Chapter 1: Welcoming the New Governor

Zhang Shuting remembered a long time later that in the early years of the Republic of China, Wang Qintang, the third governor of Xushui County, rode a donkey on the day he took office.

At that time, the county magistrate was not called the county magistrate, but the governor. The current Xu Shui is not called Xu Shui, but Ansu. That year, Zhang Shuting's father, the old shopkeeper of Runquanyong big pot, Zhang Genmao, passed away less than a year, according to local customs, Zhang Shuting, the successor of Runquanyong pot, was still in the mourning period, but Lao Tzu was a hero, a good man, the son inherited his father's business, and Zhang Laomao, the old shopkeeper of Runquanyong big pot, was a member of the Ansu Council who had just been established, and Zhang Shuting was naturally one of the members of the Ansu County Council. It is precisely because of this that in the late autumn of this year, on a sunny morning, Zhang Shuting was about to go out, but was notified by the county office: he was asked to welcome Wang Qintang, the new governor who had set off from Baoding and came to the county to take up his post, outside the south gate at the hour of the hour.

Zhang Shuting had no choice but to hurry to the south gate in Chenshi. When I came to the south gate, I realized that the people who came to greet the new governor outside the south gate on this day were not only the county councilors, all the officials of the county office, but even the cook Lao Zhao of the county office, and Lao Chu, who was a miscellaneous worker, were also present, standing horizontally and vertically. For a while, I couldn't guess what kind of person this new governor was, so that people would greet him so ceremoniously, even the cook Lao Zhao and the miscellaneous Lao Chu also participated? For a while, it became more lively outside the south gate.

Speaking of which, outside the south gate, it is a lively place. Carts, hotels, baths, restaurants, restaurants, brothels, pawnshops, teahouses, steamed buns, steamed buns, flatbreads, fritters, dumplings, noodles, small rice shops selling donkey meat and tofu brains, as well as haircuts, umbrella repairs, watch repairs, pots and pans, are all gathered here. According to local conventions, 135 or 246 is a set, but here it is a set every day. In addition, the north-south traffic of Ansu City is rushing, and merchants from the south to the north pass through it. It is not surprising that people shout at the sound of horses neighing every day.

But on this day, because all the county councilors, county office officials, cooks Lao Zhao, and miscellaneous Lao Chu all appeared outside the south gate, and they were all brightly dressed, tall and shy, and full of red light, so for a while, the south gate was even more lively. In other words, it was precisely because of their appearance that there were many old people, women and children outside the south gate who were watching the excitement at once. I saw them standing far away at the base of the southern city wall, looking at the county councilors, county office officials, cooks, Lao Zhao, and miscellaneous Lao Chu, who were standing in a row, or whispering, or loudly talking about the shortcomings of the parents, and the children running around or making trouble. And the cook Lao Zhao glanced at the lively crowd and the children who were playing together, and complained to Lao Chu:

"I don't know what the origin of this new governor is, and he still has to put on such a big formation to greet him?!"

Lao Chu is a good old man, and he has a bald head, and when he heard Lao Zhao say this, he shook his bald head and smiled, but he didn't say anything.

But from midnight to noon, those who ride cattle, drive big carriages, carry burdens, push wheelbarrows, ride sedan chairs, and those who ride in sedan chairs, old and young, shuttle back and forth from south to north, but there is no shadow of the new governor. Not only did he not wait for the new governor to arrive, but later, the person who went to Baoding City to inquire about the news came back and reported: Early this morning, the new governor set off from Baoding City on a donkey.

But from Baoding to Ansu, riding a donkey is also an hour's journey, if you set off in the morning, you should have arrived at this time. But for some reason, noon came, and there was still no sign of the new governor. Just when everyone didn't know what to do, they saw Lao Zhao, the cook who went back to prepare lunch in advance, and hurriedly ran back to the south gate, telling everyone that the new governor had arrived, and he was now chatting with a few old men in front of the county office.

When the big guy heard this, he couldn't help crying and laughing, and hurriedly turned around and went back to the county office. When I came to the door of the county office, I saw several old men sitting around gossiping, and everyone knew the others. There is only one, everyone looks at it, he is in his fifties, white skin, long face, wearing a sheepskin melon hat, brightly dressed, and speaking and behaving very decently, needless to say, it must be the new governor Wang Qintang. Then I looked into the courtyard of the county office, and saw a gray donkey, leisurely eating the grass growing from the cracks in the floor tiles, and there was no cushion and reins on the donkey, and there was no halter on the donkey's head; When the big guy saw it, he couldn't cry or laugh again. It's really like seeing a donkey, thinking about the fact that less than a year after the founding of the Republic of China, Ansu County has changed three governors. Seeing that the third governor was not three or four, the big guy's heart couldn't help but feel cold again.

But everyone was disappointed, but Zhang Shuting was not disappointed, or rather, Zhang Shuting didn't take the arrival of the new governor to heart at all, and when he saw that the new governor arrived, he turned around and hurried back to his house to run the pot in Quanyong. When I returned to the pot, I didn't care about eating, so I went directly to the livestock shed in the backyard of the pot, took out a jujube red horse from the livestock shed, and did not prepare a saddle, took a broken bag and put it on the horse's back, rode it, and went out of the south gate, to the east, and went straight to Rongcheng Xiaoqizhuang.

Zhang Shuting went straight to Xiaoqizhuang in Rongcheng, which was said to be due to the fact that after the death of his father Zhang Genmao, there was no suitable shopkeeper in the front yard of the pot. Even Zhang Shuting himself can't say clearly, how many generations have been running the pot in Runquanyong, and the Zhang family has occupied the retort soju by themselves, and handed over the business of the front yard shop to someone with a foreign surname to take care of. But Zhang Shuting remembered it when he was very young, and it was like this when his grandfather was alive.

Zhang Shuting's grandfather's name is Zhang Laisheng, and he is a thin old man. When Zhang Shuting was very young, he saw his grandfather and a group of soju buddies on the retort every day; When I don't make shochu, I grind sorghum with the mill guys at the mill, or make koji with the koji guys in the koji room, and I'm so busy all day that I can't touch the ground.

When grandpa was alive, the steward of the front yard of Runquanyong Burning Pot was surnamed Qi, and he was known as the shopkeeper of Qi. Shopkeeper Qi is a white fat and short-bearded old man, who loves to laugh, laughs before speaking, and after speaking, people don't laugh, he will laugh too. When he was also very young, Zhang Shuting remembered that his father Zhang Shumao liked to be with the shopkeeper of Qi, and did not like to work in the retort, mill or qu factory. If the shopkeeper Qi goes out to collect the accounts or send wine to the customer, his father Zhang Genmao also makes his own opinion, takes the place of the handlebar old history, and personally drives the carriage to follow the shopkeeper Qi to collect the accounts or deliver wine. The two talked and laughed all the way, and Shopkeeper Qi also liked it. But Zhang Shuting also knew that his grandfather also scolded his father for not doing his job, not only did he scold his father for not doing his job, but also warned his father again and again that if he didn't work honestly with him in the retort, mill or qufang, and then ran to the front yard all day long or secretly went out with the shopkeeper Qi, grandpa vowed to break his father's leg. But that winter, before Grandpa could break his father's leg, Grandpa himself had an accident, and Grandpa fell to the ground while working in the mill, never got up again, and died.

When his grandfather died, Zhang Shuting was seven years old. However, after his grandfather died, after his father Zhang Genmao took over the cooking pot, he didn't dare to run to the front yard every day, or take the handlebar for Lao Shi, and personally drive the carriage to collect the accounts or deliver wine with the shopkeeper Qi. Instead, he worked hard in the retorts, mills, and koji mills. Zhang Shuting also learned very late that his father did this, not only because of the rules of the Zhang family's soju, but also because the secret recipes of the Zhang family's soju were in the hands of the men of the Zhang family. It is said that there can be no Zhang family men in the front shop of Runquanyong Burning Pot, but in Runquanyong Burning Pot Retort, Mill or Qufang, there can be no Zhang family men, and the reason is also here. Later, the shopkeeper Qi returned to his hometown due to old age, and his father Zhang Genmao simply did not hire a new shopkeeper, but the shop, the retort, the mill, and the qufang "picked it on one shoulder", and none of them were left behind.

But on March 1 this year, the day of the Baoding rebellion, his father Zhang Genmao happened to go to the Baoding branch to take inventory, because the inventory was late that day, he lived in the branch, and was ready to return to the pot early the next morning. But unexpectedly, there were loud gunshots in Baoding City that night, and then I heard the sound of smashing, beating, gunfire and screams of nearby shops along the street. At first, my father thought it was bandits in the city, so he hid in the thatched house behind the store with Lao Xu, the shopkeeper of the semicolon, thinking that if the bandits didn't smash the store, if they smashed the store, it would also mean that they would take it casually and lose their wealth and save their lives. Besides, a wine shop, except for pots and jars, there is nothing to take. Later, his own liquor store was really smashed open, not only was it smashed open, but after listening to a "ping pong", the liquor shop suddenly caught fire. Fortunately, the thatched house and the wine shop were far away, and the two were safe. But the jars and jars of the wine shop are full of wine, so I am afraid that it is not only the house that burns. I saw that the fire was surging into the sky, and there was no way to save it. My father didn't want to stay any longer, and he had nowhere to stay. But when I came to the street, I suddenly understood that it was not a bandit, but a bandit for money, and he would leave after robbing it. These people robbed and smashed and burned, but they did not leave. Not only did they not leave, but they also put guns everywhere. The father knew that he could not escape, but as soon as he wanted to shrink his head and go back to the thatched house behind the liquor store, it was already too late, when he saw that two men with guns had already discovered him, and they threw their guns at him and pounced on him. My father didn't even think about it, he turned around and ran, but fortunately, the North City Gate was broken during the Eight-Nation Alliance and could not be closed. This time, my father ran back to the pot in one go. It was also scared and tired, but also because he was in a hurry, and when he got home, he was out of breath, and then the account book was thrown, and the person also spurted out a mouthful of blood and fell to the ground and died.

The father married two wives before his death, and the two wives gave birth to nine children, only one of the nine children was his son, and the other eight were all daughters, and they were all married, so as soon as the father left, if the big pot was all taken care of by Zhang Shuting. But when his father was there, he was more likely to work in the retorts, mills, and koji. As soon as his father left, he wanted to "pick one shoulder" of the retorts, mills, qufangs and shops like his father did when he was alive, but he knew in his heart that he just wanted to pick up where he could afford it!