A summer rainstorm came to Anqing, dense raindrops fell majestically, and the sky and earth were hazy with rain and fog.
A shack in the southeast of the city was also shrouded in rain and fog. The ground at high points turned into mud, and water at low points had accumulated.
In a shack with a reed roof, two mice swam out from the corner, kicking on their hind legs and swimming upwards.
There was a splash of water, and a rough big foot fell from the sky, causing one mouse to be submerged in the water. The other mouse escaped, stepped on the ground and quickly ran out of the shack.
Lifting up the dripping big feet, the gutted rat corpse floated to the surface.
"You have committed evil!"
Tang Ershuan dipped his feet in the water. He held up a dark quilt with both hands and sighed with a sad face. He didn't know whether he was pitying the mouse or himself.
There was a sound of rain outside, and the heavy rain in June was about to come. The roof made of reeds was naturally unable to withstand it. Strings of water dropped everywhere, and it was impossible to escape in the small shack. Tang Ershuan found a space.
Just enough to keep the quilt.
The quilt and an iron pot are the treasures of this small family. The riverside is humid, the quilt is slightly moldy, and the house is filled with a musty smell, but this does not damage the status of this quilt in the Tang family. In winter, everyone depends on it. Although
There is no need to use a quilt in the summer, but if it is soaked in water and cannot be dried in the sun for a while, it will probably become moldy and unusable in the winter.
A three-year-old child was crying and crawling around on the ground. His body was covered with mud, and his head bumped into household items on the ground from time to time. When he saw a dead mouse, he grabbed it and played with it. Tang Ershuan didn't bother to care, he
There are far more things to worry about than just a child, because my wife is pregnant again and will give birth in a few months.
The pregnant wife was leaning in front of the door. The door was actually just a bundle of branches, but Tang Ershuan's dexterity found a roll of hemp rope at the pier and woven it like a reed mat to make the shape of a door. Their wall was
Wooden boards and sticks inserted vertically. On weekdays, Tang Ershuan often carried bamboo and wood for merchants. This was a big business at Anqing Pier, second only to grain. The merchants asked them to move some damaged materials, and then became the Tang Family
The walls. Most of the materials used in this area of illegal construction also come from here.
"Master, those officers and soldiers haven't left yet." The daughter-in-law said with a sad face, "You said these soldiers have to stand guard despite the rain and risk their lives."
"Uncle, if I don't accept someone as my uncle, I won't be allowed to move the grain." Tang Ershuan held up the quilt and looked up to see a new leaking point on the roof, just above the quilt. He quickly adjusted it, but left and right
There was no more space. He sighed and stretched his head over. The water droplets fell on his head and flowed down his arched neck, but he still kept the quilt.
"You have committed evil." Tang Ershuan subconsciously said the mantra. He rolled his eyes and took a look through the gap in the door panel. Sure enough, the officers and soldiers were still there. They were all wearing white coats, with spears in their hands or swords on their shoulders.
He stood there, motionless in the heavy rain. Just by looking at it, he looked more powerful than Pan Youyi's men before.
This place has been blocked for a day and a night, and basically all the leaders of the Cao Gang on the dock have been arrested. The only one is his so-called uncle Wang Qian, who has been surrounded and used this shack, and has been hiding for a long time by taking advantage of the characteristics of the shack.
Not caught yet.
At this time, there were footsteps outside, and the wife looked in front of the door again. She saw a man in official uniform coming over, and several people gathered around him to discuss. Finally, the official waved his hand and said, "Go from house to house and clear out all the people."
Catch him on the road and keep him under guard. I'll see where he hides."
The daughter-in-law turned around and said worriedly, "He's going to be arrested. Your uncle is not sensible. Who asked him to kill the shopkeeper of the Luo family at the dock and act as a bandit spy? He deserves to be caught, right? If he kills someone, let Qiu Ba do it as soon as possible."
If he is caught, he should be beheaded, and our livelihood will be wasted in vain."
"That's what the officials said. Who knows what Uncle Master did as a gangster? No matter where he is, if he kills people and then arrests them to see the officials, his head will be gone. How can he still care about other people's livelihood? He will run away no matter what.
I'm hungry. Let's cook some food."
The wife turned back and found a rice bag on the wooden shelf. The bag had many patches, which had been repaired by mice. She carefully opened the mouth of the bag, grabbed a small handful with her hand, took it out, and put it into the iron pot.
Inside, he pushed the iron pot smoothly and started cooking a pot of porridge with the rainwater leaking from the roof.
"You can't cook it more."
"You can't make any money today, why are you eating so much?" The daughter-in-law said with a cold face, but she still reached out and grabbed more than ten grains of rice. After thinking about it, she put back a few grains before putting the rest into the pot.
.
The wife stretched out her belly and pulled up the bamboo stool, and sat down with some difficulty to light the fire. However, when she took out the tinder, she saw that it was a little wet, so she had to pull open her collar to cover it. After taking it out, she started to light the fire, but failed several times.
She stopped to rest for a while, then continued, "There are so many goods in the past two months. If I don't move things, what will I eat in the winter? I'm about to give birth to my second child."
"You've done evil." Tang Ershuan said again. His head felt a little sore after being bowed for a long time, so he adjusted his position slightly.
At this time, a voice sounded outside, "The government has arrested a rogue spy. No one is allowed to go out. Anyone who violates this will be sent to the official for questioning! There is still Wang Ming on the run, and anyone who reports his whereabouts will be rewarded with twenty taels of silver. If this person is not captured, everyone will be punished."
People are not allowed to go out, and are not allowed to go to the dock to make a living..."
The voice shouted over and over again. I don't know if it was the first time he came here. Tang Ershuan had seen that person before, holding something that looked like a trumpet, walking around and shouting.
After hearing this, the daughter-in-law whispered, "Master, do you know where my uncle is?"
"I know. I just went out to get the ceiling and saw him rushing to Zhou Yong's house." Tang Ershuan grinned to the left, signaling that his uncle was nearby. Zhou Yong's house was two houses away from the Tang family, the only one better than the Tang family.
As for the place, I picked up a rotten desk, repaired it and put it in the shack to store things, which made it look a bit higher.
The wife stepped on the water, poked her head over and whispered, "Then why don't you report it? Twenty taels of silver is enough to buy a small house outside the east gate."
Tang Ershuan moved his head back a little, and the eyes of the daughter-in-law in front of him shone brightly, "Female people don't know anything. We have worshiped the ancestors of Luo Jiao. What kind of injustice is this? Let me tell you..."
Suddenly there was a commotion, and someone was chasing and beating in the rain on the Zhou family's side. After a while, there was a scream and it calmed down. Then there were footsteps outside, and several soldiers went over there. The two looked at each other suspiciously.
The voice from outside sounded again, "Wang Jin has been arrested, Zhou Yong has meritorious service in arresting him, and he will be rewarded with twenty taels of silver!"
The daughter-in-law screamed, slapping Tang Ershuan wildly, crying and cursing, "If you don't go, others will suffer. Our house will be occupied by the Zhou family, you worthless person..."
"Don't hit me, the quilt is wet!"
"Quilt, quilt, how many quilts did you buy for twenty taels of silver? You compensate me, ugh..."
The daughter-in-law stopped, squatted on the ground, covered her face and cried.
Tang Ershuan's face was full of embarrassment. After frowning and squeezing his nose for a long time, he suddenly said with certainty, "Then Zhou Yong betrayed his master. From now on, everyone will point fingers at his backbone. He can't even stay at the dock. What did he get from rowing? Just watch if you don't believe me."
…
"Brother Zhou, give me a lottery ticket." Tang Ershuan said with a shy smile to Zhou Yong behind the table.
There were many porters lined up behind him, all waiting to pick up bamboo sticks for work.
Zhou Yong looked up and took a bamboo stick in his hand to play with. Tang Ershuan could only nod and bend down to wait.
Tang Ershuan came from Liantan Town in Tongcheng. When he arrived in Huaining, he followed his fellow villagers and joined the Cao Gang. This group is the largest gang in Anqing Pier. They have red ropes tied around their waists. They do all the work first, followed by the other gangs.
The gangs can only move to the back.
Tang Ershuan followed the rules of the Cao Gang and accepted the eldest son as his master, and the second eldest son was his uncle. He just felt that he was in the right profession. His master was like a master on the dock. No other gang dared to provoke him, and the merchants along the river also recognized him.
When he had large quantities of goods, he came to his master. Tang Ershuan was strong and could endure hardships. In addition to feeding his family every day on the dock, he could also save three to five taels of silver a year, which was better than farming in his hometown. So Tang Ershuan listened to his master very much.
, fights with other small gangs on weekdays, and he will follow after saying hello. Everyone wants to win. Although he tries his best, the master doesn't remember his name because he has too many disciples.
In just two or three days, the dynasty on the pier has changed. First, at night, they were suddenly surrounded by a group of people. I couldn't count how many people there were. I only heard that the boss of the tooth shop, Shopkeeper Cao, was killed. The murderers may be the master and his uncle.
.
That night, the invincible master lost his life. According to nearby legend, he resisted with a knife and was stabbed to death by an officer. None of the many apprentices dared to help. Then the master hid for a long time. Zhou Yong reported it and the master was killed.
My uncle was also killed. Also killed were the leaders of two small gangs.
After the government announced that these people were all rogue bandit spies, preparing to collude with the rogue bandits to harm Anqing, no one among the thousands of porters near the dock dared to speak out and question them.
Because of the murder, the soldiers had been at the dock. No one could go to the dock to earn money without their consent. After waiting for a day, they began to hand out bamboo sticks. Those who got the bamboo sticks could work at the dock that day. Before work stopped in the evening, they would
Sign and return.
Then a strange small gang appeared, with only six people in total. The leader's surname was Jiang. The person who handed out the bamboo sticks changed from a soldier to this small gang. But the soldiers still left some on the dock, about a hundred people.
The small gang expanded rapidly, and within two days there were dozens of people. Zhou Yong was the first to be recruited into the gang because of his merit in reporting, and was responsible for handing out bamboo sticks on the east side of Kangjimen, which happened to be the slum area of Tang Ershuan.
.Not everyone can go to the pier, so that bamboo stick is the family's livelihood, and Zhou Yong not only stayed at the pier, but also became a famous person among the porters.
Zhou Yong hung the bamboo stick in his hand and raised his eyes to look at Tang Er Shuan, "It's brother Er Shuan. Your daughter-in-law goes around saying that I, Zhou Yong, can't stand on the dock, right?"
"It's okay, it's okay. The woman is talking nonsense. Brother Zhou, don't worry. I will beat her to death when I get back. See if she dares to talk nonsense."
Tang Ershuan smiled awkwardly, and Zhou Yong snorted from his nose, "We are all from Liantan. If that woman talks nonsense in the future, don't say that I, Zhou Yong, don't take care of my fellow villagers. Just take it."
As he spoke, he threw the bamboo stick out and fell directly to the ground.
Tang Ershuan quickly picked it up, nodded and bowed his thanks, and walked to the pier in a hurry. When he arrived at the pier, the usual scattered porters were queuing up again. In front of him, the leader of a small gang was gesticulating, arranging people to pick up the work in order.
.
"Why do we have to queue up again?" Tang Ershuan muttered, but he was still at the end of the queue, with more than twenty people in front of him.
A boat docked below, and the gang members shouted twice and let seven or eight people out. It looked like they had to wait for two boats before it was their turn. From the looks of it, the work they received must be less than before.
.
Tang Erchuan followed the crowd and walked forward, and saw the young leader going back to a shop on the street. He was a little envious of that man, and followed the man with his eyes as he entered the shop.
Tang Ershuan raised his eyes and saw the signboard on the shop had the words "Dajiang Boating" written in large characters.