Fisherman

When Zhao Qian returned to the bazaar, it was completely dark, and most of the lanterns on the streets of the bazaar had been extinguished, but the lanterns at the gate were still on when it was time for fresh food. His heart warmed, he took a few steps up the steps, and knocked on the door. door, but no answer.

Lanterns were lit at the door, so there was no reason not to be at home. He guessed whether Brother Zhou had fallen asleep, and after knocking for a while and still no one answered, he turned around and went to the barbecue shop. When I caught someone, I saw white smoke rising from the barbecue grill, and the meat skewers sizzled on it.

He walked over quickly, and Wang Tian, ​​who was hunched over the skewers seriously, was startled, and the brush in his hand fell to the ground with a snap: "Brother Zhao..."

Brother Zhou and Zhuang Qingran who stood aside were also stunned for a moment.

Zhuang Qingran saw the man who had returned from the travels and dust barged fiercely at the gate, blocking half of the light from the lantern, and his dark face was very scary, so he quickly pulled Brother Zhou by the corner of his clothes and hid behind him : "Shao Yu, why does your husband look so fierce?"

Zhou Geer was afraid that Zhao Qian would be angry when he saw others taking his things without authorization, so he hurried up to explain: "Zhao Brother..."

Zhao Qian pulled him to her side, before he could speak, she frowned and stared at Zhuang Qingran who had nowhere to hide: "What did you call him?"

"H-Isn't he called Zhou Shaoyu? I, I'm not wrong."

"Wrong call!"

Brother Zhou was very happy, but he still winked at the poor Zhuang Qingran.

"Hehe..." Zhuang Qingran understood, and smiled at Zhao Qian: "Zhou, Brother Zhou."

Only then did Zhao Qian's expression soften a little.

Seeing his attention shifted from Zhuang Qingran to himself, Wang Tian couldn't help shaking his legs, he lowered his head and didn't dare to look at Zhao Qian's face.

"You grilled this?" Zhao Qian glanced at the grill, there were several skewers of barbecued meat and some oysters on it.

"Brother Zhao, I didn't mean to get these things, I..."

Zhao Qian picked up the brush on the ground, wiped it with the handkerchief, and then handed it back to Wang Tian: "Be careful when grilling, or it will get mushy if you don't turn it over."

Wang Tian was stunned for a moment, and looked up at Zhao Qian. Zhao Qian ignored him, but turned around and sat down in front of the table. He was so excited that he quickly turned the grill over.Brother Zhao didn't blame him, he was so scared that his back was covered in cold sweat, it was a false alarm, but he couldn't figure out why Zhuang Qingran was so angry just by calling his brother, and he didn't say anything when he moved his grill temper.

Seeing that Zhao Qian didn't reprimand Wang Tian, ​​Brother Zhou was a little surprised, poured him a cup of tea and handed it to him. Seeing that he was all right, Zhuang Qingran sat down on the bench carelessly, stretched his neck and waited for the barbecue.

"Where did you come from?" Zhao Qian has an impression of this little brother. He has said that Zhou brother's people will have a deeper impression on him than others. He was treated as a guest at first, and he was a little superficially polite, but he still called him people!

Zhuang Qingran responded: "Oh, I'm young..."

It's called Shunkou!Seeing that Zhao Qian's face sank again in an instant, he coughed dryly: "It's Brother Zhou's friend!"

Brother Zhou quickly retorted: "No! He was picked up on the road, and he will come back with me."

He briefly described what happened today, Zhao Qian stared at Zhuang Qingran for a few times, and said leisurely: "You have such a strong mouth, who is blind and dares to molest you?"

Zhuang Qingran stuck her waist in disbelief: "Who told me to be so beautiful!"

Wang Tian was too young to hold back a burst of laughter.

Zhuang Qingran's face was a little uneasy, and he cursed: "Have you baked it yet! Why are you eavesdropping on what adults are talking about!"

"Then you are ashamed to pester the children to bake for you."

Zhao Qian got up and went to Wang Tian's side, and tasted the grilled meat skewers. He was actually a little surprised by the smell of the grilled meat. The kid had been with him for only two days, and he was able to bake it decently. It's very good. I watched him stand aside in his spare time before, and thought he was greedy and curious. I didn't expect that he was secretly studying.

"The grilled ones are a bit old, and the taste is numb. There is no absolute standard for the taste of barbecue. After all, every mouth prefers different tastes. Some eat saltier, some like spicy, and some may be just a little more spicy. I just liked your hemp. If the taste is biased towards one of them, some people will like it. Of course, at the same time, some customers who don’t like hemp will be lost. Therefore, the taste should be controlled well and not too biased. "

Zhuang Qingran couldn't wait to eat the skewers, and said, "Why do you ask for so many, I think it's delicious!"

"If every guest you meet is like this, then you're lucky." While Zhao Qian was speaking, he grilled a bunch of mutton skewers and squid by himself, and handed one to Wang Tian: "Try again." Try my baked one."

Wang Tian tasted it in anticipation, his sallow face due to malnutrition was full of enjoyment: "Brother Zhao, your baked goods are really delicious, no wonder there are so many people coming to our shop every day."

Zhao Qian said: "You are still young, many things are easy to learn with hard work."

The reason why he said this is that after a few days of observation, he found that this kid is not only down-to-earth, but also has a bit of talent for grilling. If you cultivate it well, you don't need him to guard the shop in the future. Close, it's a shame, it would be nice to have an heir: "Don't call me big brother from now on, call me master."

He said lightly, but Wang Tian felt that it weighed a thousand catties, so he knelt down on the ground with a thud, kowtowed to Zhao Qian immediately, and hit the floor with a bang, Wang Tian raised his head and smirked, "Master!"

Brother Zhou looked at the two of them and smiled, but Zhuang Qingran nudged him with his elbow, and said in a low voice: "Your husband has passed on all the good skills to others, and you still laugh, what about your children in the future?"

This was heard by Wang Tian who was on the side, with a very serious face, he immediately swore: "Being under Master's sect, I, Wang Tian, ​​will work for the Zhao family all my life and will never stand on my own!"

Zhao Qian couldn't help laughing, this kid is a bit loyal.

"Okay, stop kneeling, get up."

He put the grilled barbecue on a plate and brought it to the table. The few of them ate it together as a midnight snack, and Zhuang Qingran sat down happily.

The plates were all clean, Zhao Qian looked at Zhuang Qingran and said, "I'm full, it's time to go back."

Zhuang Qingran touched his pocket: "I didn't bring any money, can I pay on credit first?"

"Our Zhao family doesn't charge for inviting friends to dinner. Didn't you say that you are Shaoyu's friend? Go back quickly after eating. I'll take you where you live."

Zhuang Qingran was touched by how nice it was to be Zhou Geer's friend, and at the same time shrank behind Zhou Geer: "You send me? Lonely and widowed..."

Zhao Qian stared, with disgust on his face: "I'm not interested in short people like you, hurry up with me."

"I don't want to go back, and the little servant doesn't know where he went. It's not safe to be alone in the inn, so just take me in for a few days. When my father comes, I will definitely let him reward you well."

"Brother Zhou~"

Zhao Qian lowered his eyes. Seeing Zhou Shaoyu's moving expression, he knew that things were not that simple. He pressed the twitching temples, and as expected: "Brother Zhao, why don't you just let him stay all night, and I'll give him a job tomorrow morning." Looking for a new inn?"

The daughter-in-law has begged for mercy, what else can he say...

At night, Zhao Qian lay in the aisle, fell asleep on the floor bunk that Zhuang Qingran used to make, shed tears, and heard voices coming from inside from time to time, her heart was very complicated, why did he do such good things to punish herself.

The next morning, when Brother Zhou got up, he had already tidied up the floor: "What about the kid?"

Brother Zhou scratched his hair in embarrassment: "Still sleeping."

He shook his arm and twisted his sore arm: "Let him sleep to death."

After speaking, he led Brother Zhou to have dinner downstairs.

Ririxian provides three meals for the employees, and the mistresses will come early for breakfast. In fact, Zhao Qian is to encourage the mistresses to come to work and not be late. On weekdays, the mistresses come, and the couple have already eaten. Busy with their own affairs, it is rare to see the two having breakfast together.

Huang Er hooked Sun Xiong's neck: "What a good day today, the two of you have breakfast together."

Sun Xiong waved his hand away: "If you don't come over to eat, those group of idiots will finish their meal."

After Zhao Qian drank a bowl of white porridge, he lost his appetite to eat any more. Today he was here, and the little girl who usually liked to brag a little was sullen and didn't speak. I couldn't grab it when I was eating with these rough old men.

"Do you have enough to eat on weekdays?" So he pretended to condolences to the employees.

The boys were stunned for a moment, but it was Sun Xiong who said, "There are steamed buns in the morning and meat dishes at noon, so I'm very full."

The rest of the mistresses reacted and quickly echoed: "Eat well, eat well."

Although they ate all the vegetables and meat that were not sold out in the restaurant that day, but looking around, there is really no place where there are such good conditions to go to work. This is why everyone has little energy to work The reason for being lazy, after all, the boss and the second child are mutual, if the boss treats them well, they will naturally go to work, and no one is afraid of losing the job in hand.

"If you don't have enough to eat, tell me what's wrong, and I can improve it as appropriate."

"Thank you boss, we are already very content."

Everyone was eating breakfast happily, and there was a sudden sound of towers on the stairs, accompanied by the master's laziness, and the sound of footsteps seemed to have not woken up.

Everyone couldn't help but look towards the stairs. Huang Er looked at the young boy with shaggy hair. The chopsticks fell on the table with a clatter. Isn't this the guest who came to the building that day?This... clearly looks like he just woke up, there are only two people living in the building, the boss and the boss...

The girls all cast their eyes on Zhao Qian at the same time... The boss is so lucky!

"Zhuang Qingran, can you wash your face before you come out!" Zhao Qian tried his best to suppress the anger he was about to spout.

"It's time to eat! Brother Zhou, why don't you call me?"

The surname Zhuang completely ignored Zhao Qian's words, and suddenly went downstairs to find an empty seat at the table and sat down: "Hey, go and get me a bowl."

Huang Er pointed to his nose: "Me?"

"Who are you? Hurry up!"

With the rice bowl, Zhuang Qingran ate it unceremoniously, but the girls became gentle, Zhao Qian shook her head: "I'm going."

After Zhao Qian left, Zhuang Qingran felt more relaxed: "This pickle is pretty good, can I get some more?"

After breakfast, Brother Zhou said to Zhuang Qingran: "When do you plan to go back?"

"Why are you in such a hurry to drive me away?"

"I'm not driving you away, your family members will worry about you outside."

"My home is not in the market." Zhuang Qingran pulled him aside, and whispered: "My home is in the county seat, and I came here secretly."

Brother Zhou's eyes widened, and he said that he had never seen him in the market before: "The market is not close to here, why did you come out!"

"I heard from the servants at home that there is delicious food here, and I happened to hear that my father was also coming here to do business, so I wanted to come with him to have a look, but no matter what he said, he wouldn't let me follow. I have no choice but to come here first, and then go back with him when the time comes."

Brother Zhou heaved a long sigh, it is really a headache for any family to have such a child.

"Then when will your father come?"

"Who knows about him." After speaking, Zhuang Qingran ran to the back kitchen to look at the seafood.

Three days later...

Zhao Qian's newly recovered gambling house opened ahead of schedule. On the same day, Di Guangzu rushed to the gambling house. Zhao Qian was taking care of the business in the gambling house, and was dragged upstairs by Di Guangzu.

"What's wrong with you?"

Di Guangzu panted, "I got news that the county magistrate has come to our market!"

"so what."

"Although the government doesn't care about the gambling house, we still have to pay attention to it. If there are unfamiliar people sneaking into the gambling house, be polite. These officials are more or less easy to gamble. When the time comes, they want to come and have fun. , it will be a bad thing if the people under him accidentally offend others."

"The gambling shop on your side is newly opened, and there are mixed fish and dragons, so you should pay more attention."

Zhao Qian's eyebrows tightened: "I know it well."

He has a good eye, but there is no suspicious person in the gambling house. After the gambling house is repaired, there is also a residence here. Zhuang Qingran will never leave every day. He can only lay the floor every day, and stay in the gambling house today. He had a good night's sleep here, he held back his temper and didn't chase Zhuang Qingran away. Brother Zhou didn't have many friends, and when he was away, he was almost bored and didn't talk. Stay a little longer, Brother Zhou will change a bit.

The gambling house is open day and night, he asked Zhong Jiu to switch the brothers on duty, and went to call the barbecue shop himself. When he passed by, he did not expect that Hu San'er would deliver seafood at this hour.

"What's going on today?" He went to help drag the seafood into the shop.

Hu San'er wiped off his sweat: "I have something to tell you, so I sent the seafood to the market by the way."

When it was dark, Zhao Qian came here specially. Realizing that something might be serious, Zhao Qian asked, "Is Xiayu Village making trouble again?"

"It can't be said to be a disturbance. People from the government went to our fishing village yesterday, saying that they want to make salt there. They need some manpower. They can follow the officials of the government. The money is stable. Whoever doesn't want to go, everyone fishes for a while. They stopped fighting, and all ran to the county magistrate, saying they were willing to do it, and everyone in the two villages was afraid that the other would steal a good job, so they started fighting, and now they are all detained by the government."

"You can fight in front of the government, it would be strange not to be imprisoned."

Hu San'er said anxiously: "Then what should we do?"

Zhao Qian touched his chin. It was a good thing that the government came here to make salt. At this time, the salt-making technology was backward. When he first arrived here, he had thought about making salt, but after all, smuggling salt is a serious crime. He didn't dare to take the risk of beheading. Now that the people from the government are here, maybe something can be done. If the talk is good, maybe the things in the village can also be resolved.

"It's already so late today, go to the gambling house to sleep, and I'll go back to the village with you tomorrow morning."

Hu Saner nodded.

"I still have some things to do. I'll go out for a while, Wang Tian. After packing up, I'll close the shop."

At dawn, Zhao Qian and Hu San'er drove the ox cart to the village.Zhuang Qingran, who was eating at Daily Fresh, was in a good mood when he saw that he didn't see the man who would make him lose his appetite this morning.

"Brother Zhou, why isn't your husband here today?"

"He's gone to the village."

"What are you doing in the village?"

When Zhao Qian left, he didn't tell him exactly what he was doing, so he said nonsense, "Let's go fishing."

Zhuang Qingran's eyes lit up when he heard this, and he quickly said: "Then there is the sea! I have never seen the sea when I grow up, take me to see the sea!"

Brother Zhou ignored him: "No, I have to greet guests, and I'm not free."

"I'm so busy every day, my little brother will grow old very quickly, and Zhao Qian won't like you by then, so I have to go out to relax from time to time."

Brother Zhou covered his ears, turned around and went to the back kitchen. Zhuang Qingran kept chattering behind his buttocks. These days, he had gotten used to automatically abandoning the chatter around him. After he had been busy for a while, he was surprised to find that Zhuang Qingran had disappeared up.

He asked the boys, and they all said that they hadn't seen him. He couldn't help but feel a little anxious. If he was lost again, what would his family members do when they found him? He hurried to the street and saw Zhuang Qingran asking how to get there. The village, he dragged the man back.

"Don't drag me!" Zhuang Qingran couldn't beat Brother Zhou, so he could only yell, "It hurts, it hurts!"

Brother Zhou threw him into the house, and wanted to reprimand him, but his eyes turned red when he didn't think about it: "I'm at home, they will only lock me in the house, and they ran out after a long time, just trying to make the innocent Read it more, maybe one day the family will marry me, and I won’t be able to get out in the future.”

"Don't cry." Brother Zhou softened his heart and threw a handkerchief over, "I'll just take you there."

Zhuang Qingran wiped away his tears, went over and tugged at the corner of his clothes: "You really agreed?"

Brother Zhou didn't speak.

"Shao Yu, you are so kind!"

Brother Zhou called for an ox cart, and the two of them jolted towards the village. Zhuang Qingran had never built an ox cart before, and his butt hurt from being bumped, but the novelty outweighed the pain.

Zhao Qian left early, and when he arrived at the village, it was not yet noon. When the village chief heard that he was back, he hurried to pick him up.

"Didn't you say that the people from the government came? Why didn't you see it?"

The village chief put his hands behind his back, as if he had aged a lot: "I live in Xiayu Village, the village chief of Xiayu Village coaxed me to go."

"Has the imprisoned folks been released?"

"Not yet, the family members have come to my place and cried several times, and there is nothing I can do here!"

"I'm going to see the magistrate."

The village head said: "Then you have to be careful what you say!"

"Don't worry, I know."

He went to Xiayu Village alone, and when he arrived at the village, someone stopped him, not from the government, but from the villagers of Xiayu Village: "Zhao Qian, what are you doing in our village?"

"I need to report to you what I came to the village for?"

"Hmph, I'm just afraid that some people with dirty hands and feet will come to the village and do some bad things."

Zhao Qian was too lazy to argue with the man in front of him, so he waved him away and walked on his own. The man staggered and wanted to curse a few times, but he remembered something, and hurriedly carried the hoe and copied the path to another place. one direction.

"Village chief, village chief! Zhao Qian has come to our village!" The man rushed to the village chief's house to report the news.

At that time, the people from the government lived in the village, Zhao Qian came here, and he must have come to grab the sweet pastry: "He is here to join in the fun, the restaurant is open in the market, and the money is not enough! Do you want to grab another The job can't be done!"

"Yes, what should I do then?"

"Hurry up and take someone to stop him, don't let him find the county magistrate!"

The two hurried to call for someone. Zhao Qian didn't know the way to Xiayu Village, but he guessed that the county magistrate would definitely live in the best place, so he went to the newest place of the house. The people in Barao didn't come as fast as the people in the village.

After a while, he heard hurried footsteps approaching, and the people from Xiayu Village held sticks and shouted like a blind man: "Hit the hooligans!"

Just wanting to drive him out of the village, he sneered, but just stayed where he was, when a man saw this and swung the stick over, Zhao Qian snatched it away, and with the backhand, the man screamed from the beating The villagers didn't expect him to dare to do something, and for a while, they seemed to have aroused the anger of the people, and all the sticks came at him.

He didn't take this group of mobs seriously, but it was inevitable that he couldn't use his hands, and he would still be swept twice occasionally. When the momentum became louder, the officials from the government rushed over.

"What's the fuss! I'm here, you gangsters dare to make trouble!"

Hearing the majestic voice, the villagers slowly retracted their hands. When the village chief saw the county magistrate approaching, he ran over like a dog: "My lord, I am wronged. We are purely protecting ourselves. He is the troublemaker. He came first." Our village caused trouble."

Zhao Qian shook his clothes and took a look at the so-called county magistrate. His chubby figure was as rich as the previous Qiu Guisheng, but his spirit was much stronger than Qiu Guisheng. He looked decent for the county magistrate. A gift: "Grassman Zhao Qian sees your lord."

The county magistrate visited countless people, saw that he was not afraid of himself, and that he was not dressed like a villager, so he ignored the village chief's words and asked, "What are you doing here in Yucun? What happened just now?"

"Caomin is from Shangyu Village. He opened a restaurant in the market. This morning, he heard that the county magistrate came to the village. Thinking that it was not easy for him to come all the way, he wanted to invite him to the restaurant to taste the local specialties. , entertaining the adults, I didn’t expect to be chased and beaten by the people in the village as soon as I arrived in Xiayu Village, I don’t know what happened.”

The county magistrate raised his eyelids, looked at the respectful people in front of him, and felt a little moved. After all, the conditions in this village are really bad, and there are a lot of mosquitoes. If it wasn't for coming to the beach to see the situation, the affairs of the court could be settled sooner. Why is he here? What's annoying is that these unruly people have caused troubles many times. The things at home and outside have already troubled him endlessly.

He winked at the master at the side, but he didn't speak.

The master coughed dryly: "My lord came to the fishing village this time to experience the people's sentiments and to see the local characteristics. Since there are still characteristics in the market, let's go and have a look."

There was a smile in Zhao Qian's eyes: "Welcome, my lord!"