"I'm afraid I'm busy in the backyard!" Li Xu stood at the door and waited for a moment, then led his horse around to the back door. The backyard of the inn was his uncle's home, with an empty courtyard separated by two dilapidated earth walls. Li Xu walked along the back door.
Chai Men looked inside and happened to see the little concubine Zhang Liu who he was most afraid of seeing.
In this picture, Ms. Liu was a well-known shrewd woman. She stayed at home until she was nineteen years old, and no one in her neighborhood dared to ask. Her parents had no choice but to accept a betrothal gift of ten thousand yuan and promised her to Zhang Baosheng to fill a house.
At that time, Zhang Baosheng's business was booming, and he married a woman who was more than 20 years younger than himself. He was afraid of melting in the palm of his hand. Miss Liu was so used to it that her temper flared up after she came over, and she soon scared relatives, friends and neighbors who came to fight with her.
Don't dare to come to the door.
But if it weren't for this, Zhang Baosheng's inn wouldn't be able to survive now. However, the woman who is so good at running the house has never been able to continue the incense of the Zhang family, causing Zhang Baosheng to always want to have another concubine. Whenever he timidly
When he proposed this plan, Mr. Zhang Liu was always pointed in the nose and scolded and sent out. As time passed, he had to give up this unrealistic idea.
As a scholar, Li Xu would naturally not look down on Concubine. Mencius said: "There are three types of unfilial piety, the greatest of which is not having children." His uncle is not yet old, so he should marry a fertile woman to carry on his family line. But as a junior, these'
As a matter of fact, he couldn't mention it in front of his uncle, so he had to minimize the chance of meeting the little concubine, in order to be honest as a gentleman who "doesn't see and don't know, and everything is wrong."
He didn't want to see his concubine, but Mrs. Zhang and Liu seemed to have a tacit understanding. When she noticed the footsteps at the door of her house, she shouted without raising her head: "What are you waiting for? Why don't you help me catch this chicken? It's delayed Master Yang's order."
Birthday banquet, we have to walk around without being able to eat it!"
"Hey, - hey!" Li Xu shuddered, and then he realized that his little girl was holding a sharp knife in one hand and was crouching to confront the big rooster at the base of the wall. The rooster obviously knew that a disaster was coming and raised its comb.
, stretched out his neck, cackled, rushed left and right, trying to break through Zhang Liu's Wuzhishan. And Zhang Liu was not a master willing to give up. He stretched out his waist, raised his plump hips, and rolled up his sleeves.
His arm was pecked by a rooster and was covered in blood, and he refused to retreat even if he fought to the death.
Seeing this, Li Xu quickly pushed open the courtyard door, rolled up the hem of his gown and tucked it into his arms. He rushed forward and pushed the rooster to the ground. When Zhang Liu saw the visitor, he moved swiftly, unlike at home.
The old immortal was stunned for a moment and exclaimed: "Xuguan, I thought it was your uncle who came back. Put it down quickly, put it down quickly, how can this be a rough job for a scholar? God will punish..."
With that said, he snatched the "captive" from Li Xu's hand, moved lightly with lotus steps, and rushed to the edge of the pit dug in advance in the yard. He slowly closed his orchid fingers and hooked the rooster's neck under the wings.
, holding the chicken wings and neck in one place, using the other jade hand with a knife, he neatly cut off the rooster.
The blood spurted out with a "pop" sound and just fell into a pottery basin in front of Mrs. Zhang and Liu. After a moment, the chicken's blood was gone. Mrs. Zhang and Liu threw the rooster into the pit and reached out to another pot next to her that contained a chicken.
"Xuguan, you can find water by yourself, you're welcome. Yang Daguan's family in Shibalidian is hosting a birthday party, and your uncle will arrange the food and drinks. He went out early in the morning to arrange fresh food, and he will probably be back soon."
Are there no classes here today, or has Old Master Yang gone out and drunkenly gone crazy again, leaving you alone...?"
Zhang Liu asked while killing the chicken. His hands and feet were very neat, but in a blink of an eye, four corpses were already placed in the pit.
"My father is back and asked me to bring some mushrooms and dried beef!" Li Xu couldn't bear to hear Jin Jin continue to ruin Old Master Yang's reputation, so he interjected in a low voice.
"That's good, I'm worried about not having enough food. It's already autumn, where can I find so much fresh food?" Hearing this, Mrs. Zhang Liu thrust her sharp knife into the dirt beside her, jumped up, and ran quickly to the ground.
Li Xu's mount tied outside the door.
"There are also four pieces of rawhide, which have not been tanned. My father asked me to bring them to my uncle..." Li Xu said while unloading the gifts from the back of his mount. The big blue and white mule was covered with blood from Zhang Liu's hands.
Frightened by the smell, he snorted and shrank back desperately.
"It's not two, why is it four?" Mrs. Zhang Liu asked in surprise. Without waiting for Li Xu's explanation, she clapped her hands and said, "Ha, this is just in time. Yesterday I went to visit the old Liu's house who sells herbal medicine. His house was in the process of opening up.
The government was worried about the collection of rawhide. I sent him some charcoal in the snow, and I just happened to kill him, avenging your uncle's request for medicine in the spring!"
After saying that, he wiped a few bloody hands on his black apron. He picked up two cowhide rolls and flew away.
Li Xu didn't know whether to laugh or cry, so he had to stay and clean up the remaining mess for Jin Jin. After gathering the chickens in the pit, he picked up the pottery basin with chicken blood and was about to put it into the kitchen when he heard a string of sharp laughter outside the door.
, Lord Jinjin has already finished her business and rushed back.
"Why does this mean that you are a scholar and you shouldn't do menial work? Let God know that he will punish me. Put it down, put it down!" Mrs. Zhang Liu shouted, snatching the pottery basin with her hands, and sitting on the bench with her legs crossed.
, picked up the corner of his clothes and wiped the sweat, and gasped: "That damn old lady Liu, I sent her leather goods to her door to save her family's lives, and she had the nerve to bargain with me. She made me angry, so she kicked me
Just leave, didn’t she chase her out crying? Haha, one hundred and fifty pieces of meat are good, but we won’t take any of the free money (note 10)!”
After saying that, he took off a brand new linen bag from his waist, weighed it in his hand, and made a clattering sound.
"How about one hundred and fifty pieces of meat? Why don't you pay for it for free?" Li Xu's eyes immediately became bigger than eggs. His father was a businessman, and he often helped his father calculate the accounts of groceries. According to the Sui Dynasty,
According to the market situation, three pennies can be exchanged for half a bushel (Note 11) of brown rice. Even with the white money issued by the new emperor, a rawhide cannot be sold for fifty cents. It is better to exchange two rawhide for one hundred and fifty meat.
This is already a typical act of taking advantage of others' misfortune. It's a shame that Jin Jin had the nerve to say it out loud.
Seeing her nephew's expression changing rapidly, Mrs. Zhang Liu immediately "understood" the truth. She reluctantly opened her purse and muttered in a voice as loud as a gnat: "Your father traveled thousands of miles to sell goods outside the Great Wall. Logically, the capital should be recovered."
.The skin outside the wall is cheap and has not been salted. It looks quite big, so it’s not necessary to use it. I’ll give you twenty pieces of meat. I don’t know whether it’s enough or not?”
Looking at Li Xu's angry face, Zhang Liu's tone gradually turned cold: "Otherwise, I'll increase it to thirty for you. No matter how expensive it is, we'll hurt the face of our relatives!"
"Twenty dollars will be left for you to make makeup, and the rest will be returned to Xu Guan!" A cold voice came from the door, startling both Zhang Liu and Li Xu.
The two raised their heads when they heard the sound, and saw Zhang Baosheng leaning against the door, panting, carrying a basket of watered vegetables and a basket of large tofu.
"No, uncle, that's not what I mean. My dad said this is for uncle, along with these dried mushrooms and dried meat. He usually drinks the wine made by his uncle. If his uncle needs anything, of course he should do his best!" Li
Xu quickly walked over and took the burden from his uncle's shoulders.
"I'm just saying, my brother-in-law is in big business, why does he care about these small sums! When did you come back, why didn't I hear anything?" Mrs. Zhang Liu hid the money bag behind her waist, while beating her husband's back.
He said with a smile.
"As soon as I arrived at the intersection, I saw you rushing out of Lao Liu's house like you were on fire. I called you several times, but you didn't hear me. I was wondering? When I came back, I found out that you were taking advantage of the situation to rob you!" Zhang Baosheng was outraged.
His own mother-in-law took one look at her and scolded her angrily, "Old Liu's family can't even make a hundred cents a year by digging up medicinal materials and selling them. Now, I'll confiscate the whole house for you!"
"This is a fair trade. If I find someone else, he can't buy it at this price. Who doesn't know that in the past few days, the rawhide has been sold out in the market!" Ms. Zhang Liu heard her husband scolding her, and immediately increased the intensity of beating her, "
Besides, when you fell ill a few years ago, didn’t he take the opportunity to sell the ginseng seeds from his old Liu family for a sky-high price? They are all in business, so why should I care whether his family is in difficulty or not?!"
"Easy, please be gentle!" Zhang Baosheng grinned after being beaten. Thinking about it, he couldn't argue with his mother-in-law, so he had to give up the topic. He glanced at Li Xu who was carrying the vegetable load into the kitchen, and discussed with his wife in a low voice: "
We have come a long way, and my brother-in-law has never been in business. Don't be so greedy. We have already owed you a big favor by accepting two rawhides. If we swallow the capital of the other two rawhides, the God of Wealth will also scold us.
conscience!"
"My lord, Mr. Zhao from the county town didn't sell that bow even after paying three slings of money for it. Why didn't you just give it to him without frowning? Besides, your own relatives don't have so many things to do!" Mrs. Zhang Liu put on a pose.
He deliberately shouted loudly as if he was risking his life rather than his wealth.
"You bitch!" Zhang Bao was afraid that his nephew would overhear what he said, so he quickly pulled his wife to the corner of the courtyard. He blocked the sunlight with his body and cursed in a low voice: "Look how can you talk like this? After all these years,
When did my brother-in-law come back and not bring us useful things from outside the Great Wall? He is a kind and righteous family, so it would be heartless for us to take advantage of him and not say good things, right? Besides, in which month would this kid, Xu Guan, not come over to help? It’s like this to us.
We are like our father and mother. There are many scholars among our relatives, but who is as close to us as he is?"
"I know you blame me for not giving you a son!" Mrs. Zhang Liu huddled in the corner and said aggrievedly. After struggling for a long time, she finally couldn't defeat her husband and reluctantly took off the money bag hidden on her lower back. She looked towards
He poked around in the bag, gritted his teeth, closed his eyes and handed the money bag over. While handing it over, he muttered in a tearful tone: "He said he didn't want it, and it's not like you didn't hear it. Besides, I didn't negotiate the price, and my brother-in-law didn't.
You can’t sell it for so much money!”
As he said this, tears already fell from the corners of his eyes, "Here you go, give me back as much as you love. Just pretend I didn't see it!"
"Oh, you bitch!" Zhang Baosheng scolded helplessly. He picked up his money bag and went to look for Li Xu, only to find that his nephew had left at some point, a few chickens with dried blood, and two baskets of dried mushrooms.
, a bundle of dried meat, and two pieces of rawhide, neatly stacked under the window. Being basked in the autumn sunshine, it exuded a warm warmth. (To be continued)
