Lu Wen wanted to make money, but Lu Xu didn't think of anything good for him to do.
Set up a stall with him? At this moment, Guanyang has not recovered yet, and business will not be very good. It would be even more unreliable to ask him to follow Tan Shitou to sell fish and deliver goods by boat.
Boys in the Lu family generally develop late. They don’t start to grow until they are thirteen or fourteen years old. Lu Wen and Lu Zhou are still little carrot heads at this moment, and they have only reached his chest. Let’s not talk about whether they can work. Even if they can do it, others can’t. No one will treat him as a dishonest person.
Although he couldn't think of it, Lu Xu didn't want to dampen his brother's enthusiasm, and he didn't want Lu Wen to feel that he couldn't do anything. Lu Xu prepared things, got up early to make cold dishes, and asked Lu Wen to go with him to Guanyang to set up a stall.
Lu Wen entered the county town for the first time and helped Lu Xu do all the afternoon work. He was afraid of oversleeping and stayed in Lu Xu and Lu Zhou's house at night.
Lu Xu came with him in the morning, and he also got up to soak fungus, chop vegetables, and prepare seasonings.
It was rare to see Lu Wen active, so Lu Xu let him go. He added more firewood and continued to stew bone soup, stew, and stir-fry vegetables.
If the third aunt didn't come, they wouldn't be able to make fried dough sticks. Lu Xu thought about it and decided to mix noodles, cook noodles, and sell cold noodles.
Lu Zhou heard the noise and Lu Wen had already lowered his head to chop a large pot of vegetables.
It's just that he never does housework, and the vegetables he cuts are really ugly. Lu Zhou came over to replace him after washing up. Lu Wen stood in the kitchen with his hands clenched, and soon found a new job - helping Lu Xu light the fire.
Lu Xu praised him: "Okay, he has some discernment."
Lu Wen opened his mouth to retaliate, but held it back.
Lu Xu touched his head while he was busy.
After preparing everything and loading it all on the trolley, the genius was just beginning to turn white. Lu Xu called Ha Qie and asked Lu Zhou to lock the door and go back to sleep, and wait until the two little ones got up before adding noodles to the bone soup.
Lu Zhou took them to the river, helped carry the cart onto the boat, and watched them go away.
Lu Wen came to the county for the first time, but Lu Zhou had not been here yet. Lu Wen somehow understood the envy in Lu Zhou's eyes, and he stood on the bow of the boat and waved to Lu Zhou.
Lu Xu is right, he has always been luckier than Lu Zhou. Even now, with his parents here and Xiao Xia helping him at home, he can make his own decisions and follow Lu Xu to the county, but Lu Zhou still has to stay at home. Do housework.
Lu Wen looked at Lu Zhou by the river, feeling inexplicably less excited.
He sat down on the side of the cabin holding the cart and listened to Lu Xu and Tan Shitou, who was rowing the boat, chatting about the day's news at the bow.
What is delivered to where, what happens in the county, what frictions there are with the boat gang, what news is in the prison, etc.
The more Lu Wen listened, the less he understood. Why was his eldest brother still involved in the prison? Want his elder brother to help make decisions about many things that have nothing to do with them?
Full of questions, Lu Wen followed Lu Xu off the boat.
The child who had only been to Yinma Town at this age was shocked by the big pier in Guanyang. There were so many boats, so many stalls, so many people, and there were many people saying hello to his elder brother along the way.
Lu Xu was so used to it that he had no idea of the shock it brought to Lu Wen. He took Lu Wen into the city to pay money and set up a stall at his old location.
Lu Yong has already found the doorway. If Lu Xu has not come yet when the sun rises to the position of the flagpole on the city wall, then he will not come. He will no longer occupy a seat for Lu Xu, move the table and let other vendors go this way. Yes, he can sell his tofu with peace of mind.
Lu Yong started to look east at the flagpole again. The sun hadn't passed the city wall yet, but Lu Xu was here!
Lu Yong was extremely happy: "Brother Xu, you are finally here."
Lu Xu: "Here, is your grandma feeling better?"
Lu Yong: "Much better."
He helped Lu Xu push the cart to the wall, and skillfully carried the vegetable basin and placed things on it.
He is fourteen this year, and his father is the only one in the family who is lucky enough to escape military service. However, his grandmother was frightened by the conscription formation two days ago. She caught a light rain and fell ill again. The gangs were in chaos and there was no work at the dock. His family couldn't afford the money for medical treatment, so he went to the fish stall to borrow money from Tan Shitou, the doctor.
After Lu Xu introduced Lu Wen to Lu Yong, he asked him: "How is the business in the morning market these two days?"
Lu Yong smiled bitterly: "There are no people there."
His grandmother was sick and asked Doufu Fang to borrow money, but Tofu Fang refused to lend. His father was so angry that he wanted to drive Tofu Fang away, but his mother stopped him. The two families were at loggerheads. Now he wouldn't even buy tofu on credit. , like others, how much money you pay to buy as many things as you want.
The conscription has made every household feel lifeless, and there are few vegetable sellers and buyers in the morning market. He only prepares half of the tofu as usual. After rushing to the morning market, he still has to walk around the streets to sell all the food.
Lu Xu sighed.
Many regular customers were very surprised to see Lu Xu, "I'm afraid you will be taken away and sent to the army."
Lu Xu didn't say much and just listened to what they said.
The topic that went up all morning was whose family went to serve in the army, and which family had gone and never came back. When there were more people and more talk, it was inevitable to feel sad, and soon someone started crying again. Lu Xu was afraid that Lu Wen would feel uncomfortable after hearing this, so he asked him to go around the county by himself, "Just walk on the streets, don't go into the alleys."
Lu Wen nodded.
Lu Xu grabbed a handful of money for him and asked him to buy whatever he wanted to eat.
Lu Wen pretended to have money and walked around the morning market first to see what other people were selling when they entered the city. Then he walked along the East Street and looked at the shops one by one. After shopping the East Street, he went to the West Street. He was young. The female customer's shop didn't chase him away, so Lu Wen's horizons were opened.
Many of the items in his grocery store were rare enough that they were not worth mentioning in the county. What his brother bought were all mid- to low-end items.
Lu Wen also collected his own money, plus what Lu Xu gave him, and he pooled his money together to buy a wide-headed rope with a silk flower for Xiao Xia. The headband is colorful, which is more beautiful than the most popular red headband in the village. The silk flowers are peonies, red and pink in color, layered on top of each other. When the light shines on them, they still sparkle.
Lu Wen carefully put it into his sleeves, tightened his cuffs, and walked around West Street for a long time.
Lu Xu didn't come back until nearly noon when he was about to close the stall.
Lu Wen opened his mouth to complain: "Brother, your fried dough sticks are sold cheaply."
Lu Xu was confused by what he said.
Lu Wen: “Don’t fool me, our family is the only one in Guanyang who knows how to fry fried dough sticks!”
Lu Xu: "..."
Careless!
But Lu Wen just walked around!
Why don't you go shopping around to see the delicious and fun things, and see what he can do, just to expose his lies? What brother!
Lu Wen knew that he was right as soon as he saw Lu Xu's expression.
The eldest brother told his mother that he learned fried dough sticks in the county, which was simply a bluff. Except for his eldest brother, there was no shop selling fried dough sticks in Guanyang. Even the most expensive dim sum shop on West Street only sold fried dough sticks by steaming and grilling.
Lu Wen had enough shopping and felt confident. He scolded Lu Xu: "Obviously there is a craft that only we know, but you insist on selling fried dough sticks in the morning market. Brother, no wonder you can't make any money."
Lu Xu's hands started to itch and he wanted to find a stick to beat someone, "Is it difficult to make fried dough sticks? Don't think that we are the only ones who can learn it and others can't learn it. It's because it's cheap that others don't think about learning it. If we sell it at a sky-high price, someone will learn it. .”
Frying is not difficult, but no one has done it before, and everyone is accustomed to thinking of boiling and roasting. If others want to figure it out, can they really not figure it out? Just because he knew it, Ma Ruoqi brought a round of fried dough sticks to his house. His cook had already figured it out. Although it wasn't as fluffy and soft as he made, it was still 70% or 80% similar. However, Ma Ruoqi regarded him as a friend, and for fear of affecting his business, he just didn't allow the cook at home to talk about it.
Lu Wen: "What about the other things? I think the dim sum sold by the dim sum shop on West Street is not as good as the mint cake you make."
Who can open a shop in the county without some background, but he can't help Lu Wen on the street. There are many shops to pay protection fees to the Luo family. He casually said: "The grain and oil shop is not open, it doesn't mean that you can't buy glutinous rice." What?"
Lu Wen: "Isn't the grain and oil shop open?"
Lu Xu blurted out: "What?"
Lu Wen: "The grain and oil shop is open."
Even Lu Yong was shocked, "Really?"
Lu Wen was not sure, "I saw a gap..."
Lu Xu came around and said, "Brother, look at the stall for me. I'll go take a look!"
Lu Yong: "Okay, okay!"
Lu Xu pulled Lu Wen and ran to the grain store without saying a word.
Sure enough, it was open, but the door crack was less than a palm wide, so Lu Wen could see it.
Lu Wen wasn't sure if this was considered an open door, "I just passed by and half of the door was open!"
Lu Xu didn't care whether he opened it or not, he pulled Lu Wen and pushed the door open and went in.
The grain store was extremely empty, and the area where grain was usually stored was completely empty, except for a few empty sacks.
Lu Xu stood in the store and shouted to the backyard: "Is there anyone there? Is Brother Zhao here?"
When the waiter heard the noise and ran out of the backyard with a broom, he yelled back angrily: "There is someone, no rice! No noodles!"
When he saw it was Lu Xu, he was startled and his temper improved, "Hey, it's you!"
Lu Xu: "I see the door is open, let me ask if there is any rice?"
Guy: "What the heck! I sold out the last bit of old grain in the first ten days of the month. I've been resting for several days."
Lu Xu: "What are you doing?"
The clerk threw the broom away, "Hey, who knows? Early this morning, the master asked us to clean the warehouse and plug up the mouse holes. I'm not here."
Lu Xu: "Master? Which master?"
The clerk raised his head in the direction of the county government office, "Who dares to take care of us except the master of the government office?"
Lu Xu hurriedly asked: "But are we going to have food?"
The guy shook his head with a wooden face: "I haven't heard of it."
Lu Xu looked into the store again.
Their county magistrate is honest and diligent in running the county. Just look at this grain store. It's not very good, but it's always very clean. Whenever he comes, it is always neat and tidy. Whether he comes early or late, he can often see the clerk cleaning. Why do you need to clean the warehouse again when you are so good?
Lu Xu had no choice but to cup his hands and say, "If the glutinous rice comes, be sure to leave some for me."
The waiter also bowed his hand to him: "Okay, if you have me, I can send you to Qiu's big yard."
He already had some friendship with Lu Xu, but now that Lu Xu has a relationship with Qiu Hu, he is even more willing to give Lu Xu face.
Lu Xu thanked him and came out of the grain store, still frowning and distracted.
Lu Wen shouted several times before Lu Xu lowered his head to look at him.
Lu Wen didn't know what kind of flowers Lu Xu could see in an empty grain store: "Shall we close the stall and go home?"
Lu Xu: "Don't worry, follow me to the pier and have a look."
Lu Xu had a guess in his mind, and there was wind at his feet. Lu Wen ran all the way before catching up with him. When he arrived at the pier, Lu Xu took a closer look, clapped his legs and said, "I knew it!"
Lu Wen wiped his sweat, "Really?"
Lu Xu disliked his slowness and led him to Qiu's fish stall, "Shitou, when did the official boat go out?"
Tan Shitou was stunned for a moment, then turned to look aside.
The official ships were parked next to their stall. There had always been three ships, but now there were only two ships left.
Lu Xu: "Not today?"
Tan Shitou threw away the scraper and fish and stood up. He said curiously: "It wasn't yesterday! When did it disappear?"
The other brothers at the stall didn't pay attention either, none of them noticed.
Lu Xu murmured: "Then it's not daytime..."
Tan Shitou: "It's definitely not during the day. We've been guarding here from morning to night and haven't even seen him."
They were puzzled, why were the official ships running around in the middle of the night when everything was fine? "Could it be that your Excellency has something urgent to do and has gone to the state capital?"
The other clerks said: "No, the government has notified the water bandits in the west a few days ago and they are not allowed to go west."
Tan Shitou: "Why didn't I know when it happened?"
Guy: "Just a few days ago...that day came...yes, the day when Shan Bao delivered meals to the prison!"
Lu Xu's eyes lit up, "I understand, I finally understand!"
The author has something to say:
No prizes for guessing, what are the official ships doing?
Transporting food, picking up people, suppressing bandits, etc.
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