The first thing Liu Xiaoqi did when he got up in the morning was not to wash, but to clean the cowshed, refill the trough, and then go to the well to fetch water to fill the trough. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 After doing these three things, he could go to the room and hurriedly drink a bowl of half-dried bean porridge, and then go to the water porter to help him, and be busy for a whole day. If you're lucky, the waterman who was in charge of cooking that day was in a good mood and would give him a small piece of bacon sausage, which would be really good.

Even he himself can't tell where he is from, only that he fled with his parents many years ago, and finally settled in Fushun. At first, although the days were hard, they finally got by, but unfortunately a few years ago, in the rebellion of Luan, Fushun was frightened three times a day, and Liu Xiaoqi's mother was trampled to death by the panicked crowd. It didn't take long for Guizhou to fight too fiercely, there were almost no soldiers in the official army, and the yamen drew Ding according to the law, Liu Xiaoqi's father was unfortunately selected, and he never came back.

After the orphan Liu Xiaoqi handed over the last load of tenant grain, the steward of the landlord's family sighed, looked at his thighs that were not as thick as an adult's calf, and told him that the land and house that were originally tenant to their family were taken back by the landlord.

Liu Xiaoqi didn't make any noise, he loaded the rest of the grain, picked up the clay pots and clay pots that he was reluctant to lose, and picked up two large bags of grains and grains on the other, and carried a bunch of money left to him by his father in his arms, and left the village where they had settled for three years without looking back and came to Fushun Town. Unfortunately, on the first night of the town, the grain was robbed by the ruffians, and the broken bowls and pots were rolled up and the clothes were taken by the beggars. Liu Xiaoqi originally thought that he either followed Huazi to ask for food or learned to be a ruffian and kidnapped, but the news of Li Jiaxin's recruitment in Yanjing gave him the last glimmer of hope.

Originally, I didn't look down on him. Who can take a fancy to him? Stand up straight as tall as a bench, as wide as a bench from the front, and as narrow as a bench from the side. The water porter eats strength rice, and in it, eat well! Three or five days a meal of meat, rice at meals, and oil at meals. But the salt well is also really bitter, the water picker picks the brine down for a day, his hands are so sore that he can't hold chopsticks, and his feet are so heavy that he can't lift the threshold! Liu Xiaoqi is as thin as a bamboo that hasn't grown well, which Inoue will want him?

But God occasionally opens his eyes. Just when Liu Xiaoqi was planning to go to the broken temple at the end of West Street to worship the head of Huazi as a godfather when he left the Li family's salt well, the second eldest of the Li family, the young master who was still called Li Zhongguan'er at the time, walked in and asked, how many people have been recruited?

Liu Xiaoqi later thought that he must have eaten the bear's heart and leopard gall at that time, so he dared to pounce on Li Zhongguan'er and hug Li Zhongguan'er's feet in a daze, and he would not let go even if he was beaten or scolded. Seeing that the Li family's family was about to beat him to death, Li Zhongguan'er bent down and asked, "Are you asking for money?" Or do you want to eat? ”

"I'm going to eat." Liu Xiaoqi replied without hesitation.

Then he was left by Zhong Guan'er to call the shots - "Let him do chores, feed the cattle and watch the fire, and in a few years, if he has a lot of strength, he will pick salt water, and he will not die of hunger." Although the steward of Yanjing even said that he was unlucky and never gave Liu Xiaoqi a good look, he finally had a tile to sleep on and a bowl of porridge to fill his stomach.

"Little Seven! Come and eat meat! ”

The water porter on duty in the room was calling him. Liu Xiaoqi finished drying the last piece of clothing, wiped his wet hands back and forth on his mille-feuille scar-mending clothes, and the two thin branches and legs ran fast, shouting with a burning voice: "Leave me a piece!" ”

Liu Xiaoqi wanted to eat beef at noon, and Li Zhongguan'er, the great benefactor who prayed to the gods and bodhisattvas every morning and dusk to bless the gods, had just finished calculating the first account after the separation, and finally had a complete understanding of the several new and old salt wells.

Although he followed his master to deliver salt from the well since he was a child, and picked up workers to settle accounts, after all, he couldn't be the master at that time, and he wasn't even the second-in-command. Not to mention him, even Li Yongbo, who Li Qi saw like an eyeball at that time, was not a second-in-command - that was Wang Huanzhi, the master of salt.

In Fushun, those who can become salt masters are not ordinary people. Salt merchants generally choose their own reliable clansmen, start to cultivate from a young age, and use them when they are in the prime of life. Master Salt is the salt merchant's think tank, staff officer, he must be familiar with the world, know how to advance and retreat, know the salt class yamen up to the promotion down to the library ambassador preferences and temperament, shrewd and capable, abacus, write articles. He accompanied the owner to socialize in and out, and his appearance was even better, and he was elegant and decent.

"Let's put things aside for the time being." Li Yongzhong put down the wolf pen, rubbed his wrist, and casually instructed Wutong, who was waiting on the side, "Now that the New Year is approaching, you go and ask the chief steward, do you want the eldest brother's family to celebrate the New Year together in the mansion this year?" Or is he a single family? He scoffed and said, "It's boring to say that." ”

Wang Huanzhi persuaded him: "This is also a good thing, in the future, the bridge will return to the bridge and the road will return, and the owner should not take this matter to heart, but you must be careful in front of people-" He paused and said, "After all, it is your brother." ”

Li Yongzhong waved his hand and said, "If you don't talk about him, don't talk about him, you don't have to spoil the fun." Then straightened his face, showing a deliberate prudence, he frowned and thought for a while before speaking: "There is nothing to say about the New Year, nothing more than that, this year's father's affairs are here, and it is simpler." But there is one thing, I thought about it for a few days, but I still couldn't make up my mind. ”

"Boss, please." Hearing what Li Yongzhong said seriously, Wang Huanzhi also sat up straight, and said: "Don't worry about the owner, there is no obstacle that cannot be overcome." ”

"Where does Master want to go?" The young head of the house laughed and said, "It's not what you think. He said simply, "I'm wondering, should I visit my father-in-law once a year ago?" ”

Hearing this question, Wang Huanzhi's brows also furrowed.

There is no reason to repent. But since that Chen Qianhu came up once after Li Qi's posthumous affairs, he didn't even send a single message to Li Yongzhong. A few days ago, he was so busy that he forgot that he was no longer a single person now, and he also had serious relatives of his father-in-law's family in the future. There is an eerie silence on both sides, but even Li Yongzhong understands that as a junior, it is extremely rude to ignore the Yue family all the time. Some time ago, I could use housework to cover up, but now that the New Year is approaching, I can't still use the same rhetoric.

"That's pretty good." Wang Huanzhi bent his knuckles and tapped them twice on the table, and said after a moment: "This matter is not difficult to do. When the man is married and the woman is married, the Yue family of the owner naturally can't be treated as ordinary relatives, but this one ......" he said meaningfully: "It's just a little inappropriate." ”

This is not quite appropriate, in Li Yongzhong's heart, it is really very appropriate.

According to Chen Xianda's own account, Li Qi and him are life-saving kindness, but now after all, people go to tea and cool, and Li Yongzhong has no understanding of this person. Even though he believed that Li Qi would not harm him as a son, he didn't dare to easily trust Chen Xianda, who was almost a stranger. Not to mention that he also has the status of a thousand households-

"I'd rather my father-in-law be obscure than if he was a thousand-household camp official." Li Yongzhong frowned and said to Wang Huanzhi: "This matter is very difficult to do. I have always been like a comb, and a soldier is like a grate, and then look at the soldiers under the Yamen of the Salt Department who deal with my family, I would rather not have this marriage. ”

Wang Huanzhi comforted him and said: "The owner thinks well. But looking at this old man Chen's behavior, he is still quite calm, and he should not be those who are insatiable. Besides, now that the years are unstable, there are fewer and fewer caravans that dare to go to Guizhou to carry salt, and we have to open up ourselves, and there are ......" He paused, and saw Li Yongzhong on the other side showing a smile, and said: "Ling Yue has soldiers in his hands, and I heard that there are also family members who have returned from Liaodong?" That's great. ”

"You're thinking too well." Although it was a reproachful word, Li Yongzhong was smiling, and there was no annoyed look on his face, Wang Huanzhi smiled and apologized for him, obviously knowing that although the owner said so, his heart was not much different from what he thought.

"Now I only hope that my father-in-law is a righteous gentleman." After speaking, he woke up and shook his head with a wry smile, "I said it wrong, as long as the food is too ugly, then everything else is negotiable." ”

Wang Huanzhi saw that he was young, but he lived an ascetic-like life every day, after all, he grew up watching him, and his feelings were different, so he couldn't help but persuade him: "Zhong Guan'er, you are too self-suffering." Although it is the words of the parents, it is a good thing that the husband and wife are one, and they must live in harmony. ”

"Since she is married to me, of course I have to protect her. Master's sentence is strange. Li Yongzhong said with a smile, as if he didn't take it as a big deal. And he did say what he said in his heart: once he traveled, after more than ten years of living in the ancients, Li Yongzhong was almost no different from the people around him. In other words, the only difference is that he knows the tragic end, so all his efforts now are just to be able to live in the future.

Of course, he thought about marriage, and even fantasized about meeting a suitable wife, not to talk about sweetness and sweetness, but also to love and harmony, and to go on hand in hand. But these can only be talked about as basic requirements in 400 years, and in the present 400 years ago, it seems particularly anachronistic. Marriage events, parents' orders, matchmakers' words, never have children do anything. Li Qi was engaged to marry him, and he had no choice but to accept it, and at the same time accept a wife who might have wrapped her little feet and could not read one of the three from the four virtues.

Thinking of this, he suddenly felt that his efforts were a sad joke. In other words, in order to survive, he gave up too many things - inevitably unhappy.

Wang Huanzhi looked at him worriedly, and stopped talking.

He does have a very different relationship with Li Yongzhong. Wang Huanzhi was enlightened at the age of five, went to school at the age of seventeen, and was also a prosperous and glorious figure back then, but later the world was unpredictable, his career was blocked, and he accepted the invitation of the Li family master to serve as the salt master of the Li family, and it was also at that time that he met the second young master of the Li family, Li Zhongguan'er.

PS: First update