Qu Wuyang opened the door in his clothes, and saw the old housekeeper who had been with him for decades walking with a letter and walking like a fly, and said as he walked: "When Xiao Liuzi got up to pee, he saw that this letter was lying on the heel of the east courtyard wall, and he didn't know who and when he threw it in, and I asked the secret sentry that was guarding outside last night, but I didn't realize that these idle men who can't do anything when they are full of food are really uneasy to do......

Qu Wuyang looked excited, there was no news of his only son for a whole month, and there was not even a clue about it, and there was a letter today, how could he not be excited?

Qu Wuyang was not afraid that someone would take the opportunity to blackmail the Qu family, so he eagerly took the letter from the housekeeper's hand, and there was a line of fine block letters written on the envelope sleeve: "Pick up things outside the poplar forest and want to return to the owner." Seeing this line of small characters, Qu Wuyang knew that it was a passerby, and outsiders would never know that the mystery happened outside the poplar forest, he did not rush to open the letter, but only instructed the housekeeper to find a few capable subordinates, and the other party endured it for a month before throwing the letter into the courtyard, and the secret whistle of the Qu family outside Sanliuyuan was unaware of it, and the other party would never be an ordinary force.

Since the other party did not stab the matter to the Inspectorate after he caught someone, it seems that he also wanted to secretly obstruct the forces of Gu Wuchen, the upstart of the Chu Party, who came to Jiangdong to stir up the wind and waves, which also makes sense that when the Qu family swordsmen attacked the displaced people, these people coveted them beside them; Qu Wuyang thought to himself, maybe there is still a chance for the two sides to cooperate.

The housekeeper found several stewards in Sanliu Garden, and asked people to invite the second master, Qu Wuming, to come.

Qu Wuming and several stewards of the Qu family rushed to the courtyard where Qu Wuyang lived, only to see Qu Wuyang's gloomy face, and the letter was spread on the table. Qu Wuming walked over and picked up the letter, a very ordinary white paper, the upper corner was printed with a bright red imprint, and two lines of fine block letters were written in the middle: "Outside the poplar forest, the jade is transparent, the carving is exquisite, it can be of the highest grade, the price of the jade shop in Jiangning City is one hundred taels of silver, the Qu family is intentional, five hundred taels of silver can be buried in the southeast corner of the poplar forest under the third old poplar tree within three days, I will wait to get the silver, the next day I will return this thing to the original owner......"

Qu Wuming smelled the red mark on the upper corner of the letter, and there was a smell of blood, which was actually stained with blood.

"It's the jade Guanyin pattern that the young master wears with him......" The old steward reminded the second master Qu Wuming in a low voice, it was obvious that the young master fell into the hands of this group, but it was also obvious that this group of people was very difficult to deal with.

Qu Wuming gasped and asked, "They went to the jade shop to inquire about the price, can they check this aspect first?" ”

"They are deliberately disturbing us, there are thirty or forty jade shops in Jiangning City, and they are also sure that we will not alarm Jiangning Mansion, and they can't ask openly when they go to thirty or forty jade shops from door to door, this thought is too much, it is far better to bury five hundred taels of silver directly," Qu Wuyang said, "I can only respond to the move first and then see if the other party makes a move......

Qu Wuming saw that his cousin was getting more and more critical, but he was able to calm down and analyze the problem, and it was inconvenient to say anything, thinking in his heart which side this group of people belonged to? The people of the Hou Mansion of Jin'an who are extravagant and flying tigers? Wang Xueshan's person? Jia Pengyu's people? The people of the Mugong Mansion? The people of the Admiralty? Or is it someone who appeases the envoys? Li Zhuo's arrival in Jiangning to serve as the secretary of the Jiangning Military Department and the garrison general is almost a foregone conclusion, and now the Jiangning garrison general will not be involved in the trouble, and it is the right thing to hurry up to get money before leaving.

"The only advantage is that at least now there is no need to worry that the other party will stab the matter to the Inspectorate," Qu Wuyang said again, "Maybe it will be more greedy." ”

Qu Wuming sighed lightly, and looked carefully at the letterhead and the envelope, although the words were fine and beautiful, but they were not written with a brush, it looked like they were sharpened and burned with a wooden strip to write, and it would cost five hundred taels of silver to redeem a jade pendant, I don't know how much silver it would cost to redeem people, and in addition, they also had to seal the night attack on the homeless people here, and I don't know how much silver it would take. To tell the truth, as long as you redeem people, you are not afraid of things being revealed, Gu Wuchen has no real evidence, and it is even more difficult to move the head snake just by virtue of the identity of the upstart of the Chu Party.

Sit down and discuss the details properly, and arrange people to execute, Qu Wuyang didn't sleep in the house all night, kept watch all night, and got the report and didn't dig out the silver they buried under the poplar tree, it was like this for three days, even if he knew that the other party was not a good character to deal with, Qu Wuyang was still a little impatient, but in the hands of the other party, he could only press his temperament.

After nightfall on the third day, the steward who had been sent out to take charge of the matter came back with a very bad face, and in his hand he still had in his hand the silver bag containing five hundred taels of silver, which had been buried outside the poplar forest three days ago, and in his hand he also brought back a letter. Qu Wuyang, Qu Wuming and other stewards were waiting in Sanliuyuan, and seeing that they couldn't get back the jade pendant, Qu Wuyang took the letter with a gloomy face, and wrote the same handwriting as the previous letter: "The Qu family has sent twelve people to guard the silver, so how can I wait to get it with confidence?" Please bury the silver under the second bridge pile on the north side of the east side of the Jiuweng Bridge within three days......"

Qu Wuming saw what was written in the letter, and said disdainfully: "Hmph, the other party has these abilities, we obviously sent eighteen people, and they can only find twelve!" ”

"How did this letter come about?" Qu Wuyang asked the steward.

"It's in a silver bag." The steward in charge of the matter said dejectedly.

Qu Wuming's face instantly became very bad, as if he had slapped him in public, did he want to be angry, and reprimanded the steward in charge this time: "Are you eighteen pairs of eyes blind?" ”

Qu Wuyang's face also became ugly, in order to trace a little clue when the other party took the silver, so as to gain some initiative, he set up secret sentinels around the poplar forest were all selected by him, and he was specially divided into six groups to monitor all the people who entered the poplar forest around the clock, who would have thought that in this case, he would quietly put this letter into the silver bag for the other party. It's not that the other party doesn't have the ability to take the money, but doing so is to give them a warning.

"What should I do?" Qu Wuming asked.

"I'm afraid that the other party has already sent someone to keep an eye on Sanliuyuan," Qu Wuyang said, "Tomorrow I will personally go to bury the silver under the Jiuurn Bridge, and our people will all withdraw to see how the other party reacts?" ”

Qu Wuming sighed lightly, knowing that his cousin wanted to save the life of his only son, and decided to give up the initiative.

Qu Wuyang took a carriage to Sanliuyuan before dawn the next day, and buried a silver bag containing five hundred taels of silver under the second bridge pile on the north side of the east head of the Jiuurn Bridge. After he got back into the carriage, he waited on the bridge for a while, it was the darkest moment before dawn, it was quiet all around, only the sound of the water under the bridge and the wind blowing the blades of grass, thinking that the other party might send a boat to pass under the bridge to take the silver, but there must be someone secretly monitoring the bridge deck of the Jiuurn Bridge, thinking to himself: The other party's power is really not weak, and there are many experienced masters, Jiangning Mansion secretly has such a force, and there are not many families, in short, it will not be Gu Wuchen, who is new to the city and has no foundation in Jiangning. Qu Wuyang sighed lightly and instructed the old housekeeper who drove him personally: "Let's go back......"

Qu Wuyang was still guessing when the other party would take the silver under the bridge, and the carriage drove back to Sanliuyuan non-stop, but saw his cousin Qu Wuming and others waiting in front of the gatehouse of the garden.

Qu Wuyang got out of the car and asked, "What's wrong?" ”

"Look at ......" Qu Wuming spread out his hand and showed Qu Wuyang a jade Guanyin.

Qu Wuyang is very familiar with this jade pendant, or when he was middle-aged, he personally went to the city to ask Cui Zhai to choose materials and spent a lot of money to ask the master master in Cui Zhai to carve out the Guanyin pendant, just hoping to ensure the safety of his only son's life, so seeing this jade pendant is straight to the heart. He took the jade pendant and asked, "When did you send it?" ”

"It's been half a cup of tea!" Qu Wuming said.

"......" Qu Wuyang gasped, counting the time, the other party from monitoring him to bury the silver to sending someone to get the silver and then sending a message to send the jade pendant to Sanliuyuan, in the whole link, the other party did not delay at all, and they had to hurry up to catch up, they didn't hear the sound of horses' hooves running on the road, thinking that Wu Ming and they didn't notice anything else on Sanliuyuan's side, such an opponent was really frightening, but they didn't show a little bit of hiding.

Qu Wuyang has also been depressed by the opponent who can't touch the slightest bit of hiding these days, and suddenly thinks of a question that makes him afraid: If these people are not just for extorting silver, what a terrible thing should the enemies of the Qu family be?

"This is the letter that the other party threw in with Guanyinpei...... Qu Wuming also realized that the Qu family was likely to face a very terrible enemy, and he handed the letter to his cousin.

"......" Qu Wuyang opened the letter and looked at it, and couldn't help but gasp, the other party not only asked for 20,000 taels of silver, but also took a light boat with silver to Chaotiandang within three days to change people, only the Qu family sent two people to paddle into Chaotiandang.

"They really dare to swallow elephants, and they will ask for 20,000 taels of silver when they open their mouths." Qu Wuming looked at his cousin to see how he decided.

"I joked with Bin'er before, if someone else threatens his life, I am willing to exchange 20,000 taels of silver for his life, thinking that Bin'er will fall into the hands of the other party, and tell the other party this joke," Qu Wuyang said vicissitudes, "The big and small affairs of the Qu family can't be decided by me alone, what do you say you want to do?" ”

“…… To give! I, as an uncle, can't ignore my nephew's life! Qu Wuming stared at his cousin, had to express his position, and said viciously, "In the future, find out who dares to blackmail our Qu family behind our backs, and we have to chop them into meat foam to make buns to relieve our hatred!" ”

"It takes time for us to prepare the silver, and it is always inconvenient to trade at night, so we can only choose the daytime on the third day. There are not 1,000 fishing boats in Chaotian during the day, but 800 of them, and they are afraid that they want to use this as a cover-well, so we will release the news from the secret channel, and say that I, Qu Wuyang, will take 20,000 taels of silver to ransom people in Chaotian in three days, and see if the other party is capable of taking 20,000 taels of silver out of Chaotian on the third day by pretending to be a ghost today......" Qu Wuyang bit his teeth into his lips and flesh, and said viciously.

"If the news reaches the ears of the other party, I am afraid that it will be unfavorable to the young master......" the old steward persuaded.

As soon as the news is released, I am afraid that all the Jiang bandits and rogues around Jiangning Mansion who can catch up with it will be attracted to join in the excitement, after all, 20,000 taels of silver is 1,250 catties, even if you take the largest silver bag, it will be filled with five bags.

"Could it be that the Qu family can let the other party bully him?" Qu Wuyang said hatefully, "My Qu family only sent a boatload of silver to exchange people according to the instructions in the letter, and the letter was not ruined, and the other party still had to tear up the ticket, and it could only be forgiven that Bin'er was destined to not escape this catastrophe." "If he blindly leads the other party's nose and has no power to fight back, even if he rescues Bin'er, I am afraid that his prestige in the clan will be greatly reduced, and 20,000 taels of silver will not hurt the Qu family, if the other party takes it away smoothly, the damage to the Qu family will be the greatest. Qu Wuyang also expected that the other party was just asking for silver, and thought: If the news is released, if the other party doesn't dare to take the silver on the third day, he will contact him.

************

PS: Silver, silver...... No, red ticket, red ticket, collection, collection!