He put the wine jug in his hand on the table, waved his hand and let the concubine retreat. After pondering for a while, he opened his mouth and said to the butler: "Xiao Zheng has always been good at planning, do you think it is possible that he bought our salt and sold it at a low price, so that we should bow our heads and obey?" ”。

Although Ba Zhongshi lived a luxurious life, he grew up in a big merchant family, and he had seen too many shopping malls, which made his business mind extremely flexible, and after he came to his senses, he immediately thought of a variety of possibilities.

"This is impossible, if it were someone else, we might really think about it, but the person doing this is Xiao Zheng, so far there is nothing that this person can't do, you smell this salt again, obviously with a smell of sea, this is not our family's salt."

The butler's words knocked out his careful thoughts.

After thinking about it, he said to the housekeeper: "I will repair a book for a while, and report to the old lady at home as soon as possible, here I will find a chance to meet Xiao Zheng, the reason why he did this is because my Shuzhong businessman ignored him and made a move!" Since he didn't sell salt with great fanfare, it means that there is still room for us, then I can see him! ”。

"The proprietor is wise, but it's not too late to wait for a reply from the family to see Lord Xiao again."

The stone in the housekeeper's heart also fell to the ground, and he was really worried that his owner was young and vigorous, and he was relying on Xiao Zheng's family background, which would be a big trouble.

"You're right!" Ba Zhongshi glanced at the housekeeper approvingly and said.

There is a villa not far from Hangzhou Academy, which was left alone when Xiao Zheng built it, and it was built for Li Tai, the king of Wei, in the clear sense, but in fact, Xiao Zheng wanted to stay and leave some space for himself and a few children. If these people live in the backyard of Hangzhou Mansion, it is estimated that all the errand servants in the mansion will be a little uneasy, Shangguan is shaking every day, and whoever works has to be careful, and no one is happy to live a life with fear.

Just go to the villa next to the academy, it's okay for everyone to see each other, and it's good to have a tea chat with a group of masters in the academy.

The winter sun shone obliquely, and the winter in Jiangnan was not too cold, and the sunlight sprinkled on the stone table of the pavilion, and the table top was extremely warm to the touch.

Xiao Zheng, Yan Liben and the three children gathered around the table, each of them with a few small carving knives of different shapes in front of them, and dozens of bamboo tubes of different thicknesses, and several children were engrossed in carving on the bamboo tubes.

In his later life, in order to maintain the flexibility of his fingers, he often practiced carving and embroidery.

In desperation, I chose to carve, just behind the hill on the thick bamboo, let people cut down and saw the bamboo cups of different lengths, in front of a few children to copy the carved knife, soon a lively cartoon animal appeared on the bamboo tube, a few children like it very much, even the girl who rescued the always quiet Hongyu joined the ranks of snatching the bamboo tube.

Looking at the few children you are competing for, Xiao Zheng simply asked people to make a few small carving knives, and put a few bamboo tubes in front of each person to carve and play, which should be used to enhance the children's hands-on ability and puzzle games.

Just when the three children were having fun, Yan Liben rushed to Hangzhou to report on his work, and by the way, he also wanted to spend a few days in the West Lake, and he was responsible for the landscape design of Bijing West Lake.

This guy saw Xiao Zheng and a few children's carving tools itchy hands and also tried it, out of the instinct of talent he quickly liked this kind of carving, and after three days, the carved things were in good shape, much stronger than Xiao Zheng's.

Xiao Zheng asked him to teach these children as well, but this guy is still a dead brain, and he is only willing to teach his precious female apprentice Hongyu. also said in front of Xiao Zheng that Li Tai, Xiao Changning, including the bamboo tube carved by Xiao Zheng, are only suitable for filling the stove hall to cook rice, and they will not teach the two male babies to be killed.

Just as he was chattering, he saw Xiao Zheng pick up a bamboo tube to greet him on the door of his head, and then he remembered that Xiao Zheng was his top boss, and hurriedly closed his mouth, seeing that Li Tai and Xiao Changning were waiting for Xiao Zheng to smash out and shout.

"You're just underwhelmed! If I hadn't seen that you could draw a few strokes, I would have opened a scoop for you today," said angrily pointing at Yan Liben.

The three children burst into laughter.

When he was tossing, Zheng Xuanli said that someone asked to see him.

"Who".

"There is a worship sticker here", Zheng Xuanli gave the worship sticker to Xiao Zheng.

took the sticker with one hand, Xiao Zheng was stunned, without him, this sticker was a bit heavy in his hand.

The surface of the worship paste is sealed with Shu brocade, look at the pattern on the top but not gaudy, after opening it found that the two-sided version is made of agarwood, the thin plate exudes an elegant aroma, and the surrounding area is inlaid with a circle of patterns, this pattern is really pinched out with gold wire! Then a few words were carved on the board with mutton fat white jade: Shuzhong Ba Zhong Shi.

The whole worship sticker is expensive and vulgar, Xiao Zheng estimated it, and the worship sticker alone is worth twenty times!

"It seems that this guy looking for you is a rich master," Yan Liben said as he looked at Bai Tie.

"Let him in," Xiao Zheng said to Zheng Xuanli

After a while, I saw a young man in his thirties go in, this person looks average, but his steps are calm, and wearing clothes made of Shu brocade on his body does not make people feel that there is an upstart appearance, but this person is very temperamental, and his gestures set off a sense of luxury.

Ba Zhongshi went to a few people in the pavilion, saluted Xiao Zheng and said: "Ba Zhongshi, a small businessman in Shu, has seen the Duke of Yuguo and His Royal Highness the King of Wei", and after giving a salute to the two, he bowed to Yan Liben and made a bow.

"I know who you are, why did you finally come out to see me this time? Why didn't you come before? Xiao Zheng sat at the stone table, and the carving knife in his hand did not stop and asked.

"Huh?!" One sentence stopped Ba Zhongshi, he had repeatedly thought about many possibilities to talk to Xiao Zheng before he came, but he didn't expect this guy to come so directly and straight to the point.

Ba Zhongshi reacted quickly, but he was stunned for a moment and said with a smile: "I didn't come here before because I was a Shu merchant and had no contact with the local merchants in Hangzhou. Now that the adults have made the salt, if I don't come again, I'm afraid I won't use it again, but I'm afraid that the adults will rob my family of my family's jobs, so I came because I was afraid."

For an extremely smart person like Xiao Zheng, it's best to tell the truth.

Sure enough, Ba Zhongshi made the right bet.

"You're also a smart person, sit down," he said, putting down the carved bamboo tube in his hand and pointing to the stone bench opposite.

After sitting down, each of the three adults had a bamboo tube in front of them, and Hongyu brought a tin can, and after opening it, a small handful of tea leaves were sandwiched in each tube with a bamboo clip, and the hot water entered the bamboo tube and the tea leaves quickly stretched out.

"Before the Ming Dynasty, Junshan Silver Needle, my Ba Mou is a good mouthful," Ba Zhongshi praised after only taking a sip.

"How about this tea?" Xiao Zheng asked.

"Of course, it's just that the production of this tea is very small, and most of it was shipped to Chang'an, and the villain was fortunate enough to buy some, but the adult's tea is much more valuable than the villain's salt."

"But your salt makes a lot more money than my tea," Xiao Zheng said with a smile.

"My lord, although the price of your salt is not high, the profit is much more than that of the villain", Ba Zhongshi also replied.

The two looked at each other and laughed.

Seeing that the atmosphere eased down, Ba Zhongshi took out a letter from his sleeve, held it in both hands and handed it to Xiao Zheng and said: "My lord, this is a letter from the villain's mother to the adult, Jiaci is now old, if the adult is on time, I would like to invite the adult to Shuzhong to talk about it, so that the villain's whole family can enter the friendship of the landlord."

Xiao Zheng opened the letter and saw that it was only a few lines, and the general idea was not much different from what Ba Zhongshi said.

"Okay, please go back to the old lady, and say that Xiao will leave soon, and Jiannan Dao is also in Xiazhidi, and it really shouldn't be if you haven't been there."

"The adults are quick to talk, and the villains are extremely admired" Ba Zhongshi saw that Xiao Zheng agreed so happily, and stood up with some joy and saluted Xiao Zheng again.

Seeing that the goal was achieved, Ba Zhongshi chatted for a while and prepared to leave.

After getting up, Xiao Zheng picked up a carved bamboo tube, handed it to Ba Zhongshi and said, "Your worship sticker looks worth a lot of money, presumably the gift is also placed outside, and I will give you a gift back." This bamboo tube is not valuable, but the painting on the tube is okay, and the person who carved this painting is sitting next to you, and his name is Yan Liben."

Yan Liben just wanted to open his mouth to come back, but was glared at by Xiao Zheng and didn't dare to say anything.

After Xiao Zheng finished speaking, Ba Zhongshi immediately stuffed the bamboo tube in his hand into his arms, and was polite to Yan Liben again.

Sending Ba Zhongshi to the door, Xiao Zheng said: "Go back and talk to the old lady, I will leave for Shuzhong soon."