She really lived in the shack made of tree branches, and she couldn't wait for a moment, so she went straight to the pawnshop at the end of the street with the "Hongfa" sign.

A young man was dusting the window lattice in front of the door with a feather duster, and saw a man and a woman looking in front of the door, their clothes were very shabby, and their appearance was not surprising, it was obvious that they were poor peasant families, so he only glanced at them lightly and did not come forward to greet them.

Seeing this, Liu Housheng couldn't help but take two steps back, Pu Cao thought about it and pointed to the stalls selling sundries on both sides of the nearby path with a smile and said, "Brother Liu, it is estimated that I will need to buy some things after the redemption of my house, why don't you help me go and take a look first, ask the price, and I will come out to find you soon after I finish my work." ”

Liu Housheng's face was happy, but he hesitated a little, "Pucao girl, can you do it yourself, or should I follow in?" ”

Pu Cao shook his head with a smile and said, "Brother Liu, don't worry, this is a pawnshop, not the Hades Palace, so it will be fine." ”

Liu Housheng thought about it, so he went to those sundries stalls, picked up the dustpan and took a look, the sickle was checked, and occasionally chatted with the seller about the harvest, looking very happy.

Pu Cao then walked up the steps and entered the pawnshop, and the young man put down the feather duster in his hand and greeted casually, "This little sister-in-law, but there is a business to take care of our small shop?" ”

Pu Cao glanced at the high counter and there was no shopkeeper, so he reached out and touched a handful of copper coins from his arms, stuffed them into the young man's hand, and said with a smile, "Little brother, I really have something to do, but I have to bother the little brother." ”

The young man has also seen the children of the declining family on weekdays, and the books or utensils left by the ancestors have been pawned, but he still has to pretend to be generous and reward him with some change, but he looks extremely poor, but he will give the reward money, or the first time he has encountered it, so he was really stunned for a long time, and in the end he did not refuse, accepted the copper coin, smiled on his face and invited Pucao to sit on the chair next to him, and said with a smile, "If this little sister-in-law has anything to do, just say it, I can help, it must be unambiguous." ”

Pu Cao didn't go around the bend, sighed and said, "I don't know if the little brother remembers that more than a month ago, someone mortgaged a farmhouse yard in our shop, which belonged to the Zhang family in Nangouer Village, south of the city?" ”

The young man frowned and thought for a moment, then suddenly his eyes widened, and he exclaimed, "You mean the haunted house?" ”

Pu Cao was overjoyed in her heart, nodded slowly, but her face gradually became lonely, her eyes became darker, and she whispered, "Little brother also heard about that?" Don't hide it from the little brother, I am the widow of the Zhang family, the mother-in-law and the head of the family because they died too unjustly, and saw that the old house changed owners, they were really unwilling to return to the underworld, and they were noisy in the old house every night and kept dreaming to me, asking me to redeem the old house.

It's a pity that I, a weak woman, really don't have any money, so I have to put it off until today, and I just pulled the buds in the field to the grain store and sold them, so I rushed over to see if I could redeem the old house.

Little brother, don't you know that the old mansion was bought? ”

The young man raised his eyes and saw Pu Cao's sad appearance with yellow muscles and thin skin, and when he looked down and saw that the shoes on her feet were still showing their toes, he felt three points of sympathy in his heart, and he whispered for the fear of ghosts and gods, "Little sister-in-law, someone really came to buy your old house a few days ago, and it cost three taels of silver, and our shopkeeper didn't sell it." The man was angry and said that the house was haunted, and no one would dare to buy it again, and our shopkeeper didn't believe it and sent me to inquire about the news, so I believed it, and I still regret it these days..."

Halfway through his speech, he looked behind the counter again, and said in a lower voice, almost in a whisper, "When the female liar came to pawn the jewelry, the house was a partner, and our owner didn't know, well, the shopkeeper stayed to moisten his hands." It just so happened that Master Zhang of the Yamen had a good relationship with our shopkeeper, and after the incident in your house, the Yamen did not ask us to hand over the stolen goods. ”

Pu Cao's mind turned quickly, but he smiled bitterly on his face, "It's good that it hasn't been sold, bother the little brother to ask the shopkeeper to come out, if the matter is done, I will definitely thank the little brother." ”

The young man was very happy when he heard that there seemed to be a reward to be given, and he whispered, "Little sister-in-law, remember, it's good to give only three taels of silver." ”

Pu Cao nodded, and the young man turned around and lifted a curtain in the corner of the house into the backyard, and soon a gray-bearded, thin old man stood in the counter, and a pair of shining triangular eyes swept Pu Cao contemptuously, and asked, "Who wants to pawn?" ”

Pu Cao scolded in her heart, she was an outsider in the whole shop, and she was not too tired to panic by pretending like this, but she was so slanderous in her heart, but her face still showed a cautious, cowardly and weak appearance, and she stepped forward and saluted and said, "Shopkeeper, the little girl is polite." Today's visit is to redeem the old house in the family, and I hope that the shopkeeper will be accommodating. ”

The old shopkeeper had already learned the truth in the young man's mouth just now, and he was happy that someone in the house was worried about it, so that it would not fall into his hands, but the businessman was pursuing profits, and it was inevitable that he would pretend to be reluctant, "But the old house of the Zhang family in Nangou Village?" The house is well repaired, I still want to stay and live on weekdays, since it is your old house, I don't want to be hard. So let's redeem five taels of silver, and when you have paid the money, take the title deed. ”

"Five taels?" Pu Cao's voice was trembling, and the two thin little hands tore the placket of his clothes one by one, and asked in a low voice, "The shopkeeper, can't it be cheaper?" The house..."

The old shopkeeper waved his hand impatiently, frowned, and said, "It's just five taels of silver, not one tael less, if the money is not enough, go back and make up again." ”

Pu Cao's face was gloomy, and she couldn't help but sob, "I've already put the bud valley at home... They were all sold, and only three taels of silver were scraped together, and there was nowhere else to borrow. Originally... The mother-in-law and the head of the family died unjustly, and the old men in the yamen said that they would be the masters of our family, but for some reason there was no news, and I didn't know who to ask a weak woman. Now, my mother-in-law comes to scold me in a dream every night, what should I do? ”

The young man quietly approached the old shopkeeper and whispered, "Shopkeeper, if this little lady really goes to the yamen, there are some rumors that are not good, and the house is said to be very 'unclean', if we stop it, don't cause any bad luck..."

The old shopkeeper glared at the young man fiercely and did not respond, but his face was obviously a little hesitant, so he said, "Your family's incident is also a natural and man-made disaster, which is really sympathetic, so let's do it, four taels, it can't be less." ”

Pu Cao didn't seem to hear what he said, she still lowered her head and sobbed and said to herself, "It is said that the owner of Hongfa Pawnshop is a kind-hearted person, if I take my uncle and sister-in-law to kneel and beg, I don't know if the owner can pity our family..."

The old shopkeeper had secretly moved his hands and feet, and when he heard that Pu Cao was going to beg their master, his heart trembled, and he immediately said, "Three taels, hurry up and pay the silver!" ”

Pu Cao raised her head and wiped two handfuls of tears, and said pitifully, "Thank you for the shopkeeper's accommodation, it's just... The little woman is only three taels, and there are uncles and sisters-in-law at home who are hungry, if the shopkeeper can take pity on one or two, the mother-in-law and the spirit of our head in the sky must be very grateful, and bless the shopkeeper with a wide range of wealth..."

The old shopkeeper stared at Pu Cao with his eyes, and he couldn't wait to open her palm-sized little head to see what was growing inside, obviously pitiful poor little orphan girl, talking about the price, how did he step by step to force his old rivers and lakes to retreat, his old face was red, and then said angrily, "Two halves, don't pull down!" After saying that, he flicked his sleeves and went back to the backyard.

The young man was so happy that he almost jumped three feet high, and he jumped to Pucao and gave a thumbs up and said, "Little sister-in-law is really amazing, I have been in the shop for two years, and it is the first time I have seen someone take the shopkeeper away." ”

Pu Cao pulled her sleeves to wipe away her tears, and smiled helplessly, "The family is poor, I really can't do it, but let the little brother laugh." ”

After she finished speaking, she took out a small cloth bag containing silver from her arms, estimated and picked up three pieces of broken silver, handed them to the little man, and said, "Trouble little brother, help me get out the title deed." ”

"Okay, little sister-in-law, you sit and wait, I'll come out immediately." The young man took the silver money and ran to the backyard, and soon took out a yellowed deed paper in one hand and a small half string of copper coins in the other, and handed it to Pu Cao together, and said with a smile, "Although our shopkeeper is ruthless in his pricing on weekdays, he is very calculating, and I took out the title deed as soon as I went in, and I was not embarrassed at all." ”

Pu Cao took the title deed and looked at it, and saw that the name of Zhang Fu of Nangou Village was indeed written on it, and the seal of the Cuiluan Mansion was stamped, so he was relieved and carefully put it in his arms. Then he smiled and pushed the string of copper coins back to the little man, "The little brother has helped a lot, and these changes should be used as a thank you gift." ”

The young man's face was happy, and he quickly recovered, insisted on stuffing the money string into Pu Cao's hand, and said with a smile, "My sister-in-law's family is not rich, and I always have to buy some things when the house is redeemed, so I don't want this thank you gift, sister-in-law can use it." ”

Pu Cao was very surprised, seeing that the little guy's eyes were very sincere, his heart was hot, he thought about it and took the copper money back, and said, "Then thank you little brother, I don't know what the name of the little brother is, if you have the opportunity to go to our Nangou in the future, you must go to the house to sit." ”

The young man scratched the back of his head, his face was slightly red, and he smiled, "My name is Ding Dalu, my mother said that everyone steps on the road, and the name is cheap to feed." After speaking, he looked at the sky outside and it was already past noon, and said, "Little sister-in-law, Nangou'er is not close to here, let's hurry back early." ”

Pu Cao nodded, thanked him again, and then went out to find Liu Housheng.

Liu Housheng was squatting behind a pottery stall with an old farmer and gossiping, when he saw Pu Cao coming with a happy face, he stood up and asked, "It's done?" ”

"It's done, let's buy some things and go home and clean up the house." Solving the big problem of accommodation, Pucao is also very happy, and his voice is much higher.