Eight, body and name both lost in the Cao family

  "Lao Gao, do you still remember what was said back then?" After returning home, Yu Guozhen asked Aunt Gao to cook noodles and instead called the father and son of the Gao family to come forward.

  "What's going on?"

  Gao was taken aback and looked stunned, but Yu Guozhen burst out laughing: "I asked you earlier if you were from Ansai, Shaanxi."

  Lao Gao suddenly trembled and looked at Yu Guozhen, who was eating, and said: "Young master... young master..."

  "Can I trust you?" Yu Guozhen asked again.

  "We humble people were implicated by that bandit and fled thousands of miles to get here. If it weren't for your honor's kindness, our whole family would have lost their lives long ago. Your Honor has something on his mind, just give the order, we may be only horse traders by birth, but we're not ungrateful or disloyal!"

  Upon hearing Yu Guozhen's question, Old Gao visibly breathed a sigh of relief, and his subsequent words were indeed sincere.

  He is a native of Anshi, Shaanxi Province, and is closely related to the bandit Gao Yingxiang who was causing trouble in Shaanxi at that time. Due to his involvement, he had to flee to Wuwei. At first, when Yu Guozhen exposed this matter, he was extremely frightened, but now it's not the case. He knows that this small official has great ambitions, and people from afar call him "foolish Yu", but they don't know what Yu Guozhen is doing.

  "Today I took out the pearls, a bag of pearls, and only got 1,000 taels of silver for them. The four houses used fake IOUs to swindle me out of another 500 taels of silver." Yu Guozhen sighed: "They are cheating me... When you were trading horses with Gao Yingxiang and others, what would you do if you encountered such horse thieves who cheated you?"

  "As for what the little official said, of course it's a matter of fighting if you can win, and fleeing if you can't."

  "What should I do now?"

  "The young master says how it is, then that's how it is. The lives and families of us little people are all in the hands of the young master!" Gao Da replied resolutely.

  He really admired his young master, not only treating them with kindness and righteousness, but also having means, such as the pearl pouch. When he was a horse trader traveling all over the country, he could be considered knowledgeable, but he had never heard of anyone who could "plant" pearls in the river by himself. With this skill, following his young master would not worry about wealth and nobility!

  As for the matter of leaving Yu Guozhen and standing on their own, let alone that Yu Guozhen had saved their lives at first, they all had their contracts of sale in Yu Guozhen's hands, and just because of their identity as outsiders, it was difficult for them to take a single step in this Jianghuai area.

  "It's settled then, you bring the big pillar and the second pillar to prepare for tonight... we'll go to the town and retrieve the silver that was sent to the fourth house." As he said this, Yu Guozhen smiled: "If the fourth house is not very willing, what should be done?"

  The four houses were not only unwilling but also dissatisfied.

  Yu Yigou vented all his anger on Concubine Li, wildly tossing and turning, twisting and tearing. When he reached the height of excitement, he shouted and grabbed hard, as if grasping a plate of pearls.

  "Uh-huh" Li Yinniang cried out nonstop, and at this time she couldn't bear it anymore, repeatedly begging for mercy. Yu Yigou panted heavily, went limp on her body, turned over, and gazed up at the roof.

  "Master, today... why is it so?" Madam Li's whole body went limp, and she asked in a sobbing tone: "Not knowing to pity the humble concubine at all..."

  "Those pearls, a whole plate of them... That damned plate of pearls was cheaper than the Long and Second Houses!" Yu Yigou's anger rose at the mention of this matter.

  "Didn't Master tell you to go find the bandits' lair?"

  "Hush, don't make a sound! How can you talk nonsense like this!" Yu Yigou turned over and covered Li Niang's mouth with one hand.

  Madam Li blinked her peach blossom eyes and burst out laughing: "Master is too cautious, our private conversation by the bedside, it's so late, who can hear us? If someone heard our private conversation, wouldn't they also have heard us making love?"

  "You're just a silly woman, long hair but short on brains, what do you know!"

  Yu Yigulei let out a low growl, then fell into a daze. After a long sigh, he said: "Even if we kill that little beast, the pearl will still fall into the hands of the first and second wives... we won't get anything..."

  "Isn't there still 500 taels of silver? Besides, that little beast is dead, and the fields and houses in his name, Master will surely get a share... The one who's truly pitiful is Di'er, Master worked hard to build everything up, but in the end it all went to the eldest son, while Di'er got nothing..."

  "Alright, alright, stop making a fuss." As soon as she mentioned this, Yu Yigong let out a cold hum and sat up. At this moment, he heard the sound of dogs barking twice in the courtyard, and his heart skipped a beat: "Could it be thieves?"

  Then he heard dog barks all around, Yu Yigou got out of bed and took a stick, Li Niang also sat up: "Master, what's wrong?"

  "Shh!" Yu Yigou signaled her to be quiet.

  Then he heard his wife shouting hoarsely: "The water is coming! The water is coming..."

  Yu Yigou let out a sigh of relief when he heard the shout, and pushed open the door to stand in the courtyard, looking towards the direction where the shout came from. It was the northeast corner of the town, far away from him. He spat: "What a killjoy."

  "Master, master, the warehouse of the Song family in the northeast of the town is on fire. Should we go and rescue?" asked Yu Gou'er from outside.

  "Nonsense! Go back to sleep. If you get hurt while putting out the fire, I'll have to pay for your medical expenses!" Yu Yigou grunted and turned back into the house.

  The Song family and Yu family had some connections, and they were even related by marriage in the early years. However, these connections were not enough to make Yu Yigou risk his life for the Song family.

  "Knock knock."

  Yu Yigong didn't hear the faint sound because outside was a cacophony of noises, the barking of dogs, people's shouts and the clanging of copper gongs all blended together. He returned to the house, still thinking about that plate of pearls. Just as he reached out to close the door, he heard Li Niang on the bed let out a faint moan. He grumbled: "You wench, I haven't even fed you enough yet?"

  The humming noise on the bed disappeared, Yu Yigou walked in, put down the stick and drilled into the account, then lay down on the bed, one hand was stuck to his throat.

  Yu Yigou hadn't even reacted yet, when a cow ear knife was already pressed against his left eye. Then he heard a muffled voice say: "Dare to make a sound and I'll stab you to death!"

  At this time, Yu Yigou knew that he had broken into the wrong house. His legs were trembling with fear and his teeth were chattering: "Good fellow... spare my life, I won't dare to make a sound..."

  In fact, there was a loud noise outside, and here he just called out twice, and I'm afraid no one could hear it except the servants in the front yard.

  "Old man wants wealth but not life." The vague voice had a bit of a lisp, seemingly carrying the accent from Northern Hebei: "Where is the silver money hidden?"

  Just as they were speaking, the window was suddenly pushed open and another dark shadow climbed in. Yu Yigong shivered with fear and glanced at the bandit on the bed, who had a sinister glint in his eyes: "It's Big Brother's accomplice, don't think it's here to save you - quickly say, where is the silver money hidden?"

  "No... no..."

  Yu Yigong hadn't even spoken yet, when he felt a chill on his cheek, followed by a sharp pain spreading from the side of his face. The bandit then picked up something from beside Yu's head and flung it at his face: "This ear is for you; if your next sentence isn't telling me where the silver is hidden, I'll stuff this ear into your mouth!"

  Yu Yigou's eyes rolled back, and he almost fainted, but the bandit seemed to know what was happening and suddenly swung his hand, slapping Yu Yigou with a loud crack, instantly reviving him.

  "In... in... under the cabinet... there is... there is..."

  Yu Yigou didn't dare to play tricks anymore and could only honestly confess. The person who crawled in immediately came over, pushed open the cabinet, and using a small candle, found the hidden compartment under the floor tiles, from which he took out two jars.

  One jar was filled with gold and silver, while the other contained deeds to houses and land, as well as account books. Seeing that the thief had poured all of the gold and silver from the jar into a sack, Yu Yigong's heart felt like it had been cut by a knife. He thought that after being robbed, his family's accumulated wealth might be lost, and he was both anxious and angry in his heart. He opened his mouth to plead: "Good sir, leave some for me, leave some for me... my whole family has to eat..."

  "If you say one more word, I'll kill you." The man with the knife said.

  "Good sirs... spare some for me, and I'll tell you where there's more gold, silver, and jewels. Our family's main house has pearls worth over a thousand taels, and several thousand taels of silver. There aren't many people in the main house now, and with everything in chaos outside, it's the perfect time to go take them... just ask good sirs to leave some for me..."

  The bandit with a covered face snorted and said in a muffled voice, "You've done this one thing for me, now you can leave quickly. You want to trick me into an ambush? Your conscience is really bad!"

  "By the way, there's also the Third House. My nephew in the Third House has even more pearls and silver coins, and he lives outside the town with only one servant... Even if Good Han kills them all off, no one will know! I'll lead the way for Good Han!"

  As soon as the words were spoken, the masked bandit was slightly stunned, and a murderous intent flashed in his eyes. He said vaguely: "Is this really true? That's your third uncle's nephew, how can you bring me to his house to do things?"

  "Really, every word I said is true. He has many pearls left by his deceased father. If the good sir doesn't go, I'll take the opportunity to make a move myself. I've already sent someone from my household to find White Stripe Wang at Xi Hu Lake. Originally, I was thinking of making a move after some time had passed... Since the good sir has arrived, I'm willing to guide him there, and he'll know that what I said is not false!"

  At this time, Yu Yigou didn't think so much. In order to gain trust, he said everything. He felt that he had been robbed, and he was glad that everyone would be robbed, especially the third house. Yu Yigou even thought that if it weren't for the three houses giving him 500 taels of silver in the daytime today, he might not have been robbed.

  "It turned out to be a guide." The bandit with the covered face let out a burst of laughter.

  Yu Yigou had heard of the Donglin Party from his younger brother Yu Yixuan, but he didn't know what the Bandit Party was. However, upon hearing the bandit's mocking laughter, he knew something was wrong. Just as he was about to say something else, he suddenly saw the bandit remove the hood from his head.

  "It's you... it's you... it's really you!"

  Yu Yigou's eyes widened and he trembled with fear, saying: "It was me, my good uncle..." Yu Guozhen nodded slightly.

  Yu Yigou realized something was wrong and was about to shout loudly, but Yu Guozhen's hand had already swung over, with a loud crash, shattering his larynx, and the words that were about to come out of his mouth were all blocked back in, turning into a mouthful of fresh blood that spurted out.