"The princess is at the lake."
Four simple words were written on the thin mulberry paper. After reading it, An Ning lit the mulberry paper on the candle on the table and watched it turn into ashes.
"I want to go out." She said quietly, nothing could be detected from her expression, but her tone was extremely determined.
A maid stood in the lower corner, nodded in agreement, and then suddenly remembered something and couldn't help but ask: "But Madam, the account books will be ready tomorrow."
An Ning held her heavy bun and raised her forehead: "Let Ge Sheng do it."
"What?" the maid asked in shock, "Master, he is only ten years old. Madam, it is too difficult for him."
"Ten is not young anymore." An Ning nodded and confirmed, then took out a thick account book from the table and placed it on the table, then stood up.
"This area is going to be uneasy soon." An Ning said lightly.
"I don't know how long my trip will take, but no matter what happens outside, you should stay in the villa and don't go out and wait for me to come back."
The maid heard the solemnity in her tone and nodded in agreement.
"Got it, ma'am."
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…
"What?" Ge Sheng couldn't believe what Lihua said.
Mingming got up on time as usual, went to the kitchen to make herself a cup of oatmeal, and was about to go to the yard to practice Taipingquan when Lihua told An Ning that her mother had something urgent to do in the morning and there was no need to prepare breakfast for her. This year's account books will be left to him.
"Yes." Lihua nodded heavily: "My wife said that it's time for you to practice, young master, so I specially gave you a question to test."
Ge Sheng took the thick account book with a grimace, and then asked casually: "When will it be finished?"
Lihua thought for a while and finally decided to tell him the truth: "Tonight."
"I want to die." Ge Sheng was in pain and did not want to live.
"But Master, you have to live a good life." Lihua patted him on the shoulder and said seriously, "This is the master's last wish."
"Yeah." Ge Sheng remembered the meaning of his name again, and suddenly had an idea: "Can I ask someone for help?"
"This..." Lihua thought for a while: "Madam didn't say no."
"But there is no gentleman within ten miles who can settle accounts."
"That's just because you don't know." Ge Sheng smiled mysteriously, then picked up the account book and showed it: "I'm going down the mountain. First, find me a book I haven't read."
"Yes." Lihua frowned, thinking about which book the young master had not taken out.
"Also, I won't be back for lunch at noon." Ge Sheng turned around and added.
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Ge Sheng walked three or four miles along the road down the mountain with two books and an account book, and then came to the big lake. Originally, no one should live here, but now there was a white igloo standing by the lake. .
Ge Sheng was already familiar with this place. He followed the marks marked on the ground and walked into the igloo along a winding curve.
A girl in white clothes was sitting there, looked up at him, showed a hint of surprise, and then raised her finger to write in the air.
"Not tomorrow?"
"Uh." Ge Sheng was a little embarrassed and had no choice but to put the account book on the ice table in the room: "Please Xiaojiu, please help me."
The girl called Xiao Jiu was actually somewhere between a girl and a girl. The white skirt she was wearing was obviously a little too small, but there was still no sign of changing it. She did not answer, but stretched out her hand to look at the account book carefully. After a long time, he finally nodded slowly.
The boy who was so happy that he almost cried wanted to hug her, spin her around twice and kiss her hard, but when he saw her slightly cold look, he gave up after thinking about it. Just as he was thinking this, he saw the little girl serious She stretched out a small hand as white as jade to him. Although she didn't say a word, she had an expression that said you understand.
Ge Sheng sighed and handed her the tightly wrapped "Anecdotes of Orchid Leaf" from his arms: "This is the 244th book, you have read almost half of my books." ”
"There's still half." That Xiaojiu didn't say a word, but simply wrote quickly in the air with his left hand, but the truth was explained very clearly.
"Yes, yes." Ge Sheng nodded angrily and funny: "See first, then calculate?"
Xiaojiu didn't answer, but he had already opened the booklet and handed half of it to Ge Sheng.
Ge Sheng nodded with a wry smile, took out a bundle of arithmetic chips from his arms, opened it and handed half of it to Xiao Jiu. After Xiaojiu took it, he opened the book and spread out the arithmetic chips. He turned the pages with his left hand to record and fiddled with the arithmetic chips with his right hand. For a moment, my fingers were flying, and a series of numbers were filled in the corners of the book.
"As expected of Xiao Jiu." Ge Sheng thought, but did not say it out loud. He also opened the booklet, placed the calculation chips in a familiar position, and began to calculate.
That booklet is the account book of the entire Fengmian Villa for the second half of this year. The field taxes of the surrounding tenants, the loans borrowed by each family from Fengmian Villa, and even the input expenditure of the Villa in the past six months are all recorded in this thin bill. inside.
What he and Xiaojiu had to do now was to put everything together and compile a strict statement of income and expenditure.
It looks complicated, but it’s actually even more complicated to do.
Most of the field taxes are in kind, such as rice, millet, wheat, sugarcane, cotton, linen, kudzu, and silk. These are collected in the treasury, and the amount must be clarified, and the currency must be converted.
This is already an extremely troublesome matter, but compared with borrowing, it is nothing. Loans are more than just cash. The east family lacks cloth, the west family lacks medicine, the south family owes money, and the north family lacks food. Folks in the countryside often have countless debts of favor to repay each other, and things like bond transfers are also There is no shortage of things happening. It is necessary to distinguish what has been paid and what has not been paid, how much money is owed, and how much is missing. The mess makes the old accountant who has been doing accounting for decades dizzy.
As for the final input expenditure, it is not difficult at all, just complicated.
A foot of cloth, a bucket of rice, rouge, gouache, candied sugar, cakes and preserves, all the odds and ends are recorded here, but you have to settle them one by one. If you don't count them, it's already a thousand thanks. If you don't want to die, you have to peel off the skin.
And Xiaojiu nodded, as if he opened it unconsciously and started to settle.
If Ge Sheng hadn't heard it with his own ears, he would have believed that this was definitely his stepmother's deliberate attempt to make things difficult for him, but the one who assigned him this job was his own mother, whom he couldn't kiss anymore.
Fengmian Villa is not very big, it only occupies a small hilltop, and the surrounding fields for a hundred and eighty miles are under its control. In earlier times, there was also a saying that this was called three hundred food towns. However, Fengmian Villa, including the owner, maids, and long-term workers, plus the cat who lives temporarily on the hill, does not exceed the number of two hands. Normally, my mother is responsible for the accounting office, but my mother is here. At the most critical moment, he ran out without saying a word, and the accounting job fell to the only male owner of the villa with a single order.
If it weren't for Xiao Jiu, Ge Sheng would probably be able to survive if he worked hard, but - he would have to shed his skin even if he didn't die.
As for Xiao Jiu, Ge Sheng doesn't know much, but the only thing that can be confirmed is that she is not from here, because the place where she lives is clearly within the jurisdiction of Fengmian Villa, but this little girl has never given Fengmian any advice. The villa paid half a copper, and the household registration statistics had nothing to do with her.
Ge Sheng thought for a while: She was the kind of person who appeared from here like magic with a "hula", about half a year ago.
Half a year ago, someone discovered that a hut made of ice suddenly appeared beside the holy lake, so they reported it to Ge Sheng's biological mother. After all, she was the owner of three hundred restaurants. However, Ge Sheng's biological mother was not interested in it. To be precise, Ge Sheng's biological mother was not interested in it. , ever since Ge Sheng could remember, he never remembered when his biological mother was full of interest. After saying "It's none of my business", this igloo is no longer anyone's business. There are very few people in it anyway. When it comes to other people, the owner of a black household who doesn't pay taxes or food doesn't care about it, so what can outsiders do about it?
So Xiao Jiu lived here. As a member of the host's family, Ge Sheng was nearby when others reported the news. So after some youthful adventures, he caught a lively lolita in the igloo - this A girl who calls herself Xiaojiu.
In short, they had a fight for some reason when they met, and Ge Sheng unfortunately did not fight - this is not shameful, for nine-year-old boys and girls, girls can often perfectly suppress each other in terms of combat effectiveness.
Then there may be a tendency to be addicted to being beaten. In short, Ge Sheng comes here more and more often, until he finally becomes an existence that can not be kicked away. Many things naturally happened during this period, but these things cannot be recalled here.
Because Xiaojiu is finished.
Xiaojiu put away his calculations, closed the account book and pushed it to Ge Sheng. Then he naturally picked up the "Anecdotes of Orchid Leaf" and opened it to read. I didn't do anything great at all. Come on, come and praise me. Enlightenment, but the feeling of "Well, I'm done."
Although Ge Sheng knew the ability of the girl in front of him, he still opened it and scanned it. Xiao Jiu's calligraphy was in a very classical round script with round and plump strokes. Ge Sheng knew that only those families with deep inheritance would teach such calligraphy, but he didn't. Too surprising - because he himself was taught such words by his own mother.
Since the little girl dared to push it over, there was nothing wrong with it. Naturally, Ge Sheng couldn't read everything during the acceptance check. He simply checked a few points and calculated them in his mind. They were all correct.
Sure enough, the thought that it was Xiao Jiu passed through his mind naturally, and then Ge Sheng's eyes paused.
"Xiaojiu, is this word written wrong?"
Ge Sheng opened the account book and pointed to one of the characters "Zhi". This is the name of a brand of rouge called Dai Zhixiang. However, when Xiaojiu wrote the name, the radical and radical of "Zhi" were each missing one. Vertical, but this is not a commonly used simple treatment.
"I'm used to writing." Xiaojiu glanced at it, shook his head and wrote.
Maybe some people just have this habit, just recognize it, Ge Zhu said to himself, and then he speeded up. He still understood the basic common sense of not losing face too much in front of girls.
Within half a cup of tea, he finished calculating his part and handed the half to Xiaojiu for inspection. He leaned back in his chair and opened another book he had brought.
He came in a hurry early in the morning, because the account books had to be cleared before dark, but at this time Xiaojiu had finished cleaning, and the sun was just south, and it was still more than half an hour before noon.
Since we are not in a hurry to leave, it would be nice to sit here for a while. Xiaojiu’s igloo is naturally a good place to enjoy the cool air in the summer. However, it is a bit cold in late autumn. Fortunately, Ge Sheng has been a fisherman since he was a child. The old man taught me how to do Taipingquan, and I didn't feel cold even when I sat there.
If there is something to do, it will be long, if there is nothing to do, it will be short. The girl's book page turned over page by page, and the beam of sunlight shining through the window lattice tilted slightly. The two people did not say anything. They had been facing each other in this igloo for half a year. We are so familiar that we no longer need to say too many words. It feels very pleasant to spend such a quiet morning quietly.
Ge Sheng read one story and then another. He felt a little hungry, so he looked up at the sky. It was noon, and it was almost time to go back.
Xiaojiu saw the shadow on the table move, closed the book, and raised her head. She had known the boy in front of her for more than half a year, so she naturally knew what he was thinking, so she wrote softly: "Let's have dinner."
Ge Sheng nodded.
So two plates of dried sweet potatoes were brought over by Xiao Jiu who left his seat and returned shortly, and were placed on the table. Ge Sheng did not dislike the shabby food, and carefully took out one and chewed it slowly. It was very dry and tough. There is a hint of sweetness, it is an ordinary dried sweet potato cut into strips and dried under the sun. It is also the food of the little girl in front of me.
He comes and eats this kind of food often, so he has been eating it for almost half a year, so he is not going to waste it at all, because he knows that there are only about ten plates of dried sweet potatoes like this here, which is her weekly ration. Finally, she would spend half a day or even a day collecting them.
But she was willing to share it with herself, and Ge Sheng was actually very grateful for such trust.
So Ge Sheng was not prepared to waste it at all.
This is a very strong guy. Although Ge Sheng can bring her more and more delicious things, he just doesn't want it. No matter how much he says, there is nothing good to say.
The dried sweet potatoes were very filling. Ge Sheng ate seven or eight pieces, and then took a sip of water scooped from the holy lake behind him. The little girl in front of him had also eaten and was licking a stone with her head down.
It was an ice-blue stone with a slightly translucent texture. It was not big, at most the size of a child's fist. It was tied around her neck with a rope, as if she was lying on fire to taste her courage. She had to lick it before eating. gall.
But this is not gall, and this is not before eating.
Ge Sheng was not surprised at all, because he had seen this scene often in the past six months.
The name of this stone is recorded in many ancient books. It is called salt stone. The best salt stone is crystallized from the sea. It is transparent and pure and can be carved like a gem.
But the piece of rock salt in the girl's hand is just a very ordinary rock salt. If you grind it and take it to the market, you can exchange it for four or five copper coins. The reason why the girl licked it is also very simple.
She needs salt.
After half a year, this stone has become much smaller, but no matter how small it is, it is still salt.
Ge Sheng was not prepared to say anything, nor was he prepared to pity the girl in front of him, because he knew that this girl was actually more proud than he imagined, so there was no need for him to pity her at all.
So Ge Sheng nodded, stood up, and picked up the account book: "I'm leaving."
The girl nodded slowly and danced her fingers in the air, drawing three short arcs, two downward and one upward. This was a symbol that anyone could understand.
A simple smiley face ∩_∩.
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