Elm Alley is located in a remote area of Nancheng. Its most obvious feature is the large elm tree at the entrance of the alley. Two people can surround the tree. It is more than several feet tall. It looks like it has been growing for at least a hundred years.
Wang Chao saw the big tree with bare branches higher than all the surrounding houses from a distance, and said: "This is it, Mr. Song, I really have you."
Song Quan said: "What's the matter? I've been here before, and I once asked about the origin of this elm alley. The people are very fond of this big elm tree."
Su Jin asked: "What's so precious about this? It's just an old tree."
Song Quan said: "You don't understand. The elm tree is also known as the 'money tree'. Its fruit is shaped like a copper coin and it is a century-old tree. The common people love this tree, so they cherish this tree very much. You see, there are still trees around the roots.
Surrounded by a fence, the well water under the trees is also particularly clear and delicious, so this place is quite nice."
Su Jin said with a smile: "What's the use of asking for oral lottery? You have to make money with your hands, and you have to make your own future. If you can get promoted and make a fortune, I'm afraid there will be elm trees in front and back of every house."
Song Quan smiled and said: "That being said, who doesn't like to hear auspicious words?"
The two chatted and laughed in low voices. Over there, Wang Dynasty had already arrived at the door of a house. The firewood gate of the small courtyard was hidden, and there was no decent fence around it. They just woven branches and straw ropes and inserted them into the ground to surround a small courtyard. It was simple.
Extremely.
Wang Chao stretched out his hand and pushed, and the firewood door opened in response. Several people walked gently into the courtyard. In the courtyard, there was a stone roller, a few persimmon trees, a few red persimmons hanging on the trees, and a row of sorghum ears drying on the eaves.
Relying on a ambulance, it was obviously an ordinary family.
Wang Chao stretched out his hand to knock on the door of the house. Su Jin reached out to hold him back and said, "Be gentle, don't scare others."
Wang Chao nodded and tapped a few times with the back of his hand. There was a cough in the room. After a while, the lights came on and someone asked in a low voice: "Who?"
"Brother, we are on errands at the Yamen, and we have something to do with you."
"Young man from the Yamen? I'm just a man of my own honour, and I haven't done anything illegal."
A panicked female voice came from inside, and the man lowered his voice and said, "Why are you afraid of him? I haven't broken any laws."
Su Jin coughed and said: "Brother, please open the door. How about we meet and talk? There are people inside and outside the door. I don't know what is going on. To tell you the truth, the prefect sent me to wait.
I am here to express my condolences to the people and give you money to tide you over."
There was silence inside for a long time. Finally, the light flickered in the crack of the door, the door latch clicked, and then the door was opened. A strong and burly man stood at the door wearing a coat, holding an oil lamp in his hand.
Su Jin cupped his hands and said, "You're polite, I'm disturbing you in the middle of the night."
The man looked the four of them up and down, and finally pursed his thick lips and said in a deep voice: "Please come in, sir."
The four of them entered the house and closed the door. Su Jin looked around with the faint light. The house could be described as bare walls. There was nothing long except tables and benches. The tables and benches were all dark and seemed to be covered with a layer of dust.
, the straw mat hanging on the inner door was shaking, obviously the female family members had just hid in the inner room.
The man brought two benches and placed them beside the table. He stretched out his hand and said, "Master, sit down."
Su Jin and others thanked him, sat down on the stools, and said with a smile: "Brother, I really feel sorry for disturbing your home so late. It's just that I have many eyesight during the day, so I really can't come. Please forgive me."
The man said: "You are so polite to me, but I still think you have committed a crime."
Su Jindao: "We are responsible for our duties and live our lives peacefully. There is nothing wrong we can do. We are here under the order of the governor to give some money and materials to poor people to subsidize their families. Recently, the price of rice has soared, and the people have suffered.
.”
The man hurriedly waved his hands and said: "I don't dare to take it. How can I ask the officials to bother."
Su Jin smiled, turned to Song Quan and said, "Mr. Song, you personally came to express condolences to the people on behalf of your Majesty. It is really respectable and admirable, so I will bring it out here."
Song Quan said in surprise: "What to take?"
Su Jin frowned and winked: "Condolence money, aren't you carrying the usual consolation money?"
Song Quan said: "What condolences..."
Su Jin interrupted him and said: "Mr. Song, this is not good. The consolation money is for the poor people. You won't even want to use this to yourself."
Song Quan's teeth were itching with hatred. This narrow-minded boy was teasing him again. Just now he clearly saw a small cloth bag in his arms, which he said was condolence money for the people. Why, in the blink of an eye, he said that he had taken the money.
Song Quan didn't want to lose his grace in front of the people, so he slapped his head and pretended to have a sudden realization and said: "Oh, yes, yes, you see, this memory of mine is here."
Su Jin almost burst into laughter when she saw Song Quan groping around but couldn't find any copper coins. Instead, he took out a silver ingot and held it up and said, "Brother, do you have any money to look for? I forgot to bring the copper coins with me.
These are two taels of silver ingots."
The man said: "Where did I find the money? I bought all the black market rice for the last two days today. I only have a dozen copper coins left at home."
Su Jin grabbed it with his hand and said: "Whatever change you want, can't we just give it to you together? Brother, please remember the philanthropy of Mr. Song. He gave you extra money from his own pocket. This silver ingot is
It’s enough money to buy some food and clothing for several children.”
Song Quan, the boss, opened his mouth and thought to himself: "This guy is so familiar with himself. He is so generous to others. He lost two large sums of money for no reason. What the hell is going on."
The man rubbed his hands and said, "Why do you want this? How can you afford this?"
Su Jin said: "Take it, you are worthy of it, you are worthy of it. Mr. Song is the son of the lord of the government. He is used to caring about the sufferings of the people. I just tell my son to kowtow to Mr. Song during the holidays and express my gratitude."
"
The man reached out and took the money. There were tears in the corners of his eyes. He said with a trembling voice: "My dear, come out quickly and thank Mr. Song and Mr. Chai. They really gave us the money."
The straw curtain was lifted, and a thin woman with sallow complexion and disheveled hair came out and knelt down with the man to kowtow to Su Jin and Song Quan to thank him. Song Quan was greatly moved and hurriedly asked them to get up. Suddenly, all the losses were in vain.
The depression of the two taels of silver disappeared, and I felt that the two taels of silver were well spent.
After a lot of fuss, they finally settled down, and the woman was busy lighting the stove and boiling water. Su Jin and others tried to dissuade her, but the woman refused to listen, so they had no choice but to let her go.
Su Jin turned to the man and said, "What's your name, eldest brother?"
The man said honestly and honestly: "Young people, what are the noble surnames? My surname is Wu. I am the second in the family, so I am known as Wu Erlang."
Su Jin was startled, quickly calculated the year, and then he breathed a sigh of relief. This Wu Erlang was not the other Wu Erlang. Although Wu Erlang of Dahu was also from the Song Dynasty, he was still smoking and was not born at all. In fact,
It’s impossible to say whether there is such a person.
"Oh, it turns out to be Brother Wu. How many people are there in the family?"
"My parents have passed away a long time ago, and now I am living with my wife and three children."
Su Jin said: "Looking at this, life is quite difficult."
Wu Erlang frowned and said, "No, I earn some money on weekdays by helping others drive carts, pulling horses, and unloading trucks. My wife sews, mends, washes, and subsidizes the family income. After a year, I just have enough food and clothing to support the children."
Su Jindao: "The price of rice has skyrocketed recently, I'm afraid it will cause more trouble."
Wu Erlang squeezed his thick-knuckled hands and said, "Isn't it true? Today, the last two coins at home were exchanged for only seven liters of rice. This is only the end of October, and I don't know how to live in the future."
Su Jin pretended to be surprised and said: "Two ounces of money can only exchange for seven liters of rice? Whose grain shop is so dark? How is this different from killing people with a knife?"
Wu Erlang sneered and said: "Of course you don't know. There are no grain shops open now. What we buy is all black market rice. I'm afraid that all the grain in Yangzhou City will be collected by that evil tiger, this evil-hearted thing."
The woman who was boiling water coughed. Wu Erlang frowned and said, "Why are you afraid? There is no way to survive soon, so why are you afraid of gossiping?"
Su Jin smiled and said: "Brother Wu said it's okay, but I don't understand. Who is this evil tiger? He is so capable that he can collect the whole city's food and open a black market and sell it at a high price. What is his background?"
Wu Erlang glanced at Su Jin and said, "This new chap doesn't even know Feng Laohu's name? Haven't you heard the rumors on the street? 'It's better to meet a Nanshan wolf than a Yangzhou tiger.'
Hundreds of wolves gather in Nanshan, and they are extremely ferocious, but compared with Feng Laohu, they are still kind. There are still bones left after the wolf bites. If you mess with Feng Laohu, you won't even be left with scum."
Su Jin frowned and said, "So powerful? Does he have a backing?"
Wu Erlang shook his head and said: "This little guy doesn't know. It is said that he has a group of people under his command. He doesn't cause trouble on weekdays, but everyone who offends him disappears inexplicably. Even the corpses are missing."
He couldn't be found, and even if he reported it to the officials, he couldn't find out the truth. As time went by, people didn't dare to mess with him."
The woman finally couldn't help but said: "Master, please stop talking. If word spreads, will the five members of our family survive?"
Wu Erlang also felt that he had said too much and quickly shut up.
Su Jin chuckled and said: "Brother and sister-in-law, don't be hesitant. We will definitely keep our mouths shut. If we reveal even half a word, will it cause thunder and lightning? Well, I won't ask anymore. Just tell me where this black market is."
Where is it? To be honest, I have just arrived in Yangzhou as a errand, and my family has a large number of people. The food distributed by the officials is not enough to eat, so I also want to buy some."
Wu Erlang showed sympathy and said: "It's not hard to find. It's in the Sanli Hutong at the north entrance, but it's so tightly guarded that ordinary strangers can't get in. Even if they enter the alley, they can't buy food."
Su Jin said: "What should we do?"
Wu Erlang lowered his head and thought for a while, then raised his head and said as if he had made up his mind: "In this way, when my benefactor goes to buy rice, just say that it was introduced by the third blind master of Nancheng. Don't say anything else, just buy the rice and leave."
.”
Su Jin asked in surprise: "Who is the third blind master?"
Wu Erlang said: "Blind Third Master is my employer, and I help him work all year round. As for his relationship with Feng Laohu, I really don't know."
Su Jin didn't ask any more questions. This was naturally a friendship in the underworld. Wu Erlang didn't know it even if he asked him.
After chatting for a while, they stood up and left. The woman poured water but saw that everyone was about to leave. She felt really sorry and quickly took some hot sweet potatoes and stuffed them into the hands of Su Jin and others. Everyone refused, and Wu Erlang said: "
"Take it, benefactor, send some money to my family. I haven't even drunk enough to drink. How can I teach people to feel at ease? Eat these sweet potatoes to warm your body."
Su Jin smiled and said, "Thank you then." He took the sweet potatoes and said goodbye and went out. The sweet potatoes were roasted hot and sweet, and they ate them all the way, their mouths licking their lips.
Su Jin felt that this little sweet potato was the most delicious thing he had eaten since traveling through time.
(A little rant: It has been almost four months since I wrote this book, and the results can only be regarded as average. I have many friends who read the book, but the collection of red tickets is not satisfactory; I am not good at asking for votes and collections. In my opinion
Here, readers can read it to their heart's content, and they will give it to you even if you don't ask for it. But recently I found that many book friends just read the book and also come back to give advice.
But the sad thing is that you don’t even click on the collection. To give a crude analogy, it’s like you go to an entertainment place to spend money, pick up your pants and leave when you’re done. Hey, gay brother, you haven’t given me the money yet.
Na! So I urge book lovers to check the bookshelves to see if they have been collected. How many red tickets can I give you? Thank you!) dd