"The gentleman is far away from cooking. ”

He understood this, and Huang Da puffed up his chest: "I'm not a gentleman." ”

He looked very proud, Zhang Hancui said: "Okay." ”

Zhangjia is a large place, and there is a corridor between the kitchen and the main hall. Huang Da followed Zhang Hancui to the kitchen, and passed a small garden on the way. Of course, at the time of the wax moon, the flowers and plants have withered, showing the desolation that is very compatible with this house.

He really couldn't help it: "Miss Zhang, have you ever studied?"

Zhang Hancui said softly: "I read it for a few years when I was young." ”

"Your house looks, looks ......" Huang Dazhi said twice, "What's going on?"

Zhang Hancui picked firewood into the stove: "My family has been engaged in calligraphy and painting for generations, and originally opened stores in Jiao'an, Lucheng and other places, which is a time-honored brand and is very trusted by customers. ”

After all, it's a matter of eyesight. In this business, credibility is more important than gold.

"And then?" Huang Da knew that there would be a turning point in the future.

Then the war came. Zhang Hancui said quietly, "When the two countries go to war, one fight is many years. We are here again on the front line, and there are countless dead. My family lost several batches of goods before and after, and was robbed several times, and the store couldn't be opened, and I still owed a lot of debts. ”

Huang Da didn't know what to say. The war is gone, the song and dance have leveled down, and on the surface both countries are thriving, but the wounds left by the war are still fresh for a long time.

Natural and man-made disasters are the most painful for the people. talk about prosperity and recovery, but there are countless small businessmen like the Zhang family who have fallen into the middle of the road and suffered the hardest, and they can no longer recover their former vitality.

Prosperity and prosperity have nothing to do with them anymore.

"My father has been running for many years, but his business has been getting worse and worse, and since then he has been disheartened, drinking and gambling all day long. Once he was collected for debts, he went out to hide from the debts before the New Year, leaving me and my mother to guard the house. Zhang Hancui said in a low voice, "After my mother died, he became even worse, although he would not beat me and scold me, but he often stole things from the house to gamble." ”

"He owes one hundred and seventy taels, if it weren't for me, how would you plan to pay it back?" He could see that it was not the first time that Zhang Hancui had paid off his father's debts. Huang Da remembered Zhang Yunsheng's chopped finger. The old man's gambling addiction is very big, and the pain of a broken finger can't withstand the itch in his heart, which shows that the Zhang family often falls into such a dilemma.

Zhang Hancui smiled bitterly: "I usually make some gouache rouge and sell it in the city." ”

No wonder she is very fragrant, and Huang Dadu thinks that the fragrance is unrefined and smells very good. "Is it easy to sell?"

"Not bad. Some people are used to my fat powder and will order it to be sent to the city every few months. ”

"Oh, then sell me a box, right?"

Zhang Han Cuiqi said: "You are a big man, what do you buy it for?"

"I ......" Huang Da's brain spun fast this time, "Send me my little sister! Yes, she likes this!" "The second sister is a weasel who likes to be greased and powdered!"

After she followed the little white face, it was better to dress up.

"It's a blessing to have you as a brother. Zhang Hancui smiled, "Okay, I'll send you a few boxes in a while." ”

"No, no, I have money!" Huang Da waved his hand, "However, can you earn more than a hundred taels of silver by making fat powder?" He was not very impressed with these things, but the things that the eldest girl and the little daughter-in-law had to use, I don't think it would be too expensive.

Zhang Hancui smiled.

Huang Da waited for a while, and saw that she was only immersed in things and did not pick up the stubble, so he suddenly realized: "Oh, it's me who is abrupt." Obviously, this is people's privacy, and Zhang Hancui refuses to say it to outsiders.

"It doesn't matter. After scooping up the rice, the little girl added water to the pot and went to chop the vegetables, "My father was such a shrewd person that no matter how fine the imitation was, he could not escape his eyes, and even the officials often asked him for help." Now ......"

She shook her head with a wry smile. So Huang Da understood that even she couldn't hide the pickled things in the gambling house, but Zhang Yunsheng couldn't distinguish it.

The old man is trapped in his own fanatical world, unable to see the truth.

He started with another sentence: "It seems that you didn't live in Sanjiao Town originally. ”

"I was born in Sanjiao Town, and my family moved to Jiao'an when I was three years old. After the store closed, my father took me back to Sanjiao Town. Zhang Hancui smiled slightly, "It's almost the New Year, why did you foreigners come here?"

"Our family is also moving, just passing by. Huang Da still remembered the purpose of the little master's visit to Sanjiao Town, "The Bowu Temple on the street is very interesting, for a picture of a monster." ”

"A long time ago, that monster ate people, causing the whole village to panic. No matter how powerful the gods are invited from outside, they can't beat it. Zhang Hancui said with a smile, "It's so powerful, and then everyone offered it up like a fairy, begging it not to come out and harm people again." ”

"What kind of monster is this Bowu?"

"I don't know. Zhang Hancui thought for a while, "I heard that it walks like the wind and has infinite strength, and no magical power will work on it." It slept all day, and no one could wake it up, and of course no one knew where it slept. In the early hours of the next morning, it came out again to eat people. ”

"When the time comes, the sky is hidden. Huang Da remembered that the portrait seemed to be inscribed with these two sentences, as if, well, this is probably what it meant, "It seems that you are very familiar with these stories." ”

"We grew up listening to this legend and believed it to be true. Zhang Hancui began to stir-fry, "If any child is not well-behaved, his mother will scare him, and if he cries again, he will be arrested by Bowu!"

"Where did it go when it used to be a disaster?"

"It's not clear. ”

Seeing that he couldn't ask anything, Huang Da also changed the topic, picked up some interesting stories about Chunmingcheng and talked to Zhang Hancui, but also talked and laughed at Yan Yan.

She was very neat, and in a blink of an eye, three dishes and one soup were ready, although she was a little light: "There are no good dishes to entertain guests, I'm really embarrassed." ”

"It's delicious to look at. And I mean it.

Zhang Hancui smiled and brought all the dishes to the living room: "You sit, I'll call my father out for dinner." ”

Huang Da sat down, and the crabs that had just been served were steaming. Although it is only the effect of the egg yolk and egg white being fried separately, it smells terrible.

The little girl is very skillful, and this craft does not seem to be lost to the male host.

But before the chair was hot, he heard Zhang Hancui screaming softly.

"What's wrong?" he strode over.

Zhang Yunsheng's bedroom was at the east end, and when he rushed to the end, Zhang Hancui was walking out, and his little face was red.

He looked into the room, and it was empty.

"This?"

Just cooking, the old man sneaked out again?

Zhang Hancui obviously thought the same way, although her eyes were red, she forced herself to calm down: "Forget it, don't care about him." Let's eat. ”

Huang Xiaoxiao said: "So, doesn't it matter?"