There was a small basket on his waist, which was about the same size as the small bamboo basket used to collect money on the bullock cart behind Duan Mingjing.
These baskets are mostly used by farmers to store small items. The workmanship is not complicated and the style is no different.
The man inadvertently approached Duan Mingjing, paying attention to the rhythm of Duan Mingqing collecting money and selling melons. When he saw that the people beside the car were not paying attention, he "accidentally" dropped the basket hanging from his waist into the car, and then
He reached for the basket containing money behind Duan Mingjing.
Just when the man's hand touched the basket and was about to succeed, a rough palm stretched out from beside him and held it down, "What are you doing!"
The man yelled loudly!
Hearing the roar, Duan Mingjing quickly turned around and saw that the small bamboo basket beside him was tilted to one side, with the copper plates inside scattered out, and the hands of the subdued man were beside him. What else didn't he understand?
of!
A thief dares to steal his money!
Duan Mingjing immediately refused to sell any more, and with the help of a group of enthusiastic neighbors, he escorted the thief to the county government office.
Cheng Yao often took his junior officials to the Duan family. They came and went so often that everyone in the county government knew the Duan family.
When Duan Mingjing came to report the case, he immediately took it seriously.
Coincidentally, the county magistrate is not here today, so we can only lock up this little thief in the county government office until the county magistrate comes back.
Duan Mingjing had no objection to this and took Sun Ping out of the county office.
After a long delay at the county government office, Duan Mingjing discovered that the man who had helped him was still waiting outside.
Duan Mingjing looked around and saw that although the man was wearing ordinary civilian clothes, his temperament was not ordinary, so he raised his hands and thanked him, "Thank you, Mr. Lang, for your help! If it weren't for Mr. Lang, that little thief would have succeeded! Duan Ming has nothing to do with it."
I thought I would repay...the only thing I could do was send two melons to express my feelings."
Duan Mingjing said as he picked up two melons from his cart.
The man then raised his hands and smiled, "It's just a little effort."
"You must accept this melon. I grow it at home, and it doesn't taste as good as mine anywhere else! If you miss it this time, you have to wait until next year!"
Duan Ming advised with great respect, he still understood the principle of repaying kindness with kindness.
The man didn't refuse when he saw this, he accepted Duan Mingjing's cantaloupe, holding one in one hand, "Thank you very much."
"No thanks, no thanks, you can keep the melon seeds and plant them in your own yard," Duan Mingjing reminded kindly.
After delivering the melons, Duan Mingjing said goodbye to the man and continued to push the cart to sell melons in the county.
After what happened just now, Duan Mingjing became more thoughtful. He tied a small rope to the basket, slung it over his shoulder, placed it in front of him, and kept an eye on it.
In this way, no little thief will be able to succeed!
Duan Mingjing was very satisfied with his innovation and went home immediately after selling the melons.
When Duan Mingjing left with the small bamboo basket, he didn't notice the position behind him at all. There was someone following him.
Having money stolen is a trivial matter. After Duan Mingjing told his family about this, he got the concern of his wife and children.
Qiao Lan followed with concern and asked Duan Mingjing to be more careful. Duan Mingjing agreed verbally, but in his heart he couldn't help but sigh that this was a man-made disaster and that no matter how careful he was, it was useless.
The next day, news came from the clerk at the Yamen that the thief was a local lazy man who was doing nothing. He had already informed his family that he would be locked up for a few days and that he would be sent to do corvee labor.
Duan Mingjing has no objection to this kind of punishment, just follow the Beijing Law.
Anyway, he has sold out this year’s melons!
-
A few days later, some news came from restaurants in the county, saying that restaurants in the next county also wanted to buy Duan's eggs, but the boss from the next county had to come and take a look before he could buy them with confidence.
Duan Mingjing was very confident in the chickens he had raised. He was afraid that he would not be able to find anyone who could compare with him, so he asked someone to come over and come and have a look.
On the appointed day, Duan Mingjing got up early and drove his chickens to the back mountain. After feeding them once, he waited for the guests to come over and looked at the energetic little hens all over the mountains and fields. Then he picked up the shovel and started cleaning the chicken coop.
Duan Mingjing does these tasks every day, and he is already very familiar with them.
When the work was almost done, I heard a burst of movement and shouting from below the chicken house, "Is Mr. Duan here?"
This is the voice of a restaurant clerk in the county.
"Here you are, come in!" Duan Mingjing shouted from across the chicken coop.
Duan Mingjing cleaned up the baskets containing weeds next to him, put the shovel in the corner and leaned against it, and saw a familiar boy coming with someone.
"Master Duan, I brought Boss Li here for you!" the waiter said enthusiastically.
And the man standing next to the young clerk was the man who helped Duan Mingjing catch the thief a few days ago!
Isn’t this a great fate?
Duan Mingjing immediately smiled and came forward to say hello, "You are actually Boss Li. I haven't seen you for a few days. What a coincidence!"
Li Changyi smiled and said hello, "I didn't expect that Brother Duan is not only good at growing melons, but he also raises chickens so energetically."
"No, no, I didn't know how to do these jobs before. I only learned how to do them in recent years." Duan Mingjing's smile was a bit complacent.
When Li Changyi heard this, the luster in his eyes flashed, and the corners of his mouth curved higher than before.
Duan Mingjing didn't notice this at all, immersed in the joy of meeting again, and introduced his chicken coop to Li Changyi.
"Boss Li, I keep an eye on my chickens one by one, watching them break out of the eggs and grow into chicks..."
With that said, Duan Mingjing was about to take Li Changyi to see his chicken house.
The chicken house is a new place. Raising chickens these days does not require so much attention. Anyone who sees a chicken house is curious and marvels that the chickens have a special house to live in.
"Brother Duan, there are so many chickens in your chicken house!" Li Changyi sighed, looking up and down the chicken house, trying to find out the secret.
Li Changyi looked around and found nothing special.
The eggs are placed one by one on the kang, surrounded by bamboo strips.
Li Changyi reached out and touched it and found that the kang was hot.
"Were these eggs hatched using a kang?" Li Changyi asked in surprise.
Duan Mingjing nodded, "Yes! Hens are not very precise in incubating eggs, so it is not as good as this kang! It is hot all day long and the eggs will not freeze."
Li Changyi glanced at it a few times and remembered it in his heart.
The kang can replace hens in incubating eggs and hatch more chicks.
The incubation room and brooding room were connected together, and Duan Mingjing continued to take Li Changyi to visit another room.
The brooding room has no special features, except that the ground dragon is burned underneath, which makes it much hotter than outside.
Originally, there were wooden boards filled with chicken feces placed under the hollow bamboo baskets. Now Duan Mingjing cleaned them out, leaving a clean board.
Li Changyi felt a little hot when he entered the room, but Duan Mingjing didn't say that the earth dragon was burning down there, and he didn't think about it that way. He simply felt that this room was hotter.
I took a cursory glance at the chicken on the bamboo basket, and then followed it to the back mountain.