The Romance of the Famous Marshals of the Early Tang Dynasty Li Jichuan

Chapter 16: Five Buckets of China Walk (Part I)

The old woman touched the fat boy's head lovingly, and said solemnly: "Grandson, next time it rains, don't carry the water jug, run home immediately, in case you catch a cold, it's not a joke." ”

The fat boy smiled: "Grandma, I remember." After speaking, he picked up another spiced edamame, peeled off the skin of the edamame, picked up a large edamame and put it in his mouth and chewed it.

The old woman also picked up a spiced edamame, peeled off the skin of the edamame, and said, "The half-immortal looks at the weather, and it is very accurate." ”

The fat boy smiled and said, "Grandma, since four months ago, after the half-immortal told me that it was going to rain heavily, I called him Liu Shenxian." ”

The white-haired old man took five or six slices of sauced beef with chopsticks, put them on the edge of the plate containing spiced edamame, and said with a smile: "Grandson, the sauced beef your grandmother made today is better than the one made in the county tavern, try it." ”

The fat boy sandwiched a slice of beef in sauce, put it in his mouth, chewed it carefully, and said with a smile: "It's delicious, it's very fragrant." ”

The white-haired old man took a sip of wine and said with a smile: "Xu Rat, Half-Immortal Dad, the old Half-Immortal is the real capable character, twenty years ago, I asked the old Half-Immortal to calculate the future, and then I made a fortune." ”

The fat boy stood up, filled the wine glass in front of the white-haired old man, and said with a smile while pouring the wine: "Grandpa, tell me more." ”

The white-haired old man looked out of the house, the sky was full of dark clouds, the heavy rain turned to light rain, and he sighed non-stop, and sighed: "Hey, this kind of rain can't be stopped, and I can't do any farm work on a rainy day, so I'll tell you about it from beginning to end." ”

The white-haired old man took a sip of wine, and then said: "Twenty years ago, one day in spring, a wealthy man in a neighboring county pulled three carts of gifts to thank the old half-immortal, opened a banquet of more than a dozen tables, and invited the old and young masters of Daliuzhuang to eat and drink. According to him, Lao Banxian gave him a future, and he did what Lao Banxian said, made a fortune, changed from a rich man to a rich man, and became the richest man in a neighboring county.

I drank too much that day, came home in the middle of the night, couldn't sleep over and over, and thought about it all night: I have planted more than ten years of land, wheat, corn, soybeans, peanuts, sweet potatoes, all kinds of sparse vegetables, have been planted, more than ten years of thrifty life, or there is no big improvement, only ten acres of thin fields of this bit of belongings, when the sky is bright, I made up my mind, make up ten taels of silver, and find the old half immortal to calculate the future. I woke up your grandma, rummaged through the boxes and cabinets to find all the valuable things, took them to the market to sell, busy for a day, scraped together, there was still half a tael of silver, so anxious that I walked around the yard, and I couldn't find anything valuable, only the five piglets in the pigsty could be exchanged for a few dollars.

The old woman interjected, "It's six little piglets, only three months old. ”

The white-haired old man smiled: "Yes, it's six little pigs, your grandma is still reluctant to sell, I said good things in the middle of the night, and your grandma reluctantly agreed." ”

Early the next morning, after breakfast, I got into a carriage, pulled six piglets, and went straight to the Shawo Township Market.

When I arrived at the market, your grandmother raised the piglets well, and there were many people who wanted to buy them, and the first two people gave a low price, and waited until the third person to promise to give half a tael of silver, and I happily sold six little pigs to him, and I took half a tael of silver, and rushed home in a carriage, and arrived home after dark.

I didn't care about dinner, so I took ten taels of silver and went to find the old half-immortal.

The old half-immortal listened to my explanation, and after accepting ten taels of silver, he said: In the future, in addition to the grain and vegetables eaten at home, all soybeans will be planted, and they will be able to make a lot of money by using their own soybeans to make tofu and sell them.

I hurriedly said: The market in our town, every time I catch the market, I go to sell grain, and if I can't sell the grain, I go to the market of the other four towns to sell, there is no tofu sold in the market in our town, and the markets of Dongming Market Town in the east, Sanchun Market Town in the south, and Changxing Market Township in the west do not sell tofu. Only in the north of the Shawo Township Market, there is a tofu seller named Li Fatzi, I know him, today I went to the Shawo Township Market to sell piglets, I saw him selling tofu in the market, I used to buy his tofu, but he didn't make a fortune?

The old half-immortal smiled: I love to eat tofu, I often buy the tofu sold by Li Fatzi, his soybeans are not good, and the method of making tofu is not good, but we are the only one who sells tofu in a radius of 100 miles, and I can only buy his tofu to eat. Most people buy his tofu, and after eating it, they don't think it's good, and many people don't buy it anymore.

I said: Yes, the tofu sold by Fat Li has a paste pot taste, and after every time I eat it, I don't want tofu for a long time.

The old half-immortal smiled: Your soybeans are the best in our town.

I said proudly: I planted more than five acres of soybeans last year, and in the market in our town, I sold the most soybeans.

Old Half-Immortal Road; You have the best soybeans, find a good way to make tofu, the tofu you make will definitely be as good as the soybeans you grow, a pound of soybeans can produce three catties of tofu, as long as you make good tofu, you will be able to make a lot of money.

I said, "But I don't know how to make tofu."

Old Half-Immortal Road; I have a distant relative, in the Taishan area, who made tofu with ancestral secret recipes, and when I was ten years old, I went to my grandfather's house with my relatives and went to his house once, and at that time I had been making tofu for six generations, and most of the local people bought his tofu. He also opened a big restaurant in the county town that focuses on tofu dishes and is named Li Qixiang, can I help you ask if his family's ancestral secret recipe is sold? ?

I said, "Okay, you ask him if he sells it or not?"

Old Half-Immortal Road; I'll send a letter tomorrow to ask.

I said, "I haven't eaten yet, go home and eat."

The old half-immortal smiled; Eat it at my house.

I said: I'll hurry home, my wife is still waiting for news at home.

More than a month later, the old half-immortal came to my house and told me that Taishan's relatives said that the ancestral secret recipe sold for twenty taels of snowflake silver.

I'm worried again, in order to ask the old half-immortal to talk about the future, the ten taels of snowflake silver spent have sold all the valuable things in the house, and I can't think of a way to make up twenty taels of snowflake silver. At this time, your grandmother reminded me that there is an ancestral baby at home, my distant ancestor is a scholar, and the scholar pays attention to the gentleman Peiyu, and there is an ancestral jade pendant at home.

The old half-immortal first looked at the jade pendant, then took a blank piece of paper, drew the jade pendant, and returned the jade pendant to me, he said to write a letter to ask, Taishan's distant relatives, are you willing, use this jade pendant for the ancestral secret recipe?

A month later, the old half-immortal came to my house, he gave me the ancestral secret recipe, I gave him the jade pendant, and he gave the jade pendant to Taishan's distant relatives.

After I got the ancestral secret recipe, after returning home every day, I looked at the ancestral secret recipe carefully, and I was very anxious, I needed to buy a lot of tools, and there was no money at home.

More than 20 days later, the old half-immortal came to me, gave me thirty taels of snowflake silver, Taishan's distant relatives, brought a letter, said that it was looking for the county jewelry store shopkeeper to look carefully, my family's ancestral jade pendant, is the best Kunshan jade finely carved, worth fifty taels of snowflake silver, this time returned to me thirty taels of snowflake silver, the letter mentioned, do not understand the problem in the tofu, you can write to ask Taishan's distant relatives.

The thirty taels of snowflake silver, but helped me a lot, I found someone in the backyard to play a 200-meter-deep well, the ancestral secret recipe said, the best is Mount Tai spring water, followed by more than 180 meters below the high-quality groundwater, the deep well spent fifteen taels of snowflake silver, and I according to the ancestral secret recipe, purchased all the tools, and spent nine taels of snowflake silver.

The next year I started to make tofu, the soybeans I planted were the best in the town, I completely according to the ancestral secret recipe method, the tofu made white and tender, delicious and fragrant, every time I rushed to the market, there were many people who bought my tofu, and then people from other four towns also came to buy, I made tofu.

The white-haired old man went on to say, before I made tofu, I only had ten acres of thin fields, but now I have more than 90 acres of land, and I have made a fortune.

The old woman interjected, "Two acres is a hundred acres."

The old woman looked at the fat boy and smiled: "My grandson yawned, I got up too early today, let him go to bed, and talk about it when we have dinner."

The white-haired old man said, "Grandson, go back to the house and rest."

The fat boy rubbed his eyes, stood up, and walked a few steps, and the white-haired old man stopped the fat boy.

The white-haired old man said: "Xu Mouse, look at my eldest brother's family, one grandson, two grandsons, all of them are big and tall, like sycamore seedlings, grandson, you have to sleep more, so that you can grow tall."

The old woman said: "Your eldest brother's family, the youngest grandson, is twenty-three years old, and our Xu Mouse is only fourteen years old, how can it be compared with nine years older?"

The fat boy smiled: "Who made you my grandfather, listen to you, I will go back to the house to sleep, and grow up and be tall." ”

The fat boy returned to the east wing, lay on the kang, tossed and turned and couldn't sleep, grandpa's words continued to ring in his ears, looked up at the roof, and counted the beams: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven.

The fat boy turned over, his face was facing the wall, he stared at the wall in a daze, looking at the white wall, which gradually became blurred from clear, and the fat boy turned over again, looked at the roof, and counted the beams again: one, two, three, four, five, six.

"Huh" There was a boil on the wood of the sixth beam, and there was a small opening on it, facing the fat boy's face, as if it was a small mouth that opened to laugh at him. Looking at the beams of the house, I fell asleep unconsciously.

I don't know how long later, a voice sounded in the fat boy's ears: "Grandson, get up and eat grandma's beef stuffed buns, it's fragrant."

The fat boy opened his eyes and saw that it was grandma.

The fat boy blinked and said with a smile: "Grandma, I'm still sleepy, you can eat first, and I'll eat when I wake up."

The old woman said, "I'll take the beef buns to your house, and you can eat them when you wake up."

The fat boy said, "Okay."

After a while, the old woman brought a pot of fragrant beef stuffed buns and said to the fat boy, "I put the buns on the table, you can remember to eat them when you wake up."

The old woman asked again, "Grandson, what else do you want to eat?"

The fat boy said, "Get some more peanuts and dried tofu."

The old woman said, "Okay, I'll get it."