Lu Ming

Chapter 496 Cracks
Laborers don't have a bad sense of potatoes.This kind of yellow "potato" not only feels full after eating, but also makes you very hungry. It can be regarded as a real estate on the same level as sweet potatoes.

Another advantage of potatoes is that they can be made in a variety of ways and can be matched with any seasoning.Some people have eaten baked potatoes on the construction site in the new district before, and the taste of baked potatoes coated with salt powder is quite good, which is not comparable to sweet potatoes.

The laborers who were discussing baked potatoes at the dinner table did not know that in the past two days, the renovation of the first McDonald's ancestral fried chicken restaurant opened by Xingang Savages in Guangzhou has been completed.

Poor people will soon find out that potato chips, made in a different way, would be too expensive to breathe.

All in all, the atmosphere at today's luncheon is very good.After eating porridge, everyone talked about it, and the energy and spirit were much better than before.

All those present have benefited directly or indirectly from Xincheng in recent days, and life has become a little bit better.

However, these low-level people in the courtyard can't tell a thing or two about this big situation involving social transformation. They can only express some simple joy.

In the words of later generations, this situation is that after the capital injection of the people and the opening of the primary industrialization process, with Guangzhou as the center, the employment rate of the surrounding people has increased, the price of goods has decreased, and the economy of the Ming Dynasty, which was previously stagnant, has been sorted out. , so that the per capita disposable income will slowly increase, and the people's sense of happiness will increase.

He Biandan also has a strong sense of happiness today, because it's his turn to scratch the bottom of the pot again.After eating an extra half bowl of rice, He Biandan happily went back to the house to take a nap. In the afternoon, he was refreshed and went out to pick up work again.

A few days later, this morning, as usual, He Biandan stayed at the tea stand where the porters often waited for work. Waiting for the customers to come to the door.

In recent months, there seems to be a lot of work in the city, so He Biandan is very confident that he can receive the work today.Sure enough, it didn't take long before business came.

This business is very simple: a customer has bought goods at Nancheng Wharf, has loaded them on a ship, and needs to hire someone to unload the goods along the way.The unloading point is on the other side of the Pearl River, and the bulk cargo needs to go along the Dongjiang River, and finally arrive at the terminal in Zengcheng County.

He Biandan is a bachelor, and this kind of business that needs to go out for a few days is naturally suitable for him, so he negotiated the price with the employer, and after receiving the deposit, he set off with the other three porters.

The employer, surnamed Wu, is a very kind and thin old man who is the shopkeeper of a chain grocery store in Zengcheng County.

He Biantan and his team followed the shopkeeper to a nearby medicine store, where they picked several loads of seahorse, musk, rhubarb, cinnabar, pilose antler and other medicinal materials.Then the team walked out of the south gate and carried the goods onto a cargo ship at the pier.

This cargo ship called Pingfu is a flat-bottomed boat that is common in inland rivers. It has almost 300 materials, and it is already full of cargo.After He Biandan and the others boarded the boat, the boat pulled anchor and set sail.

After exiting the South Gate Wharf, the Pingfu cruised along the broad Pearl River to the east.Along the way, the reefs and shoals were marked with buoys by the crossing crew, so the speed of the boat was very fast. Before noon, it ran 50 miles of water and arrived at Huangpu.

When passing by Huangpu, everyone on the Pingfu, including the boss, the boatman, the shopkeeper of the grocery store, the man, and He Biandan, all ran to the port side of the ship and stretched their necks to look at the port that suddenly appeared on the shore of Huangpu .

A large ship with a blue background and gold lines, reflecting the dazzling light, is mooring at the wharf of Huangpu Port.The cloud-like white sails are towering above it, and there are many small boats going back and forth under its feet. From the proportions, it can be seen that this huge ship is mighty and extraordinary.

It was the first time for He Biandan to see this large western-style ship. He was opening his mouth at this moment, and while looking at it, he listened to the boatmen's foaming blows.

After listening with great interest for a long time, He Biandan knew two things: first, the name of this big ship was Cao, and it was the Cao of General Cao who brought him the salty vegetable porridge.

Second, there are dozens of cannons in the belly of this big ship. When the side valve is opened at the moment, and the cannons are fired, it will be destroyed for dozens of miles. All ships on the ocean will be shot. For the powder!

After He Biandan heard such an exciting story, his saliva was drooling, and he immediately pestered the boatman to tell him to continue.Seeing the enthusiasm of the audience, the boatman narrated the scene of the large ship suppressing bandits he saw at the mouth of the Pearl River.

In the process, the Pingfu turned a corner along the river bank and entered the Dongjiang River Basin.

The Dongjiang River originates in Jiangxi and finally flows into the Pearl River from Huangpu. It is an important trunk and tributary of the Pearl River.

After the Pingfu entered the Dongjiang River, it began to move steadily along the north bank.After traveling about 20 miles by water, the Pingfu arrived at the first stop, Tangqiao Town.

The grocery chain shopkeeper Wu works for has a branch in Tangqiao Town, so when the ship docked at the stone wharf in Tangqiao Town, He Biandan and the others started to get busy.Together with a few guys on the ship, they took turns unloading some of the goods on the ship to the grocery store in the town.

During this process, He Biandan was appreciated by shopkeeper Wu because of his skillful skills, not being lazy, and working hard.When it was time to eat, shopkeeper Wu smiled and asked the shopkeeper to add a bowl of meaty chicken offal powder to this pleasing young man, and also shared a chicken leg in his bowl with the shoulder pole.

He Biandan's IQ drops when he eats, but this time he can eat more without being beaten. Shopkeeper Wu immediately conquered the young people.

In the afternoon, the Pingfu continued to set sail, going up the Dongjiang River.In the afternoon, when the ship arrived at the junction of Dongjiang and Zengjiang, the second unloading point arrived.

It is still a town, and it still needs to unload a quarter of the cargo on the ship.This time the goods included all the medicinal materials, which were brought by shopkeeper Wu to the herbal medicine shop in the town.

Since He Biandan ate well at noon, he worked harder this time, and he did the work of two people by himself.Finally, after the ship weighed anchor, he was pulled over privately by the smiling shopkeeper Wu and asked about his family background.

After learning that He Biandan was a bachelor, shopkeeper Wu made a promise on the spot: When he returns to Zengcheng this time, he will be accepted as a full-time employee of the chain store. He is in charge.

He Biandan is of course eager for such a good thing.Full-time employees can keep their income in droughts and floods, so they don't need to be hungry and full like he is now.The master not only takes care of food and housing, but also learns a little bookkeeping and other skills in the future. In the future, when people are unable to resist activities in middle age, they will be promoted to store managers or even shopkeepers. This is a very bright road for the poor.

So the Pingfu ship turned into Zengjiang happily.

The Zengjiang River is different from the Dongjiang River in that it is a tributary originating from the mountains in eastern Guangdong.So starting from the entrance, entering Zengjiang in the north-south direction is equivalent to entering the mountainous area.From here to the north, after another forty miles of waterway, Zengcheng County is the terminal.

However, the Pingfu will not be able to reach Zengcheng County today, because the time is too late.It will be getting late, and the ship will have to spend the night on the road.

So the boat boss steered the boat into a fork river, and headed for a village where the boat often stopped.This village is called Shitan, and it is a large village with thousands of people. Ships often park here.

Unexpectedly, the next moment, an accident happened.

Hearing the sound of lacing and stabbing, the Pingfu suddenly swayed, and then the speed dropped sharply.

"No, it's hit the rocks!" The experienced ship boss got out of the cabin immediately, and soon he ran up and shouted: "It's leaking, go to someone to plug the crack!"

Hearing the boss's order, someone ran down the hold on the spot.The boss of the ship immediately began to direct the boatmen on the deck to turn the rudder and sail, and the Pingfu slowly approached the shore.

In just a short while, a lot of water has gushed out from under the bilge.Not long after, the soaked boatman ran up: "Boss, two boards are broken and can't be blocked!"

After hearing the words and swearing, the captain of the ship could only order the helmsman to turn the rudder bar. The next moment, the Pingfu plunged into the sand on the shore.

"Xu Shi had a landscape a few days ago, and the boulders that rushed down from the river cut the bottom of the boat. It's really fucking unlucky." After going down to the cabin for another inspection, the boss of the boat made a judgment.

By this time, everyone on board was dumbfounded.Fortunately, shopkeeper Wu has rich experience. He first ordered the employees to go down to transfer the goods.

So He Biandan and the others hurriedly disembarked and transferred the cargo stored below to the upper cabin one by one.This is thanks to the fact that half of the goods have been unloaded before, otherwise there is no place to transfer the goods.

By this time, it was already dark.The ship's boss lit the oil lamp and took people down to the bilge to repair the ship.However, the bottom of the boat is now half full of water, and there is another long hole, which will definitely not be repaired in a while.

After learning about the situation in the bilge, shopkeeper Wu had a gloomy face, called two of his assistants, and ordered them to report the news overnight.

The current location of the Fuping is very bad. It is seven or eight miles away from the nearest Shitan Village, and even further away from Zengcheng in the north and the town where the cargo was unloaded.So shopkeeper Wu could only order the two men to go north and the other south to report to distant places respectively.

He Biandan on the side didn't understand this operation: the boat is broken, so patiently wait for the boat to be repaired and it will be over?Why did you send someone to report overnight?
After surreptitiously raising the question, shopkeeper Wu couldn't help but wryly smiled when he saw this foolish young man, then took He Biandan aside and secretly confessed to him: the reason for sending someone to deliver a message was just in case.In this wilderness where there is no village or shop behind, the boat broke down again, and I was afraid of encountering bandits, so I had to notify my family to come to help.

It was only when He Biandan heard this that he understood.It's not because he's inexperienced. Before that, he had been working for others in Guangzhou. He didn't go out frequently, and he didn't know much about survival in the wild.

The shopkeeper later confessed that He Biandan should pay more attention tonight and inform him whenever there is any situation.

The young man quickly nodded in agreement.

After completing this step, everyone had nothing to do. Shopkeeper Wu kept a sullen face the whole time, and could only silently pray that the ship would be repaired as soon as possible.

The only one who was in a good mood, He Biandan, took advantage of this time to eat a lot of dry food, and even ate two salted fish. When the moon was in the sky, this guy even drank two bowls of porridge.

However, shortly after he finished his porridge, a crew member on the boat yelled, "What are you doing!?"

Under the bright moonlight, a figure appeared on the beach not far away, and then disappeared into the reeds with the shout.

(End of this chapter)