A Clash of Gods - Chapter 521

[Chapter 522]

Kong Erhu’s complexion slightly improved, and he cupped his hands and said, “Master Hou handles matters impartially, and the villain admires it very much.”

However, Qi Ning raised Erlang’s legs, leaned on the chair, swept his eyes on Kong Erhu, and asked with a smile, “Kong Erhu, I heard that your two paintings are fake, you should know?”

Kong Erhu smiled and said, “Master Hou, just now the villain told Uncle Gu that the two paintings are true and false, and the villain is a layman, so he really can’t tell. The villain was just in urgent need of money at the time, and who gave the most money. , the villain should give it to someone. If the villain took the money and never returned, it would be abducted, but the villain has no intention of it. Today, when he took the redemption silver, he wanted to redeem the two paintings. Come on. Marquis, whether those two paintings are true or not, the villain thinks that it is not important anymore. The most important thing is that as long as Master Gu takes out the two paintings, the villain will send the redemption money up, Marquis, there should be no Bad rules?”

Qi Ning laughed and said: “I really don’t understand the rules of pawnshops, but you say it makes sense. Since it makes sense, I think it should be in line with the rules.”

“Yes yes yes!” Kong Erhu immediately laughed: “Master Hou is clear.”

Qi Ning sighed, “Kong Erhu, do you know what happened last night in Cui Deyuan?”

“Cui De Yuan?” Kong Erhu looked blank: “Master Hou, the villain is ignorant, I don’t know what happened to Cui De Yuan, and please ask Master Hou for guidance.”

Qi Ning said: “Many people saw that Ben Hou burned two paintings in Cui Deyuan, and they were both fakes. Haven’t you heard of it?”

Kong Erhu shook his head and said, “The villain has never heard of it.” He smiled and said, “But it should have nothing to do with the villain. The two paintings that the villain burned were not the two paintings that the villain was supposed to be.”

“If Ben Hou said that it was indeed those two paintings that were burned last night, how would you deal with them?”

Kong Erhu was stunned for a moment, then smiled bitterly: “Master Hou is joking. The villain has no intention of offending Master Hou, but no matter what, there are rules. The villain came to redeem the pawns today, and Uncle Gu should return the two paintings to the villain, otherwise, he can only do things according to the deed made in advance.”

“Oh?” Qi Ning frowned, “What does the deed say?”

Kong Erhu said, “If those two paintings are damaged, Uncle Gu will pay the villain 300,000 taels of silver.” He shook the deed in his hand, “It’s clearly written on it, as well as Uncle Gu’s. For the handprint, Uncle Gu has already paid 130,000 taels of silver, and if you can’t hand over the painting, you can only give the villain another 170,000 taels.”

Gu Wenwen’s face was ashen, his hands clenched into fists, and he stared at Kong Erhu coldly.

Qi Ning said: “But you have seen it too. Uncle Gu, don’t say 170,000 taels. Now I’m afraid that even 17,000 taels can’t be taken out. Kong Erhu, what should we do?”

Kong Erhu said with a wry smile: “Master Hou, it stands to reason that since Master Hou came in person, the villain should not cause more trouble. But those two paintings are very important to the villain, and if they were really burned, Master Gu would not be able to pay. , the villain is just sigh, I can only go to Lord Mo of the Kyoto Prefecture, and ask him to call the shots for me.”

“So, do you want to sue even Ben Hou to the government?” Qi Ning frowned, “The picture of the goddess was burned by Ben Hou. If you want to sue the official, of course you have to sue Ben Hou.”

“Master Hou, don’t misunderstand.” Kong Erhu immediately waved his hand and said, “The villain will never dare to offend the Lord Hou, the villain just made a deal with Uncle Gu, and the villain will only ask Uncle Gu for the two paintings. Asking for it has nothing to do with Master Hou.” He turned to Gu Wenwen and asked, “Master Gu, you really can’t get those two paintings? If so, I wonder if you can pay 170,000 taels of silver to pay for it. I?”

“Do you still want money?” Gu Wenwen said angrily, “I just punch you.”

Kong Erhu said with a wry smile: “It seems that Uncle Gu is about to breach the contract. Lord Hou, the villain is only a commoner, and he does not dare to argue with Lord Hou.” He took the stack of silver notes into his arms and cupped his hands: “Master Hou , goodbye.” He turned around and took his subordinates to leave. Before he reached the gate, Qi Ning smiled and said, “Kong Erhu, don’t rush to leave.”

Kong Erhu stopped,

He turned around and said, “What else do you have to order, Lord Hou?”

Qi Ning smiled and said: “I only ask you the last question. If you answer honestly, things may turn around. You took 130,000 taels from the pawnshop last time, and half a month later, you got back 160,000 taels. Silver, just half a month, 30,000 taels more, as far as I know, there is probably no pawnshop in the world that can earn 30,000 taels of silver in just half a month, and it’s just a single business.”

Kong Erhu said: “The villain was in urgent need of money, so no matter what the conditions, the villain will agree.”

“Oh?” Qi Ning smiled and said, “Do you know that the governor of the capital, Mr. Mo Tie Duanmo, who you just mentioned, is only 700 taels of silver a year, according to the court’s salary, and the 30,000 taels of silver , the governor of Kyoto will never be able to receive it for a lifetime, isn’t it too arrogant for you to make a move? Who lent you the extra 30,000 taels of silver?”

Kong Erhu’s face changed slightly, and then he frowned and said, “Master Hou, shouldn’t these have anything to do with today’s affairs?”

“It’s related.” Qi Ning said, “I’m just worried. If you don’t get your 160,000 taels of silver back today, I don’t know what’s going to happen? Even your life won’t be worth 1,600 yuan. Two silvers, 160,000 silvers are thrown away like this, and I am afraid that your life will not be saved.”

Kong Erhu was stunned for a moment, then sneered and said, “Master Hou is joking. Uncle Gu, let’s meet at the official mansion later.” As he was about to go out, he saw a few figures suddenly appeared in front of the door, all of them tall and big. , with a knife on his waist, and looking at his clothes, he knew that he was the guard of the Hou Mansion.

Kong Erhu was not afraid, turned his head and sneered: “Marquis, what do you mean? Do you want to suppress people with power in front of everyone’s eyes?”

Qi Ning clapped his hands and said with a smile, “How courageous, you dare to speak in front of this marquis like this, it can be seen that your backer is not weak.” He got up and said solemnly: “Come on, take your things out.”

He saw two people squeezed in from outside the door, both holding a picture scroll in their hands. When they arrived in the hall, Qi Ning sneered, “Kong Erhu, come and see what this is.” Another person stepped forward to help and unfolded the two scrolls. Facing the front door, Kong Erhu glanced at it, shocked and lost his voice: “These are the two paintings?”

It was two fake pictures of goddesses that were unfolded in public.

Gu Wenwen was also at a loss at the moment, took a few steps forward, looked at the two paintings, was ecstatic, and exclaimed, “Yes, this is this, this is the two painting, Marquis, this?”

Yuan Rong, who had been silent all the time, finally got up and said with a smile: “Kong Erhu, you came to the pawn shop today to redeem the pawn, naturally because you heard that Lord Hou burned these two paintings in Cui Deyuan last night, but you didn’t know that. , all this is just a plan set up by the Hou Ye.” He took the folding fan in his hand, took two steps forward, and opened the folding fan with a “snap”, very dashingly: “The Hou Ye knows that you have taken hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, you will definitely It is extremely secretive, it is not easy to find your whereabouts in a short period of time, since you cannot be found, you can only show yourself.”

Kong Erhu’s face was pale, and he opened his mouth, but he was speechless.

“If the two paintings are still in storage, of course you won’t show up. As soon as the time limit is up, the bank will come to the door and take over Uncle Gu’s house and storefront. At that time, Uncle Gu will be in a desperate situation.” Yuan Rong said slowly: “But if the two paintings are destroyed, you naturally can’t hold back. After all, there is an appointment first. If the two paintings are damaged, Uncle Gu will pay you 300,000 taels of silver, which is not a small amount. , To put it badly, even if Uncle Gu spends all his family property, it is impossible for him to come up with so much money.”

Gu Wenwen was extremely excited at this time, and never imagined that the two paintings were not burned.

“Your purpose may not really be for 300,000 taels of silver, but to completely drive Uncle Gu into the abyss, or even put him in prison.” Yuan Rong sighed, “Uncle Gu came out of the capital not long ago, and he No grudges, your group set up a trap to let Uncle Gu fall into the trap, in the end, it’s still for the Hou Ye.”

Kong Erhu reluctantly smiled and said, “You, you are spitting blood, you are all dignitaries, are you going to bully me as a commoner?”

“The people should also be divided into good people and bad people.” Yuan Rong calmly said with a smile: “Of course you are not good people, Kong Erhu. In fact, this time the trap, you carefully planned, deliberately let people contact Uncle Gu, and then let him understand It is easy to make money from antique calligraphy and painting, and you have also bought the shopkeeper of the pawnshop with a lot of money. Everything is done step by step, which can be said to be painstaking. Lord Hou is in the capital, you dare not act rashly, but it is precisely because Lord Hou went to Xichuan to run an errand, you have the opportunity. Take advantage of it!”

At this time, Gu Wenwen naturally fully understood and said, “The one surnamed Qiao?” Suddenly, he thought that in this incident, Qiao Yu had played an extremely important role in this incident from beginning to end. Could it be that Qiao Yu was actually behind the scenes? The real murderer?

Yuan Rong, however, continued: “Master Hou set up a banquet at Cui Deyuan, and deliberately invited literati in the capital to help spread the matter. Master Hou’s design was clever, but he was just taking a risk. The last time limit is only one day. If you survive this day and stay unmoved, you won’t fall for Lord Hou’s plan. But after all, you are still vicious at heart and want to put people to death, so you came here early. ”

The people surrounding the door heard Yuan Rong’s explanation and understood the cause and effect. Many people applauded.

Qi Ning took two steps forward, stared into Kong Erhu’s eyes with his hands on his back, and said with a smile, “Kong Erhu, of course you wouldn’t say that what Ben Hou brought out now is a fake, right? Not to mention that you just admitted this. The two paintings are fakes, not to mention the fact that the Master Yuan of the Ministry of Rites is here to testify, there should be no problem with these two paintings, right?”

“But many people saw with their own eyes that you burned these two paintings on the spot, how could it be possible to keep them?” Kong Erhu was puzzled.