Tong Jia anecdote

<ninety-four>

Let's talk about Hong Xiao and Hua Jingfu who went south to the south of the Yangtze River.When going there, it is natural and comfortable to go boating along the river, touring the mountains and play in the water.

After arriving, big shopkeepers from all over the place came to meet them.According to the manifest they brought, if there is something in the family, it will be counted out of the warehouse, and if there is no one in the family, a special person will be sent out to collect purchases.It took no more than ten days for the goods to be ready.

"Uncle Hua, Miss Hong, Master Jiu and Madam have all the goods that they want today." Several shopkeepers handed over the catalogs one after another. After checking each one, Hong Xiao stamped a small seal, which was regarded as the proof of receipt.

"It's just that there is still one thing to discuss with the two of you." The big shopkeeper said in a difficult way, "That is... how to ship this product."

"How lucky you were in the past, how lucky you are now." Hong Xiao obviously didn't know the importance of this. She usually ran business with Tong Jiu on dry roads, and didn't know much about waterways and canals.

"Grandma, you don't know. In the past, our family used our own boats to transport grain and tea, silk, and Yangzhengtang to transport medicinal materials. But each ship is different according to the items it transports. At Caokou, you need to pay a fixed amount of money for tolls." The shopkeeper explained.

He continued, "But our goods this time are more complicated and more expensive than before. We can neither use grain ships nor tea ships. So, according to the two of you, do we have to communicate with the Cao Gang in advance? Dredge dredge, see what Caobang means, and the goods can be boarded again?"

"Well, this is the reason for worshiping the Bodhisattva before going out." The old butler of the Jiangnan Han Mansion stroked his beard in approval, and said, "But the entrance of the Cao Gang has always been in the dark, and we can't find the temple if we want to worship." door."

Jing Fu, who had been silent all the time, said to the shopkeeper of Jiangnan Huizhengsheng, "Go and prepare five hundred li cash, and ask for official silver." After speaking, he said to Hongxiao, "I'll go out for a walk, and I'll be back in a while."

"I'll go with you." Thinking of her unfamiliar place, Hong Xiao said worriedly, determined to follow.

Jing Fu didn't say anything, and took her out.After coming out, Jing Fu just blindly walked around in the streets and alleys, looking completely aimless.

Hong Xiao, who was following her, walked straight until her legs became sore. Seeing that the two of them walked farther and farther away from home, and they were about to leave the city, they finally couldn't bear it anymore, and blamed him, "Jiuge'er's goods are still there." Stuck there and can't get out, but you have the mind to hang around like this."

Jing Fu didn't respond, and turned into an alley, looked around after entering, continued to walk in, until he reached a house at the end of the alley, and then stopped.

"You're so boring, I'm not leaving, I'm going back." Seeing that Jing Fu didn't pay attention to what she said, Hong Xiao walked back and forth to such a dead end, where the walls were covered with dilapidated green moss If there is anything interesting about the house, turn around and leave.

"Okay, let's go home." Jing Fu dragged Hong Xiao's hand into his, and the two walked out together, Jing Fu said, "This is the entrance of the Cao Gang."

"Ah?" Hong Xiao wanted to turn around in shock, but was pulled by Jing Fu, and said in a low voice, "Don't look back."

"How do you know?" Hong Xiao asked puzzledly, turning her head back.

Jing Fu remained silent for a while, and when the two of them left the alley, Fang pointed to some inconspicuous scratches on the wall, and said, "This is their code word for communication."

Hong Xiao poked her head to take a closer look, and said doubtfully, "Aren't these just three wavy lines? How can you tell that this is the code word of the Cao Gang."

Seeing that she didn't believe it, Jing Fu felt helpless and didn't know how to explain it, so he had to wrap his arms around her shoulders, and continued walking back, saying, "Isn't there three streams of water to the left of the word 'cao'? I remember that."

The two turned to another wall, and Hong Xiao searched carefully, and sure enough, she saw such a mark in the corner again, and couldn't help but believe what Jing Fu just said was true.She curled her lips and said, "You Jianghu people just love to play tricks on you."

Jing Fu hooked the corner of his mouth, and said, "Each gang and faction has its own code words, so that the gang members can get in touch with each other. If you don't understand it, you will think it's a mystery. In fact, these can't be more clear."

"Since it's a code word, and you're not from the Cao Gang, how did you know about it?" Hongxiao asked dissatisfied.

"Is there anything the imperial court doesn't know?" Jing Fu said, "We travel all over the world for the imperial court. Naturally, we need to be clear about these three-educated things."

"Then we, is this considered to be walking in the Jianghu?" Hong Xiao laughed when she saw that Jing Fu talked about the Jianghu and so on, she was very arrogant.

Since we met, although Jing Fu rarely mentioned her past in the palace, Hongxiao knew that if Jing Fu was thrown into the rivers and lakes she mentioned, she should be a very powerful and ruthless character .

Thinking of this, I felt a little uneasy again in my heart, I pulled the person beside me to stop, and stared at her silently.

"What's the matter?" Jing Fu saw that she suddenly grabbed him like this, staring at him with complicated expressions, his face changed, and he asked a little timidly.

"You promised me." Hong Xiao reminded her, said.

Jing Fu thought for a while, understood what she was referring to, nodded reassuringly, and said, "Don't worry, I know what to do. Come back in the afternoon with the money, I'm not afraid it won't work."

In the afternoon, Jing Fu didn't want Hongxiao to follow, but Hongxiao had to go.So, they went to the courtyard where the two of them went in the morning.Jing Fu stepped forward to knock on the door, knocking three times each time, three times straight.

Seeing that there was still no one answering the door, Hong Xiao whispered, "Could it be that we made a mistake and there was no one?"

Jing Fu shook his head slightly, and stood firmly with his hands folded. Just as Hong Xiao was about to say something, he heard a sound from inside the door. With a "creak", the door was pulled open inside, and the people inside looked at Jing Fu, Hongxiao and Jing Fu outside the door with a stern look, and walked inside without saying a word.

Jing Fu stepped in with her robes, and Hong Xiao followed closely behind. With the sound of the door closing, the two of them bypassed the barrier in the courtyard, and saw that the windows and doors of the main hall inside were all open, and everyone was sitting upstairs and downstairs. people, but they didn't make a sound.

Jing Fu strolled into the main hall leisurely, saw the plaques of the ancestors of Weng, Qian, and Pan on the incense table in the hall, knelt down respectfully, and said in his mouth, "Kneel on the dust, burn incense towards Wutai." Quickly kowtow three times.

Hong Xiao didn't know the joints involved, she saw those people staring at herself and Jing Fu from the corner of her eye, knowing that this was probably the Cao Gang, so she hurriedly imitated Jing Fu's appearance and worshiped, not daring to neglect.

At the moment when the two got up, the person who opened the door for them just now yelled, "A guest welcomes you, serve tea——."

Jing Fu said thank you, and sat down at a table in the hall.Soon, someone served two bowls of tea.

Hongxiao looked at the tea and drank tea, and even put two pairs of chopsticks for them in vain, but there was no other food and drink on the table, what does this mean?

I saw Jing Fu raised his hand, but didn't drink the tea. He buckled the bottom support and the lid of the teacup together, put the tea bowl on the lid, and finally put the pair of chopsticks on the tea bowl.

"My family, hang up the sign—" With the shout of the tea server, the atmosphere in the courtyard suddenly eased, and many people nodded and smiled at the two to show their friendship and welcome.Hong Xiao had been holding her heart in her throat, and now she let it go a little bit.

"Senior brother, please come inside." The tea server politely led the two of them towards the main hall inside, and when they arrived at the main hall, he introduced the middle-aged man who was sitting in the upper seat and said, "This is our hall master."

"I don't know where this boss came from, what's his name?" The hall master looked at Jing Fu calmly, then glanced at Hong Xiao, and asked with a smile.

"The so-called 'sons don't talk about their father when they are at home, and don't talk about their teachers when they go out'" Jing Fu cupped his hands and said, "The late-born surname is Hua, and he came from the north to meet the hall master."

"Oh, they are from the north. The hall master pondered for a moment, smiled and stretched out his hand to ask the two to sit down, saying, "Please sit down quickly, since you have come from a long way, you must use some water and wine." "

"Don't dare." Jing Fu politely refused, took out a few official coins from his sleeves, placed them in front of the hall master, and bowed his hands to everyone upstairs and downstairs , Fang said to the hall master, "I hope the hall master and senior brothers will accept it."

The hall master looked at the official bank with the imprint of Jingli in front of him, and said calmly, "Since brother is here for official business, if you have anything to do, just ask."

Therefore, Jing Fu said that he had a few cargoes that were urgently going to Beijing, and hoped that someone from the Cao Gang could help escort them.After the hall master heard this, he immediately ordered dozens of disciples to Jing Fu, and let her order them.

When the two came out of Cao Gang, Hong Xiao patted her heart and said, "Oh, it's finally done. You didn't see the way those people looked at you when we first entered."

Jing Fu said calmly, "With me, what are you afraid of?"

Thinking of the fact that just now in the Caobang, Hongxiao looked at her with great interest, and said teasingly, "Just now, look at Hua Daxia's slick and clever appearance. Are you pretending to be silly with me?"

"What?" Jing Fu stared blankly because he didn't understand, and explained, "In the past, we used to go out on business to pay homage to the hall. This is the rule. The Cao Gang is no better than the Hongmen. They are willing to take official errands. Now, as long as their gossip banner Once it lights up on our merchant ship, we are not afraid that the waterways along the way will not let it go."

Hong Xiao smiled, looked in the direction of the north, and said with emotion, "Now I understand why Madam let you come."

She shook her head as she spoke, and said amusedly, "At first, I thought that she would let you, a person who can't even tell the difference between the grain and the silver, go south to sell goods. I never thought that this trip really must be you."

Jing Fu heard her admiration for him in her words, and said seriously, "Actually, I also have some good things."

"Yes, yes, Xia Hua has always been hiding his secrets. It's because my family underestimated you." Hong Xiao joked.

On the side of the Han Mansion, the weather in the capital has also turned warm.After listening to Shu Guangxiu's words after the last meal, Tong Jiu lost his mind, and practiced riding and archery hard with Dagula every day, exercising and recovering the left half of his body.

And since the incident of Yongxi, Ji Lan has now built a Buddhist hall on the site of the burned indoor racetrack.

These days, Ji Lan watched Tong Jiu get on and off the horse with his left leg for practice, his body was covered in bruises, and he almost got trampled by the horse a few times.And because of practicing archery, many large and small blood blisters appeared on the two palms, and my heart was really distressed.

But she knew that this was the most important "business" that Tong Jiu knew in her heart, and she shouldn't say anything to stop her.

Most of the time, she just frowns anxiously on the pavilion, watching the man crawling and rolling on the horse farm.For a long time, the pain in my heart turned into a helpless "enemy" from my little daughter.