Lin Xi carried a mandarin fish, a piece of meat wrapped in a lotus leaf, and a jar of wine in the other hand, walking briskly towards home.
Tomorrow is the Dragon Boat Festival, and there are sellers of wild rice leaves and quince leaves everywhere on both sides of the street. There are also vendors standing leisurely on the roadside with a load of rice. There are those selling glutinous rice and those selling sticky yellow rice.
When I arrived in front of my house, I saw a man standing on the roadside with a basket of cherries, leaning against a tree and falling asleep. Lin Xi stepped forward and bent over the basket to look at it for a while. Seeing the man open his eyes, he asked, "Are your cherries sweet?"
"Sweet! Sweet! Very sweet!"
Seeing the man's crisp and clear answer, Lin Xi didn't believe it. He picked one and put it in his mouth, spit out the core and said, "You man, you won't tell the truth. This cherry is not sweet at all! And the core is big! I won't buy yours anymore!"
After saying that, he quickly walked in the door with the wine and meat in hand.
My father was taking a nap under the ginkgo tree. Hearing footsteps, he opened his eyes. Seeing that Lin Xi had mentioned a lot of things, he said happily: "Have you worked in the yamen for a few days and made money?"
Lin Xi said: "Where can anyone get money so quickly? Tomorrow is the Dragon Boat Festival, and I have paid two thousand dollars in advance. It has been scattered everywhere in the past few years, and we haven't had a good holiday for a long time. Now that we have settled down, it's time to celebrate."
"Okay, okay, let's celebrate!" Father stood up and stepped forward to look at what Lin Xi bought. "It's all about wine and meat. Mandarin fish is extremely expensive outside, so why buy it! It doesn't cost much to buy a few common fish!"
Lin Xi said: "Dad, the mandarin fish here is the most delicious! In the past few days, I have also learned a new method here, called squirrel mandarin fish. It tastes the most tender and delicious. Since you want to eat it, of course you have to eat it well. .”
Father shook his head. I want to eat good food, but I think mandarin fish is too expensive. There is a lot of water around Xiangyang, and ordinary fish are as cheap as dirt. Is it necessary to buy such expensive fish? Just buy any tail fish and eat it until you have a fishy taste in your mouth, that's enough.
Put your things down. Lin Xi said: "Tomorrow is the Dragon Boat Festival. I bought some rice dumpling leaves and will make rice dumplings tomorrow. There is a kind of quince tree on Nanyang Mountain, which is different from the wild rice leaves and has a special fragrance. The locals nearby use this kind of leaves. Wrapped with yellow sticky rice, they are called golden rice dumplings.”
The father said: "What's so strange? The rice dumplings at home are made of mugwort leaves and watered with water. They are also golden rice dumplings."
Looking at her father's look, Lin Xi said nothing more and just smiled. The glutinous rice dumplings will turn yellow when soaked with mugwort water. Many people have done this in recent years. It’s just that the golden rice dumplings here have a different flavor.
Seeing his daughter cleaning up there, the father asked, "You and the two Taizhao were working together. Why did you just come back by yourself and not see them?"
Lin Xi said: "They also received money in advance and went to a restaurant to drink. The observation asked them to draw a map of the Han River, but we should take a closer look."
"They were drinking, but they didn't call me!" My father was a little frustrated and sat aside.
After sitting there for a while, my father said again: "How much money do you get paid a month when you work in the yamen? We, father and daughter, can't do it if we have less money. I went to the market and asked, and the prices in Xiangyang are really not low. "
Lin Xi said: "I have six strings a month. The two of you have more to ask for, eight strings a month each."
The father nodded after hearing this: "This Wang Zhuan is not a stingy person! I heard from people that working in the yamen, the salary is really quite a lot! It is more than the salary paid by the previous court! It's just that there are no rewards, no salary, all depends on the salary. Cash is a bit bad."
While Lin Xi was packing the fish, she said casually: "What's wrong? Just take the money and go to the store to buy rice. The rice you buy is all new. Isn't it as delicious as old Lumi? There are things in this world that money can't buy. of?"
The father said: "You are still young and don't know many things. It's okay to have peace in the world, but in times of turmoil, the price of rice will rise, and money will be far less than Lumi. Just like in Kaifeng Mansion now, you can fight for a fight every time. , where can I afford it?”
Lin Xi laughed after hearing this: "What did Dad say? In turbulent times, you can't get money even if you are an official!"
The two father and daughter were talking to each other and chatting. Since Kaifeng was broken, the two wandered for several years, and they have finally settled down today. Now that Lin Xi can make money again, she can talk a lot.
After putting away the fish, Lin Xi was cutting meat and washing vegetables.
The father said: "This Xiangyang city is indeed different from other places. I have inquired about it and found that there are no guilds and people here, and business is much easier than other places. It is a pity that we have no capital, otherwise we would also do some business."
Lin Xi said: "Dad, the more a place is like this, the harder it is to do business. Think about it, as long as you have capital and brains, you can do business in the city, and there will be many businessmen gathered. If there are more businessmen, each will have its own business. Isn’t it more difficult to do this?”
My father smiled and said: "I have been doing business everywhere since I became an adult. How can I be compared to ordinary people? I have done countless businesses in Kaifeng for several years and have never suffered a loss. It seems that the yamen here in Xiangyang don't care about everything and have no teeth. You will definitely make money!”
Lin Xi just laughed. My father is indeed a businessman. He has been in business for ten or twenty years and has never lost money. But if you want to do business, you need capital. The father and daughter are like this now. It's hard to have enough food and clothing. How can they dare to save money?
Seeing Lin Xi busy there, his father said: "You are a little lady, less than twenty years old, but you can do anything, which is sad to say. At this age, if you were born into a wealthy family, how could you do such rough things? Hey, it’s really difficult for you.”
Lin Xi said: "How can there be so many wealthy families in the world? Didn't Dad see that they have been living in various places in the past few years? In ordinary people, there is no girl who has been a popular cook since elementary school! If not, how will you live your life when you grow up?"
My father looked at the sun on the tree and was lost in thought for a while. Cai Dao said: "In the days when we were in Kaifeng Mansion, although our family was not rich and powerful, we were not poor either. It only took a few years, how could we imagine that we would be reduced to this kind of life?"
In the past five or six years, many families have been destroyed and displaced. Kaifeng City used to be the largest city in the world, with a population of over one million. Are there still 10,000 people left? It is already rare to survive. More people have died wandering on the road.
At this point, his father continued: "This year, the Wang Kuan Company is on the battlefield. At the beginning of the year, we saved Shaanxi Province thousands of miles away, and we won a great victory at Jingmen a few days ago. I see no place in the world for soldiers and horses that is as difficult as this. In today's troubled times, can we Living in a place like this is such a blessing! You should work hard in the Yamen and we can save some money. I will wander around Xiangyang City more and do some business if there is an opportunity. You will not be in the Yamen for a long time We need to make plans early. When everything settles down, we will think of a solution."
