Night falls.
Dongcheng, the Zhou family's mansion.
"The eldest young master is back, the eldest young master is back!"
"Young Master, my wife just went to the dining room, you came back just in time!"
Following a burst of shouts from the servants, a man in brocade clothes, about thirty years old, walked through the front yard and came to the dining room of the back house.
In the brightly lit dining room, plates of steaming dishes had just been brought to the table. A short, fat, middle-aged man in brocade clothes at the head table waved:
"Yuxuan is back just in time, sit down and eat quickly."
The person who spoke was none other than the owner of the Zhou family, Zhou Jinming.
The eldest son Zhou Yuxuan hummed, washed his hands in the basin brought by the servant, dried them and sat down at the table.
In addition to him, there were also Zhou Jinming's first wife, Mrs. Hu, and his second son Zhou Yuxiong, who had just become pregnant.
Soon the rice was served and everyone moved their chopsticks. Zhou Jinming looked at the eldest son and asked:
"How's it going? It's been a few days. Did the Yamen find any clues?"
As an official in Dongcheng, Zhou Yuxuan sighed:
"Of course not. The Jingwu Division is mainly responsible for the investigation now. The officers in the Yamen are so disorganized that they are not very useful at all. But from my point of view, even if it is the Jingwu Division, it will be very difficult to catch the man in Tsing Yi."
"It's unreasonable. The Jingwu Division is useless. It's a waste of the security tax paid by wealthy households like us every year!"
Zhou Jinming snorted coldly and said:
"This bastard Tsing Yi Ke has made the whole Fengyang Mansion so chaotic that he deserves to be damned! When I catch this animal, I have to go to Caishikou in person and watch this animal being chopped into pieces with thousands of knives and executed in Lingchi. !”
On the side, his first wife, Mrs. Hu, rolled her eyes at him dissatisfiedly: "What about being cut into pieces and executed late? Don't say these words when eating at home!"
The second son, Zhou Yuxiong, stopped his chopsticks, his eyes rolled around, and he asked suspiciously:
"Brother, is that guest in green clothes really as mysterious as the rumors say? It is said that he is protected by the power of punishment from the sky, making him invisible and invisible. Why don't I believe it?"
"Believe it or not, most of the yamen's police officers are just drunkards, but the people in the Jingwu Division are somewhat capable. It's not a lie that they are helpless with this man in green clothes."
Zhou Yuxuan shook his head, then looked at Zhou Jinming with hesitation on his face:
"Father, mother, and son think that we should treat the tenants better during this period. It would be best if we could lower their rent and live a more comfortable life."
"What, lower the rent for those mud-legged people?"
At the dinner table, Zhou Jinming suddenly darkened his face:
"Impossible! The fields I rent to them are all high-quality fertile fields, and the grain seeds are all selected and provided by me. These tenants can usually get 20% of the harvest with just a little effort, which is already good enough. Now, where else do you want to descend!?”
Knowing that his father had always been harsh and stingy towards the tenants, the eldest son Zhou Yuxuan said sincerely:
"Dad, don't look at what time it is. The man in green clothes killed the son of General Feng'en, Tian Tongpan and Wu Juren one after another. His methods were so weird and cruel. Now many ordinary people in the entire East City are looking forward to this man. Go and slaughter all the landlords.
Our Zhou family is also one of the top landlords in Dongcheng. Over the years, many tenants have resented us because of some things. If we don't find a way to ease it, if the Qing Yi guest comes to know about it, we will regret it. It's too late. "
Being able to save such a large family fortune, Zhou Jinming is certainly not a fool. After hearing this, his face changed slightly and he hesitated:
"My son, it can't be such a coincidence, right? The unclean landlords in Fengyang Mansion are very powerful, and that guest in Qingyi..."
Zhou Yuxuan said helplessly:
"Dad, the reputation of our Zhou family in the East City is not much better than that of Qin Juren. In addition, with all the bastard things Yuxiong did in the past few years, if these tenants or enemies have their own thoughts like that A Lin If you go around crying and complaining like your sister-in-law, the consequences will be disastrous."
Zhou Yuxiong shrank his neck when he heard this. Hu's color immediately changed and she was frightened:
"Sir, what Yuxuan said is right. Our family's reputation in the East City is not very good. Yuxiong's affairs should not be known to the Tsing Yi customers. I think it is better to listen to Yuxuan and quickly lower the rent to silence those tenants! "
Zhou Jinming was shocked and frightened when he thought about it carefully at this moment, and glanced at Zhou Yuxiong angrily:
"It's all the fault of you bastard!"
Zhou Yuxuan and Zhou Yuxiong were both born to their first wife, the Hu family, but the eldest son, Zhou Yuxuan, was quite talented and accomplished both in civil and military affairs;
However, the second son Zhou Yuxiong, who is five years younger, is completely crooked. He has been idle and ignorant since he was a child, and is proficient in eating, drinking, whoring and gambling.
Especially last year, when Zhou Yuxiong followed the housekeeper to patrol the land outside the city, he accidentally bumped into a tenant's daughter. Because of her beauty, he became lustful and wanted to take her as his maid.
However, although the family was poor, they were unwilling to send their daughter into a pit of fire. They rejected Zhou Yuxiong on the spot and refused to agree to any conditions.
After losing face and failing to achieve his goal, Zhou Yuxiong became angry. Just a few days later, he broke into the tenant's house with two drunken slaves, and not only beat the farmer and the farmer's wife to a bloody head, but they also fainted on the spot. He even raped his daughter on the spot.
After the incident, Zhou Yuxiong woke up, but because he was afraid that the incident would be exposed, he burned the tenant's house on fire and fled back home.
Afterwards, all three members of the tenant's family were burnt corpses, causing quite a sensation.
I don’t know how the news leaked out, but all the tenants around knew that it was Zhou Yuxiong’s doing. There were even tenants who had their property taken away from them and immediately reported it to the police.
If Zhou Jinming hadn't bled violently at that time, his youngest son would have spent the rest of his life in prison.
Facing the scolding, Zhou Yuxiong bowed his head and did not dare to argue. Zhou Jinming then looked at his eldest son: "Yuxuan, how much do you think the land rent can be reduced? How about 70%?"
Zhou Yuxuan shook his head:
"Dad, let's lower it to 60%. Now is a special period, so we should do something good for our family."
"Eighty percent reduced to 60%, 20% rent... I'm afraid I'll have thousands of silver dollars in one year."
Zhou Jinming took a breath with obvious pain:
"It's really a crime to get those mud-legged people so cheaply!"
Although Mrs. Hu was also distressed, she was even more concerned about Zhou Yuxiong's safety:
"Master, why are you so worried about this little money? The worst thing you can do is make up for it later! Xiong'er's safety is the most important thing. In my opinion, it's better to send him to his aunt's house in Yangcheng as soon as possible to avoid the limelight. .”
"I know I know."
Zhou Jinming waved his hand distractedly and scolded Zhou Yuxiong:
"You pack it up for me tomorrow and go to your aunt's house!"
Yangcheng is an ordinary county town, far less prosperous than Fengyang Mansion. Zhou Yuxiong is like an eggplant beaten by frost: "I understand, kid."
The meal was tasteless, and soon the family finished eating and dispersed with their own thoughts.
As the night progresses.
Zhou Jinming, who had already washed up and rested, could not fall asleep on the bed, causing Mr. Hu next to him to complain repeatedly.
"I'm going out for some air!"
Zhou Jinming simply got up, put on his robe, then carried a lantern and took the key to the cellar in the corner of the courtyard alone, opened it and walked in.
Under the light of the lantern, the cellar is quite spacious and paved with bluestone. Most of the things placed against the wall are drinks, medicinal materials and the like.
However, Zhou Jinming walked straight to the innermost part of the cellar, then reached out and lifted up a bluestone floor in the far right corner.
Under the floor is a square black iron box with three locks on it.
Zhou Jinming opened the locks one by one and then opened the box.
The dark cellar was illuminated, and inside the box were neatly arranged rows of silver coins, and even golden gold coins!
Although there are not many gold coins in the box, there are at least thousands of silver coins alone, which is definitely a huge sum of money in this prosperous Fengyang Mansion, but now they are all lying in this dark cellar.
Under the light of the silver and gold coins, Zhou Jinming caressed and counted the family property with his eyes intoxicated, as if he was caressing his lover.
He is known as a rough-and-tumble guy in the East City. He has never been able to get in or out. Most of the money he earned has been spent on either land or shops.
As for the more than 10,000 silver dollars in this box, they are all Zhou Jinming's savings except for his farm and house shop. Whenever he is in a bad mood, he will come here to count them to make himself feel relaxed and happy.
but.
Just as he was counting the gold and silver dollars in the box back and forth like a miser.
Suddenly, a biting chill spread across his neck, making his hairs stand on end.
Zhou Jinming's body stiffened, and when he lowered his head, he was shocked to find that there was a sharp short knife stuck to his throat at some point!
"Zhou Jinming..."
At the same time, a faint chuckle came from behind:
"Do you think I can't find you if you hide in this cellar?"
this moment.
Zhou Jinming felt as if he had fallen into an ice cave, and the blood in his body was completely frozen. He did not even dare to look back, but his teeth chattered violently and said:
"Qing, Qing, Qing Yi Ke?"
"Not bad, the response was pretty quick."
Behind him, Lu Yuan, who appeared with the art of earth movement and was wrapped in night clothes, pronounced the sentence indifferently:
"When I walk around this east city, I can hear a lot about your family's deeds, such as occupying water sources, annexing and seizing other people's property, increasing rents and lending money, tenants forced to sell their sons and daughters during famine years, and hanging from beams to commit suicide;
Although the eldest son did not do many evil deeds, the second son was arrogant and bold under the doting of the Hu family. Not only did he dare to break into the house and rape the daughter of a farmer, but he also set fire to the corpse... How many times do you think your family deserves to die? "
"This this......"
Lu Yuan's understatement was like a death sentence. Zhou Jinming's liver and gallbladder were split at the moment, and he said tremblingly:
"Don't, don't kill me, don't kill me!"
"The villain has already confessed his crime. I beg you to be magnanimous and let him go and let him spend the rest of his life to atone for his sin! I have more than ten thousand silver dollars here and many land deeds for shops worth ten thousand gold. I can give them to you. I just want to give them to you." Please let me go and give me a chance to atone for my sins!"
To be able to become a big landowner in this east city, it is not that he is incompetent, but that he has good martial arts skills, otherwise he would have been devoured by other powerful landowners.
But this so-called good one is not just the second level of muscle training.
Facing such a strange and extremely cruel person like Qing Yi Ke, he was already extremely timid and did not dare to act rashly.
And the most important point is that the Tsing Yi guest has always killed people silently, and now he actually shows up and speaks. There must be a chance for mediation!
Naturally, he didn’t know about the life and death threats. Jin Ming thought so much next week. Lu Yuan narrowed his eyes behind him:
"This is the only amount of money you have in your family?"
There's drama!
Zhou Jinming was so happy that he poured beans out of a bamboo tube and said:
"This is really all gold and silver. To be honest with you, the money accumulated by this villain was either loaned out or bought a shop. This is all I have, and I can give it to you!"
"If you are not satisfied, I can sell the shop and house and find a way to continue to make money! The villain has actually changed his mind and decided to reduce the rent of the 300 tenants under him starting tomorrow, only charging them 6...50% Rent! So I ask you, for the sake of me to change my past, please let me go..."
Before he finished speaking, he sneered!
Lu Yuan waved his arm, and Zhou Jinming's throat was instantly cut with a sharp blade, and blood sprayed out from the broken neck!
Horror, pain, disbelief...
Zhou Jinming clutched his throat and fell to the ground weakly. His dilated pupils were full of despair, as if he didn't understand why Lu Yuan would kill him.
After executing the opponent with one knife, Lu Yuan showed no expression on his face:
"The reason why you plan to lower the rent for the tenants is not because of your conscience, but because you are worried that I will come!"
A large amount of blood surged wildly, and Zhou Jinming could not say a word. He just made a whooshing sound in his throat, and then became completely motionless.
Lu Yuan slowly sheathed his sword.
In fact, he had already discovered this cellar when he came to visit it before.
The reason why he showed up this time to talk nonsense with Zhou Jinming was not because he had any evil intentions, but simply because he wanted to find out if this person had buried money elsewhere.
After all, for him now, who cares about luck is secondary, and making money to buy medicinal materials to improve his cultivation is the first priority.
then.
After kicking away Zhou Jinming's body, Lu Yuan lifted the heavy cash box out of the pit. After a brief inventory, his eyes were filled with satisfaction:
"Tens of thousands of silver dollars... Even the technique of lighting up [yellow and white] is not so efficient..."
The gold belt for murder and arson.
With tens of thousands of silver dollars in this box, he could buy thousands of ordinary-quality ginseng and eat it every day.
It is basically equivalent to the profit of Bo Theater for more than half a year. An ordinary person in Fengyang Mansion will never earn so much in his lifetime.
As a result, now I can just kill any powerful landlord.
Lu Yuan was very satisfied with such a harvest. First, he left writings on the ground with blood as usual, and then he put the money box, which weighed several hundred kilograms, on his shoulders.
Following the movement, his whole body and the box fell into the ground at the same time and disappeared in an instant.
And wait until Lu Yuan disappears for a long time.
Until daybreak, the maids came to the main house to bring hot water for washing, only to find that Mrs. Hu's throat had been cut and died in the house.
At the same time, a dead Zhou Jinming was also found in the cellar, as well as two lines of blood left next to his body.
The shrill scream quickly alarmed the entire Zhou residence. The eldest son Zhou Yuxuan and even the servants quickly arrived in panic, and their eyes were split open.
Both his parents were dead. He didn't have time to scream in grief and cry, so he staggered and rushed to Zhou Yuxiong's house.
When he arrived at the place, he found that his unlearned brother had been lying on the bed with his eyes wide open, his throat broken, and the pool of blood all over the bed had solidified...
