The thin man Ding breathed a sigh of relief in his heart, and said to the young man who was pretending to be strong: "Count you kid lucky!" "I followed Qi Laosan.

Seeing Qi Laosan walking away, Dong Xiucai arched his hand to the young man in the strong suit and said: "Xiaosheng Dong Yuan, the words are wonderful, thank you for your help." ”

The young man in the strong suit said: "My name is Zhanyuan, and I don't need to thank you for my efforts." ”

Dong Xiucai nodded and began to pick up the shoes that had been thrown just now.

Lu Yuan took Lu Yutong a few steps forward, and said to the young man in a strong suit: "Brother, hello." ”

"It's good to be fair." Zhan Yuan replied.

"Brother Tai, do you know what the person named Qi Laosan just now is?" Lu Yuan asked.

Before Zhan Yuan could reply, Dong Xiucai came back with two shoes, and said angrily: "It's just a scoundrel in the market, relying on his uncle's power, bullying men and women all day long, doing all kinds of evil!" ”

"Who is his uncle?" Lu Yuan asked.

"His uncle's name is Qi Chongde, and he is the housekeeper of the Chen Mansion." Dong Xiucai replied.

Lu Yuan's heart moved, and he asked, "Is it the Chen family of the Four Great Chamber of Commerce?" ”

"Otherwise, there is still a Chen family." Dong Xiucai snorted coldly and went to pick up his shoes again.

Lu Yuan wanted to ask more about the four major chambers of commerce, and he also picked it up, and the young man in the strong suit also helped when he saw this.

After picking up all the shoes, Lu Yuan asked again: "Brother Dong, I heard that the four major chambers of commerce monopolized the tea market, causing the price of tea to continue to rise, I wonder if there is such a thing?" ”

Dong Xiucai had a hot temper, and when he heard this, he became angry again, and said: "It's not just the tea market, since they established the four major chambers of commerce, they have monopolized all walks of life, and the prices in She County have been rising in recent years, and they are the culprits." ”

When Zhan Yuan heard this, he couldn't help but say loudly: "No, I thought that the price rise was caused by the surrounding bandits, and the surrounding public security was destroyed, so there were fewer business travelers, and under the scarcity of materials, prices naturally rose." ”

Hearing Zhan Yuan's words, Lu Yuan glanced at him in surprise, feeling that he was quite insightful, but he didn't know that Zhan Yuan had been darts for many years and was the most sensitive to changes in public security.

Dong Xiucai said with a smile: "Brother Zhan's words also have some truth, robbers and thieves will indeed affect business, but it is not the main reason, even if the robbers in She County have been eliminated, there are four major chambers of commerce, and prices still can't come down." ”

"But even if the four major chambers of commerce are gone, as long as the bandits are not eliminated, prices will not be reduced." Not to be outdone, Zhanyuan argued with Dong Xiucai.

Lu Yuan smiled slightly, feeling that what the two said made sense, and these were all problems that he needed to solve after taking office.

Thinking that he still had to buy shoes for Lu Yutong, he arched his hand to the two of them, said goodbye and left.

After searching for a long time, the brother and sister finally found a shoe store, and Lu Yuan spent thirty yuan to buy a pair of flat-headed small shoes for Lu Yutong.

After that, the two wandered around the city, and after coming across a stall of maltose, he bought another ball for the little girl.

As Dong Xiucai said, the price of goods in She County is extremely high, and the same lump of maltose costs six yuan, which is twice as expensive as Ningguo County.

Then, Lu Yuan bought some more cakes, and then went out of the county seat with Lu Yutong and returned to Huangkou Village.

When he returned to the village, it was already noon time to eat, and Lu Yuan walked to the door of Tiezhu's house, only to find that the hammer was still in the same posture as when he went out, sitting on the stone slab outside the house in a daze.

He couldn't help but step forward and ask, "Brother, what's wrong with you?" ”

Hammer glanced up at him and said with a bitter face: "My father wants me to follow Brother Monkey to the city to make money, I don't want to go." ”

Hearing Brother Monkey, Lu Yuan immediately thought of the group of people he saw at the entrance of the village in the morning, and immediately became interested, sat down next to him, and asked, "What are you doing with him in the city?" Is it also to recruit a family? ”

"Yes, Brother Monkey said that Sun Mansion was recruiting temporary family members, and my father insisted that I go, saying that the government taxes have risen again this year, let me earn some money, otherwise the family will not have a good New Year." Hammer nodded.

"Do taxes go up often?"

The hammer shook his head and said, "Then I don't know, I just know that it has risen recently." ”

Lu Yuan asked again: "How much silver does the temporary family have every day?" ”

The hammer looked at him strangely and said, "I heard that there are eighty wen a day." ”

Lu Yuan's heart moved, thinking that he would have to wait for the appointment letter in the next few days anyway, and now that the money was about to run out, it was better to go to work as a temporary worker for a few days.

And this Sun family should be the Sun family among the four major families, just to explore the truth and reality.

Seeing the hammer's bitter face, he smiled and said, "Brother, don't you want to be a housekeeper?" ”

"I heard that the rich people in the city are very fierce, and I am afraid that they will beat me." Hammer said with some wincing.

Lu Yuan smiled: "Tomorrow is just to sign up, if you don't want to go, you deliberately perform poorly when you sign up, you won't be selected, what's there to worry about?" ”

Hammer looked up sharply and smiled, "That's right." ”

Suddenly, he said again: "It's still not good, if you don't become a housekeeper, you won't have money to spend the winter." ”

Lu Yuan said in a deep voice: "Don't worry, as long as you work hard, you will definitely be able to have a good year this year." With that, he led Lu Yutong into the house.

At noon, after Lu Yuan took out the cake, he saw that Lu Yutong didn't eat it, and asked, "Yutong, don't you like to eat cakes?" Why don't I go to the city in the afternoon and buy you some steamed buns? ”

The little girl shook her head and said, "Are you going to answer the call tomorrow?" ”

Unexpectedly, she was quite sharp, Lu Yuan nodded and said, "Yes, we are running out of money, I will work for a few days to earn some money, and then I will buy you delicious food." ”

Lu Yutong flattened her mouth and didn't speak, she knew that if Lu Yuan went to work, she would have to stay here alone.

Lu Yuan touched her head and said, "Forget it, since you don't like it, then I won't go, if you save a little, it should last for more than ten days." ”

Lu Yutong was overjoyed at first, then shook his head again, lowered his head and hugged his waist, and said, "Brother, I'm so useless, I can't help you make money." ”

Lu Yuan's eyes were sour, touched her head and said with a smile: "Yutong, we have been poor for a few days, and when my brother becomes an official, he will be rich." ”

Lu Yutong's little head rubbed up and down on his waist, and he said in a muffled voice: "Hmm." ”

Throughout the afternoon, Lu Yuan saw that the little girl was in a bad mood and kept playing with her in the wild. In the evening he went to look for the hammer again, hoping to go with him tomorrow to answer the call of the family, and the hammer did not allow it.

In the early morning of the next day, Lu Yuan asked Lu Yutong a few words, and then set off with the hammer.

There were more than a dozen people in the company, and when Brother Monkey saw him, he only bragged a few words like "Thanks to your big face, Brother Monkey" and so on, and let him go with him.

The people entered the county seat through the north gate and walked in a southeasterly direction.

Later, Lu Yuan found that the number of civilian courtyards began to decrease, and there were more and more wealthy mansions, and it seemed that the rich people in the county lived in this southeast area.

After walking in the rich area for a while, I suddenly saw a crowd of people in front of me, noisy and noisy, and I saw a wealthy mansion in the distance.

The wall is both high and thick, two heavy stone lions stand in front of the door, two vermilion lacquer gates are tightly closed, and a gilded signboard printed with the word "Sun Fu" on the door shines brightly in the sun.

Next to the closed gate, a small gate was open, and the crowd gathered outside the small door, and everyone only heard the monkey brother say "wait here".

He went up and said a few words to the steward by the small door, handed over another note, and entered the mansion through the small door.

On that note, it was the names of everyone counted by Brother Monkey on the way here, and Lu Yuan reported a fake name of "Mu Xuan".

When Lu Yuan saw Brother Monkey's flattering look when he talked to the steward, he knew that he had no status in the mansion, and everyone could only rely on themselves after that.

The housekeeper outside the door only called three family members to go in for an interview each time, and the time for each interview was long and short, and the longest time was two tea times, and the efficiency was very slow.

Lu Yuan was waiting a little drowsy, when he suddenly saw the second door open, and a gorgeous carriage drove out, in addition to the coachman, there were four or five servants next to him, and the crowd suddenly looked towards the carriage.

Seeing this, the two stewards in charge of answering the call reprimanded loudly: "That's the eldest lady's carriage, don't look at it much, quickly lower your head." ”

Most of the people lowered their heads as they said, not daring to look more, and a few people secretly looked up at the carriage, Lu Yuan glanced at the carriage, and then withdrew his gaze, not interested in this eldest lady.

After the carriage drove away, the recruitment of the family members continued.