Entering May, the group of apprentices who arrived in Guanzhong five years ago will have their appointment period about to expire, and those who can boil it out will have a hundred wages to get. Today is the time for the shopkeeper Luo to settle accounts with the apprentices who are about to make an appointment, although there are always some deductions, but most of them still can't be wrong.

The cicadas began to raise a loud voice, and a low voice said "know" and "know". Although the Qiu Clan's workshop has strictly sealed off the outside world, there is no impermeable wall in the world. The weather is hot, the minds of the workers are also hot, and it is rumored in private that the imperial court has laid a contiguous piece of fertile soil on the west side of Shishan, as long as you go, you will be granted land, and you can borrow cattle and farm tools temporarily, which is a once-in-a-lifetime good time. One hundred and ten apprentices lined up and walked into the account room one after another, although they were tormented by the five years of hard labor, but their faces were filled with a layer of divine light, and their eyes were full of excitement, so that the apprentices next to them couldn't help but be eager to try. It is this annual appointment to come to the day of receiving wages, so that more workers can endure it. A young apprentice waited in the queue, smiling from ear to ear.

"The one surnamed Sun even took over his daughter-in-law in advance, and as soon as he received his salary, he would go to Shishan together." Guo Hong said enviously. Bao Qizhang licked his lips and muttered, "Good woman." "He also took a look at the little daughter-in-law from Kanto, with a thin waist and a big buttocks, and when the two of them arrived at the stone mountain, they spread out and gave birth to a son. Most of the apprentices in this workshop have not seen a serious woman for two or three years. Whenever the wages were paid, prostitutes and gambling stalls buzzed like flies that smelled blood, and some people couldn't hold back their anger and spent most of their hard work for half a year or even two years.

Turning their faces away from the account room, Bao Qizhang and Guo Hong had to concentrate on dealing with the loom in front of them. The light in the workshop was very dark, and in order to prevent the rain from wetting the machinery and cloth materials, the workshop had a thatched roof, which was surrounded by wind on all sides, and in winter it was fenced with mats. In addition to the silk and linen commonly found in the Kanto region, the Xia Guo Workshop also used a large number of wool yarns to weave cloth. The looms used in the workshop were much more complex than those used in the Kanto household, and the eyes, hands and feet had to be constantly busy, and there were six or seven more foot pedals, and three or four less. Therefore, when weaving the cloth, it is necessary to concentrate on the weaving according to the pattern of the pattern. In order to weave the patterns on the cloth, the weaver's left toe pulls the heald, and the right toe pulls the heald, and each weaving into a weft, a piece of the heald and the heald are lifted, and there is a pedal to control the shuttle. After proficiency, two or more people cooperate to weave more and more complex patterns. The woven fabric also needs to go through subsequent processes such as pulping and washing before it is completed.

Bao Qizhan and Guo Hong were so tired that they were tired, their eyes were full of gold stars, and after seven or eight hours, they dragged their tired bodies down from the loom and went to the shed step by step, but they noticed that the atmosphere around them was a little strange.

"The owner deducted their wages and asked them to do it for a while longer." Someone muffled. The shopkeeper Luo turned out an account book, and the materials discarded during the apprentice's early apprenticeship were listed on it for five years. The shopkeeper said that the workshop is short of manpower now, if this group of apprentices is good to say that they will do it for a while, then they will not blame the past, if they want to leave, then they are embarrassed, and it is good to settle the accounts and not pay the workshop a sum of money.

"Really?" Bao Qicheng grinned, but his expression seemed to be crying, all his hopes were in the account book of the shopkeeper Luo. It's just that God knows what else was remembered besides his wages.

"If you run into me, fight with them!" Guo Hong lowered his voice and said indignantly.

The person next to him, surnamed Li, was lying on the kang and turned over, and let out a fart with a "poof" before he said mournfully: "Fight, how do you fight?" The guards were armed with swords, guns, bows and arrows, as well as firearms, and with a bang, even the iron plate was pierced. His eyes were completely clouded, like a mouthful of thick phlegm, and he looked desperately.

"I'm going to kill the vicious dog of Gao Laipi." Guo Hong lowered his voice and said indignantly to Bao Qizhang. Gao Laipi is the foreman who tricked them into the workshop, Guo Hong has been thinking that if he hadn't fallen into this hell, he might have been allocated fifty acres of land in Shishan and begged for a daughter-in-law, maybe the dolls would have crawled on the ground.

"Don't be ruthless, you will suffer a loss." Bao Qizhang was still as energetic as the mud, lying quietly on the clay kang on his back, waiting to knock on the clay pot and drink porridge. Silently thinking, there are still two years, two years later, will I get the 100 yuan I deserve? If you can't get it, hang yourself? Or roll up and leave? "It's still like what Guo stunned said, if you kill Gao Lezi, Lao Tzu will lose his life." Bao Qizhang suddenly had a vicious thought.

This porridge was a little thicker than before, but Bao Qicheng and Guo Hong didn't have the heart to rejoice, and after drinking, they licked the bowl clean without washing, so they went to the kang weakly, and they didn't say anything all night, and fell asleep. The thick clouds in the sky obscured the moon, and it looked like a rainstorm was coming, but the rain could not fall, it was very hot, and there were twenty-seven or eight workers lying on the earthen kang, all of them were stripped red, and the snoring sound was loud, and the sound of "popping" and "popping" to drive away mosquitoes and flies sounded from time to time.

The foreman, Qiu Liu'er, drank two or two meters of wine, his eyes were red from burning, he looked straight at the firewood room, and asked with some concern: "Fifth master, is it really okay?" ”

Du Wuye pursed his lips disdainfully and scolded: "Cowardly? He spat out, "It's not the first time you've done this." The stupid man surnamed Sun is still locked in the shed, the opportunity is rare, you don't go up and no one pulls you! He scratched his crotch without paying attention, and walked quickly towards the firewood room, the other two foremen followed him, Qiu Liu hesitated for a moment, swallowed his saliva, and followed. Compared with the broken shoes and the prostitute, the daughter-in-law surnamed Sun was a good woman, and it didn't take long for the violent struggle and wheezing sound to be heard in the firewood room.

The next morning, Shopkeeper Luo summoned these foremen, with a black face, without saying a word, he raised his hand and slapped Du Wu, almost knocking out his teeth. "The big shopkeeper." Du Wu covered his face aggrievedly, "The little one knows that he is wrong." As he said, it is not the same thing that he has done this again, and there used to be a more beautiful one who honored the treasurer.

"A bunch of stupid pigs, why can't they control that thing down there!" Shopkeeper Luo scolded, "Make trouble for me!" He lowered his head, this kid surnamed Sun was really confused, and he was actually shouting everywhere to sue the official. Qiu Daguan just went to Kanto to urge the goods on the front foot, and there was a mess on the back foot, but he could teach himself how to explain.

"The shopkeeper," Du Wu salivated and said, "Even if the unlucky worker goes to sue, the yamen will ask for evidence and material evidence, and it is useless to shout injustice." ”

Shopkeeper Luo was furious when he heard this, raised his foot and kicked him to the ground, and shouted: "Don't look at when, can you let him go to see the official?" His face darkened, he gasped for a long time, his eyes flashed sharply, and he said in a muffled voice: "As usual, if you do a good job, you will deal with it!" Seeing the four foremen below stunned on the ground, he shouted coldly: "Don't get out of here!" ”

Walking out of the account room, Qiu Liuhe whispered tentatively: "Fifth Master, do you want to kill the two men and women?" He paused and sighed, "That woman is not bad, but it's a pity." "With a slight regret. Du Wu's eyes flashed slightly, and he smiled cruelly: "Good boy, you are bold enough." ”

The person surnamed Sun shouted the news that the woman was dirty, like a spark falling on a dry pyre. The apprentices, who were already indignant at the withholding of wages, were even more angry, but they did not dare to show it under the long-term pressure of the foreman. "Balls, a bunch of brutes!" An honest person like Bao Qizhang also scolded in a low voice and gritted his teeth. "These people kill a thousand knives." Guo Hong spat on the ground. When two or three apprentices staggered past each other, they looked at each other with hatred in their eyes.

When he got off work, the man surnamed Sun was called out by the foreman to discuss, and then the couple disappeared, and I heard that the shopkeeper gave a large sum of money and sent it away, and some people even secretly envied the good luck of the surname Sun. It wasn't until the morning of the fourth day that the county magistrate came to inquire about it, saying that it was a farmer digging for medicinal herbs in the suburbs who had dug up two corpses, and a deed was found on one of them, indicating that this person was called Sun Lu, who had been working as an apprentice in Qiu's workshop for five years, and that after the expiration of the period, he would cash in a salary of 100 yuan. Because the workshop had not yet cashed in, Sun Lu carefully rolled this small piece of paper that he didn't recognize himself into the gap between his clothes. Several murderers were also not found.

After asking the shopkeeper Luo, he asked the apprentice who lived in a shed with Sun Lu. At this moment, the whole workshop exploded as if cold water was dripping onto the oil pot, and not long after the capture was gone, thousands of workers ignored the threat of the foreman, and surrounded the account room three layers inside and three layers outside. "Murder pays for life!" "Pay back the debt!" I don't know who started roaring first, and many people followed suit. Bao Qizhang and Guo Hong also crowded into the crowd with red faces. "These grandsons are too bullying!" Guo Hong turned around and said to Bao Qizhang, he saw that there was an apprentice in front of him who had already scolded and grabbed a foreman surnamed Yang, and after a while, he moved his fists and feet. Under the excitement of the crowd, those foremen now seem to be a little cowardly, one by one without their usual arrogance, as if they are facing a great enemy, holding swords, bows, crossbows, and firearms, guarding the outside of the account room and the storehouse.

The workers outside made more and more noise, and some shouted again, "Shopkeeper Luo came out to speak!" "Tell the owner to come out and talk!" Some are shouting, "Pay us your wages!" "Murder pays for life!" Others got lost and started smashing the loom and throwing the pieces of wood at the foremen.

Suddenly, I don't know which foreman's hand slipped, and with a whoosh, a crossbow bolt plunged straight into the door of one of the apprentices.

This was like adding fuel to the fire, and the workers and apprentices who had already surrounded them outside suddenly threw clods of earth and wooden strips like droplets, and more people shouted: "It's a death anyway, with these dogs. Mother's fight! ”

The outside of the ledger and the warehouse was like a pot of porridge, and the people in the back pushed and shoved the ones in front and stumbled forward. The ones in front were already red-eyed, and they rushed forward to snatch the swords, bows, and crossbows in the hands of the foreman, and some even grabbed the iron guns, but they didn't let go of them, so they used them as clubs to slash the heads and heads on the opposite side. Naturally, the foremen, who were accustomed to showing off their might, could not be restrained, and they desperately resisted with the weapons in their hands. The blood on the ground gradually spread, getting bigger and bigger, more and more viscous, until it turned into a dark red mud.