Seeing that winter was about to begin, Liu Wen didn't come out to look for trouble, which made Su Ren very comfortable.

Shu County is close to the south, and snow is a bit unlikely. After a few cold rains, a cold westerly wind blew down from the plateau and poured into the house, blowing the flames in the brazier from side to side. Even if I put on thick clothes, I still don't want to go out because of the cold.

For agrarian societies, winter is a season of rest. The water in the paddy fields has been cleared, and the thick silt is exposed to the sun, absorbing the sun's rays and preparing them for next year's planting. The dry fields on the hillside have also been renovated, revealing dark raw soil.

Laojunguan is very lively, and the salt sellers who come and go are checking out to get salt. Today's official salt career is on the right track, everyone has their own things to do, as the big boss Su Ren just stood aside and watched.

Su Ren is also very comfortable in this county, and he doesn't need to go to the county government to report for work, so that he can run dozens of miles less every day, and Su Ren can be regarded as picking up an old life.

An ox cart walks slowly and leisurely on the path, one old and one young. The driver was a teenager, and although his gray robe was old, it was very clean. There was no shed in the carriage, and an old man grabbed the gang with both hands and swayed from side to side as the car swayed. While walking, you can enjoy the scenery of Wenling. In winter, the leaves did not fall off completely. The leaves left behind are either yellow or red due to nutritional deficiencies, which has a different kind of interest.

Unlike other places, the roads are sparsely populated. This road to Laojunguan is so lively. There is an endless stream of people going up and down the mountain, and the people who go up the mountain are in a hurry. The people who came down the mountain walked happily. Carrying or carrying, some even used carts to pull, bags of goods pressed by the ox cart creaked. Both the uphill and the downhill have smiles on their faces.

"Laifu, how far is it?" The old man in the car had already seen the eaves of the trees in the distance, and it must have been not far away.

The young man who was driving the car hurriedly replied: "Taishou, you can bear with it for a while, and you will arrive soon, and you will already see the eaves in front of you." ”

"I didn't tell you, don't call me Taishou, this time we came out secretly, just call me sir."

Rifle smiled: "Got it, sir!" ”

The old man in the car looked at the people on the side of the road and asked, "These should be the people who took salt from that old gentleman's view, right?" Looking at them, I seemed to feel very happy, how did I hear that our salt merchants there are all sad. ”

"How can there be such a thing, Mr. must have heard it wrong, our salt merchants there have made a fortune one by one by relying on official salt, and they are all big families, but they have been having a hard time recently."

"Also, since the warm water cloth bag salt of Shu County entered our Chengdu, those black-hearted salt merchants are really not happy, whether it is from the quality or price of salt, they have no advantage, who can be happy if they have no money to make? Even if I don't come, without the salt tax, our government can't open the pot. ”

"Huh!" Laifu smiled: "Sir, this is a joke, regardless of whether the salt tax accounts for 10% of the tax, we people can eat good salt and thank God." ”

The old man said angrily: "Listening to what you say, it seems that I am not doing well as an official? ”

"Sir, didn't you just say it, here you are either an official, or a gentleman."

The old man laughed: "It's my fault, you're right, today we are just going to take a look at this Wenshui man who makes the people of Shu County grateful to Dade." ”

The ox cart had just turned a corner, and it was still far away from Lao Junguan, when a market suddenly appeared in front of him. Because there are many vendors who come to Laojunguan every day to get salt, the people in the vicinity set up pots and stoves here, boil some gruel, and make two pieces of bread to sell. Slowly, there are more people coming, and there are more people doing business, and the specialties nearby, such as rice wine, fungus, snacks, and wild vegetables, are all sold here.

Laifu helped the old man to the outermost shed, and the words "big bowl of tea" were particularly eye-catching. If you look at the name, you can tell that it should be tea soup for sale. Tea is produced in the south, and Sichuan is an important production area of tea. Since ancient times, the Sichuan people have had the custom of drinking tea. According to legend, the origin of drinking tea can be traced back to the period of the Yellow Emperor, and it is recorded in the Shennong Materia Medica that tea has various wonderful uses such as detoxification and brightening the eyes, and invigorating the blood. It's just that in the Han Dynasty, there were many names for tea, and Tucao was the most orthodox one.

An old man and a young man had just finished making it, when a weak little girl came over with a large copper kettle, put two thick bowls in front of them, and poured pale yellow water from the copper kettle.

The old man glanced at the bowl and asked with a smile, "Little girl, what is this?" ”

"The tea is a special tea made by my master Su Xiancheng, but it is delicious, and ordinary people don't give it yet!"

The old man smiled: "It seems that I am not an ordinary person?" ”

A good deed person at the side table hurriedly explained: "You two are not from the local area, right?" This thing is the water soaked in the grass, and I don't know what this Su Xianzuo thinks, there is nothing in it, the first drink is bitter and unpalatable, but the aftertaste is sweet and refreshing, the old gentleman can taste it, and you can't forget it after drinking. ”

Laifu hurriedly hugged his fists and thanked him: "I have also drunk this herbal soup, shouldn't I add some ingredients to it?" What is there to drink in such a clear soup? ”

The man smiled and said, "This little brother, you don't understand, let's taste it first and then say this!" ”

The old man had already picked up the thick bowl, put it to his mouth and smelled it, and sure enough, a faint aroma penetrated his nostrils. I drank it gently, it was bitter and unbearable, and I was about to open my mouth to spit it out, when suddenly there was a burst of sweetness in my throat and eyes, and when I swallowed a sip of tea, the taste in the whole mouth was very strange, and the aroma, bitterness, and sweetness constantly stimulated his nerves. The old man slowly closed his eyes and kept reminiscing.

Seeing the enjoyment on the old man's face, the man smiled again and said, "Not bad, right? Isn't it much better than those herb soups? ”

The old man nodded: "Not bad, bitter with sweet, bitter first and then sweet, the mouth is full of fragrance, and there is a sign of enlightenment between breaths, it is indeed a good thirst-quenching thing, this is the original taste of grass." ”

The little girl cocked her mouth and stretched out a hand to stand in front of the old man. Laifu was a little puzzled, and the man said, "Sir, don't you give a few rewards for such a good thing?" You must know that in this place, even if the prefectural order comes, you have to pay. ”

"Pay for a bowl of water?"

The old man glanced at the little girl: "It's okay to give some money for such a thirst-quenching thing." ”

Laifu was very reluctant to take out a few coins from his cuffs and throw them on the table, picking up the tea bowl and drinking it dry. His face was blue from the bitterness, and it took a lot of effort to swallow it. The little girl was not angry, she picked out two of the handfuls of money, and said, "My master said, one dollar per person, not much!" He turned around and went to greet the others with the copper kettle.

The little girl is very diligent, whenever she sees someone coming, she immediately sends the tea bowl to her, who has no water in the tea bowl, and hurriedly continues, and she is busy all over again. There are a lot of praises, and the little girl is diligent and sensible. All tea drinkers are more regular, no matter if the little girl is not there, when she leaves, she puts a money next to the tea bowl.

After drinking the tea, the old and the young continued to walk inside, there were really a lot of various foods on both sides of the path, many of which had not been seen before, not only vegetarian food, but also meat. Laifu likes to eat meat, so he ruthlessly spent two dollars to buy a piece of cooked meat. When asked, it turned out to be pork, which made Laifu very angry, and began to reason with the shopkeeper at the top of his throat. The people around him looked at it with a smile on their faces and didn't interfere.

The shopkeeper looked at Laifu, and waited for Laifu to shout almost before he arched his hand and said: "This little brother, this is cheap meat, but I have no intention of pheating you, how about you taste it?" If you don't like it, how about giving you this meat and returning the two dollars to you? ”

When the businessman said such a thing, the old man was quite curious, and he tore off a piece of the meat in Fu's hand and stuffed it into his mouth. Although there are not a few teeth left, the taste of this meat is very different. Not only does it not have the smell of mutton, but it also does not smell of pork, it is softer than beef and sweeter than horse meat. After eating, he said: "The boy is a good craft, and it is a miracle that this cheap meat can be made so delicious." ”

The meat seller waved his hand again and again: "Mr. praised it falsely, the villain doesn't have this ability, this stall was opened by the villain and Su Xianzuo together, his recipe is just my craft, and those who have the ability are also people." ”

The old man nodded and looked around: "Presumably, all the strange food in this place came from the hands of this Su County Zuo?" ”

The meat seller said with a smile: "Almost, anyone who passes through Suxian Zuoti will definitely not have a bad business." ”

Leave the meat stall and continue inside. The entrance of Laojunguan was crowded. A half-sized boy carrying a pike dart walked back and forth in the crowd, and those who wanted to squeeze in didn't say a word and picked up their own pike dart twice. The person who was beaten was not angry, he smiled, turned around and walked out. There are two teams in total, one in and one out, which seems to be well organized.

The old man sighed with emotion: "There are no rules, there is no circle, it seems that this Su Xianzuo does have some ability." ”

Laifu re-wrapped the uneaten meat and stuffed it into a cloth bag: "Sir, shall we go in now?" ”

The old man shook his head: "It's the busiest time for people to visit now, and you have to find a free time for the host, so we'll wait and see." ”

Laifu nodded, and the two of them found a stall selling porridge at the door of Laojunguan, and each asked for a bowl of porridge to drink while waiting. Seeing that the sun had turned west, the two long dragons at the gate of the old monarch had no intention of shortening at all. Laifu wanted to go in and find out that Su Xianzuo several times, and he had never seen anyone who dared to despise his own husband. But the old man didn't nod, and Laifu didn't dare.

It was already time to hold the lamp, and a stout man came out of the door, and said to the people outside the door: "Everyone, it's late today, put salt until now, tomorrow you come early, you will definitely be able to get refined salt." The man apologized over and over again, and although the people outside the door were a little disappointed, they didn't have much atmosphere, and they turned around one by one and prepared to go down the mountain.

The crowd that had been waiting at the intersection for a long time hula hula gathered around. Their conversation was very clear, and those people invited salt merchants from other places to rest at his house, and naturally the process of bargaining was indispensable. Many of the salt merchants had already negotiated the price and followed the villagers.

Without waiting for the big man to close the door, Laifu hurriedly went over and said, "My husband came to visit Su County Zuo, I don't know if it is convenient for County Zuo?" ”

This book was first published from 17k, the first time to see the genuine content!