Chapter 28: Money-obsessed

At dusk, when Wang Gu'an returned to the town and passed by the east gate of the city, the sloppy man who was guarding the gate was still humming a song. He was singing "Every moment of time is precious, and wealth and honor can be thrown away." Perhaps he was disturbed by the hurried footsteps of the boy in straw sandals. The man opened his eyes and just looked at the boy who was jogging into the door. When the man saw that it was this debt collector, he was extremely disappointed and waved his hand unhappily, saying: "Go away, your time is worth nothing. If you can get even a little bit of wealth and honor, burn incense."

After Wang Gu'an ran past, he raised a palm high, spread his five fingers, and shook it vigorously.

Obviously, he was reminding the gatekeeper that there was a five-cent incense relationship between the two of them.

The man spit fiercely and cursed: "It's not a good bird!"

The figure of the boy disappeared quickly, and the man looked up at the clear blue sky, which was like a layer of beautiful glaze.

The man rubbed his stubbled chin and said, "Mr. Liu said a poem. What was it? Good stuff, colored glaze?"

A bullock cart slowly drove out of the town. A well-known scholar in blue sat in the cart. The driver was a dull-looking middle-aged man.

The man immediately waved his hand and laughed loudly, "Brother Yao, don't rush to leave. I have something to say. I only remember good things and glass. I can't remember anything else. You are knowledgeable, tell me!"

Zhao Yao was in high spirits, holding a bag in his arms, and said loudly: "Good things in the world are not solid, colorful clouds are easy to disperse, and glass is fragile!"

The man gave a thumbs up, "You are worthy of being Brother Yao, you are very knowledgeable. When you have a good future, don't forget to come back to your hometown to see your brother. Maybe you can replace your teacher and be a teacher for the children in our town. It's also good."

Zhao Yao was stunned for a moment, then clasped his fists and smiled, "Thank you for your good words, brother!"

The man was so happy that he took out an embroidered bag from his sleeve, shook his wrist, and threw it high to the blue-shirted student, grinning and saying, "I've let you write so many couplets for nothing over the years. The key is that you are also kind and never feel troubled. I'm always right in judging people. I'll give you some small things and wish you a safe journey!"

Zhao Yao hurriedly caught the money bag, "See you later!"

The man smiled and nodded, waved to the boy's ox cart, but murmured, "It's difficult."

The boy in straw sandals walked deep into the town, while Zhao Yao's ox cart rushed to the world outside the town, and they passed each other.

The man sitting on the tree stump counted on his fingers, "The Sui Dynasty boy carrying the golden carp in the bamboo basket, the son of the widow Gu in Niping Lane, and Yao Ge'er from Fulu Street, that's three. But there are so many people coming, if they rush in, won't I just have to pick up rags? Otherwise, I can take this opportunity to find a filial apprentice who can rub shoulders and back?"

The man stretched out his hand to scratch the wrinkled dark cheek, and laughed, "It would be best if it was a beautiful female apprentice with bright and smooth body. Well, I can tolerate a bad face, but the legs must be long!"

The famous bachelor in the town hugged the back of his head with both hands, looked up at the sky, and laughed secretly. After thinking of these happy things, he suddenly lost his worries and felt that there was great beauty between heaven and earth.

————

Before leaving Niping Lane, Wang Gu'an made an appointment with Ji Chenru and the girl in black to meet at Ji Chenru's house. When Wang Gu'an ran to Ji Chenru's house, the door was not locked. He pushed the door open and went to the main hall. He saw Ji Chenru washing and wiping the ancestral armor with a clean cotton towel.

The black-clad girl Ning put on her shallow veil again, with a sword on her waist, and the long sword in the snow-white scabbard was casually held in her hand. For some reason, Wang Gu'an always felt that Ning seemed to dislike the sword.

The old item on the table that had been passed down from generation to generation in the Liu family was called a treasure armor, but in Wang Gu'an's opinion, it was really ugly and scary. The huge armor was covered with iron bars like dead tree tumors, and there were five parallel deep scratches, slanting down from the left shoulder all the way to the right waist.

The two young men were puzzled by this and could not imagine how huge the wild beasts in the mountains could create such a horrific scene. Later, the imperial court banned many mountains and prohibited people from entering the mountains to cut firewood and burn charcoal. Wang Gu'an and Ji Chenru almost never violated the ban, and this was largely the reason.

Wang Gu'an was a little surprised. Although this charcoal-like armor was ugly, Ji Chenru really regarded it as a family heirloom. Even with such a close relationship with Wang Gu'an, he only showed it once in all these years, and carefully moved it back to the red lacquer box and worshipped it in less than half an incense stick.

However, seeing Ji Chenru sneaking glances at the black-clad girl from time to time, Wang Gu'an felt somewhat relieved. Ji Chenru has always been this kind of person. He can't control his eyes when he sees a pretty girl, but he doesn't really like to be moved, he just likes to show off. For example, in the summer before, when he was bathing shirtless in the creek over the covered bridge, if a girl of the same age carrying seedlings or leading a yellow cow passed by, Ji Chenru would definitely do three tricks, first climbing up the big bluestone on the shore, then coughing loudly - Ye Dan commented on this as "announcement to the world", and finally diving. Wang Gu'an, who has good eyesight, can actually see the eyes and faces of the girls in the distance clearly, so he has always wanted to tell Ji Chenru the truth. Those good-looking sisters rolled their eyes, some muttered and cursed, and most of them simply turned a blind eye, but there was no one who brightened his eyes and thought you were a hero.

Of course, later on, Ji Chenru fell in love with Ye Dan's maid Shi Hui, and inexplicably fell in love with her. After that, the tall young man seemed to have no other beautiful women in his eyes. Even if he was showing off to the girl in black at this moment, he was more hoping that the arrogant and indifferent girl would not underestimate him. Don't think that you can act like a king with a knife and a sword. This heirloom of Ji Chenru is also unique in the town.

The girl in the veil waited for Wang Gu'an, looked around, and finally placed the long sword horizontally on an old antique cabinet with colorful and gold-inlaid flowers. The paint was mottled and cracked. In order to make room for the long sword, she moved away many bottles and jars and found a pattern inlaid on the back wall of the cabinet, a golden osmanthus tree, and a full moon in the sky.

The girl turned around and said, "Put the sword here, don't touch it, otherwise you will bear the consequences, I'm not kidding."

Ji Chenru was busy wiping the armor, occasionally lowering his head to breathe, and gently rubbing it with his arm, and he was really enjoying it.

Wang Gu'an promised, "I will."

The girl said to Ji Chenru, "This cabinet is not valuable, but don't sell this inlaid pattern of golden osmanthus and hanging moon at a low price."

Ji Chenru said without raising her head, "I have never liked that thing since I was a child. If you like it, just scrape it off yourself."

The girl in black certainly did this to make a big fuss. She just asked curiously, "What is the material of this pattern?"

Ji Chenru glanced back and said, "It's hundreds of years old. How would I know? Even my grandfather can't tell me."

Wang Gu'an said softly, "It should be stones picked up from the creek beach. There are many colors, but Ji Chenru's elders must have only picked the golden ones, crushed them first and then glued them together. We call this kind of stone snake gallstone."

The girl in black asked, "Stones? Are there many in the creek?"

Wang Gu'an said with a smile: "Miss Ning, if you want, I can pick up a big basket for you every day. No one here likes this, only Gu Can likes it and often goes to pick it up by himself."

The girl in black sighed and looked deeply at the poor boy in Niping Lane, "A poor guy living on a mountain of gold and silver."

Wang Gu'an was surprised and said: "Is this kind of stone valuable outside?"

She adjusted her veil and said: "The price depends on who has it. In addition, even if it falls into the hands of someone who knows the business, whether it will succeed depends on luck. If you are lucky, one stone is enough. If you are unlucky, a mountain of stones will not work. But no matter what, it is valuable, and very valuable. I just don't know if it can be taken out of the town. This is very important."

Ji Chenru interrupted, "This stone is a bit strange. Once it is taken out of the stream, once it is exposed to the wind and sun, the color will fade, especially after rain and snow, the color will fade more severely. Apart from that, there is nothing else."

The girl said with regret: "It is true."

Wang Gu'an hesitated for a moment, "How about I go pick up a big basket tomorrow and give it a try? What if there is an exception?"

The girl shook her head and said: "It is meaningless to me."

Ji Chenru had already moved the armor back to the house and hid it. At this time, leaning against the door, she smiled and said: "Wang Gu'an is a big money-grubber. Maybe he will go to the creek to touch stones tonight."

The girl said, "Let's go."

When she walked to the door, she turned around and asked: "I will keep the hairpin and prescription for you. But you still need to go to Niping Lane tomorrow to help boil the medicine."

Wang Gu'an nodded and said: "No problem."

She thought for a moment, her face solemn, and reminded: "Among the foreigners who entered the town at about the same time as me, the most powerful one should be the old man from Zhengyang Mountain, who came here to escort the little girl. The next one is the eunuch from the Sui Dynasty who injured me, and then Liu Zhimao who took Gu Can away. Don't underestimate the woman with a dagger in her smile. So whenever you meet the old guy from Zhengyang Mountain, try not to argue, but once a conflict occurs, just delay the time, don't fight with others, don't have any fluke mentality, and you must delay until I show up."

Ji Chenru whispered: "In our territory, these foreigners who are unfamiliar with the place, dare to kill people?"

Wang Gu'an glanced at him and nodded: "I dare."

Ji Chenru swallowed his saliva.

Wang Gu'an suddenly asked: "Do you remember what Taoist Lu..., the fortune teller who set up a stall, said to you?"

Ji Chenru felt a headache for a while. After trying hard to recall, he scratched his head and said: "How can I remember it clearly? I just know that it was some unpleasant words. Anyway, it was about a big disaster and burning incense. It was a mess. I just thought he was talking nonsense and cheating people out of money..."

Wang Gu'an turned his head and looked at the girl in black.

The girl said viciously: "He can't remember the fortune well, how can I interpret it for him? Do you really think I'm a god!"

Wang Gu'an was a little confused and couldn't understand why Miss Ning was so angry suddenly.

The girl strode out of the house.

She was much more resolute than when she came.

The girl with a sword walked in the spacious alley, wondering if she should find some books to read when she got time?

When the girl thought about traveling around in the future, she would chop off heads with a flying sword and then compose a few impassioned poems. Even if there was no one around, she felt that it was really handsome!

————

Just when the girl was full of longing, a familiar figure passed by like a flying horse.

"See you tomorrow, Miss Ning."

When the voice fell, the figure was almost at the end of the alley.

The boy in straw sandals, carrying a basket on his back, walked briskly.

The girl was stunned and muttered to herself: "Is there really such a money-grubber?"