Husband and Father Youwei

The three of them continued to stroll on the street. As they walked, Tu Lin suddenly saw a small shop with a very inconspicuous facade. The shop had no signboard or any pretense. Cutting the black charcoal, he couldn't help but stop.Let Ruan Tang and Tu An watch the car outside, while Tu Lin himself went into the shop.

The shop is not big, inside is a counter that is half a person high and two meters wide. At this time, a boy in gray clothes is dozing off on his stomach.Two three-story wooden shelves stood against the walls on both sides of the shop, and several large baskets were placed side by side on each floor.

Tu Lin didn't go to wake up the boy, but walked around the shop alone, and found that all the baskets were filled with charcoal, and the charcoal in each basket was different. eight kinds.There are ordinary charcoal, white charcoal similar to that made by Tu Lin himself, pine charcoal, bamboo charcoal, etc. It is also the first time Tu Lin has seen charcoal.

Walking around the shop, Tu Lin looked at all the charcoal, and at the same time compared the charcoal he made with those in the shop, and finally chose the one that was most similar to the one he made. charcoal.Just when Tu Lin was about to wake up the boy and ask the price of the charcoal, he heard voices and footsteps coming closer and closer from the small door leading to the inner hall behind the counter.

"Shopkeeper Song, please stay, stay."

"Butler Wang is polite, come, please."

Tu Lin followed the sound, and saw that the cloth curtain of the small door was lifted, and a six-foot-tall, short and fat old man came out first, followed by a skinny high school student in his forties wearing a brown shirt. young people.

I only heard the old man say: "Shopkeeper Song, I'll leave this matter to you, or what to say, the price is easy to say, but you have the silver frost charcoal I want, so you must leave it to me."

Shopkeeper Song hurriedly said: "Don't worry, Steward Wang, as long as I have silver frost charcoal, I'll keep all of it for you. But you also know that it's going to be winter soon, and charcoal is the time when it's in short supply. Don't tell me This means that there is not much stock at the master's house in our prefecture, and I have to write to the master's house to see if I can transfer it to you from another shop, so at this time..."

"Oh, I understand, I understand, please hurry up, I'm just waiting for your good news." After failing to get a definite answer, the old man known as Steward Wang sighed and could only do so helplessly. Said.

Shopkeeper Song comforted Steward Wang again, but he only said that he would do it as soon as possible, without giving any guarantee.After talking, the two arrived at the door, and said goodbye to each other. After watching Butler Wang go out, shopkeeper Song turned back to the shop.

Tu Lin had been waiting for a long time, and when he took a step forward, he only said the words "Shopkeeper Song", but he saw that Shopkeeper Song was completely different from the appearance when he was facing that Manager Wang just now, and he straightened his back , raised his chin slightly with an arrogant and indifferent look on his face, ignored Tu Lin, and walked past Tu Lin, as if he hadn't seen him at all.

Tu Lin raised his eyebrows, he didn't call shopkeeper Song again, and then he heard the young man who had been awakened by the voice of shopkeeper Song and Manager Wang ask shopkeeper Song suspiciously: "Cousin, isn't there still room in our warehouse? Do you have more than 1000 catties of white charcoal, why did you tell that manager Wang that our shop is out of stock?"

It's just that shopkeeper Song not only didn't answer the boy's doubts, but instead scolded the boy, "Is this something you should take care of? What are you talking about? Why don't you look at the shop carefully and take a nap with the door open in broad daylight? Is it a pig? You only know how to sleep when you eat, and no one knows when you enter the store. When you lose something, you won’t be able to pay for it if you sell it. It’s a useless thing.”

After cursing, Shopkeeper Song flicked his sleeves, and finally said: "Take care of the store for me, and if I see you dozing off, get the hell out and go home. Also, wink from now on, don't be so dirty People like beggars are also put in the store, can they afford charcoal fire? No need to bury the floor tiles of our house, do you hear me?"

The boy was only fourteen or fifteen years old, his eyes were red from being scolded by Shopkeeper Song, and he whispered, sobbing, "Listen, I heard it."

Seeing the boy's answer, Shopkeeper Song gave a cold snort in satisfaction, turned around and went back to the inner hall.

Tu Lin looked down at his clothes which were covered with patches, but still neat and clean, shook his head and smiled, turned and left the charcoal shop without saying anything.

"How is it?" Seeing him coming out, Ruan Tang hurriedly asked.

But Tu Lin shook his head, and said: "This shop is not good, by the way, a short and fat old man in his 60s just came out of the shop, did you see which direction he went?" Two sticks of white charcoal were taken out of the basket on the bullock cart.

Ruan Tang was stunned for a moment, then recalled for a moment, then pointed in a direction and said, "It seems to be over there."

Tu Lin looked in the direction Ruan Tang pointed, and he saw the short and fat back of Butler Wang not far ahead, only a hundred and eighty meters away, and immediately said: "I'm going to chase that old man, you and Tu An Lead the ox cart and drive over slowly." After that, he took the charcoal and went to chase in the direction of Steward Wang.

Ruan Tang was a little puzzled, but when he saw Tu Lin leaving with charcoal, he also guessed that it was for selling charcoal, so he didn't ask any further questions. After letting Tu An sit down, he led the ox cart and followed what Tu Lin said. He went up, but he was not as fast as Tu Linyong after all, and he quickly distanced himself from Tu Lin.

"This old man, please stay." But at a distance of [-] meters, Tu Lin caught up with him after a few breaths of trotting.

"Little brother called me?" Steward Wang stopped when he heard the sound, and turned his head to look, but saw that it was a strange young man. Judging by his clothes, he should be a poor countryman, and he couldn't help being a little puzzled.

"That's right, I'm sorry to bother you, old man." Tu Lin nodded slightly with a smile, and made an apology first.

Steward Wang originally thought that Tu Lin was a vulgar country boy, but when he saw that Tu Lin spoke and behaved quite politely, he couldn't help reducing the indifference in his eyes, and put on a kind smile on his face, saying: : "It's okay, it's okay, is there something wrong with the little brother?"

Tu Lin didn't answer Steward Wang's question directly, but said, "Old man, please take a look at this first." Then he presented the charcoal in his hand in front of Steward Wang.

"This is... silver frost charcoal?!" Steward Wang looked down, and quickly recognized that the thing in the young man's hand was the silver frost charcoal that he was looking for everywhere. look.When he saw that the quality of the object in his hand was not as good as the top one, but it was not far behind, his face was even more unconcealable.

At this time, Tu Lin didn't need to say more, he already understood the purpose of Tu Lin's visit, and at this moment, he also remembered in a daze that he seemed to have met Tu Lin in the charcoal shop just now, but he didn't pay much attention at the time, so he didn't pay attention. Ask any more questions, and immediately asked: "How much silver frost charcoal do you have?"

The corner of Tu Lin's mouth curled up slightly, but he was a little surprised that Steward Wang was so blunt, so he swallowed back the words he was going to explain, and replied directly: "Not much, about a hundred catties." With experience, you can also estimate the weight.

The joy on Steward Wang's face faded when he heard the words, and he frowned slightly, saying, "That's all...that's all, the hundred catties of charcoal are all in my hands? If so, I'll take all of them It's gone." Although it's not much, it's not enough to last three to five days, but it's still better than nothing.

"It's natural. They are all baked at home and picked out piece by piece by hand. There will never be any defective products. Don't worry, old man." Tu Lin was talking, just when Ruan Tang arrived with the ox cart, and he told Steward Wang again Said: "If the old man doesn't believe it, just check and see." Then he walked to the ox cart, put down the basket containing charcoal, and poured out the charcoal.

Steward Wang was a little surprised, but what surprised him was not Tu Lin's actions, but what he said, "Is this silver frost charcoal burned by yourself?"

This silver frost carbon is different from ordinary charcoal. Because of its special craftsmanship, its price is several times that of ordinary charcoal. But Wang's attire was obviously not like this, so Wang Steward only thought that Tu Lin got some silver frost charcoal from other places in a special way at first, but he didn't expect that he fired it himself.

Tu Lin didn't deny it, nodded, and said half-truthfully: "A few days ago, I accidentally got this method of firing silver frost charcoal, so I tried to fire a kiln. I didn't expect it to be done once, so I pulled Come to the city to sell and see."

Steward Wang was even more surprised when he heard the words. Could it be that he also met a charcoal-burning genius?Looking at the piles of silver frost charcoal on the bullock cart, he couldn't help showing a thoughtful expression, and after a while, he said to Tu Lin: "Little brother, I want all your charcoal, and it's [-]% higher than the market price. Twelve characters, how about it?"

Since Tu Lin went to the charcoal shop, he must have known the price of the silver frost charcoal, but he heard the conversation between himself and the shopkeeper Song, and knew that he was willing to increase the price and was eager to ask for it, so he couldn't lower the price. Besides, he had other plans, and he had to show some sincerity, so he finally set a price of twelve cents a catty.

Of course, Tu Lin was not dissatisfied any more, he immediately said: "No problem, I will do as you said." Then said: "I don't know where the house is, I will send it back for you."

Steward Wang waved his hand and said, "No rush, little brother, I have another matter to tell you. I won't hide it from you. Although I bought your hundred-jin charcoal today, It is still far from what I want, I see that since you have the ability to burn charcoal, would you like to make a long-term business with me?"