I

   Chapter 5 005 [Grate lice]

  The night was dark and windy, with heavy thunderstorms.

  Zhao Han took his younger sister and wandered through the city of Tianjin.

  There is a curfew in the city, but due to the heavy rain, everything is in vain, not to mention that the north and south walls have long since collapsed.

   After walking for an unknown distance, Zhao Han found a leeward eaves, and Zhao Han hugged his younger sister to shelter from the rain and sleep.

  It was almost dawn at this time, and the brother and sister were tired and sleepy.

  Especially Zhao Han, although he regained some energy by eating meat buns, he was malnourished for a long time after all. The sneak attack and murder on a rainy night seemed to be effortless, but in fact, the short fight almost made him collapse.

  The ability to escape from outside the city to the city is all supported by a will. After finding a place to hide from the rain, Zhao Han fell asleep even though his whole body was wet.

   When I woke up the next day, it was already noon.

  The sky is still raining lightly, pattering, covering Tianjin in a cloud of rain and fog.

  The scenery is picturesque, but it's a pity that Zhao Han didn't have the time to enjoy it.

  The clothes on the brothers and sisters have been dried by body heat, quietly waiting for the sky to clear up.

   Zhao Han felt hungry again, braved the light rain to buy some food, and quickly went back to the eaves to hide from the rain.

   Fill the stomach and stomach, and there is nothing left or right.

  Zhao Han took out the grate and comb that came along, smiled and said to his sister: "Little sister, second brother will comb your hair."

   "Good, good!" Zhao Zhenfang was quite happy.

   After all, she is a little girl, sitting in her brother's arms, and leisurely reaching out to catch the drizzle outside the eaves, it seems that she has temporarily forgotten the miserable situation.

  The main function of the grate is not to comb the hair, but to scrape dandruff and lice between the hair.

  Zhao Zhenfang hasn't combed her hair for many days, and her hair is glued and hardened by sweat. Fortunately, it was slightly soaked in the rain last night.

  Zhao Han moistened his palm with drizzle, gently wiped it on the little girl's hair, then picked up the comb and combed it slowly. Some grainy stuff was scraped out, there was congealed salt dust, there was a lot of dandruff, and a few blood-filled lice.

  Pick out the lice, press them to death one by one, and the ground will be covered with corpses in a short while. Looking at the crushed lice, Zhao Han actually felt a sense of accomplishment, like a clean freak cleaning up the **** in the house.

   After combing for half an hour, Zhao Han finished cleaning up the lice on the little girl's head, and then began to pick up the comb to really comb her hair.

  A bun? Won't!

   Playing with styling? Won't!

  Zhao Han only combed two big braids for his sister, and after braiding the braids, he felt that the hairline in the middle was combed crookedly.

  Zhao Zhenfang has been leaning on her brother's arms. It hurts when she combs lice, but she feels comfortable when she combs her hair. She couldn't help closing her eyes to enjoy, completely forgetting her troubles, as if returning to the carefree days before.

  Feeling that her brother stopped moving, Zhao Zhenfang asked: "Second brother, are you done combing?"

   "It's ready." Zhao Han replied.

  Zhao Zhenfang stretched out her head and used the accumulated water on the ground outside the eaves as a mirror. She took a picture there for a while, touched her braid and said happily, "Second brother's braid is so beautiful!"

  Zhao Han said: "When the rain stops, find a place to take a bath and get rid of the lice on your body."

  Zhao Zhenfang stood up, picked up the comb and said, "I also comb my second brother's hair."

   It hasn't rained for several months, but it doesn't stop when I get up.

  In the afternoon, the light rain turned into heavy rain again, and the siblings could only hide under the eaves to comb each other's hair and catch lice.

  The little girl didn't know the seriousness, and Zhao Han's hair was very hardened, and when he combed it, his scalp was painful.

  Zhao Han endured it all the time, instead of making a sound to stop him, he closed his eyes enjoying himself.

   "Oh, it's broken!" Zhao Zhenfang exclaimed.

  Zhao Han looked back and burst out laughing, the little girl actually broke the teeth of the comb, which shows how much effort was used just now.

   "Kill them!" Zhao Han commanded.

  Zhao Zhenfang immediately pinched the base of the grate and killed all the lice that had been thinned out.

  Seeing this scene, Zhao Han couldn't help laughing and said, "Haha, have a good time!"

   "Clack cluck!"

  Zhao Zhenfang also clapped her little hands and laughed along with her brother.

  Zhao Han glanced at the rag shoes on the younger sister's feet, and took out the two pairs of children's shoes that he had brought along last night: "Little sister, try changing them on."

  Zhao Zhenfang happily took off her shoes and put them on, but unfortunately they were too big and didn't fit her feet well. On the contrary, Zhao Han's shoes were more suitable.

  Zhao Han still asked his sister to wear good shoes, and then tied them with cloth ropes, at least it was better than the rotten shoes with worn-out soles.

  Both brothers and sisters put on new shoes, and their hair was neatly combed, and they looked like little beggars with only their tattered clothes.

  I dare not change clothes for the time being, because they are made of silk, and I am afraid of being robbed if I wear them.

  That night, Zhao Han hummed nursery rhymes to lull his sister to sleep. Even in a deep sleep, the younger sister hugged him tightly, as if she was afraid of losing her last relative.

   Alas, Zhao Han sighed softly.

   Another day later, the sun finally came out, and the heavy rain lasted for a full day and two nights.

   Zhao Han took out some copper coins in advance to buy dry food to satisfy his hunger, but he dared not take out the stolen silver and jewelry.

   On the way back and forth, Zhao Han secretly observed the situation in the city.

  The city of Tianjin in the Ming Dynasty, also known as "Abacus City", is like an abacus. According to legend, it was designed by Liu Bowen according to Fengshui. In fact, the city was built after Zhu Di ascended the throne.

  The circumference of the city wall is nine miles, and the streets in the city are nine vertical and nine horizontal.

  The ancestral temple was built in the east of the city, the altar was built in the west of the city, the market was in the south of the city, and the government office was in the north of the city. Up to now, Tianjin has five markets and one city, and there are North Canal Wharf and South Canal Wharf outside the city.

  The residents in the city are mostly hereditary military officers and military households, and there are also countless wealthy businessmen who settle down.

  The houses of the big officials and great merchants often occupy tens of acres of land, with brackets and cornices like princes and nobles.

  There are two pools in the south of the city, which are large puddles left during the construction of the city, which can directly lead to the moat outside the city. Now it is also occupied by circles and has become a garden lake for the rich and powerful, where young masters and young ladies can enjoy leisurely play.

   "Get out of the way, get out of the way!"

  Several healthy horses are running amok, noble sons are galloping, and behind them are dozens of house slaves running to catch up.

  Drought for several months, and two consecutive days of heavy rain, it has already suffocated the playboys, and now they have made an appointment to come out to have fun together.

  Zhao Han pulled the younger sister away violently, and the brother and sister were almost killed in the street.

"hehe!"

   Looking at the angry horse in fresh clothes in front of him, and thinking of the hungry people outside the city like mummified corpses, Zhao Han couldn't help but sneer back.

  Wandered aimlessly to the south city wall, where it also collapsed several tens of feet.

  The imperial court couldn't afford the money for repairs, so it let Tianjin, an important military site, have a big gap in the north and south walls for twenty years!

  Many city bricks were picked up by the common people, but some remained scattered.

   Zhao Han found a big green brick, took out the scissors that killed the man the day before yesterday, picked up the brick and smashed it, violently hammering the riveting place.

  Zhao Zhenfang squatted beside her and asked, "Second brother, what are you doing?"

   "Make weapons for self-defense." Zhao Han replied.

   "Boom!"

  After hammering for a long time, the rivets broke, the scissors were smashed in half, and Zhao Han was so tired that he was out of breath.

  Half of the scissors was connected to the tip of the spear by Zhao Han, and then tied firmly with cloth strips repeatedly.

   Bamboo spears become iron spears!

  The remaining half of the scissors is also wrapped with cloth strips around the handle. In this way, it is a dagger with cloth strips to increase friction, so that it is not afraid of slippery hands when killing blood.

  Hiding the dagger in his bosom, and wrapping the tip of the spear with cloth, so that he doesn’t need to show the edge for now.

  The law and order in the city seems to be better than outside the city.

  Before officially going south, Zhao Han was not planning to leave the city, and even wanted to try to find a job.

  They found a small restaurant in the southeast of the city. Too high-end restaurants will definitely refuse to accept unidentified people. It is estimated that Zhao Han was blown away as soon as he walked to the door.

  Perhaps the brother and sister are no longer unkempt, so even though their clothes are tattered, the shop waiter allows them to enter.

   "Do you have any money on you? Where is your adult?" the shop assistant asked.

  Zhao Han made a full posture, first straightened his clothes, then straightened his hands and bowed, and said nonsense: "Your Excellency Haojiao knows that the boy's ancestor is the imperial cook of the Yingzong. When the fort was built, the ancestor went out with the imperial chariot. Unfortunately, he was killed in the rebellion."

  My good fellow, it seems that his words and deeds are not from the lower class. How can ordinary people have such insight in tutoring.

  The store clerk was stunned for a moment, and asked curiously: "You... are you going to eat?"

  Zhao Han sighed and said: "The boy's family is in decline, and he came to Tianjin to join his relatives, but unfortunately the relatives are also struggling to survive. I have a court cooking skill and want to be self-reliant. I wonder if I can work as a cook in your shop?"

  Why did Zhao Han choose to be a chef to make a living?

  Because when he was in the army, as a recruit, he was successfully selected into the strongest unit of our army—cooking soldier!

   Recruits can enter the cooking class, which is very awesome, which means that all military skills are absolutely excellent.

   "Do you want to stay and be a cook?"

  The store clerk sized Zhao Han up, shook his head and said, "I can't make up my mind, go find the shopkeeper yourself."

  Zhao Han took his younger sister and quickly found the shopkeeper, repeating what he had just said.

   "Your ancestor was really an imperial chef?" the shopkeeper asked calmly.

  Zhao Han lied without blinking, and said solemnly: "It's absolutely true."

  The shopkeeper thought for a while and said: "If you are really capable, you can stay and help in the kitchen. When you are a few years older, you will be able to cook."

   "Thank you!" Zhao Hanxi said.

  The shopkeeper added: "You said you came to Tianjin to join your relatives, and you called your relatives to be the guarantor. The guarantors outside the city are not counted, they can only be inside the city."

  Zhao Han was dumbfounded for a moment.

  In ancient times, all walks of life attached great importance to guarantors. Even when the young students take the exam for a scholar, they must be guaranteed by three old scholars, so as to prevent the candidates from falsely reporting their personal information.

  Where the store recruits workers, it also needs a guarantor.

  Even as an apprentice, there must be three guarantors, and the guarantors must also be local innocent people.

  A refugee of unknown origin, wants to apply for employment in Tianjin?

  Dream!

  Zhao Han still did not give up, and said: "Shopkeeper, why don't you let the boy cook a dish, how about you taste it first?"

  The shopkeeper seemed to see something, sneered and choked out a word: "Get lost!"

  Zhao Han persevered, and said: "Shopkeeper, I can also tell a story, or I can tell a paragraph now. Let's say that at the end of the Southern Song Dynasty, there was a Niujia Village in Lin'an Prefecture..."

  The shopkeeper completely regarded Zhao Han as a liar, and shouted, "Call me out!"

  The store clerk immediately came over to chase people away, Zhao Han could only choose to get out of here.

   I found a few more shops, no matter how much Zhao Han brags, no matter what kind of job Zhao Han wants to do, they must meet a necessary prerequisite: three locals with clean backgrounds jointly guarantee!

   It seems that there is no hope for working to make money, so I can only find another way out.

   Then go south immediately, rush to reach the relatively warm south before autumn arrives, so as not to stay in Tianjin in winter and be frozen to death.

  Of course, there is one more thing that seems more urgent right now.

  Zhao Han came to a pharmacy and asked, "Shopkeeper, do you have trauma medicine?"

   "What kind of trauma?" The shopkeeper asked back.

  Zhao Han was silent for a moment, and chose to tell the truth: "Anal fissure..."

  Yesterday I was constipated, the old wound was broken, and the blood flowed like a uncle visiting.

  (end of this chapter)