One hundred and two after the autumn when asked to cut
When the righteous deeds of Gao Xu, the master of Songfeng Mountain, in saving people's lives in fire and water spread throughout Jiangzhou and Huizhou and Suzhou, Wuhan City, where Jiangzhou's capital city is located, also made some representations. Jiangzhou Weaving Bureau supervised
Two thousand pieces of cotton-padded clothes produced by his own hands were put into the hands of the hungry people outside the city gate, and the maximum amount of grain that could be allocated from the granary in the city doubled the number of porridge pots cooked outside the east and west city gates.
These are all the actions Jiangzhou Governor can do to keep his official title. Otherwise, in the annual evaluation of the Ministry of Revenue, no matter how he smooths the joints, he will definitely be inferior. Only at this moment, he is trying his best to do it.
Only by sharing the worries of the emperor's great cause of the Northern Expedition could he continue to serve as his feudal official in Jiangzhou, the most fat place.
There are very few first-class poems and songs in Wuhang City this year about the so-called auspicious snow that heralds a good harvest. Even the famous poets in the city have all kept silent.
The corpses of hungry people outside many city walls have become too numerous to contain. The owls and wild dogs are eating the people who are still alive without scruples, while those who still have some strength around them do not chase them away, but just wait until these fat people are eaten.
When the round bird beast left with satisfaction, it climbed up and took a bite of meat.
The so-called exchange of children for food happened in Jiangzhou, which has always been famous for its prosperity. It has to be said that it is a kind of irony.
Next to the official road in Jiangzhou, there are also big-bodied butchers sharpening their knives. Next to them is a cauldron of boiling water, selling so-called two-legged sheep for only fifty cents per catty. Wild dog meat that eats human corpses at the right time costs three hundred cents per catty.
.A two-legged sheep is a human being with only two legs.
The cart of Gao Xu, the owner of Songfeng Mountain, saved a considerable number of hungry people, but not all of them.
The industries of Jiangzhou merchants have also been depressed. First, the lockdown orders in various places have blocked the flow of goods and money. Second, even if the convoys are traveling on the official roads of Jiangzhou, they will be starved if they do not have enough manpower to escort them.
Crazy hungry people attack. Once they find anything edible, they stuff it into their mouths, completely ignoring the whipping of the coachman and road guards. At the same time, they will also plunder everything that can be taken away, including horse bits.
.
Along with the merchant industry, the Yanyue Place in Jiangzhou also declined. After all, if you are full and warm, you will have lust. If you don’t have fullness and warmth, how can lust grow? The number of guests in Rouge Lane in Wuhang City has also gradually decreased. It used to cost ten taels of silver to meet.
The number one card, but now He Ye's capital is only a mere twenty taels of silver.
The business of the brothel in Rouge Alley is declining, and the one run by Sister Cui is not much better. Not only are there fewer customers coming here to have breakfast, but there are also far fewer customers to listen to Father Yan’s story telling in the afternoon, and they often say
My mouth was dry, and all I had to throw at me were sparse copper coins, which were not even enough to pay for Sun's mother to go out to buy vegetables every day.
Even though Sun's mother had a penny and was able to break a flower into two petals, Wei Changpan still saw that the portions of the daily dishes were getting smaller and smaller, Father Yan's rice wine began to be mixed with water, and Sister Cui had to sigh every time she applied makeup on her face.
After a while, the makeup faded, and she looked better in his opinion.
"It's not an option to continue like this." After closing the door one night, Sister Cui gathered everyone together and spread the account books on the elm dining table in the hall. "In the past two months, the income has not been as much as the loss of money.
Every day this building is open, it is losing money, so it would be better to close the door early."
Sister Cui said, and glanced at Wei Changpan, who was wiping the tables and chairs with a tattered rag. Although his hands and feet were diligent and nimble, he was never lazy in his work. He was a rare servant. Before the visitor's situation deteriorated, this little work was not enough.
Even three people are more than enough to handle it, but having more servants now seems like a superfluous step.
"Panzi, come here."
Sister Cui called to Wei Changpan, who was wiping an oil stain with the rag again and again. After he became a servant, the layers of old dirt on the surfaces of things in the building were gone, and the whole hall became brighter.
Look up, this place in Rouge Alley was far from being a formal place for dining and listening to books. Now it seems to be much more organized than the best brothels in Rouge Alley.
When I was still in the town, the beauties in the brothel were easy to talk to about anything, but the cleaning aspect of the building was absolutely unscrupulous. Even the dust in the corner could not be tolerated. If Xiao Zhuer found it, how many
Well, Wei Changpan had to eat less than one bowl of rice that day.
Therefore, even in his small thatched house, he always puts tidiness first in everything.
“If you don’t sweep one house, how can you sweep the world?”
Cui Xiaoshan said.
"You did a good job, everyone saw it." Sister Cui then changed the topic again, "But you have also seen the situation in the building now. It is really impossible to have another servant.
With the current bleak business situation, I'm afraid there won't be any room for me in Rouge Alley in another three to five months."
The implication of Sister Cui's words was beyond Wei Changpan's expectation, but it was reasonable. Nowadays, in Rouge Alley and even in Wuhang City, there are no business houses that let their redundant people pack up and go home? To be fair, Sister Cui's insinuation
This method is already much better than the method of countless ruthless people who simply throw out people's bedding and sweep the floor without any payment.
Mother Sun was about to open her mouth to smooth things over, but was stopped by Sister Cui's eyes. This old mother who had gone through a lot of suffering also knew the difficulties in the building at this moment, so she could only stop talking.
At this time, Father Yan was still pretending to be deaf and dumb. He neither agreed with Sister Cui at all nor had any intention of defending Wei Changpan. This slovenly old man always just looked at the light and dark of the oil lamp on such occasions. If it was slightly brighter,
If it consumes more oil, the wick should be twisted to a darker point.
He understood in his heart what Sister Cui meant, and she probably wanted him to pack up and leave. Wei Changpan lowered his head and stared at his toes, but didn't say anything, just doing so to waste time.
If he were kicked out now, he would probably not be able to find a job that could fill his stomach without exposing his martial arts realm, let alone repay a debt of more than thirty taels of silver.
With his ability to forage food in the mountains and water, it would be frightening to go out of the city in such a heavy snowy winter and live alone for several months outside the city where the bark and grass roots of the wild trees have been eaten away by starvation, not to mention those people.
Someone who wants to kill him.
So even if he was wasting his time here without shame and shame, he couldn't just go out and seek death.
"Come on, come on, look at your worthless look." Sister Cui raised her hand and gave him a slap in the face, with a look of helplessness, "After all, things are not going well in the city and outside the city right now. I will drive you out now. Your injuries are not healed yet."
Lisuo, what if I lose my life? Who will pay me back my money?"
"You do the work first, but the money you got will be gone. Who knows, Panzi, that you are so good at eating? If you can do the same thing at work, how can you do the same with eating?"
Sister Cui spread her rough fingertips on her hands, and had been reluctant to use peach gum to protect her fingers for a long time. The inside of her fingertips had already grown calluses. When she played the pipa again, she would not be bruised and swollen by the strings every time. The peach gum finger protectors
Money is also saved.
It wasn't that she hadn't thought about kicking Wei Changpan out, but no one came to repay the money, and it was probably a sin, so Sister Cui, who believed in Buddhism, gave up.
"I'll get up early tomorrow. I'll tell you that a new group of vegetable sellers have been brought in from the east of the city. They're cheaper. If I get there late, they'll be gone." Sun's mother said, "Panzi's body and bones are not all healed yet. Take a look.
If you have any fresh stick bones, come back and make soup, which is also a meat dish for everyone."
"I move less...eat less."
"Then I won't buy winter clothes this year."
The other three people all said something that could help reduce expenses in the building. Only Father Yan, who had mastered the art of pretending to be deaf and stupid, remained silent. He just secretly moved his position closer to the stairs.
The place is ready to run away.
"Old Yan." Sister Cui didn't know when she came around to block Father Yan's retreat. She leaned down and showed an expression that was half a smile but not a smile. "Look at your body. If you don't drink, you might not be stronger."
, what kind of water should I mix with it? If I don’t drink it, I’ll get it.”
"The sages have said..." Father Yan, who has been studying for two years, muttered.
"go!"
Mother Sun and Sister Cui shouted, and Father Yan dropped the wine bowl that was still half full of wine and ran away with his head in his arms.
"So many people died outside the city, and people are beheaded in the city. I really don't know what those officials are thinking in their heads."
Mother Sun, who finally caught Father Yan, was mumbling, holding on to the back collar of Father Yan's gown, which had lost all face in front of Wei Changpan.
"Behead, chop what head, whose head?" Sister Cui asked casually, but she was still holding Father Yan's gray hair in her hand.
"You are not the girl who was paraded through the streets by the government and said to be a monster that eats people's hearts and livers. No matter how I look at it, she is just a girl. How can she have anything to do with a monster." Mother Sun freed up a hand to pinch Yan.
The old man's waist was soft, "Do you want to drink more? Do you want to drink more?"
"The notice is posted outside, and the government's bright red seal is stamped on it. How can there be anything wrong?" Sister Cui said, grabbing Father Yan's gray hair and echoing, "Do you want to drink anymore? Do you want to drink?"
"I won't drink anymore, I won't drink anymore." Father Yan hurriedly begged for mercy, and Sister Cui and Mama Sun let go of their hands, both showing triumphant smiles.
"Why...so early."
Wei Changpan, who tried his best to keep his voice steady, asked, but it was difficult to hide his pale face.
The vegetable oil lamp was turned by Father Yan until the light was only the size of a soybean. It was not easy to barely see things, let alone look at people's faces. Mother Sun clapped her hands and replied to Wei Changpan in confusion: "Not everyone said that Qiuhou asked
Zhan, it’s not because the city and outside the city are unsafe, why don’t you even know this, Panzi?”
"It's nothing, just asking, just asking."
The dirty rag was tightly held in his hand, and he said insincerely.
Yes, Qiu Hou should be punished, and it can only be regarded as a fluke that it has been delayed until today. He smiled miserably, picked up the wine bowl of Father Yan, and drank the remaining wine in one gulp.