Chapter 1706 Meeting an old friend in a foreign land (5)

Before she could finish nagging, Juhua called out and interrupted her: "Hey, Mom, look, there is a hot pot restaurant there. It must be the one Caiwei told me about. Let's go eat hot pot." ,OK?"

Not far away, the Blessed Hot Pot City is bustling with activity. It is noon at the moment, and it is time for dinner. A large number of diners are pouring in. The crowds of cars and horses crowd the door of the hot pot restaurant. Many There was nowhere to park the vehicle, so it had to park in front of another shop.

Ms. Cui had heard her husband talk about hot pot a few days ago. It is said that eating a hot mutton hot pot in the winter and making your body warm is an extremely enjoyable thing. Therefore, when her daughter suggested that she go While eating, she agreed without hesitation.

There was no parking space in front of the hot pot restaurant. The Shen family's driver looked at it and parked the car in front of a calligraphy and painting shop. In order not to be chased away by others, the coachman also suggested that his wife send her maid in to buy a few pennies of things, so that she could stop here legitimately.

Juhua liked shopping the most. After hearing the coachman’s suggestion, she volunteered to get out of the car and go in to buy it in person. Mrs. Cui didn’t trust her, so she also got out of the car and went into the calligraphy and painting shop together, planning to look at it. Just look and buy something.

In the calligraphy and painting shop, several waiters were gathering together, laughing and chatting. When they saw a customer coming, they hurriedly stopped laughing and came over to say hello.

Cui and Juhua had nothing to buy, so they just looked around. Sometimes they looked at the newly imported incense, and sometimes they looked at the wolf hair made by Shuyanzhai. They were thinking about buying something when a young man opened the door and walked in. .

The man was pale and delicate, with a thin and thin figure. He was wearing tattered clothes that had turned white after washing, and his sleeves and elbows had dazzling patches. He walked up to a waiter with several scrolls in his arms, and said modestly: "This is Brother, Xiaosheng has a few calligraphy pieces here. I wonder if your store can buy them?"

The waiter raised his chin, glanced at his tattered robe coldly, and said to him with his nose: "Who wrote it? Is it a famous work?"

The man said politely: "This is a humble work of a young man, please give me some review and comment!"

As he said that, he took out one of the words and wanted to open it for them to see.

The waiter waved his hand impatiently and said as if dismissing a beggar: "Who has time to look at your things? Hurry up, hurry up, hurry up, there are many people's calligraphy and paintings in our shop that have not been sold, there is no place to put your rags Son?"

The down-and-out man froze, his face a little embarrassed, and his pale face turned pale in an instant. He stood for a moment in embarrassment and whispered: "Brother, please take a look. Xiaosheng has been practicing his calligraphy for many years. Although it is not as impressive as everyone else's, Xiaosheng's handwriting is very cheap. It only costs five cents for a set, or three for ten cents. I will never suffer a loss if I take it..."

"Don't take it, don't take it, roll, roll, roll..." The waiter waved his hands and started to speak rudely.

The down-and-out man was scolded by him, and he pursed his pale and flaky lips. He seemed to want to ask for mercy, but when he saw the man's disdainful eyes, he swallowed his words back. He hugged several of his He turned around and walked slowly towards the door.

Before he could reach the door, Mrs. Shen stopped him: "Wait a minute!"

The man stopped and looked back at Mrs. Shen. Mrs. Shen said: "My family has moved to a new house and I am thinking of buying some paintings to decorate the study. Master, please bring your handwriting over and show it to me. If it suits me, If you catch my eye, I will buy your handwriting."

After hearing this, the man's eyes suddenly lit up. He hurriedly came over, took out a pair of calligraphy and paintings from his arms, opened them, and respectfully presented them to Mrs. Shen, asking her to take a look.

Juhua and Xiaokui also curiously leaned over to read the calligraphy, but she couldn't understand the dragon-flying handwriting. However, she looked very pitiful at the man and felt sympathy for him. It was already the twelfth lunar month of winter. Now, she was wearing a thick cotton-padded jacket and a big fur cloak. She was holding a hand stove with two charcoal in her hand and still felt cold, but he only wore a jacket and was so cold just looking at it. !

And looking at his pale cheeks and bent back, it seemed that he hadn't eaten for several days.

"Chrysanthemum, what do you think of this calligraphy?" Mrs. Shen looked at Juhua.

Juhua glanced at the piece of paper and said vaguely: "Uh, not bad, not bad, the pen and ink are horizontal and majestic, the iron paintings are silver hooks, the pen moves like a dragon and a snake, haha..."

She brought out all the good idioms she knew to describe words, hoping that her mother could buy his words so that he could earn some money to buy a cotton coat.

After hearing Juhua's compliment, the man said humbly: "Thank you very much, Miss, for the compliment. I am very grateful!"

Mrs. Shen did not disappoint her. She was very happy. The maid behind her took all the dozen words from the man's hand, and asked someone to give him a tael of silver. She said: "My house has dozens of rooms in front and back." , Master, if you have free time, just write a few more and send them to us. The price is not high, one hundred cents a piece, but I will provide your pen, ink, paper and inkstone!"

After that, he said to the waiter: "Bring this young master a good ink, two fine wolf brushes, and a hundred pieces of four-foot gold-sprinkled rice paper!"

The down-and-out scholar couldn't believe his ears when he heard that Mrs. Shen had ordered a hundred words from him all at once, and that each page was priced at one hundred cents.

As soon as the waiter heard that such a big deal had been made, he immediately went to pick up the goods. While picking up the goods, he felt regretful. If he had only known that he would have accepted this poor calligraphy, he would have made nine yuan per word. For seventeen cents and one hundred words, wouldn't it be enough to earn eighty-nine taels of silver? Hey, what a pity!

After walking out of the calligraphy and painting shop, Juhua accompanied her mother and walked to the Bafu Restaurant. As she walked, Juhua said, "Mom, you are really generous. The price you just offered to that guy was dozens of dollars higher than his own price." Twice that, tsk tsk!"

Mrs. Shen laughed as she walked and said: "There is an old poem that praises people who are proud of themselves. It goes like this: A long drought brings sweet rain, and you meet an old friend in a foreign land. This young man is a fellow villager in Qingxian County. It is really important to meet him here." It's not easy, now he is in trouble, and my mother can help him out of this embarrassing situation just by doing her little bit, why should she care about a few taels of silver?"

When Juhua heard this, she was surprised and said, "Mom, tell me, that guy is from Qingxian County? Isn't it possible that I got the wrong person?"

Mrs. Shen said: "Although your mother is old, her eyesight is not yet dazzled. Besides, the young master's accent is the same as ours. Didn't you recognize it?"

Juhua touched her nose and smiled coquettishly. Just now, all she was thinking about was eating hot pot, so she couldn't care less about listening to other people's accents!

Seeing Ju Hua acting like this, Mrs. Shen knew what she was thinking just now, and said helplessly: "You are such a big girl. She doesn't take anything seriously and only knows how to eat and play all day long. I really admire you." "