The largest longevity food shop in Lin'an City, Zheng Ji's, is located beside the fish bridge. It opened here in the late Tang Dynasty. After six generations, it has become the largest longevity food shop in Lin'an City.
In the morning, shortly after the door opened, a man and a woman walked into the longevity shop. The man was lean and the woman was short and fat. Boss Zheng bowed to the man and woman with clasped fists and said, "Xiao Ke's surname is Zheng Anji, and he is the shopkeeper of this shop.
Did you two have a fairy in your family?"
Anyone who opens a longevity product store cannot introduce their products to others like other traders. If you say to others: "My longevity products are so good, do you want them?" Then you are just waiting for bad luck, people will think it's too bad.
If you're unlucky, you'll be fine if you don't get smoked. Therefore, the buyer can only decide whether to buy or not.
Chen Yougui and his wife asked Boss Zheng: "Shopkeeper, do you have any good quality longevity materials here?"
"Haha, you two. It's not that I, Zheng Anji, am bragging. I won't talk about it from afar. If there is someone better than Zheng in Lin'an City, Zheng is willing to climb all over Lin'an City."
Chen Yougui and Chen Jiujin don't care about the quality of the coffin. They only care about the price of the coffin. It can't be too expensive. If it's too expensive, the money you get in the future will be less. It can't be too cheap. If it's too cheap, it won't be available to Chen Mengsheng.
How much money is there? The couple were wandering around Zheng Jishou's shop. The shopkeeper Zheng was also a well-rounded person. Looking at the couple's outfits and their postures, he had already guessed it.
"Haha, do you two have any longevity materials that you like? Come on, you two let me, Mrs. Huang, sell melons. Mr. Zheng can be your adviser. You two come with me." Shopkeeper Zheng took Chen Yougui with him.
The couple walked to the inner room. Chen Yougui smelled a strange fragrance as soon as he entered the inner room. There were more than ten longevity materials placed in the inner room, each of which was covered with red silk.
"You two, this longevity dish is the treasure of our store." As he said this, he slowly opened the corner of the southernmost longevity dish, and the room was filled with light. This longevity dish was actually carved from a whole piece of beautiful Hotan jade.
It was made, green and transparent. Chen Yougui and Chen Jiujin's eyes almost fell out, it was so beautiful.
Chen Jiujin asked innocently: "Does this longevity food cost a lot of money?"
Shopkeeper Zheng smiled and didn't answer and only stretched out a finger.
"One thousand taels?" Shopkeeper Zheng shook his head gently, and Chen Yougui and his wife couldn't help but secretly take a breath of air.
Shopkeeper Zheng said: "Both of you said that gold has a price, but jade is priceless. This longevity material is called Fuguironghua. It is a whole piece of Hetian jade that has been carefully carved by more than 300 craftsmen for five years. The price is 10,000 gold.
"Two, this longevity material is carved with gold." Before shopkeeper Zheng could finish speaking, Chen Jiujin was so frightened by the 10,000 taels of gold that he covered the red silk, for fear of accidentally breaking it. Shopkeeper Zheng had already seen it from their clothes.
The two of them are by no means rich and powerful. It was because they spoke too loudly when they entered the store, saying that they wanted to see the good stuff. Even the nobles Wang and Sun could not speak in such a loud voice, so shopkeeper Zheng even wanted to kill them.
With Chen Yougui's arrogance, ordinary people would never use a jade coffin. Shopkeeper Zheng was frightened when he saw the couple. His goal had been achieved.
"Boy, what do you think of this longevity wood?" Shopkeeper Zheng lifted the red silk on the longevity wood next to it, and a fragrant aroma came to his nose. "This longevity wood is small-leaf rosewood produced in Persia."
Chen Jiujin hurriedly asked: "How much does this cost?"
"Three thousand taels of silver."
Chen Yougui also knew that Zheng Ji's Longevity Material Shop in Lin'an City was indeed well-deserved, so he said with a smile: "Shopkeeper Zheng, let's not joke. We can't afford this kind of longevity material. My eldest brother has just passed away, and we only have
One is an underage boy, so I, as a brother, help pick out the best-quality longevity materials."
"Then I don't know how much longevity materials you want to choose?"
This is what Chen Yougui is worried about. Chen Jiujin beside him said: "My eldest brother has been in business for more than 20 years. We don't know how much property he has. But our family has three acres of fertile land and a big house. Why?
You should also choose a few hundred taels worth of longevity materials."
Shopkeeper Zheng twirled three strands of his long beard and thought for a while. Three acres of fertile land plus a big house would only cost three hundred taels of silver. He said, "How about you two looking at this?"
Chen Yougui and his wife followed shopkeeper Zheng to a corner of the outhouse and saw a gold-lacquered longevity coffin. On the front of the coffin, there were cranes and deers in the stele hall. Two snow-white cranes spread their wings over the glazed tile hall. On both sides of the hall were
There are lush green pine trees, and on both sides of the coffin are painted two golden dragons that are soaring in the clouds, chasing and teasing the orbs. Around the dragon are painted the weapons used by Lu Dongbin and other Eight Immortals, also known as the "Eight Immortals of Darkness", as well as guqin, ancient paintings,
There are plums, orchids, chrysanthemums, bamboos, peach, durian and longevity fruits, and there is "Shoushan Fuhai" on the surface of the material. All the pictures on the coffin use techniques such as standing powder and gilding, as well as the mixing of pigments to fully incorporate the ancient Tang Sancai painting style into it, making the entire
The coffin is solemn and elegant.
Shopkeeper Zheng said: "Born in Suzhou and Hangzhou, died in Liuzhou. This longevity wood is made of Liuzhou wood and sells for five hundred taels. What do you two think?" The longevity wood that shopkeeper Zheng mentioned was actually early.
A few years ago, a foreigner in Lin'an City made a deposit, and paid a deposit of two hundred taels to shopkeeper Zheng to get a piece of longevity food in Liuzhou. However, the water ran out of the house, and the whole family was burned to the ground, so it has always been like this.
Shopkeeper Zheng even paid two hundred taels of silver for the koushou materials, including the freight.
Chen Yougui and Chen Jiujin both thought it was good at first sight. Chen Jiujin countered the price with shopkeeper Zheng. But shopkeeper Zheng said: "If there is less than 600 taels of Liuzhou wood in Lin'an City, I would rather not take any money."
For this reason, Chen Jiujin also knew that shopkeeper Zheng’s words were true, so he decided to come to Chenjiazhuang to collect the cash in three days and wrote down the receipt. Shopkeeper Zheng ordered the man to hitch a donkey cart and send it to Chenjiazhuang. Chen Yougui and his wife followed.
We boarded the ferry from West Lake and headed west to Chenjiazhuang.
It was already late when we arrived at Chenjiazhuang, and all the masters in Chenjiazhuang were amazed when they saw this Liuzhou wood coffin. Unexpectedly, Chen Yougui was really nice to his eldest brother, and was willing to spend five hundred taels of silver. Chen Mengsheng had always been in love with Chen Yougui and his wife since he was a child.
I have a good impression, especially towards Chen Jiujin.
Chen Jiujin said to Chen Mengsheng: "Qingzhu, from now on we will be a family. Your second aunt has watched you grow up since you were a child. You are much more filial than that girl." After Nizi got married, she was still a child in the first two years.
He would bring lame Yang Laoliu back to his parents' house to visit, but every time Chen Jiujin would ask for money, so Nizi simply stopped coming.
Chen Youfu's funeral was very solemn. Chen Yougui also called a monk to perform rituals. Just after the funeral and burial, Chen Yougui and his wife brought shopkeeper Zheng from Lin'an City to Chen Mengsheng's home to ask for money from Chen Mengsheng.
When Chen Mengsheng heard this, he understood that the second uncle had tricked him, and he felt sad and angry at the same time.
After Chen Mengsheng finished handling Chen Youfu's funeral affairs, he took out all the money he had with him, which was only a few cents, and put it on the table. When Chen Jiujin saw that Chen Mengsheng had only taken out such a small amount of money, he howled and cursed Chen Mengsheng for being unfilial.
, I hid the money even after I died. It attracted all the neighbors, and Chen Jiujin howled even more energetically.
Chen Mengsheng had no choice but to tell shopkeeper Zheng: "When my father left first, he only had two taels of silver and three ounces of money. Now since my second uncle owes my husband money for my father's sake, Mengsheng has no choice but to give the land and money to him."
The ancestral home is entrusted to Mr.
Shopkeeper Zheng originally thought that he would have to go to court with Chen Yougui, but he didn't expect that this kid was really tough. Chen Yougui and his wife never expected that the eldest brother really didn't leave any money for Chen Mengsheng. In desperation, he handed over the land deed and the house deed to Chen Yougui.
Shopkeeper Zheng and Chen Mengsheng only brought a few winter coats. Chen Jiujin still didn't believe it. He stepped forward and carefully looked through the clothes one by one, over and over again, and there wasn't even a copper. Chen Mengsheng looked at it coldly.
Chen Jiujin loosened the bun on his head and took off all his clothes, leaving only a pair of slit pants with slits that reached between his waist and thighs. It was the coldest month of winter, and Chen Mengsheng was about to get cold.
His whole body was covered in bruises. He threw the clothes to Chen Jiujin in front of everyone. Chen Jiujin touched the clothes for a while before returning the clothes to Chen Mengsheng.
"Second Aunt, please check carefully." The neighbors who were watching in the courtyard were scolding. Chen Mengsheng got dressed and took out a piece of paper from the drawer of the table. He walked to Aunt Guihua and said, "Aunt Guihua, this
It’s the birth date of your Jinlian. I, Chen Mengsheng, am not blessed and cannot let girl Jinlian suffer and freeze with me. Auntie Guihua, I really can’t help you.”
"Good boy, I don't blame you. I just blame those two beasts in human skins."
Chen Mengsheng took off the magic ruler hanging on the outer room and was about to walk out of the courtyard. "Wait a minute", it was shopkeeper Zheng who stopped Chen Mengsheng. Shopkeeper Zheng liked the children in front of him so much, and he only had three girls.
I suddenly felt pity.
"Little brother, where are you going? Why don't you come back with me?"
"Shopkeeper Zheng, thank you for your kindness. I know that the land and house are not enough for your five hundred taels of silver, but Chen Mengsheng is already broke. I appreciate your kindness."
Shopkeeper Zheng took out a purse from his arms and stuffed it into Chen Mengsheng's coat, "If you have any trouble, come to me in Ancheng."