Chapter 1: Leaving Home (Part I)

In the evening, Zhang Youcai, the old owner of Hanyuan Warehouse, held a lotus leaf bag in his hand and walked home three times in one step.

The lotus leaf bag is wrapped in a piece of pig waist, half a foot wide, three inches thick, separated by two thick layers of lotus leaves, there is still a warm oil oozing out. Zhang Youcai's heart is also like a lotus leaf bag in his hand, full and soft, revealing warmth from the inside out.

"Uncle Cai, he cut meat again?!" Blacksmith Li, who opened a shop at the entrance of the alley, had a sharp nose, and from a distance, he smelled the smell of meat in Zhang Youcai's hand, strode forward, and greeted him with a smile.

"yes, yes!" Zhang Youcai shook the meat in his hand hard, lest the old neighbors couldn't hear clearly, so he responded in a lengthened voice, "Good guy, you dare to ask me for two and a half pieces." Wei Laosi, who killed pigs, was about to cut people with a knife! Is there anything going on tonight, it's okay, go to eat at home?! (Note 1)

"No, no!!" Blacksmith Li waved his hand again and again, but swallowed a few mouthfuls of spit in his throat. Lucheng people pay the most attention to face, Zhang Youcai warmly invited, but he couldn't come to the door rashly. Otherwise, once you are not worthy of the identity of other guests tonight, it will be difficult to raise your chopsticks at the table and not speak, and after that, you will be counted as a joke by the neighbors for several days.

"Hey, no outsiders!" Zhang Youcai stopped, continued to work hard to put his purse up and down, and seduced the eyes of the neighbors with "pop", "pop", "pop". "Just your eldest nephew, your third nephew, and our grandfather."

"The third young master is back?!" Blacksmith Li is tall and has a bright voice, even if he speaks quietly, it is like thunder. "When, why did he come back so early this year?!"

"Graduated! So the holiday is early. Zhang Youcai glanced at the other party and responded casually.

"What! Graduated. Graduated from junior high school?! As if frightened, Blacksmith Li took two steps back, and the news spread throughout the alley in an instant, "It's really fast, when he went to catch the train, he only ......."

Gesturing with his hand to his waist, he tried to find the appearance of the third child of the Zhang family in his memory. But he suddenly felt that this action was no longer appropriate, so he quickly put away his big thick hands and rubbed them on his apron to add, "I mean, I mean, this day flies so fast." In a flash, the third young master, the third young master has grown up! ”

The old neighbors around had already heard the conversation between the two clearly, and they also put down their work one after another, surrounded them, and said hello to Zhang Youcai, "The third young master has graduated?!" ”

"Lao Cai, San'er is home tonight?!"

"Uncle Cai has come out this time. The boss is the first iron abacus in our Lu County, and the second is also a good craft. The third child has graduated from high school again this time, so he can find something to do, and he will get fifty or one hundred to his home every month..."

"Go, go, go, you know money in your eyes! The third young master is the material for studying, why don't you go to Tsinghua University and Peking University again? When the time comes, you have to be a county magistrate......"

In a voice full of envy or jealousy and blessings, Zhang Youcai's waist slowly straightened, and his face was full of pride as a father, "His second brother asked someone to find him an errand in the foreign bank in the provincial capital, but it has not yet been decided." I'd like to ask him what he means. If you plan to continue studying, you will close the shop, and I will pool the money to send him to Beiping! ”

"Look at what you say!" Everyone shook their heads and joked with a smile, "The university hall in Beiping City is not the yamen who rob money in the provincial city!" I've heard that it's only about 20 yuan a year, which is lower than the middle school in the provincial capital! ”

"It seems to be in charge of food!"

"It seems that clothes are still being distributed. One in winter, one in summer. I can wear it in good spirits. I saw it in Nanjing the year before last, all dressed up white and clean, and they looked like they were full of Sven spirit! ”

"You're Central University in Nanjing. It's not Beiping! ”

The crowd was again gossiping, putting together the hearsay news. Zhang Youcai listened with a smile, neither correcting the mistakes in everyone's words, nor rushing to say his true plan. He was just enjoying the moment, enjoying a rare piece of glory.

As the saying goes, the first 20 years look at the father and respect the son, and the second 20 years look at the son and respect the father. He Zhang Youcai has been worthy of his ancestors and his children and grandchildren for half his life. Before the age of twenty, he began to support a family, and with his smart mind and two big hands, he turned the burden of a pair of merchants left by his father into a large grocery store in Lu County. Inside, the south and the north, the mountains and the water, as long as it is something that the yamen is allowed to sell, you can find it. Even if a certain sample of goods is in short supply for a while, as long as Zhang Youcai writes a letter to the trustee to send it out, from Chahar in the north to Fuzhou in the south, there are people who take the initiative to give credit to the door.

The business outside is prosperous, and the three sons at the head of the family are also competing and promising. The eldest apprentice came out of the grain store in the county at the age of fourteen, followed him to the north and south, and now he can support most of the family business. After graduating from high school, the second child went to the provincial town to learn to repair cars from others, and now he can bring his own apprentices. The third child has been a piece of reading material since he was a child, he jumped two levels in primary school, jumped one level in junior high school, and he is only seventeen years old this year, and he has already obtained the graduation certificate of the provincial and national No. 1 high school. If you go to Beiping to find a university hall and polish it for a few more years, and wait until you graduate, you will be the chief steward of the foreign bank! Not only can he earn more than 200 yuan a month, but he is also wearing a neat suit, even if he deals with the Japanese, he doesn't have to bow to them in a low voice! (Note 2)

Since spring, Zhang Laocai has already made a clear calculation. The family business that he has been busy with for most of his life will be completely handed over to the eldest Shouling in the future. With the rich connections and longevity of his own scheming, even if he can't continue to grow the warehouse, at least maintaining the current scale is not a problem. As for the second Yanling, with his skillful car repair skills, it will be smooth to spread out in the provincial capital. As for the third son, the way out is either in Nanjing or in Beiping. No matter where he goes, he will put down his business and take his wife with him. The husband and wife watched him from the side, urging him to put all his mind on his studies, instead of going to the streets every day to scatter leaflets, shout slogans, and shout "country and nation!" like those little guys in the university hall of the provincial capital. ”。 Chairman Jiang and Chairman Han, who are holding machine guns and cannons, are not in a hurry, you poor scholar who can't even lift a knife, what are you screaming all day long?! Moreover, what "country, nation!" This slogan has been shouted since President Yuan Da was in power to the present, have you ever seen anyone who really takes it seriously? (Note 3)

Since people with machine guns and cannons are not in a hurry, the people of Lu County, who are reluctant to eat a few meals of meat all year round, especially businessmen like Zhang Youcai, will not follow the poor students to make a fool of themselves. When I went back to the provincial capital to visit my two sons, I was just in time for poor students to march in the streets, and leaflets were scattered all over the sky. Zhang Youcai didn't dodge for a while, and several sheets were stuffed in his arms. Say that the Japanese are not greedy enough, and after occupying Chahar, the next step will be to occupy Hebei and Shandong. If the Chinese do not rise up to resist, they will become slaves of the country again, as they did when the Manchus entered the customs.

These words sound scary, but when you think about it, they are not necessarily that scary. Is it just a change of dynasty? What is there to be afraid of, who is sitting in the country, and can still not let the people dress and eat?! As long as the people still have to dress and eat, the Hanyuan warehouse in Lucheng can be bought and sold. Hanyuan Warehouse has business to do and money to make, so it is not worth Zhang Youcai to put his life in the hands of a group of guys who are unreliable in talking and doing things.

"Can't!" Not only can't he do, but neither can his three sons! I want to watch them marry wives and have children, and pass on their ancestry. When he was too old to walk and couldn't speak, he was lying on the Taishi chair, and a group of daughters-in-law, grandsons, and granddaughters stood around, wiping their tears and calling dad and grandpa. At that time, the old neighbors and old fellows who came to visit would wipe the corners of their eyes and say with envy on their faces, "Uncle Cai has lived a good life!" Live enough to taste! ”

"Can't!" Patronizing and thinking about the future, as soon as he was not paying attention, Zhang Youcai put the words in his heart out of his mouth. The old neighbors around who had already begun to recall how the third young master of the Zhang family worked hard were startled, and quickly closed their mouths and stared at his face.

Zhang Youcai's old face was hot, and he hurriedly tried to find a way to remedy it, "I mean, I can't let the little third son walk back from the train station." It was too hot, and he was small and weak. In case you get the office, the matter of going to the school entrance examination will definitely be delayed! ”

"Look at his Uncle Cai, he doesn't take it seriously in his mouth, and he likes it stupidly in his heart!" The neighbors suddenly realized and joked with a smile.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Zhang Youcai got off the donkey and acquiesced in the neighbors' statements with a sneer.

"Uncle Cai, let's have a treat. Let's also stick to the blessings of the third young master! Blacksmith Li stared at the pork in the lotus leaf bag for a long time, and finally waited for the right opportunity, and immediately brought up the old words.

"Treat, treat!" Zhang Laocai agreed without hesitation, "I'll go to my house to eat tonight, and I'll let the child cook a few more dishes." ”

"How can you just let Uncle Cai break the bill alone!" Boss Zhao, who is in the woodware business, understands that it is not easy for the old man to make money, and said with a smile, "Since it is to congratulate the third son, everyone will make up a little!" I have two big roosters at home, and I'll slaughter them later! ”

"My in-laws just sent a big salted fish, and I'm worried about how to finish it!"

"I just got a car of Hengshui Lao Baigan in my shop, let the guy send a few jars later!"

"I have a good mushroom, so I brought it from the north! Just soak a handful and you can cook a good dish! ”

"I, I ......" Blacksmith Li looked back, he really couldn't find a gift that he could get his hands on, so he turned his heart sideways and shouted loudly at the blacksmith shop: "Little Liuzi, bring out the white copper hot pot I just made yesterday!" My three nephews go to school outside, and they have to have a hometown object by their side! ”

"That's not going to work, that's not going to work!" When Zhang Youcai heard this, he quickly refused loudly. In recent years, prices have skyrocketed, and a white copper pot will cost more than five oceans alone. I really accepted this gift, and Blacksmith Li and his two apprentices will be busy this month!

"Hold, hold, hold!" Although he was very reluctant in his heart, Blacksmith Li refused to pretend to be poor in front of others, "My third nephew has loved to eat hot pot since he was a child, and when he goes to other places, even if he can buy a pot, he may not be able to find enough ingredients like me!" ”

"No, no!"

"It's not for you! Lao Cai, if you let it again, I'll be annoyed! ”

While he was pulling, there was a sudden sound of footsteps at the mouth of the alley. Zhao Renyi, the young man from the Hanyuan Warehouse and the nephew of the carpentry merchant Boss Zhao, ran over with sweat on his face and panting. Seeing his uncle and his old club from a distance, he stumbled a few steps forward, grinning and crying: "Uncle Cai, Uncle Cai, hurry up and chase, hurry up and chase." The third young master, the third young master let people run away! ”

"Huh?!" Zhang Youcai was flustered, his body was weak, and the pork purse in his hand fell heavily to the ground.

Note 1: Guding, a dialect, describes a very small piece.

Note 2: Upper primary school, higher primary school. During the Republic of China, primary schools were divided into primary and higher levels. Four years of primary and two years of higher education, for a total of six years.

Note 3: Chairman Han, Chairman of Shandong Provincial Government Han Fuqu. During his tenure in power, he vigorously developed local education and economy, and promoted the building of a clean and honest government, which was well received by the people. Later, because he abandoned Jinan without a fight, he was ensnared and executed by the Kuomintang central government.