What is a barricade?

To put it bluntly, they are actually a group of unstaffed temporary workers who help the government collect taxes.

Don't look at the relatively developed industrial and commercial economy of the Song Dynasty, you think that the business environment of the Song Dynasty is very comfortable, but in fact, there are many messy taxes to be paid.

And the Song Dynasty was the world of civil officials, and those who were in special costumes, dancing and writing all day long, thought that collecting taxes from merchants was a detrimental thing, so they all sent those lowly officials in the government to collect them.

However, the small officials in the government are limited, and the small officials alone cannot complete this huge project, so the profession of "blocking heads" was born.

Most of the barricades are local ruffians, and their job is to intercept passing merchants on various official roads, help the government collect toll taxes, and collect transaction taxes and other taxes from local merchants.

Because the barricades were not organized, the imperial court would not pay them salaries, and their income depended entirely on a cut of the commercial taxes collected, so they would create many other messy surcharges of their own.

If businessmen with no background dare not to give it, they should not think about crossing the road or doing business locally, even if they report to the government, it is useless, because the behavior of the blockers is secretly allowed by the local government.

The so-called Hades is easy to hide, and the little ghost is difficult to deal with.

Therefore, the local merchants had to try their best to establish a good relationship with the blockade, and the common people were deeply afraid of their power.

Zeng Hao was naturally not afraid of Pang He, but considering that this restaurant was the brainchild of Ling Yuting's two sisters and brothers, he had to temporarily suppress the resentment in his heart and honestly go to stir-fry.

Soon, he fried two dishes and brought them out - stir-fried kohlrabi and stir-fried chicken offal.

When Zeng Hao brought these two dishes to the table, before they ate them, everyone was already salivating with the aroma of the dishes, and many people made the sound of swallowing saliva in anger.

Pang He looked at the two dishes in front of him, nodded slightly, first of all, the appearance of the dishes made him very satisfied.

He picked up a piece of chicken offal with chopsticks and threw it into his mouth, chewed it a few times, and suddenly his eyes widened!

That expression, as if he would jump back in the next second, and then fell to the ground and kept twitching, staging a wave of Song Dynasty version of "plum vegetable buckle meat biting incident".

But Pang He is not a drama spirit after all, he is still a normal person, so he just sighed: "It turns out that this is the legendary stir-fry!" It's delicious! ”

Immediately afterward, he swept away two plates of vegetables and several large bowls of rice.

Putting down the dishes and chopsticks, Pang He burped, looked at Zeng Hao and praised in a tone: "The food is delicious, I am very satisfied." ”

Then he got up and prepared to go out.

Zeng Hao immediately stepped forward and grabbed him: "Brother, can you say a good word after eating without paying for the meal?" ”

Seeing this scene, everyone standing on the side was stunned, because Pang He was eating in this county, and no shopkeeper dared to ask him to pay, Zeng Hao was the first!

Pang He was also quite surprised, and stared at Zeng Hao's face for a while without saying a word.

Just when everyone thought that Zeng Hao was about to suffer, Pang He laughed out loud and said to Zeng Hao: "Brother has guts!" Just for your guts, I paid for today's meal. ”

After speaking, he took out a tael of silver and put it on the table: "The rest of the money is my reward for your cooking skills." ”

Looking at Pang He's back as he gradually moved away, everyone had a sense of respect for Zeng Hao in their hearts.

For the next afternoon, Zeng Hao had been stir-frying in the kitchen and never stopped.

Because there are so many guests!

The dishes he fried are delicious, and the price he sells is not very expensive, coupled with the drainage effect of advertising, so the store is not only full, but there is also a long queue outside the store!

This scene continued until all the ingredients were sold out.

"Whew!" Zeng Hao sat on the chair and exhaled.

He hadn't rested all afternoon, and now he was so tired that his skeleton felt like it was going to fall apart.

Ling Yuting's two sisters and brothers are not much better, although they don't need to stir-fry, but they do chores such as washing vegetables, cutting meat, serving dishes, and washing dishes, and the degree of hard work is not much lower than Zeng Hao.

Despite the hard work, Ling Yuting's face was still full of joy, and she said to Zeng Hao: "Master, we are developed!" This afternoon alone has more turnover than in the past few months combined! ”

Ling Chenhui stood up and poured cold water and said, "Sister, have you forgotten about the rise in drug prices?" The money we earned in the afternoon was just enough for Daddy's medicine for a day. ”

Hearing this, Ling Yuting's good mood suddenly vanished, and sorrow crept up on her face again.

Zeng Hao smiled and comforted the two sisters and brothers: "It's okay, with me, it will only get better and better in the future." ”

Looking at Zeng Hao's confident appearance, the sorrow in the hearts of the two sisters and brothers was also diluted, and they nodded lightly.

After resting in the restaurant for a while, seeing that it was not early, Zeng Hao said goodbye to the two sisters and brothers and went home to cook dinner for Pan Jinlian.

On the way, Zeng Hao went by the way to buy a few catties of mung beans, preparing to make mung bean cakes tonight and sell them in the store tomorrow morning.

Back at home, Pan Jinlian was still sitting in the house sewing clothes like last night.

Seeing Zeng Hao coming back with a tired face, she stopped what she was doing and asked suspiciously: "Where did you go, and you didn't go to sell cakes, why did you come back so late?" ”

"Stir-frying in the restaurant, after a whole afternoon, people are going to be tired and fall apart." Zeng Hao said as he walked into the kitchen and prepared to make dinner.

"Wow, you're going to be a chef!" Pan Jinlian's expression was pleasantly surprised, "How much salary is there in a month?" ”

"No pay." Zeng Hao replied casually.

"What? No pay! Pan Jinlian was so angry that she stood up suddenly, "Then you still do it?!! ”

"Because I'm both a chef and a shopkeeper in that restaurant."

"Wu Dalang! Get down to business, don't be kidding! ”

"I'm not kidding......"

Next, Zeng Hao told Pan Jinlian about his shareholding in the restaurant.

“…… So in the future, you will be regarded as the shopkeeper's wife, how about it, your husband and I are amazing, right? ”

Pan Jinlian disdainfully "cut" her voice, but the raised corners of her mouth still betrayed her true mood at this time.

Zeng Hao simply fried two home-cooked side dishes, cooked a pot of white porridge, and called Pan Jinlian to come over for dinner.

After eating a few bites, Zeng Hao remembered that Pan Jinlian was not at home this morning, so he asked unintentionally, "Did you go out this morning?" ”

"yes." Pan Jinlian replied casually, and then continued to cook fragrantly.

"Where did you go?" Zeng Hao asked again.

There was no way, who called his wife so beautiful, he had to ask a few more words, and the embankment was abducted by others.

"I went to the princess."

As soon as he heard Pan Jinlian say that he went to Wang Po, Zeng Hao was immediately unhappy: "What are you doing with her?" Didn't I tell you last night, don't deal with her again?! ”