In the next few days, the wind and waves were calm, Yan Shaoting seemed to forget Zeng Yu's scolding of him, and came to Yuqingtang to study every day as usual, Yan Shaoting was of course not close to Zeng Yu, but he did not show his hatred explicitly, and the little fat man's words and deeds were the same as before-

Yan Shaoqing ordered his servants to pay attention around, but they did not find that Yan Shaoting was privately spreading rumors about Zeng Yu and Maple Bay, it seemed that Yan Shaoting admitted defeat, gave in, and did not dare to provoke Zeng Yu again.

On the night of the sixth day of October, Yan Shaoqing accompanied Zeng Yu to look at the collection of calligraphy and painting in the library of the Shantang Library, and heard Yan Shaoting downstairs loudly instructing the servants to go to the county early tomorrow morning to buy sesame candy and lotus silk candy, the little fat man Yan Shaoting loves to eat candy very much, and his mother Liu also sent him candy from Beijing Jingyi to eat, what show candy, onion sugar, amber sugar, silk sugar, rose filled with fragrant sugar, there are many varieties-

Yan Shaoqing laughed in a low voice: "Mr. Zeng, Yan Shaoting let Mr. Zeng teach him a lesson, he has to keep to himself, he has been very honest these days, and he only cares about eating sugar." ”

Zeng Yu is not so optimistic, if Yan Shaoting is frowning at him, then he doesn't have to worry too much, but Yan Shaoting just pretends to be nothing, this forbearance is beyond the ability of ordinary young people, this little fat man has his father's cleverness and scheming, he will never give up like this, Zeng Yu didn't dare to go to Maple Bay alone these days, beware of Yan Shaoting gathering slaves to forcibly arrest him and send him to the county government with Lu Miaoxiang and Ying Zi, if there is a chance, Yan Shaoting will be like this, this kid is vicious enough, although Zeng Yu will scatter his hands in a few ways, But the hero couldn't stand the crowd, so he had to guard against it, and said: "I'm afraid that there will be turmoil, Yan Shaoting won't swallow his anger so much." ”

Yan Shaoqing said: "Mr. Zeng, don't worry, Yan Shaoting has written to his maternal uncle in Nanjing, asking his maternal uncle to send someone to pick him up in Nanjing, and Nanjing Liufu should send someone to pick him up at the end of this month or early next month. ”

Zeng Yu asked: "How did Shaoqing Gongzi know the Tao of Lu, and what did he tell you?" ”

Yan Shaoqing said: "How could he tell me that I didn't talk to him at all, this is what my servant inquired about, it should be true." ”

Zeng Yumo held the volume of "Yanlu Gongjia Temple Inscription" on the bookcase, and muttered: "Why don't we try him and sell a flaw to see if he really settles down?" ”

Yan Shaoqing was very interested, and hurriedly asked: "Mr. Zeng, how do you sell flaws?" ”

At the moment, Zeng Yu said something like this and this, Yan Shaoqing nodded, and secretly praised Mr. Zeng for his wisdom, Zeng Yu smiled and said: "It's a joke, and don't see if Yan Shaoting takes the bait?" ”

From this night on, Zeng Yu carried one or two pieces of calligraphy and painting or antique collections every time he came down from the library, saying that it was convenient to copy or appreciate in the morning and evening, some of these collections were sent back to the library after two days, and some had been left in Zeng Yu's room downstairs.

On the evening of the tenth day of October, Zeng Yu returned to the mountain hall from the strict clan, and found that someone had come in his room, and he made a secret note every time he left the room.

Early the next morning, Zeng Yu asked Yan Shifang for leave, saying that he was going to Yichun to visit Jing Yi, Yan Shifang said: "Master Tixue will come to Yuanzhou later this month, and then we will go together." ”

Zeng Yu said: "Meeting the Grandmaster of Tixue is a public matter, visiting friends is a private matter, it is inconvenient to mix together, I will go today and return tomorrow." ”

Zeng Yu knew that he said that "the distinction between public and private" would definitely be recognized by Yan Shifang, and sure enough, Yan Shifang nodded and said: "Zeng Sheng said yes, then you can go, you don't have to go back tomorrow, just come back the day after tomorrow." ”

Zeng Yu carried his own book, rode a horse to Maple Bay to say a few words to Lu Miaoxiang, and then rushed to Jichang Garden, sent the horses in the garden, and took a boat to Yichun with the book-

Yuqingtang Yan clan study as usual, in the interval between the practice of the post, Yan Shaoting out of the door of the family study, the little girl Liu'er held a box of sugar and waited under the big camphor tree in front of the door, Yan Shaoting put a piece of sugar in his mouth and chewed, and said in a low voice: "You go to Zeng Yu's room to take a closer look, yesterday in his room Zhang Xu's "Spring Grass Post", Yan Zhenqing's "Family Temple Tablet", Su Shi's "Red Cliff Fu", Wu Tongwei's "Thousand Character Text", Li Sixun's "Xianshan Pavilion Map", Wen Heke's "Ink Bamboo Map" These five paintings and calligraphy are still there? By the way, there is also a Song version of "Rong Zhai Essays" and a pair of jade coral bottles, are these still there? Go quickly, be careful not to let people see it, and if you do, don't panic, just say that it is cleaning Mr. Zeng's room. ”

Watching Xiao Wu Liu'er run back with a smoke, Yan Shaoting also turned back to the clan to learn words and listen to classes as usual, and returned to Qishan Hall at noon, Xiao Wu Liu'er looked for an opportunity to bow to him: ""Spring Grass Post", "Family Temple Tablet", "Red Cliff Fu", "Xianshan Pavilion Map" and a pair of jade coral bottles are all there, and the others are gone. ”

Yan Shaoting was secretly happy in his heart, and asked: "Have you looked carefully, have you looked everywhere?" ”

Xiao Liu'er said: "Young master, that room is a bed and a desk, as well as a suitcase and two chairs, things are easy to find, the small ones have been carefully searched, but there is no, "Rong Zhai Essays" is a thick stack, and it can't be hidden." ”

Yan Shaoting nodded, and went up to the calligraphy and painting collection room after lunch to check it, but did not find Wu Tongwei's "Thousand Character Text" and Wen Heke's "Ink and Bamboo Map", and the Song version of "Rong Zhai Essays" was not returned, and sneered in his heart: "Zhang Xu, Yan Zhenqing, Li Sixun and!" Su Shi is famous, if these calligraphy and paintings are lost, it is not easy to cover up, Wu Tongwei is much less famous, but calligraphy is Zeng Yu's favorite, and Wen and Ke's "Ink Bamboo" is also Zeng Yu's favorite, there are many Song editions in the library, Zeng Yu thought that there would be no one to ask about one or two sets less, so he wanted to take it for himself, hum, and see if Zeng Yu would bring these things back from Yichun, if he brought them back, then there would be no trouble, if he really dared to steal my father's collection, then he was self-inflicted and could not live. ”

In the evening of the next day, Zeng Yu came back, and the little girl Liu'er took advantage of Zeng Yu's walk after dinner, and slipped into Zeng Yu's room to look at the book, there were only a few eight-strand anthologies and pen, ink, paper, and inkstone, and nothing else, so he hurriedly reported to Yan Shaoting, Yan Shaoting said: "I know the Tao." ”

Xiao Liu'er said: "Let's go and report to the second master now that Zeng Xiu is a thief-"

Yan Shaoting patted Xiao Liu'er's skull on the skull, and said in a low voice: "Don't act rashly, this time I want to catch thieves and stolen goods." I thought: "There are a lot of calligraphy and painting antiques on the bookfloor, Zeng Yu has been greedy, and if he succeeds once, he will definitely continue to stretch out his hand, maybe in Zeng Yu, a fake Taoist hypocrite, stealing calligraphy and painting is an elegant thing, hehe, wait for me to get all the stolen goods, and then see how he quibbles?" ”

Although Yan Shaoting is only fourteen years old, his understanding of human nature is better than that of most adults, which is also in the same vein as his father Yan Shifan, Yan Shifan is conceited and extremely intelligent, and has seen through all the so-called benevolence, righteousness and morality, and the young Yan Shaoting has a fatherly style-

On 17 October, news came from the county that Huang Daren, the deputy envoy of Jiangxi Provincial University, will hold an entrance examination in Yuanzhou Mansion on the 22nd of this month, and all students who want to take next year's township examination must rush to Yuanzhou Prefecture before the 21st to take the exam, and those who give up next year's township examination can not participate in this examination

Yan Shaoting and Xiaowu Liu'er have been keeping a closer eye on Zeng Yu these days, and they found that Zeng Yu took the two axes of Cai Xiang's poems, the first axis of Sun Guoting's calligraphy, the two axes of Dong Yuan's landscape and small scenes, and the two axes of Tang Yin's poems and paintings, presumably they wanted to keep them for themselves-

On the morning of October 20, Zeng Yu packed up his book and went out, went to Ruizhu Hall to meet Yan Shifang, and prepared to go to Yichun together, as soon as he left the Qishan Hall, Xiao Liu'er slipped into his room to check, and found that Cai Xiang, Sun Guoting and other famous calligraphy and paintings were gone, and immediately reported to the young master Yan Shaoting, Yan Shaoting only carefully looked at the book basket that Zeng Yu was carrying, and saw that there was an oilcloth burden in the book, and looked at the shape to know that it was a calligraphy and painting scroll, it seems that Zeng Yu wanted to bring these calligraphy and paintings to Yichun to hand over to the Xiucai surnamed Jing, Then when he returned to his hometown at the end of the year, he brought it back to Shangrao, Zeng Yu was hateful, this was stealing under the nose of his uncle Yan Shifang, and all their Yan family were carved as mud tires

The evidence is conclusive, it's time to catch the thief and catch the double, Yan Shaoting has endured for many days, and today he is finally going to give Zeng Yu a fatal blow, he was very excited, and he rushed out of the Qishan Hall at the moment, and saw his uncle Yan Shifang sitting on a sedan chair outside Ruizhu Hall, Zeng Yu stood by the sedan chair with a book on his back, and his uncle invited Zeng Yu to take a car together, Zeng Yu shook his hand and said that he was used to walking-

"Uncle, please wait a minute, the little nephew has something important to report."

Yan Shaoting shouted loudly and walked to the sedan chair, and glanced at Zeng Yu, who seemed to have a look of surprise and uncertainty on his face.