win the hairpin

Chapter 363

Hu Jinyu entered the guest house.

This place does not seem to be a real residence for distinguished guests, but it has been abandoned for a long time, the paint on the courtyard door is mottled, entering the courtyard door, the inside is square, the flowers and plants are all withered, and stone roots are exposed around the corners.

There is a large water tank on the left and right sides of the yard. There is no water in the tank, and it is covered with fallen leaves, and no one cleans it.

He wondered why Shuai Si let Jiedushi live in this place that no one cleaned.

Or did Zhang Xutang ask to live here?
The ruins are still there, and no one cleans them, so naturally no one will do anything here.

Deep in thought, a young guard led him to the door, lifted the thick cotton curtain, and a warm fragrance hit the shop floor, like a gentle sword, piercing Hu Jinyu's heart.

"Second Master, the Hu family is here."

When Hu Jinyu heard a lazily humming from inside, the guard opened the curtain a little more and invited Hu Jinyu in.

Hu Jinyu walked in against the warm wind mixed with medicine, food, and fragrant tablets.

After a night of chaos, the sun is now high, but the light in the room is still dim, and the four windows are all closed. There is a brass smoker in the middle of the room. The fragrance of various flowers is vying to bloom in the room, and penetrates through the seven orifices of the person, oppressing the internal organs invisible.

Hu Jinyu felt sticky and heavy in his heart, took a deep breath, and saw Zhang Xutang who was half lying on the bed.

Zhang Xutang's lower body disappeared into the undulating brocade quilt, and his upper body was wrapped with many white muslins. The man was shrunk in the muslin, long and thin.

There was also a small table on the bed, on which was a jade-colored post supporting an ivory ball the size of a baby's head, and Zhang Xutang was holding a long golden hairpin, sticking it into the hollowed-out gap in the ivory , to fiddle with the set of balls inside.

The curtain was lowered and there was a slight flapping sound, Zhang Xutang raised his head and glanced at Hu Jinyu.

Hu Jinyu made him look a little dazed.

When he looked at Zhang Xutang just now, he thought he was a sick and weak young man. Under Song Huiyue's beating, he looked more like glass. He was even worried that the cold air on his body would shatter him.

However, when Zhang Xutang looked at him, he immediately felt an unreal panic—as if a huge monster raised its head from the bed, its two eyes gathered into a triangle, and a gloomy gaze was released from inside.
He suspected that he was still awake, and his voice came out of his throat in a panic: "Mr. Zhang, I was supposed to visit the house in person, but accidents happened one after another at home, and I was out of my mind for many days. I didn't expect you to call me in person. "

He noticed that his waist had bent down, he bowed to the bottom, his eyes were fixed on the ground, but his back was still sweating——Zhang Xuzhang was still staring at him, his gaze was tightly wrapped around his waist like a twisted rope. neck.

"Don't be too polite," Zhang Xutang's voice fell lightly on top of his head, "Sit down and talk, Old Wei, move the chair forward so that he can see clearly."

Hu Jinyu watched a stone-like person come out of the corner - he hadn't noticed that there was still a person standing in the corner before.

From the corner of his eye, he looked at places that other light couldn't reach, wondering if there were guards hidden in these places too?

Lao Wei moved the chair all the way to the bed. Hu Jinyu didn't want to be so close to Zhang Xutang, but he had no choice but to sit forward.

Getting so close to Zhang Xutang, his previous delusions disappeared, and his nose was filled with the smell of hemostatic powder instead: "Is Mr. Zhang's injury okay?"

Zhang Xutang did not answer, but threw the golden hairpin on the table: "Do you know what this is?"

Hu Jinyu looked at the jade-like ball: "It's an ivory carved ball."

Zhang Xutang leaned back, panting slightly: "Yes, it's the ghost work ball, how many layers are there?"

He stretched out his hand, and casually flipped the golden hairpin in Hu Jinyu's direction: "Use this to see."

Lao Wei didn't go back to the corner, but stood aside and watched Hu Jinyu's every move, in case he suddenly stuck the golden hairpin into Zhang Xutang's eyes or other places.

Hu Jinyu held the golden hairpin in his hand, pinched the back of it, and fiddled with the ghost ball with the pointed end.

Then his eyes suddenly lit up, shooting a hot light: "Is this more than six floors?"

This ghost ball is extraordinary at first glance. The outside is carved with raised patterns and vines, which are intertwined with each other and carved with hundreds of holes. The golden hairpin pokes in through the holes, and when you move it lightly, every Each layer is round and free.

The further he went in, the slower his speed became, and finally there were fine beads of sweat on his tense forehead. After reaching the innermost solid ball, he breathed a sigh of relief, carefully withdrew the golden hairpin, and put it on the small table. superior.

"The eleventh floor is really uncanny workmanship. I'm afraid only ghosts can carve it out."

"Pour tea for Mr. Hu," Zhang Xutang smiled, without the slightest warmth in his smile: "Master Hu has been here for many years and has seen countless rare treasures. Have you ever seen a better one than this?" Made of ivory?"

Immediately someone came in from outside the door and poured a cup of hot tea for Hu Jinyu.

Hu Jinyu's throat was dry due to nervousness, so he quickly picked up the teacup and took two sips to moisten his throat, while his heart was pounding: "I've never seen an eleven-story ghost ball, I only heard that Concubine Zhang Gui once had a six-story ball." It is already rare, and the palace Chinese Siyuan can only be carved to three floors at most."

He asked, "Where did you come from?"

Zhang Xutang's smile became a little more real: "I used to live in a mansion outside Tanzhou, and I saw a painting in his house at that time. In the painting, a person was carving a ball. I made a rough count on the painting, and there were On the fourth and fifth floors, this year, this Zhou Yuanwai came to me with his youngest son, and wanted me to recommend his son to the imperial court, so I asked about the painting, but I didn't expect it to be true, so I asked him to give it to me. "

"This Zhou Yuanwai is truly magnificent. Such a treasure, let alone a family heirloom, can be regarded as a national treasure if it is sent to the Forbidden Palace."

The smile on Zhang Xutang's face became more and more amiable: "If the whole family dies, everything can be given up."

Hu Jinyu heard the understatement, the blood on his face receded like a tide, and he looked at Zhang Xutang dumbfounded - Zhang Xutang's cheeks were swollen very high, with many fingerprints floating on them, his eyes shot out from the single eyelid, full of blood.

"I also think this thing is good." Zhang Xutang's voice did not show any apology to the Zhou family, but was very brisk, "Look at this ghost work ball, should it be sent to Liao Kingdom or Xia Kingdom?"

Hu Jinyu replied subconsciously: "Xia Guo, Emperor Xia is very concerned about face and style. If he knows that there is such a treasure, he will spare no expense."

As he spoke, he couldn't help but backed away, but there was a hard back of the chair behind him, and he had nowhere to go, so he could only lean back as hard as he could, and at the same time felt that his back was scorching hot.

Zhang Xutang nodded in satisfaction: "Then use your business methods and sell it to Xia Guo. I will send two people to follow your caravan. I will not lose the commission that your Hu family should have."

He lowered his eyes and asked condescendingly, "What does Master Hu think?"

(End of this chapter)