Ye Fuliuqi said: "I refused in person. Is he still going to send? ”

"Listen to him and insist on sending it." Wei Huan took a sip of tea and said, "The people in your house are thin. If there is any entanglement in the past few days, you can call Wei Da Wei Er's helper. ”

Ye Fuliu picked up his thin white fingers, and pinched his delicate knuckles one by one, "No need. My Ye family is not a family that is afraid of entanglement. ”

Bing Jian on both sides added ice, and she led Qin Long to get up and say goodbye. After taking a few steps, he turned around and asked, "After all, they are close relatives of the Wei family within three generations." What kind of lesson is appropriate? How did you learn too much? ”

Wei Huan held the black-glazed tea cup and lowered his eyes to watch the tea foam rise and fall, "Just save your life." ”

Ye Fuliu probed the bottom line and was relieved. "That's not going to happen. We are serious businessmen, and we don't do anything that kills us. ”

Wei Huan smiled slightly, didn't say much, Wei Da sent Ye Fuliu downstairs.

As he walked in the spacious courtyard of the Wei family, a huge black shadow suddenly came from mid-air, and at such a fast speed that an afterimage flashed in the corner of his eye, and before he could capture any image, he suddenly disappeared again.

At the same time as the huge black shadow skimmed through the field of vision, Ye Fuliu instantly stopped and looked up.

High in the blue sky, there are black shadows flying quickly across the sky. Just as she looked up, the black shadow had glided halfway across the sky, through a large white cloud, spread its wings and circled for half a circle, turning into a small black shadow in her field of vision.

There was a Qingyue eagle chirp in my ears.

Wei Da also stopped and looked up. His face, which had been sad for many days, showed a rare expression of relaxation.

He pointed out to Ye Fuliu with emotion that he showed the black spots in the sky.

"The eagle raised by Lang Jun. He was locked up in the mountains and old forests for many days, and this time he came back with Wei Er. ”

Chapter 33

A large flock of pigeons flew over the courtyard in a huh. A few gray pigeon feathers fluttered down.

Su Qiu took a broom and went over to sweep it.

An eagle's chirp was heard in the distance. The small black dot swooped down from far to near, and the black shadow suddenly became larger in the field of vision, circling half a circle in the clear sky, and swept the flock of pigeons in the air, proudly gathered the big black wings, and landed under the long eaves of the wooden building next to the courtyard wall.

A few black feathers swayed down and landed at Ye Fuliu's feet.

Su Qiu was angry and funny, "How do pigeons and eagles mix? The Wei Sanlangjun next door, his condition has improved a few points, and he began to toss when he saw it! His family, Wei Da and Wei Er, don't stop the main family! ”

Ye Fuliu picked up a few black eagle feathers and threw them together with the pigeon feathers, "It's a good thing to be able to toss, it can be seen that the mental strength and spirit have made great progress." Don't stop it, I see that Wei Da is about to laugh in the past two days. If he didn't get the eagle back to raise it, he did it. ”

Someone outside the door shouted loudly, and the voice was a familiar official in the county office.

Su Qiu answered a few times through the door and replied, "The top has come to collect it again." For the sake of acquaintance, the words were quite polite, but they only said that the county had already set a deadline, and if we did not pay the full share within the time limit, the name of the Ye family would be reported, and it would be difficult for them to do official errands. ”

The so-called reminder is the share promised by the local merchants of all sizes before.

The Ye family is regarded as a big local businessman, and the share of donations that should be given is not too much or too much, so that it will not be impossible to raise, and the inventory of cloth and silk silk stored in the warehouse is enough to cope with it.

However, when the inventory has bottomed out, and we have to go out to buy it, we will not have much money left over for circulation. Now there will be another feast.

There are the Midyear Festival in July, the Mid-Autumn Festival in August, and the Double Ninth Festival in September, and the shopkeeper and helper under the Ye family's firm have more than 700 boatmen, and each person has a Boxing gift. If you go to the account of the cloth business, you will see a deficit when you look at the books.

What's more, this fundraising was originally made out of nothing, and it was a poor improvised one. Jiang County's taxes this year were probably not enough, so Lu Zhixian set his sights on local merchants and went door to door to collect wool.

Which trader in the world likes to be picked?

Of course Ye Fuliu didn't like it.

The government came to collect it, and she used the four-character mantra used by merchants in the world, and she could delay it.

Ye Fuliu didn't go out in the morning, and after a while of crackling and calculating at home, he pushed the abacus forward.

"It's still because the business with the Shen family is yellow. The big-tailed wolf surnamed Shen is not a man, and it affects my side. ”

If the big business of 230 Han bricks is done smoothly and starts with 230 taels of gold, who cares about Jiang County's share of fundraising?

Su Qiu asked worriedly, "The big business with the Shen family is yellow, can we find new customers?" ”

Yes. Crossing the Yangtze River to the north, the capital, Xijing area, there are many famous families of the century-old lintel, and many are the big customers who are interested in Han bricks.

It's just that the time is long.

Take a boat from the south of the Yangtze River, go all the way north along the North-South Grand Canal to find customers, negotiate prices, inspect goods, make deals, and enter accounts. After all, it is a big deal, and it is difficult to find customers who can swallow the entire batch of goods, and it will take three months from beginning to end, to say the least.

The longer the time stretches and the wider the geographical area, the greater the risk. The Ye family caravan is still more familiar with the Jiangnan boundary.

If the shipment is local, there is no need to avoid the inspection of checkpoints along the road, and the shipping speed will be much faster.

But for local shipments, to whom......

Ye Fuliu unconsciously pulled the abacus, and his fingertips were like onions, and he pulled the abacus beads one by one.

"Speaking of which, I'm not used to the fact that no one has made trouble in the past two days." Su Qiu said with a smile while preparing the Qixi Festival, "Every day when I open the door and look out, there is neither the Qi family making trouble outside the door, nor the entangled Shen family, and the ears are rare and clean." Did they know that these two days were the begging festival of their daughter's family, and they didn't come to bother them? ”

Su Qiu also casually said. Tanabata has arrived, who is patient to spend time on irrelevant people.

That night, the Ye family closed the door and celebrated the festival by themselves.

In the courtyard there is a golden basin filled with clear water, reflecting the crescent moon overhead. Ye Fuliu holds a handful of colored threads in his hand and threads them under the reflection of the moonlight above his head - the tradition of Qixi begging, the daughter's family must worship the moon and thread needles in the courtyard, praying for dexterity.

Her eyes were sharp, and she casually threw all the colored threads into the thick eye of the copper needle.

"It's done." She stretched her waist and threw the colorful thread head and the threading copper needle into the basin of water, "Ingenuity is my Ye Siniang." ”

Su Qiu sat side by side with her and threaded the string, laughing so hard that she almost choked, "It's too perfunctory, lady." The gods on their heads sighed when they saw it. ”

"Just go through the motions. When did you see me needlework? If there is really a god above the head, bless me Ye Fuliu to enter and exit safely, and wash your hands in a golden basin of business safely. ”

Ye Fuliu accompanied Su Qiu to beg, went into the house to change his clothes, and came out with a small Nanmu box. "I'll go next door to find Wei Sanlangjun and I'll be back in a moment. Rest, I'll go by myself. ”

Su Qiu asked in surprise, "It's so late, what's the urgency to go next door?" ”

Ye Fuliu bent his eyes and patted the small wooden box, "Begging." ”

She pondered the seven-ring lock of the Nanmu box for many days and used many methods, but she could not open it. When she was absent-mindedly wearing the colored thread just now, she looked at the seven-colored thread, and remembered the seven-ring lock in her heart.

Seven-ring locks are rare, but they are not unique in the world. Just because she can't open it doesn't mean that others can't open it.

Isn't there a former mountain bandit leader who washes his hands in a golden basin next door? Peers who have no business Seniors, well-informed, maybe he has a way?

Ye Fuliu raised his mind to ask for advice.

Xing Chong Chong hugged the Nanmu box and went to knock on the door next door.

——

Wei Huan in the study.

When the days entered July, he was no different in front of people, he used to live during the day, occasionally fed pigeons on the high-rise building, and even asked the Ye family next door about the trivial things of Qixi begging objects.

Only as the pages of the yellow calendar are turned, people often wake up in the middle of the night. Wei Da and Wei Er both saw the lamp lit up in the middle of the night in the study, but they both knew the reason, and no one dared to say more.

Tonight again. On the seventh night of the seventh month of July, the moonlight overhead was quiet, and the little begging lady next door let out bursts of laughter, which reflected the silence near the Wei family's study, and the lights reflected the window lattice.

Wei Er stood outside the window and discussed with the master of the study in a low voice, "Lang Jun, the Midyear Festival is coming." This year's worship is still organized according to the old rules of the capital? ”

Wei Huan's sober voice came from the window, "Everything should be done according to the old rules." ”

After a pause, he said, "In previous years, people were far away from their hometowns, so they could only burn more paper foil; This year in Gangnam...... Prepare more fresh fruits. They found it in the ground. ”

"Yes."

At this moment, Wei Da strode into the inner courtyard and replied, "Lang Jun, the little lady Ye next door is here." Uh, holding a very small wooden box in his arms, he said that he came to Lang Jun to 'beg Qiao'...... Do you want to bring this in? ”

Wei Huan's gaze moved away from the candle flame on the table. The person withdrew from his thoughts, and the gloomy color that had accumulated between his eyebrows and eyes relaxed, and his gaze turned to the half-hidden door.

Small wooden box?

Remembering that the little lady next door was holding the locked Nanmu box all day long, he smiled slightly, got up and turned on the oil lamp in the study, "People, please come in." ”

Ye Fuliu stepped into the study with a wooden box.

"The ancestral house cleaned up a small Nanmu box with an age, and the lock was a rare seven-ring secret lock."

Ye Fuliu put the Nanmu box in front of him: "There are things in it, and they are locked by the seven-ring lock." But I lost the key, and I didn't know the secret word. I don't know if Wei Sanlangjun is well-informed, have you ever seen the seven-ring lock? Can you think of a way to pick the lock? ”

Wei Huan nostalgically stroked the silver-carved edges of the golden silk nanmu box.

"Yes. Without a copper key, you can find other ways to open the lock. I don't know the secret word, and I can't open the lock. ”

Ye Fuliu sighed, his clear eyes revealing obvious loss and regret.

Now she doesn't have either. Seven ring locks are rare, is there no other way to break the secret lock in addition to using brute force to crack it?

She unconsciously fiddled with her white fingers, full of regret, "So, every time you get the secret lock, you can only split it with one knife?" Is there no other way to pick the lock? ”

Wei Huan pretended not to hear the words "one knife split", and his fingers flicked the copper rings a few times, and the first two copper rings were aimed at the words "down" and "up". "These two words seem to be related."

"You think so, too?" Ye Fuliu approached and fiddled with the copper ring engraved with small characters. "Pitch...... Pitch ......"

"Looking up to the twilight of the year, glory is difficult to live for a long time." Wei Huan said, "From the five-character miscellaneous poems of the two Han Dynasty Chen Siwang. ”

The same is from another five-character poem by Chen Siwang...... It is not my ambition to live idlely, and I am willing to go to the country to worry. The slender fingers gently flicked down, and the next brass ring turned to "leisure" and "worry", and then stopped.

The secret words of these seven rings should be the seven words related to the meaning. …… Of course, it was my selfish suspicion, and I should not be accurate. ”

He withdrew his hand, "The first four words are related to the verse. As for the next three words, I don't have a clue. ”

The small nanmu box was kept in the house by my grandmother. My grandmother passed away in a hurry, he was still young, and he was holding his grandmother's spiritual position in a daze, where did he remember the secret box? He saw that his grandmother had opened the seven-ring lock, and he only remembered the first four secret words.

"But......," he said, shaking the wooden box, "the contents may not be as precious as you think." If you go to great lengths to open it, but there is ordinary copper and iron inside, you will be extremely disappointed. ”

Ye Fuliu waved his hand, "Fiddling with it for many days, I don't care about what is in the box." It's good to be able to open the seven-character secret lock. ”

"Pitch. Idleness. She fiddled with the four copper rings in front of her, and the more she chattered, the more she felt that it made sense, and the seven secret characters were dismantled by Wei Huan on the spot. Ye Fuliu exclaimed, "Sure enough, well-informed!" It is worthy of the predecessors. ”

Wei Huan was silent, keenly feeling that something was wrong: "...... What seniors? ”

Ye Fuliu: "Well......" The seniors have already washed their hands in the golden basin and refuse to admit that they have done nothing in the past.

It's okay . Whatever he wants.

She thoughtfully digressed the subject.

"Wei Sanlangjun, since I entered the study, I have a problem. I don't know if to talk about it or not. ”

"You say."

"A family of black rats in the study...... Is it still there? ”

Wei Huan was a little surprised, his dark black eyes turned around, turned around her, and raised his hand to point to the corner of the wall, "I came out today." ”