Zhou Yizhi's return to Nanxun was the tenth day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar, and Xing Hongying had not yet returned from Shanghai. After he discussed the idea of investing in Liaocheng with Lu Jiayu, she felt that it was feasible and told him what she had discovered during this time. According to her observations, there are currently four types of people in the Zhou family. Those who dare to act and maintain a high profile are the eldest young grandmother Xing Hongying and the young master Huang Zhenkun, who did not take care of the house for three or five days, and basically kept a straight face when they came back, and they were respected by the whole family. Most of the people who tend to be inflammatory, such as the housekeeper Wu Liu, the porter Sui Si, the bookkeeper Guo Chengcai, and the nanny nine sisters-in-law are all typical. On the surface, these people are diligent and thrifty and honestly maintain the dignity of the Zhou family, but in fact, they each beat their own little Jiujiu, and often find Xing Hongying to arrange who is not. There are also some people like the eyes of the blind and the ears of the deaf - ornaments, similar to the old mother He Xianggui and the nursing home Gao Acheng. They do their own things mechanically every day, and they don't say a word even if the sky falls, if you want to ask them something about the family, I am sure to give you a reply to "Young Master Kuan said ......" and "Grandma ...... explain" and the like. Then there are people who don't care about anything other than eating, drinking, and Lazar, that is, the old man Zhou Shengping and his wife and a few children. As long as there is something lacking to be served, it is perfunctory to anyone. Strictly speaking, there is another category of outsiders, just like Lu Jiayu herself, who can't integrate into this collective at all, because everyone is very polite to her, just like the eldest lady Zhou Yaozhi and the second lady Zhou Qiongzhi who come back occasionally.

The next day was close to noon, and Xing Hongying was accompanied by the girl Lingling from Shanghai. After returning to the room to change clothes, he first came to the front hall to greet Zhou Shengping, and by the way, he chatted for a while about the situation in the city and the business situation of the business. finished going to the study room of the second courtyard, which was similar to what Zhou Yizhi said. He told her what he had seen and heard during this time, as well as his plans to open a grain processing factory in Liaocheng. She hesitated slightly, telling him to think again. He went on to say that the government has strict management of rice and noodles, and that it is difficult for private individuals to operate, and that it is difficult to make money in a hurry, and that it is difficult to spend a lot of money, and that investment needs to be cautious. The ninth sister-in-law came over and said that she was going to have dinner, and she also went to the attic in the backyard to call Lu Jiayu, and the two chatted while entering the front yard restaurant.

In the evening, Huang Zhenkun came back from Nanjing and brought gifts for almost everyone in the Zhou family. After entering the door, I went to Zhou Yizhi's study to present a Roman porcelain vase, and chatted enthusiastically about the situation in Shanghai for a while. Zhou Yizhi also said a few polite words to Huang Zhenkun, and told him what he said to Xing Hongying again, clearly saying that he would listen to his advice. He expressed his support without hesitation, but Zhou Yizhi deliberately said that the current situation was unstable and he should not consider it carefully, and he still said without thinking that he had confidence in Zhou Yizhi. Zhou Yizhi chatted with him for a while, asked him when he planned to start a family, if he had any girls in the picture, and asked him to bring his parents over to have a group dinner on the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival. He's still laughing and snorting haha.

In the next few days, everyone is preparing for the festival. Zhou Yizhi didn't talk to Xing Hongying about investment anymore, and took a few children to Wuxing County, bought a few pieces of clothes and some gifts, and also bought two sets of jewelry for Xing Hongying and Lu Jiayu. On the evening of the fourteenth, he asked Huang Zhenkun to invite the shopkeeper of the eight major families and several respected seniors in the town to Zhou's house to drink and catch up. When talking about Xingtou, he praised his wife Xing Hongying in front of everyone for being a good housekeeper, and praised Huang Zhenkun for doing his best for the Zhou family to waste his youth. Then the conversation changed and talked about the Liaocheng Grand Canal, and talked about using convenient transportation to do the rice and noodle business that is most demanded by the people. These people are used to the scene, no matter how they look at the Zhou family behind their backs, whether they are complimented in person or in person, they all say that they are optimistic about Zhou Yizhi, and frequently praise his choice and wait and see. Xing Hongying's face changed several times with his words, but she didn't squeak, because her father Xing En and eldest brother Xing Hongmian were both present, and they took the lead in supporting Zhou Yizhi.

Here in Liaocheng, Ji Tang has not been idle these days. In the name of the maintenance association, they found a few plots of land suitable for building factories in Dongguan and Nanguan, and each family repeatedly inquired about the price and lowered the price, and also asked people to inquire about the price of grain in various places. There are other people who are as positive as him, and that is Gu Xi'er. He sold the old house of the sixth uncle of the Gu family under his father's name to Ji Tang at a high price of 25,000, clearly saying that he was going to give it to Zhou Yizhi, and the higher the price was more sincere. Anyway, their family of three has never lived in it, and Gu Qingyuan's house can't be finished anyway, so it's better to keep some money by your side. The old mansion has not been inhabited for decades and has long been dilapidated, Ji Tang knew that Zhou Yizhi liked to be plain and elegant, so he asked people to re-repair and paint it, and purchase all the furniture and vase furnishings. These are naturally Gu Xi'er's first moves, and she spent more than 4,000 fiat currency.

Zhou Yizhi and Xu Xudong came to Liaocheng again on August 22, September 23 of the Gregorian calendar, which is the autumn equinox of this year. The weather is gradually getting cooler, and it is just the right time to start building a factory. After meeting Ji Tang, he lived in Donggujia Hutong that night. Zhou Yizhi asked Xu Xudong to put wine and food in the flower hall, and called Shang Jitang, Gu Xier, and Black Friday to chat while eating. Because he was in a good mood, Zhou Yizhi also drank a few glasses, and discussed with Ji Tang that he would start looking for the land of the grain processing factory the next day, preparing to build a factory, and setting up a store department in a prosperous area of the city. This is followed by the recruitment of workers, the purchase of production equipment and food, and the aim to put it into operation before the winter.

Ji Tang mentioned that he had seen a few pieces of land, and took Zhou Yizhi to look at it at dawn, and asked him how much money he planned to invest and whether he could work together. He said that the total investment is expected to be 2 million, and it will be decided whether to expand again depending on the later operation. Ji Tang flickered in his heart when he heard this, although the brothers of the Ji family said that there were dozens of shops, but those were all belongings, and the money that could be moved out did not exceed 100,000. Moreover, nearly 30,000 yuan was just spent a while ago, and the grain store cannot be without liquidity. The Gu family department store had a lot of money, but Gu Zhong stared at him and didn't dare to embezzle it easily. After hesitating for a while, he said that he could make up 100,000 yuan, and then there was a courtyard and more than a dozen large and small houses in the Wenhua Bookstore on Loudong Street, and the geographical location was very good, and it could be discounted as a capital injection, and it could just be a sales company for a grain processing factory. Zhou Yizhi readily agreed, let Ji Tang serve as the deputy factory director, and wait until it is officially put into production to see the actual investment situation before calculating his shares.

Gu Xi'er, who was accompanying her, listened to the conversation between the two, and couldn't help muttering in her heart, regretting that she didn't sell the house directly to Zhou Yizhi. Then he diligently added wine and food to them, and his tone became more and more tactful when he spoke.

Zhou Yizhi slept comfortably that night, and it was also the calmest night during his time in Liaocheng. I had a warm dream when it was almost dawn. In the dream, he was lying on a large meadow by the lake, blowing the warm breeze and smelling the fragrance of fragrant grass, and next to him was the beautiful girl "Xiaoyi" who often dreamed of. She hugged her knees and tilted her head, looked at him with affectionate eyes, opened her thin pale pink lips, and hummed an ancient word card: "Leaning on the dangerous building and the wind is fine, looking at the extreme spring sorrow, and the sky is gloomy." In the afterglow of the grass-colored smoke, who would be speechless...... ①”

At dawn, Xu Xudong was washing up, and when he heard someone knocking on the courtyard door, he hurriedly ran over to open the door. At first glance, it was Gu Xi'er, who had seen it twice, carrying a delicate large food box in her hand. As she walked inside, she said that the two big men would not take care of themselves, so she got up early and made breakfast and brought it, and if Mr. Zhou was used to eating this taste, she could also come here every morning to make it. Xu Xudong instantly understood her intentions, and said with a smile while letting her in: "I thank you for the eldest young master!" My eldest young master is not picky about food, but he likes to be clean, so the two young grandmothers didn't let him follow. She entered the house as if she hadn't heard, put down the food box and turned around to get the basin, to wash the face for Zhou Yizhi. Seeing that his robe was on the chair, he picked it up and looked at it, and went directly to the courtyard next to the urn to wash it.

After Zhou Yizhi woke up, he heard the conversation outside and came out with his clothes on, and saw that it was Gu Xi'er who politely went in and put on again. He really didn't have a good impression of this woman, so Ji Tang's wife and sister reluctantly smiled and said a few words. He washed up and went to the hall, saw that she was drying his gown in the yard, and smiled and said that he shouldn't trouble her, and that he could do these things. She went into the house and opened the food box, brought out two plates of side dishes and six or seven golden cakes stained with sesame seeds, told him that this was a local fire called Zhuang Bao, and took out a nest of thin vegetable soup and said that it was maize and millet (2), which were all home-cooked meals and hoped that he would be used to eating them. He politely beckoned her to eat with Xu Xudong, it tasted good, but he was not used to being taken care of by strange women, if it was an old mother in his family, it would be another matter.

This morning, Ji Tang took Zhou Yizhi to see the land. The east and south of the city are still not suitable, either the traffic is inconvenient or the place is too small. In the afternoon, they looked again, and finally found a similar piece of land near Chenzhuang. Ji Tang saw that it was a rural place, so he directly gave Dong Hua some money according to his idea, without going through the formalities. Zhou Yizhi insisted on going through formal channels, and several people found the chief (3) to ask for the ownership of the land. They went to the township office together, asked them to send someone to measure and estimate, and finally went to the county party headquarters to find Dong Hua. After completing the land sale contract, paying the village representative and handling the relevant fees, and inviting Dong Hua and others to have a meal, both public and private sides were completely completed. At dusk, they left the hotel and went back to the house in Donggujia Hutong, and they came to Wenhua Bookstore by the way, and they probably thought it was good after reading it. Zhou Yizhi asked Ji Tang to find a notary to make a price, and the next day he began to talk to the construction team about construction matters.

The next morning, Gu Xi'er came again. still carrying a big food box, after entering the door, he cleaned and wiped the table like in his own home, Xu Xudong persuaded him next to him but couldn't persuade him. Zhou Yizhi didn't come out in time to say hello, because he had a series of dreams last night. When he got up, he didn't wash his face, and he was using his pen to record the fragments he could remember in his dreams, as well as poems that he hadn't noticed before, and this time he was chanting to the girl. Halfway through the poem, he was interrupted by the sound of talking outside, and Gu Xi'er went straight to his room despite Xu Xudong's dissuasion, enthusiastically asking him to wash and change his clothes.

No one broke into Zhou Yizhi's room, and he arranged for others to have any needs, and this time he interrupted his thoughts. So he felt very uncomfortable, wanted to lose his temper and felt that he couldn't do anything to outsiders, so he threw the pen on the table and glanced at Xu Xudong, and reluctantly turned around and went out to wash. As he ate, he looked at the steamed buns and sweet potato porridge on the table, and felt more and more that this woman should not come and go casually in his residence.

On the way back after talking about things that afternoon, Zhou Yizhi specially thanked Ji Tang for taking care of his life. And explained that he was used to being taken care of by Xu Xudong in his diet and daily life, and he didn't have to trouble Gu Xi'er to help, and he would pick up his wife when things were done, so he tried to avoid leaving any gossip. How smart Ji Tang was, he immediately understood that she wanted to stick to Zhou Yizhi, the broad boss, and it was obvious that people were not interested in her. smiled and promised to go back and tell her, try not to let her interfere with their rest.

However, things were not as simple as Zhou Yizhi thought, and the next few days passed as always. Not only do we send breakfast in the morning, but we also send nourishing soup in the evening. They folded their dried clothes, shoes and socks neatly and put them at the head of the bed, dried herbal tea for the hall and study, and washed their faces at night. It's okay to stand in front of him and ask questions, which makes Xu Xudong a little embarrassed.

It was the first day of the ninth month of the lunar calendar, and they set off for Nanjing to apply for a grain processing license. They first found the Ministry of Industry Bureau, which said that this belonged to the Food Administration, and they went to the Food Bureau to find Deputy Director Yuan Luyi. I didn't expect people to dump Zhou Yizhi at all, and they also looked down on Ji Tang, the president of the county maintenance association. Zhou Yizhi smiled and handed over the five thousand fiat currency that had been prepared earlier, as well as the letter of introduction from Dong Hua. Yuan Lu took the money before rolling his eyes and looking at them, and then said in an official tone that the government was formulating a new grain management system, and that it would not issue storage and transportation passports before that, and let them go back and wait for news. After tossing like this, a day passed, nothing was done, and 5,000 yuan was wasted.

On the second day of junior high school, they got up early in the morning and didn't have the heart to eat breakfast. Xu Xudong proposed to call Huang Zhenkun and ask him to find out the relationship over there. Ji Tang said that far water can't quench the thirst of the near, not to mention that these people don't even give the face of the eldest young master of the Zhou family, and the others are even more unreliable, so they simply go to the second aunt to try. It was almost noon when they met Ji Tang's second aunt in a villa on Beijing West Road, and it turned out that he was Zhou Ying of the Ministry of Finance. Zhou Ying naturally knew Zhou Yizhi, and he had only met them at the wedding more than a month ago, and politely invited them to Jinlingchun for dinner. Ji Tang's second aunt said that she should not be so ostentatious when she was special, so she changed to the green willow residence next to the Qinhuai River. Of course, Zhou Yizhi has to spend money, doing things for them.

Zhou Ying can eat, drink, and knock on bamboo, and he doesn't hide it in front of his wife and nephew. said that his wife was a devout Buddhist, because the world was chaotic and it was inconvenient to enter the mountain to worship the Buddha, he always said that he would get her a gilded Bodhisattva, because he was busy with government affairs. Of course, Zhou Yizhi understood the meaning of his words, and immediately asked Xu Xudong to buy a pure gold Bodhisattva and send it to his home. He patted his chest at the dinner table to open all the joints for Zhou Yizhi, and it was already ten o'clock in the evening when he sent him home.

Several people stayed in Nanjing for two more days before all the formalities were completed. Interestingly, after the deputy director of Yuan Luji knew that they were friends with Zhou Ying, he sent a secretary to show them the way throughout the process. Zhou Yizhi knew that these people were mercenary, so he asked Xu Xudong to give him a Ming Dynasty vase. On the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, they began to contact American machinery dealers through the US Consulate in Chongqing, and asked for the purchase of 20 flour machines and 15 horizontal rice mills.

They returned to Liaocheng after all the things were done, and it was September 12. After taking a turn from the construction site and seeing that the construction was proceeding smoothly, they went to the Wenhua Bookstore on Loudong Street again. Plan how to arrange here, those that need to be demolished, those that need to be renovated, find someone to plan the plan, and then construct it after it is determined. Because the store department is related to the overall situation, Zhou Yizhi asked Xu Xudong to stare at it from tomorrow, and every detail must be serious. The factory was watched by Ji Tang for the time being. He must go to the Jianghuai region to see the rice, and it is already the rice harvest season, and he must complete this year's pre-purchase.

It was just evening when he returned to his residence, and Zhou Yizhi found that the clothes he had changed when he left were neatly folded at the head of the bed, and the water from the thermos was also hot. immediately understood that Gu Xi'er continued to come here these days, and even felt that she had a spare key, and her brows unconsciously twisted into pimples. Seeing that it was not too late, he decided to come and visit, intending to give her some money as a way to settle her salary, and let her not come back in the future.

I remember Ji Tang said that this side was their uncle's house, and on the other side of the alley was his father-in-law's house. Zhou Yizhi didn't let Xu Xudong accompany him, walked to the middle of the alley, and entered through the main gate of the house. He asked a few questions at the door, but no one answered, and then walked to the antechamber of the main house. The yard is paved with green bricks, and there is a faint moss in the places where people are not often walked. The houses with green bricks and green tiles are old, and the roof tiles are mossy and grass grows in some places. The foyer of the courtyard is clean and tidy, and there are two fruitful persimmon trees near the street wall. On both sides of the path leading to the hall, there are several tall evening golden cinnamon trees, and the light yellow flowers are in full bloom, and the rich fragrance of the flowers makes people smell very comfortable.

After walking more than ten steps inside, he still didn't see anyone, he was a little hesitant, feeling that it was not appropriate to enter someone's house. Suddenly, I heard someone talking in the east, and I walked more than ten steps to the moon gate of the east courtyard, and I could hear a woman chanting poetry inside: "...... Dao Fanghua is endlessly good; Is it late autumn tonight? The remnant red is in the twilight moon. Time is not left behind. I want to trust my heart to Hongyan; But who knows how to worry? ”

The sweet voice seemed to have been heard somewhere, and the verses felt more familiar, as if he had read them too, but he couldn't remember what era or person wrote them. The person who recited the poem also seemed to be familiar, with a somewhat thin figure, wearing a light yellow flower short coat on a white background and a light blue cotton dress on the bottom. Since he was sitting with his back to him, he could only see a long hairpin with mutton fat jade inserted in his jet-black bun. He was sitting on a wooden fence beside a small pavilion in the middle of the garden, holding a small bronze box around his right arm. After reciting the poem, she looked at the garden in front of her, and the afterglow of the remnant sun was sprinkled on the large petals of September chrysanthemums.

He knew that this fresh and refined back was definitely not Gu Xi'er, but since he came, he had to try to ask. coughed softly and asked, "Excuse me, is Miss Xi'er here?" ”

The woman stood up as if startled, and slowly walked around the pavilion to look at him. When he got closer, he said quietly, "I don't remember which poem is at the front, you know?" ”

The moment the woman turned around stunned him. a round and fair goose egg face, a high forehead and a high nose bridge, a pink little nose; Under the slender curved eyebrows, there are a pair of bright and expressive eyes, and the deep wave heart is covered with a layer of mist; Thin, well-defined lips with a smooth peak, a deft round chin, and a swan neck. He looks like he is eighteen or nineteen years old, just like in his dreams. Isn't this the girl named "Xiaoyi" in the dream? So there really is such a person? The box she was holding in her hand seemed to have seen it somewhere, and if she didn't look closely at him, she knew that it was a seven-trick exquisite brocade box, with six identical patterns carved on it.

"Hey—I can't remember which poem is at the top, you know?" Seeing that he didn't react, the woman asked softly again, her eyes not blinking.

"Poetry?" He woke up like a dream, and was more and more surprised, but he didn't expect the woman to ask him a question instead of answering. He smiled awkwardly and said, "Girl, I'm sorry. I'm really not proficient in poetry and poetry. ”

"Really? Really? The woman's sweet and delicate voice was a little faintly lost, but Mu Ne's eyes did not shy away from staring at his face.

"Really, really." He also felt that speaking in the face of such a simple woman should be simple and direct, "However, I seem to have heard the poem you chanted a few times just now. The first section is 'the sun dyes the begonias, and the wind blows the willows. Looking up at the West Building. Only the beauty is endless; Is it late autumn tonight? ”

"Remember, isn't that the word card you wrote 'Poppy Autumn Sorrow'? I'm asking who's at the front, is this one? The woman's slender eyelashes flickered twice as she spoke, and her tone looked a little surprised.

"Huh? No, no, no, how can I write these things? I'm a copper-smelling businessman, and I can't appreciate it. He hurriedly shook his hand, for fear that she would misunderstand him, a vulgar man, for his words.

"Wouldn't it? That's the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal connecting Beijing-Hangzhou; Gyeonggi Yuhang is busy at both ends. There is Liaocheng on the bank of the Huitong River; Dongchang Lakeside Caifengxiang. 'What about this one?' What's underneath? The woman took two small steps, her eyes less than twenty centimeters from his face.

"The following verse, I know, is 'The phoenix's head is towards the white jade pillar; The phoenix tail is close to the purple gold beam. Flying with wings and showing heroic posture; Hand in hand for brilliance. ’！ But I really didn't write it! I've just seen these sentences in my memory. He clearly remembered that he had read the poem in his dream, but he didn't know the author, and he didn't know when. When I raised my eyes, I met her undisguised simple expression, and I felt that I couldn't force such an elegant thing on myself.

"You! Junsheng! Do you have a fever that burns out your brain? The woman said with concern and stretched out her left hand to touch his forehead.

"No, no, no! Girl, you've mistaken someone! I'm not Junsheng, and I've heard the name, but I'm really not. I am Zhou Yizhi, the son of Nanxun Zhou. He hurriedly dodged her hand, and in a trance he felt like he was dreaming again. He leaned closer to her and pointed to his face, "Would you like to ask the girl for a favor?" Hit me. ”

"What's wrong with you? Net nonsense? The woman really lifted the box and smashed it down on his forehead.

With a "snap", he felt a real pain in his forehead, and he was sure that it was not in a dream. At the same time, it was also found that she was really hard when she smashed him, and her expression was flat, and her eyes were a little dull. At the same time, he also noticed that his forehead was rotten, and blood was dripping down his palm.

"Oops! My aunt, how do you beat people? An old woman shouted from afar and ran over and pulled the woman aside, but she didn't apologize to him, "This gentleman, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" My young lady didn't mean it, she wasn't like this before. ”

"Aunt Qiaozhen, don't blame me! It was Junsheng who asked me to beat him! The woman said and beckoned to him, "Junsheng, isn't it?" ”

"This eldest sister, I really don't blame the girl for this, don't blame her!" He was embarrassed and embarrassed at this point.

"What's going on? Miss, listen to Aunt Qiaozhen's words, let's go back to the room first. Well? As she spoke, the old woman took the woman's arm out of the garden and walked to the back, and when she came out of the moon cave door, she glanced at him, "There are everyone!" She's sick and you're sick too? ”

Zhou Yizhi didn't know that the old woman was the housekeeper of the house, called Zhu Qiaozhen. The woman is the only daughter of the proprietor of this house, named Gu Xinyi.

He saw that the blood was still running down his wrist, and hurriedly trotted back. Gu Xi'er, who was looking for her, didn't find it, but she unexpectedly saw the person in her dream, although she was quite embarrassed, it proved that this girl was real. She was still looking back when she was pulled out of the garden, those big eyes, that face, so beautiful and real. Who is this girl who is familiar and unrecognized? Is it a little idea in a dream? Who is Junsheng in his mouth? Also the one in the dream? Am I really similar to Joon?

Note: (1) From the famous poem "Butterfly Loves Flowers, Leaning on the Dangerous Building", written by Liu Yong of the Northern Song Dynasty. (2) Also known as sweet foam, it is a sweet and salty soup porridge made from staple grains and vegetables. (3) In the Republic of China Baojia system, it is stipulated that 10 households are A, and 10 A are Bao, which is equivalent to the village head.