When I got home, I turned on the fire and boiled the medicine again for my grandma. It will be the Little New Year in two days. Hua'er figured that she still had twenty coins in her hand to buy some noodles and make stuffing from the leftover meat from last time. At least she could have a dumpling meal on the Little New Year's day.
Fei Nu came to find her and whistled several times outside the door. Grandma coughed and urged her: "Go, Fei Nu is looking for you."
When Hua'er was about to go out, she turned around and saw her grandma hesitated, so she sat down in front of her bed. The little girl huddled on the wooden bench and held her chin up, looking at her grandma. She looked really pitiful.
Grandma sighed: "This baby, Feinu, has grown up right before my eyes. Everything is fine, but..."
Hua'er rolled her eyes and realized what Grandma meant. She was worried about her having an affair with Fei Nu! He scoffed and laughed: "Grandma! Fei Nu is my elder brother!"
"you…"
"Me? It's hard for me to feed my stomach. I don't have time to think about those useless things!" Hua'er stood up and tucked Grandma into bed: "Go to sleep! Don't think about all that!"
After saying that, he turned around and went out. Fei Nu motioned her to stretch out her hand, and she did so obediently. He put a copper plate into her palm: one penny, two penny...
"What is this?" Hua'er asked, "Where did it come from?"
"The Wang family's wages." Fei Nu said: "I went to ask for it this morning with Zhaoye and Ah Hui, but the Wang family's housekeeper happily gave it to me. The old man didn't know what evil was possessed. His eyes were black and blue, and he was shaking when he spoke." Fei Nu imitated it, and Hua'er was so amused that he covered her mouth and laughed.
Xianchan came out of the house with a brush and ink cartridge in her hands. When she saw Hua'er and Feinu, she invited them to accompany her to the ink workshop.
"What are you going to Mofang for?" Hua'er asked her.
"Just the notice you tore up for me yesterday."
"The one who makes ink?"
"yes."
"The relationship is good then. Let's go. I'll go with you."
The opening of an ink workshop in Yanzhuo City is a new thing. Yanzhuo is located in the north and lacks elegant people. In the first year of Jianhe's reign, the first thing the county magistrate sent by the imperial court said when he arrived here was: the people's customs are rough and the people are oppressive and coercive. Therefore, the businesses in Yanzhuo City, including lackeys cooking pigs, wine shops and teahouses, and martial arts escort bureaus, are the only ones that do not make paper and ink. Besides, the process of making ink is complicated and requires the coordination of wind, water, and light. In Yanzhuo, it is winter for half of the year, with heavy wind and snow, so how can we make ink?
Everyone was talking about it, and some people said that the shopkeeper of the ink shop spent a lot of money to invite a master of ink from Huizhou, and the master of ink was used by the imperial court. Some people say that the shopkeeper just wants to spread money, and he can't accomplish anything if he is a rough person.
Someone whispered: "Stop talking, the shopkeeper is here."
Standing impressively on the stage was Mr. Bai.
Someone on the way here said: This mysterious shopkeeper of Mofang is definitely not the second master of the Bai family. The second master of the Bai family is a rough man who beats and kills young people. According to legend, his business is also a "human flesh business". If this kind of people were to open an ink workshop, they would really be in the wrong door!
At this moment, I didn’t dare to express my anger. I didn’t know what kind of joke that crazy Mr. Bai would make again. Xian Chan held Hua'er's hand and asked her: "Should I go there later? I'm afraid of Mr. Bai's business..."
"What are you afraid of? Just go! We dare to go into other people's business. Where does his job come from? They are as black as crows in the world. He is no better than other shopkeepers, but he is not as crazy as us." Hua'er recalled roughly. After talking about the several interactions with him, he lowered his voice and said, "I finally fished out dozens of pennies from him and got to know a little bit about his temper. This Mr. Bai likes weaklings."
"I don't understand…"
"As long as you pretend to be pitiful in front of him, don't confront him, cry a few times, and he won't do anything to you." Hua'er was sure that this trick worked. That day she contradicted him, and he beat her cruelly. , when she shed tears, he became soft-hearted. The next few times I pretended to be a slave in front of him, I got through it safely.
Cicada's hands are more dexterous than others, and he is also literate, so he can easily get errands. She was very happy. Both the bookkeeping and ink making had the ink fragrance she liked. Others do it for a living, she does it because she likes it. Master Mo handed out a piece of drawing paper with some rules written on it, and everyone had to read and recite them. At this time, someone couldn't help himself and made up why Mr. Bai wanted to open this ink workshop.
This starts with the county magistrate in Yanzhuo City in the early years.
The magistrate of the county had a little daughter named Ye Huachang. She was born beautiful, and the county magistrate took her with her to teach her since she was a child, and taught her everything she had learned in her life. The younger daughter was already familiar with the Four Books and Five Classics at the age of ten, and was also proficient in music, chess, calligraphy and painting. At that time, because the Baifu was a wealthy businessman, he spent a lot of money to send the two young masters to school to study with the county magistrate's daughter Ye Huachang. Bai Qiling, the second son of the Bai family, gradually developed feelings for Ye Huachang.
But Bai Qiling has been a gangster since he was a child. He likes a girl and doesn't know much about Xu Tuzhi. Instead, he blocks her in the alley of the school and asks the girl: "Will you marry me?"
Ye Huachang was still young and didn't understand the love between men and women. He was so frightened that he cried and turned around to complain to his father. He said that the second son of the Bai family was a scoundrel. Ye Zhixian asked her if she had suffered a loss? Ye Huachang said: After eating, he looked at me one more time.
Bai Qiling was scolded by his father, saying that he had no ideas and wanted to climb high.
I thought this meal would clear things up, but I never expected that Bai Qiling was completely obsessed with Ye Huachang. Ye Huachang gradually understood some things through Bai Qiling's fierce eyes. When she looked at Bai Qiling again, she felt fearful and uneasy, but always felt empty. If you can't see Baiqiling for a few days, you will feel like you have lost your soul. She secretly told her story to her mother, who reminded her: You probably have someone in your heart. But one thing is that your father is an official and the Bai family is in business. There is a huge difference between those who are officials and those who are in business. In other words: He is not worthy of marrying you. If you two want to work together, then Bai Qiling must at least obtain a meritorious degree.
But Bai Qiling was not interested in fame and fortune, and instead considered donating his official position. This ink shop was said to be opened by him, but in fact he wanted to give it to Xinzhi County to seek a small official position. Now that the Ye family is in decline, they can marry Ye Huachang with a small official position.
The above are all rumors among the people. They have noses and eyes, and the cicadas listen to them with great interest. When they get home, they tell Hua'er about them.
Hua'er raised her eyebrows and said, "That wicked thing is actually an infatuated person!" At that time, she was boiling medicine, and the smoke was burning, which made her cry and runny nose. He laughed at Bai Qiling's wishful thinking. With his plague-like face, how could Miss Ye like him? Before you open your mouth to speak, his eyes kill you three points first. He acts fiercely and is violent. From the inside out, there is nothing bright about him.
She was really fed up with Bai Qiling, so she belittled him severely, holding the cicada aside to listen. After she finished scolding, she said: "Today, Mr. Bai came to the ink shop and gave me a few pieces of ink. I saw that the clothes of the guys were patched. , and also gave each person two pairs of clothes. Seeing that I had frostbite on my hands, they also gave me a box of hand grease. Do you know how much the Mofang paid?"
"How many?"
"It's not ten or fifteen cents a day as others say, but twenty cents." Xianchan was very grateful for this: "My brother is too young and he cries all day long because he doesn't have enough to eat. With the dock accounting and Mofang At least I can make my brother drink some rice soup with his work. He will cry less and my mother will sleep more. If she recovers slowly, she will feel better."
Cicada has the same difficulties as Cicada. She can't do heavy work, and she can't come and go in the wind and rain like Hua'er. Her health is really poor, and she will have a fever and cough when she is tired. When I wanted to find a job, people thought she was a girl and always picked her out. But the ink shop did not pick her out, and the ink master praised her for her dexterity, saying that the ink made by the literate and the illiterate were different.
"Although Mr. Bai has a fierce look, I don't think he is a bad person." Xianchan said, "It's not like we have never done other jobs for other masters. We would like to peel off people's skin, but we are reluctant to give up the wages. Anyway, Mr. Bai I’m willing to give it up.”
Hua'er felt that Xian Chan's words were reasonable, but when she thought about Bai Qiling knowing that there were tigers in the mountains, yet he still wanted her to die, she felt that no matter how generous he was, he was still a beast. She couldn't stand him.
"You are tired of him, and you still want to make a living from him." Xian Chan fanned Hua'er to make the fire a little brighter: "The most difficult thing is you."
"Then what's the problem? Who doesn't know how to smile?"
"I also heard someone say today: Mr. Bai took advantage of the darkness of night to throw Uncle Bai's body into a mass grave. The mourning job that Fei Nu did for us is gone!"
"Trashing the graves? Aren't you afraid of others laughing?" Hua'er opened her eyes wide and then thought: "If you are afraid of people laughing, then you are not Mr. Bai!"
