Everyone was happy to pay the field tax for the autumn harvest. This time, Lu Xu was still busy with business in the county, and the third and fourth aunts had already paid half of it for his family.
Anyway, his family only has two acres of land, so he doesn’t have to pay taxes on the unused land.
Lujiacun paid all the land tax in half a day. After leaving the pier of Yinma Town, people flocked to the various shops in the town to buy meat, tofu, sugar, cloth, and snacks for their children.
Those who live in a tight budget and are economical on money also bought tofu from the town, and then rushed back to the village to buy water and meat with bones from the butcher's house.
A lot of people crowded into Lu's grocery store. They bought snacks that they usually wouldn't buy for their children, colored threads that housewives couldn't bear to buy, and good fabrics that they couldn't bear to buy. They almost emptied out the Lu's shop.
Grandma Lu couldn't care less about her poor mood. She kept cutting cloth for people with a ruler. Lu Zhou, who was teaching his younger brothers and sisters how to read during the holiday, had to lead Xiao Yu, Xiao Man, La Yue and Lu Fu to drag him. cotton.
After the autumn harvest and autumn planting, there will be a slack time for farming, and it is a time when people are busy getting married. Especially in these two months, the weather is neither cold nor hot, and there are more than ten families in the village holding weddings.
It is a custom here that a little girl will start making her own wedding clothes after getting married. Those from a good family will make a red wedding dress, and those from a poor family will have red edges on the collar and cuffs of the wedding dress and a red hijab.
Before getting married, both families have to sew quilts for the newlyweds. Those who are rich have to tear the cloth to make new ones, while those who have no money have to dismantle and wash the old quilts and sew them again.
In the first few days of marriage, all the women in the village went to their sweethearts' homes to help them.
Two days ago, Grandpa Lu asked Tan Shitou to send more fabrics and cotton in festive colors when delivering goods. Tan Shitou didn't understand very well. He said he was making wedding quilts, so the cloth shop boy he cooperated with chose the best-selling ones. It's cost-effective, so Lu's grocery store kept two pieces. Grandpa Lu thought this cloth was a bit expensive before, so he might not be able to sell it, but now it's not enough.
Those who bought meat came to buy salt and seasonings. There were adults and children, holding jars and carrying baskets. There were many people in the shop, so the adults stepped aside to let the children buy first. Then they noticed the stickers on the outside wall of the grocery store. two large sheets of paper.
The paper was gridded, horizontally and vertically. In the grids, I was drawing pictures and writing at the same time. The words were all large and neat.
Seeing this, some people couldn't help but praise Lu Zhou.
"I see, Xiaozhou will be more promising than his brother when he grows up!"
"I think so too."
Lu Zhou and La Yue came to the grocery store every evening to teach Xiao Man and Xiao Yu how to read. They all had books, but Lu Fu didn't. Lu Fu was half a year younger than Twelve Years. How could Lu Xu destroy such a young baby? But his brothers and sisters were all learning and no one was playing with him, so he wanted to join in.
There are usually a lot of children outside the grocery store, and when Lu Fu participated, some people wanted to play along.
A large number of people in Lujia Village have the surname Lu, and they are all relatives, no matter how big or small. Among them, some are his uncles, some are his younger brothers, and some call him uncle.
Lu Zhou had a sense of mission and kept his elder brother's teachings in mind. He spent his pocket money to buy thick paper, laid out grids, and learned from the Mongolian calligraphy that Lu Xu bought from the state capital. He drew pictures and wrote at the same time, and opened a Mongolian class outside the grocery store. When you learn a word, write it on the wall so that everyone can see it.
However, the progress of his enlightenment class has not been smooth.
Literacy is boring, not everyone is willing to learn it, and not everyone is as talented in reading as he and Yan Junqi are. Some people learn quickly, and some learn slowly. In order to let the slow ones learn it, he taught him the word "salt" for three days. Still, some people still couldn't learn it. They opened their mouths and yelled randomly when they looked at the little dots he drew on the paper. --"Sesame"!
Lu Zhou was particularly frustrated. Even if he was blind, he couldn't shout "Sesame" to a single word! Sesame is obviously two words!
The promising Lu Zhou has not yet figured out how to solve the problem of uneven progress. His relatives, who are less than ten years old and three years younger, all refuse to do their homework!
well……
The adults gathered aside, except for the children, and the conversation was naturally about the price of food.
Rice is more expensive than wheat, and those who grow rice hope to sell it at a high price.
In the past, the officials and merchants who came to collect rice often arrived earlier than the official boats collecting taxes, and they were all waiting at the dock of Yinma Town to collect grains. I don’t know what happened this time. When they went to pay taxes, they didn’t see many collecting boats. Grain ship.
Not only Lujiacun, but also many people in Guanyang County have noticed the same problem.
Lu Xu and Yan Junqi, who also took a vacation and came to settle their accounts, boldly speculated: "Is there a new change in the war in the north? Is the war almost over?"
Not only Lu Xu guessed like this, but also all the merchants with keen sense of smell were guessing.
Normally, the Ministry of War's grain requisitioning ship would be eager to empty out their county's granary without leaving a grain of rice for them. Now, the autumn harvest has been over for several days, why haven't we seen the official dispatch yet?
Except for Guanyang Granary, the official grain merchants elsewhere were not in a hurry, and even the grain prices were not announced for a long time.
Yan Junqi also feels the same way, "The price of rice this year will not be as high as in previous years."
As a farmer and also in the food business, Lu Xu didn't know whether to be happy or unhappy.
Two days later, the official ships that began to collect grain at various docks finally agreed on the prices - rice with bran cost 3,500 fen per stone, and polished rice cost over 40 fen per catty. Each catty was four or five cents lower than last year, and lower than this summer. It's seven or eight cents lower.
The entire farmers in Guanyang were confused.
This price is already the price of food five years ago.
The people who have no land are happy. The price of food is cheap, and their living costs are low. They have more money to buy other things and make good reserves for the winter.
The county was filled with joy. More new winter clothes were made this year than in previous years, and cotton was sold faster than before, which made the boat gang feel better.
Lu Xu looked helpless. The establishment of their Guanyang Alliance was too short. Although many merchant ships that were originally affiliated with the Ship Gang joined them, but in terms of power outside Guanyang, they were far inferior to the Ship Gang with its deep roots. .
Guanyang does not produce cotton locally. It is shipped from outside, and most of it is still the business of boat gangs.
This time Song San came back from the outside. He changed the boat gang's past behavior and acted very low-key. Even Song Liu, who had just recovered from a serious illness and came out for a walk, only walked around the opposite side of the gambling house and did not come to trouble Lu Xu, which made Lu Xu I was a little embarrassed to ask him if the place where he was hit still hurt.
However, the dog following Song Liu looked like he was in a lot of pain. His head was wrapped in a cloth and his face was a little swollen. Lu Xu almost didn't recognize him.
When they turned around to leave, Lu Xu quickly gestured to him. Gouzi was startled, and quickly chased after Song Liu. Far away, Lu Xu heard Song Liu's angry and cursing voice again.
Lu Xu shook his head repeatedly and sighed to himself: "Oh, dogs can't change their eating shit. Song Liu's attitude of bullying the weak and fearing the strong is worse than that of a dog."
Yan Junqi didn't hear clearly, "What?"
Lu Xu: "It's okay, I'll go out for a while, and you can help me light the fire."
Yan Junqi said "Hmm" and saw him running quickly towards the morning market.
Gouzi was hesitant and confused. Unknowingly, his pace slowed down and fell behind Song Liu and his group.
Song Liu shouted: "What are you doing? You're just dilly-dallying!"
Gouzi was startled and said quickly: "I have a stomachache and want to go..."
However, he saw that Song Liu was not talking to him at all, but urging the cake seller to hurry up and fill him with cakes.
"The latrine..." Gouzi muttered, then repeated loudly, "I have a stomachache and want to go to the latrine!"
The companion walking in front turned his head and glared at him with disgust, "Why are you yelling in the latrine? Didn't you see that we want to eat?!"
They tried to beat him, but Gouzi subconsciously crouched down and raised his arms, which provoked a burst of wanton ridicule from his companions. He got close to him and kicked him, "Get out, go!"
The dog ran away holding his stomach.
The closer he got to the alley where he had secretly met Lu Xu, the slower he ran, gradually turning into walking and moving, wondering if he had seen it wrong just now, or if Lu Xu was not gesturing to him at all?
What if he is itching to move?
Lu Xu is no longer a country boy selling snails in the morning market. Now Lu Xu is a well-known figure. If he goes to say hello, others may not pay attention to him. Will they ask him to come to meet him?
The dog was dawdling, but when he turned into the alley, he saw Lu Xu standing in the alley, kicking the weeds growing at the base of the wall.
When she saw him, Lu Xu opened her mouth and complained: "Why are you so slow? What are you doing standing there stupidly? Come in!"
Gouzi came in with light steps and stood in front of Lu Xu, not even remembering whether he walked in or drifted in.
Lu Xu is still the same as before, wearing coarse cloth clothes and a pair of coarse cloth shoes. He looks naughty and innocent, and he is still so energetic and full of energy.
It seems that something is different. The dog takes a closer look. He is a little stronger, seems to be a little taller, and his body is...
It smells like spicy Malatang!
Gouzi lowered his head and kicked the grass, feeling sour in his heart.
Look at this guy, who is a few years younger than him, went to the city with nothing, and ended up like this. But he wanted his wife to try this popular Malatang, and even lied to her that he wanted to eat it, so she was willing to buy it. , all I bought were cabbages and radishes, I took them home in a basin and added some water to the soup to stew them.
"What's the matter with your injury? Aren't you guys in a group? They beat you? What's that look in your eyes?" Lu Xu was shocked when he saw Gouzi looking at him with sadness, thinking that it wasn't him and Gou Let people see the meeting with Gou Zi, Song Liu should take it out on Gou Zi and beat him up!
Lu Xu pointed to himself guiltily: "Because of me?"
Gouzi shook his head, "It has nothing to do with you."
Others looked down upon him, thought he was timid, laughed at his thinness, and teased him because his surname was Song Diu. It was because of the boat gang's reputation. Originally, Shouhou still had people protecting him, but when the army was drafted, Shouhou went to serve, and no one cared about him. They bullied him even more.
Song Liu was beaten and lost his gambling house. He had a bad temper and always took it out on him when he was in a bad mood.
Gangsters love to bully the weak, and the less capable they are, the more they will do this. If they can't afford to offend others, they will take it out on their own gang. A guy like Gouzi is thin and easy to beat, doesn't have a strong fist, and doesn't seem to have any background. He is the most vulnerable to bullying in any small group. Lu Xu can probably guess his situation.
Good citizens should not join some bad cliques!
Lu Xu sighed secretly, "They have beaten you like this, why are you still messing with them? You are messing with me."
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