Chapter 17: Chrysanthemum (Part 1)

  Three days later, Cheng Xianhu dispersed the crowd of rascals as agreed and left Hu's village with Yu Hongjiao and others.

  Yu Biao barely escaped with his life, but his cultivation was abolished. From then on, he could only live an ordinary person's life. Whether this was good or bad for him is unknown.

  Next to leave is Tang Hezhong, he came alone and left alone, waving his sleeves without taking away half a cloud.

  Bu Suanzi also left, he asked Xiao Si for a month's leave, saying that he wanted to return to the Twelve Linked Ring Fort and settle the affairs of the Zhai Zi.

  Xiao Si was exceptionally considerate of this new disciple, and asked with a smile: "Is one month enough? If not, I can give you two more months, so you won't be tired on the road." But in his heart, he hoped that this new apprentice would leave and never come back, and go to be his own Second Master.

  Bo Zhongzi politely declined Master's kindness and said he would try his best to rush to Jiangzhou to report as soon as possible.

  Xiao Si was disappointed and then shifted his interest back to the gold, silver, and jewels that Cheng Xianhu and others had collected.

  Hu Ge's stronghold has been occupying the Daba Mountain for many years, and the spoils of war are not insignificant. Just counting the inventory, there are as many as 40,000 to 50,000 taels of silver.

  Xiao Si felt that this time he had made a great contribution to breaking the formation of the hundred tigers and thousand spears, and should be considered the first meritorious minister. Now, when it comes to dividing the spoils and entering the accounts, getting 18,000 shouldn't be a problem.

  He has been following the old man to dig graves and steal tombs for many years, but he never thought about what money is. He only knows that when there is silver in his hands, he feels happy and at ease; when there is no silver, he is left with anxiety.

  However, it's strange that the dead old man had so much money from the deceased, but he was still very stingy. He walked from Chang'an to Lin'an with a single coin in his buttocks, and when he came back, it was still there. The gold and silver he got were nowhere to be seen? It's certain that he embezzled them, but if he had money and didn't spend it, wouldn't he be a fool? Could it be that he wanted to bring it with him into the coffin after he died? If so, then Xiaosan decided that when the time came, she would definitely go to pay her respects to the dead old man under the cover of night.

  Unfortunately, things in the world are often not as one wishes, and without mentioning the old man's hidden treasure which disappeared along with him like a mirage, even the ill-gotten gains that could be seen and touched every day in Huergou Village, someone actually had the idea of taking them.

  On this day, Geng Nan Yi and Chu Lie came to find Diao Xiao Si. Chu Lie opened his mouth and said: "Brother Xiao Si, there are now tens of thousands of taels of ill-gotten silver in Hu Ge Village that need to be disposed of. We old guys discussed it and came up with a plan, and we also want to ask for your opinion."

  Xiao Si's spirit was greatly lifted, and he almost wanted to ask directly how much he could get for himself. Fortunately, having recently interacted with people like Geng Nan Yi, he knew that these men were all generous and didn't care about money, being the type of people who would look down on him if he appeared too greedy. So, smiling, he said: "Younger brother will follow the arrangements made by the two older brothers, after all, wealth is just a material thing, it shouldn't harm the bond between brothers."

  Chu Lie praised: "How about Old Ge, I've said it before, Little Fourth brother is a heroic and righteous person who views money as dirt."

  Geng Nan Wing smiled and said, "We plan to set aside a portion for compensation for the dead and injured comrades, and donate the rest to Chunyang Temple. Let Ye Xian Chang personally preside over it, to provide relief to the disaster victims on both banks of the Yellow River."

  "Give it all away?" Xīao Sì couldn't have imagined that there was such a person in the world, who after working hard and shedding blood and sweat to get some silver, wouldn't take a single cent and would give it all to people who can't even be reached with an eight-foot pole.

  Such lofty integrity is not spirit, but nerve!

  Xiao Si felt as if his heart was bleeding, as if what he was about to give away wasn't silver, but flesh cut from his own body.

  Geng Nan Yi explained: "Since the current emperor ascended to the throne, he has been expanding his territory and collecting heavy taxes, repeatedly invading Goguryeo. Internally, he has mobilized tens of thousands of civilians to dig canals, making people's lives unbearable. Now, along the Yellow River, in various provinces, there are countless corpses and epidemics spreading everywhere. Many people sell their children just to get a full meal. The scene is too tragic to behold. If we donate these tens of thousands of taels of silver, it will be a small contribution to the welfare of the people."

  Xiao Si heard this and felt suffocated, thinking to himself: "There are too many starving ghosts in the world, let alone 30 or 50 million, even 300 or 500 million taels of silver would not be enough to help them all. Moreover, this is a pit dug by the emperor, why should I use my own money to fill it for him?"

  But facing the solemn expression of Geng Nan Yi and Chu Lie, his mouth opened a few times, but in the end he couldn't say a word.

  Chu Lie patted his shoulder and said: "Little Fourth Brother, what do you think?"

  "What else can I think? Xīao Sì's heart was filled with resentment and hatred, to know that it wasn't toilet paper, but a shiny silver coin, even if the old hen had turned into a duck in the blink of an eye, but now her eyes hadn't even blinked, the hen was gone, the duck was gone, all the silver coins were gone, how could this be endured?"

  Ke Nan Yi and Chu Lie said they came to discuss, but the attitude was clear that it would not work if they did not agree, it's even more ruthless than Hei Chi Hei's Twelve Linked Ring Fort's Blue Master.

  He thought to himself: "No way, others can donate money or jump into the river if they want, I don't care and won't stop them. But as for my own share, not a single cent will be given to that thieving old Dao."

  He thought for a moment and asked: "Old Master Geng, if it's something that belongs to someone, should we return it or not?"

  Geng Nan Yi replied, "If it is something that belongs to someone else, then it should be returned to its rightful owner. Otherwise, wouldn't that make us thieves?"

  Xiao Si immediately had an idea and said: "Good, let's do it as you've discussed. I have some urgent business, so I won't keep the two of you any longer."

  Geng Nan Yi and Chu Lie saw Xiang Xiao Si respond readily, they were very delighted in their hearts, and after exchanging a few more pleasantries, they went to discuss with Ye Fa Shan and the others.

  Everyone was discussing how to safely transport the tens of thousands of silver taels to Chang'an and exchange them for medicine and food, when a courier from the Express Bureau walked in with an unusual expression and reported: "Chief Courier Geng, you'd better go take a look at the warehouse."

  "What's going on?"

  The steward said, "I don't know what to say either. In short, Fourth Master Xian came to the warehouse earlier and took away the account book, then locked the door and wouldn't let anyone in, saying he wanted to personally count the silver in the warehouse."

  Long in the sky frowned and said: "What is this Xie brother doing again?"

  Qiu Junyi smiled and said: "Everyone is tired from sitting for so long, let's all go take a look together."

  At this moment, the crowd rushed out of the assembly hall and ran straight to the warehouse in the rear camp. When they arrived at the front of the warehouse, they found that the iron door was tightly closed, and a group of confused-looking escorts were whispering outside.

  Chu Lie pushed open the thick warehouse door and shouted: "Little Fourth Brother, what are you doing in there?"

  A faint voice came from inside the warehouse, "I'm busy, I'll be right there!"

  Chu Lie raised his eyes and looked around, only to see that the wooden boxes in the warehouse containing gold and silver ingots, antiques, jade utensils, valuable family heirlooms, paintings, jewelry, and even silk fabrics were all stuck with freshly printed seals.

  On the strip of paper, in bold and cursive script, were written the two characters: "Xiao Ji".

  Look again at Xiao Si, barefoot, jumping on a red sandalwood Eight Immortals table, with eyes wide open and writing quickly.

  Qiu Junyi saw this and couldn't help but laugh and cry at the same time, saying: "Fourth brother, what are you doing?"

  "Slap!" Xiaosan stuck the last seal with a flourish on the screen, let out a long sigh and said: "Done!" He dropped his brush, jumped off the Eight Immortals' table, and laughed: "As for things without seals that don't belong to anyone, you can take them away."

  Geng Nan's eyes widened in shock, and he said: "But the ill-gotten gains in this warehouse were all agreed upon by everyone to be donated to Chunyang Temple as disaster relief funds."

  Xiao Si said with a straight face and a confident tone, "It's hard to guarantee that the money won't end up in the hands of the bandit Lao Dao and turn into chicken legs and duck legs. It's better if I take care of it myself."

  The dragon in the sky hummed and said: "Xiao Dian brother, is this unreasonable behavior worthy of a knight?"

  Xiao Si's expression suddenly turned solemn and respectful, saying: "I've long heard that the Old Master of Long Villa is a man of great integrity, righteousness, and compassion. Today, I see that it's not just an empty reputation. Looking at the countless refugees on both banks of the Yellow River, I think the Old Master must be unable to bear it in his heart. Why not generously donate the entire Sleeping Dragon Mountain Villa? At the very least, it would be worth 180,000."

  Long Tianying was about to speak when Ye Fashan chuckled and stepped forward, saying: "Fourth brother, shall I say a couple of words?"

  "Halt!" Xiao Si shouted loudly, with an air of a single man holding the pass against ten thousand men. "A Taoist priest speaks but does not act, let's talk this out."

  "This money was all earned by your fourth brother, Xiaosi, with his hard work and sacrifices. You can spend it as you like, it's none of my business." Ye Fashan smiled and said: "In the past, when you were poor, I didn't dare to mention it. Now that your family is wealthy, shouldn't you return the two Taoist temples that you owe me?"

  Xiao Siyi glared and said: "You old thief, you think you can cheat me? Not even a chance!"

  Ye Fashan said: "Little Fourth Brother, do you know there's a saying that goes 'a life for a life, a debt repaid'?"

  Xiao Si Da Ding said with a sneer: "What's it to you?"

  Ye Fashan said: "I guess Old Demon Eagle is eager for someone to tell him who killed Yin Shengyang."

  Xiao Si's heart felt a bad premonition and he shouted: "You dare to cheat me, you thieving Taoist?"

  Ye Fashan slowly raised a finger and said: "I'll give you a 50% discount, just one Taoist temple?"

  "Doing dreams!"

  Ye Fashan said calmly and slowly, "The interest is completely waived?"

  "Agreed!" Xiang Xiao Si's teeth and blood fell, signing the humiliating treaty of surrender, his heart cut like a knife as he tore off one seal after another.

  "Ah, this is the Sanqing Hall, that's the back hall, and the silver ingots are just enough to build a bell tower... The scripture pavilion is also done, next are the kitchen, the refined chamber, and two side halls. Don't forget, starting from the Guanmen gate, every 200 meters we need to build a rest pavilion..."

  Finally, Xīao Sì stood in front of the last box of gold bars, and he couldn't help but want to stuff all sorts of things, including the Three Pure Temple, the Bell Tower, the Drum Tower, the Scripture Pavilion, and the Resting Foot Pavilion, into the black Taoist's throat. He gritted his teeth and asked: "Now that we even have the shorts worn by the Taoist priests at the Observatory - you old thief, what else can you come up with?"

  Ye Fashan thought for a moment and then replied very matter-of-factly: "And there's also the labor cost of me doing your accounting."

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