Cui Fengming's ancestral home is Zhejiang, and his ancestors came to the capital in the late Qing Dynasty to do silk business. At first, it was to do wholesale and distribute materials from Jiangsu and Zhejiang to the capital, and traveled between Jiangsu, Zhejiang and the capital for many years, and then simply settled in the capital and opened a small silk shop on the bustling commercial street. The Cui family's silk cloth business has been doing well, but it is not very good when it comes to Cui Fengming's father's generation.

In the early years of the Republic of China, the colorful, trendy, and low-priced printed fabrics imported from the East were very popular among the people of the capital, and the number of men wearing woolen suits also increased. Under the impact of foreign cloth, the traditional silk cloth business was much worse than before, and his family's business was even worse after the Japanese devils occupied Beiping. In the second year after the Japanese devils occupied Beiping, Cui Fengming's father suffered from a stroke and fell into a hemiplegic disease, his children were not yet adults, and the business of the cloth shop could only be managed by Cui Fengming's mother alone. Within a few years, the silk shop could not support it and simply closed. The family's life is only maintained by the family funds accumulated before, and life is not as good as a year.

After Cui Fengming graduated from junior high school, the family really had no money for him to go to school and study, Cui Fengming's father had an old friend who worked as a housekeeper in a restaurant called Juxianlou.

There are eight or nine people in the back kitchen of Juxian Building, and there are red and white cases, pastries, cold meat, and spoons; Cui Fengming only does some trivial tasks such as choosing vegetables, washing vegetables, burning fires and running errands. He was a newcomer, he was young, and the first chefs were his masters. In addition to calling him back and forth, those people didn't take this child in their eyes at all, and sometimes they scolded Cui Fengming when they were upset. Cui Fengming is not happy in this environment. The only woman in the back kitchen is called Chunxiu, and she is in charge of making pastries. Chunxiu is in her early twenties, with a delicate appearance and a gentle personality. Only Chunxiu made Cui Fengming feel cordial and approachable.

Chunxiu is the only person in the back kitchen who is good to Cui Fengming, and she always says softly when she asks Cui Fengming to work: "Fengming, come and do my sister a favor!" ”。 In everyone's leisure time, the men in the back kitchen will always gather together to smoke cigarettes and talk nonsense. And Chunxiu often sits with Cui Fengming and asks long and short chats. Chunxiu would take out a needle and thread to sew it up when she saw that Cui Fengming's clothes were torn, and sometimes she was afraid that Cui Fengming would not be able to eat enough, so she secretly stuffed one or two hard-boiled eggs into his pocket. During the small talk, Cui Fengming once asked Chunxiu why she was so good to herself? Chunxiu smiled and said that Cui Fengming was very similar to her younger brother who she had brought up in her hometown in Shandong, and she had liked him since the first day she saw him, but Chunxiu always showed a trace of imperceptible sadness in her eyes when she talked about her younger brother.

After getting along for a period of time, Cui Fengming has a deep sense of dependence on Chunxiu, he feels that Chunxiu cares about and loves himself like a sister or mother, and always wants to talk to her when she works, and misses her when he can't see her.

In the back kitchen of Juxian Building, there is a man surnamed Wu, who is about fifty years old, tall and stout. His dark face was covered with smallpox scars, and he was nicknamed Peanut Skin behind his back. This peanut skin in Juxian Lou seniority, in the restaurant just opened when came, his stir-fry skills are very good, there are several master dishes, so won the boss's respect and trust, peanut skin in the kitchen to say the same, very arrogant and domineering.

Peanut skin, tobacco, alcohol, sugar, tea, everything, but he never bought it himself, and he had to pay for it from the people in the back kitchen. In normal times, if anyone is slightly disrespectful to him. He scolded when he opened his mouth, and beat him when he raised his hand; If he goes to the boss to sue anyone, the person who is accused will be deducted from his wages and dismissed, so everyone is afraid of peanut skin. I had to honor him. Cui Fengming is a new guy, the boss only has a meager salary every month in addition to two meals a day, but he also has to pay some tea money to peanut skin every month, otherwise he will be scolded and bullied.

This peanut skin is overbearing to everyone. But he was very kind to Chunxiu, he walked around Chunxiu when he had nothing to do, pretending to be courteous to Chunxiu. Almost every time he spoke to Chunxiu, he narrowed his big bulb-like eyes into crooked smiles, and let out a whisper from his throat that was extremely disproportionate to his massive body. When offering courtesy to Chunxiu, the peanut skin will force a gentle expression on the face full of horizontal meat, which makes people feel very funny and ridiculous.

The cooks in the back kitchen often muttered and pointed behind Peanutskin and Chunxiu, and when Peanutskin turned to glare at them, they hurriedly got up to their work and pretended not to say anything and never saw anything. Later, Cui Fengming stayed in the back kitchen for a long time, and he vaguely heard from the mouths of other guys that there was something unsightly between Peanut Skin and Chunxiu. Once Cui Fengming found a kitchen nicknamed Big Mouth and asked: What is the unsightly thing about Chunxiu and peanut skin? The big mouth quietly told Cui Fengming that Chunxiu was a shameless woman. After that, no matter how Cui Fengming asked, he didn't want to say anything more.

Chunxiu is a gentle and considerate big sister in Cui Fengming's heart, and she is a serious and good woman, and he was very puzzled after hearing these rumors about peanut skin and Chunxiu. One day, when Cui Fengming asked Chunxiu about the rumors about her and peanut skin, Chunxiu, who had always been gentle, became angry, and she said with a red face: "That's all nonsense!" What do you know about this hairy boy? Don't get involved with these things in the future! If you talk nonsense in the future, I will ignore you! Chunxiu's expression became very stern when she spoke to Cui Fengming.

Chunxiu saw that Cui Fengming was too frightened to speak, so she coaxed him in a pleasant voice: "Fengming, do you believe the words of those people?" Don't you want to think, sister, can I fall in love with that old and ugly peanut skin at such a young age! Cui Fengming felt that what Chunxiu said made sense, he shook his head vigorously and said he didn't believe it, he really didn't believe that Sister Chunxiu would have something unsavory with that annoying peanut skin. Cui Fengming looks down on those who say bad things about Chunxiu, he thinks that those people say bad things about Chunxiu when they see that Sister Chunxiu is good-looking and can't get her, anyway, they can't eat grapes and say that grapes are sour. However, an accidental encounter completely shattered Chunxiu's image of a good sister in his heart.

One afternoon, Cui Fengming didn't have much work to do, and he didn't sleep well all night in order to take care of his sick father, so he wanted to find a place where no one was there to lie down and rest for a while. He remembered that the grocery warehouse in the backyard was a clean and cool place, so he slipped out of the back kitchen to the storeroom. He was afraid that others would see him, so he gently opened the door and entered it in a flash. When he entered the house, he wanted to find a hidden place to lie down, and this storehouse was two rooms, inside and outside. Cui Fengming wanted to go to the back room to rest. He was just about to raise his legs and enter the inner room when he heard a slight but rapid gasp coming from the inner room, he curiously tiptoed over and looked at it without making a sound, he never expected that there were two naked people lying together on the ground behind a pile of broken tables and chairs, and he looked closely at it and turned out to be Peanut Skin and Chunxiu!

Cui Fengming was completely stunned by the scene in front of him, the scene in front of him was really difficult for him to accept, and he closed his eyes in shame. Curiosity drove Cui Fengming to find out, but he was afraid of alarming the two people, so he hid behind a pile of broken belongings in the outhouse without making a sound, covering himself with a broken blanket to reveal only a gap looking out. After a while, he heard Peanutskin let out a long breath, and then the sound of the two getting dressed.

Peanutskin and Chunxiu came out of the back room. Peanut Skin looked like he was still in the mood, he happily hugged Chunxiu's waist and said, "Chunxiu! You're such a nice girl, my wife's waist is as thick as a bucket, and her face is folded, how can you compare to your tender and smooth water! Chunxiu, if you agree to be my wife, I will divorce her immediately! ”

Chunxiu said with her head down: "Don't talk so much nonsense!" Tell you, you can't take advantage of me for nothing! Ming'er, if you go to the boss and give me a few kind words, I should also raise my salary! ”

Peanutskin patted his chest vigorously with his hand and said, "No problem! I have a lot of weight in my boss's words, and you're on me. Besides, I won't do you any wrong! After saying that, he took out some money from his pocket and put it in Chunxiu's hand. Peanut Peel pulled Chunxiu to a corner, and after taking away the messy things, a large vat was revealed in the corner of the wall. Peanutskin opened the lid of the tank and took out a large piece of bacon from it, he handed the bacon to Chunxiu and whispered: "I have bacon, ham and salted fish hidden in this tank, all of which I secretly took out from the back kitchen." Take it home and eat it! Chunxiu, the place where I hide things is a secret, you can take whatever you want to eat in the future, but you can't tell anyone this secret! With that, he covered the vat again with tattered debris. Then the two of them peeked out through the crack in the door. After confirming that no one was outside the door, he slipped out of the warehouse one after the other. All this was heard and seen by Cui Fengming.

Cui Fengming was surprised by the scene he had just encountered, and he couldn't understand that Chunxiu, who had a good impression in his heart, was getting together with an old and ugly man. Is this what people call the kind of thing between men and women? He thinks it's dirty! From that day on, Cui Fengming hated peanut skin and looked down on Chunxiu, he felt that Chunxiu's flower was inserted in the pile of cow dung of peanut skin. Since then, he has deliberately avoided Chunxiu and has become estranged from her a lot.

Half a year has passed in a blink of an eye, and it was a few days before the Spring Festival, and the owner of the restaurant paid the guys in advance, which was considered a reward for the guys' hard work for a year, and this month's salary has increased for everyone. Cui Fengming also received some extra money from Mr. Bookkeeper, and he was going to use the money to buy some New Year's goods for his family. He took advantage of his free time in the afternoon to sneak out of the restaurant and went to a nearby sauce meat shop to buy two catties of his father's favorite sauce beef. Who knew that when he was about to walk into the back kitchen with the sauce beef, he happened to bump into the peanut skin, and the peanut skin crossed his hands on his chest like an iron tower to block Cui Fengming from the door. He said to Cui Fengming angrily: "Boy, who let you sneak out while working?" ”

Cui Fengming knew how powerful he was, so he nodded and said with a smile: "Master, isn't it almost the Spring Festival, I'll take the time to buy something for the family!" I'll be out for a while, don't be angry, I'll do more work for you later. ”

"Xiao Cui, did my master let you call him in vain? It's almost the Spring Festival, you know that you honor your parents, but you don't know how to honor your master? Give this to me!" After the peanut skin finished speaking, he snatched the things from Cui Fengming's hand.

"This is the sauce beef I bought for my dad! You give it back to me! Cui Fengming hurriedly rushed back.

The peanut skin pushed Cui Fengming away and scared him and said, "I also love sauce beef!" Tell you, master and apprentice are like father and son, and honoring me is the same as honoring your father! ”

"You give me back this beef, my dad is sick, I bought it to make up for him!" Cui Fengming was so anxious that he almost cried.

Peanut Skin saw that Cui Fengming was going to snatch things back, so he grabbed Cui Fengming's neck and said, "If you mess around again, I will go to the boss to accuse you of being lazy, you said that it is better to let the boss deduct your salary?" Or would you give me the sauce beef? Peanutskin asked with a wicked smile.

Cui Fengming heard Peanut Skin say this, so he had to think that he was unlucky, but he was really uncomfortable in his heart, and he had long been holding back his strength to play a good trick on this villain. Cui Fengming pondered while washing vegetables, he thought about it for a long time and finally came up with a ghost idea to take revenge on peanut skin, and he wanted to implement this plan tonight.

In the evening, after the hotel closed, Cui Fengming quickly took off his greasy apron and sleeves as usual, washed his face and walked out of the back door of Juxian Building. Instead of walking home, he wandered aimlessly through the streets. At the end of the lunar month, there was no moon in the sky, the night was thick, and the cold air hit people. The roof of the tall arrow tower is shrouded in the cold air, and it looks very ghostly. Cui Fengming, who was wandering around under the arrow tower, thought of the story of the swallow Li San, and he heard that the high front door building was where the swallow Li San used to hide. He counted the rows of black holes in the windows of the arrow tower, wondering if there were still Jiangyang thieves like Swallow Li San hiding inside, and he thought that it would be very interesting if he was a snitch like Swallow Li San. Cui Fengming sat on a stone pier under the gatehouse, killing time crankily. The night was dark, the cold was heavier, and the two night watchmen came over with bangs and urged him to hurry home. Cui Fengming estimated that the night shift in Juxian Building should fall asleep at this time, so he stood up and walked to Juxian Building to start implementing his plan to take revenge on Peanut Skin.

Cui Fengming quietly climbed into the back wall of Juxian Building, he tiptoed to the window of the back kitchen, gently pried open the window, and jumped into the kitchen with both hands on the windowsill. He lit a small candle he carried with him, went to the stove with the peanut skin spoon, picked up the large jar containing rice wine, poured out some handfuls of wine, sprinkled urine into it, and then covered it and put it back in its place; Then he grabbed a large handful of alkaline noodles and mixed them in starch, salt, and sugar, and mixed a lot of vinegar and salt in the soy sauce. Cui Fengming was very satisfied with his masterpiece, he looked around and laughed. His next goal was to smash the peanut husk warehouse.

Cui Fengming jumped out of the kitchen and closed the window, looked around vigilantly, and then quietly touched the warehouse where the miscellaneous items were kept. The warehouse door was locked, Cui Fengming took out the prepared cone and picked the lock, dodged in, and covered the door casually. He walked to the corner where the peanut skin was hidden, and after removing the things that were piled up randomly, a large clay jar was revealed inside, Cui Fengming opened the lid of the jar and saw that there was a ham, a few pieces of bacon and two fish in the jar. "It's going to be the Spring Festival, peanut skin, you can honor me with these delicious things!" Cui Fengming proudly took out a large pocket that had been prepared from his body and stuffed all the things in the tank into it. After everything was done, Cui Fengming picked up his pocket and walked out, he just walked a few steps and stopped, feeling that there was still something to do. Cui Fengming put down the sack and returned to the clay cylinder, after he opened the cylinder head, he squatted on the edge of the cylinder with both feet, covered his nose and pulled a bubble of stinky stool inside, and then closed the cylinder head to restore its original appearance. Cui Fengming slipped out of the warehouse with a hemp bag, he threw the sack out of the wall and climbed over the wall, and hurriedly disappeared into the deep night. (To be continued......)