door are entangled, and there is an old vermilion plaque above the temple, and the four golden characters in the center of the plaque are so dark that they are a little faded, and they can't be seen clearly.

"I live inside." Li Yuanbao walked to the temple familiarly.

Liu Ming had to follow in, approaching the temple, the gust of wind blew, blowing the temple wind chimes straight, making people feel a little chilly, which was not necessary to decorate in the previous life to shoot ghost stories.

Walking to the door of the main hall of the temple, a musty smell entered his nose, making Liu Ming frown unconsciously. As far as he could see, the hall was overgrown with weeds, with more than a dozen people dressed as ragged beggars lying on the side, and there were also bedding and pots and pans and other daily necessities around it.

Liu Ming frowned, wondering if Li Yuanbao had gone to the wrong place. But when I saw those beggars, after seeing Li Yuanbao, they all looked happy and shouted: "Helper, you are back!" ”

Li Yuanbao smiled: "I encountered some trouble, so I made you brothers wait for a long time." He turned to look at Liu Ming: "Brother, haven't you seen this formation?" ”

Master?

Liu Ming sniffed and said, "Helper, can you lend me a dog stick?" ”

Li Yuanbao laughed: "Do you need to fight a dog?" Just kick it with your feet. He said loudly to everyone: "Brothers, this son is my benefactor Li Yuanbao, save my life." Hospitality everyone! ”

When those beggars heard this, they immediately smiled kindly at Liu Ming and pulled him to sit down. A few more people began to make a fire and cook, sprinkling some vegetables and leaves and tofu into a large pot.

"Brother, you will be ordered. We are not emperors and generals, we can only eat these. An old beggar said.

"Yes, if we have one-ten-thousandth of the family wealth of that Pang Guogong, we don't have to be beggars here." Another beggar also said.

"I heard that Pang Guogong is a family, and there are more than ten servant girls standing in the thatched house at home, all dressed in splendid clothes, dressed brightly and dazzlingly, holding incense bags and waiting beside them." A beggar smacked his lips and said, "These days, it's really like a fairy." ”

Pang Guogong? Could it be the evil Pang Taishi in "Yang Jiajiang"?

Liu Ming pouted.

At this time, the vegetable soup in the large pot in the temple is already bubbling, exuding bursts of aroma.

When Liu Ming saw the vegetable soup, he remembered that when Zhu Yuanzhang was a beggar, he was also received in the temple by others, and after drinking such a bowl of soup, he was relieved, and gave the soup a good name, called "Pearl Jade White Jade Soup." "I didn't expect to taste this soup today.

He took the empty bowl and scooped a few spoonfuls of vegetable soup from the cauldron.

Before the bowl was full, I heard Li Yuanbao muttering next to me,

"A spoonful of white soup Wuwen, plus vegetable leaves, is Bawen. The price is clearly marked, and the little brother looks at it. ”

Liu Ming felt extremely absurd, he took the soup and asked, "I saved your life, and you still sell this soup to me for money?" ”

"That's not what I said." Li Yuanbao touched the shiny copper coin on his neck, "It's true that you saved my life, but I also gave you a good horse." Let's settle the two of us, and no one owes anyone. Now that you drink my soup, you naturally have to pay. ”

Liu Ming smiled slightly, picked up the bowl noncommittally, and slowly drank the hot soup in the bowl. Although the taste is not good, it warms the body and heart, and the spirit is uplifted.

After eating and drinking, and thinking of the gambling debts in his heart, his heart sank, and he couldn't help but talk to Li Yuanbao about the troubles of gambling debts.

After hearing this, Li Yuanbao leaned against the wall, picked his teeth with a bamboo branch and said: "I said, brother, if it is really like what you said, then I am afraid there is really nothing to do." Or ......" He looked outside the temple gate and sighed: "You can only sell my oolong horse, which should be worth seven or eight hundred taels." With the two hundred taels in your father's hand, it is not a problem to make up a thousand taels. ”

"But ......," Liu Ming said distressedly, "if this is a good horse, I just got it, and then I went to sell it, which is tantamount to killing chickens and taking eggs." ”

"What's the solution?" Li Yuanbao said with a smile, "If you are willing to give it, how can you get it if you are not willing to give it?" ”

"If I ...... So...... Do you think it's okay? Liu Ming rolled his eyes and whispered in Li Yuanbao's ear.

Li Yuanbao raised his eyebrows, and his face was shocked: "I said, Brother Liu Ming, you are really an evil person." This method has been thought of. It's possible, but it's just ...... It's a bit of a loss......"

"Brother Yuanbao, you only know etiquette. I bend my waist for five buckets of rice now, and I can't help it. Liu Ming touched his chin and said.

In order to pay off his father's debts and rescue his uncle, he had to make such a bad move. However, Liu Ming had already made up his mind in his heart, as long as the time was ripe, he would inevitably make some compensation.

At this time, it is getting late, and now it is unrealistic to go back to the city at night, so I can only spend the night in this broken temple.

After making up his mind, he felt very sleepy and fell asleep on the spot. The temple is sheltered from the wind and rain, and there is no need to sleep in the open, Liu Ming is draped in an old woolen blanket and sleeps on a thatched mat, but he also sleeps sweetly.

Nothing was said all night.

In the early morning of the next day, after recovering his strength, Liu Ming said goodbye to Li Yuanbao and prepared to return to the city.

After Li Yuanbao's professor, he learned that the horse's name was "Lightning", and he quickly mastered the trick of horseback riding.

I tried it a few times, and the effect was not bad. Thinking that it was important to hurry, Liu Ming stepped on the "lightning", held the reins, lightly clamped the horse's belly between his legs, and galloped the horse. The lightning is worthy of being a famous horse, smart and clever, running like electricity, letting go of the horse's hooves, and in less than a cup of tea, it is already galloping dozens of miles away.

When he arrived in the city and returned to the mansion, Liu Ming saw that his father was still sleeping on the bed like a dead fish, so he patted the other party on the shoulder and said, "Dad......"

"Ming'er...... Let your dad sleep a little longer, you won't be able to stay here for two days anyway......" Liu Yuanzhi rolled over and muttered, he was ready to be kicked out of the house.

"Dad, I have a way, it's worth trying, maybe I can rescue my uncle and pay off my debts." Liu Ming said.

"Oh? How? Liu Yuanzhi sat up from the bed with a thud.

"But...... Dad, the premise of using this method ...... Yes, you have to promise me one condition. ”

"Don't say one condition, it's all ten. Tell me ......," Liu Yuanzhi said anxiously.

"Okay, I said it...... After you have paid your debts, you must not gamble again. Liu Ming said word by word.

Nine out of ten bets are lost. In his previous life, Liu Ming had seen too many painful lessons. The family has a lot of money, and you don't go through the table all night. And now, the Song people are gambling habits, which makes him feel uncomfortable.

Liu Ming knows very well that even if his father pays off his debts, if the gambling starts again, and he is chic again, then it is very likely that he will be kicked out of the house for the second time. At that time, he will be helpless in the house.

"This ......"

Liu Yuanzhi grinned, this request was going to the root of his life. He laughed and said, "Ming'er, you're right. Big gambling hurts the body, small gambling is pleasant. It's okay to gamble on weekdays, right? ”

"Daddy...... A thousand miles of embankment was destroyed in an anthill. Liu Ming shook his head, "If you want to quit gambling, you must quit from the root." I don't want us to wander around anymore. ”

"Alas......" Liu Yuanzhi remembered the past and sighed. He naturally knew that he was almost kicked out of his house because of gambling, and he changed from a big son to a "bad gambler" who no one wanted to see.

Liu Yuanzhi originally found that his son, since he had a cold and fever, has been a little different, and the problems of eating and laziness that he originally inherited are all gone. Could it be that God has given himself a chance to reinvent himself?

He gritted his teeth, stomped his foot and said, "Okay, I'll swear today that I will never gamble again." That's good, in the future, all the money on me will be handed over to you for safekeeping, and you will watch it for me. ”

He stood on one foot, posed as a golden rooster, turned off his socks, searched and searched, and found a few ingots of silver.

"Take it to ......"

"Daddy......" Liu Ming couldn't cry and laughed, "You hide this money so well." ”

"By the way, Ming'er, what are you going to do?"

"Daddy...... How much do you think I'm worth bringing this Oolong Moon Horse? ”

"Yo...... Where did you get that? I think it's worth a thousand eight hundred taels. ”

"Hmm." Liu Ming responded and said to himself, "That's it...... I had to sell it."

Liu Yuanzhi looked at Liu Ming pitifully: "This is a good horse, you ...... Are you willing? ”

……

The two were talking in the room, but they didn't notice a figure flashing outside the window.

A middle-aged man dressed as a housekeeper in his fifties carefully left the north wing on tiptoe, turned to the front of the main room, and knocked on the door gently.

"Who?" A female voice came from inside the door.

"Madam......" said the middle-aged man with his head bowed.

"Oh...... It's Steward Zhao......" A middle-aged woman dressed in wealth opened the door. This woman is Liu Wu's family, the insider of Liu Xianda, the big shopkeeper in the house.

"Madam, the little one has something important to do, please allow me to come in and talk about it." Butler Zhao Fuyi looked around and lowered his voice.

In the main room, Zhao Fuyi bent down and said in a low voice: "Madam, since Liu Ming entered the mansion, our family may not be peaceful." ”

Liu Wu fiddled with the ring in his hand, tilted his head sideways and said disapprenously: "This is the son brought by Yuanzhi, what can I do?" ”

Zhao Fuyi's face was solemn and said, "Madam, that's not what I said. Now that Liu Ming has entered the mansion, there is competition among the third generation of our Liu family. I don't think I'm stupid at all, and I'm tinkering with business now. In the future, maybe I will have to study and become a scholar. This is a great threat to the eldest young master, Aman. After a long time, the scale in this old lady's heart will inevitably be uneven......"

Hearing this, Liu Wu felt that there was some reason, and she replied, "But...... We arrived first, but we didn't say anything......"

Zhao Fuyi smiled: "What kind of character is the big shopkeeper?" It was a noble man in charge of five pharmacies and a medical hall. How can you be embarrassed to make a living with Liu Ming? Therefore, there are some things that we have to consider for him. ”

"Listen to you. I'm a little worried. Liu Wu ran out of ideas, he only cared about playing cards for recreation on weekdays, and he couldn't guard against such a potential enemy by his side. She grabbed Zhao Fuyi's cuffs, "Old Zhao Tou, you have a lot of contact with people on weekdays, give me ideas for my mother." ”

Zhao Fuyi showed a sophisticated and shrewd gaze, and responded: "Madam, don't worry. I just heard outside the window that they were going to the horse market to sell horses, probably some kind of business. He said with a gloomy look in his eyes, "As the old housekeeper in the house, I will take good care of them for the big shopkeeper." ”