Chapter 23: Star Chart (Part II)

"Let him be an apprentice?" The boss Chang Fugui was stunned, and his eyes suddenly widened like eggs.

He himself has been an apprentice without paying since he was seven or eight years old, and he has been working for ten years before he climbed to the position of Hanyuan's chief man. The sweat and grievances that have been paid are unimaginable. And no matter how you look at it, my younger brother doesn't seem to be able to endure hardships, and if he really goes to be a primary school apprentice, it is estimated that he will have to be swept out of the house by the shopkeeper in less than half a month.

Chang Shou didn't want his second child to follow the same path as the boss again, so he hesitated for a moment and echoed in a low voice, "Yes, grandpa, the current children, there are still a few apprentices." Either Baigong Technical School, or Huaiyang Business School, the tuition fee is not paid, and there will be wages after it comes out! ”

"The problem is that he has to die!" Chang Laosi slapped the lid of the pot so hard that he almost slapped the iron pot directly into the stove. "Those two schools, one is in Jiangwan and the other is in the old wharf. It means that he did not leave Yangzhou. In case someone in the yamen looks for him later, won't they catch one by one? It was decided that he would go to the field as an apprentice. Before you become an apprentice, you are not allowed to come back! ”

"This" is so long-lived and reluctant. But it's not wrong to think about your father's words, let the second child leave Yangzhou far away, at least he can avoid a lot of right and wrong. Maybe when he goes to the field, without any little rosette or Zhang Laifu's influence, he can still collect his thoughts!

Thinking of this, he turned his gaze to his eldest son Chang Fugui, and asked with a bit of begging: "Gou Yu'er, can you arrange this matter?" If it doesn't work, I'll kill two chickens in Ming'er, and talk to Shopkeeper Zhao in person! Although the second child is not angry, after all, the palms and backs of his hands are full of meat. I, as a father, can't watch him being caught by the yamen digging stones! ”

Chang Fugui has always been filial, and he couldn't bear to see his father embarrassed, so he sighed and responded in a low voice. "Alas! You've got it all said, what else can I say? I guess I can! It's just that you have to explain to him that when you get down there, don't mess around in my name. Otherwise, not only will he have to be brought back by the shopkeeper, but I, who is an elder brother, will also have to be implicated! ”

"Okay, okay!" Chang Shou also felt that this matter was very difficult for his eldest son, so he quickly nodded again and again.

"Then let's eat first! Early tomorrow morning, I will tell Shopkeeper Zhao about it. It just so happened that our firm opened a branch in Jiangning in Jiqing, so let him go over there, it's not too far. It's just a water separation, and one day my mother and you miss him, so I'll take a boat directly! Chang Fugui sighed softly again and said in a low voice.

The three grandparents and grandchildren all lost their talking sex for a while. Serve the steamed fresh fish to the table with a sullen head, sit down and eat. When everyone had almost eaten, Chang Shou put down the dishes and chopsticks, and talked to his wife Liu about arranging for his youngest son to go to Jiangning as an apprentice in a shop. When the Liu family heard this, of course, one hundred and twenty were not happy. However, Chang Wuwu himself, but suddenly felt that the bird was out of the cage and the fish returned to the sea, so he immediately jumped up, slapped his face and shouted: "I'll go, I'll go." Grandpa, you've done a great thing this time. It's boring in social studies! The instructor doesn't say anything with a coffin face every day, and he has to study for four years before he can graduate! After graduating, he was not given an errand, and he had to go to the county school. After three years of county schooling, you have to go to the school entrance examination. Once admitted, it's another three years. Before and after, more than ten years have been in it. If you go to be an apprentice, as long as you survive the first two years, you can get a salary! ”

"Bullshit!" Chang Shou raised his slap and hugged his son's buttocks, counting loudly. "Just know the money! If you don't do your job properly, you may have to ask someone to send it back. At that time, see what face you have to enter this house! ”

"Either push it hard or don't do it!" Chang Laosi glared at his son, and slapped his chopsticks on the table heavily, "It's decided, send him away as soon as possible." A loving mother is a loser, and if she lets him follow you, I don't know what kind of virtue he will become accustomed to! ”

With that, he put his hands behind his back and snorted back to the back room.

Seeing this, Liu knew that she couldn't make her husband change his mind anymore. Suddenly his heart hurt, and he hugged the second child in his arms, with tears in his eyes.

Chang Shou glared at his wife and scolded in a low voice, "What are you crying for?" If you really let him continue to fool around behind Zhang Laifu, there will be times when you can't cry! Jiang Ning is only a day and a half of water journey, you miss him, when can't you go over to see him? There are special passenger boats on the pier, which run three times a day. It's not that our family can't afford the boat now! ”

Although the words were hard, after all, there was still some reluctance in my heart. So, I had to pull my youngest son over again and tell him carefully. Then it is to prepare clothes, shoes and socks for the four seasons, and to prepare pocket money on the road and the expenses of ordinary life. From that time, the husband and wife worked until midnight for four consecutive nights. It wasn't until the fifth day that the boss asked for the apprentice's quota back, and set a cargo ship that could go to Jiangning with the merchant for free, that he reluctantly put his heart into his stomach.

Early in the morning of the seventh day, Chang Laosi and others sent Chang Wuwu onto the cargo ship, and the family waved goodbye. The cargo ship, which had been modified with sails, took advantage of the north wind to slowly move south along the canal, and in a short time, sailed into the Yangtze River. Then he slammed the bow of the boat and slacked against the current towards the southeast.

It was the first time for Chang Wuwu to be so far away from home, and he was curious and excited about everything. So the journey didn't feel so difficult. After arriving in Jiangning, because he was the younger brother of Chang Fugui, the head of the general number, no one dared to really call him as a little apprentice. If there are any novelties, or fresh melons and fruits, but he must keep a copy. This made Chang Wuwu feel more and more that he had left home very correctly, and he had inexhaustible strength all over his body all day long.

However, after all, Jiangning City only fell into the hands of the Huai'an Army last year, and the prosperity of Cheng Dù was far inferior to Yangzhou. The means of entertainment after tea and dinner are even more different from the former. When the freshness of the first ten days passed, Chang Wuwu soon felt bored. Unconsciously, some of the habits of passing the days in Yangzhou City in the past have returned.

Fortunately, before leaving, the family brought enough coils in his bag. And the mother and grandfather hid it from each other, and each secretly stuffed a lot of pocket money in private. So for a while, he was loose on his hands. So, after finishing work every day, it was either a teahouse or a boat, and the life was better than that of the shopkeeper.

In the evening, I was drinking tea in a teahouse with a few new friends. But I heard someone at the next table stand up and shout loudly: "Fellow fathers and fellow villagers, I won't spend it next week, but I am a person from Dangshan in Zhongshu Province." It is the Dangshan where Xiao He, the prime minister of the Han Dynasty, lives. Ziyang Academy graduated, to the thirteenth year, that is, the year before last, the seventh in the township test"