The New Year in Chang'an is obviously much more deserted than Taiyuan, although every household also stands up a banner sticker, and the sound of firecrackers occasionally comes from the city, but the pedestrians bow their heads and hurry, everyone seems to be preoccupied, and there is no comfort and joy of the New Year at all.

In addition to the children, the streets are full of laughing and playful children, who are carefree and never feel the troubles of the chéngrén world.

On the first day of the first lunar month, in front of Pingkangfang in the early morning, it was extremely quiet, and every household was busy worshipping their ancestors.

A tall and thin man rode out of the alley like the wind and ran towards the gate of Pingkangfang, this man was Yang Rong, he stayed in the Yulan Building of Pingkangfang last night, Yulan Building is a famous Qinglou in Chang'an, Yang Rong's good looks, is the red card of this Qinglou.

After returning from Huining County, Yang Rong's rìzi has not had a day of peace, he owes sky-high gambling debts in the Jucai Gambling House, and the backstage of the Jucai Gambling House is the Dugu family, not that he can afford to provoke it, and the interest is piling up day by day, which has overwhelmed him.

Not only gambling debts, but also the piáo debts he owes in the Yulan Mansion are as much as 1,000 taels of silver, and there are several other Qinglou, and he also has a huge amount of piáo debts.

Not long ago, he borrowed a huge sum of 1,000 taels of gold from a mysterious person, and he used this huge amount of money to pay off the piáo debt, but the gambling house smelled the smell and began to pursue him, forcing Yang Rong almost desperate.

As soon as Yang Rong rushed out of the gate of Pingkangfang, a team of black-clothed knights suddenly rushed out of the oblique spurs, and there were dozens of people. The black-clothed horse galloped, and instantly surrounded Yang Rong.

Yang Rong was so frightened that his heart was about to crack, this was the black-clothed debt collector in the Jucai Gambling House, his heart was ruthless, and he didn't know how many people died in their hands, which made Chang'an change when he heard it.

In the past few days, Yang Rong has been desperately avoiding them, but he didn't expect to be blocked. At this time, the first black-faced steward urged him to step forward and arched his hand: "General Yang, where are you going?" ”

Yang Rong restrained the tension in his heart. swallowed his saliva, and also arched his hand: "Today is my duty, and I want to rush to the East Palace." Please give way to the steward, don't delay your official business! ”

The black-faced horse steward sneered, "Am I mistaken?" Or General Yang is forgetful, let me remind you, you are on duty tonight, it's still early! ”

Yang Rong's face changed greatly, and he even found out when he was on duty, is this to force himself to death? And he was angry in his heart.

"Steward Ma, what do you want?"

Steward Ma said unhurriedly: "It is only natural to repay debts. You owe so much gambling debt, you should always have an explanation! General Yang, my rìzi is also very sad! ”

"I don't have any money now, how can you let me pay it back? Even if you force me to death, I can't afford to pay it back. ”

"No money?"

Steward Ma sneered. "What's going on with the thousand silver in the White Jade Building, as well as the Baihong Courtyard and Ruyi Building, where did those white flowers and silver come from, Yang Ye actually said that he had no money, I really don't understand, could it be that Yang Ye doesn't want to give face to the Wealth Gathering Pavilion? I still think that the backstage of the Jucai Pavilion is too weak. You want to pay the bill directly, right? Then let's go to the prince and ask for an account. ”

The threat of the horse steward ** naked made Yang Rong short of breath, and he remembered the backstage of the gambling house, which was a person that even the prince did not dare to offend, not to mention a small horn like himself, if the matter really reached the prince, he would not be able to stay in the East Palace.

"I'm really nervous right now, can Steward Ma give another three days?"

"Humph! We have been giving you a grace period of three months, and it is said that it will not hurt to have a grace period of three days, but I want to remind you, Master Yang, today is the first day of the first lunar month, and it is also the interest settlement, if you don't pay it back today, the interest will be doubled, do you know how much? ”

Yang Rong's face turned pale, and he slowly lowered his head, and his voice didn't have any strength, "I know!" ”

"It's good if you know, just do it yourself!"

Steward Ma waved his hand, "Go!" ”

Dozens of black-clad debt collectors turned their horses and left, and in a moment they were clean and disappeared.

Yang Rong waited for them to go away, and then he let out a long breath, but when he thought of the interest, he felt like he was going to die.

What to do? Yang Rong bit his lip, turned the horse's head and ran towards Chongrenfang......

The New Year's atmosphere of the Zheng Mansion this year is also relatively plain, but for large families, no matter how dull the New Year is, there will be some actions, such as putting up lanterns, erecting banners, cleaning the mansion, rewarding people, etc., the Zheng family is not lagging behind, and everything that should be done has been done

What is lacking is just a little festive atmosphere, but this can't be blamed on the Zheng family, the atmosphere of the entire Tang Dynasty is depressed, so how can the people be happy.

Mrs. Zheng got up very early, her hair was combed strongly, and her clothes were neatly dressed, today is the first day of the first lunar month, she is waiting for her two sons to come to the door, the eldest son is at home on vacation, and the second son is also on duty at night, there should be time during the day, Mrs. Zheng has been waiting for many months, and she is looking forward to this day to reunite with her sons.

Zheng's mansion was very quiet, and the Zheng family all went to the ancestral hall of the back house, preparing to hold the ancestor worship on the first day of the first lunar month, at this time, there was a sound of footsteps outside the courtyard gate, and Mrs. Zheng's jīng god suddenly cheered up, and hurriedly said to the maid: "Go and see, is the eldest son coming." ”

The maid went out, and after a while, a family member was led to the courtyard, this is the housekeeper in Yang Jun's house, he bowed and saluted: "The lord asked me to report to the old lady, today is the first day of the first month, according to the custom, the lady wants to go back to her mother's house, so the lord also has to accompany him, I can't come today, please forgive the old lady." ”

Mrs. Zheng's heart was suddenly cold, her eyes were extremely disappointed, and after a while, she asked, "What about tomorrow?" Can you come over tomorrow? ”

"The master said that he would go for three days, and he would talk about it when he came back on the fourth day of junior high school."

Mrs. Zheng was silent, and only sighed for a while: "Ah Zhu, reward Steward He with two pieces of money, thank him for coming to deliver the letter." ”

"Thank you, old lady, the villain will take his leave."

The housekeeper left, Mrs. Zheng sat facing the wall, her eyes slowly reddened, this is the eldest son who doesn't care about him, does she really want to spend the rest of her life alone?

At this moment, there was another sound of hurried footsteps. The maid exclaimed, "The second son is here." ”

Mrs. Zheng was immediately overjoyed, quickly wiped away her tears, greeted her, and was stunned as soon as she went out, only to see her second son Yang Rong kneeling in the yard, constantly wiping her tears. "Mother, you want to save the child's life!"

"This ...... What happened? Mrs. Zheng had a faint feeling of something bad in her heart.

Yang Rong cried: "The child owes a debt outside, and he can't hide anymore. I beg my mother to save me! ”

Mrs. Zheng felt dizzy and almost fell, but the maid hurriedly supported her. "Madame! Madam! ”

Mrs. Zheng's heart was like a knife, on the first day of the Lunar New Year, her son actually came to force herself to ask for money, what kind of sin did she create, and she actually gave birth to such a sinful obstacle, for a while, she held back the pain in her heart, and said slowly: "Today is Yuan rì, don't you know?" ”

"The child knows, but there is no way! Except for the mother. Who can save me? ”

"Shut up!"

Mrs. Zheng couldn't hold back the pain in her heart anymore, and angrily reprimanded him: "I just hate myself for saving you for the first time, every time you say you want to repent, but when have you repented?" You've said it yourself for the first time. It's not enough to force me to ask for money, you still come to steal, you still come to rob, and you move all my valuable things, what else do you want? ”

Yang Rong kowtowed, unable to cry. "My son is incompetent, and there is no backstage force, I am powerless to resist when I fall into someone else's scheme, if I don't get rid of it, I have only a dead end."

After all, it was her own son, and Mrs. Zheng finally relented, she sighed, turned back to the maid and said, "Bring my sandalwood box." ”

Mrs. Zheng had a lot of money in her hands back then, but when she left the Yang family, she returned it to her husband, only with a little savings of her own, she likes to collect jewelry, and she really saved a lot of good goods, but she can't stand her son coming to exploit it again and again, and there is not much left.

After a while, the maid took out the sandalwood box, and Mrs. Zheng took the sandalwood box, opened it and looked at it, "There are more than a dozen pieces of jewelry in it, and that's all I have." It's all my dowry back then, about five or six thousand yuan, take it to pay off the debt! I hope you will change your past mistakes and be a new person from now on. ”

Yang Rong heard that there were only more than 5,000 yuan, and his heart was suddenly disappointed to the extreme, these were not even his gambling debts, and he cried again, "Mother, it's really not enough!" Even one percent is not enough, and I still can't escape death. ”

When Mrs. Zheng heard that even one percent of the debt was not enough, her eyes suddenly turned black, and she fainted to the ground.

"Madame! Madam! The maid shook Madame Zheng desperately.

Yang Rong took an arrow step, stepped forward and snatched the sandalwood box in his mother's hand, and ran away, no matter how much, there is a little bit of it, and I will ask for it next time......

When Mrs. Zheng slowly woke up, she was already lying on the bed, and the doctor had already come, and the problem was not very big.

Mrs. Zheng found that the head of the family, Zheng Shanguo, was also sitting beside her, and she felt a sadness in her heart, turned her head, and tears flowed out of her eyes.

Zheng Shanguo sighed and said: "Eldest sister, don't be too weird about Rong'er, he is really anxious now, he is not forced to do so, and he will not come to ask for money in the first day." ”

Since the last time Zheng Shanguo knew that Yang Rong kept coming to force his mother to ask for money, he had a way in his heart, maybe he could use Yang Rong to achieve his goal for him, Zheng Shanguo's purpose was to ask Mrs. Zheng to go to Taiyuan to find a way back for the Zheng family.

Sure enough, Zheng Shanguo's words made Mrs. Zheng stop crying all of a sudden, she wiped away her tears and asked, "What the hell is going on, why is Rong'er forced to do so?" ”

Zheng Shanguo smiled bitterly and said: "Actually, Rong'er doesn't owe much gambling debts, only 10,000 yuan, but he borrowed casino loan sharks, and it has rolled to 50,000 yuan this year, and if he doesn't pay it back today, he will have to roll it to 60,000 yuan, and the casino is very big, and he can't afford to mess with it." ”

Madame Zheng gritted her teeth and asked, "Who opened the casino, the emperor?" It has driven people to this extent. ”

"It's almost, it's the gambling house of Dugu's family, the key is that the prince has also heard of it, he asked me, whether Yang Rong owes a lot of money outside, I covered it up, you must know that if the prince knows that there is such a thing, he will definitely not want Rong'er, and even Jun'er will be involved, so this matter is quite serious."

Mrs. Zheng was a little panicked, and hurriedly asked, "Third brother, what should you do about this?" ”

Zheng Shanguo sighed, "Actually, there is only one way out for the two of them, eldest sister, you should understand what I mean." ”

Of course, Mrs. Zheng understood what he meant, and last time she refused to agree because she didn't want to go to Yang Yuanqing for the Zheng family, but now it's her two sons......

Mrs. Zheng finally let out a long sigh, "Okay then! I'll tear off this old face and go to Taiyuan. ”