The glow of the sun, the twilight of the morning gently spreads on every piece of red bricks and green tiles and pavilion cornices in Yangzhou City, the shops on both sides of the main road are lined up, and the cries of vendors come and go.

Qing Xiaonian, who left Tingyuxuan early in the morning, walked slowly on the road, he likes to watch such a bustling scene, he is also a person who likes to be lively, even those red-faced guests and traders who are fighting for money for two buns, Qing Xiaonian can see the happiness on their faces.

Qing Xiaonian couldn't be like them, so he walked into the Linqing study on the north side of the main road.

As soon as I entered the door, the murky smell of books and ink came to my nose. At this time, a shiny face and belly-like boss walked out of the counter with a book in his hand, with a warm smile on his face, and said, "What do you need, this son?"

Qing Xiaonian didn't rush to agree, looked at the fat boss and teased with a smile: "It is said that scholars are full of economic and rich learning, and they should forget to sleep and eat." It's just that boss, you have a big belly, a round waist, and a fat body, don't you really read these sage books into your stomach?"

The boss smiled and said shyly: "Son, you don't know anything, this reading is like eating, those who are good at eating grow their spirits, and those who are not good at eating will get sick, isn't this the other way around?"

Qing Xiaonian raised his eyebrows after hearing this, and was still a little speechless, and chuckled: "I don't know if it's a meal, but boss, your skillful and eloquent skills are no different from other scholars." ”

"Childe, you're smiling. ”

Qing Xiaonian waved his hand and said bluntly: "I heard that this Linqing study has the most cutting-edge paper and ink in Yangzhou City, so I specially came here today to take a look." ”

When the fat boss heard that there was a business coming to the door, he smiled and said: "Childe, you are really a good eye, our rice paper and Huimo here are definitely the first class in the local area, and you will never find a second home as good as me, and this Huimo is only available in our Linqing study within a radius of 200 miles." ”

After speaking, Boss Fat proudly took out a dozen rice paper and a piece of ink and put them in front of Qing Xiaonian.

Qing Xiaonian pinched the rice paper with his hands, and sure enough, it was the same paper as the letter found in front of the palace, and he gently twisted the toner and put it on the tip of his nose and smelled it, and a faint aroma of pine resin also matched the ink quality on the letter. Then he took out the envelope in his arms and handed it to the fat boss of Qing Xiaonian.

"Boss, help me see if this rice paper and this ink from the previous year are the same as the two in your shop. ”

Boss Fat took the rice paper in Qing Xiaonian's hand, also looked at it and sniffed it, thought for a while and said: "That's right, the paper is the best rice paper, and the ink is also the best Hui ink, but I don't know if I bought it from our Linqing study." ”

Qing Xiaonian nodded and continued: "Then is this Huimo really as you said, within a radius of two hundred miles, only you and your Linqing study have it?"

Boss Fat's eyes were firm, and he said categorically without thinking: "Yes, only we have it in Linqing Study, and if you want to buy this Huimo elsewhere, you have to go to Huizhou, which is more than 200 miles away from Yangzhou City." ”

Qing Xiaonian asked, "Then who usually come to buy Huimo?"

The fat boss replied: "This Huimo is not cheap, and generally the people who come to buy it are basically the kind of people who are high-ranking officials and nobles, local tyrants and rich gentry, after all, the price of this piece is fifty taels of bases, which is not consumed by ordinary people who are poor and white." ”

Qing Xiaonian nodded, Hui Mo was indeed expensive, and continued to ask, "Do you have a record of selling these goods?"

"Yes, I am a small business, and I have to rely on me to support my three concubines, so I will make detailed records of the entry and exit of each shipment, so that I can get money and expenses. ”

"Can you show me then?"

At this time, the fat boss looked embarrassed, thinking that this person had asked questions since he entered the store, but he had no intention of buying goods, and his motive for looking at his account book was very suspicious, so he hesitated: "It doesn't seem appropriate for Childe to want to read the account book..."

Qing Xiaonian knew what he was thinking as soon as he saw the fat boss's face, and without saying a word, he immediately took out a silver ticket with a face value of 1,000 taels from his cuff and slapped it on the Hui Mo, and said loudly: "Then your best piece of Hui Mo will be picked up for me, and I will take it away in a while." ”

The fat boss was overjoyed to see this, and his eyes were straight, but he didn't rush to get the Hui ink, and the monkey spirit continued to ask: "Then the rest of the money is ......?"

Qing Xiaoqing laughed and waved his hand: "Don't look for it!"

"Ouch, this master, you are really generous, you wait for me to wrap the ink for you!"

This fat boss was even more overjoyed, and even the title changed from son to master, put away Qianliang and walked to the counter with a face of cross-hair, took out a stack of thick account books and handed them to Qing Xiaonian, and then turned around to Bao Qing Xiaonian's Qianliang Huimo, and the previous heavy footsteps were also strangely brisk.

Who said that this good writer and ink writer must be some kind of poverty and happiness, indifferent to fame and fortune, and only read the books of sages, isn't this fat boss in front of him a living example of greed and favoritism.

Qing Xiaonian smiled bitterly and shook his head, and no longer bothered about these foreign affairs, opened the account book and flipped through it.

Don't look at the fat shopkeeper is full of meat intestines and fat brains, and what is written when keeping accounts is in regular script, and the handwriting is neat and powerful, which makes it difficult for people to associate with this fat shopkeeper, and the accounts are also dense and very detailed.

Of course, Qing Xiaonian is definitely not here to appreciate the words, directly to the page of Huimo and read it in detail, sure enough, the people who came to buy Huimo are some well-known big families in Yangzhou City, Qing Xiaonian turned a few pages, and suddenly found that there is an unfamiliar name that frequently appears in the account books, and the number of times he buys is more than those merchants, and he buys forty or fifty at a time, and there are some differences in Qing Xiaonian.

At this time, the fat boss came over with a beautifully packaged gift box, and said with a sneer: "This lord, the Hui ink you want is all packaged." ”

Qing Xiaonian frowned slightly and nodded, pointing to the frequently appearing names in the account book and asked, "Boss, who is this Lin Fugui, what is he buying so much Huimo rice paper for, and he still buys it so often."

The boss replied: "He is a merchant in the Western Regions, he often comes to me to buy Hui ink and good rice paper to take out of the customs and sell them to people outside the customs at a higher price, basically he comes to buy every other month, my Hui ink is more popular outside the customs, so the amount of goods bought each time is relatively large." ”

Qing Xiaonian thought for a while and continued: "Then do you know where this Lin Fugui's family lives?"

The boss replied without thinking: "I know, his family lives in the westernmost part of Yangzhou City, and two peach trees are planted in front of the door in the season. ”

Qing Xiaonian nodded and continued to ask, "Then does he have any bad habits?"

"Bad hobbies...."The boss thought for a while and shook his head: "It shouldn't be, it looks like a very honest person, and I like poetry, calligraphy and painting, and I like it a lot when there are a few poems hanging on the wall at home, I said that I paid a high price to buy him but didn't sell it, and said that the emperor of which country wrote it, but it was precious." ”

Qing Xiaonian nodded, silently put away the account book and handed it back to the fat boss, who took the account book and put it back at the counter.

In the blink of an eye, I found that Qing Xiaonian's figure suddenly disappeared out of thin air, looked at the boutique gift box containing Hui Mo and was lying quietly on the table, and hurriedly grabbed the box and walked to the door and shouted at the busy street: "Childe, your Hui Mo!"

...

When I arrived at the west end of Yangzhou City, I found two cherry blossom trees in front of the door that the fat boss said.

The gust of wind was slight, and the pink petals were scattered all over the ground with the wind, like a dream.

Qing Xiaonian sighed that although Lin Fugui's name was a little cheesy, there was still some troublesome artistic conception in front of the door.

Walking towards the cherry blossom tree, before he could get close to the door, he suddenly heard a miserable cry coming from inside the high gray wall.

Qing Xiaonian frowned, and an ominous omen swept over and couldn't help but speed up his light pace, and the closer he walked, the more obvious the strong smell of blood became.