At this time, the people outside the courtyard were still shouting: Is there a robber in Caojia Winery?
Cao Hongyou responded at the courtyard gate: No robbers were found. But I did hear someone shouting to catch the thief before, but now the thief has not been found.
Suddenly, a servant holding a torch stood by the courtyard wall and shouted: Blood stains were found.
The crowd outside echoed: There were also blood stains outside the courtyard wall.
Cao Hongyou followed the sound and looked at the flames of the torch. There was indeed blood, and he said that this meant that a robber had climbed into the courtyard wall.
Cao Yang said, I was wondering. I was sleeping in bed and heard someone shouting, "Catch the thief." Who was shouting? Did someone outside scream after spotting the thief?
People outside answered that we rushed over after hearing someone shouting loudly inside the courtyard wall to catch the thief, but no one among us shouted at all.
Cao Yang frowned and said, "That's strange. Since the robber broke into the compound, it's impossible for the robber to call for the thief himself, right?" !
Hu Qin said that there are situations where a thief shouts to catch a thief, but this is not the case.
People inside and outside the courtyard wall looked at each other, and some said, "Who is calling for the thief?"
Late that night, there was silence in the earthen house in the western suburbs of the city. The two attempted thieves huddled inside, still feeling terrified. Under the dim light, Hu Xiangcai took a toothpick and picked out the tiny glass shards stuck in Wu Daode's palm.
Wu Daode's hands were covered with blood. He frowned and said, "How come your hands are not pricked at all?"
Hu Xiangcai said, when you reached out to pull me on the courtyard wall, I stretched out my left hand and quickly held the hat in my right hand, so I was not injured when I grabbed the edge of the courtyard wall with glass shards.
Wu Daode said jealously, damn, you are smarter than me.
Hu Xiangcai said, "Don't call me smart. As soon as I jumped over the courtyard wall, my black hat was accidentally thrown off." I was very unlucky tonight, as if I was controlled by an evil spirit. I was so confused that I couldn't control myself, and I was almost caught by my employer and the surrounding neighbors. It really echoes the old saying: If you fail to steal a chicken, you will lose a handful of rice!
Wu Daode said that the one who controls you is not the evil ghost, but Zhong Kui who catches the evil ghost. If he possesses you, he can be regarded as catching you as an evil ghost. If I hadn't knelt down and kowtowed repeatedly to admit my mistake and beg him to spare you, then both you and I would have been caught tonight.
Hu Xiangcai said, I will never dare to think too much about the Cao Family Winery in the future. The Zhong Kui you mentioned, even if we are snitches, we cannot defeat his magic.
"Yeah" Wu Daode nodded.
Hu Xiangcai was still removing broken glass from Wu Daode with a toothpick.
After a while, Wu Daode said, "It's all done. There's no need to pick anymore."
Hu Xiangcai threw away the bloody toothpick and said, Fortunately, the broken glass stuck in your palm was not deep, so it was easy to find and pick it out.
Wu Daode said that this was a blessing among misfortunes.
Hu Xiangcai emphasized that there is one good thing among misfortunes. Although we did not succeed in doing this business, our whereabouts were not exposed.
The next day, the usual peaceful atmosphere of Cao's Winery seemed to be broken.
When the sun rose, Cao Yang came out of the archway and walked around the outside of the courtyard to look around. He found a black hat with a dog's hole hanging on the branch of the locust tree near the courtyard wall. He stretched out one foot and pulled the locust tree hard. As soon as the tree stepped on, the black hat that the dog drilled into fell to the ground. He picked it up and saw that there were two eye holes on the edge of the hat.
Cao Yang said to himself: It must have been dropped by the robber who broke into the yard last night. Fortunately, nothing was stolen, it can only be said to be a near miss. If it is really stolen, I will take this hat to the county police chief, and it can also be used as physical evidence and clues in the investigation.
There were still blood stains on the locust tree pole. Cao Yang caught a glimpse of it out of the corner of his eye and turned his head to look carefully. It was indeed blood stains.
Two hours later, two helpers with hacksaws cut down the locust tree. When the locust tree fell to the ground, it made a loud "click" sound.
Cao Hongyou walked out of the archway with a seven-star crutch and accused the two servants of cutting down the locust tree.
The two helpers shied away from responsibility in unison: It was your son who arranged for us to cut down this locust tree.
Cao Yang happened to walk out of the archway, and Cao Hongyou also accused his son of letting them do such a thing, and made gestures angrily.
Cao Yang said, Dad, it will be beneficial for me to arrange for two helpers to chop down this locust tree.
Cao Hongyou did not agree, but denied: There are benefits to having a fart.
Cao Yang said, Dad, I discovered that the robber last night climbed up the locust tree near the courtyard wall and jumped in. I asked them to cut down the locust tree to remove the advantageous conditions for the robbers to climb over the courtyard wall.
Cao Hongyou said disdainfully, if the locust tree is cut down, can't the robbers break in? Robbers can use ladders to climb over the courtyard walls.
Cao Yang said, it’s not that convenient to move a ladder, right? ! This locust tree growing close to the courtyard wall is a natural ladder. As long as you climb the locust tree pole that is higher than the courtyard wall, it is much easier to jump into the courtyard wall without touching the traps stuck upside down on the edge of the courtyard wall. Broken glass that someone climbed on.
Cao Hongyou said, so what's the matter with the blood stains on the courtyard wall?
Cao Yang said, my analysis is that when the robber climbed out of the courtyard wall when he was escaping, his arms and other parts were cut by the broken glass on the edge of the courtyard wall and dripped blood.
Cao Hongyou stroked his white beard and said, "Anyway, I don't think it's good to cut down this locust tree. It would be better if other trees were cut down."
When Cao Yang heard this, he asked nervously, what do you mean?
Cao Hongyou said, a tree and a ghost combine to form a locust tree. If you cut down the locust tree, you have offended the ghost of the tree, which is not good for our Cao family! Especially now that it’s the New Year’s Eve, how can you do such a thing if you want to be lucky?
Cao Yang said regretfully, Dad, why didn't you tell me earlier?
Cao Hongyou said unhappily in his heart, how did I know that you would do whatever you wanted without going through my father? What a traitor! As he spoke, he stamped the seven-star crutch in his hand on the ground several times.
A few days later, Wu Daode carried a bag of soybeans into the archway of Caojia Winery and walked to the door of the house where he bought soybeans.
Cao Hongyou raised his seven-star crutch and shook it and said, "I won't buy any more soybeans."
Wu Daode begged, this bag of soybeans is less than ten kilograms, just take it! I finally got it.
Cao Yang smacked the money bag hanging in front of his lapel and said he had no money to accept it. All the acquisition money had been spent.
Wu Daode took the initiative to put a bag of soybeans on the scale and said, "Can't I sell it to your Cao family at a low price?"
Cao Yang took out the bag of soybeans placed on the scale and placed it on the ground. He looked at Wu Daode and said, "Take it away, our Cao family doesn't want soybeans anymore."
Cao Hongyou said, Cao Yang, please write a message stating that you will no longer buy soybeans and post it on the street, so that no one will send soybeans again.
Wu Daode looked up and saw that there were many soybeans piled up in the room covered with a drying mat, like a hill.
Cao Yang said, Dad, these soybeans will be sent to Jiangbei on the 24th of the twelfth lunar month. There are only two days left. Now we need to arrange for the jigong bus to take the goods to Chibi Pier. Once the goods are finished, they will be shipped.
Wu Daode was still standing at the door, hesitating to leave. Hearing these words, he smiled slightly. After a moment, he looked at Cao Yang and asked, has the ship been contacted?
Cao Yang replied, no, there are many ships! After all the goods are transported to Chibi Pier, you can just call a boat temporarily.
Wu Daode said, just use my boat! Take care of my business, and the freight across the river is cheap.
Cao Yang said, how much would it cost to ship about two tons of soybeans from Chibijitou across the river to Wulin Pier on the other side?
Wu Daode said that the going price for a ton of goods across the river is 20 ton of goods. Let me do this business. I will only charge 15 ton of goods to cross the river.
Cao Yang said, let’s talk about it then!
Wu Daode put down the bag of soybeans he was holding. He said, since your Cao family takes care of my business, my bag of soybeans, which weighs about 10 kilograms, will be given to your family for free.
Cao Yang said, how can that be done? Then he picked up the bag of soybeans and handed it to Wu Daode.
Wu Daode took the bag, opened the mouth of the bag, took it to the open door, poured the whole bag of soybeans into the piles of soybeans, turned around and left with the empty bag in hand, walked to the middle of the field, and turned around again. Take a look at Cao Yang. Cao Yang chased him and said, forget it, I'll give you ten coins.
Wu Daode shook his hand and said no. He ran to the gate of the archway, turned back and said, Boss Cao, you have so many soybeans to be transported across the river, let me do the business!
Cao Yang stood in the scene and said, our Cao family will ship goods across the river on the 24th of the twelfth lunar month. Your ship must be anchored at Chibi Pier. If you don't see your people that day, you will have to use someone else's ship.
Wu Daode said, my ship will be docked at Chibi Wharf waiting for your Cao family to ship soybeans. Then he walked out of the archway gate and left in a hurry.
Cao Yang returned to the door of the house where the soybeans were piled. Before he could stand still, Cao Hongyou accused him of not revealing the information about transporting soybeans to Jiangbei.
Cao Yang said, Dad, it doesn’t matter? People should not be too cautious. Being too cautious means closing yourself off.
Cao Hongyou suddenly became angry. He scolded, "Nonsense, you haven't even been cautious, how can you be said to be overly cautious?"
Cao Yang said that in order to promote shipping business, they also gave us a bag of soybeans for free, which showed their sincerity.
Cao Hongyou asked, is that sincerity? It is a means to achieve a purpose, so be careful!
Cao Yang said dissatisfiedly, Dad, you are too worried.
Cao Hongyou glared at him again and said, My right eye has been twitching these days for fear of something happening.
Cao Yang said, whether the left eye jumps or the right eye jumps, it is because the person is tired. What does this have to do with the accident? You are too superstitious.
Cao Hongyou knocked the seven-star crutch in his hand heavily and said loudly, "Shut up!"
