The Plow

The donkey meat was bubbling and bubbling in the pot, and the aroma of the marinated sauce could float three or four miles away from the front.

Ling Shu picked up a piece of overcooked donkey meat with his chopsticks, and put it into the mouth regardless of how hot it was, and gave the second master a thumbs up while breathing out.

"This is the real feast of cleansing the wind and dust, the second master is magnificent!"

"It's good for you to eat as much as you like, and if you don't have enough, you can order more." The second master smiled and said polite words.

next moment--

Ling Shu raised his hand: "Man, another catty of donkey meat in sauce, and a serving of Chinese cabbage!"

The corner of Master Guan Er's mouth twitched, he didn't expect Ling Shu to take the polite words seriously.

He decided not to speak politely any more.

"Xiaoling, since you are a good friend of Dingtang, I will not treat you as an outsider. I call you a big nephew, and tell me quickly how Zhang Chaofeng died. The ivory scriptures in his hand are also How did it get into your hands?"

Ling Shu said: "Second Cousin, don't worry, you have to tell us first how you met Zhang Chaofeng, and where did these things come from. Let's be honest with each other, so that we can have no reservations!"

He ate a mouthful of donkey meat happily, but said unkind words in his mouth.

Master Guan Er's teeth were itchy, and he looked at Ling Shu like Ling Shu looked at a pot of donkey meat.

"Then can you return those gold-leafed ivory scriptures to me first?"

Ling Shu: "Didn't you say it wasn't yours?"

The second master laughed dryly: "Then let me take a look, what if?"

Facing the second master, who was anxious to scratch his heart and liver, but still had to show a calm and breezy look, Ling Shu smiled, and finally took out a piece of carved ivory sutra.

White with a slight yellowish tint, the shiny slapped ivory is not only as thin as a cicada's wing, but also as thin as rice paper.

But it was densely carved with countless characters smaller than ants.

Ling Shu and Yue Dingtang once borrowed a magnifying glass on the road to study it carefully. The words under the lens are clear, and all the engravings are Tripitaka, Heart Sutra, Diamond Sutra, etc., and they are divided into Chinese, Tibetan, Manchu, and Mongolian. Ivory and gold foil The flakes are incomplete, and if there are silk threads connecting all the gold leaf and ivory into a book, it must be a complete treasure.

"The old man liked to collect antiques when he was alive. I was influenced by him since I was a child, and I have been influenced by him, and I also have this hobby."

It's not that he kissed his nephew, Ling Shu refused to say, and the second master couldn't force him by choking his neck.

Looking at Yue Dingtang again, he didn't know if he was a boring gourd, or he was indifferent to his half-way relatives, and he refused to say a word.

The second master had no choice but to continue talking.

"When he was seriously ill at the end of last year, I often waited on him. Whenever he was happy, he said he would give me something, so he brought a gift box from the study room, and took out half of the gold leaf and ivory carving scriptures in it. me."

"I'm ashamed to say that at that time the brothers in each house were not on the same page. The eldest brother and the fourth child were fighting fiercely. The old man was seriously ill and spent money like water. What kind of ginseng and antler ganoderma were brought home for free. The public has long been gone." I ran out of money, and my money was tight, so I had no choice but to take the carved scriptures to a pawn shop, thinking about how much money I could exchange for the old man’s medicine, and then I met Zhang Chaofeng.”

"I heard from others that this carved sutra was probably a treasure enshrined in the old Shenyang Palace before the ancestors entered the customs. Later, when the current situation was turbulent, it was stolen and sold by those court ladies and eunuchs. But Zhang Chaofeng told me that those all It's a fake, although the gold and ivory are real, but they were deliberately made old by the people of the time, and they were sold as antiques, and the old man believed them to be real and took them away."

"Isn't it?"

When the second master said this, he was interrupted by Ling Shu.

"If there are fakes of blue and white porcelain and famous calligraphy and paintings, it's okay to say that the scripture carvings are like corn, and ordinary people can't forge them if they want to. The effort is not worth the loss. How can it be a fake?"

The second master blushed.

"That's what I said at first, but I have known Zhang Chaofeng for many years. As for this antique, you also know that in the past dynasties, from the Three Emperors and Five Emperors, although it has been said for thousands of years, if you really want to talk about it, there must be few real ones. Fake ones Many, the old man claims to be a famous collector, and sometimes when he makes mistakes, he talks about something, and with a drink and a meal, I am persuaded in a daze, and I agree to store the carved scriptures with him temporarily, waiting for him to help me Find a good buyer, who knows that this posting will go wrong."

"After a few days, I remembered this and asked people to go to Zhang Chaofeng to inquire about the progress. The person who came back said that the man surnamed Zhang disappeared a few days ago and never went back to the pawn shop. Only then did I know that I was completely I was fooled! I thought these things were taken away by that bastard, but I didn’t expect to get them back now. Good nephew, Xiao Ling, thank you so much! Otherwise, you can return the things to me and turn around to the second cousin Sell ​​it at a good price, and treat you to a good meal, how about it?"

"Second cousin, if these treasures are treasures, not to mention their priceless value, they must not be offset by a meal, not to mention that Zhang Chaofeng also caused his death for this, and we also took the risk. Even if it is sent?"

Ling Shu said with a smile, it was inconvenient for Yue Dingtang, a nephew, to say a lot of things, but Ling Shu had no scruples and just opened his mouth.

The second master secretly scolded the little bastard, but he couldn't help but smile and said: "I know, a meal must be too simple for you, isn't it because the second cousin has no money now, and when he has more money , before you leave, I will definitely send you a large sum of travel expenses. You see, the old man appointed to leave things for your mother. Now that your mother has passed away, hers belonged to Ding Tang. Because the old man liked to collect antiques during his lifetime Let's see, maybe I left some baby bumps for you?"

After eating and drinking enough, Ling Shu finally put down his chopsticks and spoke slowly, without any fumes.

"Second cousin, it's not that we refused to return the things to you. Since Zhang Chaofeng died because of this, can you guarantee that the other party has no accomplices and will not follow him all the way? We have checked that after Zhang Chaofeng left Fengtian, he went all the way to Tianjin first. Then we went to Nanjing, Anhui and other places, tossed around for several months, who we met, what happened to us, and what troubles we encountered. What if the other party followed the trail and came to the Guan family, the real target is you?"

Master Guan Er was really startled, he gathered himself together, waved his hand and said, "Impossible, I have no enemies, even if I did, it must be the old fourth trick. He looks at people all day long, claims to have a fairy fate, and the people he contacts every day I don’t know how many people there are, even the Japanese are famous here, and his temper is easy to offend people, so it can’t be me! Dear nephew, please return the carved scriptures to me first, I will definitely keep them well this time , never leak out!"

Yue Dingtang suddenly said: "Give the slice to uncle."

Ling Shu smiled, not reluctantly, took out a pack of handkerchiefs from his pocket, put them on the table and pushed them over.

"Second cousin, hexagonal sheet carved scriptures, three pieces of gold foil, three pieces of ivory, we will return them all to Zhao."

Master Guan Er untied the knot on the veil, his face showing joy.

"Good nephew, you really are my cousin's lucky stars. Once you come, I will get back my things!"

Ling Shu took advantage of the fire and robbed: "Second Cousin, I heard that there is a Fulai House in Fengtian City. The cooks in it came from the capital, and there are people in the family who used to be imperial cooks in the palace. Those dishes are delicious!"

Master Guan Er's face twitched.

"Well, it's an exaggeration, and it's not that delicious..."

Ling Shu smiled innocently.

"But we just want to see and experience something new. We can't come all the way to Fengtian City, and we don't eat anything in the end. After we go back, friends and relatives ask, is it possible that we just eat cabbage dumplings every day at Guan's house? ?”

"Please, please, I must eat!"

Master Guan Er said these words through gritted teeth.

After a meal of donkey meat pot, when it was time to pay the bill, Master Guan Er's heart had been broken into several pieces, and even good paste could not stick them together.

"You young people go to bed late, go play for a while by yourself, the second cousin will not accompany you, although it is dark now, some places in the city have not closed, like casinos, you can go around, but Don't bet big, bet small to enjoy yourself, if you lose too much and go bankrupt, the second cousin has nothing to do, and there is no extra money to help you, huh?"

Master Guan Er was afraid that Lingshu and the others would ask him to borrow money, but he refused to stay for a while, and immediately after paying the bill, he wiped the soles of his feet with oil and walked away quickly, disappearing in a blink of an eye.

Ling Shu opened his mouth to yawn and stretched.

"The second master is lying."