After Linqing, the ships arrived in Dezhou, followed by Cangzhou, Jinghai, and Tianjin. After Tianjin, it is commonly known as the North Canal, because this section of the riverbed is flat and wide, but it is very shallow, and now in summer and autumn, there is little rain, so Xu Xun's boat draft is not deep, but the ships of the Wei State Mansion in front of them are unloaded and loaded onto small barges, the original two boats suddenly became four, and the surname Suo hired a lot of slender men. Not only their line, but almost all the other cargo ships and merchant ships were like this, and they only listened to the trumpets of the boatmen on the shore, and even from time to time there were slender men who fell or fell into the water at the bends of the river or where the wind was strong and steep.

The river is difficult to walk, and this section of the road is crowded with boats coming and going, and it took five days to reach the short road. When the ship finally arrived at the Zhangjiawan Wharf in Tongzhou and finished unloading the goods, the old man who received the number, who was also in his early fifties, received the copper coin from the hand of a servant of the Duke of Wei, and immediately knelt down happily and kowtowed.

"All the way here, according to the market, they are all two and a half hangs, and they have been given three hangings to you, and you are not satisfied, are you?"

"Master, didn't you say it before, your cargo is loaded with two other ships, three cranes, and the one behind is a crane ......"

Before he finished speaking, the servant spat out: "Old fellow, I don't think we have ever been out, this fool, I have already inquired about the market." This is still for the sake of the hot day, give you a few more, and we didn't deduct a few, otherwise you think you can leave so many pockets? If you know each other, get out of here, otherwise the two sons above will start a fire, and you are good-looking! ”

Father Chen originally wanted to argue a thing or two, but it can be seen that the servant is full of arrogance, and he can only sigh and take the money back. He had only reached the middle of a few slender men, when he heard a shrill voice from behind him, and when he turned his head, he saw that it was a young servant he had seen on the boat behind him. The little servant was about thirteen or fourteen years old, and after he came over out of breath, he took out a silver horn and handed it over: "This is the young master's reward for you!" ”

Father Chen, who received the number, knew that there were nobles from the Wei Mansion in those ships, so he didn't dare to fight, and planned to think that he was unlucky, but he didn't expect to meet a fair lord this time. As soon as the silver horn passed through his hand, he usually said that he had collected more of these scattered silver coins, and he took out the weight, not to mention that there were one, two, three or four coins, not to mention this joy. Nowadays, these coins are made in different dynasties, and silver is no longer like before, it can only circulate secretly, and it can be used as much as possible on the surface, so it is expensive and cheap, and this small ingot of silver is the most lucrative in months.

"Thank you young master, thank you young master!"

Ruisheng couldn't help but be a little embarrassed when he saw that this old man was very grateful, but remembering the young master's command just now, he settled down, and opened his mouth to ask again: "Thank you, I don't need to ask you something, young master." ”

"If the young master has anything to say, the old man must know everything and say everything."

After receiving this generous reward, Father Chen was full of promises. Seeing this scene, Latham & Watkins said: "Young Master, let me ask you, see that you are not only in charge of fiber pulling, but this small barge also often transports goods, and what I want to come into contact with is all kinds of people, officials and businessmen. The young master came to the capital from Nanjing for the first time, and he was very curious, what was new and interesting, and he took advantage of the fact that the one who came to the capital to pick him up had not yet arrived, so he found someone who spoke eloquently to listen to it. ”

When Daddy Chen heard this, he immediately laughed. These sons of the family rarely go out, this is not the first time he has encountered this kind of request, but it is rare to be willing to reward so much. Therefore, he immediately picked Ah Bao, the grandson who had the most to deal with this kind of scene, to follow Ruisheng over, turned around and called several groups of slender men over, and after the three hanging money were divided, he said that the one on the boat behind him would go back and divide it again, and everyone was speechless for a while, not knowing that the old man could make hundreds of dollars as soon as he changed hands and exchanged money.

The young man brought by Ruisheng is named Bao, but in the thirteenth or fourteenth year, when he arrived at the tea shed where Xu Xun was resting, he regarded Xu Xun as the boy brother he had seen in the past, and his mouth was all kinds of strange and strange, but Xu Xun was not good at all, and he often asked about some business goods such as correspondents, although he didn't know why, but he could only have one answer. It wasn't until he found out that Xu Xun was easy-going and didn't have the frame of those sons, that he gradually put away his earlier fear, and said in a spitting voice. It's just that this slender man, like the coolies on the docks, is the lowest class in the canal industry, except for those peddlers, pawns, merchant travelers, and other small people, there is not much style. Rayson listened to it with relish, but Xu Xun couldn't help but sigh secretly.

At this level, there is still less information that people can get.

Just when Xu Xun was a little excited and was about to send Ah Bao away, Ah Bao seemed to see that Xu Xun was not very interested, racked his brains and thought for a while, and suddenly patted his thigh and said, "I almost forgot, there is another strange thing!" Just a month ago, the chief manager of Qi Yuma's family personally sent a group of people to Tianjin Wei to handle the goods, and it happened that grandpa took us back, so he took this business, and said that such a trip back and forth, a total of five yuan. The chief manager came out of the princess's mansion, and he was so magnificent, and he was a prince to the rough man called Zheng Wang, and he repeatedly told his grandfather to serve him well, saying what kind of noble person he was. That rough man is not a thing, the price he said is not a penny to the ground, we have seen many nobles, and there are also deductions, but such a stingy bastard has never seen ......"

Seeing that Ah Bao was angry and was about to complain, Xu Xun suddenly interrupted him with a cough, and immediately asked with interest: "You said that the people in Qi Yuma's family actually said that this person is the imperial prince?" If you want to talk about the royal family, Qi Ma Shang is a princess, and there is no one in the world who has more than the royal family, how can he treat you so kindly to the rough man in your mouth? ”

"Young master, you don't know, this god is really blind!" As soon as Ah Bao thought of the extremely vulgar man, he became even more indignant for a while, and when he saw Ruisheng pour a bowl of tea, he actually forgot to be polite, and drank it all, and then said angrily, "That rough man looks ugly, and he said that his daughter is on an errand in the Qianqing Palace, because she was born beautifully, and Long Live Lord will ...... Ahem, anyway, he claims to be the royal family. This time I ran in Tianjin, and countless gifts were given to him by all kinds of business travelers, and he came back and loaded three boats, which is really unreasonable! ”

Ah Bao couldn't help but spit out a dirty word after all, and then realized that this was not with his uncles and uncles, and hurriedly stood up. However, Xu Xun was a little rude to him, smiled and waved his hand to say that it was not in the way, and motioned for Ah Bao to sit down. Although he was very interested in this unbelievable news, the little guy stopped it immediately when he said it halfway, which shows that it was always warned by the elders, so he couldn't just get to the bottom of it, so he just let people continue to say it. It wasn't until the little guy drank three bowls of tea, and the world was almost finished, that he glanced at Latham & Watkins.

In addition to serving and taking care of Shen Yue before, Latham has been following Xu Xun almost all the time, and now he has finally developed a little eyesight, and when he saw this, he immediately took out a small silver horn from his purse and handed it over. Ah Bao is just a young man who has just debuted, although it is his grandfather who receives the number, but it is usually one or two hundred dollars per month, who has ever seen this silver, and at this time staring at things almost has no eyes. After a while, he swallowed a mouthful of saliva and reached out to take it, wiped it with his hand, and instinctively put it in his mouth and bit it, and then put it away curtly.

"Young master, don't laugh at me for not being knowledgeable, it's really the first time I've seen silver......"

"Everyone has their first time of seeing it." Xu Xun nodded at Ah Bao with a smile, and suddenly said with interest, "I see that you are a little clever, I entered Beijing this time, and there is still a shortage of people around me, would you like to come to me on a business for a few days?" ”

"Huh?"

This sudden question stunned Po all of a sudden, and even Rayson looked at his young master in disbelief. After a while, Ah Bao slapped himself twice, and when he realized that he was not dreaming or hearing something, he stammered: "Young master...... Young master, do you want me to ...... Do you want me to be an errand for you? ”

"That's right." Xu Xun smiled and raised three fingers and shook them, "Three-year living contract, are you willing?" ”

"I ...... I...... I'll have to ask Grandpa. ”

Seeing that Ah Bao burst out with such a sentence so easily, Xu Xun suddenly laughed. If you kneel down and kowtow without saying a word, you will be clever in this kind of afterlife, but you are afraid that you will be full of news, and you will not be able to rely on it if something happens. And in the face of such a temptation, this Ah Bao can still remember to ask his grandfather, at least his filial piety is commendable.

So, he immediately sent Ruisheng over there to call the old man who received the number, and he carefully asked Po's surname, age, and who else was in the family. When Ah Bao said that his father went down to push the boat when the boat ran aground, but he was careless and broke his leg, and then died of lack of medical treatment, Xu Xun's heart palpitated, and when he saw that Ah Bao's eyes were red, he handed over a handkerchief, Ah Bao took it and wiped it indiscriminately, and at this time, there was a shout from Ruisheng outside.

"Young master, people are here!"

Although Ruisheng had already said on the way that Xu Xun wanted Bao, the old man who led the number, Daddy Chen, couldn't believe that such a good thing would fall from the sky. At this time, he entered the tea shed, and saw that Ah Bao was wiping his face with a silk handkerchief, and he didn't know where it came from, he was afraid that the duck in his mouth would fly like this, so he stepped forward and gave his grandson a slap, and then immediately bowed to Xu Xun in fear and said: "Young master, this child is not sensible, you take care of it." To say that others are clever, although they are only thirteen years old, they got on the ship at the age of six......"

Xu Xun didn't intend to listen to Father Chen's nagging, so he interrupted bluntly: "Needless to say, the three-year living contract, I only ask you if you are willing." ”

"Yes, naturally willing." Father Chen nodded his head like a chicken pecking rice, and then kowtowed to Xu Xun according to Ah Bao, and he laughed beside him, "Don't say it's a three-year living contract, he can get a good job, as long as the young master can let him go home from time to time, even the death deed will also make it." This errand on the canal has not been done for a long time, and a bad one is like his father......"

"Don't worry, I'll give him three days off every two months, and it's enough to go home for one trip." Seeing that when Ah Bao got up, there was a lot of mud on his forehead, but he couldn't hide his joy at all, Xu Xun nodded with a smile, and then ordered Ruisheng to write the deed. Seeing that the little guy was dumbfounded and pointed to his nose, he said angrily, "It's been several months since I learned to read and write, if there's anything I can't do, I'll look for you...... Looking for you, Young Master Shen! ”

When Father Chen, who was pulling his grandson to teach him over and over again, heard this, the little unease that was still there was suddenly thrown out of the clouds. can let the little guy learn to read and write, these people can't find the lantern, their own Bao is really a great luck!

(To be continued)