Seeing that the New Year is approaching, the streets of the market are lively. The most prosperous part of the year is probably the street that has been closed in recent years. Bao Ding was very interested, and he came to Dongfu with Cuicui early in the morning, how could Xing'er let go of this opportunity, and followed like a tail. They also went to the room and called out for a round of ginseng flowers, but they smiled and said, "I'm not used to so many people, so it's better to read some books quietly in the house." When Dongfu heard this, he didn't want to come out, so Xing'er and Baoding were willing to follow, and they pushed and dragged him out.

Out of the scattered house, the usually cold street has completely changed its appearance, with crowds of people supporting, hawkers gathering, and the sound of selling is endless. The four of them walked around and didn't buy much, but they were dazzled. Xing'er and Cuicui asked for two strings of sugar gourds again, and they tasted it in their mouths.

The women are always in high interest when they go shopping, and Bao Ding is still full of interest at first, looking east and west, seeing that it is almost noon, and the streets and alleys of the town are almost turning, but the two little women are walking in front and laughing and watching, chattering all the way, and there is no intention of going back at all. Bao Ding pounded his waist and rubbed his legs, put his hand on Dongfu's shoulder, and squinted and frowned at Dongfu, only muttered in a low voice: "Don't you go back yet?" My feet are swollen away! But he didn't dare to speak out yet, he was not afraid of Cuicui, but he was afraid of Xing'er's mouth, which was very unforgiving. Dongfu was secretly amused. He practiced every day, and it was natural for him to go this way, but he knew that Bao Ding couldn't bear it, and he had to sacrifice his life to accompany his wife.

Still Cuicui felt sorry for Baoding, turned her head and smiled sweetly to the two: "It's rare that it's a collection today, so don't go back to eat, turn a corner and it's the famous Jianghang restaurant, let's go there and have a good meal." ”

Only then did Bao Ding come to his senses, and the four of them turned the alley, but saw a large circle of people in front of them. The four of them were very curious, and squeezed in to take a look, and there was a tall, round and fat gourd on the ground. Standing in the middle of the road, it almost blocked the light of a road. I think it was because it was touched by someone at any time, and the gourd had been polished to a yellow and shiny color, with a large wooden plug on the handle, and a large straw rope tied around the neck, which was thought to be used to carry the gourd. The shopkeeper of the Jianghang restaurant stood in the middle of the road angrily, and only said in his mouth: "If you can pour this big pot of wine, how can there be any reason not to give silver!" Even if Zhang Guo is old, he used such a big pot to pour wine, and he still has to give it! ”

When Dongfu saw this big gourd, he was curious, I don't know who used such a gourd to hold wine? He looked around, but all of them were lively, and he didn't see any of them who seemed to be drinking. Just when he was confused, he suddenly heard someone behind the gourd humming and saying: "It's okay to ask for wine money, you have to bring this pot of wine to me, and I will give you no less." ”

Dongfu Daqi, crowding the crowd and turning to the opposite side, turned out to be a thin old man, his hair was as messy as hay, wearing a tattered clothes, pedaling a pair of straw sandals with loose beards, squinting a pair of eyes, and muttering drunkenly. The bluestone road in front of the restaurant was full of melted snow, trampled by people and dirty. The old man didn't care about it, and sat on the ground. Do the momentum to pick up the gourd. He was sitting, spreading his legs, and stretched out his arms to hold the gourd, which was so funny that the onlookers laughed. Seeing everyone laughing, the shopkeeper was angry and annoyed, and said, "You are a broken gourd, but you have a little wine, why can't you lift it!" I mentioned it to you, and you obediently gave me the money for the wine! He stretched out his hand to hug the gourd's neck, but the head was about as tall as the gourd, and where could he afford it, it caused everyone to laugh wildly. The shopkeeper blushed with anger, stretched out his head and shouted in the store: "Er Biaozi, you come to mention this wine pot to me!" On the other hand, he turned back to the old man and hated him: "I knew this was the case, if I didn't buy wine with you, I would look poor!" ”

Everyone gathered around and waited to see a good show, and heard a roar in the store, and a tall and fat one came out, naturally it was Erbiaozi. He had a garment stained with oil, and he had an oil-stained belt tied around his waist, and his whole body smelled of oil and salt, thinking that it was a kitchen stir-fry. Everyone looked at this one, which was in stark contrast to the thin old man on the ground, and they all laughed to see how he moved.

Er Biaozi walked to the gourd, stretched out a pair of hands, hugged the gourd's thin neck, and straightened his belly, thinking that he could stand up with a belly, but the gourd didn't move at all, Er Biaozi let go of his hand, circled around the gourd, and said to the old man sitting on the ground in a thick voice: "You go away, I can move up!" The old man rolled his eyes, shrunk his feet, and the second biaozi tried again with his arms around the neck of the gourd, but he still couldn't move, and he was so surprised. You must know that although a gourd is big, it will not weigh much, that is, it contains a pot of wine, but it is only a wine vat heavy, he moves wine to the kiln every day, and a large vat of wine is moved up in one fell swoop, how can such a thing happen. Suspicious, he bent down and raised a fat, big, and dirty ass to see if something was tied under the gourd. When everyone saw this, they smiled and bent over, and the women around them covered their mouths and snickered and stepped back. Erbiaozi didn't care about the jokes of others, and saw that the bottom of the gourd and the ground were tightly together, and there was nothing, so he was a little annoyed, and bent down to push the belly of the big gourd, wanting to push it down. But where can I push half a point!

When everyone saw it, their laughter gradually decreased, knowing that there must be some mystery in the gourd, otherwise they couldn't push it down. If he was curious, he walked over and pushed hard, but he didn't move as if he had been welded with iron. The old man saw Er Biaozi bending over and pushing, suddenly took off his shoes and slapped the upper of Er Biaozi's buttocks: "You don't have to push my gourd, if you pull me up, I will have wine money with you!" Er Biaozi was troubled, heard this, his heart was on fire, and he pulled the old man's clothes hard, and then he lifted it up fiercely, and everyone saw it, and saw that he was so strong, and some people got up, but only heard the "click" sound, and the second Biaozi did not mention the old man, but tore off a large piece of his clothes. The old man's face immediately changed, and he shouted, "How can you tear your clothes if you want money for wine?" Now I'll lose my clothes first! The shopkeeper was so angry that his face turned yellow, and he called Er Biaozi and said, "You go in first." "There is nothing to do about it when I look at the old man lying on the ground.

The owner of the Jianghang restaurant came out of the store in a hurry and asked Xiao Er. Dongfu glanced at the old man, thinking that he must be a strange person with kung fu. He had met Chen Ziliang and had a good impression of such a poorly dressed person, so he stood up and asked, "How much wine money does this old man owe?" The shopkeeper replied angrily: "A few dollars are enough, this big gourd wine costs three taels of silver!" ”

Dongfu didn't say much, took out three taels of silver, and the shopkeeper hurriedly stretched out his hand to take it, and said with a smile: "Thank you to the guest officer, thank you to the guest officer, the guest officer Bodhisattva heart!" Dongfu ignored him, turned the gourd behind him, and said to the thin old man, "Uncle, please get up." The old man got up from the ground slowly, raised his head and said to Dongfu with a smile: "Since you have paid for my wine, a good man will do it to the end, why don't you invite me to eat again." ”

The onlookers could hear it, and they were all screaming. It's too much to think about this shriveled old man. Even Xing'er and Cuicui heard it, and they were secretly pulling Dongfu's clothes behind. Dongfu didn't care. smiled: "We also happened to be eating in this restaurant." Uncle please go in and sit down, order some dishes that suit your taste, and let you eat to your heart's content! ”

The old man was overjoyed to hear this, pointed at Dongfu with a black finger, almost pointed to his nose, squinted a pair of old eyes, and said with a smile: "I know that you have a good heart, and you are really willing to invite me to a big meal!" Walk! ”

As he spoke, he picked up his clothes and went up the steps of the Jianghang restaurant. That posture, as if he had invited Dongfu to dinner, entered the restaurant with a big grin, and chose a good table to sit on. Dongfu smiled, and regardless of Xing'er slapping his head with her finger behind him, he followed in and sat down. The shopkeeper saw the old man sitting at the same table with him, where was there still half a face, and hurriedly came over to greet him.

The big wine gourd was placed in front of the road of the Jianghang restaurant, most of the people scattered, leaving a few curious onlookers there, and there were a few naughty children in the middle, so they stretched out their hands to push hard, and they didn't want to push this one, the gourd actually fell, and a few naughty children immediately fell into a ball. Caused others to laugh. The old man looked at it, and he didn't shout, but only laughed twice, and didn't care.

Xing'er Cuicui and Bao Ding also sat down with Dongfu, and although they didn't speak, they couldn't help but stare at the old man curiously.

The old man was unceremonious, pointed to the menu of the restaurant, ordered a large table of chicken, duck and fish, and asked for two pots of good wine. Xing'er was on the side, secretly rolling her eyes at Dongfu, Dongfu pretended not to see it, but the old man saw it, only squinted his eyes and smiled.

As soon as the wine and food were served, the old man stretched out a pair of black hands, first tore a chicken leg into his mouth and gnawed wildly, even the bones were chewed and gurgling. Bao Ding was stunned. After the old man finished gnawing, he said: "Eat, little brother is in for a treat, don't eat for nothing!" He poured another glass of wine, handed it to Dongfu and said, "Little brother is bold, old gourd, this glass of wine is for little brother." But he picked up another pot, put a long spout directly into his mouth, and poured it into it with his neck tilted. Dongfu looked funny, and also raised his hand to drink the wine in the wine glass, and beckoned Baoding and a few people: "Eat." ”

As he spoke, he used chopsticks to pick up a big fat one, and put the braised pork in the old man's bowl, the old man was very happy, and nodded and said vaguely while eating: "Okay!" Good! Dongfu then asked: "I don't know the old man's surname, why did he come to this remote town?" ”

The old man chewed a few mouthfuls before he stopped and said, "Hugh wants to call the old man, and if he is uncomfortable to hear, he will call the old gourd." Listen to it refreshingly! ”

After pouring a few sips of wine, he stopped, a trace of shame appeared on his face, and he scratched his head with his hand, and said for a long time: "Why did you come here, but you can't tell the little brother." Dongfu suddenly saw him show this face, and he was very surprised. Seeing that he was so funny, Xing'er jumped up at once, ran to him, and shouted with her hand to the vegetable road: "Old gourd, if you don't tell me, I won't let you eat it anymore!" ”

Seeing her blocking like this, the old gourd was really anxious, so anxious that he put down the wine gourd in his hand, and begged: "Grandma, let me eat first, and I will tell you." "Where is Xing'er willing, only use her hands to block him. The old gourd's eyes slipped over the oily and steaming vegetables, and only added lips, and it was not good to force it to grab it with his hands. Xing'er was even more proud, her face went down, her eyes were big and round, and she asked, "Old gourd, do you want to talk about it?" ”

The old gourd sighed, looked around for a while, then turned his head, lowered his voice and whispered: "The two old gourd brothers, they came here to be," said a little weak-hearted, looked around, and then said: "But I came to see the old lover." With that, he was embarrassed and only smiled. Xing'er refused to let him go, and looked around for a while, before she whispered, "Which old lover is it?" The old man refused to say anything, jumped up and opened his teeth and claws, and said, "I won't say anything about killing me!" No, I don't eat a bite, and I don't say anything! ”

Dongfu looked at his look of preferring to die rather than speak, and he was amused, and shouted, "Xing'er, don't make trouble again." Xing'er also knew that he would not speak, so he sat down in a daze, but the old man was happy again, and made a grimace at Xing'er, and swallowed a large piece of meat in his mouth. Dongfu called Xiao Er to send a pot of wine again, and he and Bao Ding each poured a cup to drink, and then asked again: "Old gourd, where did the two brothers you just mentioned, and the other one go?" ”

The old man shook his head while eating, and said, "He will only lie on the wall day and night, who knows where he has gone!" Dongfu heard him say this, and his heart was strange, I don't know what kind of strange characters are just lying on the wall day and night?

The old man took a big sip of wine, suddenly remembered something, changed his face, and said angrily: "If he carries his back, I will secretly go to see that ...... That, when I come back, I will stuff him into a big gourd, and he will not come out! ”

Xing'er suddenly laughed and said, "But that old lover? The old man was so happy that he stood up and said, "Little girl, how do you know?" So smart, reward you with a big piece of meat! As he spoke, he picked up a large piece of fat with his hand and put it in the apricot bowl, and the apricot exclaimed, where do you want it, pick it up with chopsticks, and throw it away. The old man saw it, jumped over and opened his mouth wide, and continued it squarely, chewing and swallowing, and smiling proudly with a pair of eyes.

Dongfu, Baoding and Cuicui were all amused by the old man like this, and Xing'er wanted to say something, but she was afraid that he would pinch the dish with her hands and throw it into the bowl again, so she only rolled her eyes at the old man.

The old man asked for two more jugs of wine, and ate meat and cattle at the same time. Dongfu only drank a few times. After a while, most of the wine and food on the table went into the old man's stomach. Xing'er was teased by him, and she was unconvinced, but she couldn't bear it at this time, and said: "Old gourd, why do you eat like this, why do you still grow lean?" The old gourd laughed and said: "Little girl, the old gourd can eat this meal, but it can be full for four or five days, and he is not afraid of a grain of rice." As he spoke, he squinted his eyes again, leaned his head in front of Xing'er and said, "But it's much cheaper than your meal?" Apricot snorted, and suddenly stretched out her chopsticks to pinch the old man's nose. I didn't want the old man to bow his head, Xing'er screamed, and saw that the two chopsticks were inserted into the old man's eyes. Baoding and Cuicui both stood up in fright. I didn't want the old man to raise his head again, his face was wrinkled, he was clenching his chopsticks, but his eyes were squinting, and he was squinting at Xing'er very proudly. Xing'er was atmospheric, stretched out her hand to pull out the chopsticks, and with all her strength, she only made one face red, but where could she pull it out. The old man made enough trouble, and as soon as he let go of his face, the chopsticks fell off and were picked up by his hand. To hand it to the apricot. The chopsticks were caught in his face, and they were naturally dirty, where would the apricots want it. Snorted and didn't answer with his hands behind his back. The old man laughed. Putting the chopsticks on the table, he returned to his seat and drank, and said, "Little girl is interesting, I haven't been so happy for a long time." He laughed again. Suddenly, he asked, "How many of you have eaten?" Dongfu didn't know why he asked like this, and said with a smile: "Even if the old gourd eats, we are already full." But if you are not enough, call again. ”

The old gourd said again and again: "It's good to be full, it's good to be full" and suddenly took off the torn clothes on his body. I only wore a patch and a shabby jacket inside. The people on the first floor had already seen this old man funny, and they were all paying attention, but when they saw him like this now, they didn't know what he was going to do, and they all stared at him. The old gourd handed the two corners of the clothes to Bao Ding and said, "Take it." Bao Ding didn't know what he was going to do, so he stretched out his two hands, and the old gourd himself took the corner of his clothes with one hand, and went to serve the bowl on the table with the other hand, and poured all the soup and meat into his clothes. Three or five times like this, he poured all the uneaten chicken, duck and fish meat on the table into his clothes, and the clothes fell into a bag, and all the oil and water seeped out and dripped to the ground. The shopkeeper stood aside, stunned to see him quickly take the two corners from Bao Ding's hand, pull hard, tie a pimple, and turn it into a big burden dripping with oil and water, and put the dishes and chopsticks to the side, throwing the burden on the dining table. Only then did he smile and pointed to some empty bowls and said, "This will be clean, not a single bone will be wasted, and the old gourd can be eaten again at night." ”

Dongfu couldn't see him crying and laughing, and beckoned Xiao Er to say: "In this case, you can cut five catties of cooked beef with me, wrap it raw, and take it away for this old man." The food and drinks were settled. "Xiao Erle went to the top. Xing'er and Cuicui also knew that this old man should never be seen by ordinary people, and he couldn't laugh even if he couldn't laugh.

When the old gourd heard Dongfu say this, he danced with joy, like a singer, shook his two torn cotton jacket sleeves, turned to Dongfu and bowed and said: "Little brother is so generous, the old gourd is so happy!" Before Dongfu could return the gift, he had already reached out and taken the burden on the table, and the person had already walked out of the hall.

His big gourd was pushed to the ground by the children, and four or five children on the street were lying on it as horses. The old gourd walked out of the restaurant, stood high on the steps, stretched out a hand, picked up a foot, like a Peking Opera horse, and shouted: "Bah! The sound was so loud that it was so deafening that even the snow on the roof of the house was shaken down a lot, and it fell in a torrent. The people in the restaurant were startled by this sound, and even the upstairs people poked their heads to look down.

Several children were so frightened by this sound that they ran away and hid far away. The old gourd laughed proudly, grabbed a bamboo pole from the side of the steps, walked into the middle of the street, picked up the big gourd, and hung the burden to the other end, but did not leave, only looked at the store with a smile. The shopkeeper hurriedly wrapped the beef in oiled paper, tied it with a rope, and sent it down to hang on his pick.

The old gourd glanced at Dongfu from afar and said, "Little brother, there will be a period later!" He didn't thank him, but walked away with the gourd and the meat. He was not big, but he walked very fast with a gourd, only to see a big gourd flickering, and then it was far away in a blink of an eye.

Xing'er pouted, "I don't even have a word of thanks." This old gourd is really a pleasure to eat for nothing! Dongfu smiled and didn't bother with her. The money for the meal was given, and the group came out. came out and met such a strange character, and everyone's heart to go shopping also faded. So he talked and laughed and walked home.