Early the next morning, when the sky was just dawning, there were not many people on the street at all, Zhou Quan and Zhou An pushed the cart, vigilantly walked out of the alley, and hurried towards the direction of the city gate.

Because they had already greeted the guards at the city gate, and Lu Wangshu had already been stunned by Zhou Quan's ecstasy incense, Zhou Quan and Zhou An went out of the city smoothly and walked all the way to the west.

The two of them had their thoughts, they were bent on deceiving the guards, thinking that it would be more natural, and they didn't have the slightest idea, and in a teahouse not far behind them, a pair of eyes were staring at them tightly.

It wasn't until the two of them left the city that they looked away from the eyes that stared at them, and closed the window of the teahouse.

The man said, "Master, the two thieves have successfully left the city, and it seems that there is no major movement on the side of the king and the county lord." ”

"The show begins, let's just wait and watch the show." The person sitting across from him sneered, then got up and said, "Go back to the house, the rest has nothing to do with us." ”

The man was puzzled, and couldn't help asking, "Master, we haven't done anything yet, why is it that we don't have anything to do?" ”

The person who became the master by this person, named Chu Yu, is the youngest younger brother of the king today, because he was not born to a mother, and the age between the two is very old, plus in the early years, King Chu Lang was in the limelight, the government and the opposition, and even the king did not pay attention to this brother who was eight years younger than himself.

However, King Zirong was imprisoned, and even the old ministers who supported him were executed one by one, and the official position of managing the border market was vacant.

As everyone knows, once the county lord's greenhouse is successful, the position of managing the border market will be removed, so no one wants to fill this vacancy for a while, and the king can't find anyone for a while, so he can only choose a few from his brothers, and want them to take charge for a while.

However, everyone shirked one after another, and helplessly, this matter could only fall on Chu Yu, who was the youngest and had the lowest sense of existence.

Although Chu Yu is a prince in size, compared to King Rong, it is simply not worth mentioning, and even the house he lives in is not as good as one ten-thousandth of King Rong, which is why the king is relieved to let him sit in this position.

"Why didn't you do it?" Chu Yu turned around, looked at his guard, and said with a smile: "Didn't you let that little eunuch change his words before, so that the county lord could enter the palace and let the king know about it?" Now that my goal has been achieved and the little eunuch is dead, it is naturally none of my business how things will develop in the future. ”

The guard was puzzled at first, frowned and thought for a long time, and then suddenly realized: "The master wants to watch the two of them fight and reap the benefits of the fisherman?" ”

Chu Yu raised his lips and smiled, put down the stove in his hand, and then leaned over and knocked on the guard's, and said with a smile: "You are finally smart." ”

He is an idle prince with a very low sense of existence, but Chu Yu is not willing to live like this for the rest of his life, he asks himself about his talents, abilities, and resourcefulness on a par with the king, so he is not willing to bow down to the king for a lifetime.

He wanted to wait for him to be older, make more friends with some courtiers, and then act slowly, but he didn't want the king to hand over the management of the mutual market to him, Chu Yu thought that this was a God-given opportunity, so he planned in advance, and prepared to use Su Xiaoman as an introduction to completely pull Chu Yu off the throne.

As for the bandits, it was just that Chu Yu casually inserted a few words of provocation, which made the boss of the bandits hate Su Xiaoman, and then made a series of actions such as destroying greenhouse vegetables and kidnapping Lu Wangshu.

And he, Chu Yu, just bribed a little eunuch to make things go faster.

"Alright, it's not too early, we should go back too." Chu Yu picked up the stove again, and looked down at his guards, "During this time, we have to stay in the mansion quietly, and don't let people notice the slightest movement." ”

"My subordinates understand! After returning to the house, his subordinates must instruct the whole house to help the prince achieve great things as soon as possible! ”

Chu Yu answered, and then went out from the secret door of the teahouse with the guards and returned to his mansion.

Compared to Chu Yu's relaxed and insipid way of watching the excitement, Xiao Man, Lu Li and the others in the county lord's mansion were already on the verge of collapse, especially when they waited all night without waiting for any results and did not discuss any measures, this kind of torture was even more unbearable.

The two of them, who hadn't slept all night, sat in the main hall, almost giving up resistance and outwitting, and they were ready to scrape together 600,000 taels of silver, and then rescue Hua Li, Wang Youhe and Wang Shu.

"Wow-"

The housekeeper ran in with the account book, walked straight to Xiao Man, and said, "Madam, last night I spent a night with the account office, and counted all the silver that can be moved in the house now, and found that it is still not enough for 600,000 taels. ”

As he spoke, he handed the ledger and stood aside with his head down.

Where did Xiaoman still have the heart to turn it over, as soon as she heard that it was not enough to put together the upper and lower silver taels in the mansion was not enough for 600,000 taels, her heart that had just calmed down collapsed again, and she asked while wiping her tears: "How much is the difference, how much is the difference to make up the ransom?" ”

"If we don't sell things and don't borrow from others, we will be at least 200,000 taels short of the silver we have." Even though he was very sad and embarrassed, in order to take into account the overall situation, he ransomed Shizi and Miss Wang and others earlier, and the housekeeper still told the truth.

200,000 taels ......

Xiao Man lowered his head and kept taking deep breaths, tears falling down his eyes, splashing small splashes on the ground.

Seeing this, Lu Li, who had been silent for a long time, got up, with a pair of red eyes, and his voice was slightly hoarse: "Butler, you first take out all the money that can be moved at home, and I'll figure out the rest." ”

"Lu Li." Xiao Man hurriedly got up, and she chased after her worriedly, "Where are you going?" ”

"I'll go to Hao Yixuan and ask, and by the way, I'll go to Li Lin's mansion again to see if I can borrow some money from them." Lu Li didn't intend to hide it, he said: "I know, the money we brought from Shangjing has been spent about the same, and we haven't been able to make money during this time, it's normal that the family doesn't have enough money, just go out and borrow some." ”

Hearing this, Xiao Man grabbed the other party's sleeve, sighed, and said: "That's 200,000 taels of silver, whether it's for Hao Yixuan, who is in business, or Li Lin, who is an official, it's not a small amount!" ”

Hao Yixuan's business is good, and the clothes he sells are also expensive, but their cost is high, and when it comes down to it, in fact, each piece of clothing doesn't make much money, just looking at the yard where the He family and his wife live now, you can see that they can't come up with so much money at all.

and Li Lin, even though he has a good relationship with the king, and there are no concubines in the family, so there is no additional expenses, but he doesn't look like a person who can come up with so much silver!

"How do you know if you don't borrow it?" Lu Li held Xiao Man's hand, his eyes were firm, and he said, "Don't worry, we can fill some of it, and we will pay them back soon if we borrow money, you don't have to feel guilty." ”

After speaking, Lu Li lowered his eyes and said a little gloomily: "If it really doesn't work, then I can only take out the valuable things in the house and see if I can make up so much money." ”

Things have developed to this point, and this is the only way to do.

Xiao Man was about to open her mouth to agree, but she didn't want to hear two familiar voices suddenly outside the door, she squinted her eyes and looked at the source of the sound, and was surprised to find that the person who came was actually the mother and daughter of the Zhou family!

She and Lu Li couldn't help but glance at each other, thinking: Why are they here?

"County Lord!" Mrs. Zhou rushed forward first, she looked at Xiao Man, who was pale and had red eyes, smacked her lips in distress, and then frowned and worried: "I heard that a thief came to the county lord's mansion and took the prince away?" County Lord, is this true? ”

At this stall, Xiao Man was in no mood to deal with the mother and daughter, so he could only endure the impatience in his heart and explained: "Mrs. Zhou, we still have very important things to do, and we don't have time to receive you today, so you better go back first." ”

After speaking, Xiao Man waved his hand to the housekeeper, "Housekeeper, send Mrs. Zhou and Miss Zhou out." ”

As soon as the words fell, before the housekeeper had time to walk in front of the mother and daughter of the Zhou family, Mrs. Zhou held Xiaoman's hands and said sincerely: "County Lord, don't worry, we are definitely not here to trouble you!" ”

"County Lord, I heard that the bandits want a ransom of 600,000 taels, I don't know what you plan to do? Is it really necessary to give so much money to the bandits? Zhou Xiaoxiao also asked with a worried face.

Xiao Man was very irritable in her heart, and her impatience had already been shown on her face, she took a deep breath, stopped Jade who wanted to step forward and lose her temper, and said to the mother and daughter of the Zhou family: "Mrs. Zhou, Miss Zhou, I'm really busy now." As you know, the bandits ask for so much money, but I can't get that much together in a short period of time, so I can only go out and borrow it, time is pressing, I hope you don't delay our time any longer, okay? ”

After speaking, Xiao Man beckoned again, and the housekeeper stepped forward with interest, "Mrs. Zhou, Miss Zhou, if you want to visit, please come back another day." ”

"Who said we're here to visit and cause trouble?!" Mrs. Zhou shook off the housekeeper, walked straight to Xiao Man, and said solemnly: "County Lord, I know that you are noble and intelligent, and you may not look down on us people, but now that you are short of money, why don't you come to us to borrow it?" ”

"That's right." Zhou Xiaoxiao agreed, took out a few silver tickets from her arms, and said: "This is 30,000 taels of silver tickets, I don't know if I can help the county lord, if it is still not enough, our mother and daughter will go to the business bank to get it." ”

As she spoke, Zhou Xiaoxiao stuffed the silver ticket in her hand into Xiaoman's arms without saying anything.

Seeing this, not only Xiao Man, but even Lu Li, Jade, Pearl, and the housekeeper were stunned, and the atmosphere in the room also changed dramatically.

In an instant, Xiao Man began to be ashamed of what she had done before, she frowned, pinched the thin silver tickets in her arms, her heart was mixed, her face changed and changed, and she didn't know what to say for a while.