Yoshida Mii

Chapter 357 Ending
Spring is coming and autumn is coming, and the workshop in Tagouji has been established for 13 years, long since the ten-year contract signed by Dongbao and the helpers, but no one proposed to leave the workshop, even Dongbao and Li thought that Both Dawei and Hehua, who are most active in mind, have no intention of leaving.

It's not that Dawei and Hehua have discussed it in private, but they both feel that it's not worthwhile to leave and go it alone.Baoji’s brand has been promoted by Quanzi to all parts of the country. It’s not like no one sells tofu and bean sprouts outside.And without Baoji Workshop, they would not be where they are today. If they just leave and set up a new business, the whole village will point at their backbones and call them ungrateful.

Since the employees are loyal, Dongbao naturally welcomes them to stay.

The year before last, Xiao Xu was led by Lin Shi to Beijing to rush for the exam. Unfortunately, he did not win the first prize as everyone hoped, but he was also No. 8 in the second class, and was assigned to Dali Temple as a general judge.

"This position is not bad." Mr. Liu said with a smile while twirling his beard, "Work hard, and you will surely have a bright future."

Whether it was Xiaoxu's side or Dongbao's side, life was going smoothly, but Zhang Qian's side had problems.Originally, Zhang Qian's political performance evaluations over the years were all excellent, but Huang Yushi sent him internal news that he was transferred to Sipin Taichangqing, from a local official to a Beijing official.However, when he returned to Beijing to report on his duties, something went wrong, and Zhang Qian offended the Minister of the Ministry of Officials.

There are two ministers on the left and right in the Ministry of Officials. Zhang Qian offended Zhou Huai, the left servant. In fact, it was not a big deal. Although Qian couldn't get used to it, he still followed the trend.Zhou Huai had heard of Baoji's name, and by chance, he knew that Zhang Qian's family had an inseparable relationship with Baoji, so he hinted at Zhang Qian and asked for a high bribe, otherwise he would have to tamper with the appointment.

Zhang Qian has been an official for these years, although he has behaved a lot in the world, he is still an upright young student in essence, how could he tolerate Zhou Huai's repeated blackmail, and a post was sent to the Minister of the Ministry of Officials.Zhou Huai was Shangshu's right-hand man and was reprimanded a few times.But Zhang Qian changed from a fourth-rank Beijing official to a seventh-rank county magistrate in a poor place.

Quanzi and Xiaoxu searched for help to intercede everywhere in Beijing, and then changed Zhang Qian's place of work to Jianzhou.

When he was 15 years old and was about to get married, Zhang Qian was appointed as the prefect of Jianzhou. Since the beginning of spring, there has not been a single drop of rain in Jianzhou and nearby Zhuzhou. , Compared with the thirsty and cracked land, these manpower measures are just a drop in the bucket. Just as Zhang Qian was preparing to submit a memorial to apply for famine tax reduction, Jianzhou ushered in an unprecedented locust plague in history in the summer.

There was no news about Zhang Qian's memorial after it was handed over. I am afraid that it was suppressed by someone and it was not handed over to the imperial court. Taxes still have to be collected as usual, not less.

It's just a severe drought, and it's okay to say that the food production has been reduced. If you think of a way to go hungry, you will survive this season. But when the locusts cross the border, even the crop stalks and weeds are eaten clean, completely cutting off people's livelihood. If the tax is not reduced, if one is not handled well, the refugees will scatter and flee, which will lead to civil uprisings. Not to mention the suffering of the people, Zhang Qian, an official, may have made it to the end.

Dong Bao only saw the horror of locust plagues on TV in his previous life, and most people these days are superstitious, "locust" has the same pronunciation as "emperor".

Zhang Qian's eldest son, Zhang Gu, is 11 years old. He took his four younger siblings and secretly drove a carriage for more than ten days before reaching Tagouji. He brought a letter from Zhang Qian to Lin Shi. .

Lin Shi read the letter to his family members. In the letter, Zhang Qian asked Lin Shi to take care of the five children. He wanted Mrs. Hu to bring the children back, but Mrs. Hu was unwilling to leave. Zhang Qian stayed in Jianzhou together.Everyone could hear Zhang Qianxin's desolation and despair. If there was no news of disaster relief by the time of the summer harvest, he would risk his life to open the official warehouse in Jianzhou to release food for disaster relief.

Without the emperor's seal of approval, the magistrates opened their official warehouses privately and were punished according to their crimes.

Everyone was silent for a while, Zhang Qian's two youngest children, one daughter was three years old, and the other was just weaned, and couldn't even walk easily.

Zhang Xiuyu and Li Hongqin cried together with the children.

Dong Bao was the first to speak, "It's not a big deal, let's find a way so we don't stumble here!"

Although Jianzhou is remote, its territory is not small and its population is not small. A catastrophe in a state is definitely a major event.

"I think so too." Lin Shi comforted Li Hongqin with a smile, "Auntie, don't cry for now, so as not to scare the child. The matter hasn't reached that point yet. The rest of us have to think of a way. No matter what, even if the family goes bankrupt, we must keep the money." Brother Qian."

Zhang Qian anxiously waited for the news from the capital in Jianzhou. It's on the brink of death.

At this time, Zhang Qian received a letter from Lin Shi. In the letter, Lin Shi introduced in detail the method they could come up with to kill the locusts, that is, to use the phototaxis of the insects to light a fire in the field, dig a big hole, and pounce on it. Kill and burn.

Three days after the letter arrived, Jianzhou ushered in a line of grain trucks that could not be seen at a glance. Each truck had a banner of Baoji, and half of the trucks were filled with grain and half with soybeans.

The team leaders were Lin Shi, Liang Zi, and Darong. After receiving the letter, Dong Bao and the others bought grain from Anzhou and Qingzhou. Stoves, cooking miscellaneous grain porridge and soy milk, does not guarantee that the refugees will have enough to eat, it can only guarantee that they will not die of starvation.But as long as everyone has a hot bowl of porridge and soy milk, no one wants to risk their head to rebel.

Quanzi and Xiaoxu in the capital city, as well as Zhang Qian’s old friends from the same department also asked people to find connections. Finally, a month later, the imperial envoy came to Beijing, not only bringing the order to open a warehouse to release grain, but also bringing with him 20 shi of grain came, as well as a reward for Baoji.

Mrs. Hu brought people to pick up the children and went home. When they arrived at Dongbao's house, they took the five children and kowtowed three times to the youngest of Dongbao's family.

"Kow, you all have to knock!" Mrs. Hu wiped her tears and said, "If it weren't for your cousin and uncle, our family would have been ruined long ago!"

Dong Bao hurriedly helped Mrs. Hu and the children, and invited them into the house, "Sister-in-law, what are you doing? After all, we are all one family, and if we do this as a family, we will be alienated." Over the years, Zhang Qian has also helped I support them a lot, as long as it is the Baoji store in the area under the jurisdiction of him and his friends, everything is always green light.

With Zhang Qian and Xiao Xu serving as officials in the court, Quanzi's caravan is much smoother than before. Even the tofu shop still sends bonuses of several hundred taels of silver every month.If no one in Dong Bao's family was an official, after so many years, Dong Bao felt that Wang Cong would not have given her money so kindly and sincerely, and even brought the eldest son over to show Wan Wan a visit.

After first hearing that there was an award from the emperor, Dong Bao was quite pleasantly surprised, thinking that he had finally been compensated for the hemorrhage during this period, but the emperor was even more stingy than Grandet, except for rewarding the brocade cloth in the palace and some with blessings printed on it. Outside of Shouxi's gold and silver ingots, only the word "Yi Shang" was given.

Aunt Qiuxia complained to Dongbao in private, "In order to save the common people in that prefecture, we used all the old money our family has accumulated over the years! In the end, we only took the word "Emperor!"

Lin Shi couldn't help laughing and said: "Mother, with these two words inscribed by the emperor, do we still worry about not getting back to our old roots?" Before they opened shops in various places, they were not familiar with the places where they were born, and the business quickly became popular. To be jealous, you not only have to deal with local hooligans who come to extort money, but also deal with officials everywhere. Now, on the plaques at the door of every store, there are "righteous merchants" inscribed by the emperor. Who would dare not have eyes?
Having said that, when he was sleeping at night, Lin Shi hugged Dongbao very worried, "The national treasury has no money, otherwise it would not have waited until now to give relief to Jianzhou. A few days ago, Xiaoxu wrote to say that the situation in Beijing is turbulent Quite right, the emperor is getting old, and the Northwest is uneasy, and he still wants to be an official, so as to avoid the gossip and wrongs before the new emperor came to the throne."

"If he doesn't want to be an official, he can go home and grind tofu for us." Dong Bao smiled with his eyes closed, "If Jin Shilang grinds tofu for us, that tofu must be special!"

It is not so easy to be an official. A single tree cannot make a forest. Take Zhang Qian as an example. If Zhang Qian is alone in the court, he must be unable to move an inch. If something happens, he can really ruin his family for you. Only close relatives run around.

"That's what he said, if he is really asked to resign, he will definitely not do it!" Lin Shi laughed, "That kid is much smarter than Zhang Qian, he became an official a few years later than Zhang Qian, and now he is a better official than Zhang Qian. Modesty is still high. I’m used to being an official, so I don’t come to grind tofu for you!” Both Lin Shi and Dong Bao could understand that although Xiao Xu had grown up, became stable, and even married a wife, he faced Dong Bao and Lin Shi are still the little younger brothers who like to act like a baby. They say so much in a letter, complaining about this and then complaining about that. They are just acting like a baby with their older brothers and sisters.

Wan Wan's husband is Wang Cong's eldest son, Wang Ying. He has thick eyebrows and big eyes, and is very energetic. He is only 17 years old, and he is already a juren.The two met each other several times when they were young, and when they grew up, they saw each other and they met each other.

In fact, Dongbao is not very happy to marry his precious daughter to the Wang family. The Wang family has dominated Anzhou for several generations. The family is huge and intertwined. It's not that easy.

Just thinking about the hundreds of uncles and aunts who have to bow down every night during the Chinese New Year, Dong Bao shed tears of bitterness for her daughter.

She wanted to marry Wan Wan into a well-to-do family with a simple relationship and a small population. The girl's family didn't want to be rich, but only wanted her to live her life safely and happily.

But Wan Wan fell in love with Wang Ying, and shyly said that brother Wang Ying was a nice person, and he often took care of her when they were playing together when they were young... Dong Bao, a mother, was anxious and angry, but there was nothing she could do.

In the end, Lin Shi came forward and agreed to the Wang family's marriage proposal, and advised Dong Bao not to worry about it. Children and grandchildren have their own blessings. Although Wanwan is not smart enough, she is not fooled by the silly elder sister. It is theirs to marry Wang Cong. The eldest daughter-in-law, with Wang Cong and his wife watching, will not make her suffer.

Besides, Wanwan has a father who is a juror, an uncle who does business across the country, and two uncles who are officials. It is too late for the Wang family to confess to Wanwan, and they will bully Wanwan only if the collective head is in the water.

Wang Cong does a good job in business, but he himself has no fame. In the clan, he is often looked down upon by those poor and poorly educated clansmen who think he smells like copper in his business. Qian continued to make money, and when he got home, he desperately supervised the homework of the two sons-in-law, vowing to train a son who can be an official no matter what.

Wan Wan's mother-in-law, Dong Bao, met when she was a child. She was the Yue girl back then. After dealing with her over the years, she gave Dong Bao the impression of a standard noble lady. She is not a good person, but she is not a bad one either. She belongs to the type where people respect me a foot and I respect others. As long as you follow the rules, she will not make things difficult for you.

Mrs. Wang had already spoken when she was engaged. When Wang Ying passed the Jinshi examination, no matter whether she was released or stayed in Beijing, she would not stay at home to serve her in-laws. Wanwan would go to work with her husband at that time. The young couple Live a happy life.

Dongbao only made one request for the Wang family. She doesn't care whether the Wang family will prosper in the future or whether Wanwan can live a good life as Mrs. Shangguan. She only asks that Wang Ying can take a concubine if Wanwan is childless before the age of 40.

The Wang family fully agreed to this point. Even if Wang Cong had money like that, he only had two maids before getting married. After getting married, he was sent to marry. It was produced by Mrs. Wang.As for why he didn't take a concubine, Dong Bao privately thought that Wang Cong, who was born to make money, thought it would be too expensive to raise a few more women.

As for Wang Cong's two sons, Wang Cong and his wife urged them to study hard all day long, for fear that they would delay the sons' homework by assigning maids, so the maids in the connecting rooms were spared, and the servants were servants and middle-aged servants.

Although Lin Shi had given up his thoughts of becoming a Jinshi and becoming an official, he had never thought of taking a concubine. From the time he got married to now, he hadn't even had a scandal. woman.

The men in the village were therefore divided into two factions. One group was represented by Song Bai and Song Yu. Although these two brothers usually met each other without saying a word, they wished to be cold-hearted, but in this case they were maintained a high degree of unity.That is, Lin Shi has lost the face of the majority of male compatriots. If they want to be masters, they must have ten or eight young and beautiful concubines, otherwise they will be ashamed to go out!What?Juren's wife disagrees?Ah bah, if the Juren master can start a family, how about letting the Juren wife take care of it?Shame, shame!

The other faction is represented by Chun Lei and others. They cook and wash clothes at home, go out to work to earn money, and firmly implement what their wives say. They are good men. Lin Juren is their idol. Good only better.

When the two factions chatted in front of the old grocery store, they would often argue so much that they almost fought.

More than [-]% of the women in the village are fans of Lin Shi. As long as their husbands do something wrong, they will point in the direction of the Lin family's mansion and say how Lin Juren is... No matter how awesome you are, you can live like a fool. Lin Juren?If you don't want to do it soon, you can do it for my mother!
As for Dong Bao, she has been married to Lin Shi for more than ten years, and she has long been used to every aspect of Lin Shi. She is probably the person who knows Lin Shi best in this world.

Whenever people tell her that Lin Shi is good for this or that, she smiles on her face, but complains in her heart. Outsiders only see Lin Shi's best side, but they can't see Lin Shi's shortcomings.

Lin Shi is not a saint living in legends, no matter how perfect he is in the eyes of the folks, in the eyes of Dong Bao, he is just an ordinary person, of course he also has flaws, not minor.These problems were gradually discovered by Dong Bao over the years. Some problems caused the two to quarrel, and some problems were so cute that Dong Bao couldn't help but laugh.

For example, Dong Bao found out that Lin Shi didn't like to brush his teeth two years after they got married. If she didn't tell her, outsiders would not believe it. Such a handsome and clean man actually hates brushing his teeth.

Lin Shi always asked Dong Bao to wash first, and only after Dong Bao went to bed did he go to the bathroom on the other side of the screen to wash.Later, once Dongbao was fine on the bed, he listened to the movement on the other side of the screen, and after hearing the sound of washing his face and feet, he saw Lin Shi in his underwear, turned around, lifted the quilt, and was about to lie on the bed and hug his wife.

"Wait!" Dong Bao felt that something was wrong, and blocked Lin Shi, "Did you forget to brush your teeth?" In this era, there have been exquisite toothbrushes made of pig pine hair. When brushing, the toothbrush was moistened with water and dipped in a bamboo tube to boil it out. Green salt, the teeth are whiter after brushing, and the breath is fresh, which is much easier to use than the modern toothpaste that costs dozens of dollars a tube.

"It's been brushed!" Lin Shi said vaguely, stretched out his arms and hugged the warm and soft jade daughter-in-law into his arms, kissing and touching each other contentedly.

If it weren't for a guilty conscience, the "passed" must have been resolute.

Dong Bao pushed him away, suppressed a smile, and asked with a serious face: "Did you brush it?"

"Scan, scan! Go to sleep!" Lin Shi urged.

Dong Bao was too lazy to argue with him, so he put on his clothes and got out of bed. He took Lin Shi's toothbrush from behind the screen and looked at the candlelight. The toothbrush made by pig pine hair was still dry...

This big slob!Dong Bao walked to the bedside, picked up Lin Shi who was pretending to be asleep, and said, "Go and brush your teeth!" At this time, there is no porcelain teeth for him to change, and if you don't take good care of your teeth, you will lose them all at a young age. Turn your teeth into a bald old man!At that time, she will be the first to dislike him!

"I've done it!" Lin Shi was very aggrieved, and could not get off the bed.

Dong Bao pulled the quilt resentfully, pointed at Lin Shi and said, "Do you dare to swear, the one of us who didn't brush our teeth tonight is a puppy?"

Lin Shi glanced at his wife depressedly, and got up resentfully to brush his teeth.

Since then, supervising Lin Shi brushing his teeth has become one of the passions of the couple.At the beginning, Dong Bao judged whether Lin Shi was brushing his teeth by checking Lin Shi’s toothbrush. Later, Lin Shi learned the trick and learned to be smart.

Dong Bao obviously didn't hear the sound of brushing his teeth, but when he went to check the toothbrush, it was wet.

Well, you play hard... Dong Bao swallowed a mouthful of old blood, then she will play even harder, every time Lin Shi must brush his teeth under her witness, otherwise it doesn't matter whether he brushed or not, and if he brushes it under her eyes Scan it again... Hey, she didn't care about her son and didn't care about her husband's effort!
After Lin Wan got married, there was suddenly a loss of someone in the family. Dong Bao felt uncomfortable in various ways. Without the company of the caring little padded jacket, she was depressed for a few days.She felt that she was old, even though she was only 31 years old, but Dong Bao counted the age of the previous life and the present, and the combined age of the two lives made her feel sad.

At night, Lin Shi hugged Dong Bao from behind, and said with a smile, "Don't be upset, we still have Brother Jin and Brother Min, or should we have another one?"

"I don't want to have a baby anymore!" Dong Bao said sullenly, how hard it is to be pregnant, "Three children are enough, why do you need so many, I'm afraid the fight for family property will not be lively enough in the future?"

Well, Lin Shi was speechless. Ever since her daughter got married, her daughter-in-law's temper was like a day in June, and the child's face changed as soon as she said it.

"Okay, okay, no more." Lin Shi coaxed with a smile, "Then let's go to bed? Let's go to Anzhou to see Wanwan in two days."

Dong Bao turned over and put his arms around Lin Shi and said "hmm". Just as he closed his eyes, he straightened up suddenly, looked at Lin Shi with an innocent face and said, "I almost forgot, you haven't brushed your teeth yet!"

"I brushed it!" Lin Shi raised his hands and swore that he was more wronged than Dou E. It has been more than ten years, and the wife still cares about the trivial matter of brushing her teeth, which is too much!
Dong Bao waved his hands disdainfully, "Don't do this, I don't believe what you, a person with a lot of criminal records, say, hurry up!"

In the cold weather, Lin Shi was forced to leave the warm bed to brush his teeth, while Dong Bao was too lazy to get out of bed, yawning and sitting on the bed, asking Lin Shi to move the screen so that she could watch.

When Lin Shi was brushing his teeth, he would secretly look at Dong Bao, feeling sweet and joyful in his heart. My daughter-in-law has not noticed until now that her little days this month have been delayed by five or six days. Recently, not only is she lethargic, she also likes to eat pickled green apricots , sour, she can eat several in a while.

More than ten years have passed, and Dongbao has lost the youthfulness and beauty that she had when she married him. She is no longer a tender little girl who can pinch water. Under the candlelight, Dongbao's face is pale and red, with a pair of beautiful His pupils were filled with water vapor due to sleepiness, shining brightly, and his body, which was only wearing underwear, was slim and slim.He and she already had three children, plus the little baby in Dongbao's stomach, that's four children, but he didn't feel any boredom with his wife.

Before getting married, Dong Bao was the young Lin Shi's sweetheart, but now after being married for more than ten years, Dong Bao is an indispensable part of his life.

He once had a dream that ten-year-old Dong Bao died of illness when he was sent home from Anzhou. As he grew up, he gradually forgot that there was a beautiful sister who died young in the neighbor's house. He became a country girl who could manage the house, gave birth to several children, and became a farmer like his father. He worked day after day, and when his son got married, he separated the family. The eldest son will support his parents until the children are grown up, his parents have passed away, and he is also old, and Tagouji is still the same.

After waking up, Lin Shi broke out in a cold sweat. After changing his clothes, he held the sleeping Dong Bao in his arms until dawn. He was afraid of what happened in his dream. He could have no fame or money, but he couldn’t live without Dong Bao. Bao, no woman can replace Dong Bao.

(End of this chapter)