Linxia

Chapter 113, something happened

After the Lantern Festival, it means the New Year is coming to an end. People who want to go home start their journey back to where they can make a living. Snack stalls and restaurants in the city open one after another, gradually returning to their previous state.

After being invited to investigate the feces business for two days, Mi Xi, a foreign friend, gained a lot. He made a record of the gains in his travel notes and said goodbye soon after, continuing his journey, saying that he was going to Yingtian and the capital, and looked forward to meeting him outside Huai'an one day.

Fang Lin returned to Xuan Mo Zhai to work.

The prosperity came to an end, the music ended and the crowd dispersed, and everything seemed to return to its respective places.

Time flies, winter goes and spring comes.

The spring of this year came very strangely. I needed to wear cotton-padded jackets for the first two days, but the temperature suddenly rose to 20 or 30 degrees the next day. I almost wanted to wear light clothes under the sun.

A cluster of forsythia at the entrance of West Lane suddenly blossomed from its buds. The weeping willows on both sides of the street, which had been dry and pale for months, seemed to have sprouted tender leaf buds overnight. Under the sunlight, they looked like pale green gold, floating unconsciously in the early spring breeze.

In Xuan Mo Zhai, Huang Di has been asking for leave frequently recently. Manager Liu seemed to know something and just nodded in agreement every time. He never asked any questions and never said anything strange like other managers. He even never deducted a penny from the wages.

Fang Lin looked at all this, thoughtful.

This time, Huang Di took a ten-day leave. Manager Liu had no choice but to urgently recruit his eldest son Liu Hongwen to take his place. Ten days later, when Huang Di came back, he had lost a lot of weight and was almost unrecognizable at first glance.

That night, Huang Di said he would invite Manager Liu, Fang Lin, and Chai Yiwei to dinner.

Manager Liu just sighed and waved his hand and said that he would let the young people go. Huang Di then brought Fang Lin and Chai Yiwei to Zuixianlou - this is a restaurant of the same level as Kemanlou where Chai Yiwei had invited guests last time, but Kemanlou focuses more on food, while Zuixianlou is famous for wine.

Huang Di was unusually generous today and ordered a large table of dishes and a pot of Zui Baxian.

After not seeing each other for more than ten days, there was a slight sense of distance between the three of them.

Fang Lin had some guesses in his mind, so he avoided mentioning Huang Di these days. He just put some food in Huang Di's bowl and said, "Dizi, eat more to replenish your body. Look at how thin you are."

Chai Yiwei was also trying to find a topic to talk about, but like his life, he was honest and a little too straightforward. He asked, "Brother Huang, where have you been these days?"

"If you want to take leave, you must have something going on. Let's not talk about this. Come on..." Fang Lin wanted to change the subject.

"Linzi, it's okay. I wanted to say it anyway, but I was holding it in... It's uncomfortable here!"

Huang Di pointed to his heart, poured himself a bowl of wine, tilted his head back and gulped it down in one gulp, slammed the bowl on the table, and suddenly began to talk about his family: "That year my hometown was hit by a disaster, and my parents and villagers fled. On the way, my father died and my mother became a widow. I was a posthumous child. An auntie helped and delivered me on the way... That evening, my mother saw a large patch of reeds by the water and said let's call me Dizi, a humble name, hoping that I can be raised.

My mother brought me to the capital city. It was so hard for a woman to bring up a child. My mother rented land from others, planted cotton and vegetables, washed clothes, made clothes, and did whatever she could find work to do. She worked day and night and finally raised me..."

Fang Lin and Chai Yiwei listened in silence.

Huang Di talked about Madam Qiu: "Sister Qiu is my neighbor. Her husband is a drunkard and very lazy. He doesn't work in the fields. Sister Qiu is raising two children alone and is miserable. I often go to help her with things. After a while, we developed feelings for each other. We are both willing and happy. Sister Qiu often helps mother wash big items such as quilts and sheets. Mother also likes Sister Qiu and invites her to eat with us when there are good dishes. Mother sees what's going on between us and likes it. She hopes that Sister Qiu will get a divorce... Mother once said, 'When I see Madam Qiu, her eyes are blinking and she is full of shyness, but her gaze is as bright as a cat'.

Later, Qiu Jie’s husband got drunk and drowned. But around that time, my mother collapsed, and the doctor said it was heart failure, and she became a medicine jar from then on… My mother raised me for half my life, and it was my turn to take care of her. I only realized how expensive oil and salt were when I became the head of the family, and the soup and medicine were so expensive. I could only save here and there, and I wished I could spend every penny carefully.

Qiu Jie waited and waited, and one day she couldn't help it anymore, and came to ask me, saying, "We can live together, and I won't look down on my family and I will take good care of my mother." But this is my own business, how can I bear to drag down Qiu Jie? I refused, saying that I wanted to find a family with better financial conditions, and Qiu Jie slapped me and ran away..."

Chai Yiwei listened, put himself in the situation, and his eyes turned slightly red.

Fang Lin was silent, but it suddenly dawned on him that it was no wonder that he felt there was something strange between Madam Qiu and Huang Di. They clearly knew each other and were familiar with each other, yet they seemed like strangers, both far and near.

"I rejected Sister Qiu, but after that, I was still keeping an eye on her, afraid that she would be with someone else, and afraid that she would be too tired to take care of two kids by herself. I dreamed of my mother getting better, and told Sister Qiu that we could live a good life together... But later I found out that Sister Qiu was with Mr. Zhuo Sanye. I was drunk that night, and my heart ached, and I regretted it so much, but when I saw my mother, I didn't regret it anymore.

Because of this, my mother was also upset and often said that she was a burden to me and it would be better for her to die. I hugged my mother and told her not to say such nonsense... She had raised me up little by little over so many years and it was so difficult. I couldn't bear to leave Sister Qiu, but could I bear to leave my mother?"

Huang Di poured the wine, took a big sip, pursed his lips for a long time, and then swallowed it. He took a breath and continued, "A few days ago, Sister Qiu broke up with Master Zhuo San. Master Zhuo San just valued Sister Qiu's appearance and wanted to give her a try. After that, he no longer recognized her..."

Fang Lin nodded slightly. People like Mr. Zhuo Sanye are just playing around at best. How could he be truly sincere and last a long time?
"Just a few days ago, my mother's illness recurred. It happens every year at this time. That night, when I brought her medicine, she said that Sister Qiu was a good person and that she wanted me to live with her after she died. I comforted her and said that she only thought of her... She had said such things before, but I didn't take it seriously. Who knows, who knows..."

Huang Di's eyes widened as he spoke, bloodshot: "The next day, my mother hanged herself. She died in a very ugly and pitiful way, with disheveled hair, dishevelled clothes, and a long, blood-red tongue sticking out... I hugged my mother and cried. I knew she died for me!"

Seeing Huang Di like this, Chai Yiwei couldn't help shedding tears: "Brother Huang, I always thought I was the most miserable, I lost my mother, was bullied by my stepmother... Who would have known that you lost your father when you were young, and now..."

Fang Lin thought of the skinny old lady he had seen at the Lantern Festival, sighed and closed his eyes.

The last time he heard Chai Yiwei talk about his mother, he sighed, "All living beings suffer." But this time, he didn't know what to say. He had seen too much and his heart seemed to have become numb. He just accompanied Huang Di to drink. In the meantime, he suddenly remembered that on the way to the city, Fang's father and mother were sick. They killed people to scare them away from being forced out to get wet in the rain. Fortunately, he met Monk Lianzhou, otherwise, the Fang family would have been incomplete long ago.

"Who can have an easier life than anyone else? If you can overcome the obstacles in life, you can enjoy a short period of peace. If you can't overcome them, you will be separated from your loved ones forever." Fang Lin sighed in his heart.

"I'm together with Sister Qiu. Sister Qiu asked me if I would dislike her. How could I dislike her? I was so happy! This is not her fault, it's my fault, my fault! But I miss my mother too. These days, whenever I close my eyes, I see my mother hanging on the beam, with her long blood-red tongue sticking out..."

Huang Di was crying and laughing. Fang Lin and Chai Yiwei had never seen him like this before.

That night, Huang Di drank too much, and Chai Yiwei also got drunk. Only Fang Lin remained sober and helped two drunkards back home.

……

After getting drunk that day, Huang Di seemed to be fine when he woke up the next day. He was still as frugal as before, and still as eloquent as before in guiding customers. If it weren't for his frighteningly thin figure, which was completely different from before, people would probably think that experience that night was a dream.

Time will heal the wounds, but life must go on. Huang Di lost his mother, but he has Mrs. Qiu. People always need something to rely on.

……

It was a day off, and Fang Lin returned to Xixiang Hutong in the sunset. He saw a group of chickens in front of Xin's house.

There are ten little chicks, all yellow in color. They look like ten red balls of fluff under the sunset glow. The kitten is chasing them obediently, making the little chicks run around chirping and circling around the osmanthus tree, sometimes even bumping into each other.

However, this guy caught the chick and didn't bite it. Instead, he stretched out one of his front paws and gently fluttered it on the chick's head, as if he wanted to see if he could pull off a tuft of hair on the chick's head.

"Cluck!" A hen flapped its wings and rushed over to stand up for her children.

"Meow meow!" The half-grown kitten was no match for Fang Lin and cried out in panic. It slipped out and hid behind Fang Lin. It seemed that it still felt unsafe and tried to climb up by pulling at Fang Lin's pants with its front paws.

Fang Lin grabbed the boy's neck, lifted him up, and knocked him on the head: "You only know how to bully the weak. Why don't you show off your power in front of my mother? You are such a naughty boy! Keep on being naughty!"

"Meow!" The kitten was dissatisfied with being hit on the head. It had done something wrong and was still angry. It waved its claws unconvincedly and tried to scratch him, but Fang Lin easily dodged it.

At this time, Sha Xiaoyun came out, greeted Fang Lin with a smile when he saw him, and said "gugugu" to himself as he brought out an old wooden basin filled with chopped vegetable leaves and crushed rice.

After they finished their dinner, they took out a basket padded with thick straw, tilted it sideways, and let the old hen go in first. The little chicks flapped their wings like butterflies, crawled into their mother's wings one by one, and were carried back.

After coming back, Fang's mother and Fang Lin talked about the Xin family raising chickens.

"The Xin family is blessed. Xiaoyun sometimes gets dizzy and can't do heavy work, but she can still do housework. The Xin family looks like a home and now they raise chickens. Linzi, you don't know, when the chicks grew up to be able to distinguish between male and female, Xiaoyun found that it was actually a rooster, and the other nine were all hens. Xiaoyun was happy, and Xin Laogong and Xin You were even happier. They kept saying, 'Xiaoyun knows how to choose. One rooster is kept for breeding, and the others are all hens that lay eggs. Great, great, great.'"

Fang's mother spoke with some envy in her tone, and said with emotion: "The Xin family, Mr. Xin has overcome that difficulty, and his life has become better. God has granted people's wishes, and I hope that their lives will get better and better!"

At this time, Tian Xuan came out, holding a plate of green things: "Brother Lin, what do you think this is?"

"Qingming Steamed Buns? Mother, Sister Xuan, did you make them?" Fang Lin asked in surprise.

In Xiaohe Village, Fang's mother and Tian Xuan had done it before. He knew that mugwort and glutinous rice flour were needed, but mugwort was hard to find in the capital city.

"No, it was sent by Xiaoyun from the Xin family." Tian Xuan said.

"Didn't Xiaoyun just get married? This is the first year, and Xiaoyun's parents sent two full baskets of gifts! They also gave some to the neighbors, asking us to take good care of them."

Fang's mother pointed to Fang Lin and said, "This lotus leaf-shaped one is salty, with dried tofu, pickled vegetables, and bamboo shoots as fillings; the triangular one is sweet, with sesame and sugar as fillings. If you don't like sweet, eat the salty one."

"Yeah." Fang Lin tasted a salty one and it tasted really good. While eating, he pointed to a newly planted tree at the door and asked, "Mom, Sister Xuan, why is there an orange tree planted in front of our house?"

"Your father did it. Some people were transporting goods at the dock and a sapling fell. Your father picked it up and planted it at the door." "Is that so?" Fang Lin nodded.

Father Fang is always like this. Whenever he comes across anything usable outside, such as a broken basket or a piece of iron, he will pick it up. Even now that the family is better off, he still does so.

Under the eaves at the door, there is a "treasure house" for storing these things. If he has free time, Fang's father will pick up his "treasures", such as washing and repairing the broken basket, which is really durable; sometimes the table leg is broken, Fang's father will take out a piece of iron from the "treasure house" and nail it to the table leg, repairing it strong and good.

In Fang Lin's opinion, this is quite magical. Whenever there is a small problem with the table or chair at home, Fang's father can always find a suitable one and solve it in a few steps. At this time, Fang Lin can always see the joy and sense of accomplishment from the heart on Fang's father's relaxed face.

"You know what, after the orange tree was planted, the soil was loosened and watered, it actually grew alive."

"The orange tree will grow up in two or three years. Then I, Lindi, will pick oranges for you to eat." Tian Xuan said as she took the rice washing water to the orange tree and poured it. Her black and shiny hair, which had grown longer, was shining in the sunset.

As they were talking, Fang's father also came back from the dock and talked to Fang Lin. Amid the clanging sounds in the kitchen, the aroma of food gradually wafted out.

Who would have thought that at this moment, Dong Zugao came over and said, "Brother Fang, I was counting on you to come back today."

He was surprised to see Fang Lin, and then after Fang Lin came over, he sighed and said in a low voice: “Brother Fang, something went wrong in the feces business.”

"No hurry, let's go in and talk slowly."

Fang Lin said something to Fang's father, invited Dong Zugao into his room, poured him some tea, and then asked, "Brother Dong, what's the matter?"

"This is such a shame!"

Dong Zugao punched his thigh and asked, "Brother Fang, do you still remember Yuan Daniu, the dung man?"

"Yeah." Fang Lin nodded.

"This matter has to start from the morning before yesterday..."

……

The day before yesterday, Yuan Daniu collected manure all morning, and almost filled three large buckets. He planned to deliver it to the manure point in the east of the city, but unexpectedly three or five people came in front of him and blocked his way. Yuan Daniu saw that these people looked fierce and ferocious, and knew that they were not friendly, so he did not dare to provoke them, so he turned the manure cart around and went somewhere else.

Pushing three buckets of manure, he naturally couldn't move flexibly. As soon as he turned around, those people surrounded him. Yuan Daniu could only bite the bullet and ask: "Who are you? What do you want to do?"

Who would have thought that these people didn't answer at all, but rushed up and beat him up. After the beating, they overturned three large buckets of feces.

When a dog is cornered, it will jump over the wall; when a rabbit is cornered, it will bite. Although Yuan Daniu is honest, he became furious when he saw that all his hard work in the morning had gone to waste. He struggled to get up, picked up the shit-stirring stick, shouted, and rushed forward.

But no matter how angry he was, two fists were no match for four hands. The other side outnumbered them and pinned Yuan Daniu down again and beat him up again.

"Do you know why I hit you?" one of them asked viciously.

Yuan Daniu was also puzzled after being beaten for no reason. He growled and asked, "Why?"

"Do you know Master Zhuo San?"

In the feces business community of Huai'an, Master Zhuo Sanye is indeed a well-known figure, but he used to only collect property from the noble area and looked down on other areas. Unexpectedly, he seems to have changed his mind now.

……

"...When Yuan Daniu heard the name of Master Zhuo San, he could only consider himself unlucky and dared not say anything. After those people left, he packed up the manure cart, limped away, and came back to explain the situation to me."

Dong Zugao said, "I saw my men being beaten. When I heard the reason, I was furious. At first, it was obviously Master Zhuo who looked down on the feces business in the ordinary people's area. We occupied it, and now he is interested in it and wants to take over this business. But you can just compete in a good way. Why do you have to use such despicable means? Is there no law in Daxia?"

"Brother Fang, please leave the business affairs to me, and I have promised that you don't have to worry about it."

He smiled bitterly and said, "To be honest with you, Brother Fang, I have already fought a round with Master Zhuo San..."

Just by looking at Dong Zugao's reaction, Fang Lin knew the result: he had obviously lost.

Before Fang Lin asked, Dong Zugao said, "Yesterday morning, I went with Yuan Daniu to collect manure. I thought, I am a scholar and Zhuo Sanye is a commoner. If he dares to hire someone to beat me, I will make a big deal and let him go to court. But who knew that nothing happened early yesterday morning. I was relieved, but when I came back, I found out that other manure collectors were beaten, not just the manure collector...

Today, I got up in the morning and walked out the door. I smelled a foul odor in the morning breeze. It turned out that the front door was splashed with feces. The ground was full of feces, and there was no place to step... Not only the front door, but also the walls on both sides of the courtyard, which made my parents very angry...

I know who did it, but I have no evidence. Even if I had evidence, I would not be able to win the case because Mr. Zhuo has someone in the government. But if I swallow this anger, how can I survive in the dung business in the future? So I want to gather the dung merchants and teach Mr. Zhuo a lesson. If he can do it on the first day, I can do it on the fifteenth day!"

Dong Zugao said this, clenching his fist unwillingly and then unclenching it: "But just as I made up my mind, someone with connections in my family's government came to persuade me to let it go; my father also advised me to forget it, saying that Master Zhuo San is not to be trifled with. My family has some connections, but after all, people will forget about him when he leaves, and it's nothing compared to Master Zhuo San's brothers working in the Ministry of Personnel in Yingtian.

My father brought gifts to Uncle Zhuo San's house to apologize, only to find out that they were well prepared and were just waiting for me to run in... To be honest, I broke out in a cold sweat at that time. If I was really caught and my relationship with them was not as good as theirs, it would not be so easy to get away with it.

Today, after the news of my failure spread, Master Zhuo San came to our place to recruit people. He is powerful and many dung men have already come here. "

Dong Zugao sighed again when he said this: "Brother Fang, you gave me this business because you trusted me, but now, I feel so sorry for you, Brother Fang!"

"How could it be Brother Dong's fault? Who could have expected such a thing? Brother Dong has done a very good job." Fang Lin comforted him.

It was indeed as he said, this was not Zhan's fault. Dong Zugao had done his best. Master Zhuo San was powerful, and there were some things that others could do that they could not, so they were at a disadvantage by nature.

However, Fang Lin was unwilling to give up the feces business, as it was the source of income he had been planning. He was waiting for the popular novel boom to arrive in the future and would open a bookstore to complete his initial accumulation of funds.

"It's only been a few months, and this business has been cut off. I can certainly do other business, but if other business is targeted again? Should I give up again?"

Fang Lin was not a stubborn person, but he did not want to lose without knowing why. He asked calmly, "Brother Dong, I have a question. Why did Master Zhuo suddenly set his sights on the ordinary people's feces business? Did we make money and leak it out? No, not to mention that it is difficult to figure out without account books. Even if it was leaked out, fifty or sixty taels of business a month is a lot for us, and Master Zhuo may not necessarily confront your family because of it."

"Brother Fang, the account book has not been leaked. Even if it has been leaked, it is indeed not worth Mr. Zhuo's trouble. I was also wondering about this. I went to inquire about it during the day, and then I found out that Mr. Zhuo didn't care about this at all. He is very generous!"

Dong Zugao said: "This matter is actually related to us. Aren't we recruiting dung men? We can guarantee a stable income regardless of drought or flood, and we can get a stable salary of two taels of silver per month. There is also a reward of one cent of silver for sorting every day, which adds up to two taels and three cents of silver. Master Zhuo San was very stingy and attracted some of the dung men under his command.

Zhuo Sanye actually didn't care much about this. With fewer people, he could just reduce the frequency of collecting manure. He used to collect it once a day, but now it's changed to once every two days! But the weather has been getting hot recently, and it's hard to store manure. The dignitaries would rather pay a little money and let Zhuo Sanye collect it on the same day. Then, Zhuo Sanye tasted the sweetness, and he thought, there are only a few people in the dignitaries area, if there are so many people in the ordinary people area, and they all have to pay to collect manure, how much money can he make? That's why he set his sights on us."

"If this is the case, there may be a chance for this matter to turn around."

Fang Lin nodded slightly, and with an idea in mind, he asked, "Brother Dong, how many dung men do we have left?"

"There's still more than half left. We're honest in business and pay our employees generously without cutting corners. On the other hand, Master Zhuo is a bit stingy, so most of the dung men are still waiting and watching..."

"Brother Dong, let's do this. We will pay these dung workers and dismiss them. We will also pay the dung workers that were poached by Master Zhuo San. Let them work under Master Zhuo San and show some kindness to him."

Fang Lin said so.

If this continues, business will fail and these dung collectors will leave sooner or later. It would be better to send them over now, keep a line of favor and give Master Zhuo a push at the same time.

"Is that all?" Dong Zugao asked.

"We are not in a good position. No matter how good our plan is, the other party will make mistakes. Let's take it one step at a time. If things develop as I expected, there is indeed a chance for a turnaround."

Fang Lin whispered: "Brother Dong, listen to me..."

Dong Zugao listened attentively, his eyes becoming brighter and brighter, and after listening, he clapped his hands and agreed: "Okay, let's do it."

He was not impulsive, but listened to Fang Lin's plan and clearly left room for maneuver. He did not get carried away and acted prudently.

"It's possible that he could really vent his frustrations and even beat Zhuo Sanye to death. This matter has not yet come to an end, and it is still unknown who will win." Dong Zugao thought to himself.

……

　It's one, it's long enough, don't say I'm short

　　
　
(End of this chapter)