Republic of China small businessman

When she first came to the provincial government, although she still had a few hundred silver dollars at home, Grandma Kou didn't want to sit and eat. Taking advantage of Xie Jing's two-day vacation, the whole family got together to do a small business.

Li Yuan moved the small bench and sat obediently by the side. He didn't talk much, most of the time he just listened.

Grandma Kou hesitated between a breakfast shop and a tailor shop. She thought she could do both. She was skilled at running a breakfast shop, but she got up too early and exhausted her energy; As he grows older, his eyes become worse day by day, and it becomes difficult to see things. It's okay to just make a few clothes for Xie Jing, as it's a bit of a struggle to make a living.

Grandma Kou said: "Jing'er, I've thought about it. I can actually do both. Why don't I open a breakfast shop first, wait two years when I can't be too busy, and then go to make clothes for people, sew and mend, don't do that. Just fine..."

Xie Jing shook her head and said to her: "Let's open a small restaurant. It doesn't matter what time it is. There are many people in the provincial government. Grandma cooks some fresh snacks. Open it when you are free, and close the door to rest if you are tired."

Grandma Kou smiled and said, "You silly boy, how can you spend three days fishing and two days drying nets in business? If you really do this, the customers will all run away."

Xie Jing: "Run away, I can make money, and I will support you."

Grandma Kou touched his head, her eyes were full of smiles, and she murmured a few words of "silly boy", but she was fond of him, and didn't annoy him at all: "Grandma has never done business, and neither have you. No bottom."

"It doesn't matter, grandma, do you still remember Uncle Zhang? He has so many guards, he is tired of eating the food in the mansion, and he always comes out to fight teeth. When you were in Qinghe, Uncle Zhang and they all loved to eat, just follow that Come."

"This, can it work?"

"Why not? Grandma eats everything."

Xie Jing spoke seriously, and Grandma Kou was happy, she hesitated for a moment, then nodded and said, "That's all right, I'll listen to you."

Xie Jing rested at home for a day or two, and by the way, he found a carpenter and a mason to order the pavement facing the street.Overall, there were no major changes, but the doors and windows were widened, thick cloth curtains were newly made, and the blast furnace that was originally built in the outer courtyard was repaired, the soot was cleared, and the fire was restarted.In this way, you can boil water outside and steam a few baskets of steamed buns. Anyway, the stove keeps the small shop warm all day long. I know this is a small shop selling food.

Li Yuan ran back with a roll of thick red cloth, unfolded it to show Xie Jing the newly made cloth flag: "Xiao Xie, what is the name of our shop?"

Xie Jing thought for a moment, and said, "Go and get the pen and ink."

Li Yuan agreed, and went in to get a pen and ink. Xie Jing took the pen and wrote the four characters "Outstanding and Outstanding". The handwriting is elegant and coherent.He has been with Master Jiu for two years, and he has learned calligraphy hand in hand. His strokes are stronger than before. Master Jiu's handwriting is full of arrogance, and Xie Jing is not perfect. He writes with a bit of spirit, and his handwriting has the characteristics of a young man. His arrogance has a different taste.

Li Yuan and Grandma Kou learned to read characters with Xie Jing in the past two years, and after reading it, he felt a little strange: "Don't you need to write about a restaurant or a restaurant? I see that other families write like this."

Xie Jing dried the ink and said, "No need, just hang it up."

Li Yuan promised, put up the cover, and looked at it happily for a long time: "Xiao Xie, I looked all the way when I came on the road just now, and the covers of other houses are not as bright and beautiful as ours."

Xie Jing laughed, and looked up for a while, the cover in front of the small restaurant was blowing in the wind, making hunting sounds.

Although the business has not opened yet, it has gained momentum.

After Xie Jing's two-day vacation was over, she told Li Yuan to help watch the renovation of the shop, and then she returned to Jiu Ye's side as an errand.

There are many rules in the old Bai family house. Xie Jing's current errand is in the guard team, which is arranged by Zhang Huwei. After he went, he first asked Zhang Huwei to report.Zhang Huwei happened to have something on hand, so he took him to the guards first, and explained as he walked: "Master Jiu has not rested since he came back. He went to General Bai's place with the old man last night. There are more rules there. There are soldiers all over the house, and they are very temperamental and not easy to mess with. Before leaving, the master told you to wait for him at home when you come back, and he will come back this afternoon at the latest."

Xie Jing responded.

Zhang Huwei touched his face, and said again: "Thanks to you not being here these two days, you don't even know how many people around you drank."

Xie Jing was stunned for a moment: "You also drank a lot?"

Zhang Huwei said: "That's right, our Ninth Master has been away from the provincial government for two years, and when he comes back, those old friends will naturally come to invite him, and there are elders like General Bai. After all, we don't want to rest a few years ago. This is our Lord Qian. The cup is not drunk, it was someone else who got down on the ground yesterday, General Bai is a bunch of wolf cubs, he doesn't have a fuel-efficient lamp, and when he drinks, he just breaks the mud seal and presses the altar to drink."

Xie Jing vaguely remembered that it seemed to be the same in the past, Master Jiu could drink very well, and he only saw him drunk once that year when he was watching the moon.

Seeing that he didn't say anything, Zhang Huwei thought he was worried, and comforted him: "It's okay, I have never seen Master Jiu get drunk, he was raised by the old man in the wine jar, don't worry."

Xie Jing: "..."

It seemed that he had seen his grandfather drunk.

Zhang Huwei wanted to deliver something to Lord Jiu, so he hurriedly took Xie Jing to a tea room where the guards were resting, and left.

After Xie Jing went in, he realized that the tea room was very spacious, connected to the next door, with tables, chairs and benches, a small stove in the center to boil water and make tea, and there were several rows of weapons against the wall, each of which looked like it had been used for a long time, and the handles were coated with pulp. It was shiny, with soft whips and long sticks; there were several long guns on the other wall cabinet, with serial numbers engraved on them, and seven or eight other people were sitting there wiping their weapons. face curious.

Someone took a look by the window and whispered: "Master is gone!"

Like a signal, Hulala and the rest of the crowd gathered around, all muscular and strong men, some with extremely short hair, a layer of green stubble, and some with flower tattoos on their arms and chest, regardless of the coldness of the twelfth lunar month Sleeves, showing half of a black dragon with claws and claws... all kinds of things, the only thing they have in common is their size, all of them are big enough to look down on Xie Jing.

Xie Jing stood there, a little cautious, and said hello to them: "Brother, hello."

A group of people looked at me and I looked at you. Suddenly someone scratched their head and laughed, and the rest of them laughed happily. Xie Jing was tense at first, but soon couldn't hold it anymore and laughed too.

One of the leading brothers said: "You are Xiao Xie, right? The master told us that we all knew that you would come these two days, but we didn't expect you to be so good-looking. When we entered the door just now, we thought the master was looking for you. Where did a little junior sister come back!"

Xie Jing said: "Brother, I am a man."

"I know, I know!" The other person next to Xing hurriedly answered, "Wang Su told us as soon as he came back from Qinghe, we prepared a small gift, which is not worth much, and I will give it to you to play with!"

Xie Jing used to know some rules of the world when he was in the theater troupe, and he accepted them generously and thanked them one by one, "Brothers come to my house for dinner when you have time, my grandma opened a small restaurant, all of which are home-cooked. I invite everyone."

Those people were very happy, and after asking about the newly opened store, they all expressed their support.

Xie Jing was surrounded by many senior brothers and sat by the small stove. Probably because of his slender figure, the senior brothers thought he would be cold, so they specially reserved the warmest place, and poured him a large cup of hot tea. Give him a few roasted yams.Xie Jing was so hot that the tip of his nose was sweating after a while, he couldn't drink the hot tea, and the roasted sweet potato was so fragrant that it aroused his appetite, so he opened it and ate slowly while listening to the chats of his seniors.

The people around were laughing, most of them were rough martial arts practitioners, brothers who were born and died, chatting about everything, and the relationship between the group of people was very good.

Xie Jing was brought in by Zhang Huwei, and he was their junior brother, so he naturally joined them.

While eating roasted yams, Xie Jing slowly raised her eyes to look at these people, and recognized several familiar faces back then, all of whom were extremely loyal to Master Jiu.It's just that he entered the mansion late at that time and ran away a few times. His relationship with the guards was not as good as it is now.

Xie Jing squinted and looked at a century-old tree near the high wall of the backyard outside. He had successfully climbed over the wall and ran out once, and he stepped on this tree.After running for three towns in one breath, he was arrested. Afterwards, Master Jiu had a cold face and asked people to cut down the tree. The Xifu crabapple was planted all over the mansion, and then there were persimmons—people outside said that Master Jiu was filial, and he said " The fifth generation (persimmon) is in the same house (tang)", but Xie Jing knew that the branches of these two kinds of trees were soft and lower than the high wall, and they were used to prevent him from sneaking away.

Xie Jing chuckled while holding the hot tea, the tea was clear, reflecting a bit of his current appearance, the corners of his mouth were raised and he looked in a good mood.

At that time, they were awkward and emotional, one ran and the other chased, how could they have imagined that they depended on each other for several years later.

Jiu Ye sent him away, leaving him alone in front of the sick bed.

He was the one who sent Grandpa off for the last time.

It is also him who lives alone in the world.

……

A senior brother patted Xie Jing on the shoulder, Xie Jing looked up at him in a daze.

The other party smiled and said: "It's okay, I'll just see you in a daze alone, what's bothering Xiao Xie? Tell me and we can help you find a solution."

Xie Jing smiled, shook her head and said, "No, it's just that I'm bored, and I don't know what to say at the moment. I'll listen to the brothers chatting."

The tea room was bustling with activity, and the figure of the boy with lonely eyes in the teacup was shattered by circles of water ripples, and soon disappeared.

On the other side, the Governor's Mansion.

Bai Jiuye drank a lot of wine and took a breath in the corridor. This place is no more hidden than the old Bai family house. There are small rockery piled up in the small garden opposite, and the rest is full of pines and cypresses. It's a soldier.

The air outside is fresh, but also cold.

Master Jiu stood for a while, and couldn't help but think of Xie Jing.

He laughed, thinking that he had been taken care of so well in the past two years, that he really couldn't get used to being away for a moment.

The banquet didn't end until noon, and I returned home.

Jiuye also lived in the East Courtyard in the provincial capital, but it was much larger than the one in Qinghe Bai's house. Along the way, there were people in the courtyard who saw him, saluted and greeted him constantly.Master Jiu ignored it, strode into the bedroom, took two steps and then paused, turned back and took off his cloak, washed his hands with warm water to let the temperature of his palms rise slightly, and then went to the bedroom.

I just lifted the curtain and peeked, and found that the bedding on the bed was neat and there was no one there.

Master Jiu frowned slightly, turned around and asked, "Where's Xiao Xie?"

The person following behind was stunned for a moment, and said, "Who are you talking about?"

Master Jiu asked again: "Did Zhang Huwei send anyone over this morning?"

The man shook his head, but immediately said: "I'll look for it right away. This is freshly brewed tea with milk added. You can drink it to warm your stomach. After you finish drinking it, someone will bring it to you."

Everyone in the East Courtyard is talented, and it took only a cup of tea, so Xie Jing was brought here.

Xie Jing was still holding half a roasted potato in his hand, and was a little dazed. After seeing Master Jiu, he smiled and said, "Master, are you back?"

Jiu Ye sat there and put down the teacup, and said softly, "I'm back, where have you been?"

Xie Jing said: "I went to the guard team, Uncle Zhang said that I will be there from now on."

Master Jiu laughed and beckoned him to come over: "Zhang Huwei is also foolish, I asked him to pick you up, who said you were sent to him?" He took a handkerchief to wipe Xie Jing's hands, Xie Jing was a little embarrassed, He wanted to back away, but his hand was still caught and he wiped off the soot from the baked potato. "Next time, come here directly, and stay by my side as before. Don't run around anymore."

Xie Jing nodded in agreement, and looked down at Master Jiu wiping his hands. The moment their fingers touched, he felt his fingertips itch slightly, and he had the urge to hide.

Master Jiu scratched his palm and coaxed: "Don't move around, I haven't seen it all morning, it's like a dirty mud monkey."

After the people around gave milk tea, they went down early in the morning.

It was just the two of them in the bedroom at the moment.

Xie Jing obediently asked Master Jiu to wipe his hands clean, and raised his eyes to look at the surrounding decorations. Just like in his memory, Master Jiu has always been used to this, and he will always use what he has on hand for whatever he decides, and will not change easily.This gave Xie Jing a little more sense of security. He seemed to have really returned to the East Courtyard, back to Grandpa.

Master Jiu wiped the person clean, was satisfied, and took him to sleep.

Xie Jing helped him change his clothes, and took a nap with him.

Bai Jiuye didn't sleep well last night, drank a lot of wine, and soon fell asleep.

Xie Jing originally thought that she couldn't fall asleep, but as soon as she touched the bed, she heard Jiu Ye's light and even breathing beside her, and quickly fell asleep with her eyes closed.

This time, I slept until the evening before waking up.

Master Jiu asked Xie Jing to bring porridge and side dishes, and asked Xie Jing what he had been doing for the past two days.Hearing that Xie Jing wrote the signboard of the small restaurant, he couldn't help laughing, and said: "The name is good, but it's not loud, I'm afraid there are few people going there."

Xie Jing scratched the tip of her nose: "It's just for fun, grandma is not in good health, I think I have some business, just pass her time."

Master Jiu nodded: "This is also a way, if you need anything, just tell me."

Xie Jing agreed, drank two bowls of porridge and put down his chopsticks, Master Jiu asked strangely, "Why do you eat so little?"

Xie Jing: "I ate a lot at noon, so I'm not hungry."

Master Jiu was a little unconvinced, it was different from what Xie Jing usually ate, he put down the bowl and chopsticks, raised his hand to touch Xie Jing's belly, and nodded after confirming: "I'm full, go, play in the yard for a while, I'll teach you how to keep accounts tonight."

It happened that someone brought tea over, and when he saw it, he looked at Xie Jing curiously, but Xie Jing didn't notice anything, on the contrary, Master Jiu noticed it first, and after Xie Jing went out, he called the steward of the East Court over.

Xie Jing strolled around the yard and saw two crabapple trees, the branches were bent under the weight of snow falling on them, he patted the snow away, looking forward to the feeling of the crabapple trees here after they bear fruit.

When he lived in the East Hospital before, he was so angry that he didn't eat any of them.

Thinking about it now, it's a pity.

It’s fine if it’s sweet, but it’s okay if it’s sour. You can melt the rock sugar and coat the crabapple fruit with sugar, string them into candied haws, and throw out a long wind of sugar—the best thin slice, crunchy when you bite Loud, crisp and sweet and sour.

Xie Jing cleaned up the falling snow from the two crabapple trees before going back to class.

After returning, I don't know if it was an illusion, but it seemed that the people around him were more enthusiastic about him.

The people who lived in the East Courtyard of the Bai Family in Qinghe County before had lived together for two years, and Xie Jing could still get used to it. The people in the East Courtyard of the Provincial Government were suddenly like this, and Xie Jing felt very weird and uncomfortable.

The steward who came to bring tea to Lord Jiu also enthusiastically poured him a glass of milk, and put two pieces of rock sugar in a small tray beside him.

Xie Jing stood up to pick it up, but the other party kept persuading him to sit down, and asked in a low voice while Master Jiu was not paying attention: "Xiao Xie, you can just call me Uncle Sun. If you are not used to drinking, I will let the small kitchen give it to you." Make something else for a midnight snack, by the way, there is a bowl of hot soup over there, and I said to wait for you to digest, eat later..."

Xie Jing's scalp was numb from his loving gaze. He had never been treated so kindly by the steward of the East Court. In the past, this one would only shout "loyalty is harsh" at the top of his voice, and insisted on driving him out, even taking advantage of Master Jiu's travel Closed his firewood room once.

He also did it on purpose that time. He sneaked out of the firewood house in the middle of the night, climbed a tree and climbed over the wall and ran out. It was unlucky that the train didn't leave, or he would have run far away.

He still remembered that the steward of the East Court took him back with the guards, and the steward wiped his tears on the way, like himself who was reluctant but had to go back.

Later, the relationship got better, but it was only polite, never so cordial.

The steward came in to deliver refreshments and fruits three times in a row, but put them aside without making a sound to bother Master Jiu's students, stood aside for a while and saw that Master had no other orders, and then went down.

After Xie Jing finished writing a page of questions, Master Jiu took a piece of Sachima as a reward for him. He put it in his mouth and ate it. Both familiar and unfamiliar, this time is really different.

On the opening day of "One Thriving Beauty", Master Jiu sent some firecrackers over, and they were all [-] rings, and the whole street could be heard when they were set off.

On the opening day of the small restaurant, Zhang Huwei brought a group of guards to almost surround the place, and even set up a few small wooden tables in the yard, and had a lively meal together.

Grandma Kou insisted on inviting them to eat, but this group of people was not polite to the old lady. When they came to eat, they bought more than a dozen sacks of polished rice and flour, and a dozen hares and pheasants they had killed. in the kitchen.

Li Yuan became a waiter. He is careful and has a good memory. He can recite the things and taboos that everyone wants according to the table number. Grandma Kou has Xie Jing to help, and the dishes are also neat. After the food is served, it is fragrant. It drew a burst of praise from everyone.

After a meal, the host and guest enjoyed themselves.

Xie Jing originally wrote the signboard, and didn’t intend to attract more customers, but Li Yuan would count the cost. Grandma Kou steamed a lot of buns and put them outside every day. The fragrance wafted out and attracted many new customers. After the settlement at the end of the month, He even made ten silver dollars.

Grandma Kou was very happy, and gave Li Yuan three yuan as wages, and kept praising Li Yuan to Xie Jing: "Li Yuanji has never confused the name of the dish, and everyone remembers it. He steamed buns with me in the morning. Earning so much money, he deserves a lot of credit!"

Xie Jing glanced at Li Yuan with a smile, and asked him, "Are you tired? If it's hard, I'll hire another guy."

Li Yuan shook his head like a rattle, and like Grandma Kou, he was looking for money at the moment, he laughed and said: "No! I can do it alone, I may do it now, you ask grandma, I can do anything !” There was pride in the words.

Grandma Kou nodded and said again and again: "It's much better than before. I'll teach you how to tailor clothes later on. Li Yuan, you should study hard. When Jing'er opens a shop in the future, you will be his accountant. You have to be a good person." Only one skill can gain a foothold, you know?"

Li Yuan nodded seriously.

Grandma Kou smiled at Xie Jing again: "Jing'er, I can feel at ease now, when you come out of the mansion in two years, there will be a tile to cover your body, which is more or less a way out."

Before Xie Jing could answer, he suddenly heard someone shouting from the front of the store that business was coming.

Grandma Kou and Li Yuan hurriedly went to say hello, Xie Jing was left behind when she went home for the first time, and she laughed for a moment, thinking that there was nothing wrong with her, so she went back to the White House ahead of schedule.

As soon as Xie Jing left, a few people from the guards came. Seeing Li Yuan's warm greeting, they asked, "Why are you alone today, Xiao Xie?"

Li Yuan brought the teapot over and poured water for them. He is no longer afraid of outsiders: "In the house, I'll call?"

The other party waved his hand: "No, I'll just ask casually, he is on duty at night, please remember to remind me a few times, don't forget."

A person sitting across from him threw peanuts at him, and said with a smile: "You should be you, the younger brother is much more sensible than you, he only leaves early and leaves late, and never forgets."

They had just rested on duty, ordered some small dishes and a jug of wine, and drank slowly.

As he was drinking, he suddenly heard the thick curtains outside being opened, and three sloppy people walked in. They were in their twenties, with half-length hair and not short hair. up.The three of them entered the door and looked around, one of them was wearing a satin robe with a straw in his mouth and said: "Hey, 'One Thrive', the name is quite delicate, let me see where Xiu is." He suddenly called out Said: "The shopkeeper, where is the shopkeeper?"

Li Yuan walked over and asked, "What do you guys want to eat? There are vacant seats here, please."

The other party glanced at him and said: "I have eyes, I can see." He sat down and asked Li Yuan to sing the names of the dishes. It's not a serious way to call it, Li Yuan's voice gradually quieted down, and he stopped to look at them.

The other party scolded: "Why don't you sing? Forget it. Let's have the braised hare you mentioned just now. Hurry up, the masters have been hungry for a long time, and I can't wait, go, go!"

Li Yuan glanced at the guards by the window, seeing that the other party had already looked over, he agreed to go to the back to serve the food.

The braised rabbit meat was cooked by Grandma Kou in the afternoon, and now it can be fried once, and it will be served quickly.

The three ate and drank for a while, and ordered some more wine. Li Yuan was cautious, fearing that they would get drunk and cause trouble, so he just shook his head and said: "Today the wine is sold out, and there are two jars left by the window. You must, I'll go ask them, come over with a jar?"

The three people shook their heads at a glance. The fists of the five strong men by the window were as big as their heads.A person in a satin robe looked up at Li Yuan, and said a little unhappy: "Why are there so many things, don't drink, go away!"

Li Yuan stepped aside, stood at the counter and looked over here.

Sure enough, it didn't take long before the three rascals started yelling, one of them clutched his stomach, and the other stood up and cursed: "You thief shop, you actually use stinky rabbit meat to cook, why are you at ease? ?!"

Li Yuan ran over, glanced at the pot of braised hare that they had almost emptied of, and said patiently: "The rabbit meat here is all fresh, and it was still fresh when it was delivered in the morning. The peeled rabbit skin is soft..."

The rascal raised his hand and smashed a bowl, jumped up and said, "Fart! I said it stinks, but it stinks. Who knows how many days you left it, this rabbit is old and old, what kind of junk..."

Before the words finished, the big men by the window slammed their fists on the table and stood up with a bang.

The three scoundrels were secretly delighted. This is what they used to do. Every time they disturbed the business of Huang’s restaurant, as long as they yelled loudly, they might be able to drive people away. Let them go with three melons and two dates.

They just thought it was the same this time, there were too many people at the table by the window, and if there was a commotion, the small shop would be ruined.

While rejoicing in other's misfortune, I suddenly saw those strong men coming over, one of them picked up the man in the satin robe with one hand, and yelled with alcohol, "You boy, what nonsense are you talking about, this rabbit... the rabbit What's wrong, huh?!" As he spoke, he patted the man's face with his palm-sized hand, and it turned red after two slaps, "Speak up, tell me, what's wrong!"

The person who was picked up: "..."