Yang's father and Yang's mother knew that Yang Liufang was feeling uncomfortable, so they didn't force it. They simply took a few bites and then stopped. During the meal break, Mother Yang carefully prepared a jar of rice wine she brewed and several bottles of shrimp paste she made, preparing for Yang Liufang to bring it to his master, Yang Liugen. After all, the two had never met each other since they left their hometown. .
After cleaning up, Mother Yang was left at home to clean up the dishes. Yang's father rode on the yellow croaker cart and went to town with Yang Liufang and the rice wine and shrimp paste prepared by Yang's mother. On the way, Yang Liufang couldn't bear his elderly father to carry him, and wanted to carry him instead, but his father stubbornly refused. There is no better son than a father. His father knew that he had not eaten well these days and was weak.
The two arrived in the town, deposited their yellow croaker cart, and bought tickets to Wenzhou. It was already 4:30 pm when the long-distance bus went from Yangshi to Yueqing and then to Wenzhou. Yang Liufang carried rice wine and his father carried shrimp paste and left the long-distance station. Yang's father followed the address Liu Gen left for him and asked questions along the way. After changing buses several times, it was already dinner time when he arrived at Yang Liugen's house.
Yang Liugen lives in a courtyard on the outskirts of the city. Firstly, it is convenient for him to work, and secondly, it is relatively cheap to live here. When he arrived at the door, Father Yang stepped forward and knocked on the door.
"Who is it?" Old lady Liu Gen's voice came from inside.
"Sister-in-law, it's me, Liu Shui."
"It's brother Liu Shui. Damn it, Axia, hurry up and open the door."
"Sister-in-law." The door opened and Liu Shui greeted with shrimp paste.
"Master's wife."
"Ah, Ah Fang, my son, you are back. Ah Xia's father, come quickly, Ah Fang is back to see you."
"Afang, my son." Yang Liugen cried out and trotted out to greet him.
"Master." Yang Liufang put down the rice wine and knelt down.
"Get up quickly, let me take a look. Oh, my good disciple. Master has spent every day in regret for the past two years." Yang Liugen took Liu Fang's arms with both hands and forcibly pulled him up. With tears in his eyes, he looked up and down at his proud disciple under the dim light.
"Come in, don't stay in the courtyard, you haven't eaten yet, I'll cook some more vegetables, and you guys can chat while you eat." Liu Xia's mother greeted them warmly.
The three of them walked into the main room supporting each other. Liu Xia's mother quickly took the bowls and chopsticks from the kitchen and asked them to eat first while she went to stir-fry some vegetables.
"Sister-in-law, don't bother me too much."
"Oh, it's such a long way, it's hard for you and your children to come here."
"Come on, brother, I'm happy that the child is back today. Let's have a drink today. Liu Xia is a senior in high school and lives on campus. You can stay in his room at night. Al Fang, tell the master about your experience in Xizhou. Situation, I heard Ah Fu say that you opened a furniture factory and how many workers did you recruit?"
"Yes, Master." Liu Fang stood up and replied.
"Sit down, sit down, my family, no formalities. Please explain to Master what kind of furniture we made."
"Master" Yang Liufang was about to stand up, but Yang Liugen waved his hand and motioned for him to sit down. "In the beginning, I made a complete set of antique furniture from the Ming and Qing Dynasties for a leader's family. I also did some odd jobs such as doors, windows, chopping boards, and rolling pins. Later I started making sofas. Now I find that many families in the city have small living rooms that cannot accommodate the Eight Immortals table. Large furniture, so folding furniture was added.”
"Hey, hiss..." Master clinked glasses with his father, took a sip of wine, and nodded with great satisfaction.
"Drink, Al Fang, you drink too."
"Master, I can't drink well. I always get drunk when I drink with clients and friends."
"In your business, you have a lot of social activities and you get drunk every time. How uncomfortable it would be." The teacher's wife came in to deliver the food and interjected distressedly.
"Master Wife, please stop being busy and sit down and eat together."
"It's okay, there is another dish, kid, please eat more."
"Afang, don't worry about your wife. How are you going to handle your sales? I heard from your father that you contracted the supply and marketing cooperative?" The master asked a barrage of questions while drinking, eager to know what he, a successful apprentice, has done in the past two years. Condition.
"Master, I don't have to worry about sales. When we first opened the factory, there were few people and no equipment. Customers came to make custom orders. I took the workers to do it by hand. Later I bought a gasoline engine table saw. In addition to custom-made products, the supply and marketing cooperative I built a sales hall here, and at first I was cooperating with others, but now I am contracting them all.”
"Gasoline table saw? That's so inconvenient, why not buy the same electric planer you used as an apprentice?"
"Master, Xizhou is still relatively backward. The place where I opened the factory is a township below the suburbs. Electricity was just connected a few months ago."
"Oh, drink, drink."
Yang Liufang was obedient and took a sip of wine. The burning taste of the white wine made his throat uncomfortable. He closed his eyes and took a breath with a grin.
"A Fang, drink less. Don't listen to your master. You, don't let the child drink." The master's wife came in to deliver the last dish and happened to see Yang Liufang's painful expression after drinking.
"Stop drinking, Al Fang, and eat more vegetables. You did a good job, Master is happy. I regret not teaching you more joinery skills."
"Master, I followed you for two years, and I learned the basic skills very solidly. Later, when I was doing joinery, I read a lot of books and thought about it while doing it."
"Okay, okay, hiss... I'll just say I saw the right person."
"Hey, Brother Liu Gen and sister-in-law, you are both here now. I have to ask you for help with something. This time the child is in trouble and wants to sell the ancestral home when he comes back. You also know that this is treason in our place. I consider that the child will not be without roots in the future, so I brought him to my home to see if you can help the child."
"What's wrong? Al Fang, tell me."
Yang Liufang wanted to stand up again, but the master asked him to sit down and said. "Master, Mistress, recently the Northwest Province issued a "Notice on Strictly Controlling the Growth of Consumer Funds." Our supply and marketing cooperative account has been supervised, and we can only pay the basic salary of fixed employees. But there are people in the supply and marketing cooperative who have bought shares. My father is suffering from cancer, and he urgently needs to withdraw his shares to get money to save his life. We also have a customer from a brick factory, and we have to supply them with labor protection supplies every two months. Because the notice is for the whole province, they are also subject to supervision, and their dealings Accounts can only be paid from public to public. But once the money is put into the public account, it is subject to supervision. Only employee wages can be paid, and other procurement funds can only be paid from public to public. So after all the troubles inside and outside, we have no money. Also I don’t know how long this notice can be implemented, so I can only find a way to raise the money for the withdrawal of shares and payment for goods, and then leave some daily working capital.”
"Oh, how much does it cost to solve it?"
"Let's calculate it to 80,000."
"Oh, it's quite a lot. Mother Axia, how much money do we have left?"
"I'm going to get the passbook." After saying that, he went into the bedroom to get the passbook.
"How many?"
"17680."
"This is too different. You can take them out early tomorrow morning for the child's emergency use. I'm thinking of other ways."
"Master, Master, Wife, thank you." Yang Liufang felt relieved, picked up the wine glass to toast Master and Wife, and drank it all in one gulp.
"Brother Liu Gen, sister-in-law, you two have been worried about the child."
"What are you talking about, brother, you can hold your child by yourself. Let's help the child get over the current matter first."
After Yang Liufang drank the last half of the glass of wine, his eyes were blurred and he fell asleep. After that, he didn't know anything anymore. When he woke up the next day, he had a splitting headache. He forced himself to get up, looked around and found that this was his junior sister's boudoir. The walls are pink, and the pink bed where I slept is covered with a light blue summer quilt. The temperature here is different from that in Xizhou. In Xizhou, you need to cover yourself with a thick quilt at this time, and the kang will be burned in a few days. The pink and blue curtains on the windows make the combination of pink and blue very warm. Yang Liufang rubbed his head, opened the door and walked out. The mistress was busy in the hall. When she heard the door, she stopped and asked Yang Liufang: "My child, are you resting well?"
"Well, Master Wife, it's fine. I want to drink some water because I have a headache."
"Oh, let me pour it for you." The master's wife poured him a cup of hot water, and then fanned him with a fan. Yang Liufang couldn't wait for it to cool down, so she slipped away from the cup and drank water.
"Master's wife, here is my master. I went out with your father to raise money for you this morning. Don't worry, child, our family can handle your matter by ourselves."
"Thank you, Master."
"Thank you. You are hungry. Mistress will cook for you."
"I'm not hungry, Master. It's better to wait for Master and my father to come back and eat together."
"Ignore them for now, let me make you some egg drop soup to warm your stomach."
"Okay, thank you, Master."
"This kid, how come you haven't seen anyone since you've been away for two years?"
Soon, the mistress prepared a portion of tomato and egg drop soup for him, with a lot of dried shrimps sprinkled in it. After Yang Liufang drank it, his stomach felt much better. Feeling bored, I went to my junior sister's room to find a book and read it. It wasn't until noon that Master came back alone carrying a black bag.
"came back."
"Hello, master." Yang Liufang put down his book, stood up and said hello to his master.
"Well, sit down, kid, you can't drink. Now that you've grown up, you can drink some."
"Yeah." Yang Liufang agreed, lowering his head and rubbing the back of his head shyly.
"The matter has been settled. There are 70,000 here, plus what your wife took out in the morning, a total of 87,680. My son, you are in a hurry over there. Master won't keep you. I will send you off after lunch and set off."
"Master, thank you."
"Silly boy, Master, Master, is both a teacher and a father. We don't care about you, who cares about you?"
At noon, the master's wife prepared a table full of dishes, and the master poured a glass of wine himself to prevent Yang Liufang from drinking any more. Yang Liufang thought of something and said to his master and his wife: "Master, I wonder if you can leave home for a few days? Master, I would like to ask my master to go to Xizhou with me."
"Ah, why? My child, are you afraid that we won't believe you?"
"No, no, master and mistress, that's it. After all, this is a huge sum of money. The journey is so far. I'm a little worried on my own. I'm afraid I might get into trouble if something happens if I take a nap or something if I'm sleepy. Also, I want to learn more from Master and ask for more advice at the factory on the way."
"Oh, why didn't I think of this? Alas! I still haven't traveled far."
"Fuck, if you can't do it, I'll go with the child."
"Well, go ahead, the kid is right. I'll prepare something for you after dinner."
"Well, eat quickly, kid." Both of them put vegetables into the willow square bowls.
After lunch, the master and the apprentice set off. First, they went to Wenzhou Long-distance Station to buy bus tickets to Hangzhou. When they arrived at Hangzhou Wulinmen Long-distance Station, they took the yellow croaker bus to the train station. Yang Liufang was afraid that his master would be tired, so he bought two tickets. Sleeper ticket to Xizhou.
