Zhu Nao

Early in the morning, Junao went out to the market.

He wandered aimlessly in the market, stopping from time to time to ask the vendors about prices and chatting a little.

In the past, when he had no money to rent a shop or hire staff, he would often go shopping in the market.Once you encounter something whose price is lower than the market price, you will buy it, add some money and resell it.You don't make much money from one transaction, but you can save a lot of money over time.Now that he has money, he still likes to go to the market.

Everything seemed to be the same as in the past, but in various dark places in the market, many pairs of eyes were secretly watching his every move.

Behind a pergola, two young people got together and talked in a low voice.A young man said: "He is looking at herbal medicine. Could it be that he plans to continue to do medicine business in the future?"

The other young man's face was not very good-looking.He is a servant of Li Shen's family. Since Zhu Nao stopped opening a pharmacy, the business of Li's pharmacy has improved a lot.If Junao were to come back again, their family's life would be tight again.

Suddenly, someone pulled his arm. "Look down, Junao is looking at us!"

The young man came back to his senses and saw Zhu Nao not far away looking in their direction.If he stood still at this time, it would not arouse suspicion.But he felt guilty for a moment, and subconsciously hid behind the arbor.

After a while, he came out from behind the arbor and saw Zhu Nao still wandering in the market.

"He didn't notice us?"

His companion stared at Jun Nao for a while, seeing that Jun Nao was fine, he shook his head and said, "Probably not."

The two breathed a sigh of relief.

Zhu Nao walked around the market all morning and left leisurely.He hadn't gone far, when he suddenly heard a commotion in front of him, and when he turned the corner, he saw a group of people gathered around the sesame seed stall to watch the excitement.

A passer-by said: "Tsk tsk, there is another one. Cut off this kid's hand, lest he go to harm others again."

Another person said: "Exactly. When will the gate of our city be closed, why let these people in?"

When Zhu Nao walked into the crowd, he saw a skinny young man kneeling on the ground, his posture was like a tortoise retracted into its shell.Next to him is a middle-aged man with a big arm and a round waist, who is Liu Chun, the owner of the biscuit shop.Liu Chun tried to pull the boy up from the ground and snatch the things in his arms.But that boy didn't know where the strength came from, Liu Chun's arms were three times thicker than his, and he was holding him still.

The two wrestled for a while, but Liu Chun didn't gain the upper hand, so he couldn't help being impatient, and started punching and kicking the boy, cursing and cursing at the same time: "You bastard, I'll let you snatch it! See if I don't beat you to death!"

Liu Chun's strength was astonishing, but the young man endured the punches and legs like he was in a trance, and he didn't say a word.

Zhu Nao took a closer look, only to find that the young man was holding a few pieces of biscuits in his arms.Being squeezed by him hard, the crumbs fell all over the floor.

This is also strange.A biscuit is no bigger than a palm, if this young man is extremely hungry and comes to grab food, he can eat it if he grabs it, and run away after eating it, and Liu Chun will do nothing to him after eating it.Why bother to hold in your arms?It doesn't look like you want to eat it yourself, but it looks like you want to take it away.

Then look at the boy's kneeling posture, as if kowtowing.

Liu Chun continued to beat the young man, and the soil on the ground was splashed black, as if human blood had soaked into the soil.

There were more and more people onlookers, and from time to time, some people shouted loudly, which made Liu Chun's fists and kicks more intensive.The boy couldn't kneel gradually, and fell to the ground.

Suddenly, the heavy rain of fists and feet on his back stopped.A pair of plain boots appeared in the boy's sight.He was slightly startled, looked up and saw a young man.The man's skin was fair, his eyes were slender and long, and the corners of his lips were slightly raised. He was born with a kind and smiling face.

When the boy was looking at Jun Nao, Jun Nao was also looking at the boy.This young man's face is immature, he is only about fourteen or fifteen years old, his hands and feet are very slender, because he has been hungry for too long, his body is too thin.Although his facial features haven't opened yet, he already has a heroic look.Especially his pair of eyes are as bright as wolf eyes.

After a while, the young man heard Zhu Nao say in a warm voice, "How much money did he grab these biscuits in total?" This sentence was to Liu Chun, the owner of the biscuit stall.

The boy was startled, and looked at Junao in surprise.

Liu Chundao: "He robbed five biscuits, a total of one tael of silver. Brother Zhu, do you want to pay for this kid?" Recently, the food shortage has caused the price of biscuits to soar several times.

Juno didn't answer.He knelt down and looked at the boy.

He asked gently, "What's your name?"

The young man looked at him warily and remained silent.

After a pause, Zhu Nao asked again: "If I pay for you, how will you pay me back?"

The young man was startled, not understanding what he meant.As long as there is even a little bit of value on him, he will not be reduced to this level.

Zhu Nao smiled slightly, "I don't do business at a loss. If you don't plan to pay it back, I'll leave."

His words not only stunned the young man, but also dumbfounded the crowd watching.They thought that Jun Nao was going to do good deeds, but before they paid the money, he first talked to someone about repaying the debt.Is it possible to calculate the interest?Sure enough, he is a businessman who values ​​profits over righteousness.

After a long time, the boy finally said in a hoarse voice: "I don't have any money." He hadn't eaten for a long time, and his voice was as hoarse as rubbing dry grass.

What he said made Zhu Nao strange: "You don't have money now, so don't you have money all your life?"

The boy froze.He didn't seem to understand what Jun Nao meant, he looked at Jun Nao in surprise and remained silent for a while.

Zhu Nao waited for a while and asked, "You don't want to?"

The boy still didn't speak.

Zhu Nao stood up, shook his head regretfully: "Forget it." After saying that, he walked away unhurriedly.

Liu Chun, the owner of the biscuit stall: "???"

The anger he had just vented halfway was interrupted, and he couldn't get up or down, not knowing whether he should continue beating the boy who robbed him of biscuits.

Zhu Nao hadn't walked a few steps, when he suddenly heard a rustle behind him, and someone called him, "Don't go."

The voice was hoarse and weak, but Junao still heard it.He stopped and turned around, only to see the boy struggling to stand up.The boy's stature was already much taller than his peers, he was skinny and covered in injuries.His eyes were red, his chest was heaving, he gasped for a moment before he calmed down, and said: "I can do anything. Give me a chance, and I will pay you back double."

The onlookers were stunned again, and it took a while to understand: So the meaning of Zhu Nao's words just now was to let this young man work for him to pay back the money?Thinking of this, everyone's mood is quite complicated.

It has been more than a month since the flood. The river burst its embankment and flooded dozens of villages, destroying thousands of acres of fertile land.Many displaced refugees poured into Langzhou City.However, the life of the people in Langzhou is also very difficult.The government has added several new taxes this year.Most of the families are too poor to get rid of the pot, who has the leisure to help refugees?

The refugees lacked a livelihood, so they stole, robbed and cheated everywhere.In just one month, there have been three cases of murder and arson in the city, all of which are said to be the work of refugees.Nowadays, when people in the city see ragged-clothed foreigners on the street, they mostly take a detour, and some even take the initiative to beat and scold them to drive them away.It was also because of this that everyone applauded when they saw Liu Chun beating the young man.

A stall owner named Zhou Fu persuaded Zhu Nao: "Brother Zhu, you must never hire him to do work. None of these bastards are good. If you really hire this kid back, it's a trivial matter if his hands and feet are not clean. In case of murder and arson, you have nowhere to find someone to justify!" In the past few days, the things on his stall have been stolen by refugees several times, and when he saw these guys, he hated his teeth.

Zhu Nao smiled: "Thank you, Brother Liu, for reminding me." Having said that, he stretched his hand into his pocket to take out the money.

Seeing that he didn't listen, Zhou Fu persuaded: "Oh, you're really a man. I know you love money, so why bother to do it? Just pretend you didn't see it. You want to earn fame, but you can't bear to suffer. Let that kid work for you and pay back the money, I think you will suffer even more!"

At that time, Zhou Fu thought that Zhu Nao came out to meddle in this matter because he wanted to do good deeds to gain a good reputation.And because he was not willing to give money for nothing, he asked the young man to work for him to pay off the debt.Zhu Nao didn't explain, just smiled at him, still took out the money and handed it to Liu Chun.

Zhou Fu scoffed behind him: "Weird!"

The young man bent down, picked up the biscuits that fell on the ground just now, and was carefully patting away the dust on the biscuits, when suddenly a bag of hot biscuits appeared in front of his eyes.He looked up in surprise, only to hear Zhu Nao say: "Those are already dirty."

The young man thought for a while, and accepted Zhu Nao's new sesame seed cakes.He didn't throw away the ones that were crushed by him just now, he picked them up as usual, didn't bother to take pictures, and ate them voraciously.He whispered: "Young master, I want to go somewhere first."

Zhu Nao didn't ask him where he was going, and said casually, "Okay. Let's go."

The boy took Jun Nao to the south of the city, and the two chatted for a while on the way.

Zhu Nao asked, "What's your name?"

This time the young man answered honestly: "Cheng Shiba."

"Cheng Shiba? You were born on October [-]?"

Cheng Shiba shook his head: "No. I was born on the eighteenth day of the first lunar month."

Zhu Nao understood, and asked again, "How old are you?"

"fifteen."

"From Fuzhou?" He guessed from his accent.

Cheng Shiba whispered: "Yes."

Fuzhou was the place where the flood was the worst. It is said that all the houses there were destroyed by the flood, and there were starvation and death everywhere.

The two walked through several streets and alleys, and soon arrived at the gate of the city. Cheng Shiba actually wanted to leave the city.Jun Nao knew where he was going, so he continued to follow.After leaving the city and walking a short distance, a long-abandoned sacrificial temple appeared on the road ahead.Before he got close, he smelled a sour smell.Since the flood, the temple has become a resting place for passing refugees.

Cheng Shiba didn't go in immediately, but handed the bag of sesame seed cakes to Zhu Nao, and pointed to a big tree not far away: "My lord, wait for me there." There are many homeless people in the ruined temple Cheng Shiba was afraid that Zhu Nao would not be able to bear the dirty smell, and he did not dare to bring food in, otherwise he would be looted.

Junao went to stand under the tree.

Cheng Shiba ran into the abandoned temple alone, and soon came out with an old man on his back.He carried the old man to the side of the tree and put it down, only then did Jun Nao realize that the old man was also skinny and pale, apparently he hadn't eaten for several days.The most shocking thing was that the old man's right leg was already swollen and festered.

Cheng Shiba carefully took out a sesame seed cake, broke it into pieces and brought it to the old man's mouth.The old man was so hungry that he didn't even have the energy to eat, he opened his mouth tremblingly, and took a long while to swallow a small piece of food.Cheng Shiba whispered: "Grandpa, slow down, don't worry."

Junao asked, "Is he your grandfather?"

Cheng Shiba shook his head: "I have no relatives." After a pause, he continued, "When the flood came, I was swept away. He gave me a tree trunk and pulled me out of the water."

Junao understood.

The old man looks weak now, let alone use a tree trunk to pull the boy up from the water, I am afraid that he can't do it even if he is asked to break a branch from the tree.Natural disasters and man-made disasters make it difficult to survive.

Cheng Shiba patiently broke the food into small pieces to feed the old man, and Zhu Nao patiently did not rush.Halfway through feeding, Cheng Shiba glanced aside.I saw Zhu Nao looking at the sky indifferently, not knowing what he was thinking.

After a long time, Cheng Shiba finished feeding the old man, got up and walked to Zhu Nao.Suddenly he knelt down on his knees, kowtowed hard to Zhu Nao three times, and said word by word: "The grace of saving life will never be forgotten."

What he thanked was not the money Zhu Nao paid for him today, nor the biscuits he bought for his grandfather, nor for saving him from Liu Chun's fists.In these days and years, a full meal and a place to stay can't save his life.What Junao gave him was the real chance of survival.

Junao raised his eyebrows slightly.

Cheng Shiba said again: "My lord, please save my grandfather again."

Zhu Nao glanced back at the dying old man.I am afraid that this injury will cost a lot of money.

He smiled and said, "Yes."

Pausing for a moment, he added lightly: "All expenses will be deducted from your wages."

The author has something to say: Zhu·Capitalist·Nau has never done business at a loss