"I didn't expect that going to Lingao wouldn't be easy. [Read the latest chapter] Since I was a kid, the farthest I've known is Jinan Prefecture and Tianjin Wei. Apart from knowing that Lingao is in Qiongzhou Prefecture in the south, I don't know how far away I am." This Wang Xinglong was very excited. He was talkative, and with Lin Ming's deliberate inducement, he chattered a lot about what he had seen along the way.
It turns out that Wang Xinglong didn't go all the way to Lingao by himself - he couldn't afford the expense of such a long journey, and he didn't know which way to go to Lingao. He only knew that there were many Australian business partners in Jiangnan. There were still ships coming and going, so a large number of refugees took the food ships returning from the air and went south along the canal, all the way to the south of the Yangtze River. In Shanghai, they met the owner of the Haixing, and then they took the boat to Lingao for free.
"When it comes to making a living, it's easy to stay in Jiangnan. But I've always heard that Australians here are known for their uncanny skills and rich knowledge of miscellaneous knowledge. I was so excited that I came to Lingao." Wang Xinglong said with great interest, "I didn't realize it until I came here. It’s so nice here, peaceful and prosperous!”
Lin Ming cursed secretly: Another one who drank the Kunthief** Soup! Seeing that Wang Xinglong had not shaved his hair and was still wearing Ming Dynasty clothes, he asked, "You haven't shaved your head?"
"My body, hair, and skin are all inherited by my parents." Wang Xinglong sighed, "Now that my family has been destroyed, I only have these memories left, and I dare not change them casually."
"Brother Wang is still a filial son." Lin Ming praised. He refused to cut off his hair and change clothes. It seemed that he still had the Hua-Yi argument in his heart that he could fight for. "These are my Chinese clothes, how can I change them easily? Otherwise, I will die. You can’t even see your ancestors.”
How did Wang Xinglong know what was going on in Lin Ming's belly? He was a scholar, even though he was still young. This concept has been imbibed since childhood. Lin Ming praised him as a filial son and couldn't help but nod in agreement.
"Thanks to shopkeeper Qian's willingness to take him in. I'll bring my brothers to Gao. If I get on the Australian refugee ship, I'll have to shave my head." Wang Xinglong sighed.
"It is indeed a peaceful and prosperous time under the rule of the Australians, but it seems a little inappropriate to have to shave your hair and change clothes... Hey, after all, you are from overseas..." Lin Ming said deliberately.
"The Australians didn't say that they had to shave their heads and change clothes, but it's a pity that you can't enter their schools. Fortunately, there are many books and newspapers on the market, and there are libraries - but I can't hear the teachings of the great Australian sages in person." Wang Xinglong was a little regretful. 's added.
The two of them talk. Soon he arrived at the Dongmen City Police Station and completed the registration procedures. On the way back, Wang Xinglong took him to the store and bought bedding and toiletries.
"These are considered advances. You will pay them back after you get your wages." Wang Xinglong said.
Returning to the Haixing, Wang Xinglong led him to the back: it was a small brick courtyard with two-story buildings on all sides and a well in the middle. There is a large bluestone supporting the well. A woman in green clothes with two servant girls had her back to them, her sleeves rolled up high, and she was washing the clothes vigorously. The tub on the floor was full of clothes to be washed.
"This is my sister-in-law." Wang Xinglong introduced, and called out again: "Jinchun!"
The young woman turned around and saw her cousin bringing a strange man over. She didn't think it was strange. She wiped her hands, which were red from the well water, on her apron and felt blessed.
Lin Ming quickly returned the gift. I cursed in my heart that Wang Xinglong's book had been read into the dog's belly. How can you just let your own girl come out to see you if you are not a relative? Don’t you hear that men and women are not allowed to be intimate? Could it be that he fell in love with me and wanted to betroth the girl to him...
Look at the girl carefully. Her appearance is not bad, I can tell she is a girl from a middle-class family or above, but she is a little out of shape due to overwork, her figure is a bit thick, and her arms are exposed without caring... What a good girl, Bai Bai What a waste...
While he was thinking wildly, he heard Wang Xinglong say: "My sister-in-law also works on Haixing. She specializes in general affairs and can be regarded as a colleague of my generation. Brother Lin has clothes and quilts that need to be washed. Just leave them to her."
"How does this make..."
"Brother Lin, please don't be polite." Wang Jinchun didn't care. "This is my job. The shopkeeper paid me to do the laundry and sweep for everyone. If you don't do the laundry for me, wouldn't I become the shopkeeper?" Are there any extra people?”
Wang Xinglong said: "Jinchun, Brother Lin has only been off the ship for a few days, so he doesn't know the rules here. You will get used to it if you stay for a while." After that, he took Lin Ming to a small room on the second floor.
"Brother Lin, just live in this room." Wang Xinglong helped him put down the bedding: "This courtyard is full of male shop assistants. The shower is downstairs in the south building, and the washroom and toilet are also there. , very convenient.”
"Are there any female waiters here?" Lin Ming saw that this room was almost carved out of the same mold as the room in Weimin Hotel, even the furniture was exactly the same.
During the Ming and Qing dynasties, large-scale stores had absolutely no female employees. Clerks were not allowed to bring their families, and even shopkeepers had to be single. The hiring of female waiters is a shocking thing.
"Exactly, my sister-in-law is one. In addition to her, there are three or four female clerks." Wang Xinglong said with a smile, "Brother Lin, you are new here and you don't know the Australian customs: women have to go out to do a lot of work, and there are People are still working in Australian factories."
"It's not just work, there are also officials." Following a high-pitched female voice, Wang Jinchun had pushed the door open and came in. He was holding a tray with a teapot and teacup in one hand, and a rattan shell in the other. Big Bottle, "If my brother hadn't allowed me to purify, I would have become a cadre..."
"Purification requires shaving one's hair, which is absolutely not allowed." Wang Xinglong's head shook like a drum, "What kind of behavior is this?"
But the girl didn't care and complained: "Brother, you are the one who said how good Australians are. You have to go to Lingao to get here. After all the hard work, you don't want to follow the local customs. Now you can only be a clerk here." You see, Mr. Liu, who came to Gao together with us, was the first to have his head shaved, and he has become the section chief..."
However, Wang Xinglong had a smile on his face and did not refute. He just said, "Are the clothes washed? Brother will help you dry them later." Then he took out a towel from his pocket and said, "Look, you have finished washing the clothes." I don’t know how to wipe my arms dry, my arms will hurt when I get old..." Then he took Jinchun's arm and wiped it carefully.
Lin Ming secretly shouted: "Indecent! Indecent!" But he saw that Wang Jinchun didn't care and let him wipe it with a smile on his face. Lin Ming only felt that the two of them had an affair, and cursed in his heart: "They are really worse than animals! They really know how to surrender to Kun!" He immediately despised the Wang Xinglong brother and sister. But he didn't dare to show it on his face, he just turned his face sideways.
Just as he was embarrassed, he heard Wang Jinchun say: "Brother Lin, this is tea. Just leave the tea set in your room for use. Just go to the kitchen to get hot water. This is a thermos. If you have any clothes to mend, give them to me." That’s right. It’s all within our scope.”
Lin Ming said a few polite words and sent the two of them out. His luggage is still at the inn, and he is in no hurry to move it over. Then he took a closer look at the room and yard. Although the layout is small, it is very clean and tidy. However, he took a cursory look and saw that there were more than ten rooms in this small courtyard. Excluding the toilets, washrooms and shower rooms on the first floor, even if there was one room for one person, there would be at least seven or eight "reputable" workers here. Wang Xinglong said that there are "four or five female waiters", plus there must be some waiters and apprentices who sleep in the open shop and do menial work, so there must be more than 20 people... There must be too many people in this shop. !
Lin Ming was full of doubts and first unfolded the bedding he bought and laid it out. I poured another cup of tea and took a few sips to calm down. Now that he has settled down, he has a job, a place to live, and is not afraid of being "caught in trouble". He can sort out his current thoughts.
Judging from what he has seen and heard so far, Kun Thief attaches great importance to "Jinghua", and the core of "Jinghua" is "shaving your hair and changing clothes" - eating directly under Kun Thief's hands. This is necessary conditions. Along the way, whether it was Kun Thief's government office, Baojia, shops or workshops... all kinds of people from top to bottom were like this - by the way, Wang Xinglong said, this is called "naturalized people", hum " "Naturalization", "naturalization", can you barbarians afford it? ! Ordinary people seem to be willing to do as they please. There are many naturalized people who shave their hair and change clothes on the street, and there are also many people who wear Ming Dynasty clothes.
The blessings of the Ming Dynasty for three hundred years are still there. Lin Ming thought, it seemed that even in Lingao, the home of the Kun thieves, there were still many people who wanted to go to the Ming Dynasty. Even Wang Xinglong, who took the initiative to surrender to the Kun, did not take it seriously. It seemed that he could do something about it.
Lin Ming quit his job at Haixing and went to the labor agency to go through the formalities, then went to the Weimin Hotel. It was already late, so he rested for a night in the hotel and had a comfortable sleep: the bedding in the room was clean and tidy, especially there were no fleas or bed bugs. This is one of the places where Lin Baihu admits that the Ming Dynasty is far inferior to Lingao.
Early the next morning, Lin Ming checked out of the room, moved his luggage to the Haixing, and started working as a "copywriter".
Contrary to what he thought, the copywriter was still quite busy at work. Every day, the boy running errands would take out a lot of notes from shopkeeper Qian's accounting room, with only a few sentences on them. Lin Ming wanted to write a letter based on the contents of this note. The contents of the letters are varied, but they are all business transactions: there are inquiries and quotations, there are instructions to buy and sell, there are also personnel changes, financial transfers... all kinds of, very complicated. Lin Ming was also a veteran in handling official documents. He had never seen this set of things before. Fortunately, with Wang Xinglong's guidance, he soon roughly figured out the joints and wrote it much faster.
After writing these letters, seal them in special envelopes and write the names and addresses of the recipients - in addition to some places in Guangdong and Fujian, they also go to places such as Nanzhi, Zhejiang and even Tianjin Wei and Jingshi. He didn't know where some places were at all. After asking Wang Xinglong, he found out that they were all counties under the jurisdiction of Qiongzhou Prefecture. (To be continued...)
