Fisherman Fubao made his fortune by fishing

Just after the hour of Chen, the ox cart that had been ordered arrived.

The driver followed the agreement and counted which road it was, whether it was south or north, and which household it was.

"There's an old locust tree in front of the door. Yes, this is the house."

The driver knocked on the Cai family’s gate.

Li Laosan had a brief conversation with the driver, and after everything was in order, he began loading the car.

Li Yuer looked at the people in the yard. There were Nao Nao and his two companions, Li Laosan and his two companions, and Li Erlang who was waiting at the intersection. There were four people in total. Including herself, there were eight people in total. Although they were not adults, they still took up space.

"Uncle Liu, there are a lot of people here today. The wicker boxes are light, can we stack them up higher?"

Uncle Liu, the driver, took a look at the wicker box in the yard and said, "No problem. This box is square and easy to stack. It should be fine. Just use a rope to secure it around the outside."

Li Yuer took a look at the length and width of the ox cart. It was about two and a half meters long and two meters wide. It was a medium-sized ox cart that could carry people or cargo.

There are six of them in a row horizontally and three rows vertically, about three stories high. With the addition of two wicker baskets for the oil lamps, there is still plenty of room for people to sit, which is perfect for storing seafood.

Li Yuer told everyone about her arrangements, and everyone thought they were very reasonable, so they loaded the truck according to what she said. Sure enough, the arrangements went perfectly.

The ox cart swayed out of the village and after a while, it picked up Li Erlang, who was waiting by the roadside looking at the oil lamp.

In the morning, Li Laosan and Li Erlang first used a cart to transport the oil lamps from the island to the agreed intersection. Li Laoer watched things there while Li Laosan pushed the cart to Fushui Village to help load the wicker boxes, and then they went to the town together.

After picking up the people and installing the oil lamp, the ox cart continued to drive towards the town.

Li Yuer was wearing a cotton-padded jacket that she had temporarily taken from Zhao's house today. It was a maroon color and a little big. Li Yuer wrapped her headscarf around her head and huddled inside the jacket. She crossed her hands and tucked them into her sleeves, squinting her eyes and feeling numb.

Erdan and others were talking excitedly. Although Fushui Village was not far from the town, they did not often have the opportunity to come to the town.

Fushui Village is guarding the Fuzhou Bay. Most of the families have boats for going out to sea. After loading the goods on the boat, they row them to the dock to sell them. The dock is crowded with people buying and selling seafood. Adults don't have the energy to look after their children. Therefore, villagers basically do not bring their children when selling seafood.

Even if I brought the kids, we would just go to the fish market at the pier and not into town, which was not very interesting.

"Brother Naonao, where do we go to sell seafood?" Erdan asked.

Naonao thought for a moment and said, "Let's go to the South Street Market."

During this season, all the boats are docked and the fish market at the pier is closed. Occasionally, the few seafood caught by nearby villagers are brought to the market to sell.

Years ago, many large markets spontaneously formed around Xinpu Town, among which the market on South Street was the largest.

People selling things on South Street needed to pay stall fees to the government, which ranged from three to fifteen copper coins depending on the size of the stall.

Other small markets do not require payment of fees, but the government is not responsible for maintaining public security and order, nor is it responsible for dividing the sizes of stalls.

Biaozi was a little reluctant to spend the stall fee, and said, "We don't have to pay the stall fee when we go to the small market. We can save three cents and buy six pieces of maltose."

Nao Nao thought about it, shook his head and said, "No, we are three kids selling big goods. If we meet unreasonable people, we will suffer. Compared with big goods, we don't need these three copper coins. Besides, didn't you have any candy today?"

Biaozi thought it made sense, nodded and said, "Brother Naonao is smart and thinks a lot."

The official road from Fushui Village to Xinpu Town is not desolate, but it is sparsely populated. Most of the surroundings are wasteland, and there are barren mountains in the distance. Occasionally, it passes through a village, which is 1,800 meters away from the official road. There are some farmlands around the village. In this season, the farmlands are covered with a layer of white snow, which looks like a white carpet from a distance. These snow covers will last until the beginning of spring next year. In spring, the snow melts and becomes good water for fertilizing the fields, which is in line with the old saying: Auspicious snow indicates a good harvest.

Staggering and staggering, we finally arrived at the town.

Li Laosan gently pushed Li Yuer and said, "Yubaoer, we're here."

Li Yu'er was like a frightened turtle, slowly sticking his head and limbs out of his shell.

Li Laosan didn't want Nao Nao and the others to know where they were going, so he asked the driver to take them to South Street Market first.

"Sir, the carriage can't go in."

There are already quite a few stalls before reaching the edge of South Street.

"What's going on this year? Why are there so many people setting up stalls on South Street?"

In previous years, Naonao would also come to the fair with his family, but there have never been so many people here this year.

The driver sighed and said, "Sir, you don't know that the county magistrate has been replaced this year and the rules have changed."

Nao Nao asked: "What has it been changed to?"

The driver shook his head and said no more, only saying: "In short, you should be careful and don't offend anyone."

After saying that, the driver stopped the car by the roadside. Li Laosan and others jumped out of the car and helped unload the seafood.

Before leaving, Li Yuer said, "Naonao, we'll meet at the entrance of the town in two hours."

"Got it, you guys are busy."

Naonao led Erdan and Biaozi, carrying buckets of water, into the crowded South Street Market and soon disappeared.

When Naonao and his friends arrived at the place where they usually registered for stalls, they saw that there were already many people queuing up.

They lined up at the end of the queue, waiting patiently to receive their booth number.

"You think it's too expensive? If you think it's too expensive, then go set up your stall somewhere else!" At this time, an arrogant roar came from the front.

"I'm just asking. This kind of stall only cost three cents last year, why did it become six cents this year?" another voice said.

“Bang!” There was the sound of something being kicked over, and then the arrogant voice shouted again: “Three cents was in the past, now it’s six cents. You bunch of unruly people, is it because the county magistrate in the past was incompetent and didn’t follow the rules that allowed you unruly people to evade taxes for so many years?

It is true that poor places breed unruly people! I am lucky enough that I did not ask you to make up for all the advantages you took in the past, but you still dare to cause trouble!

Come on, throw him out. Never set foot on South Street again. I'll beat him every time he comes!"

Several bailiffs came forward and dragged the man out.

"You are committing corruption and breaking the law! You will suffer retribution for this!" The man was dragged backwards, face up in the air, holding tightly onto a wooden barrel in his hands. The barrel was tilted, with sauerkraut leaves stuck to the mouth of the barrel.

It seems that he came to the town to sell sauerkraut.

Some people couldn't stand it and stepped forward to argue, but were slapped in the face by the arrogant manager.

"The king's law? The county magistrate of Xinpu Town is the king's law!"

When other people saw this, they wanted to help, but the yamen runners just drew their swords. The common people had never seen such a scene, so they were so scared that they dared not step forward.

The tax collector said arrogantly, "Behave yourself, you really think I dare not touch you, right? You want to stay in jail, right? Don't worry, the jail in the county government is very spacious and can accommodate most of you."

Everyone was silent. Someone who knew something whispered, "I'm afraid the county jail is now empty. All the prisoners have been taken to the mines."

After such a commotion, no one dared to resist and everyone paid the stall fee obediently.

Biaozi wanted to leave angrily, "Brother Naonao, why do we have to suffer here? Let's go to East Street to sell."

An old vegetable farmer who was carrying a load of radishes beside them said, "Don't be angry, my child. We ordinary people cannot defeat them.

Do you think others don't think of going to East Street? Do you know why there are so many people in South Street? I tell you, don't go to East Street. You don't know that a group of thugs came to East Street. They seemed to be thugs from the newly opened casino. They deliberately picked troubles and collected more protection fees than the stall fees here. They also beat people. The yamen runners didn't care at all. If you pay a little more stall fee in South Street, you can still sell it."