In November of the 14th year of Shaoxing in the Southern Song Dynasty, in front of Nanchengfang in Youchuan County, there were only more than ten houses here. Because it is separated from the south gate by more than 500 steps, it has to cross a stinky ditch during the period, and it is not burned to see how rotten, and the image is okay, so when it was renovated in the autumn, the county lord let them go with a wave of his hand.

In the last row of the dozen or so houses, Zhao Dagou was curled up in a pile of straw stacks. Since the late autumn has rained a few times in a row, it has been cold outside day by day. But it's still a little warm to hide in this haystack!

Since yesterday morning, when I saw the frozen and blue corpse of Zhang Lezi, who often begged and snarled, at the gate of Nancheng, I kept an eye on myself.

My mother once said, "When it's cold, you have to wear thick clothes, otherwise the dog will freeze to death!" "I call myself a dog, but I'm not a dog that can only wag its tail and beg for food! Although there were times when he "waged his tail and barked as a dog" for a bite of food, his father also said that "the means are not important, as long as you can survive and complete the task of inheriting the lineage!" People have to be flexible. ”

Although we don't have the money to buy cotton clothes, we are smart! After a day of searching, I found this haystack and beat away the wild dogs that occupied it! I slept here last night. Although the smell is not good, the cold wind blowing in the second half of the night makes people hide in the haystack and can't feel it at all. Touch this thick haystack, phew, this dog is really smart!

Pushing open the wooden board blocking the hole, as soon as the head was stretched out, a cool breeze swirled on the face! With a loud "ahh Look at the tattered clothes on your body, no amount of patches can stop this cold wind. I still have to think of cotton clothes, otherwise if I get typhoid fever, I will have to be like Zhang Lezi, and I will be buried in a mass grave with a broken grass mat.

Looking at the sky, he didn't care about slapping the grass clippings on his clothes, so he hurriedly ran to the dilapidated house next to him, picked up the dishes and chopsticks on the steps and ran in the direction of the county office! I just remembered that today is the last time the yamen put porridge, and I heard that there was a vegetable steamed bun leader who went early! Think about the aroma of vegetable steamed buns, I haven't eaten them for a long time. I can't think about it, and my saliva will flow uncontrollably when I think about it!

Although he was only eleven years old, his feet were big enough to run fast. Easily crossed the stinky ditch, and looked at the shortcut road to the front of the yamen. Seeing that there is no one around, is it wrong to remember the day? As soon as he squatted down and was about to calculate, a yamen came out of the yamen, wearing a round-necked shirt and robes, and pedaling on bast shoes, followed by a few people.

"Hey, you little beggar is so daring, you dare to take advantage of the absence of your grandfather and take the opportunity to spy on the yamen!"

With a bang, he hurriedly stood up, but who knew that he not only didn't get up in a hurry, but crawled to the ground with his ass! It made the official laugh.

Zhang Gou'er took the opportunity to sell miserably and replied: "Poor master, the kid just wanted to get porridge, but when he walked to the yamen, he was hungry and lost his strength!" Where do you dare to spy on the yamen! Take a breath and leave immediately. ”

The official laughed and waved his big hand, "Forgive you, kid doesn't dare, get out of here when you're done!" Today, the porridge shed is set up in front of the land temple in Beicheng. What is the matter of coaxing at this gate every day! After speaking, he didn't look at the dog, but went east after leaving the yamen and muttering.

"Phew! This dog! Curse you to go out and step on shit. ”

patted his ass, didn't dare to stay any longer, and quickly ran to the land temple.

The Land Temple, a small house with a height of one foot. In ancient times, almost every village would build one. At that time, people's superstition was extremely serious, and even someone in the family suffered from a minor illness and disaster, so they first went to the land temple to burn a pillar of incense, begging to bless the safety of the whole family, and some would take back some incense ashes from the incense burner and take it as medicine. Luckily, the crooked beating is miraculously healed. He will take some incense, candles, and paper money to burn in the temple, saying "repaying his wish". Otherwise, the land god will not bless himself next time!

The legendary land god is the most basic protector of the local community, ensuring the safety of the countryside, soothing the people's heartaches, and blessing people with abundant food and clothing, which is the spiritual sustenance of the people. Even in today's civilized society, some villages still exist.

Before the people ran to the land temple, they heard the shout of "Ah Lang Ah Lang" from afar, and turned their heads to see that it was Shilang of Uncle Liu's family in the same village, nicknamed Gou.

"Dog leftover, did you come early to get the vegetable buns?"

"Yes, Brother Alang."

Dog leftover, the name Liu Shilang. is one year younger than himself, with two older brothers and one sister. When he was a child, he not only looked white and tender, but also had a fat body, and when he smiled, his little white face showed a pair of dimples! So in the pile of black and skinny monkey-like dolls in the village, he won the love of the whole village! Even the dogs loved him, so much so that when he was eight years old, the big yellow dog next door kissed him hard on the buttocks!

This thing is a guy who doesn't remember to eat, if he hadn't grabbed the bones in the dog's mouth, he wouldn't have been bitten by the big yellow dog. However, he later said, "Take a bite and eat it with a different dog leg!" It's still a good deal! ”

The two met and chatted happily, and the dog said

"Dog leftover, do you still live with Zhang Dalang and Zhang Erlang from Zhang Village?"

"Yes, Brother Alang!"

"Don't live with them, they're not good people, I saw yesterday that they actually asked Liu Dasha to steal the king's widow's cooking cakes!"

"But if I don't live together, they won't give me food, and Zhang Dalang said not to steal the food from somewhere."

"Dog, you have to remember that we are just beggars, not thieves, and besides, if we are caught stealing something, we will be beaten. Yesterday, if it weren't for the widow Wang's stupid head, she would have shouted to the government to take the county government to the board! The things you stole were handed over to Zhang Dalang, and the two brothers secretly sold them, and took the money to eat and drink at the restaurant of Zhang Laoweng's house. When I come back, I will only give you cold cooking cakes to eat, which is not cost-effective! Tomorrow, you shout a big fool and come to the collapsed dilapidated house of the Ba family behind the stinky ditch in Nanchengfang! We live together. ”

"I know, Brother Alang, I will find Dasha to find you to live."

The two of them chatted and walked, and half a pillar of incense arrived in front of the Beicheng Land Temple.

From a distance, five or six officials dressed in soap-colored coats and soap-faced heckless fast shoes were surrounding a three-foot square wooden table, and a middle-aged man wearing a robe and a hat sat on a stool next to him! Look at the appearance of a housekeeper who doesn't look like a servant who doesn't look like a servant.

There were seven or eight bamboo baskets in front of him, and a unique smell of food emanated from them!

The two of them looked happy and thought that it was a vegetable steamed bun, and hurriedly ran over to line up to get it, but before they could get it, an old man in his forties next to him, with a white short beard and a calligraphy book, opened his mouth and shouted: "Those two little langs, why don't you make porridge and rice first and then come to get the steamed buns?" ”

Zhang Gou'er looked at the queue next to him to receive the porridge, there were more than 30 people, and then looked at the seven or eight people in front of him who were serving vegetable porridge in their hands, and thought to himself, "The master is not ignorant, after receiving the porridge, come to the row again, and the vegetable buns have already been distributed." I didn't dare to say this clearly, so I stepped forward and respectfully said: "Back to the mission, the little brothers have never tasted the taste of steamed buns, and they have just been attracted by this fragrance, and they just want to take a bite." It's not too late for that porridge boy to get it later. ”

The old official saw that although the dog was dressed in shabby, his reply was clear and polite. He nodded and said, "Yes!" But after receiving the porridge, you can't come here to get steamed buns again! "Wave your hand and let the dog go!

The dog returned the salute and hurriedly pulled the dog into the back of the line.

What happened here was also seen by the middle-aged man sitting next to him, and when the dog lined up, the middle-aged man asked, "Where is Xiaolang?" Is there anyone else in the house? ”

"Back to the mission, the little cheap name Zhao Gou'er is a native of Liujia Village at the foot of Chai Mountain, and his parents and relatives died in the military disaster in the autumn."

The dog leftover next to him also nodded and said, "My dog is leftover!" ”

The middle-aged man waved his hand and said, "The old man is not from the yamen, he is the manager of the outer courtyard of the Dongcheng Qian Yuan, and his surname is Zhao like you, which is the same as the official family in the court." Speaking of this, look at the dog and sigh and say, "This young age is pitiful!" ”

After speaking, he picked up two vegetarian steamed buns and put them in the dog's broken pottery bowl, and the dog next to him also got two. Turning his head to see that the person in front of him only gave out a steamed bun, he hurriedly pulled the dog and saluted: "Thank you Zhao Ye for your reward, our brothers live in Bajia Hutong in Nancheng, Zhao Ye needs someone to run errands, but send someone there to call us!" The kid will do his best. ”

Zhao is a dignified money clerk outside the house, a deacon in the outer court, and a lot of servants and servants under his hands, where do you need two beggars to run errands. But everybody loves to hear pretty things.

Steward Zhao listened to it and said with a smile: "But! Go eat it, and call you if there's anything! Then he waved his hand to let the two dogs leave.

After only walking three or five steps, he hadn't even reached the porridge receiving team, and the dog's leftover steamed buns had been eaten by him. "Delicious, Brother Alang. I really want to eat it every day, you see in this stuffing, there is actually chicken, you smell this vegetable oil, fragrant! Seeing the intoxicated look on the dog's face, the dog shook his head helplessly.

"Don't dream, by the way, why didn't Dasha come today?"

"Dasha, he didn't get food yesterday, and when he came back to steal the cooking cakes of the old thief, he was beaten by the old thief, and then beaten by the drunk Zhang Erlang. This morning he said that he couldn't get up from the leg pain, and he estimated that he would have to slow down until noon to get better. ”

Hearing Dasha's beating, the dog scolded Zhang Erlang for being a black-hearted thief!

scolded happily, and the dog also felt that it had no practical effect, so he said to the dog: "Go back to me where to put down the things in a while, I will go with you to find Dasha, and I will not live with the two scoundrels of the Zhang family again, and I will leave today!" ”

The line stood in line for a full two quarters of an hour before the dog and the others arrived.

This "righteous porridge" was given by the officials of the yamen during the famine year, who organized the wealthy merchants in the city to pledge some silver taels, and then used some of the disaster relief grain stored in the county warehouse to distribute it to the victims for free every morning. Because the warehouse in Yamen County was burned down by fire this autumn, all the relief materials were donated by wealthy businessmen and outsiders for a month.

Although the number of vegetarian steamed buns is limited, but the porridge is not limited, as long as the queue does not mess up the order, there are a few people next to the people who are responsible for maintaining order, if you see the queue to disrupt the order, you will use the water and fire stick to the distance, add an extra meal of "bamboo board fried meat" and then blast away!

It was the men of the yamen who served the porridge, and they were the servants of the yamen. Like later generations, cooks have the characteristics of short necks and big bellies, and this cook is also like this, known as Li Zhangshi, with a white linen fence around his chest of forty-seven or eight, and an iron spoon in his right hand is standing in front of a big iron pot, serving rice to a little lady.