daily struggle in ancient times

Qingyuan County is adjacent to the main canal of Dazhou. It used to be just a small town beside the canal, but the canal is bustling with countless boats passing by every day.

Although not every one of these ships will dock here, it is enough for this place to change from a town to a county in just a dozen years, not to mention breaking away from the original Diping County, and it is even richer than the old county of Ping County. A star and a half.

The streets here are wider than those in Ping County, the houses are also more elegant than those in Ping County, and the number of people coming and going is three to four times more than that in Ping County.

Most of these people are boatmen, stewards, or dock trackers and workers.There are only a small number of residents in the city, but the livelihood is also done by people related to the river. All walks of life in Qingyuan County are inseparable from the wharf in the east of the city.

Huo Cheng and the others entered the city, but instead of staying in an inn in the east of the city, they found a place to live in a residential area not far from the pier.

The inns around the pier are mixed and the prices are high, but these folk houses are different.Most of the families only rent out part of the house to outsiders to live in. For their own safety, these houses are not like inns, they do business for anyone.

In addition to picking customers, they generally only do business with regular customers.

The house Huo Cheng and the others live in is run by an old couple with their grandchildren.There is no labor force in their family, and despite the good location of the house, they can only do business three or four times a month.

Like Huo Cheng, they are all strong laborers, and they are so fierce. His family has never done this kind of business.But Gu Hongzhi has been in the business for a long time. He saved the little grandson of this family in the early years. When he comes here occasionally, he will make a special trip to see if there is anything he can do to help.

After a long time, Gu Hongzhi also developed a deep relationship with this family. If it wasn't for him, the group of them would have to find another place to live.

The family's surname is Lu. The family's son lost his life in a boat two years ago, and his daughter-in-law also remarried, leaving only a baby grandson.

The old couple only had such a child when they were over [-] years old. Now that they are getting older, they vacated half of their yard and used it as an inn.Although the annual income is limited, and the old couple earn some money by themselves, although they are living in poverty, they can still live a stable life.

The courtyard of Lu's house is not big, but it is very clean. There are many flowers planted in the courtyard. Although the weather is cold, it still looks like withered branches and leaves, but if it is spring and summer, the flowers must be blooming like brocade, which is too beautiful to harvest.

There was also a small swing set up in the corner of the yard, and a fat doll was sitting on the swing. She had red lips and white teeth, but she couldn't open her eyes in the warm sunshine. When she heard the door ring, she immediately shouted, "Grandpa!"

Did not hear the familiar answer, the child quickly opened his eyes wide, and was overjoyed: "Uncle Gu!!!"

Gu Hongzhi quickly caught the child who rushed towards him like a rolling stone, picked him up and asked, "Is your grandpa not at home?"

"At home!" The child nodded like a puppy, and looked around curiously with his dark eyes, "Uncle Gu, are they all your friends?"

Huo Xiaoyong's son is about the same age as him, he already misses his son, now seeing this child he misses him even more.Seeing the child asking aloud, he immediately replied: "Yes, we are all friends of your Uncle Gu!"

The child didn't speak, but turned his face away, and the hand holding Gu Hongzhi couldn't help but tightened even more.

Huo Xiaoyong's eyes were hot as they looked at each other so intimately.

He touched a little thing made of clay from his arms, and while showing it, he asked kindly: "What's your name? You see, this little doll is very beautiful, just like you!"

The child looked at the clay figurine in front of him expressionlessly.

The craftsmanship of the clay figurine is not fine, and it is very rough. Although the eyebrows and eyes are still clear, they are ugly to the naked eye.

Huo Xiaoyong was very frustrated when the child who refused to admit that he was as ugly as a villain showed a gesture of rejection.

But this setback didn't last long. A thin old man with white hair came out and said happily, "Hongzhi is here! These are your friends?"

Gu Hongzhi nodded, "Lu Ah, we will stay at home for a while this time."

"That's a good relationship. I just tidied up the house. It's very clean. You can live as long as you want!"

The old man cheerfully took them to see the house, as he said, the house was very clean, Huo Cheng touched it, and the bedding was also soft, exuding the smell of sunshine.

Although he was a little disappointed after being ignored just now, Huo Xiaoyong couldn't help but feel elated when he saw the clean and soft bedding on the big kang.

They have been on their way for the past few days, eating and sleeping so-so, and now they finally have a comfortable place to stay.

As soon as he tilted his body, he wanted to lie on the bed, but Huo Dayong pushed him in disgust: "There is dirt all over his body, where do he want to lean? Dirty or not!"

Huo Xiaoyong grinned, "Dirty! Let's go make some soup first?"

The few of them have driven the road for so many days, and it is indeed dirty. Therefore, on the first day the group arrived in Qingyuan County, they spent most of the day in the soup pool.

One by one, the face was flushed red and relaxed.

After tidying himself up and resting for a day, Huo Chengcheng went out early the next morning with his things.

The last time he came to Qingyuan County, he came with a caravan, and he knew a little about the things in this city, so he didn't wander around, and went straight to Tong's restaurant next to the pier.

Tongjia Restaurant is a time-honored restaurant in Qingyuan County, and the current shopkeeper is the fourth generation. Although the restaurant does not have very experienced craftsmanship, the food is what everyone is used to, and the attitude of the staff and shopkeeper is good. Whether it is a person or a businessman, they will patronize habitually.

But the restaurant has been in business for so many years, although it is stable, it will not improve much.

The newly appointed shopkeeper is young and still has a lot of drive, and he has not lost much trouble in the past two years.But after tossing and tossing, there are no new dishes that can retain a large number of customers, and the restaurant is still the same as before, which frustrates the little shopkeeper.

That's why Huo Cheng came here alone.

The Tong's restaurant has been around for a long time, so there must be people behind it, and the Tong's rules are reasonable and kind. If someone asks for trouble after selling bacon, the Tong's will help solve it.

And the most important point is that, compared to other restaurants that are content with the status quo, Tongjia Restaurant has a shopkeeper who wants to change the restaurant.

Huo Cheng and the others went into the restaurant and ordered a table of dishes. When there were not too many people in the restaurant, Huo Cheng went to the shopkeeper with a small piece of bacon.

There will be fewer people in the restaurant, and Tong Wangfu is just bored and continues to think about how to improve the operation of the restaurant.

He grew up in a restaurant since he was a child, and he can see the crisis hidden in the safety of the restaurant.

On the surface, Tongjia Restaurant is still a time-honored brand in the city, and there are many regular customers who are used to it.But the habit itself can be changed, and so can the taste. If Tongjia Restaurant continues to maintain its current state, it will be forgotten or replaced one day.

But after several attempts, there was no effect, which made Tong Xiao very discouraged.But seeing the guest approaching, he still put on a smile and tried his best to ask kindly: "Hello, what's the matter?"

Huo Cheng: "I heard that the shopkeeper is looking for something that can change the restaurant..."

He paused, then continued slowly: "And I have something like this."

Shopkeeper Tong's eyes lit up immediately, he looked up and down, and said excitedly, "What is it?"

Although I asked, but in fact Tong Xiao shopkeeper didn't have any hope in his heart.

He has been tossing the restaurant for so many years, almost everyone in the city knows it, and from time to time, someone will come to the door to say that there are new ingredients or methods, but they all fail without exception, and many even come to cheat. for drink.

Huo Cheng didn't look like a person who was proficient in cooking. Shopkeeper Tong had seen so many people who said they had things, so he didn't think Huo Cheng could come up with anything good.

The two went to the backyard of the restaurant one after the other. Huo Cheng took out an oiled paper bag from his arms. As soon as he opened it, shopkeeper Tong couldn't help but widen his eyes.

"This...is this bacon?"

Without Huo Cheng's answer, Shopkeeper Tong, who had seen or even eaten it, recognized what it was, and couldn't help feeling a little disappointed.

He often hears this stuff from running businessmen from the Southlands. People in the Southlands are very fond of bacon. Shopkeeper Tong has eaten it once, and it is indeed delicious.

He also had the idea of ​​this thing before, but the cost of transporting the bacon from the Southland is much higher than that of the Southland. Including the profit of the restaurant, a plate of ordinary fried bacon with garlic sprouts costs nearly one hundred yuan.

The Tong's family is mainly engaged in the business of people who run merchants on the river. Most of these people have a few dollars, but a dish of nearly [-] yuan is absolutely unaffordable.

So he finally had to give up.

Therefore, although the bacon in front of him was bright in color and excellent in quality, he was not very interested. He nodded and said perfunctorily: "If this is what you are talking about, please go back. If there are others in the future, You can come find me again."

Huo Cheng was as immobile as a mountain, "Dare to ask why the shopkeeper thinks this thing is not good?"

Shopkeeper Tong yawned without raising his eyelids, "It's too expensive, I can't afford it in my shop."

Huo Cheng curled the corners of his lips silently, and said calmly: "This bacon does not come from the south, but from Ping County."

Shopkeeper Tong straightened his back all of a sudden, suspecting that there was something wrong with his ears. People in the North had never heard of bacon, let alone eat and cook it.

Now someone actually said that this thing was made by people from Ping County, isn't this person fooling himself?

But the face of the person in front of him was calm and calm, he didn't seem to be lying.

"Is this true?"

He couldn't be more clear about how popular bacon is among the southerners. If what Huo Cheng said is true, there are people in Ping County who can make bacon, and the cost of a plate of fried bacon with garlic sprouts will plummet from nearly [-] yuan To twenty text or so.

In this way, there is a complete solution to the dilemma he is currently facing, and the Tongjia Restaurant can be improved to a higher level in his hands!

He stared at Huo Cheng closely, and when he heard the other party categorically said it was true, he couldn't help feeling a little dazed.

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I finally posted it before 12 o’clock, I can’t even open my eyes, there are bugs to catch tomorrow, tweet me

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