MTL - Traveling Through Ancient Times To Be a Shopkeeper-Chapter 66

In the cold winter, it is cold and clear.

The fireplace in the living room in the backyard is burning firewood, making the house warm and cold.

It turns out that the fireplace is used to warm the room in cold weather, and the pipes of the fireplace are connected to the house in the backyard, so it is very warm to stay in the house during the day and night.

"It's a cold day, it's not good to be windy and freezing outside. From now on, I'll stay at home and read books and books, and I won't go to the grocery store." Wei Cheng was wearing a black brocade suit, tall and handsome, with a big cloak on his outside, and was about to go out.

Zhou Yuan smiled when he heard it: "I'm not someone who will collapse when the wind blows. In the past, in winter, I had to carry water to wash clothes at home, and sometimes I had to work in the yard when it snowed. I don’t see me being blown down by the wind. I have a cloak and a hand stove when I go out now, and it’s impossible to be cold. If you keep procrastinating, you will be late when you have an appointment with the young master.”

Wei Cheng stood still and didn't go out, staring at his daughter-in-law: "Do you dislike me for nagging?"

With a smile in his eyes, Zhou Yuan nodded deliberately, "I guess so." Before Wei Cheng could react, Zhou Yuan leaned over and snuggled into his arms, wrapping his slender arms around his strong waist, and said softly, "How can I I will be disgusted, I am very happy."

In winter, he chatters every day. He doesn't think that people's nagging and caring is dislike or long-winded. On the contrary, he likes people's nagging and caring, which shows that his husband cares about him very much.

It was rare for the daughter-in-law to take the initiative. Wei Cheng put his arms around him and let out a satisfied sigh, "I really don't want to go out." He lowered his black eyes and looked at the person, "How about I don't go out today, just look at the store, and I can go tomorrow."

It would be nice to be at home with my daughter-in-law in the cold weather!

Zhou Yuan pushed the person away, "No, I'll go out if you don't come out, I have an appointment with Xiaoqiu and Muzi to have lunch together at noon." He also wanted to go back to his room and change his clothes for going out.

Wei Cheng looked at the emptiness in his arms, and watched his daughter-in-law put away the books in the living room, and put her arms down, "Why do I feel that after they come to the workshop, my status will drop."

Zhou Yuan smiled and said, "I'll ask them out if you want to go out, okay? If you don't go out, I'll accompany you."

Although the two of them work in the workshop, they usually come to him after work, and they will not go to him to chat with him because they are his friends.

"I am satisfied with this sentence."

Before going out, Wei Cheng warned, "Don't catch cold when you go out. Wear a cloak and bring a hand stove. There is a fireplace in the living room of the grocery store. I will go there later and let someone burn the fireplace. You can go there later."

Before winter, I built a fireplace in the grocery store considering that I was often in the grocery store.

"Mmm, um, um..." Wei Cheng said, and Zhou Yuan kept nodding his head as he looked at the person with clear eyes.

Wei Cheng: "......"

He hugged him to him, leaned over and kissed his daughter-in-law's pale lips...

Wei Cheng went out.

Zhou Yuan curled up on the sofa and covered his face, while Xiao Liu outside the door covered his mouth and snickered.

The relationship between her master and the lord is really enviable!

.........

It was half an hour after Zhou Yuan went out.

Going out in a carriage, the carriage stopped suddenly on the way. Fortunately, the carriage was traveling at a slow speed, and Zhou Yuan and Xiao Liu in the carriage stabilized after a buffer.

Xiao Liu lifted the curtain of the car, driving the carriage was a servant in bunt, trained as a guard, "Why did the carriage stop?"

The servant said: "Sister Xiaoliu, suddenly a child ran out in front of me, so I stopped the carriage suddenly, didn't I startle the lord?"

"fine."

Xiao Liu looked at one big and one small not far from the carriage, dressed in rags and thin clothes, his face and hands were flushed with cold, the older one was a brother, holding the child and kept blaming himself, it should be a mother and child.

The mother and son came back to their senses, and the elder brother took the child and kept apologizing to Xiao Liu, obviously afraid of offending others.

"Xiao Liu, did you hit someone?" Zhou Yuan in the carriage heard the sound, opened the curtain, and saw that he was bowing to the carriage and kept apologizing.

Zhou Yuan frowned, disliking this situation very much, "Xiao Liu, they, no, I'll tell them not to apologize, it's a trivial matter."

Just as she was about to get off the carriage and talk to the mother and son, Xiao Liu immediately said: "My lord, it's fine for the servant to go, don't go down, the wind is strong, the master will blame the servant if it's cold."

Zhou Yuan thought that he was so cold that he wanted to drink bitter medicine, so he stopped his movements and nodded: "Okay, you go!"

Xiao Liu immediately jumped out of the carriage, walked over to the mother and son, pulled them along and said a few words at the same time, the brother thanked Xiao Liu again before walking to the side of the road and standing there.

Xiao Liu returned to the carriage, and the carriage resumed driving.

Zhou Yuan watched as the curtains of the carriage were lifted, and there were many ragged people on the road, including old people, adults, and children...

"Xiao Liu, why are the suburbs full of refugees?" He used a carriage to go in and out, and if he hadn't stopped halfway today, he wouldn't have noticed.

Xiaoliu said: "Every winter, there will be refugees in the county. They don't have enough to eat in their hometown. If they can't find food in winter, they will come out to beg."

Zhou Yuan was thoughtful after listening.

—

During lunch, Zhou Yuan ate absent-mindedly.

Zhou Muzi asked: "Yuan Yuan, what's wrong with you? Have you lost your appetite?"

Zhou Qiu smiled and said, "It can't be that Wei Cheng is not here, so you can't eat?"

During the period in the grocery store, she often had lunch with her husband and wife, and finally saw the two of them get along, one was in charge of picking up vegetables, and the other was in charge of eating.

The two couples are not afraid that she will look embarrassed, but fortunately they eat together and Wei Lei and the others seem to be familiar with it.

Zhou Yuan was teased and said angrily, "Xiaoqiu, don't talk nonsense."

"Okay, I'm talking nonsense, but what's wrong with you? Don't say anything, Muzi and I are anxious when we see it." Zhou Qiu said.

"Is the Lord worried because he saw refugees on the road?" Xiao Liu asked.

Zhou Qiu and Zhou Muzi were stunned, Zhou Qiu asked: "Refugees? What refugees?"

Koyanagi explained.

Zhou Yuan: "Xiaoqiu, Muzi, how can you help them?" He felt that the family did not have to worry about food and clothing, and there was so much money, he thought he should be able to help, but was struggling with how to help.

This kind of thing can be difficult for Zhou Qiu and Zhou Muzi.

Xiao Liu reminded: "If the master wants to help them, why not wait for the master to come back, the master must have a way."

Yes!

Zhou Yuan's eyes lit up.

Zhou Qiu and Zhou Muzi also agreed, there must be a way to find Wei Cheng.

Zhou Qiu smiled and said to Zhou Yuan: "Now you can have a good meal!"

Zhou Yuan said directly: "I'm full!" He was not hungry, his eyes sparkled, and he couldn't wait to make arrangements.

Zhou Qiu and Zhou Muzi: "......"

For a bowl of rice, you only need to eat two or three mouthfuls to be full.

Koyanagi: "..."

Master, don't scare me. If you let the master know that you only eat two or three bites, I will be scolded. Although the master is easy-going, if you punish someone, she will not be able to withstand the oppression.

Zhou Qiu and Zhou Muzi served food at the same time: "Eat—"

Then, Zhou Qiu and Zhou Muzi continued to eat, Xiao Liu patted his chest, relieved!

—

When Wei Cheng came back in the afternoon, he was informed by Xiao Liu.

Wei Cheng replied in a deep voice and let Xiao Liu back down.

The door of the living room was open, and the fire was burning, and the room was so warm that if the door were closed, it would be stuffy.

Zhou Yuan was still sitting on the couch and focused on the book, not noticing that Wei Cheng came in, Wei Cheng approached him, and directly leaned in front of the person, "I was so fascinated by reading, I heard from Xiao Liu that you didn't eat well today?"

Zhou Yuan saw the person in front of him, and said pleasantly, "You're back!"

Wei Cheng sat beside him, took out the book in his hand, stared at him with dark eyes, with a smile in his eyes: "Tell me, my husband is waiting for your explanation, why didn't you eat well? Do you want to continue drinking medicine, eh?" The tail sound is deep and meaningful.

"I have a meal." Zhou Yuan must be strict about this point, he was full at noon when Zhou Qiu and Zhou Mu joined forces to pick up vegetables, "I was just thinking about what I saw when I came to the grocery store, and I ate it at lunch While thinking, I ate two bowls of rice." I still haven't fully digested it.

Xiao Liu told Wei Cheng that Wei Cheng knew that he had eaten two bowls of rice.

Zhou Yuan asked excitedly: "Husband, does the workshop still need people?" He asked Uncle Mao, the housekeeper.

Wei Cheng: "Well, do you want to invite?" He wants to hire people to make candies and preserved fruits, but not many people will be invited, and next year there will be more talents.

Zhou Yuan's eyes brightened: "I asked Xiao Liu, the refugees outside are all begging when they can't survive in their hometown. We can invite them to work in the workshop, and they don't have to starve and freeze outside."

"That's a way." Wei Cheng nodded, and then said: "What about elders and children? They can't come to work in the workshop."

Zhou Yuan was dumbfounded.

Wei Cheng stretched out his arms and put his arms around people: "We can set up a shed outside the grocery store to give out porridge, and give them shelter from the wind and rain to fill their stomachs."

"Good idea, why didn't I think of it." It was solved as soon as I came.

Wei Chengdao: "I'm going to be busy with the store affairs in the inner city of the county recently, I'll arrange someone to help you, and I'll leave this matter to you."

In fact, he had been thinking about giving out porridge for a long time and had no time to spare. Since his wife wanted to do it, let him do it.

"As for the right people to recruit into the workshop, I will let Uncle Mao take care of it."

"it is good."

—

In the open area of ​​the suburbs, many refugees gather here.

Refugees will go to the county town to beg during the day. When there are more refugees in winter, the government will not allow too many refugees to enter the city. If you are lucky, you can enter, but if you are not lucky, you cannot enter to beg. There are people in the suburbs, but life in the suburbs is not easy. , If you have compassion, you will give some food, and you can give it to one person, but you can't give it to others, and you start giving alms. There are more refugees in the back, and those people simply stop giving alms to avoid refugees looting.

If you can get food, you will not starve, but you will be frozen. If you can't get food, you will starve and freeze for a day.

At night, the refugees could only find a place to shelter from the wind in the suburbs. The cold wind pierced through the bones at night, and they had to grit their teeth to survive even if they were shivering from the cold.

"Father, I'm hungry..."

The thin little boy was unbearably hungry, and his eyes longed to look at his brother beside him. The brother looked sad and hugged the child into his arms, "Ben Ren, when I wake up, I will have something to eat tomorrow."

The little boy was obedient, his cold face was flushed, and he asked, "Father, why did grandma drive us away? Where did daddy go? I miss him." If daddy was there, he and his parents wouldn't If you are hungry, you will not be bullied.

Brother didn't know how to explain it for a while, his husband didn't see the corpse whether he was alive or dead, he didn't want to hear others say that he was gone, brother hugged his son tightly, tears in his eyes stubbornly refused to fall, and said softly: " We're just out to find your father, and we'll find it."

The white-haired old woman next to me asked, "Why do you come out to beg, are you little fellows?"

They are all begging in the suburbs together, and they gather together to keep warm at night, and they rely on each other.

"Grandma, this is my son. My husband went to run a business and never came back. We were kicked out by our mother-in-law." Brother's tone was very flat.

The old woman was obviously stunned, and it took a while before she said: "What kind of mother-in-law is this? It's not fatal to drive people out in this cold weather, it's a crime!"

Brother's face was shriveled by the cold wind, without any complaints, he gently pulled the corners of his mouth, and didn't say much if he wanted to say anything.

His mother-in-law is his husband's stepmother, and his husband was kicked out. After they got married, they lived an ordinary life with food and clothing. They were fine. His husband and the villagers went to run a merchant ship, but they disappeared in a big storm. .

Some of the men who went out to run merchant ships came back, and some of them disappeared and fell into the sea.

His husband and stepmother called him Kefu, took away the family house, and drove him and his son out. He only had a few copper coins with him. Some villagers pitied him and gave him a few copper coins, in order not to be frozen to death. Starved to death, he could only leave his hometown with his son, and followed the refugees all the way to Nanshan County.

—

bang bang bang bang—

With the sound of a gong, the refugees in the suburbs woke up from the cold.

"Give porridge ahead, you can line up to get porridge—"

You heard me right, someone is serving porridge, hurry up—

Regardless of the cold wind blowing overnight, the bones of the refugees stiffened and the cold ran away, rushing to the porridge place, for fear that there would be no porridge to eat if it was too late.

The elder brother was pleasantly surprised and shook the son in his arms. The little boy woke up immediately when he heard that there was porridge to drink.

Behind them, the old lady was walking with a cane, and her eyes were full of eagerness. Seeing other people passing by her, they all ran to the porridge place, and she was even more worried that she would be gone if she went late.

The old lady is a widowed old man who comes to Nanshan County to beg every year. Nanshan County has a limited amount of porridge. She has drank it several times. eat.

In previous years, the porridge was given out later, but this year it was earlier.

Some filled her stomach, she didn't think too much about it.

Brother, mother and son and the old woman are the most familiar, and they rely on each other to keep warm at night. Seeing that the old woman is struggling, the elder brother pulls his son back, "Grandma, I will help you walk."

The little boy imitated his parents and stretched out their thin hands to support the old woman: "Grandma, I will help you too."

The old granny's eyes were cloudy, but she still declined politely: "No, I can walk slowly in the front, and you and the child run over quickly, and more and more refugees are queuing behind, and there will be no more refugees in the back."

My brother still didn’t let go of the holding hand. He just came to a strange place with his son, and the old lady kindly helped them, otherwise he would be even more at a loss when taking care of his son. Sometimes the old lady would help him look after his son, and they would keep each other warm at night, as human beings. Can't be heartless.

The little boy saw what his mother and father did, and he followed suit. He looked down at the hungry flat stomach, and cheered himself up. If he really couldn't eat, he would tighten his stomach.

The old lady is used to cold and warm eyes. After so many years, this is the first time she feels the warmth of winter. She can't survive a few years, and it is enough to meet care before she dies.

If she can't get the porridge, she still has a dozen or so copper coins in her bosom for when she can't beg for food, and there is a dilapidated mud house in her hometown, so let's leave it to the mother and son.

Unlike other refugees rushing over, they just walked over with support. All this fell into the eyes of the servants of Wei Cheng’s family. They came out and beat the gong to call for the refugees to go to the porridge shed. Butler Mao told them to pay attention to the behavior of the refugees, and they didn’t understand at first. ,I get it now.

Some people's character can be clearly seen from the observation of a person's behavior.

Compared with some refugees, they bumped into each other while running, and even had disputes...you can see clearly who the character is...

There are suitable people for recruiting workshops.

"Everyone line up for me, one line on each side, the men line up on the left, the elders, brothers, and children line up on the right side, each person gets a bowl of porridge, no jumping in line is allowed, if you jump in line, let me leave—"

The adults who were originally behind the old man and the children were very excited when they heard it, and they were not afraid to run slowly to finish the food distribution.

"Everyone has a share, don't worry, eat at the side if you get it, you are not allowed to rob others, if you rob, you will drive away—"

Wei Hu took the servants he was training, and stood aside. Some people who wanted to take the opportunity to jump in the line and didn't want to line up, saw that there were few people in the line on the right, and they had to line up obediently if they wanted to mess around.

The porridge cooked in the porridge shed is coarse grain porridge. It is cooked in a big pot, and it is thick, not a clear soup with little water.

Spoon after bowl, the refugees looked at the thick porridge with steam and warmth, and they were all excited.

"A bowl of porridge is a lot of rice—"

"I'm not dreaming, I've never eaten porridge full of rice at my age—"

"Very fragrant porridge, this porridge given by a good person—"

 …

A man's bowl of porridge is not enough to fill him up, but for an old man, a child or the like, this bowl of hot porridge full of rice can last for a whole day.

Those who received the porridge started to gobble it up, eating a bowl of porridge, and even licking the bottom of the bowl.

Some refugees wanted to **** the weaker ones while they were eating, but when they saw the tall, muscular man standing on the stick, they were instantly cowed.

The mother and son and the old lady lined up, and finally it was their turn. Looking at the bowl full of rice porridge, they all felt that they could survive the winter at this moment.

"Kids hold it well, don't drop it, if you drop it, you won't have anything to eat."

The little man held the bowl seriously, smelled the aroma, couldn't help but licked his chapped lips, and replied politely: "Uncle, I won't fall, if I fall, I will be hungry, thank you uncle!"

"You don't have to thank me, I want to thank my master." The servant pointed to the right and said to the three people: "You may have good luck if you eat there."

"thanks!"

My brother thanked me gratefully, and the old woman thanked me with tears in my eyes.

The place pointed by the servant is just a few steps away. The brother and son brought the porridge over, and then came back to help the old woman. The person at that position saw it and took the initiative to help.

Everyone sat around eating bowls of porridge and chatting happily.

"In previous years, it was clear water porridge, but this year it is full of rice porridge."

"This time the porridge is not given by the good people in the county, but by the owner of the grocery store not far in front."

"I know that grocery store. There are many workshops there, and many people are hired to work. If I can go, I would rather not get paid, as long as I can have enough food."

"Where are you from?"

"I came from the north, and it snowed heavily in my hometown in winter. Many people were hungry and cold, so they came out to beg for survival."

"The harvest in my hometown is not good this year, and many people don't have enough to eat, so they come out to beg."

"This porridge is the best I've ever eaten. I don't know if I can eat it tomorrow."

"Sure!"

.....

The little boy ate to his heart's content: "Father, it's delicious. You didn't lie to me. I really ate when I woke up."

Brother said softly: "It's delicious, thank you."

"Well, I will."