However, it was not Zhang Lianqi who shouted "stop" at the end that day, but Wang Qintang, the county governor. Wang Qintang couldn't help but be very angry when he saw that their faces were yellow and scary, but no one was willing to admit defeat and was still drinking with their lives. not only shouted to stop, but also immediately ordered someone to drag them out of the county office.

Zhang Shuting only learned about this matter seven days later. It was also seven days later, Zhang Shuting still knew that he drank twelve sea bowls that day, and Zhang Lianqi also drank twelve sea bowls. However, after they were dragged out of the county office, Zhang Lianqi was carried home, but Zhang Shuting walked home by himself.

But as soon as he walked home, Zhang Shuting also "cooed" and lay down, drunk to death. Although Zhang Lianqi was carried back, the drunk person did not know at that time. But early the next morning, he went to the county office to apologize to Governor Wang Qintang. However, only Zhang Lianqi himself knew that he did not see Wang Qintang the next day. Early the next morning, Wang Qintang personally escorted the two jars of Runquanyong Burning Pot Liquor that had been sealed the day before to the Zhili Provincial Office in Baoding City to participate in the competition there.

It's just this send, I'm afraid even Wang Qintang didn't expect that Runquanyong Pot Wine is outstanding in terms of rich wine aroma, soft and sweet, and long aftertaste, not only won the championship in Quanzhili Province again. In the end, it was sent to San Francisco, USA, to participate in the first international product competition held there - the Panama International Exposition, and won the first-class medal of the international competition in one fell swoop, which attracted much attention from the Chinese people. This is a matter of no further aside.

Besides, Zhang Shuting, because of the competition with Zhang Lianqi, drank twelve large bowls of his own wine, although he walked back by himself, but as soon as he got home, he also "cooed" and died drunk. When the family saw it, they all cried together. Qi Zhankui heard about it, and hurriedly ran from the store to Zhang Shuting's house to see.

It is said that Zhang Shuting's house is not far from the pot, just on the west side of the pot, and the door is directly opposite the back door of the pot. From the front yard of the pot through the middle yard and the back yard, you can directly come to the courtyard where Zhang Shuting lives.

When Qi Zhankui saw it, he stomped his foot even more regretfully:

"I know that this is the first prize in the South Burning Pot, but I am not convinced, and I want to be ugly in public, why do I want to be fooled by this?!"

After saying that, he said:

"If you let me go with me, I'll stop you from saying anything!"

As he spoke, he looked at the two guys who went to the county office with Zhang Shuting, these two guys were the guys in charge of the wine storage in the front yard, one surnamed Shi and the other surnamed Tian, both in their thirties. Although they are only the guys who manage the wine storage, they have a deep skill in their mouths, and with a tongue, they can distinguish the various flavors in the wine. But they can taste wine, but they can't do anything else. At that time, I saw that Zhang Shuting's face was yellow, and his hands were shaking, so he was in a hurry, and he didn't know what to do. At this time, when I saw that something big had happened, and I saw the old and young of the owner family crying and complaining to Qi Zhankui, I didn't know what to do, my face was red, and my body slowly trembled.

When Qi Zhankui saw it, he waved helplessly:

"What are you doing? Why don't you hurry up to the 'Jishitang' at the corner of the street and ask Lang Zhong to go! ”

But when drunk, there is no better way for "Jishitang" Langzhong, and it is nothing more than pouring some sobering soup and the like. But after pouring it, the person still did not wake up, and it took seven days and seven nights before he slowly woke up. Although the person woke up, he couldn't get up from the kang. The point is that you can't eat. Because I couldn't eat, my body quickly lost weight. Not only can I not eat, but my head is also dizzy, I don't close my eyes, the roof and the kang are rotating, and when I close my eyes, I feel that the roof and the kang are rotating even more.

Qi Zhankui, the shopkeeper of the store, came to see him from the store every day. On this day, seeing that he had finally woken up, he complained again:

"I know that Zhang Lianqi wants you to make a fool of yourself, why do you want to be fooled?"

Zhang Shuting smiled with difficulty:

"I got angry when I saw him like that, it's hard not to bet with him!"

Qi Zhankui shook his head helplessly.

While speaking, Zhang Shuting will raise for half a month before he can go to the ground, and after another half a month, he will be able to walk around the pot retort mill and the shop. But more than a month has passed, and in the blink of an eye, it will be the twenty-eighth day of the lunar month, and two days later, it will be the first day of the first month of the next year. According to the rules of the ancestors, the 28th day of the lunar month is also a day for the men in the retort mill and the shop to give a holiday and let them go home for the New Year.

Seeing that this morning, Zhang Shuting didn't go anywhere, he had been lying on the kang and closing his eyes to recuperate, he knew that this incident on the afternoon of the 28th of the lunar month must be handled by the Zhang family himself. In previous years, it was his father, and today he can only be him. Therefore, it was not until noon that Zhang Shuting got up, then hastily ate lunch, and then went straight to the side of the pot.

The backyard of the pot has always been quiet, and there are few voices. In the middle courtyard, the guys on the retort mill are not as busy as before, and they are cleaning up the fields and cleaning the field. But Zhang Shuting did not go straight to the retort mill or the curved house as in the past, but walked through the middle courtyard and went straight to the front yard.

When I came to the front yard, I first came to the shop hall along the street, and there was no longer a wine truck in front of the store, and I saw that in front of the store, seven or eight men were cleaning the store, and seven lanterns made of thick bamboo strips and red silk had been hung in a row in front of the eaves of the store, and the seven lanterns were tied up with red silk.

Looking at the shop, Zhang Shuting went back to the front yard, the west warehouse, and the two guys Shi and Tian, who were very powerful in their mouths, were standing on the wooden wine sea as tall as a small house, and put a seal on the wine sea. Zhang Shuting glanced at it, and then went straight to the tent. The south pot tent room is in the north room of the front yard, and Mr. Ledger, also surnamed Zhang, is in his fifties, and it is none other than Zhang Yushu, the father of Xiao Zhang, the secretary of the county office.

When I came to the account room, Mr. Zhang Yushu, the shopkeeper Qi Zhankui, and the old grandson of the big man were already there, and they were sealing the silver with oil paper one by one, including eight yuan, twelve yuan, and fifteen, twenty-four, and thirty-six yuan, to be sealed, and according to the different quantities, they were stacked into different baskets.

Seeing Zhang Shuting come in, he also followed the example of his father Zhang Genmao in previous years, and sat down on the innermost Taishi chair, without speaking, just waiting to seal the silver that should be sealed.

After it was sealed, without waiting for Zhang Shuting to speak, Zhang Yushu in the tent spoke first.

Zhang Yushu:

"Owner, although the profit of this year's pot burning is not as good as last year's, according to your meaning, it is still according to last year's amount of silver. Those who feed the cattle, those who drive the wagons, and the men of the mills and shops, each of them are sealed with eight pieces of the ocean; The retort, the qufang, the shopkeeper, and the account clerk each sealed twelve pieces of the ocean; The master of the retort mouth each sealed fifteen pieces of the ocean; The shopkeeper of the branch store is sealed with 24 yuan per person, and the shopkeeper of the main store is sealed with 36 yuan. ”

After speaking, he pushed the scattered ocean in a basket to Zhang Shuting's Taishi chair and said:

"This is the rest of the scattered ocean, and it will go to the owner!"

Zhang Shuting looked at the scattered ocean in the basket, and just wanted to ask, but he listened to Qi Zhankui on the side speak first.

Qi Zhankui:

"Let me first state that I have not been here for a long time. If the thirty-six oceans were sealed for me, I would never have taken them! ”

Zhang Shuting waved his hand at Qi Zhankui, signaling him not to say it yet, and still asked Zhang Yushu:

"What's left in the basket?"

Zhang Yushu:

"And last year's one, two hundred and thirty-eight yuan."

After saying that, he said:

"I locked the ocean reserved for next year on the pot. The number is also the same as last year. ”

Zhang Shuting nodded. Zhang Shuting nodded, because he remembered that when his father Zhang Genmao presided over the distribution of the ocean to the guys at the end of last year, he also distributed it like this.

At this time, Zhang Shuting glanced at the big guy Lao Sun who was standing aside:

"Master Sun, are the incense cases ready?"

Lao Sun replied that he was ready.

Zhang Shuting nodded again.

While talking, the men in the shop, the retort, the mill, the curved house, and the barn, as well as the handles of the carriages that feed the cattle, all came to the front yard one after another.

Seeing that everyone had arrived, I listened to Lao Sun say:

"Owner, everyone is here, can the ceremony begin?"

Zhang Shuting suddenly shook his spirits and said:

"Good! Let's get started! ”

Immediately afterwards, I saw Lao Sun commanding two young men to carry the incense case, another young man holding the incense stick and walking in front, Zhang Shuting led the pot burners to follow behind, and everyone came to the front of the street shop first and began to hold the store closure ceremony here. Seeing that the incense case was placed at the door of the store, the old man also lit a handful of incense sticks, Zhang Shuting stepped forward and took the incense sticks lit in Lao Sun's hand. I saw Zhang Shuting holding a handful of lit incense sticks in his hand, bowed to the Holy Emperor three times, and then said loudly:

"Guan Shengdi Guan is above, Runquanyong Burning Pot, Zhang Shuting and all the disciples are here to give you incense and kowtow!"

Saying that, Zhang Shuting knelt down again and said:

"Please Lord Guan bless the Runquanyong pot business to prosper every year, and everything is auspicious!"

Seeing Zhang Shuting kneeling, Lao Sun also shouted beside him:

"Runquanyong burns the pot, and the disciples kowtow to Master Guan! Bless the spring spring pot business to prosper every year! ”

Looking at the guys in the South Pot again, with the sound of Lao Sun, "Hula" knelt together, and said loudly at the same time:

"Please Lord Guan bless the pot business of Runquanyong to prosper every year! Runquanyong burned the pot, and the disciples kowtowed to Master Guan! ”

Bow to Master Guan in front of the store, and the door of the store is officially closed.

Immediately afterwards, Lao Sun commanded two young men to carry the incense case, another young man held the incense stick in front, Zhang Shuting led the pot burning guys behind, and then came to the wine storage warehouse in the west row of the front yard. I saw the door of the warehouse, and the statue of Liu Ling had been hung at this time. Zhang Shuting and the guys on the pot burned incense and knelt down, begging Liu Ling, the old god of wine tasting, to bless the wine in the warehouse as much as possible; Immediately afterwards, he went to the retort again, and the statue of Di Yi was hung on the retort, and of course he begged Di Yi, the goddess of wine-making, to bless the south pot retort to produce good wine every year.

To make a long story short, after the three places of worship in the store, the warehouse and the retort, and then the men went to the account room to receive the silver. Take different numbers of oceans according to different positions. Most of the guys' families live in the nearby countryside, and because they are not far from home, when they get to the ocean, the guys will also put on their bunks and go home for the New Year.

Speaking of Zhang Shuting, after worshipping the store, the warehouse and the retort, returned to the tent, and watched the man finish receiving the silver, and the sun was already in the west. The front yard of the former lively pot was also quieted down all of a sudden. In the tent, only the shopkeeper Qi Zhankui, the account manager Zhang Yushu, and the old man Sun are left. The ten men who were left behind to take care of the pot all went to the backyard to help Lao Yan, who raised the livestock, clean up the backyard.

At this time, Zhang Shuting first took out thirty-eight pieces of ocean from the basket where the ocean was placed, and glanced at Lao Sun Dao:

"Master Sun, these thirty-eight pieces of ocean are reserved for you and the guys who guard the pot for the New Year, and you keep them for them."

Seeing that Lao Sun put away the thirty-eight pieces of ocean. Then he took out ten pieces of ocean from the basket, five of them were one high, and arranged them into two stacks, and then looked at the old grandson of the big man and Zhang Yushu in the tent and said:

"Today I want to make an exception, Master Sun and Mr. Zhang have worked extremely hard this year, and each of them has to take an extra five oceans this year and keep it."

The big guy Lao Sun and the bookkeeper Zhang Yushu hurriedly shook their hands and refused to accept it.

Zhang Shuting didn't care, and looked at Qi Zhankui again:

"Thirty-six oceans, you better take it. According to the old rules on the pot, the shopkeeper in the first year of his tenure, no matter how many months he worked, he would be given a full year of silver taels at the end of the year. ”

After saying that, he ignored them again, lifted the placket with one hand, and then poured the ocean in the basket into the placket, got up, and left the tent and walked home.

After all, the body is still empty, and after an afternoon of tossing, as soon as I get home, the person is also paralyzed on the kang, and I don't want to get up again. I didn't eat dinner for a while, so I went to sleep. But when he woke up, he found himself tied and thrown on the floor of the hall.