Li Daoru stayed until the end of the day, and after talking to Wu Yan, he chatted a few words before leaving.

Wu Yan was not in a hurry to leave, he still sat and drank tea, but he drank lightly, thinking that there was a pastry shop nearby, so he sent the newspaper staff to buy some butterfly rolls and jujube cakes. Before the man could leave the hall, she called the man back again, and then instructed to buy some more sprinklers and not to fall into the clip.

This pastry shop is like a palace chef, his pastries are not only finely made, but also taste good, salty and delicious, sweet and sweet but not greasy, just in line with Wu Yan's taste. Like Nasazi, there are white sashi and sugar sazi in the palace, and the sazi sold here are also two flavors.

It is not to fall into the reed leaves to wrap glutinous rice, and the palace only gave the ministers on April 8 not to fall into the clip, as a festival to give food. This kind of non-falling clip is three or four inches long, one inch wide, and the taste is the same as that of zongzi, but it is more like Ye'er Ba, but it is true, if the salty Ye Er Ba Wu Lang can eat three or four, and the sweet one will be stuffy. This one is small and small, and it also has two flavors: salty and sweet.

While waiting, Wu Yan changed his seat by the window, and he could just see the flowers and plants planted in the front yard.

In late spring, the weather is already very warm, and the westerly sunlight shines through the elephant's eye pane and hits the interior walls, revealing interesting light and shadow patterns. The square in the center of the elephant eye pane is inlaid with a luodian sheet, which needs to be processed in advance, and the method in Yangzhou is grinding, and the method of Ryukyu is boiling and grinding, and then peeling it off with a knife after boiling, and the resulting luodian sheet is relatively thin and translucent. There is also a method of making Jishan that is fried in lard, but generally only smaller slices are applied. The rest of the panes are hollowed out, and the window paper has been removed.

Raden sheets are thin and translucent, and the cost is lower than that of glass, which is also a good substitute in this era.

The courtyard is located in Jia Ge Hutong, Hutong Liduo Hall Newspaper, plus the restaurant teahouse theater garden, weekdays are full of traffic, but the courtyard is still quite quiet, some noisy and quiet feeling.

The small three into the courtyard is not small, the gate on both sides of the inverted seat and the car room, after entering the shadow wall, the east side is the corner yard, the west side of the door hole, leading to the front yard. The front yard is connected to the hall, with the east and west branches, which is the reception and negotiation place of the newspaper.

The hall is through the hall, after the past is the main courtyard, the north room is the office of the newspaper hall, the east and west wings are the printing field, the three rooms are connected by verandahs, and each room has an ear room. Further back is the back cover room, which is used as a dormitory for the staff and a storeroom.

The front yard is narrow, but even so, the right side of the hall still planted a few peony peonies, which are still in bloom at this time, and the left side of the hall specially split a ground to plant plum blossoms.

The history of planting plum in Yandi can be traced back to the last years of Yuan Dade, moved from the south of the Yangtze River, because the winter in the north is cold, the plum blossoms can not overwinter in the open ground, and it is necessary to build a dome, called Shufang Pavilion, in fact, it is a yurt, but this is also a creative idea adapted to local conditions.

After all, it has not been completely domesticated because of the climate, as if it has not been able to settle down in Beijing and has been 'drifting north' for a long time. However, with the improvement of cultivation technology, a kind of greenhouse flowering technique appeared later, so in the severe winter season, you can still see plum blossoms in full bloom, including small peaches, plums, and spring.

Speaking of the places to enjoy the flowers in Jingshili, there are many places, such as the Temple of Heaven, private gardens and some temples are good places to enjoy the flowers. For example, the Biyun Temple of Xiangshan and the Jile Temple of Gaoliang Bridge are planted with plum blossoms, and the grass bridge and the manwell outside the You'an Gate are planted with all kinds of flowers, and in the private garden, the Li Huang Garden in Haidian is the most famous. Among the famous is Mi Zhongzhao's Zhanyuan, which is the most famous in the literati circle.

Yuan Zhongdao has a poem Yun' when he is old, there is no need to sigh and drift, and the resort is also a gathering of stars. The strange stone has been shocked, and the cold flower situation is clear and clear. Vimo monks have abundant bones, and Gu shoots immortals with punishments. There is a lot of color in front of the jade hall, how to be as good as the name and reason for Fangxin. ’

In fact, there is also a place to enjoy the flowers, and its influence is so wide that it is unparalleled in the entire Gyeonggi land...... That is the Wenyuan Pavilion in the Forbidden City. There is a flower platform on the right side of Wenyuan Pavilion, it is said that it is built by the people of Xuanmiao Xingge when it is called, there are three peonies planted, the center is light red, the left is pure white, the right is crimson. Since then, the tradition of viewing flowers in the cabinet has begun, and the flower party is called the 'Yutang Flower Viewing Party', and every year on the fourth day of April, the cabinet will hold a banquet to enjoy the flowers, and sing poems to each other.

On the same day, there are also palace dependents who enjoy the flowers, all go to the Yongshou Hall of Wansui Mountain, where there are many peony peonies, and the relatives will change into gauze clothes on this day, and set up a table to appreciate the peony after the peony is in full bloom. This year, Wu Yan did not follow the relatives in the palace to enjoy the flowers, just because she went to the Paozi River with Emperor Yongming that day.

Wu Yan often runs to Wenyuan Pavilion, and naturally knows that flowers and plants are planted there, but to be honest, the plants in Wenyuan Pavilion generally don't grow very well, especially the peony, which is ugly, and the peony planted in the newspaper hall is not growing well, maybe it's really because of water and soil.

And when they passed through the hall, they came to the inner court,

The inner courtyard is slightly larger than the front yard, usually people come and go, so there is no special planning flower garden in the courtyard, only a weeping silk begonia originally existed outside the north room, and two apricot trees were later replanted outside the east wing, there is no water in the garden to win the stone flower bamboo, only the apricot tree into a forest...... the word 'forest' vividly indicates the quantity.

In addition, a lot of chrysanthemums are planted in the field, so that in this courtyard, flowers continue to bloom all year round.

"Little proprietor, the pastries are bought, but the saps are gone...... the guy came back from outside with the snacks he had just bought.

"Gone? It's a pity that I think his house is authentic. ”

After saying that, he took apart the snacks, took out some of them for his own use, and gave the rest to his fellows to distribute to everyone. Then she drank tea by herself, had a snack, and admired the big peony in bloom in the courtyard......

Until Shu Daizong came in, she didn't find out that in fact, there were only scum left on the table. And the tea seems to be poured a little too much......

Shu Daizong is the general person in charge of the newspaper, and he is usually busy without a regular time, thinking that it is not too early at this time, so he asked Wu Yan: "Girl, do you have dinner here?" ”

After drinking so much tea, this is when the reaction begins...... She didn't say anything, but leaned against the wall and slowly stood up, and hurriedly left the next sentence,

"Wait a minute...... then hurried to the transept of the east wing, which had been converted into a women's toilet.

Then there was a crowd of people turning on their backs, and it took a long time to stop.

When he returned to his seat, Wu Yan's expression was much more relaxed, and only then did he reply to his question: "I won't eat dinner, I have to go back to the palace." ”

After a while, he asked again: "By the way, uncle, how have you been busy lately?" ”

Shu Daizong originally had something to look for her, so he said directly: "Those people who have been following up with Yique recently, they wanted to talk to you about this yesterday and the day before yesterday, and you have not been available. ”

When Wu Yan heard this, he quickly became focused and continued to ask, "Oh? How are they now? Where is it arranged? Are you still used to life? ”

"It's nothing in life, the girl can rest assured, and the newspaper has always been taken care of. Uncle just wanted to ask, can they wait for the result? Some of these people I guess want to go back, and there are some arguments these days. In fact, staying in the capital is not a way, listening to the old man, although the general administration department arranged a place to live, but they didn't care about eating, drinking, and Lazar, and their entanglement was also used, and if they didn't leave, they would only beg in the capital. ”

Wu Yan groaned slightly: "I want to ask the result...... It's hard, and it probably won't go as they want. ”

Shu Daizong sighed slightly: "Hey, they all rely on a lot of strength to make a living, and I'm afraid there is no way to survive now...... Relying on the river to eat the river, if the land transport robs the trade again, the above ones will not be full, so will they have to scrape from them? It's hard enough. ”

Wu Yan thought about it again and asked, "Do you say that these workers are organized?" Or is it a temporary recruitment? In fact, she wanted to ask if there was such an organization as a labor company or a trade union.

"Yes, the sailors, helmsmen, and workers on the Cao River are all under the management of the Cao Gang, and the rules are strict."

"Cao Gang...... Is it a gang? Is this group of people also under the control of the Cao Gang? "Sounds like some underworld organization.

Shu Daizong explained: "Cao Gong can't take over the work alone, this group of people must also belong to a certain gang, but the level is too low." Xiao Dong's cousin Xie Sanduo spent a year in the Texas Gang, and became a brother with a 'leader', and later mixed with this brother to the Lao An Gang. ”

"Tell me specifically, this Cao gang ......" Wu Yan suddenly became interested when he heard him.

"Hey......" Shu Daizong sighed first: "Just like that group of people, if they are not cornered, who will go to work as a boatman?" If you don't work as a boatman, what kind of gang do you enter? There are eight or nine months before and after the Cao Yun every year, and the salary is only six taels of silver in the end! There are many displaced people in Shandong and Henan, and the areas of Jiangsu and Zhejiang are rich and have many means of making a living, and there are few southerners who work as shipwrights. ”

"At the beginning, the Cao Gang was not called this name, it was called Luojiao, and it still had to preach. About sixty or seventy years ago, the people surnamed Qian, Weng surnamed Liangmiyun and Pan Songjiang each built a nunnery in Beixinguan, Hangzhou, with the intention of being a temporary place to stay. Whenever the first year of Cao Yun ended, the second year has not yet begun, Cao Gong sailors eat and live in the nunnery, and later people gather more and more, so that more than 70 places have developed in Zhejiang. Later, the nunnery was changed to a sailor's office, and for a period of time, the imperial court forbade missionary work, and many nunnery halls were closed, and many congregants were hunted and killed. The only way to do this was to develop on the water, so the nunnery became an old hall boat again. ”

"An old hall boat is a gang, and the boss of the gang is generally called 'Lao Guan', usually in charge of accounts and giving orders, and has great power. After that, he basically didn't preach, and more just ran the boat, and from then on he was officially called the Cao Gang. And those three people are respectfully called Weng An, Qian Nunnery and Pan Nunnery, Weng Nunnery is called the big house, Qian Nunnery is the second room, Pan An is the third room, because Weng and Qian are fellow villagers, so they are collectively called Lao An, and Pan An is called Xin'an. ”

"Oh...... Ah, like this," Wu Yan felt like listening to a legend.

Shu Daizong poured a cup of tea and drank it himself, so as to moisten his throat before continuing: "Lao An does not have many sect members, but all the 'heads' and 'recommended heads' on the ship are collected, so the ships controlled the most. Xin'an is a person of three religions and nine streams, although the number of people is large, but the ship in his hand is not much. The relationship between the two gangs is not good or bad, anyway, whenever the canal silts up and the river is cut off, there are fewer opportunities to make money, and Lao An and Xin An often fight with caution in order to seize this opportunity. ”

When Wu Yan heard this, he couldn't help frowning: "It's really lawless." ”