Cui Er carried a large bag of luggage, carefully walked down the wooden plank, the big ship behind him is a passenger ship sailing between Dengzhou, Siyu and Jincheng, this is a small port town not far from Jincheng, most of the merchants who got off the ship with him are merchants from Dengzhou or Siyu to Jincheng, most of these merchants are Han Chinese, there are also a small number of Hu merchants from the sea, but there are no local merchants from Sanhan.

Cui Er carefully avoided his luggage, so as not to run into the merchants around him and get into trouble. After all, whether it is a Han or a Hu person, it is not something he can provoke, especially after nearly a year of working outside, which makes him even more in awe of these merchants from other places.

After getting off the boat, Cui Er found a big carriage to Jincheng to transport goods, gave the car boss a few copper coins, and finally asked the other party to agree to take himself to Jincheng, speaking of which this port town is not far from Jincheng, if it is walking, it is probably more than a day's journey, if it is placed in the past, Cui Er may walk back, but now he is not short of those money, so he took a ride.

The car boss is also from Jincheng, he is not young, his hair and beard are all white, after asking, Cui Er knew that the car boss surnamed Zheng is already in his sixties, and he used to be a coachman for a noble man in Jincheng, and his skills in driving the car are very exquisite, but then the noble man went to Sixian, and the old man Zheng was old and did not want to be too far away from home, so he quit his job at the master's house, bought a carriage with his previous savings, and has been helping others transport goods.

"Uncle Zheng, what kind of goods are you pulling in this car, I listened to the clanging sound inside. It canned food canned from a cannery, right? Cui Er asked with some curiosity, and licked his lips involuntarily after speaking. In the past, when I was working outside for the master's house, I could occasionally eat these cans. The delicious taste is something he will never forget.

After hearing this, Uncle Zheng said strangely: "Listening to your accent, little brother, you should be from Jincheng, but you don't seem to be very familiar with Jincheng?" Otherwise, how could you not know that the trucks that came out of Jincheng pulled canned food, and the trucks back to Jincheng generally pulled empty cans and bottles? ”

Cui Er only understood when he heard that it was a canned bottle, no wonder it sounded similar to a can, and then immediately smiled at Uncle Zheng and said, "Don't hide it from Uncle Zheng, the kid was recruited by the master to work outside last year, and he just came back today." So I don't know much about the things in Jincheng. ”

Hearing that Cui Er had just come back from outside, Uncle Zheng said no wonder, there was a famine in the country last year, thanks to the Han people who let them exchange work for food, which allowed many families to survive, presumably this Cui Er is one of them. However, Uncle Zheng was a coachman for a nobleman's family, so there was no shortage of food at home, and he didn't know much about this matter, so he didn't know. At the beginning, the recruitment had to sign a contract of at least three years, and even signed a ten-year contract, and if you were not satisfied, there was no way to come back. And Cui Er only worked for less than a year before coming back, is this really a bit strange?

Through the conversation with Uncle Zheng, Cui Er learned a lot about the changes in Jincheng over the years. For example, according to Uncle Zheng, because the population near Jincheng is relatively dense. Therefore, many Han merchants have set up factories in the vicinity, and most of them are textile factories and food processing factories. The work in these factories is not heavy, and generally only women are recruited, and it just so happens that the men near Jincheng died in battle, and those who went out to work were all women, and the rest were some women, plus life was difficult, so these women went into the factory to work, although they did not earn much, but they could support themselves and their families.

Uncle Zheng made a living by transporting all kinds of raw materials and products to the factory, generally speaking, when he came out of Jincheng, his carriage was loaded with products from various factories, and when he came back, he pulled all kinds of raw materials, such as canned food bottles like today.

Jincheng was originally not far from the sea, and the road under their feet had also turned into a flat cement road, which allowed Uncle Zheng to let go of the horse and run quickly, so in less than half a day, they returned to Jincheng.

After saying goodbye to Uncle Zheng, Cui Er immediately rushed home without stopping, after all, it had been almost a year since he left home, if he didn't want to go home, it would definitely be a lie, especially when he thought of the children who were less than three years old at home, which made him even more anxious.

Cui Erjia is not far from the city gate, after entering the city from the main gate of Jincheng, and then walk forward two hundred meters to arrive, it can be said that the geographical location is excellent, in addition to his home there is a shop facing the street, when his eldest brother was still in the past, the two brothers relied on this shop to open a tavern, in order to support their families, but unfortunately the eldest brother was arrested to serve as a soldier, and last year there was a famine, he had to follow the Han people out to work, in exchange for food for the wife and children of the family.

It's dinner time now, the people in the city are preparing dinner, and there are a lot fewer pedestrians on the street, when Cui Er arrived not far from home, he met a lot of former neighbors, but these neighbors saw Cui Er come back, and their faces showed an incredible expression, after all, there were people in their families who worked outside, so they knew very clearly that the men who went out couldn't come back for three or five years.

Seeing the surprised expressions of the neighbors, Cui Er looked a little proud, waving his hand and greeting the neighbors. At this time, the neighbors also came to their senses and came back to ask Cui Er how he came back? There were a few men in the family who went out with Cui Er, so they surrounded him to inquire about the situation of the men in the family, and for a while, these people were chattering together, and Cui Er's head was big because of the noise, plus he was in a hurry to go home, so he didn't want to go into details, but he was surrounded by the neighbors, and he couldn't get out for a while.

Finally, a respected old man said with a smile: "Cui Er finally went home, presumably in a hurry to see his daughter-in-law, it is not a way for everyone to surround like this, I think it is better to wait for Cui Er to go home, and it is not too late for everyone to ask!" ”

The neighbors are also reasonable people, after hearing the old man's words, they all laughed, and then made way out, and Cui Er made a circle to everyone and said: "You neighbors don't have to worry, if you have anything to ask, you can go to my house, as for the few big brothers who went out with me, they were also very fast, and they all asked me to bring the letter back, you can go to my house to pick it up later!" ”

As soon as Cui Er's words were finished, he immediately made the neighbors who were eager to know the situation of the men in the family settle down, but before they could thank Cui Er, they saw Cui Er turn around and rush home.

There is still a long way from home, Cui Er came to the house every year and there was a puff of smoke, which made his heart finally let go, and in the year he was away, he was most worried about the situation at home, after all, in addition to the old mother, there were only two women, his wife and sister-in-law, and he had to take care of three children.

Cui Er's shop is still closed, after all, their brother is not there, and the restaurant at home is not taken care of, so naturally it will not open the door to welcome the business, but a gate next to the restaurant is hidden, this gate leads directly to the backyard, where the family lives, and the restaurant in front.

Cui Er walked to the door of the house and looked at it, touched the elm door where the paint had fallen off, and the cracked hole on it was still the same as when he left, which made Cui Er suddenly excited, and rearranged the big bags and small bags on his body, and then pushed open the door and walked in excitedly.

Passing through a narrow aisle, I soon came to the backyard where I lived, the area of this yard is not large, in the middle is a hall, where Cui Er's wife and eldest brother and sister-in-law live, and on the left side is a wing room, where Cui Er and his wife used to live, and the wing room is facing a small shed, with a stove in the shed, and a woman is cooking in it.

The woman who was cooking heard Cui Er's footsteps, and immediately turned her head, only to see a very familiar face, which made the woman stunned for a while, and after a long while, she whimpered and said, "Cui ...... Cui Er, you ...... How did you get back? ”

This woman is Cui Er's daughter-in-law, and she didn't get any news beforehand, so when she saw Cui Er, she was so surprised, and even trembled a little when she spoke.

And Cui Er was also very excited, dragging a large bag into the shed, and asked his wife excitedly: "What about our mother, how are the children, why haven't you seen your sister-in-law?" ”

"Our mother and children are fine, now they are all in the house, my sister-in-law went to work in a textile factory outside the city, and I guess I will be back soon!" Cui Er's daughter-in-law helped unload the things on Cui Er's body as she spoke, and then looked at her man carefully, and when she found that Cui Er was not missing arms or legs, she was relieved, and at the same time, when she thought of the man coming back, her face was also red with excitement.

At this time, Cui's mother and children in the house also heard the movement outside, and the three children hugged Cui's mother and squeezed out together, just saw Cui Er standing in Haoli, which made the old man very happy, and stepped forward to look at his son with a crutch, so excited that he couldn't even speak, and Cui Er's son saw him, and immediately shouted 'Dad' and pounced.

The most curious thing about Cui's mother and Cui's second daughter-in-law is that Cui Er obviously signed a three-year construction period with the main family, but now he has come back in less than a year, which is obviously incomprehensible, and even Cui's mother asked her son with some worry, did he sneak back?

Cui Er didn't rush to answer this question, but just said that it would not be too late to wait for his sister-in-law to come back, and then took out the fabric he bought for his mother from the baggage, and his daughter-in-law and sister-in-law also had one, and the snacks of the other three children also accounted for a burden, which made the three children very happy.

After dividing the gifts, Cui Er asked his daughter-in-law to cut some meat on the street, fried a few meat dishes, and Cui Er's daughter-in-law also specially made some wine. When Cui Er's sister-in-law came back, she was also taken aback, and after saying a few words of homely things, the family sat together for a reunion dinner, but Cui Er's mother and two daughters-in-law were very curious about Cui Er's sudden return, so they didn't eat a few bites, and asked Cui Er again about the reason. (To be continued.) )

PS: I'm sorry, but there's something going on today, so the second chapter may be posted later, so you can read it the next morning.