Brother Donggong

Yongjing is very peaceful these days.

All kinds of old men, masters, and young masters embrace their own fields, old cows, wives and children to live, ask tenants for rent, distribute loan sharks to receive dividends, and walk around with a bird cage when they are free, or just three or five In groups, smoking water pipes and pushing Pai Gow, going to restaurants to find singers and dancers, and enjoying the beauty.The common people are the same, they work at sunrise and return at sunset, some face the loess with their backs to the sky, some donate food and donate, and work happily for the prosperity of Dazheng and the success of their ancestors for thousands of years.

The tax collectors are also happy and hardworking.

From the opening of the steamed stuffed bun shop, you have to pay the opening tax for opening, you have to pay the labor tax for the employees, you have to pay the food tax for eating in the store, you have to pay the labor tax when you get the wages, and you have to pay the bonus tax at the end of the year. Making steamed stuffed buns and splashing water in back alleys has to pay drainage tax.

No, as soon as the bun shop opened, two third masters hired by the tax office came to collect the lantern tax for watching lanterns during the Mid-Autumn Festival.

I asked my buddy Xiaoxi to find the copper from the back.

A customer came up from the cabinet. It was Widow Li from the back street.Her son is going to school, and she bought a meat bun and two wild vegetable buns for his son to eat at noon. I saw her handing over the brightened tung seeds that had been squeezed by her fingers, and then carefully holding the oil paper wrapped in the buns, I will give her two more meat buns.

The widow gave me a look.

These days, girls get married early, I think she is under 20 years old, but other people's children will go out to make soy sauce.Young widows like her age, who are fair and delicate, usually have a lot of gossip in front of the door. I was afraid that she would be overwhelmed, so I quickly said, "Sister Li, you visited the small shop today and asked us to open it. A steamed stuffed bun is an extra, and it’s free. I’m doing this to attract repeat customers, and if your family wants to eat steamed stuffed buns in the future, remember to visit the shop more often and take care of our business, Xiao Ke will be very grateful.”

The clerk Xizi put the coins on a string and held them out to the third master of the tax office, but the old boy didn't pick it up, so Xizi put the money strings on the cabinet and asked him, "How many buns do you want?"

"Fart! I came here to make some buns for you?" The tax master glared, then bared his yellow teeth, and turned to Widow Li, "Miss Li, are the buns delicious? The owner of this bun shop is a A young man, the steamed stuffed buns he made are the most delightful~~~”

As she said that, she wanted to touch the widow's hand, but Mrs. Li turned away and avoided it.

"What?" the third master said angrily, "You can flirt with this bun seller, why can't you do it with me? Isn't it just to see how young and handsome my brother is! But then again, you are not Young unmarried girl, why don’t you know that sentence? Thick willow dustpan and thin willow bucket, who in the world thinks men are ugly? The owner of the steamed stuffed bun shop, what can I give you? Young and handsome can be eaten? Come, come, come , why not follow me, and I will give you the money right away."

As he spoke, he picked up the lantern tax held by Xizi and threw it to Widow Li, but the wife of the Li family turned away again.The widow lowered her head, bit her mouth tightly, and did not speak.The third master was going to have a seizure, so I stretched out my hand to stop him, took out a few loose taels of silver from my sleeve, put them in my sleeve and handed them over.

Me, "Third Master, you have a lot of adults, so why bother with the Li family's sister-in-law. It doesn't matter how you arrange me, anyway, the tigress in my family made me kneel on the washboard in the sun not once or twice, but you can't So, sister-in-law of the Li family, the angry words you said just now will hurt the reputation of the family. When the man is dead, it is not easy to raise a child by yourself, and you have not offended you, so you can hold your hand high, can it work? "

The third taxpayer held his money and sneered, "Why, the little boy still wants to get ahead? You're just a beggar for just this little money?"

I nodded, "Sure, as long as you open your mouth, you can do whatever you want. Xizi, bring the elm box behind our counter, and give the three taels of silver in it to the third master!"

The third taxpayer took the silver, spat on the ground at Widow Li, and walked away humming Yin lyrics.

Xizi wept bitterly, "Boss, we've been doing nothing for nothing for a month."

I made another big paper-wrapped bun for Widow Li, "Sister-in-law Li, that's the way we are here. There are people of all kinds, so don't worry about it. This one is for my eldest nephew. Let him study hard and wait until he grows up." When you grow up, get a good name in the exam, and you will stand out."

Widow Li still didn't speak, but this time she took the bun silently.She walked away with her head down, and after three steps, she came back and said in a low voice, "Shopkeeper Zhao, you are a good person."

I waved my hand, "You can't call a good man, but he's not a good man, he's still a man. I can't see such a man bullying a woman."

After she was gone, Goatee came in happily.

"Old Zhao, business is booming!"

Me, "If you don't come, everything will be prosperous."

"Don't say that, see what good things I brought you?" Goatee said, and patted me in front of me. I looked down, and it was a letter of appointment from Bapin County Cheng of Meicheng County.

"Well, it's a good thing, Lao Zhao, I'll say that I don't lose you. This thing is a good thing. If you serve as a county magistrate, I dare not say how much you can make in office. It depends on your ability. But at least these cats and dogs will not come to trouble you again. Let alone a widow, even if you fancy the widows on the whole street, you can take care of them."

"How about it?"

I ignored him and took a rag to wipe the counter.

The goatee leaned forward, "I hand over you brother, this letter of commission is cheaper for you, 180 taels!"

I glanced at him, "Take it away."

"Why, think it's expensive? Or, 160 taels, no less. Lao Zhao, this Meicheng County is a good place. The former county magistrate Cui Yan was killed in the street. Later, this position was vacated. Dare to take office. Tell me, there is no county magistrate in this county, so the county magistrate will soon be the boss? At that time, the tax collection, the bonus from the bandit suppression, and the filial piety of the gentry during the Chinese New Year are all yours, which means, You spent the money of the eighth rank, but bought a seventh rank official, you got a big deal."

The goatee was nagging, always thinking of selling me the vacancy of the county magistrate in the place where my uncle, Cui Bicheng's father died heroically, but I didn't agree.

He began to lobby me persistently.

At first, I ignored him because his lobbying was good for me.The neighbors in the neighborhood heard that I was going to buy an official, and they bought it, so they came over one after another and paid back all the bun money I owed me. Zhang Dazhuang, who sells pork, also came to me proudly and said that the pork I owed him before The money for pig intestines was written off.The next day, the matchmaker across the street came and wanted to marry me the youngest daughter of the second shopkeeper of the face powder shop across the street. After hearing that I had a wife, he wanted to introduce the sesame oil Xishi from the sesame oil shop over there to me as my wife. concubine.I said my wife is a tigress and a Hedong lion. When I was talking about it, Yin Qiluo came. She was carrying a long knife for medicine and a bag. It was bloody, but it was actually a peeled red pomegranate inside, and the matchmaker slipped faster than a mouse crossing the street.

On the third day, I realized that with him here, my business could no longer continue.

Because the neighbors in the neighborhood have heard that my wife is very fierce, and they don’t give me money to let me buy an official, because they are afraid that I will go out to engage in petty affairs, so everyone began to show the fire-like attitude towards onlookers that has been hidden in the blood for thousands of years. My passion filled my steamed stuffed bun shop.

The goatee squeezed in, wiped his sweat and said, "Okay, brother, you're ruthless. I don't want the 160 taels. I'll give you this letter of appointment for nothing. It's over!"

I still shook my head and hid behind my counter, drinking my spicy soup and eating my buns.

At this time, the crowd was divided into two halves, as if the god descended into the sea, and the sea was split alive, and a gorgeous young man in a dress embroidered with cranes and trimmed with silver thread on the sleeves descended into the world.He held a fan in his hand, and a ruby-carved Buddha's head hung from the fan bone.

Paola, he closed his fan, smiled warmly and jade-like, "Jun Wuji, you claim to be the most intelligent person in the world, you know astronomy, geography, and all the secrets in people's hearts, but you can't say no." Move a person who seems to be somewhat ambitious, without much scheming, and has no connections. He can only be wronged to be the shopkeeper of a steamed stuffed bun shop. As long as he is given a chance, he will be like a vicious dog who will not let go when he sees a bone Go to be an official. Mr. Jun, now that things are going on, are you not willing to admit defeat in the bet you made with this king?"

Suddenly a few people came over and drove the neighbors away. My two guys were also coaxed to the stove at the back. They wanted to hide their heads and look at this side, but they stopped them.

Me, "The third prince is still so majestic."

The goatee gave up his seat to that person, he closed the fan in his hand, and called me, "Brother, don't come here without any harm."

"Don't say that, Third Prince, I can't afford it."

Yu Lan smiled like a pot of thick soup whose ingredients could not be seen clearly, "No, you can afford it. In this world, you are not born by one father, you can also be called a brother, but you are born by one father, and you have become an enemy. You Say it?"