Chapter 524 Gossip (addition to the leader of the book friends)

Several people glanced at Mr. Zhuang first, and then took it. The middle-aged man in the lead simply grabbed a piece of naan bread and sat opposite Mr. Zhuang, smiling: "I didn't expect such a coincidence that we met twice today. My surname is Li, the second in the family, I don’t know how to address Mr.

Mr. Zhuang laughed and said, "Zhuang's only son, Mr. Li Er, if you don't mind, you can call me Zhuang Dalang."

Man Bao also sat back in his seat, and while eating naan bread, he whispered to his two friends, "The same ranking as Bai Er."

Bai Shanbao nodded, "People are similar."

Mr. Zhuang who heard the whisper: ...

Seeing him stop, Li Erlang raised his head and looked at him suspiciously. Mr. Zhuang smiled at him and asked, "Mr. Li Erlang, isn't it time to do business all the way?"

Li Erlang said with a smile: "The business in this world is endless, so occasionally I will slow down and walk slowly. From Bai Ri's words, sir, this trip to Yizhou is for the students to take the entrance examination?"

His eyes slid over the three of Man Bao, and finally settled on Bai Shanbao, and asked with a smile, "Is this the young man?"

Mr. Zhuang smiled and nodded.

Li Erlang couldn't help but praise, "Look at this kid, he's only twelve or thirteen years old, can he be admitted to a government school?"

He had noticed Bai Shanbao when he was in the teahouse, firstly because of the meaning revealed in their conversation; secondly because the child was reading in the teahouse with a book in his hand, and he could tell that the other party really read it.

It was not easy to strike up a conversation in the teahouse before, but now it is convenient.

Li Erlang simply checked Bai Shanbao's homework.

Bai Shanbao answered one by one, and then the questions became more and more difficult. He couldn't help but look at Mr. Zhuang, but Mr. Zhuang smiled and said nothing, so he could only rack his brains to think.

But I still couldn't help complaining, is this still a businessman?

Who is it?

Man Bao listened with gusto, Bai Shanbao couldn't help but bumped her with his elbow.

Man Bao thought for a while, then quietly reminded him, "It's the unspoken teaching in the Tao Te Ching."

Bai Shanbao understood as soon as he heard it, and then answered calmly.

Only then did Li Erlang look at Man Bao, and smiled with Mr. Zhuang: "Mr. Zhuang has two..." He lowered his head to meet Bai Erlang's eyes, he paused, and said, "There are three good disciples."

Mr. Zhuang is naturally humble.

After eating the naan bread in his hand, Li Erlang went to talk to the farmer on the other side, "What's in the old man's back basket?"

"It's the lotus root dug out from the mud pond," the farmer showed him what was in the basket, and explained: "At present, there are not enough vegetables grown in my son's house. I haven't finished digging the lotus root left over from last winter, so I just dug it and brought it to the city. to sell."

"Is this not sold?"

"It's been sold, it's been sold, and these few knots are left," the farmer said with a smile, "It's just that it's not easy to stay in the city, so I went out of the city to live in the Taoist temple."

Li Erlang smiled and said: "This Taoist temple is not bad, and it has specially reserved a quiet room for passers-by to rest."

"That's right, this quiet room didn't exist before, and it was only built a few years ago. That's why we dared to stay in the city until very late, and we didn't leave the city until people finished shopping at the evening market," the farmer said with a smile, "Change As in the past, we will go home as soon as the application time is over."

Man Bao asked curiously, "Can't you drive overnight? You can light a torch when it gets dark."

"Oh, I dare not, the mountains are deep and the forests are dense, even with one or two people, I dare not walk the mountain road in the middle of the night."

Bai Shanbao also became interested, and asked excitedly, "Is there any bandits?"

Li Erlang: ...

The farmer laughed and said, "I've never heard of bandits, but night roads are not safe, even if there are no bad guys, what if I run into something evil?"

"Is your home far from here?" Li Erlang was afraid that Bai Shanbao would ask some strange words again, so he quickly changed the subject.

"It's far away, it takes nearly two hours to go there."

Li Erlang: "So long?"

"Yeah, so we had to go out at dawn. When we arrived at the county seat, we missed the morning market and had to wait for the lunch market. However, there were few people buying vegetables in the afternoon market, but there were many people picking up cheap food in the evening market. It’s suppressed, so it’s sold anyway, isn’t it?”

Li Erlang asked, "Has the family life been difficult in the past two years? I heard that the floods in Yizhou two years ago and Maozhou were also affected."

"Oh, it's because of the flood that everyone is struggling with their lives now," the farmer said, "At that time, the family owed a lot of money to survive. Fortunately, the weather has been good for the past two years, and I reckon I can do it in another two years Pay off the debt, and just hope that the next few years will also be rewarded by God."

"What debt do you owe that you have to pay for so many years?"

"Two sacks of millet."

Li Erlang opened his eyes slightly, and asked: "Could it be that your whole family has worked hard for a year, and after excluding your own food, there are still no more than two bags of millet left? You have to pay it back in four years?"

"I borrowed the millet from the disaster year. At that time, the millet cost 30 cents a bucket. It should be on credit with interest. Afterwards, whether you pay back the money or the millet, you have to pay according to the market price." The farmer said. : "The money owed is rolling with interest, and the food price has not been high in the past two years. Isn't it going to pay more and more? I specially asked Li Zheng to do the calculation, and it is estimated that it will take four years to pay it off."

Man Bao blinked, and said, "It's like usury lent by casinos to gamblers."

Bai Shanbao: "Isn't it illegal to make huge profits?"

Bai Erlang asked: "Will the government take care of it?"

"It depends on the situation," Man Bao said while tearing up the naan bread and said, "If Mr. Yang finds out, he will probably take care of it. If County Magistrate Fu said it, then he probably didn't hear it."

"Magistrate Fu has been gone for several years, why haven't you forgotten him?" Bai Shanbao felt that magistrate Fu was quite pitiful.

Man Bao said: "How could I forget? I just received a letter from my second sister Fu last month, saying that she is already engaged and is now in the marriage discussion period. Maybe this autumn or next spring will get married. I I'm still thinking about what gift to send to Second Sister Fu."

Li Erlang wanted to continue talking to the farmer, but also wanted to follow Man Bao's words, so he paused and asked Man Bao, "Which county are you from?"

"We are from Luojiang County."

"Luojiang County?" Li Erlang thought about it for a while, and said with a smile, "Your county magistrate is called Yang Heshu, right?"

"Yes, yes, you know Master Yang?"

"I've seen it. How about that Mr. Yang being an official?"

"That's right," Man Bao said, "We all like Mr. Yang."

"Oh? Why is that?" Li Erlang asked with a smile, "Listening to your voice, the former county magistrate of Luojiang County was named Fu. Why, is he not good?"

Mr. Zhuang put down the bamboo tube and coughed lightly.

Man Bao thought for a while and said, "That's not true. When County Magistrate Fu left, we went to see him off. Mr. said, if not for County Magistrate Fu's hard work, our county would not have been able to exempt from tax for a year."

When the farmer heard this, he immediately asked, "Is your county tax-free?"

It's a bit late for new characters to appear

Good night