When Li Mao came home in the evening, the husband and wife had to go through everything again under the lamp. The winter clothes worn to protect against the cold and the silk skirts worn to prevent the heat remind each other, and the more they are gathered, the more they are gathered. It wasn't until Li Xu "protested" on the side that if he brought all the things, he could already crush the two mules, that the husband and wife smiled a few times and tried to streamline their bags for their son.

"The one surnamed Sun is the ninth in the family, and he is the best to speak. Dad has partnered with him more than a dozen times, and he can be regarded as an old friend. If there is any difficulty, you can tell him to know. Call him Uncle Nine, and he will naturally take care of you, a junior! Li Mao suddenly became chattering like a mother-in-law, telling over and over again. Just removed a bag from the baggage roll with your left hand? The dried fruit was eaten, but the right hand stuffed a larger bag of cured meat into it.

"Well, Dad, don't worry, I know!" Li Xu didn't say a word, and he was skeptical of his father's words. If Sun Jiu really has such a deep friendship with his father, why haven't he seen him drink saliva at home for so many years? If it's just a business relationship, it's probably for nothing. Everyone said that in the business field, they only recognize money, not relatives and friends. It's just a companion, out of the jam, everything has to rely on yourself.

"It's cold early over there, and I've put silk wool on you in my jacket. Remember to change yourself, don't be able to stand up. Once you get cold on your legs, it's a lifetime of sin! Li Zhangshi shook off a thick new coat and rolled it into a roll again, hoping to reduce the volume of the winter coat. Lao Li Mao was tired of watching on the side, and reached out to help, and the husband and wife took a lot of effort to compress the package of clothes by one-third, thought about it, and copied a leather jacket often worn by Khitan people from the cabinet and put it on the outside of the package.

"I know, don't put that leather jacket, the smell is too heavy, it smells disgusting!" Li Xu ran over, smiling and pleading. "I'll definitely remember to change my winter clothes and not my leather jacket. Otherwise, people will have to treat me like a beard! Besides, this thing weighs twenty pounds, and it crushes the horses down! ”

"You're smart!" Li Zhang nodded his son's forehead fiercely. "The water dripping into ice over there froze off your ears, and it was unpleasant!"

"Hey, I'm such an adult!" Li Xu is smart and confident.

Both parents were silent and continued to work on making the package look smaller. Under the dim oil lamp, Li Zhang shook off all the clothes inside and outside, whether new or old, and sewed them along the original position, stitch by stitch. Lao Li Mao bent his back and checked the valuable things repeatedly, lest he leave something behind and make his son suffer on the way.

"You can't bring more copper coins, but a hundred and ten are enough. It's heavy and troublesome, and the sparsely populated Hu tribe may not recognize it! Li Mao pulled out his wife's neatly stacked nearly 1,000 copper coins and threw them aside.

"So what does Xuzi spend? When you go out to do goods, you have to pretend to be presentable, right? Li Zhang was stunned, and the stitch lost its accuracy and pierced deeply into his finger.

"Look at your panic!" Lao Li Mao ignored the fact that his son was by his side, grabbed his wife's injured finger, took it into his mouth, sucked a few mouthfuls, spit out the blood to the ground, and scolded: "What are you doing in such a hurry, hurry up and wash it with salt water!" ”

"That Xuzi's money ......"

"Tomorrow I will go to the county to replace all the copper coins with twill jacquard brocade, which is fine and bright, and Hu people like it if they are women. When Xuzi arrived on the grassland, he could directly exchange brocade for their cattle and horses. As for daily expenses, it depends on those baskets of coarse tea. Exchange dry meat, milk tofu, mushrooms, and yellow flowers with Hu people, one pound can be exchanged for 100 pounds! Go wash your hands, don't hurt the wind on a hot day! ”

Lao Li Mao is a plugged through, what is the price, how to barter with the Hu people, and before he set off, he taught his son to memorize it hand in hand. According to his estimates, the caravan left the upper valley on the ninth day of the first month, and could reach the depths of the grassland in a month and a half. If you can get some leather goods, you can ask Sun Jiu and others to bring back the Li family's goods and the blue and white mules. As for Li Xu, under the pretext of waiting for the goods to be delivered in next spring, he found a friendly tribe to live first.

In this way, after the busy spring of next year, Li Mao drove his cattle to the outside of Cyprus to look for his son, whether it was the government to recruit soldiers, or Raff, the father and son were nearly 50 years old, and the other could not receive military orders, and no one could help them.

"Don't worry, I've inquired and licorice is very cheap over there. When the time comes, one of our two will be collected outside the plug, and the other will be sold in Shanggu, so I am sure that I can make a lot of money! When the time comes, I will lend my uncle some copies, and my mother will not have to be bitter all day long! Li Xu is full of fantasies about life on the plug. It doesn't matter if you lose the opportunity to take the imperial examination, the key is to have a way to revitalize your own family. When the family is prosperous, there will be a lot less trouble.

Thinking about it, the smile on his face brightened. Self-cultivation, Qi family, governing the country, leveling the world, I don't have the opportunity to govern the country and level the world, and I have the ability to make my family's life better, right?

"Take it up for yourself!" Old Li Mao reached out and touched the back of his son's head, and said with a forced smile.

When Li Mao and his wife sorted their luggage to the twentieth time, Sun Jiu's caravan finally entered Yi County. There is a request for people, Li Mao naturally did not dare to slack off, and chartered the entire ground floor of the 'Youjian Inn' to entertain Sun Jiu and Li Xu's future companions. Uncle Zhang Baosheng and Yanyan Zhang Liu also used their whole body means to fry the hard dishes until they crackled in the pot. More than a dozen dishes were placed on the table, and then Zhang Baosheng's secret method of shrinking old wine was served, and within half an hour, Sun Jiu and the others reached a state of familiarity.

"Brother Oki, don't worry, Asahiko is wrapped around me. With my Sun Jiu here, he is indispensable for half a cold hair. This time, if I can drop a copper plate in my Sun Jiu's hand, your Li family will not only get half a penny! Pulling the short sheath open, Sun Jiu's big hand slapped on his chest.

"I don't expect to make much money, the first time my child goes out to do business, it's mainly for exercise. My legs are not good, and I can't climb on horseback when it's cold. If it weren't for the fear of delaying everyone's business, I would have gone myself! Li Mao accompanied the smiling face and beckoned everyone to eat. In a blink of an eye, he called Li Xu out again and asked him to pour a drink for Uncle Nine.

"Uncle Nine!" Li Xu shouted in a proper manner. He poured a bowl of wine and raised his eyebrows. Today's group of guests ate at a few tables was so unsightly that it shattered all his previous illusions about the caravan. There was not a person in the room who wore gold and silver, silk shirts and hats, and was as delicate as Lu Buwei, on the contrary, they were all dressed in short and long, and they were full of flesh, and they were alive and well from the bandits. The only gentleman who was more urbane sat at the window, looking like he had read some books, but his figure stood out in the caravan, not only conspicuous, but also lonely.

Sun Jiu, a native of Hejian, is a very cool man, as Li Mao said. took the wine bowl that Li Xu raised his eyebrows high, and every time he was stuffy, there was not a drop left. After three bowls, he pointed at Li Xu and then at himself, and said loudly: "My surname is Sun, ranking ninth." Call me Uncle Nine, Brother Nine, follow you. But when you enter the caravan, you have to abide by the rules of the caravan. We pay attention to profit and loss in trading, and we have to live and die when we encounter trouble, can you do this? ”

"But Uncle Yijiu!" Li Xu bowed down when he heard the words and promised loudly.

"Get up, this is not an official government, and we don't pay attention to this tone." Sun Jiu hurriedly stood up and pulled Li Xu, who was about to worship, hard: "To be honest, everyone gathered from ten miles and eight towns, and this time Uncle Nine was recommended to lead the team, and I don't know who to push next time." So no one is half a cut shorter than the other, this time you worship me, once you are chosen as the head next time, will my grandson still knock your head back to you? ”

"Haha! Ha ha! The room was amused by Sun Jiu's words, and some people began to coax: "Don't listen to this old boy." He is afraid that you will worship him too highly, and he will not have the money to make you a meeting gift! ”

"Go, go, is my grandson that miser?" Sun Jiu's face turned red from being squeezed, groped around his waist for a long time, took out a silver bean the size of a projectile and stuffed it into Li Xu's hand, "I can't let you call Uncle Jiu in vain, this little bean will be used to marry a daughter-in-law in the future!" ”

"That's unacceptable!" Li Mao's arrow step? stepped forward, snatched the silver bean, and forced it back into Sun Jiu's hand. "I've already caused you trouble, how can Xuzi collect your money again. Besides, your grandson is not a generous boss, why be so polite to the child! ”

Even in today's peaceful world, the price of silver is low, and one tael of silver on the market is worth two hangings. That thing weighs a lot, and a small bean is more than two dollars. begged someone to do something and didn't give a gift, but first blackmailed someone for 400 dollars, even the county guard didn't have a reason to do so.