When we came out of the tavern, the sun had already set in the west and was about to set. After bidding farewell to Lu Zongyuan, Chen Xiaohui strolled to Huitong Bridge.
At the head of the bridge, a man stood alone in the sunset, quietly watching the flow of people on the bridge. After looking at it for a while, he lowered his head and concentrated on drawing something.
Chen Qiaohui stood under the willow tree, looking at this man with envy in his eyes.
The person at the bridge is Zhang Zeduan. Every evening these days, he is at Huitong Bridge watching the scenery on the bridge and watching the flow of people. Chen Xiaohui discovered him by chance and often walked by Huitong Bridge to see him observing the flow of people.
This is a person from the art academy. It is enough to paint a few paintings a year, and you can ponder over it for a long time. How can I pick up a paintbrush and paint a picture instantly? If you draw slowly, you may get hungry.
People are different, and those who draw are even more different.
Chen Xiaohui has an innate ability. He can draw lifelike paintings by copying them. No matter if you look at real objects or old paintings, you can still get its charm. But once I draw it myself, either the proportions here are wrong or the colors are wrong there. When experts saw it, they shook their heads.
Painting doesn’t just mean that it looks like something. It includes two parts: the painter's understanding of the world and the ability to express this understanding. If Chen Xiaohui lacks one thing, his paintings will lack charm. I can only sell paintings in the market every day to make ends meet. He can only be regarded as a painter, not a painter.
Chen Xiaohui was particularly envious when he saw the people from the painting academy. But knowing his identity, he didn't dare to come forward and talk to him.
After watching for a while, Chen Xiaohui sighed. I took a carriage on the other side of the bridge and returned to my residence.
This is Yucaifang on the north side of Luohe River, and not far to the south is Jiaoyefang and Jidefang, where the textile industry is concentrated. Because there are many people working in factories, Yucaifang is a place where Henan Prefecture resettles the floating population.
When a floating population gathers, there is naturally a mixture of dragons and snakes, and social relations are complex. There are wealthy people who rent single-door houses. There are poor people, and four or five men are crowded into one house. There are various mobile vendors on the street, and the cries of hawking are heard one after another.
The houses here all belong to the shop and house service under Henan Prefecture, and their shapes are relatively uniform. They are all one- or two-story buildings with a courtyard outside. The yard is relatively large. In addition to planting flowers and grass, you can also grow vegetables and fruit trees. But the sizes vary. The small one is three tile-roofed houses with a yard outside. The larger one has eight rooms, and is divided into two floors, with sixteen rooms. With the yard, the area is very large.
Chen Xiaohui belongs to a well-off family and rents a small courtyard with three rooms for a monthly rent of three guan. This price is a preferential price from the government. If it were a market-priced house outside, it would cost more than ten guan.
The housekeepers hold large tracts of land and usually build houses together and then rent them out. Generally, residential buildings are relatively cheap, while commercial store prices vary.
Houses in this area and courtyards like Chen Xiaohui's house are shared by three families, and the rent is the same for each family. If you work in a factory, the general salary is three times a month, which is relatively loose.
After entering the courtyard, Chen Xiaohui walked quickly back to his bedroom and hid the silver collar. Fifty taels of silver collar was a huge sum of money for Chen Xiaohui.
After hiding the silver collar, Chen Xiaohui went to the yard, sat on the deck chair, and stared at the yard in a daze.
There are two white magnolias at the foot of the wall, and the trees are full of silver flowers in full bloom. Next to the white magnolia, there are two peach trees. The trees are full of red flowers, which is particularly beautiful.
After being dazed for a while and seeing how late it was, Chen Xiaohui stood up. Too lazy to make dinner any more, I strolled out of the room. Just a few steps away is the market, brightly lit and with all kinds of vendors selling their goods.
Next to the road, there is a stall selling roast chicken. The owner leans on the handlebar and does not shout.
I know the boss, Chen Xiaohui, and he has excellent skills in roasting chicken. It's just that roast chicken is more expensive and not affordable for ordinary people, so there's no point in shouting.
Now that he had received a fortune, Chen Xiaohui was happy, so he walked to the roast chicken stall and bought a roast chicken for three cents. I went to the side and bought two cooking cakes and a gourd of wine, swinging them back home.
After leaving the tavern, Lu Zongyuan returned to his residence and fell asleep. I slept until dark, washed my face, and then left the house.
After walking a few steps, we arrived at the Luo River. It was already spring, and there were many people on the bank of Luohe River, making it very lively. Lu Zongyuan walked forward along the river. Not far away, he saw brightly lit lights and loud voices in front of him. Next to it stood a watch with a lamp hanging on it and four big characters written on it: Fireworks in the World.
After entering the door, the waiter quickly came up to greet me and said hello.
Lu Zongyuan said: "Are the stone members from the Fruit Guild and the valley members from the Pastry Guild here? Where is the mason Mr. Hou?"
The boy pointed to a small room separated by bamboo and said: "Shi Yuanwai and Gu Yuanwai are here, in the pavilion over there. I haven't seen Hou Yuanwai, I guess they haven't come."
Lu Zongyuan said: "Okay, I have something to do with Yuan Shi and Yuan Gu."
After saying that, he walked up to the small attic.
Two people, Yuanwai Shi and Yuanwai Gu, were ordering food. When they heard footsteps, they looked up and saw that it was Lu Zongyuan. He smiled and said, "You have long legs! We were just about to order, and you arrived!"
After saying that, he hurriedly asked Lu Zongyuan to sit down.
After ordering the dishes, I asked the waiter to get the menu cards. Member Shi said: "The two of us wanted to have nothing to do in the evening, so we came to eat a grilled fish. Unexpectedly, Member Lu smelled the smell and Baba came over. If you don't have anything to do, go to the Three Treasures Hall. Tell me, what can you do? It's up to us."
Lu Zongyuan looked around and said, "There is also a member of the Masons' Guild. They are all very good. Let's invite him to eat with us."
Shi Yuanwai and Gu Yuanwai looked at each other and said, "Of course it's good. Just let the boy call me."
After saying that, he called the boy and asked him to invite the marquis.
These three people, together with Hou Yuanwai, are influential figures in this area. According to the principle of government supervision and private management, all walks of life will have heads of business within a certain distance. Guilds and guilds originally arose because the government purchased private goods for convenience. Now that Wang Xiaolie's regime no longer buys goods like this, the meeting has completely turned into a management organization.
Within a certain area, the government has a supervising official who directly manages these leaders. In addition to management, the leaders of these associations are not allowed to develop members beyond their scope, and their power is restricted. Basically, the role of the first line leader has changed from a role similar to a subordinate to a role similar to a sergeant.
There are supervising officials at the top, but the power below to manage guild members is not great, and they also have management responsibilities. The role of the leader of the guild is not an ideal role. However, there are still benefits to being well-informed, but the advantages are not as great.
Within Lu Zongyuan's area, the four guilds were the largest. They are the fruit guild, the pastry guild, the masons and the dock workers. The others are too small and have little influence. The leaders of the guild are these four people, Lu Zongyuan, Shi Yuanwai, Gu Yuanwai and Hou Yuanwai.
If the government does not manage well, these four people will be a powerful force who needs people and money under their command. In addition, they have a good relationship, and together they can monopolize one side's economy. But that's not possible now. It's either a middle-class family or just an ordinary wealthy family.
When the fish first came up, Hou Yuanwai put his hands behind his back and looked at the fireworks in the world. I greeted everyone and sat down.
After eating a few mouthfuls of fish and drinking a few glasses of wine, Gu Yuanwai said, "If Lu Yuanwai has something to do, you can talk about it now."
Lu Zongyuan put down his chopsticks, wiped his mouth and said, "Today a fellow countryman named Chen Xiaohui came to me to ask for something."
Seeing that everyone was looking at him eagerly, Lu Zongyuan said: "This Chen Xiaohui is born with a talent. No matter what calligraphy or painting, if he gets his hands on it, he can make it exactly the same. These days, he knows how to do it The appearance of the child——"
"You're not going to come out after painting for a while, are you?" The stone member on one side opened his eyes wide in fear.
Lu Zongyuan nodded: "The member is right, I just painted for a while. But because I painted by hand, and there were too many things to do, I didn't draw much. In half a year, I only painted more than a hundred paintings. "
Gu Yuan curled his lips and said: "Only more than a hundred dollars in half a year. This business is really deserted."
Lu Zongyuan said: "Except for Gu Yuan, not everyone is like you, with a big family and a big business, so they don't care about these small amounts of money. For example, I can't make a hundred dollars a year even if I eat and drink."
Mr. Hou said: "One hundred guan a year is not a small amount of money. Mr. Lu, what do you want to do?"
Lu Zongyuan said: "For ordinary people, a hundred guan is not a small amount. To be honest, it is not easy to spend a hundred guan. Chen Xiaohui used to go to the market with a few guan when he had nothing to do. Spend it. A few guans are easy to deal with, but there is really nothing that can be done with a hundred guans. Today he went to the gold and silver shop and exchanged the 100 guans into silver collars. The gold and silver shop is a place where money is played, and the payer I was suspected for a long time."
Member Shi was shocked: "If it can be seen, the money will be useless!"
Officer Lu waved his hand: "Of course I can't tell. I tried every trick in the gold and silver shop, but finally accepted them all. But after being frightened by this scene, he didn't dare to go to the gold and silver shop. He asked me Think of a way. I think, even if he doesn't do other things and concentrates on painting, he can only get a few hundred pens a year. The four of us can always come up with a way if we can get hundreds of pens together. "
A few hundred dollars, in fact, either Shi Yuanwai or Gu Yuanwai will do. They want to purchase goods and pay them as payment. Does anyone know? But he just didn't want to take such a risk for nothing.
The house is located outside the head of the mason's line, which is similar to Lu Zongyuan, and there is no hope.
After thinking for a long time, the stone member said: "What are the benefits to us?"
Lu Zongyuan said: "I haven't discussed it with Chen Xiaohui yet, so I can't give you a definite answer. However, I think it's okay for you to get 20% of the benefit."
The stone member stood silent.
Gu Yuan said: "It's only 20% of the benefit, which is less."
Lu Zongyuan sighed: "This is a meeting that you can't even see in a gold and silver shop. There is no risk at all, and it's more than 20%. - Well, let's discuss this with Chen Xiaohui. He is not a greedy person. People. As long as you are willing, this matter will be easy to handle."
(End of chapter)
