At this time, Shi Er stood nervously at the door of the Baihu Government Hall, preparing to ask the soldiers on guard for directions and where to ask the workers in the soap workshop where to report. However, the soldiers on guard were all very strong and stood there with their rifles raised.
The majesty made Shi Er, a farmer who had never seen the world, feel a little scared.
Before he opened his mouth, the soldier with the gun saw him standing there for a long time and asked him: "You are here to report in the soap workshop, right?"
Shi Er quickly replied: "Yes! Does Mr. Bing know where to report?"
The soldier pointed toward the official hall and said, "Report to the fortification hall to the west of the lobby! You will be assigned a house there!"
"Thank you, Master Bing!"
Shi Er timidly walked into the Baihu Official Hall and looked to the west. Sure enough, he saw a big house with a sign of "Fortification Hall" hanging on it. Shi Er approached the Fortification Hall carrying a quilt and luggage.
.
"Reported by Soap Factory?"
"yes!"
"Where are the interviewer's cards!"
Playing cards? Shi Er quickly found the stamped playing card from the package and respectfully handed it to the officials in the fortification hall.
"How many members of your family will move to Fanjiazhuang?"
"It's just me!"
The Li family member in charge nodded, looked at the account book in his hand and said: "Then I will allocate you a room in a small villa to the west room on the second floor of No. 52 Zhengyuan Street, and share it with three people.
The monthly rent for a main room, kitchen, bathhouse and toilet is seventy cents, and the rent will be deducted from the monthly payment."
Shi Er heard what the official said, but he didn't understand what Zhengyuan Street or the second-floor west room meant. He only understood that he didn't have to pay for this place, so he nodded quickly and said, "Okay, okay!"
"Huang Laosan, take this worker to No. 52 Zhengyuan Street. You can ask him later if he is short of money. If he is short of money, give him a month's money first!"
"knew!"
After the official finished speaking, a man in charge, Huang Laosan, came out and took Shi Er to Zhengyuan Street.
Huang Laosan seemed to be a man of few words, and did not speak to Shi Er along the way. Shi Er observed Fanjiazhuang with his eyes as he walked, and saw only people building houses and city walls everywhere, and people transporting wood constantly on the road.
The brick and stone oxcarts are a lively scene here despite the cold weather.
After walking for half a mile on North Street, Huang Laosan, who was leading the way, took Shi Er and turned into Zhengyuan Street. Zhengyuan Street is in the west of the north of the city, and there are densely built brand new villas on both sides.
After finding the small villa No. 52, Huang Laosan looked at Shi Er with a smile and said, "Here we are, this is it!"
Shi Er opened his eyes to look at the house. He saw that the house had two floors, with black tiles on the roof, bluestone thresholds, and smooth cement walls covered with white lime. It looked very beautiful. Shi Er was used to seeing it in Shijia Village.
After looking at the leaky mud house, I felt that such a grand house was only lived by the gentlemen in the city.
But how did Huang Laosan lead himself here? Is this a house for him to live in?
Huang Laosan knocked on the door, waited for a while and saw no response, then pushed the door open.
"No one else has come to report yet, you are the first resident!"
Huang Laosan stood in the house. Seeing that Shi Er did not follow him into the house, Huang Laosan asked with a smile: "What are you doing standing at the door? Why don't you come in quickly?"
Shi Er looked surprised, opened his eyes wide and asked, "Is this a house for me to live in?"
Huang Laosan smiled and said: "Yes, come in quickly!"
Shi Erru woke up from his dream and walked into the house carrying his luggage. Huang Laosan took him to the door of a bedroom on the west side of the second floor and pushed the bedroom open.
The bedroom is three meters long from east to west and four meters wide from north to south. It is very spacious. The cement walls are painted with snow-white lime. There is a double bed, a wardrobe, a desk and a simple wooden chair.
Lighting a tung oil lamp.
These furniture and this house were already luxurious in the eyes of Shi Er, who was born in a peasant family.
"This is your room. The rent is seventy cents a month! It will be deducted from the monthly payment."
Shi Er asked again in disbelief: "Is this a room for me to live alone?"
Huang Laosan smiled and said: "Yes, the kitchen, bathroom and toilet in the main room are downstairs. You and the other three people in this villa share it. There are many empty houses in the village now. If you get married in the future, one room is not enough.
You can apply to rent two rooms for 140 cents a month. If you want to support the elderly, you can rent an entire villa."
Shi Er still couldn't believe that such a nice house was for him to live in. Na Na asked, "How can I live in the master's house?"
Huang Laosan laughed when he heard this and said: "What's the master's house? This is the worker's house. The master's house is bigger than this one, and it has a big yard! Even the medium-sized villa I live in is better than this one."
.”
Only then did Shi Er believe that this house was for him to live in, and he bit his lip and stopped talking.
Seeing his restrained look, Huang Laosan smiled and said, "Why are you carrying a quilt on your back? Just make the bed quickly."
When Shi Er heard this, he quickly took off his luggage and started making the bed.
Huang Laosan stood aside and watched Shi Er work, and then asked: "Did you bring the money?"
Shi Er was stunned when he heard this, thinking that Huang Laosan was asking for money from him. Sure enough, this house was not for free. Shi Er bit his lip and replied honestly: "I only have fifty coins with me.
"
Huang Laosan smiled and said: "Fifty cents is not enough! Look at your patched cotton-padded jacket and your pair of torn cloth shoes. It looks so disgraceful to others. How about you start with
If the Ministry of Works borrows monthly money from its account for one month and uses it for expenses, it won’t give you any monthly money next month.”
After hearing this, Shi Er was stunned for a long time before he realized that Huang Laosan wanted to lend him money. He was stunned and didn't know what to say.
Seeing that Shi Er didn't say anything, Huang Laosan directly took out two ounces of money from his arms, took out seventy pennies, and said with a smile: "This is your salary for next month, after deducting seventy pennies for rent, it will be one thousand and nineteen cents."
One hundred and thirty cents for you. You can use it to make a new suit of clothes. How decent would that be? Fanjiazhuang hasn't been built yet, but several tailors have already come in to take over the work, just east of Siwen Street!"
Shi Er took the two slings of copper coins from Huang Laosan, feeling as if he was in a dream.
"Is this one month's money? Two slings of copper coins?"
The gentleman in the village only told Shi Er that Fanjiazhuang was recruiting people to work, but did not mention the salary at all. It is estimated that the gentleman did not believe the salary written on paper by the Ming Dynasty attaché, so he simply did not tell Shi Er and only told Shi Er that he would have a bite to eat.
So when I got here, I was surprised to learn that two copper coins were actually given out in a month.
Huang Laosan took a breath and asked curiously: "Didn't you know when you came to apply for the job? Our boss will give you two copper coins a month and three meals a day!"
"Three meals, no meat?"
Shi Er felt that his brain was running out. Why was this employer so nice? He allowed him to live in such a beautiful big house, give him two copper coins a month, eat three meals a day, and also lend himself money to spend. Here.
Is it Fanjiazhuang? Is this owner a military attaché of the Ming Dynasty?
What ability do you have to make these people treat you so well?
Shi Er had heard about the harshness of the previous 100 households in Fanjiazhuang. He originally thought that Fanjiazhuang was a pit of fire and that he would be a miserable person in his life. Who knew that he would be treated like this here? Wouldn't he be treated like this?
He will live much longer than his married eldest brother, and he will be able to marry a wife in a few years? Is it a blessing that he and his eldest brother separated and came to Fanjiazhuang empty-handed?
As he thought about it, Shi Er shed tears.
With a pop, Shi Er knelt in front of Huang Laosan and said loudly: "Dad Huang, Shi Er never thought that he would be able to live such a life! Shi Er would like to thank his boss. Please tell Huang Laosan and let his boss know in the future.
If you ask me to go west, I will never go east. Even if you ask me to go through mountains of swords and seas of fire, I will go."
Huang Laosan laughed when he saw how upright the rural boy was. He quickly helped him up and said with a smile: "What nonsense are you talking about? I don't want you to do that. You can work hard in the soap workshop and stick to the confidentiality regulations."
Yes! If you follow my boss, you will have many good days in the future!"
Shi Er got up, wiped his tears and nodded vigorously.
