Chapter 406: Fortune and Disaster
The sun rises and the sky is cloudless.
Hong Jiu was limping along the street, leaning on a dog-beating stick, but his heart was as gloomy as the night before a storm.
Originally, as his injuries had not yet healed, he should not have gone out to beg on the streets. However, beggars never have money left overnight. During the seven or eight days of recuperation, he relied on the leftovers of a few beggars. He was hungry all day long, and Hong Jiu really couldn't bear it anymore.
So he decided to look for a good feng shui location, use his eloquence to get some valuable goods, and satisfy his hunger.
Who would have thought that when he walked onto the street with the dog-beating stick, before he could think of a suitable place, he found someone following him closely from behind. When he took a peek, he found that it was none other than the deaf boss's men!
This damn ear, is it really going to kill everyone? !
Hong Jiu was filled with frustration and anger, and he wanted to turn around and fight the evil beggar to the death. However, after turning around and measuring the other party's size, he wisely gave up this suicidal idea.
what to do?
There was no way he could win the fight, and since he was limping, there was no way he could get rid of the opponent.
This is really...
"Ouch~!"
His mind was in a mess and he didn't notice a man suddenly rushing out from the alley in front of him and knocked Hong Jiu to the ground with an elbow!
That was not all. Five or six burly men came up from behind. Seeing the thin-soled boots as big as casserole pots about to step on him without any reason, Hong Jiu was so scared that his soul flew away. He rolled 18 times on the ground until he rolled to the bottom of the south wall, and then he stopped in shock.
When Hong Jiu got up from the ground, he saw that the tall and thin man who had knocked him over had been surrounded by the strong men who were chasing him from behind. They punched and slapped him in the face, and cursed him:
"Son of a bitch! Why don't you go and ask where our Silver Hook Casino is? You stole things from us. You must be an old man who has eaten arsenic and is tired of living!"
"Don't waste your time talking to him! Where's the stuff? Where's the stuff! Hand it over right now!"
"Brother Dong, the thing doesn't seem to be on him! Tell me, where the hell did you hide it?!"
There is a morning vegetable market nearby and it is crowded with people now. When they heard that a thief was caught, they all gathered around, shouting and killing to join in the fun.
"Who stole your things?"
Seeing this, the tall and thin man jumped three feet high and shouted at the top of his voice: "Heaven and earth, I am real gold... Ouch!"
Just after calling himself "old man", he was slapped again. The tall and thin man covered his face and quickly changed his words: "I bought these with real money, how can it be considered stealing?!"
Hearing this, Hong Jiu thought that this person had bought stolen goods, but was caught red-handed by the original owner.
Unexpectedly, the thug from the Silver Hook Casino sneered and said, "How can it not be considered stealing? My chips are exchanged for five cents of silver each, but can be sold for seven cents of silver outside. You exchanged dozens of chips in one go and wanted to secretly bring them out to sell at a high price. You are really doing a good business!"
Many people were puzzled by this statement. Chips have always been clearly marked with prices, and if you exchange them to other houses, they will not be recognized at all. So how could someone want to exchange the chips and sell them outside at a high price?
Seeing that everyone was puzzled, the leading thug quickly explained: "You don't know, the chips in our gambling house are all made up of the Tao Zhu Jin Bei. It was okay a few days ago. The Tao Zhu Jin Bei was only sold for four cents of silver each, and no one wanted to take these chips."
"Who would have thought that after entering June, the price of this damn 'Tao Zhu Jin Bei' has risen sharply, and now it is sold for seven silver coins each. Therefore, my family's bargaining chips have been coveted by this thief!"
The words haven't finished yet.
Several voices of sudden enlightenment suddenly rang out from the crowd :
"No wonder, it turned out to be Tao Zhu Jin Bei!"
"I heard that the price of this thing has really increased dramatically. The low-grade gold shell is okay, but I heard that the medium-grade one has increased from the original two taels of silver to eight taels and six cents of silver!"
"What is this?! My second uncle's neighbor's nephew's brother-in-law was lucky enough to buy a top-quality gold shell with inscriptions for three taels of silver. It was just such a small piece, but he bought a three-story courtyard. Now he has five or six people and servants to call. Don't mention how comfortable he is!"
"It's still too early to sell it! Look at the crazy price increase now. Maybe I can buy a large house with four entrances in two months!"
"It's a pity that I don't have any connections, otherwise I could buy a few gold shells and keep them at home, and they would be worth several times their value in two or three months!"
Everyone was talking back and forth, and the listeners were full of admiration and envy, but they had completely forgotten about the thief.
Finally, someone questioned, "Since the price of the Tao Zhu Jin Bei has increased, why don't you raise the price of the chips to one tael of silver per piece?"
Everyone thought this was reasonable, so they turned their attention to the gambling thugs. Their eyes clearly showed a sense of superiority in intelligence.
“We want to, too!”
The leading thug cried out in injustice: "But the boss has taken the shopkeeper to Jinmen Mansion to discuss business. Now there is no one in charge at home. Who dares to raise the price at random?!"
As he said this, he pushed and shoved the tall and thin man back to find the golden shells.
In the blink of an eye, all the thugs dispersed, but the onlookers did not disperse. They gathered in groups of three or five, talking about "Tao Zhu Jin Bei" all the time.
Hong Jiu pricked up his ears and listened to everyone's discussions. His heart began to beat wildly with excitement - because he suddenly remembered that at the beginning of the year, he seemed to have picked up a Taozhu gold shell. At that time, he did not know it was a valuable item, so he gave it to the girl.
Now that I think about it, the shell was completely white with clear lines, so it must have been at least a mid-quality shell. Maybe...
Thinking that he might have picked up a large courtyard with three entrances for free, the gloom in Hong Jiu's heart disappeared immediately, and was replaced by an eagerness like burning charcoal!
He was just about to run back to the dilapidated temple to confirm it carefully, when he suddenly saw the deaf boss's men standing not far away, also dazzled by what he had heard.
no!
If he went back in such a hurry and was discovered by the deaf boss's men, he would probably take away his opportunity immediately!
But with Sanjin Mansion in his mind, how could Hong Jiu still be in the mood to beg for food? So he decided to just wander around the street and wait until noon before going back to see what was going on.
But he was walking around aimlessly with a bamboo stick. At first, he didn't feel tired because he was so excited. But as he walked, the scorching sun became stronger and Hong Jiu was sweating profusely.
Seeing that he would definitely get heatstroke if he continued like this, Hong Jiu was hesitating whether to find a cool place to rest his feet, but suddenly he heard a commotion in the nearby alley.
First, a man shouted in the yard: "You vicious woman, you really want to murder your husband!"
"Pooh!"
Then there was another woman's scream: "You thief are obviously not my husband. Now you shamelessly move into my house. You must be trying to defraud my family of my wealth!"
The man yelled again, "Okay, okay! You vicious woman, you still talk like this even now, I...I must divorce you today!"
Hong Jiu found these words quite interesting. He walked around the streets every day and had heard countless cases of couples quarreling. However, this was the first time he had ever seen a woman insisting that her husband was an impersonator and yet allowed the man to live in their home.
Tired as he was, he simply sat down at the entrance of the alley, took off his open-toed cloth shoes, knocked the sand and dirt out of them against the wall, then rolled up his trouser legs, revealing a pair of gray and white hairy legs.
After everything was sorted out, Hong Jiu was about to prick up his ears to listen to the corner, but suddenly he heard a shrill and high-pitched scream from the yard: "Ah~~~!"
Hong Jiu was so frightened that he got goose bumps all over his body. He didn't know what had happened inside when he heard a "crash". The door of the house opened to the left and right, and a pretty little woman staggered out . Her lotus green sleeves were covered with bloodstains!
This is……
Hong Jiu subconsciously got up from the ground, tremblingly grasping the dog-beating stick, and stepped back step by step.
Unexpectedly, the young woman was even more panicked than him. When she went out, she saw a beggar holding a bamboo stick, staring at her with wide eyes. Her legs went weak and she collapsed on the ground, crying and wiping her tears, "I... I just wanted to scare him, I didn't mean to kill him!"
“Kill…kill…”
Upon hearing this, Hong Jiu took two steps back, turned around and ran when she reached the entrance of the alley, screaming, "Murder! Murder! Someone is murdering my husband!"
