In the years of ancient traders

"Boss." Song Shu was doing accounts at the counter when the female waiter from Xinyue Pavilion came.

Today's Shuangshuang, which is only for women, the female Xiaoer will not leave Xinyue Pavilion easily, and Song Shu came to him so suddenly, but Song Shu was startled: "But what happened?" At noon the day before yesterday, the daughter of the county magistrate's family I came here once, and Song Shu found out later that she almost made a fuss in the waiting room.Fortunately, the female mistress who was on duty that day was smart, and she was shocked by chatting with her about the identities of the other girls in the same room.

At the beginning, Song Shu just felt that due to the relationship between men and women, he was not reconciled to the lack of many female customers, so he set up a women's limited venue to test the waters.Unexpectedly, this test touched the hearts of thousands of girls and young women.

Not only the common people in the city, but also the daughters of rich families and ladies and wives of official families came to join in.His female-only venue was actually more lively than usual.

"It's all right," the second girl smiled, "It's just that Miss Xie has something to hand over to the owner, and I just want to ask you to go away."

This female Xiaoer was originally a widowed woman in the west of the city. Her husband's family name was Chen, and she had a son who was called Ergouzi.

On the first day of recruiting, Er Gouzi put down his errand work at the soup cake stall at noon and rushed home. As soon as he entered the door, he started yelling, Song Silang was recruiting in the west of the city, and he wanted a woman.

Widow Chen was a little worried at first. There are a lot of gossips in front of the widow's house. She usually only does some laundry work at home, and the neighbors can tell a lot of gossip. .

But seeing her son go out early and return late every day, and work so hard to add some income to the family, she also felt distressed.I can't let my son work hard, but I just hide at home blindly, so I promised him to try.

On the same day, Song Silang ordered her to come.

After going to work, Widow Chen put her heart back into her stomach.

Apart from her, there are two other girls in this shop. Sister-in-law Ying, who is in charge of cooking the pot in the back kitchen, is also a woman. Song Sanniang, Song Silang's elder sister, and Cheng Erniang, his sister-in-law, also often come and go in and out of the shop.The two of them really looked like heroines, they were not at all shy in the face of the plethora of male customers, they took turns guarding the counter for Song Silang, and they were very orderly when directing the shop assistants, no worse than men.

Widow Chen looked at the two of them and gained more courage to come out to work.

Once, the woman who lived next door to her came to inquire about Song Ji's treatment.When Widow Chen said it, the other party opened her mouth in disbelief.

The next day when Widow Chen came home from work, there were seven or eight women waiting for her at the door, all of them had things in their hands, including unground wheat and warm scallion pancakes. up.

"Song Ji still recruits workers?"

"Auntie Chen, if you have any news, please let me know."

After they yelled at each other, Widow Chen found out that these people were interested in Song Ji's work.She didn't know if the boss was recruiting or not. These people usually talked about her right and wrong, but now she took things as an apology and accepted them all.

"If my boss is hiring, I will tell you about it." Widow Chen glanced at the greedy eyes of those women one by one. They were the same as before, doing more laundry and mending work to subsidize the family. Although there are men, can they No one is sure about getting money home, and those who have a good life will not stay in this alley.

If they were kinder before, she wouldn't mind helping, but it's too late to give gifts now.

She had already figured it out, and when her job in Song Ji became more stable, she would take Er Gouzi to rent a house in an alley near the south of the city. The house there was more spacious and closer to the hot pot restaurant and soup cake stand.She doesn't want to see any of these women in the future, just let them die here.

Widow Chen followed Song Shu back to Xinyue Pavilion.

The Xie Wan she mentioned just now is the granddaughter of the Minister of Rites, who lives in Hengzhou City on weekdays. Because she likes Song Ji's hot pot, she has been staying in Datu County for seven or eight days. Every time the female guests come to the venue, it has become a reality. the leader of the women.If there is a day when there is no limited space, she will go to the private room on the second floor of the water boat. It is much more expensive than downstairs, but it is quiet and private, and she is not short of money.

In addition, there is the youngest daughter of Dingzhou Zhoumu, and the wife of the magistrate of Anyang County next door is also a frequent visitor here. They are not as fanatical as Xie Wan, but they often appear.Most of the other female guests are the daughters-in-law and daughters of ordinary or wealthy families in the city, and some from the suburbs of the county came to try something new.

Female guests like to be clean, so Song Shu dusted off her robes before stepping into the Crescent Pavilion.

Xie Wan invited guests today. The separate tables in the pavilion were put together. The daughters and daughters-in-law of farmers, merchants, and ordinary people in the city gathered around. There were more than 40 people, and a dozen copper pots were placed on the table. , the female guests were laughing while cooking hot pot, as if they didn't care about the completely different family backgrounds of the people around them.

"Shiro is here." Xie Wan sat in the middle seat, and there was an empty seat next to her, and she set up bowls and chopsticks, "Come in quickly, and have a drink with us."

"Song Silang." A middle-aged woman near the door spotted Song Shu and blurted out.

"Hello." When Song Shu walked in, a little lady said softly, her face seemed to be blushing.

These were all his guests. Although it was a bit embarrassing to be watched by so many people, Song Shu still greeted them all.

"Do you want Shiro to drink soy milk or tea? Would you like some wine?"

"He drinks soy milk. Shiro said he doesn't like tea."

"You can drink a little wine, it's already fourteen."

"Fifteen, it's already a new year. Shiro, let me pour you wine."

Song Shu quickly declined the offer, saying that he didn't drink alcohol.A few young ladies were more reserved and didn't talk much, but those women who pulled their hair didn't care, they chatted with Song Shu in a hurry, and some people asked him if he rejected the marriage and wanted to sit with her. The little lady next to him introduced it to him.

The little lady lowered her head, her face was blushing to the point of bleeding, but she didn't say a word of refusal, and even glanced at Song Shu secretly.

Song Shu couldn't laugh or cry, so he had to say that he was busy with business and had no plans to get married yet.He was teased by the women again.

There are mats in the Xinyue Pavilion, and the tables are all wooden low tables. There is an empty cushion beside Xie Wan, presumably reserved for Song Shu, but Song Shu dare not sit on it, but kneels down half a step behind the cushion, Ask Xie Wan why he asked him.

"It's nothing important. I just made a picture of Shiro's hot pot. It was painted on white cloth. I thought you could make it a cover and put it at the door, so I brought it here." Xie Wan said, she grew up in a family with a school of thought. Everyone spoke in a ladylike style, unlike other people who were still waving their chopsticks, but turned to face Song Shu, put their hands on their knees, and spoke in an unhurried manner.

As soon as she finished speaking, a maid immediately delivered a box, Song Shu opened it, and took out the paintings inside.

The painting is long, and as she said, it is suitable as a cover to be inserted at the door.A hot pot was drawn on the cloth, and the details were clearly and completely outlined with meticulous brushwork. Red soup was boiling in the copper pot, which was steaming, and there were beef slices, pig brains, bean sprouts and other dishes around it, which were mouth-watering.

"Good painting, thank you so much miss." Song Shu said, he has always wanted to get a similar poster to be posted outside, so that people can know what hot pot looks like at a glance.But Yan Zhuo's paintings are too freehand. He is fine with a pencil, but completely useless with a brush.

Xie Wan's painting came just in time.

"It's just a painting, don't be polite." Xie Wan said, "If you go to Hengzhou City to open a Songji hot pot one day, I will call my sisters and make a pair for you each, and keep the hot pot I taught you The shop became popular all over Hengzhou City in one day.”

"Then I have to hurry up." Song Shu smiled.

Afterwards, he talked to Xie Wan again, replaced the wine with soybean milk, made a toast to the female guests in the pavilion, and then left.When he left, he was detained for a while, and it took him a long time to get away.

After coming out, Song Shu wiped his sweat-free forehead, asked someone to take the painting to make a cover, and ran to the back kitchen by himself.

In the back kitchen, Chu Ning scolded Fang Qiu.

Mixing minced meat in the steamed bun shop before really buried him miserably. After entering Song Ji's back kitchen, Chu Ning seemed to be a fish in the river, very at ease.Everyone in the back kitchen knew that he was the grandson of the imperial chef, and they admired him quite a bit. After Chu Ning cooked a few dishes himself, he couldn't wait to worship him as his teacher.

"Master, you are here!" Chu Ning shouted immediately when he saw Song Shu.

Song Shu was ashamed every time he heard Chu Ning call Master.

He is really a heir to the royal chef who has kung fu, and he is just an amateur player who occasionally plays a cameo.But Chu Ning just decided, and he yelled loudly one by one, and Song Shu became thick-skinned after listening too much.

"Master, I just made the boiled fish you taught me yesterday, do you want to try it?" Chu Ning said, "The duck blood is also here, I have seen it, and it will be put on the menu in the afternoon. "

"That boiled fish is really delicious." Qian Qilang, who was chopping vegetables at the side, said Qian Qilang, who was now Song Jitouan.

"I'll try it." The mulberry fishpond in Sangyuan Village has already produced some results. The fish raised by the family is much cheaper than the fish caught, so Song Shu wanted to introduce some fish dishes.In addition to single-product boiled fish, there are also fish fillets, fish balls, and fish tofu, all of which can be used in hot pot.

Yesterday Song Shu cooked boiled fish for Chu Ning to show, and today Chu Ning made it very well.

After tasting the dishes, Song Shu went to the next room where the pot was boiled to have a look. Today, my sister-in-law is on holiday, and Sanniang is here to replace her.When Song Shu entered, she was pouring pepper into the pot.

After the hot pot restaurant opened, Song Shu couldn't do it alone, so Sanniang and Cheng Erniang took turns to help. With them, not only can they get a lot of help in business, but it is also more convenient for them to communicate with female customers and female employees.

Song Dalang also comes here from time to time.

Song Shu was not in Xianghe Village, and the few workshops in the village were basically handed over to Song Anan. He was also busy these days and had no time to come here.Song He and Cheng Erniang will come over tonight, they happen to be in the same room, and they will stay at the hot pot restaurant tonight, and it will open tomorrow morning.

For the convenience of coming and going, Song Shu learned how to drive a car from Song Anan, and he was quite proficient.

"Sister, we will go back when brother comes later. I haven't been home for several days." Song Shu said.He has been living in the store since it opened for more than 20 days.He used to live in the room with bunk beds, but when Song He went back, Sanniang came over, and he went to the shop to make a bed at night, and sometimes Song He would stay with him overnight.

After sleeping on a brown-tied bed, he felt pain all over after laying on the floor for several days in a row. Song Shu shook his head. This peasant's body also gave him a disease of wealth because he really shouldn't.

"Okay, I'll be ready soon." Sanniang said.

"Chu Ning just cooked boiled fish, I asked them to put them in a food box and bring them back for Anan and the others to taste." Song Shu said, and went out excitedly.

It's great, I can finally go home, to get rid of his affliction, he just wants to sleep in bed.

Song Shu didn't rest even after returning to Xianghe Village. After a full sleep on the brown bed, he asked Song Anan to raise sweet potato seedlings.

"Eat!" Song Anan ignored him, and took Song Shu's wrist to the kitchen.

Song Shu gave him a food box when he came back yesterday, then went back to his room and fell asleep.On weekdays, he loves cleanliness the most, and he will wash his feet before going to bed, but yesterday he didn't even say good night, and his breathing sound was heavier than usual after falling asleep, obviously tired.

Song Anan didn't call him this morning. He went to get the morning boxing, and then went to the steamed bun workshop to make some arrangements. He also went to the paper workshop, soybean oil workshop, and silk quilt workshop. Staggering out of the main room, he brushed his teeth with his horse hair and bamboo toothbrush.

Song Anan walked over, and Song Shu finished brushing his teeth and told him about sweet potatoes, but he didn't listen to a word, he just wanted to ask what he was up to, so his jaw was so hungry.

This person has to eat three meals a day at home, so that he, Liu Niang and the others, and even the whole Xianghe Village also eat three meals a day, so he is not enough, and he has to make scallion pancakes and fritters for himself as an extra meal from time to time.

Twenty years ago, when he left, his chin was still round. Why did he become so thin when he came back from the hot pot restaurant these days?

Not only is he so thin, he even goes to the field without breakfast when he comes back. Did he not eat well these days?Song Anan was a little angry, and pulled Song Shu into the kitchen, and stuffed him with two bean paste steamed buns.

Song Shu has been delaying the sweet potato for a few days. Now that the vernal equinox has passed, it must be planted before Qingming to catch up with the time for seedlings, and then transplanted.

He was too tired yesterday, and fell asleep as soon as he lay down, but today when he opened his eyes, his mind was full of sweet potatoes.

"Eat." Song Anan urged again.

Song Shu held two warm steamed buns with red bean paste, and was a little taken aback.

It was always him who asked Song Anan if he wanted to eat this or that, or when he asked Song Anan to work, he would bribe him with something to eat.It's really fresh to be eaten by Song Anan like this.

Song Shu took a bite of the bean paste steamed bun.

Their family would not make such troublesome things, they must have been brought back from the steamed bun shop, and they were still warm, as if they had just come out of the oven.

"It's delicious." Song Shu finished eating one and said to Song Anan.

Song Anan's face was expressionless, isn't this nonsense, the red bean paste steamed buns, plain stuffed steamed buns and meat stuffed steamed buns in their Mantou Shop are all selling well, which of course means they are delicious.He is the owner himself, so there is nothing to boast about.

"Okay, it's over." Song Shu finished the other steamed bun with red bean paste.

Song Anan glanced at his empty hand and went out to get a hoe.

"Hey wait." Song Shu stopped him, "I still want to drink soy milk."

The soy milk was in the pot next to it. Song Anan glanced at it, and the lid of the pot was less than an inch away from Song Shu's hand.

But Song Shu didn't seem to know anything about it, completely ignoring the pot he always used to hold soy milk, and only looked at Song Anan with a smile on his lips.

Song Anan had seen such a smile before, when he fetched water to pour water on Song Shu's burnt fingers, he also looked at him with the same smile.

After a pause, Song Shu still had no intention of moving, Song Anan resignedly put down the hoe, and filled a bowl of soy milk for Song Shu: "Drink quickly." After drinking, go get your sweet potatoes.

In order to grow sweet potatoes, the Song family set aside a piece of land when wheat was sown after spring plowing.

Song Shu took Song Anan to the field. He hadn't come back for a long time, and all the villagers came over to say hello to him.As soon as he got closer, he saw Song Anan carrying a basket of sweet potatoes.

"Are you going to grow sweet potatoes?" Someone asked.

"Yes." Song Shu said, it's time to grow seedlings, "Where are your sweet potatoes? Come and see how they are planted?"

"Of course!" The man was going to fetch water, but he stopped fetching water after hearing this, and followed Song Shu to see the sweet potato seedlings.

They were seen by many people along the way, and the news that Song Shu wanted to grow sweet potatoes spread quickly.

"Song Silang, you are growing sweet potatoes, we thought you forgot." The village head also hurried over.

"How can it be, such an important matter." Song Shu said.

"I heard that your hot pot restaurant is booming. My Dalang went there once, and he said he would take me and Erniang next time." Zhou's wife said, bringing her youngest daughter here, who also dug out last time. I bought some sweet potatoes and waited for Song Shu to teach them how to grow them.

It was not difficult to raise sweet potato seedlings. Song Shu took them to his own field, and some people came in a hurry, and some from other villages.

First, dig a rectangular hole for raising seedlings in the ground, about six to seven sweet potatoes can be placed in a row, and arrange them in a row: "The distance between each sweet potato should be grasped. If they are close It’s not good to germinate.”

If in modern times, before the sweet potatoes were planted, they had to be soaked in a special medicine for eliminating diseases. In ancient times, there was no such condition, so I skipped it.

After arranging the sweet potatoes, cover them with soil: "These sweet potatoes will germinate after a period of time, and when the sprouts grow to the calf, they can be cut off and transplanted."

His soil has already been fertilized once, and he reminds those who have not yet fertilized to spread a layer of manure before planting.

A few days later, some foreigners who had bought sweet potatoes before came to Song Shu. Song Shu took them to see the villagers' planting site, and just talked about it briefly.After a few waves of dismissal, a man with slightly frowned eyebrows came. He was dressed in the commoner clothes of ordinary peasants, with cuffs tightened, and his figure was tall and straight.

Song Shu had some impressions of him. He was one of the foreigners who came to take pictures of sweet potatoes at that time. It seemed that he bought two.

When he came, Song Shu happened to be flipping through the materials. The plants transplanted from Chu's old house looked familiar. He wanted to see if he could find them in the plant illustration book in the space.But Sanniang, Song He, and Cheng Erniang were not there, Wuniang and Liuniang were too young and Song Shu was worried, so he called Anan twice, but he didn't know where Song Anan, who was still there just now, went.

Song Shu had no choice but to stop reading the materials he was reading, and went to explain to this stranger about raising sweet potato seedlings.

The man said that his surname was Yuan and he was the third eldest in the family.Because he was older, Song Shu called him Uncle Yuan.

Yuan Sanlang has a lot of research on farming, not only asked about sweet potatoes, but also about the bumper corn harvest of the Song family, and asked about the method of planting Shu in Song Dynasty.Song Shu felt guilty, but he still told them one by one, but everyone knew the method he said, but no one could grow such a high-yield corn.

"Is there really no other trick?" Yuan Sanlang did not give up and asked twice.

"No, maybe it's because of luck that the millet seeds I bought were especially good." Song Shu said that their original millet seeds were bought in the city, and every family bought the same ones. The theory of luck is really not convincing.

Yuan Sanlang really didn't quite believe it, and actually stayed in the village, staying at Zhou's wife's house.

He doesn't do anything else on weekdays, but comes to help Song Shu with work, especially the work in the field, he is the most diligent.Song Shu had no choice but to let him.

"Song Silang, what do you want to plant in this land?" The sweet potatoes have already started to grow seedlings, and the wheat has also been planted, but Song Shu took Yuan Sanlang to sort out another piece of land, not only plowing it deeply again, but also fertilizing it thickly. thick fat.

After Yuan Sanlang came, Song Anan was always missing, and Song He was also in the hot pot restaurant in the county town. Fortunately, there were people from the school who were working and changing classes. Song Shu took them and Yuan Sanlang to fertilize the land, and brought bamboo. I want to set up the scaffolding before Qingming.

Although he was interrupted by Yuan Sanlang that day, after going back at night, Song Shu studied the illustrated book again, and the plant transplanted from Mr. Chu turned out to be hops!

This is an indispensable raw material for brewing beer.Song Shu investigated the planting methods overnight and began to prepare the ground for fertilization. Since hops are climbing vines, they cut down bamboo to build a scaffolding.

"I want to plant flowers." Song Shu said.

"Planting flowers?" Not only Yuan Sanlang, but also the helpers couldn't understand.Many people don't have enough to eat these days, and it's too late to use the land to grow food, and few people know how to grow flowers.

"What kind of flower? Why do you want to plant it?" Yuan Sanlang asked.

"I'll find out in Xia Tian." Song Shu smiled and made a fool of himself.

Yuan Sanlang followed Song Shu for a few days, except for the unknown flower, he couldn't see that Song Shu was better than others in farming.To be honest, his sticking gesture is not even comparable to that of a ten-year-old child. Rather than saying that he is a farmer, it is better to say that he looks like a young man in the city who has never been to the ground.

Before dawn on the fifth day, Yuan Sanlang left Qianbo and walked out of Zhou's daughter-in-law's house with his little bundle.

Just stepped out the door.

With two puffs, two cloth bags fell on his feet.

"Who is it?" Yuan Sanlang immediately became alert.

It was still early, the line of sight was not very clear, and the fields were still filled with thin fog.

He turned around vigilantly, but saw no one.

The two cloth bags flew over just now, but he didn't see the figure of the person who threw them, which shows that this person's stature is superior to his.How can there be such a master in this ordinary village? What are these two packages?

Yuan Sanlang took out his dagger, cut off the fastened pocket of the cloth bag, and opened it to have a look.

Inside are plump grains, all of which are corn that has not been hulled and can be used as seeds.

He quickly checked another cloth bag.

There are also grains in it, but not of millet but of wheat.

He once asked Song Shilang to buy the corn he saved, but he refused because he didn't have enough for his own.

Yuan Sanlang thought he had to find another way, but someone brought these things to him.

who is it?

The night had not completely faded away, and the morning mist filled the air. In the blue and misty morning, as far as he could see, there was not a single living thing.

"Thank you." Yuan Sanlang was sure that the man must be nearby.He clasped his fists and said, quickly picked up two packets of seeds and put them into the package, then walked out of the village and headed west.

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