On the eighth day after Zhang Juzheng returned to the capital, a carriage was escorted by four people dressed as servants on the official road towards Tianjin. Both the car and the person looked dusty, and they must have traveled a long way to get there.
At this moment, the curtain of the carriage opened, revealing a round face! This person is Hu Zhiyu's big shopkeeper, who is responsible for business affairs. He has dozens of shopkeepers, big and small, with great power!
This time, the Hu family and the Zhang family had just completed a small cooperation and found some business in Shanxi. Shopkeeper Hu was here to handle this matter. As soon as he returned to the capital from Shanxi, he was sent by Hu Zhiyu to Tianjin to see the situation of opening the sea.
Shopkeeper Hu said to the servant next to the car: "It's almost noon now, isn't it? Is there a station far ahead where I can rest? I'm almost exhausted. I need to go to the fields to do some exercise!"
The servant said: "I have walked this road before. There is a tea shed about a mile and a half away. You can go there to drink some water and eat some snacks."
Shopkeeper Hu nodded and said, "Okay, let's go there! The ride in the car will be exhausting!"
As they talked like this, several people had already caught up with the tail of a pair of caravans. This caravan is not big, and the four carts are covered with thick tarpaulins, making it difficult to see what they are carrying. The driver shouted loudly: "Master Hu, sit tight, we are going to pass them!"
Then the coachman cracked his whip, and the carriage sped up. It quickly passed the caravan before returning to normal speed. When the car stabilized, shopkeeper Hu stretched out his head and glanced at the caravan behind him and said, "That's strange. How many caravans have you encountered along the way? Have you walked this road before? Are there so many caravans?"
The servant scratched his head and said, "There must be none! I don't know what happened, but suddenly there were so many caravans!"
Shopkeeper Hu nodded and said, "Then I know, maybe it has something to do with Tianjin."
The servant agreed: "That's really possible! They say that Tianjin has opened up the sea. There are mountains of goods there, and there are also many rare treasures from overseas! I just don't know if it's true or not."
Shopkeeper Hu said: "This must be an exaggeration. But since the sea is opened there, the expansion is limited! No matter, we will know it when we get to Tianjin!"
The inconvenient part of this era is that the transportation is very poor, coupled with the government's deliberate suppression, sometimes a person will never leave a city or even a village in his life! This results in a lack of liquidity in any information! A lot of news either becomes more and more exaggerated as it spreads, or disappears silently!
The carriage accelerated slightly and soon arrived at the tea shed that the servant mentioned. When we arrived here, everyone who had never been here was overjoyed, but the servant who had been here was very surprised!
Because in his impression, this location is a real tea shed. It should be a small shed made of bamboo and wood outside a farmer's straw house. It is very simple and shabby. But the scene that appeared in front of him was different from before!
The thatched house is still the same thatched house, but the thatch on the roof is new. The number of wooden sheds outside has become three, and it is not the original one with only four pillars and a roof. Instead, it is a thick tea shed that is enclosed on three sides and only opens on one side toward the intersection.
Shopkeeper Hu had never been here before, so he thought this was the tea shed that the servant mentioned, and said happily: "These farmers have worked hard, and the tea shed is well repaired! And it looks like it can be done a little bit better." For food, maybe we don’t have to rush to the inn to eat at noon.”
The words were echoed by other servants, so everyone quickly came to the front of the tea shed. As soon as Shopkeeper Hu got off the carriage, a man came forward to greet him. This man was in his thirties. He was wearing a short shirt used by farmers in the fields, but he had a towel draped over his shoulders. He was imitating the waiter in the shop, but he looked a little different, which made Shopkeeper Hu laugh a little. !
I just heard this person say: "My noble man, you are here! Sit inside! There is tea and food in the shop. Do you want to sit down and have a rest before leaving, or eat and leave? We have some prepared here. Materials, do you think you need to add more materials to your big animal? The price is absolutely fair!"
Shopkeeper Hu moved his body and said, "Go and tell the coachman about the material. First tell me about your situation."
What's in it? "
When the villagers saw that they might get a piece of business, they happily said: "Sir, if you want to drink tea, we have serious tea here, but it is definitely not good tea, just to quench your thirst! If you want to eat, , we also have stir-fries here, but only vegetarian dishes, but they are absolutely fresh, they are all grown at home, as well as wild vegetables picked nearby! As for the staple food, there are pancakes and rice, and by the way, the rice is the rice from Jiangnan! "
This statement surprised Shopkeeper Hu! He has never seen these things in the tea shed! However, he glanced directly at the table of people eating and saw that the dishes on the table were very fresh, especially the dishes were not served on plates, but in large bowls commonly used by farmers. The portions were very generous! He just sat down and said, "There are just the six of us, just watch and do it! We've eaten enough pancakes on the way, let's serve some rice!"
The villagers agreed and left quickly, and then the coachman and the servants all sat down. At this time, the villagers came back and gave them tea bowls and a pot of tea. The servant opened the lid of the pot and said with a smile: "Shopkeeper, the ones in here are really tea leaves, not Tumo'er!"
Tumo'er is a dialect often spoken among the people. It means that after the tea merchants sell the tea leaves, there will always be a lot of broken residue left in the tea basket. They will wrap these residues and sell them at a very low price. sell away! This kind of thing is called Tumol! And the people who buy the most Tumol are the poor villagers!
Everyone travels all over the world, so naturally they know that tea sheds are often full of Tumo'er, and only by paying high prices can you get serious tea. Nowadays, a pot of tea is given without paying for it, which is very surprising! Read the book
When the tea was poured into the bowl, shopkeeper Hu picked it up and tasted it, then frowned and said, "The tea is real tea, and it's new tea, but it's still the lowest quality. It's hard to drink!"
The few people around him had obviously been following him for a long time and were not afraid of him. They couldn't help laughing when they heard this! One of them said, "Shopkeeper, it would be great if this store has serious tea leaves to drink. It's better than having tea foam stuck between your teeth and making you feel uncomfortable!"
Shopkeeper Hu nodded and said, "That's true. It's just that this teahouse is willing to use tea leaves, so I'm afraid I'll have to pay a few more cents!"
