Looking up at the stars in 1946

Yuanmaotun is a good place.Backed by mountains, close to water, rich in soil and wide in land.Huangnihezi slanted across the village.The water surface is sparkling, and the sun shines like a piece of melted gold.

The people here are not bad either, they grow more crops and reap more.Raised several big households.Master Qi is not the first household in Yuanmaotun, because Chen Yiping's "Chen Dadibao" and Guo Baoyu's "Guo Dashan" are among the top names.

Chen Yiping's son is the bandit leader in the Nanling area, and he also has a lot of contacts with the local warlords.Occupying this relationship, Chen Laozi was slightly higher than Master Qi, and became the village's land security.But I am still very polite to Banner. After all, they are all big grain farmers, and they all do the same business.

He is a bit of an official addict, and usually doesn't like being called "Uncle Chen", but prefers to be called "Chen Dadibao" to show his different status.

Guo Baoyu is a chubby old man with a jujube-like body, a pointed head, and a mustache. He walks with a pipe in his mouth. When he meets people, he says, "Do more good deeds! Give yourself a good birth." The son is so bad that he is the same as Master Qi.When they were young, the two of them worked hand in hand and did a lot of careless things.People in the village said in private: "Guo Dashan" was used in seven of the ten bad things Master Qi did!

Guo Baoyu was a little happy to hear others call him "Guo Dashan", but he didn't know that it was other people who were mocking him and talking ironically!

A few years ago, Chen Dadibao and Guo Dashan were instigated by Master Qi to open a gambling shop in the county. With business, the three families became closer.

In the past few years, there have been many bandits in the Northeast, and the life of ordinary people is very difficult.As the world goes down, once people lose hope in life, they will involuntarily go to gambling houses, kilns, and taverns to find some spiritual comfort.The poorer you get, the poorer you get.The big eats the small, the black eats the black.Nine out of ten bets lose, and most of the money ends up in the banker's pocket.

Needless to say, Lord Qi, Chen Dadibao and Guo Dashan made a lot of money.Originally, Chen Dadibao and Guo Dashan were very satisfied, and felt that Master Qi was loyal enough to make money together.However, when the two of them found out that Master Qi had actually used the gambling shop as a cover to sell opium cigarettes in private, their hearts became unbalanced.Especially when he heard that Master Qi made more money from selling big cigarettes than the dividends from their gambling shop, Guo Dashan immediately jumped up in anger and scolded: "I'm a black hearted Qibiao. I thought he was still a human being, so he went into the water like a dog!"

The two discussed this matter and asked Ban Laozi to make a theory.Just one point, the three of them pool together the money that the gambling house handed over to the local snakes in the county every year, and the unscrupulous Qi Biao used their place to sell cigarettes, so he got a share of the profits.

Together, the two arrived at the Qi family compound that afternoon.Before entering the house, Master Qi greeted him.At the end of spring and early summer of last year, Master Qi accidentally contracted syphilis while visiting a kiln, and his life was almost ruined. Fortunately, he met a doctor who was able to rejuvenate, and he was cured after half a year of treatment.

After suffering this hidden loss, Master Qi realized how serious the mess was.In the past six months, I have lost a lot of temper, and if I dare not see a woman again, I will go up to a hole and insert it.After such a period of time, he has actually recovered a bit of energy, and looks a little bit like a dog again.

Seeing the two friends rushing over, Mr. Qi looked worried, but he knew it in his heart, but he pretended not to know. He just hurriedly ordered Da Sima to prepare wine and food, and he wanted to greet the two distinguished guests.

People in the Celestial Dynasty always pay attention to discussing business at the dinner table, and the people in Yuanmaotun are no exception.Seeing that Master Qi was busy, Chen Dadibao and Guo Dashan didn't like to ask him about the gambling shop right away, so they had to agree with each other.

One said: "That eldest daughter of your family is really good-looking! She will make money if she sleeps in the future and becomes a daughter-in-law."

One said: "It's easy to say, it's not as good as Brother Qi's three sons, handsome, handsome, capable!"

The other said: "Brother! What did you do? Qi Si has already married, and why don't you find another for the third child?"

The other said, "Look! One of you has a good daughter and the other has a good son. Why don't you get married! Let's get closer!"

Master Qi hurriedly said: "Brother! Why haven't I thought about it? It's just that my San, you know, there are a lot of minor illnesses throughout the year, and I will fall down when the wind blows. I am afraid of delaying others, so I have been silent Nah!"

When Guo Dashan heard it, it was the truth, Qisan's child is not healthy, so don't miss Chen Dibao's daughter!Blinking again, he remembered Qi San's pretty face with red lips and white teeth, and thought to himself that the rough daughter of Chen Dibao's family was not good enough.

Simply, the Chief Siwu had almost finished the meals and was putting them on the Nankang one by one.Four cold and four hot dishes, a total of eight dishes.There are also three sets of bowls and chopsticks and three white porcelain wine bottles.Master Qi took out a jar of shochu from the cupboard, and said, "There are no good dishes, but the wine is pretty good. The two brothers can have a few more drinks when they come here." As he spoke, he dragged Chen Dadibao and Guo Dashan along We got on the kang together.

After the three people sat down, Qi Laozi poured wine one by one, then raised the wine bottle, and said affectionately: "Brother Chen, Brother Guo, our three families have been in contact for so many years. How can you not bump into each other? Brother, if I do something wrong, I'll say sorry first! You two have always been generous, so you have to take some responsibility!"

What he said made Chen Dadibao and Guo Dashan's faces turn red and then pale.The two looked at each other, and both saw shyness in each other's eyes, but shyness is shyness, and compromise is absolutely impossible!

Guo Dashan is thick-skinned and easy to speak, "I don't dare to dare, we are also in the honor of you, brother! You have always been moral and righteous, and you always think of us when you get rich. The gambling house before, It was you who made a match, and we only made a fortune... I saw my brother's face flushed as soon as I walked in the door, maybe I have found some good business recently?"

Master Qi sneered in his heart, deliberately avoided the subject and said, "That kid Qi Si has done a good business recently, which brought me a lot of fun. Once I am happy, I can't hide my face!"

Guo Dashan said casually: "I knew Qi Si was capable! What kind of business is it? Could it be that he sells opium in a gambling shop?" This is a nonsense, and Master Qi is convinced, but he is not a vegetarian after all. Yeah, just put the mess on Qi Si, Qi Si is simply a junior, and when they start a fight, they say that the child is young and ignorant to see what they dare to do!

"My brother guessed right, that kid is doing this kind of business recently."

Chen Dadibao and Guo Dashan are really not good at speaking.The two of them were angry in their hearts, scolding Qi Laozi for playing tricks, knowing that he was going to blame Qi Si, Qi Si was a junior, and the two of them, as elders, were too embarrassed to put pressure on them.

Chen Dadi said embarrassingly: "I knew that Qisi was capable. He's only 23, and he's already doing such a good business. What's the matter? You, old man, didn't help?"

Master Qi said: "That's not true! I want to help him but I won't!"

Guo Dashan saw that the conversation was getting farther and farther away, thinking that he couldn't make a fool of himself with Qi Laozi, and if the lie continued, the two of them would only suffer a dark loss.So he quickly pointed out:

"Brother, look at how this workshop works. Ah Si just sold opium in the workshop without saying a word, and made a lot of money. No matter what happens, it can't be justified! Thanks to him calling us so Uncle for many years, if we had known about this earlier, we would have to help you no matter what, don’t you think so?”

Chen Dadibao looked at Guo Dashan with a face of relief, thinking about his brother!You finally spoke our minds.

Master Qi suddenly realized: "Look at my brain! Yes! What you said is reasonable. It is too shameful to call this kid Ah Si to talk about it. Isn't this taking advantage of his father to be good? It's just Brother, what a coincidence that you two came. Qi Si went to the county for the past two days, and I don’t know when he will come back. Why don’t you two come back in a few days? I’ll call Ah Si here, what do you two want to do? Just do it!"

Guo Dashan and Chen Dadibao looked depressed, but they couldn't say anything more, so they had to drink in silence.But at least this matter has passed the light, so it's not easy for Master Qi to hide it.

Master Qi has been talking nonsense for a long time, and only one thing is true, that is, Qi Si really went to the county town these two days, and brought a small follower, Han Yan.

After Han Yan got Qi Si's message, he went back at night and hurriedly packed a small package.In fact, there is nothing there, just a change of clothes inside, with several patches, not even a pair of underpants.

Father Han Yan said: "Son, why don't you take the mule and sell it? Now that you're gone, I'm always in a bad mood."

Han Yan said: "Father, why are you so incompetent?"

Han Yandi said: "Look at those poor people, who dares to stay in the Qi family compound? All the people who go there are dumb and can't tell the pain. If something happens to you when you go, This must kill your mother?"

Han Yan said: "Father! I've seen Laozi Qi before, and he smiled back, but he hid a knife in his smile! Now I see that Fourth Master Qi, although cold, doesn't look like a bad person. Besides, Dad, Let's sell Xiao Hei, how will we reorganize the land next year, five or six farms, won't it be exhausted to death just by relying on the old cow?"

Han Yan's father couldn't say no to Han Yan, so he had to follow him.As a big kid, he has always had his own ideas, and he does whatever he says.

In the early morning of the next day, Han Yan gave instructions to his younger brothers and sisters again, especially to his second younger brother, Han Ye, to help the family more and remember to get up in the evening to feed the two animals.When he comes back, he must bring him delicious and fun things.

Han Ye was 12 years old, and he was still a child at heart. He said, "Brother! If that old bastard dares to beat you, you can come back. Don't be angry there!"

Han Yan smiled gratifiedly, stroked his brother's hairy head, and left.