Although Na Jiuye looks a little picky and searching on weekdays, after eating the casserole mat in the cheap house, and then crying all the way to let Xiang Youbao drag him home, he called Xiang Youbao, who had just finished cleaning up the yard and walking around, into his house early the next morning.

With a pair of red eyes, Na Jiuye moved out the small wooden box containing the ocean in front of the leopard, reached out and took out a few handfuls of the ocean from the small wooden box, and sprinkled it on the kang mat: "Send twenty oceans to your uncle's family, fifty catties of white noodles, and then cut ten catties of good meat with your hands!" ”

agreed, Xiang Youbao easily pulled a half-old quilt from the side of the kang mat and used it as a furoshi, stretched out his arm and swept all the ocean that Na Jiuye had sprinkled on the kang mat into the furoshiki, and then looked up and said to Na Jiuye: "Is that a good day to invite someone with a piggyback?" ”

Nodding heavily, Na Jiuye reached out and rubbed his red eyes: "This thing has to be done too!" It's just that I'm still a little guilty in my heart - on the day we light the cannon and poke the flag, will someone really come to the door and beg us to serve something? Yesterday, everyone at the banquet said that he was dead, and for ten days, he couldn't earn money to support his family, so your uncles could just do it."

patted his chest firmly, and said with a smile to the nervous Na Jiuye: "Uncle Shi, you can put your heart in your stomach!" You don't wonder who you are. The head of the fire main gate, the insect king in the autumn insect meeting in the forty-nine city! We don't have to bother to put it, you just need to put the hairpin pot on the offering table in the hall to worship the ancestors, and a lot of people will come in and beg you to take a look at the things in their hands! When the time comes, whether you can be busy or not, then let's talk about it! ”

Tie the wrapping skin full of ocean to his waist, and the leopard didn't say anything to the still nervous Na Jiuye, and turned around and walked out of the door of Na Jiuye's room.

The autumn wind swept by, and in the courtyard that had just been cleaned, there were a few more yellow leaves falling with the wind. Looking at Nalan who was holding a small dustpan to clean up the fallen leaves, Xiang Youbao bent down and picked up a few fallen leaves at his feet, and raised his hand to put the few fallen leaves into the small dustpan held by Nalan in his hand: "Senior sister is really a particular person!" In this weather, a gust of wind blew, and the newly cleaned yard was covered with another layer of leaves. According to the delicate strength of the junior sister, at the end of the day, she will do something else? ”

Slightly sideways his delicate face, Nalan glanced at the leopard: "You take care of the big things, and you also take care of the small things at home, can you still have it?!" It's a small north wind blowing today, and if the yard is not cleaned, the leaves of the trees will all be blown next to the well platform. When it rains again in the second half of the night, are you willing to drink the well water that smells of rotten leaves? ”

Looking up at the sky, Xiang Youbao suddenly smiled and said to Nalan: "I have to say that my junior sister is smart and virtuous!" In the future, if anyone marries a junior sister as a daughter-in-law, the ancestor must have burned high incense! ”

Straightened up suddenly, Nalan kicked Xiang Youleopard lightly and heavily, and said coquettishly: "I'll beat you up!" Brother Brother."

He didn't dodge and kicked Nalan, Xiang Youbao smiled and went back to his house to get a piece of clothing, and pushed a frame car from the corner of the yard, then turned his head and said to Nalan who was still cleaning up the fallen leaves in the yard: "I'll go out to do something, Uncle Shi will make some noodle soup at noon?" I saw that Uncle Shi had hurt his appetite by drinking yesterday and had to be nourished! ”

didn't look back, Nalan just responded softly to Xiang Youbao's words: "You don't have to worry about this!" Hurry back, I'm afraid there will be heavy rain in the second half of the day! ”

Agreeing neatly, Xiang Youbao pushed the cart out of the courtyard and walked straight to the grain shop on Zhushikou Street.

The food shops in Sijiu City have always had some unbelievable rules.

Black beans are not sold on the first day of the new year, sorghum is not sold on the tenth day of the new year, kidney beans are not sold on the fifteenth, and flour is not sold when the second dragon is raised on the second day of February

Even in the year of food shortage, they can't receive serious food and can't make a few deals, the grain shops in Sijiu City also abide by these old rules, and they don't dare to corrupt easily.

Seeing Xiang Youbao pushing the cart towards the grain store, the young man guarding the door of the grain shop immediately bowed his hand to Xiang Youbao and greeted him in a suppressed voice: "This master, what are you going to do?" It's a good day, don't avoid anything, there are no taboos! ”

Putting the shelf cart towards the door of the grain shop, Xiang Youbao raised his finger and pointed to the dough bucket made of fine bamboo strips in the grain shop: "Two hundred catties of white noodles, divided into four bags!" ”

agreed, the work of the grain shop swept away the shelf car put down by Xiang Youbao, and while signaling the other guys to weigh the grain for Xiang Youbao, he said to Xiang Youbao in a harmonious voice: "Look at you don't have a food bag, we will deal with a few food bags for you first, and you have to return it when it is empty." ”

As if suddenly realized, Xiang Youbao stretched out his hand and patted his head: "I really forgot about this stubble!" ”

There is no need to move the big scale in the grain shop, and under the dancing of the melon scoop in the hand of the young man who weighs the grain, four bags of white noodles have been placed next to the scale. After weighing the bags in front of Xiang Youbao, the little guy who weighed the grain scooped out a spoonful of white noodles with a melon scoop and put it into four pockets, and then said to Xiang Youbao in a harmonious voice: "Take care of you, the bags are safe and weighed!" ”

Looking at the guys in the grain shop, and then looking at the business style that was added to the name, Xiang Youbao couldn't help but applaud secretly in his heart.

It is said that the business in the city of Sijiu, each has its own craftsmanship, each has its own unique skills, and when you see it with your own eyes, you can understand what it means to do business in people's hearts!

After settling the accounts, he weighed some good pork belly meat on the meat case next to the grain store, and the leopard pushed the cart and walked straight towards the two brothers surnamed She.

I don't know if it's a coincidence or coincidence, the two brothers surnamed She are called She Youlu, and the younger brother is called She Youdao. Because the two brothers were born to gamble, they never had a few eldest sons in their hands, and they didn't have a family at the same age as Na Jiuye, so the two brothers lived together in a large compound to make do.

Seeing that Xiangyou Leopard sent these foods and the ocean came to the door, the She family brothers, who were nesting on the kang to grind Yangshou, suddenly came to their senses. First, he swept the grain jars that had been empty for a long time in the house and filled them with white noodles, and then borrowed firewood and salty salt from the people in the courtyard, and stewed the twenty catties of high-grade pork belly in front of everyone in the courtyard.

After looking at the vacancy, Xiang Youbao raised his hand and stuffed the prepared forty pieces of ocean into She Youlu's hand, lowered his voice and said to She Youlu, who was surprised: "Uncle She, this is the money that Uncle Na asked me to give you two of you, twenty yuan per person!" My uncle also said that if you two threw the forty pieces of ocean into the casino and bet on the crickets before the day of the cannon poke the flag at the main gate of the fire, then he would have to"

deliberately slowed down the speed of his words, and Xiang Youbao stared at She Youlu with a look of surprise on his face, and put on a look that he didn't dare to say anything.

Nodding his head playfully, She Youlu stuffed the forty pieces of ocean into his waist, and at the same time lowered his voice and smiled at Xiang Youbao: "My good nephew, reply to your uncle for me - from now on, until the day when the cannon is poked at the main gate of the fire, our two brothers are saying that they will not get a gambling word if they die!" If there is a word of falsehood, God will punish the snakes that my brothers are waiting for to turn into yellow eels and crickets into oil gourds! ”

Looking at She Youlu's sworn expression, and then looking at She Youdao's appearance of staring at the five flowers in the pot that was gradually changing color, Xiang Youbao forced the smile surging in his heart, hugged his fists and walked out of the compound after saying goodbye to the two brothers of the She family, and walked towards an alley not far from the courtyard.

As soon as I approached the small alley, a fishy smell unique to yellow skin had already hit my nose. When I looked up at the rusty street sign at the mouth of the small alley, I couldn't help but laugh in surprise - this little alley is really called Huangpizi Hutong?!

The alley is shallow and narrow, and there are two or three families living there. From the open and dilapidated gate, the families were all hanging in the courtyard with the skins of all kinds of wild animals, and most of them were yellow. The fishy smell and stench that permeate the air, the more you go to the depths of the alley, the thicker it becomes, and it can almost make people vomit!

Pushing the frame car and stopping at the door of a family at the end of the alley, there is a leopard before he has time to say hello, the hidden courtyard door has suddenly opened, revealing a thin man who is holding a freshly dried leather in his arms, and is about to go out.

Hurriedly put down the rack car in his hand, and Xiang Youbao hugged his fist towards the thin man surnamed Xie: "Uncle Hu, Uncle Na let me"

Before Xiang Youbao could finish speaking, a hoarse scolding voice came from the courtyard: "Hu Qianli, you kill a thousand knives!" If you don't come back with the money today, you won't even want to enter the door of the old lady! The old lady was also a well-known little name in the Bada Hutong Girls' School book back then, and she was blind to marry you as a master who catches weasels and rats! Over the years, Sensei said that he got a little benefit from you, and even the little bit of the old lady's dowry made you ruined."

A trace of imperceptible embarrassment flashed on Mu Na's face, and Hu Qianli closed the courtyard door with his backhand, and whispered to Xiang Youbao: "This is what Senior Brother Na asked you to send?" ”

Nodding silently, Xiang Youbao raised his hand and grabbed a bag of white noodles, and then took advantage of the situation to lift a piece of pork belly fat in the other hand: "I'll send you home for Uncle Hu?" ”

Without waiting for Hu Qianli to speak, the courtyard door that had just been closed had been slammed open again, and a woman with a bloated and abnormally bloated face with a big cake face only saw the white face with a leopard on her shoulder, and immediately opened her voice and shouted: "Okay, you Hu Qianli, how many private rooms are you hiding behind your mother's back?" Look at the white flour, meat, how many oceans do you have to buy it?! You told my mother that you came back drunk last night, which good place did you go to? Which good nest do you plan to send this white flour and meat to? I said? I'm going out in a hurry today, and I've been making trouble for a long time."

In the chattering and shouting, the official powder on the face of the bloated woman's big cake fell like snowflakes, and the already somewhat scattered bun was completely spread out, and it looked like a dominatrix.

Squirming his lips, Hu Qianli wanted to speak several times, but he was blocked by the snarky scolding of the sassy woman.

Seeing Hu Qianli's embarrassed and embarrassed appearance, Xiang Youbao couldn't help but raise his hand to put the noodle pocket back on the rack car, and whispered to Hu Qianli: "Uncle Hu, if it's inconvenient for you here, then I'll come back later?" ”

Although the scolding in her mouth was renovated, the bloated woman's ears were very sensitive, and as soon as she heard Xiang Youbao's words, she immediately stopped scolding and shouted at Xiang Youbao: "You call him uncle? Then you are"

lowered his eyelids, and Xiang Youbao didn't look at the bloated woman, but just shouted in a low voice: "Apprentice in the main gate of Huo, come to deliver something to Uncle Hu's house!" ”

Her eyes, which were almost squeezed by the fat, lit up, and the bloated woman suddenly came to her senses: "Fire the main gate? Isn't the main gate of the fire already scattered? Something delivered to your door? ”

Still lowering his eyes, Xiang Youbao replied in a muffled voice: "The entrance of the main gate of the fire is reopened, and I respectfully invite Uncle Hu to return to the hall to teach art and train things!" This little thing was sent to Uncle Hu by Na Jiuye, the head of the Huozheng Gate."

After struggling to remove the fat body blocking the courtyard gate, the bloated woman suddenly shouted one after another: "Then what are you delaying? Send it in! You're a little apprentice in the main gate of fire, right? Do you have any eyesight?! It is said that when you are an apprentice, you have to pour urine jars for the master and wash clothes for the master's wife, and it just so happens that there are still some unpicked up in my yard."

As soon as she raised her eyes, a sharp look suddenly flashed in the leopard's eyes, which suddenly made the bloated woman involuntarily close her mouth.

Ignoring the bloated woman standing by the door, Xiang Youbao raised his noodle pocket again and walked towards the courtyard, and said to Hu Qianli who was standing beside him: "The head still has something to say - if Uncle Hu feels uncomfortable living at home, there is a house at the entrance of the main gate of the fire, and Uncle Hu will pick it himself." Not to mention how good it is to live, and to be clean! In the future, the things that should be distributed to Uncle Hu in the main gate of the fire will only be sent to Uncle Hu, and they will not hinder others! ”

Seeing that the bloated woman standing by the door was about to say something again, Xiang Youbao stepped on a broken brick in the courtyard with a slam kick: "If someone dares to make trouble with Uncle Hu, Uncle Hu, you are benevolent and tolerant, and we juniors are very hot!" If this is a walkway, if you are careless, you will trample to death a half-hum! ”

In the sneer, I didn't see how hard Xiang Youbao worked, and the broken brick on the ground had already made Xiang Youbao step on it and sink into the hard Sanhe soil!

Ignoring the frightened bloated woman, Xiang Youbao put down the things in hand on the stone table in the courtyard, turned around and walked out of the courtyard, and respectfully bowed his hand to Hu Qianli, who was standing in front of the door: "Uncle Hu, is this going out?" Let the nephew wait for you to go? ”

Nodding slightly, Hu Qianli raised his legs and walked towards the mouth of the alley. Hearing that Xiang Youbao chased after him with a frame car, Hu Qianli lowered his voice and threw a sentence at Xiang Youbao without looking back: "I told you to see a joke!" Hehe, I'm an uncle, and I have to rely on my nephew to stand out for me."

Pulling the frame car and walking a few steps, Xiang Youbao and Hu Qianli walked side by side, holding the handrail of the frame car with one hand, but the other hand took out twenty oceans from his waist and handed it to Hu Qianli beside him: "This is also what Uncle Na asked me to send to you." ”

He easily carried the ocean handed over by Xiang Youbao into his arms, but the look on Hu Qianli's face remained unchanged at all: "Thank you, Senior Brother Na for me!" I'll just go for a walk, you go and do your business! ”

didn't care about Hu Qianli's rejection of people thousands of miles away, Xiang Youbao still politely said goodbye to Hu Qianli, and then pulled the fluttering frame car and walked towards a grass hut at the base of the city wall.

It is said that it is difficult to leave the homeland, and many people in Sijiu City who are poor to the roots, after being forced to sell their houses, are still reluctant to leave the Sijiu City where they grew up in Sijiu City, and they also stick to the roots of the deserted city wall, a few miscellaneous wooden stakes and a few bundles of wheat straw, and build a shack to live.

The longer the days go, even the patrol officers of the patrol police station in Sijiu City saw that the sky came to drive people, and even lit fire to the grass hut a few times. But before the smoke and dust of the burning hut cleared, those who had just been driven away had already rushed to the burned home, searching through the hot ashes for everything that could still be used. Within a day or two, rows of straw huts reappeared on the charred earth!

Following the winding and narrow road, the leopard jumped to avoid the waterlogged potholes in the road and walked towards a grass hut that was three points lower than the others. Before he reached the grass hut, Xiang Youbao had already seen the burly figure of Xie Menshen.

What is the name of the god of Xiemen, even Na Jiuye can't say. I only remember that the senior brothers in the main gate of the fire saw that Xie Menshen was burly and terrifying, so he gave him such a nickname. There are many people who call it, and it has been a long time, but no one remembers the name of Xie Men God, or even no one knows, but when it comes to the fact that there were people looking for Xie Men God in the main gate of Huo, the big guys don't have to think about it, and they go straight to the one with the largest and highest stature, which is right!

With a few handfuls of wet firewood and grass in his hand, Xie Menshen curled up and squatted in front of the grass hut, holding a flint and pounding on the fire sickle, trying to ignite the firewood and grass with the little spark that was smashed out. But the lines engraved on the fire sickle had already been smoothed like a mirror, and the flint was even smaller as the size of a broad bean.

Annoyed, he threw the flint, which was only the size of a broad bean, and sat down on the ground, holding his bloody fingers in his mouth and sucking them, as if trying to stop the bleeding in this way. But after a few moments, the god of Shamon stood up again, picked up the flint the size of a broad bean that he had just thrown out, and smashed it helplessly on the fire sickle.

Looking at Xie Menshen's helpless actions from a distance, Xiang Youbao thought for a moment, turned around and dragged the fluttering cart and turned around and walked towards a grocery store near the left side of the grass hut.

Regardless of the price or quantity, Xiang Youbao bought almost everything he could think of and could use to live a life, and piled up a rack of carts, and then walked back towards the grass huts clustered together under the watchful eyes of the jaw-dropping grocery store shopkeeper.

In the sky, there was already a faint sound of thunder, and clusters of dark clouds began to gather together. As the swishing north wind gradually became stronger, the people living in the grass hut have begun to drill out of their own grass huts, and compete to press some stones and wooden strips from the grass huts that they have received on weekdays. Some of the people who lived in the huts obviously did not even prepare stones and sticks of wood, but just sat outside the huts where they were accommodated, watching as the little north wind gradually blew away the wheat grass stored on the huts

Stepping up, Xiang Youbao almost pushed the fully loaded cart all the way, rushed straight to the grass hut built by Xie Menshen, and shouted to Xie Menshen who was stomping his feet in a hurry: "Uncle Xie, Uncle Na asked me to send it to you"

Before Xiang Youbao finished speaking, a thunder suddenly sounded in mid-air, and the sound of Xiang Youbao shouting at his throat was annihilated. As the thunder faded away, raindrops the size of beans fell from the sky, smashing on the bodies of Xiangyoubao and Xie Menshen dots and stars.

Anxiously pricking his hands, Xie Menshen looked at the cart sent by Xiang Youbao at a loss, and then turned his head to look at the wisps of wheat grass on the grass hut that had been blown away by the strong wind, and stamped his feet incoherently and shouted: "This senior brother is benevolent and righteous to my shack, and my daughter-in-law is sick, but she can't stand the rain!" ”

At the sound of the shouts, Xie Menshen, who was obviously dazed, suddenly opened his arms and threw himself on the grass hut, trying to use his huge body to block the wind from blowing away the wheat straw!

Seeing that the pouring rain had fallen, Xiang Youbao looked at the few children who were constantly crying and squeezing out of the grass hut, and at the same time used a newly bought iron pot to buckle the bag of white noodles with his backhand, and shouted to Xie Menshen: "Uncle Xie, you can't do it like this, we have to find a place for the children and aunts to shelter from the rain!" ”

As soon as the words fell, a half-grown girl who came out of the grass hut was already crying and grabbing Xie Menshen's trouser leg: "Daddy, my mother has passed, and her body is like a charcoal on her body, and it is terrifyingly hot!" ”

didn't care about anything else, Xiang Youbao picked up a few children who were crying on Xie Menshen's trouser legs and put them on the shelf car, turned his head and yelled at Xie Menshen: "Uncle Shi, where is there a medical pharmacy near here?" Don't care about the sidelines, it's important to treat the teacher first! ”

Staring blankly at a pair of eyes, Xie Menshen, whose mind was almost blank, subconsciously responded: "Walking out two streets towards the south, it looks like there is a pharmacy."