wThe New Year in Chang'an is obviously much deserted than Taiyuan. Although every household also erects flags and sticks talismans, and the sound of firecrackers occasionally came from the city, the pedestrians lowered their heads and walked in a hurry. Everyone seemed to be worried and had no comfort and joy at the New Year.

In addition to the children, there are groups of children laughing and playing everywhere on the streets. They are carefree and will never feel the troubles of the adult world.

On the first day of the first lunar month, the front of Pingkangfang was very quiet in the early morning. Every household was busy sacrificing their ancestors. A man who looked like a friend leaned his head and looked at both sides. He confirmed that nothing was abnormal, so he turned around and waved.

A tall and thin man rode out of the alley like the wind and ran towards the gate of Pingkangfang. The man was Yang Rong. He stayed in the Magnolia Building in Pingkangfang last night. The Magnolia Building is a famous brothel in Chang'an. Yang Rong's relationship is the red-card courtesan of this brothel.

After returning from Huining County, Yang Rong's life has not been peaceful all day long. He owed sky-high gambling debts in Jucai Gambling Hall. The backstage of Jucai Gambling Hall is Dugu, which is not something he can afford. The interest accumulated day by day, which has already made him breathless.

Not only the gambling debts, he owed as much as a thousand taels of silver in Magnolia Building, and there were several other brothels, and he also had huge amounts of prostitution debts.

Not long ago, he borrowed a huge sum of thousands of taels of gold from a mysterious man. He used this huge sum of money to pay off his prostitution debt, but the gambling hall smelled the smell and began to pursue him, forcing Yang Rong to almost no way out.

As soon as Yang Rong rushed out of the gate of Pingkangfang, he suddenly ran out of the slant, with dozens of people. He rode his horse and surrounded Yang Rong in an instant.

Yang Rong was so scared that his heart was about to break open. This was the black-clad debt collector at Jucai Gambler. He was cruel and vicious. There were countless people who died at their hands, which made Chang'an change his face when he heard this.

Yang Rong was trying hard to avoid them these days, but he didn't expect to be blocked. At this time, a black-faced manager urged him to step forward and bowed, "Where is General Yang going?"

Yang Rong restrained the tension in his heart. He swallowed, and bowed, "I am on duty today. I want to rush to the East Palace. Please ask Manager Ma to give way, so don't delay official duties!"

Manager Ma sneered, "Did I get it wrong? Or is General Yang forgetful, I will remind you that you are on duty tonight, and it's still early!"

Yang Rong's face changed drastically. He even found out when he was on duty. Is this going to force him to death? He also became angry.

"Manager Ma, what are you going to do?"

Manager Ma said calmly: "It is natural to pay back the debt. If you owe so much gambling debt, you should have an explanation! General Yang, my life is also very sad!"

"I have no money now. Why do you ask me to pay it back? Even if you force me to death, I can't afford it."

"No money?"

Manager Ma sneered. "What's going on with the Qianyin in Baiyulou? There are Baihongyuan and Ruyilou, where did those white silver come from? Mr. Yang actually said he had no money. I really don't understand. Is it because Mr. Yang doesn't want to give Jucaiguan face? Or do he think the backend of Jucaiguan is too weak. He wants to pay the debt directly, right! Then let's go to the prince to ask for the account."

Manager Ma's threat of nakedness made Yang Rong short of his anger. He remembered the backstage of the gambling hall, which was someone who even the prince dared not offend, let alone a small role like himself. If the matter really came to the prince, he would not be able to stay in the East Palace.

"I'm really nervous now. Can Manager Ma be given a grace for another three days?"

"Hmph! We have been lenient for you for three months. It's okay to lenient for another three days, but I want to remind you, Mr. Yang, today is the first day of the first lunar month, and it is also the day of interest settlement. If you don't pay it back today, the interest will be doubled. Do you know how much it is?"

Yang Rong's face turned pale, and he slowly lowered his head, and his voice had no strength, "I know!"

"Just know, just take care of yourself!"

Manager Ma waved his hand and said, "Go!"

Dozens of debt collectors in black plucked their horses and left, and in a moment they left clean and disappeared.

Yang Rong waited for them to walk away before he let out a long sigh, but when he thought of the interest, he felt like he was going to die.

What to do? Yang Rong bit his lip, turned his horse's head and ran towards Chongrenfang.

.........

The atmosphere of the New Year in Zheng Mansion this year is also relatively dull, but for wealthy families, even the most dull New Year will have some actions, such as lanterns, decorate banners, sticking talismans, cleaning the mansion, rewarding the people, etc. The Zheng family is not behind and has done everything they should do.

What is missing is just a little festive atmosphere, but this cannot be blamed on the Zheng family. The atmosphere of the entire Tang Dynasty is suppressed, so how can the people be happy?

Mrs. Zheng got up very early, her hair was combed firmly, and her clothes were dressed neatly. Today is the first day of the first lunar month. She was waiting for her two sons to come. The eldest son was on vacation at home, and the second son only took office at night. There should be time during the day. Mrs. Zheng has been waiting for several months and is looking forward to reunion with her sons on this day.

The Zheng Mansion was very quiet. The Zheng family gathered to the Houzhai ancestral hall to hold the worship of ancestors on the first day of the first lunar month. At this time, footsteps came from outside the courtyard gate. Mrs. Zheng's spirit suddenly cheered up and said to the maid: "Go and see if the eldest son is here."

The maid went out, and a family member was taken to the yard for a moment. This was the housekeeper in Yang Jun's mansion. He bowed and said, "The master asked me to report to the old lady. Today is the first day of the first lunar month. According to the custom, the lady wants to go back to her parents' home, so the master also needs to accompany her. If you can't come today, please understand."

Mrs. Zheng's heart suddenly became cold, and her eyes were extremely disappointed. After a while, she asked, "What about tomorrow? Can you come tomorrow?"

"The master said he would go for three days and he would talk about it when he came back from the fourth day of the day."

Mrs. Zheng was speechless and sighed for a while: "Azhu, I would like to reward Mr. He for giving me two hangs of money."

"Thank you, the old lady, that villain said goodbye."

The housekeeper left, Mrs. Zheng sat facing the wall, her eyes gradually turned red. This was the eldest son who ignored him. Could she really want to spend the rest of her life alone?

At this time, another rushing footsteps came. The maid exclaimed, "The second young master is here."

Mrs. Zheng was immediately overjoyed, quickly wiped away her tears and came out. She was stunned as soon as she went out. She saw her second son Yang Rong kneeling in the yard and constantly wiped her tears. "Mom, you want to save your child's life!"

"What happened...?" Mrs. Zheng felt a sense of inadequacy in her heart.

Yang Rong cried and said, "The child owed a debt outside and could no longer hide. I beg my mother to save me!"

Mrs. Zheng felt dizzy and almost fell down. The maid hurriedly held her. "Madam! Madam!"

Mrs. Zheng's heart was as if she was shattered. On the first day of the Lunar New Year, her son actually came to force her to ask for money. What kind of evil did she commit? She actually gave birth to such a evil deed. After a while, she held back the pain in her heart and said slowly: "Today is the New Year, don't you know?"

"The boy knows, but there is no way! Who can save me except my mother?"

"shut up!"

Mrs. Zheng could no longer help but feel the pain in her heart and angrily scolded him: "I just hated myself for saving you for the first time. Every time you said you wanted to repent, but when did you repent? You said, how many times have you been? It's not enough to force me to ask for money, but I've come to steal, rob, and move all my valuable things away. What else do you want?"

Yang Rong kowtowed and cried. "My son is incompetent and has no backstage power. He has been tricked by others but is powerless to resist. If I don't get rid of it, I will have no way out."

After all, it was her own son. Mrs. Zheng finally felt soft-hearted. She sighed and turned to the maid and said, "Get my sandalwood box."

Mrs. Zheng had a lot of money in her hands, but when she left the Yang family, she returned it to her husband, and only brought her own little savings. She liked to collect jewelry and really saved up a lot of good goods, but she couldn't stand her son's exploitation again and again, and there was nothing left.

After a moment, the maid took out the sandalwood box. Mrs. Zheng took the sandalwood box, opened it and looked at it, "There are more than a dozen pieces of jewelry in it, and I only have these. They are all my dowry items back then, worth about five or six thousand guan. Please pay off your debts! I hope you will change your past mistakes and become a new person from now on."

When Yang Rong heard that there were only more than 5,000 guan, he was extremely disappointed. He couldn't even pay off his gambling debts. He cried again, "Mom, it's really not enough! Not even 10% is enough, so I can't escape death."

When Mrs. Zheng heard that even one percent of her debt was not enough, she suddenly became dark in front of her and she fainted on the ground.

"Madam! Madam!" The maid shook Mrs. Zheng desperately.

Yang Rong took a quick step forward and snatched the sandalwood box from his mother's hand, ran away. No matter how many, it would be a little bit more, and I'll come again next time.

.........

When Mrs. Zheng slowly woke up, she was already lying on the bed. The doctor had already arrived. The problem was not big, it was just a weak fire.

But Mrs. Zheng found that the head of the family, Zheng Shanguo, was also sitting beside her. She felt sad in her heart, turned her head and tears flowed out in a daze.

Zheng Shanguo sighed and said, "Sister, don't be too surprised by Rong'er. He is really in a state of anxiety now. It's not a forced one, and he won't come to ask for money on the first day of the New Year."

Since Zheng Shanguo learned last time that Yang Rong kept forcing his mother to ask for money, he had a solution in his mind, and perhaps he could use Yang Rong to achieve his goal for him. Zheng Shanguo's goal was to ask Mrs. Zheng to go to Taiyuan to find a way out for the Zheng family. These days, he asked people to inquire everywhere and finally got some details of Yang Rong's debt.

Sure enough, Zheng Shanguo's words made Mrs. Zheng stop crying suddenly. She wiped away her tears and asked, "What's going on? Why did Rong'er have to?"

Zheng Shanguo smiled bitterly and said, "Actually, Rong'er doesn't owe much gambling debts, only 10,000 guan, but he borrowed a casino usury and has already increased to 50,000 guan this year. If he doesn't pay it back today, he will increase to 60,000 guan. Moreover, the casino is very big and can't afford to mess with it."

Mrs. Zheng gritted her teeth and asked, "Who opened the casino, the emperor? She has forced people to this level."

"It's almost done. It's the Dugu family's gambling house. The key is that the prince heard it a little. He asked me if Yang Rong owed a lot of money outside. I covered it up. You must know that if the prince knew that something was going on, he would definitely not want Rong'er, and he would also implicate Jun'er, so this matter is quite serious."

Mrs. Zheng was a little panicked and asked quickly: "Third brother, what should you do about this?"

Zheng Shanguo sighed, "Actually, there is only one way out for them, big sister, you should understand what I mean."

Of course, Mrs. Zheng understood what he meant. She refused to agree last time because she didn't want to find Yang Yuanqing for the Zheng family, but now she is her two sons...

Mrs. Zheng finally sighed, "Okay then! I'll tear off this old face and go to Taiyuan."

.....Welcome to your support, which is my greatest motivation.m
Chapter completed!