The sky is dark and the clouds are dark, the snow is flying in the sky, and the wind is blowing and dyeing the appearance.

On the twenty-sixth day of the second lunar month of the first year of Kaiyuan, just after the third day of the new year, the fourth snow of winter fell suddenly, and this snow was a little bigger than the previous ones, falling one by one, like confetti.

Cheng Lingxiang, the county magistrate, was the busiest this day, not only to arrange the affairs of the yamen, but also to help sell cucumbers, and the accumulated cucumbers of more than 5,000 catties were to be sold in the next few days, which were all transported by Song Jinggong one after another these days.

In addition to these cucumbers to be sold, there are also 200 catties left for Cheng County Order, and it is not up to others to give them to whom.

By noon, Cheng Lingxiang put on his official uniform and led a group of men to a warehouse in the county.

As the door of the warehouse creaked open, countless baskets made of bamboo appeared in front of him, Cheng Lingxiang knew that this was the cucumber that had been processed with some preservation methods, the older ones were more than ten days old, and the fresh ones had just arrived this morning.

"Your Excellency, you called us here just to see these baskets?" Zhang Mingsheng, the county leader of Sanshui County, asked what others thought in their hearts.

Cheng Lingxiang shook his head mysteriously, and pointed to one of the baskets with his hand, "Let's open the basket personally." ”

Naturally, someone over there stepped forward and carefully opened a basket in front of him, and what appeared in front of him was a layer of silk, and he looked back at the county magistrate, and at his signal, he lifted this layer of silk, and suddenly screamed uncontrollably.

I saw that there were cucumbers with thorns on the top of the silk neatly stacked under the silk, and when I looked back at the snow that was still drifting outside, this person felt that he had not mistaken the season, it was really winter, but the cucumbers in front of him were not fake.

"Big, sir, cucumbers, this, these are cucumbers?" The man looked back at the prefectural magistrate and said with a slight stammer, as if he wanted to get affirmation from the prefectural magistrate's mouth.

"Well, it's cucumbers, these are, a total of more than 5,000 catties, auspicious from the sky, there is a village, and there is a new cucumber on the vine that should have died.

Cheng Lingxiang wanted this kind of result, when he saw the cucumber for the first time, it was the same when he knew the season, so it seemed that his surprise at the beginning was not too much, and so did others.

Other people in the yamen also stepped forward to take a look, one by one, they wanted to touch it with their hands, but they were afraid that they would get rid of the thorns and flowers on the cucumber, so they all took a deep breath to feel the taste of the cucumber.

Xian Cheng carefully pinched the tail of a cucumber with his hand, raised it in front of him to take a closer look, and then put his nose closer to smell it, and nodded, "Xiangrui, it is indeed Xiangrui, but I don't know which Zhuangzi appeared Xiangrui." ”

"Which Zhuangzi, don't be in a hurry at this time, you will know by then, now we still help the official to carry the cucumbers out, we will go to the street to sell, a pound of thirty wen, a maximum of five catties at a time, if you want to buy again, go to the back to line up."

Cheng County Ling didn't want to let others know about Zhangjia Zhuangzi's place now, and there would be some more cucumbers produced over there, in case someone went to investigate now, they would immediately kill all the cucumber seedlings, but it's a pity.

What you have to do at the moment is to help sell, thirty wen a pound is the price set by the master over there, I said it at the beginning, people without money will not enjoy this thing, you just sell ten wen a catty, or no one is willing to buy it, rich people don't care if it's ten or thirty wen.

This is still the price of today's day, let some people buy it back and taste it first, only take out the earliest two thousand catties to sell today, if it is not sold out, tomorrow it will be fifty Wen, the day after tomorrow will be eighty Wen, the day after tomorrow it will be one hundred Wen, the closer to the New Year, the higher the price.

"My lord, it doesn't seem good to do this, we are all court officials, go to sell vegetables, this will be impeached." When the county heard that these people had to sell cucumbers in person, he was a little embarrassed on his face, so he persuaded him on the side.

"How can we sell vegetables, we are selling auspicious rui, go and get the weighing, if you want the kind of energy to weigh a penny, carry out two thousand catties for the official, and move it to the gate of the yamen, where the official wants to promote auspiciousness for the imperial court."

Cheng Lingxiang also thought of this, and didn't mention the matter of selling vegetables at all.

"But my lord, this price is too expensive." The county is still a little hesitant.

Cheng Lingxiang glared at him, "What do you mean by selling?" If it is said to you to be sold, it is not sold to the outside world, it is to send, to send auspicious, those who pay for it are asking for auspiciousness, and you can ask for it for thirty wen a catty. ”

Understood, everyone else understood, the county magistrate had a beautiful hand, a reputation, and money, and the county had to admit that this was indeed a good excuse, and he put the idea on the money he sold, oh no, and gave away.

"My lord, I don't know how to ...... the money I got after I gave it away? Isn't it okay to give that Zhuangzi a little bit? ”

Cheng Lingxiang heard the words of the county and reflexively dodged a step, as if he was afraid of being affected by the county cheng, how could he dare to touch this money? He is not afraid of that Zhuangzi, he is worried about the master, the money adds up to a few hundred taels, and people are still waiting for the New Year, if they are really greedy for ink, the consequences will be .......

As soon as he thought of this, he glared at the county again, and said: "This money has to be given to the Zhuangzi, we are officials, just to promote the kindness of the court, with auspiciousness, and so on the 30th day, everyone will go out with me, that Zhuangzi is benevolent and righteous, and he took out a thousand stones of grain and a hundred quintals of vegetable oil for me to wait for the poor people in the county." ”

"My lord, I'll understand." The county is finally clear now, the county commander has already agreed with the Zhuangzi, and then he will help the county get auspicious and give him a chance to make political achievements.

Things must have happened, the people in the yamen moved, moved the basket of cucumbers out, put them on the carriage that followed outside, a basket of about fifty catties, a total of forty baskets, no need to be reminded by others, they consciously be careful, thirty wen, a cucumber can be exchanged for a few buckets of rice.

The snow outside has not stopped in the slightest, so that the weather is not so cold, four carts pulling cucumbers back to the door of the county office, someone has already taken the scale, ready to sell.

Are you worried that you won't be able to sell it, don't look at the expensive scary, eat cucumbers in winter, that's the only one, there are many rich people, and you're afraid that you won't be able to buy it?

It's just that these people all think that cucumbers are so expensive, and if they buy two catties at home, they are willing to eat them.

"Well, the people on the Zhuangzi said, you and the officials are governing the people in the county, and the hard work is high, and when it is sold out on the twenty-ninth day of the lunar month, each person can bring five catties of cucumbers home, and taste it fresh for the New Year."

Cheng Lingxiang seemed to know the thoughts of his subordinates, and said it slowly, and at the same time sighed that Zhangjia Zhuangzi would be a man, and he was like this last time when he gave himself silver, and this time it was like this.

When everyone heard this, they were all happy, and at the same time they were surprised by the generosity of the Zhuangzi, the entire yamen, adding up to more than 100 people, directly sent so much, and when they knew which Zhuangzi it was, they should help when there was something.

Cheng Lingxiang looked at the expressions of his subordinates with satisfaction, and continued: "That Zhuangzi also said that it is not enough to have vegetables, and each person will take home three catties of vegetable oil and five catties of carrots, and the carrots should be fried in oil after they go back, saying that it is good for the body, don't eat them with other radish, let alone drink and eat." ”

Everyone nodded, of course they knew the carrots and vegetable oil, especially how to eat carrots, someone had already said when they were selling, drinking and eating was actually nothing, but it was possible to get sick.

Similarly, the price of these two things is not cheap, especially the carrot, twenty wen a catty, sold a little every day to the restaurant, so it seems that the vegetable oil, cucumber, hot sauce, and carrots should all come from a family, Zhangjia Zhuangzi.

This time they all guessed it, but look at the eyes of the county magistrate, as well as the benefits they got this time, they all chose to forget, they are not stupid, they know that as soon as this matter spreads, Zhangjia Zhuangzi will be unhappy, Zhuangzi will not be happy, do they still want things in the future?

Cheng Xianling regretted it after speaking, people had already told him, and on the last day, he talked about the carrots and vegetable oil he was given, but he couldn't hold back for a while, and when he saw that his subordinates seemed to understand, he had to add:

"It's not easy for the people in the Zhuangzi, wait for the twenty-nine to send things to you together, go home and take them out for the family to taste, and those who have relatives and friends can also eat a variety of dishes during the meal."

This is very clear, you can go home to show off, and you can't say Zhuangzi to relatives and friends, so everyone naturally nods and agrees.

After dealing with these, a basket with cucumbers was opened, and the officials in the yamen did not need to command, but directly shouted, "Xiangrui, I am Xiangrui, the cucumbers in winter, the villagers have come to see them, and you can invite them to your home for thirty wen and one catty." ’

Buying cucumbers in the winter at the yamen gate is fresh, and as soon as I shouted out, a lot of people came up to watch.

******

"Xiaobao, you don't put a little fire, it's too powerful, come and help me make twists." In Zhangjiazhuang, Wang Juan and Zhang Xiaobao found a very remote room and were making firecrackers with pomegranates in it.

It was snowing outside, the sky was cloudy, and the room was a little dark, but I didn't dare to light a single lamp, and all the tables and stools in the room were removed, and there were only four walls and a flat piece of land.

There was cut paper on the ground, and there were some things mixed evenly with sulfur, saltpeter, and charcoal, and the pomegranate rolled a little more powder into the larger paper, and Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan wrapped the powder into some narrow paper, wrapped one outside, and rolled some powder on it.

Zhang Xiaobao helped Wang Juan get a few, and then went to roll firecrackers, rolled a lot of them in one, and put them in them, and was pulled back by Wang Juan and continued to make twists.