"Are you busy at home?" Meng Changqing stepped forward and said, "Nothing. I heard from Lieutenant Yang that you have been doing business by the wall for two days. Come and ask how your business is going."
"Oh, Mr. Lao County is worried." The man at the door of the courtyard smiled, "I made some money thanks to you."
"Who is it, always talking at the door?" The family asked in a raised voice when they saw that the person who opened the door had not returned for a long time.
Meng Changqing: "Why don't you invite us in and sit down?"
"Please, please, the house is in chaos." The man immediately opened the courtyard door to the side and shouted into the room: "The officials are here, please clean the main room quickly."
Several people entered the man's house and were warmly invited to get on the kang.
"The kang was just swept." The hostess said with a smile.
"Don't be stunned, go boil some water and make tea."
"Hey, I'll go right away."
Meng Changqing stopped the hostess who was about to go out, "Stop being busy, everyone, sit down, I will talk to you for a while and then leave."
"You say it, you say it." After the man finished speaking, he felt that the two and a half-year-old children lying beside the kang were ignorant, "Susu, take the children out."
"No need." Meng Changqing stopped again, "I see that your two children are sensible and polite, so just sit in the room and don't have to go out."
"Hey!" The adults in this family were very happy to hear the official praising their children. "These two of my family are pretty good at caring for people. Seeing that we are too busy, they still know how to help." The hostess gave him a hand. The child beside the kang trimmed his hair.
"Well, since you work for the family, you're considered an adult." Meng Changqing showed a few packages in his hand, "Come back to your house first. This is a meeting gift I brought."
The male host was so frightened that he broke into a cold sweat, "How can we take advantage of the county master's things?"
"Of course it's easy to keep. It's not something expensive. Just keep it as snacks for the children." Meng Changqing opened the small package on the table as he spoke. The children couldn't help but salivate when they saw the dates inside.
Children of this age are just growing up. A big bowl of rice is not enough for children, and they want to take a few bites of everything they see.
Meng Changqing saw that they wanted to eat, so each of them grabbed a handful, "Eat it."
The children took it and stuffed it into their mouths, and the man quickly reminded them, "You still haven't thanked the county master."
"It doesn't matter." Meng Changqing asked, "I heard from Colonel Yang that your family is in the tofu business?"
"Yes." The man said, "I'm greedy to see other people doing business, but my family doesn't have any other good things except what we get from the fields. I happened to have made tofu before, so I decided to try selling tofu."
"Making tofu is also a craft. How about trying it? Can you make money?"
The man said: "They are all things from home. No capital is needed. You can make money no matter how much you sell or how little you sell."
Meng Changqing nodded, "Your idea is good, but since you have contributed, it would be better to earn more money, right?"
The man responded with a smile: "Yes, yes, I still want to earn more if I can."
"Let's just talk about today, how much did you earn on this trip?" Meng Changqing added: "I'm curious, not for doing anything, and you don't need to hide it from me. As a county magistrate, I hope you can earn more. "
The man huffed for a while and said, "There are more than fifty coins."
"Not much, grinding beans and boiling soy milk, using manual labor and firewood, it's really not much to earn this little money in one trip." Meng Changqing asked again: "Have all the tofu you brought been sold out?"
"There's a little left." The man thought he understood what Meng Changqing meant, and immediately called his wife outside to bring a basin.
Meng Changqing didn't stop him this time. After tasting his tofu, he praised their craftsmanship and gave them some ideas on how to make some braised tofu and dried tofu.
Meng Changqing's enthusiasm confused everyone.
She is not only enthusiastic in this one, but also in every subsequent one. She cares about how much money they can make every day. If they make less money, she will find ways for them.
Bafang didn't understand.
On the way back to the Yamen, he asked, "Master, how much tax do you expect these households to pay to the Yamen?"
"It's not all about money." Meng Changqing said, "Real business is all about making money, but if you can't make any money, but you still put so much effort into doing business against the wall, then you must have other intentions. , the Yamen will have to keep a close eye on it from now on." (End of this chapter)
