Chapter 191 Harmonious Host-Guest Relationship
Mrs. Hu was so angry that she left, and Qin Wenshan's story came to an end. Zhao Xiping went over to catch up with him. Qin Wenshan had caught two chickens at some point and threw them onto the stage with an excited look on his face.
Qingshan and Zhang Shun also looked very happy. All their hard training during this period was not in vain. They did not make any mistakes to embarrass the mistress. In the end, they each got two chickens. It was worth it.
After Qingshan and Zhang Shun retreated, Gan Da, Gan Er, Li Wuqi and Liu walked up to the ruins holding poles. Sui Yu saluted everyone in a proper manner and introduced the rules of the game again.
"...No matter what goes wrong along the way, as long as you're not injured, just pick up the pole and continue the race. The first person to reach the finish line wins," Sui Yu said. "In the first round, Gan Da and Gan Er go first. You can place your bets now."
The day before yesterday, Gan Da performed well in pole vaulting, and most people bet on him. Some people who like taking risks also bet on Gan Er to win.
Xiao Chunhong and Liu Ya each held a bamboo basket filled with the money bet by each person. The merchants and the escorts were not short of money, and there was no need to keep track of how much each person bet. They would not lie for ten or twenty copper coins.
The whistle blew and the competition began. Gan Da and Gan Er ran as fast as they could, found a suitable gap, inserted the pole, and suddenly they were in the air. This visual effect was very stimulating and everyone watching applauded.
Zhao Xiping approached, leaned on the firewood pile with his arms folded, and watched.
"Captain Zhao, would you like to have a competition with me later?" An escort approached.
Zhao Xiping waved his hand. "You have so many escorts, why are you looking for me? I don't want to play with you."
"Why don't you play with me?" the escort asked with a smile.
"When I compete with others, it's either on the training ground or on the battlefield, which is not suitable for people to entertain." Zhao Xiping was afraid of losing and losing face, which would bring shame to the soldiers, so he simply decided not to participate.
There was another round of cheers mixed with sighs. Gan Da won. The merchants and escorts who bet on him to win applauded. Excluding the 100 copper coins rewarded to Gan Da, the rest of the bets were divided among the winners.
In the second game, Li Wu fought against Qi Liu, and the winner was decided at the first stroke. Qi Liu was originally a slave under the name of Hu Duwei, and his body had not yet recovered from his injuries, so he was no match for Li Wu in strength.
After a burst of sighs, Qi Liu, with a red neck and a lowered face, walked down the hill with Li Wu. The escorts who were interested took the poles and went on stage one after another.
Qingshan came over, patted Qi Liu on the shoulder, and warned him, "We don't make money by winning or losing. We just set an example and amuse the escorts and merchants. Winning is great, but losing doesn't really matter. Don't dwell on it."
Qi Liu nodded, "I know."
Qingshan was worried that he would be thinking about winning it back for the sake of his face. If he got hurt, it would be a small matter, but if he made his master dislike him, it would be too late to regret it.
The gong sounded, and the two escorts ran while holding the poles. Their feet stepped on the broken snow, and the snow flakes fell down. The two escorts were startled. They realized the danger when they ran. The ice and snow were slippery, and once they were worried, they could not go fast.
The pole was raised and the people used the force to bounce up. When falling, the two of them looked carefully at the bottom, looking for a stable footing.
Sui Yu watched from afar. The strong escort slipped when he landed, and slid a foot away with each step. He almost fell flat on the ground. This made the onlookers laugh and they increased their bets.
On the second try, the strong escort got scared and stood up the pole but it fell down again. Then he gave up the pole and ran all the way to the finish line.
"Hey, buddy, what's wrong with you?" The familiar escort laughed, "Did you fall and break your gallbladder?"
"Don't be so quick to laugh at me. Go and try it yourself if you have the guts." The strong escort slapped him and quickly walked back to his escort team.
"What's going on, Lao Cao?" the merchant joked.
Lao Cao shook his head and laughed, saying, "This is suitable for thin people. I'm too strong."
Sui Yu came down and asked the merchants to come up and judge, saying that they could see more clearly from the ruins. All the merchants were willing to give her ten copper coins and go up to the stage to watch in person.
Sui Yu walked over to Zhao Xiping, shoved her cold hands into his sleeves, and asked, "What's up, little one?"
"The kid wasn't making a fuss. It was Madam Hu who came over, and I pissed her off again." Zhao Xiping still found it funny when he thought about it. He pointed at the man jumping on the pole on the ruins and said, "I said we were exorcising ghosts. As long as they don't remove this ruin, we'll shamelessly continue to use it to make money."
"I was planning to buy it before," said Sui Yu.
Zhao Xiping also thought so, but after trying it today, he found that he had to act like a rogue to a rogue person. This way, he didn't have to spend money and didn't get angry. How great!
They played until noon, and all the escorts who wanted to play pole vaulting had joined in. Everyone was cold and hungry, so they moved to the kitchen to eat.
In the afternoon, Liu Yaer and Xiao Chunhong carried A Qiang and Huaniu on their backs and went on stage again. This time, the merchants hired a bodyguard, and the bodyguard carried them on their backs and enjoyed the feeling of running across the field.
Just when they were having fun, a round-faced manager came with a group of lackeys to drive people to dig the mountain. Zhao Xiping went over to let the merchants and escorts take a break.
"Let's go catch and kill pigs, and then come over to play when no one is around." Zhao Xiping said in front of the manager.
Five merchants approached Sui Yu and wanted to pay her to compile a story for them.
"Shopkeeper Yu, you're not from this place, are you?" the bearded merchant asked. "I heard Captain Zhao was only promoted recently. How could you marry him?"
Sui Yu looked at Zhao Xiping and said with a smile, "I was exiled here. My hometown is Yu County. I was once the daughter of a minor official."
The merchants understood, and this made sense.
"So you are free from slavery now?" another merchant asked.
Sui Yu nodded and said, "Captain Zhao's contribution was earned through military merit."
"It's worth it." The merchant nodded.
Sui Yu smiled.
"What are you talking about?" Zhao Xiping came over and said, "It's still early, let's go catch and kill the pig."
"You're taking advantage of me by marrying me." Sui Yu held him and said, "Let's go kill the pig and have the pig-killing dinner tonight. After the pig is killed, send ten pounds of it to Xiaomi first. She's about to give birth, so we can't ask her to come and eat the pig-killing dinner now."
The sound of pigs howling could be heard in the pigpen, and water was boiling in the kitchen. Gan Da carried the pig's blood in a basket. As he walked along, the heat of the pig's blood had dissipated and it had already solidified into lumps.
"Grandma Yin, the master asked me to ask if the water is ready?" Xiao Chunhong ran in.
"The water is almost boiling."
"Okay, the pig will be here soon."
The dead black pig was carried out of the kitchen yard. Zhao Xiping took out a wooden basin specially made for slaughtering pigs and put the pig in it. Except for the hind legs and the pig's head, all other parts were put in.
"This year's pigs are heavier than last year's," said Uncle Niu.
"The boiling water is here." Zhang Shun and Li Wu each brought two buckets of boiling hot water.
The smell of boiling pig hair was unpleasant, so Sui Yu went inside. When she heard the sound of a cub in the warehouse, she approached quietly, pushed the door open quietly, walked to the side of the cub, and meowed softly.
“Mom——” the cub rushed over.
"Oh, my baby." Sui Yu picked him up, weighed him hard, and said, "Baby has become heavier. Mother can hardly hold him anymore."
When the little cub heard her call him "Cub", he couldn't stop laughing. He felt shy and happy, and threw himself into his mother's arms and acted coquettishly.
Sui Yu held him and rocked him back and forth. Seeing Da Zhuang standing there staring blankly, she pointed outside and said, "They're slaughtering pigs outside. Do you want to go and see?"
Da Zhuang shook his head.
"Have you ever seen a pig being slaughtered?" Sui Yu asked again.
Da Zhuang nodded, "They said they would kill me and eat my meat."
Although the words didn't make sense, Sui Yu understood that Da Zhuang was probably living in a farmer's house before, and the villagers said that on purpose to make fun of him.
"You can't eat human flesh. They won't kill you. They're lying to you." Sui Yu picked up the lambskin coat hanging from the back of the chair and put it on the kid, then put his hat on him. She carried the kid out and said, "Da Zhuang, follow me. I'll take you and the kid to see the pig being slaughtered."
The pig had been shaved. When Sui Yu went out, Gan Da was cutting the pig's belly with a machete. She subconsciously covered the little boy's eyes, but he was bold and ignorant. He used his fat hands to pry open Sui Yu's fingers and peeked through their gaps.
Zhao Xiping pulled out a pig's bladder and blew it up, tied a hemp rope to a wooden stick, and gave it to the kid to play with.
The kid was still young and didn't know how to play, so the pig bladder fell into Dazhuang's hands. Ah Shui saw it, and she brought Ah Qiang and Hua Niu over, calling Dazhuang to beat the pig bladder together.
"Cut the rope short and let them kick it for fun, so they don't get the fishy smell on their hands and then smear it on their bodies," said Sui Yu.
Xiao Chunhong ran over with a pair of scissors in her hand. When she was a child, she had only seen the rich families in the village blow pig bladders for their children to play with. She had never played with it before. As soon as the pig bladder fell to the ground, she kicked it first.
"Ah!" The kid also kicked his feet. He wanted to play too.
Sui Yudang didn't understand what he meant. Seeing Zhao Xiping carrying a knife of meat to lead the camel, she pointed to the little boy and said, "Your father is going to give your aunt some meat. Your aunt is also going to give birth."
There were several "bang" sounds in the west. Sui Yu carried the baby over to see whether it was the servants from the Hu or Cui family who were lifting the wooden rafters on top of the ruins.
The pork stew was in the pot, and as dusk fell, the workers on the west side carried away two wooden rafters. After they left, a guard went up to see that the stage had been shattered, and the top of the ruins was even more uneven, which was more suitable for pole-supporting and running and jumping.
"It's time for dinner—" Ah Qiang ran out and shouted, "My wife, it's time for dinner."
As the merchant approached, he raised his hand and struck the gong hanging on the wall, shouting, "It's time to eat. Run faster. If you run slower, you will only get the broth."
Sui Yu heard the sound and came out holding the baby. She went into the kitchen and looked around but didn't see Zhao Xiping. She asked several servants but they all said they hadn't seen him. When Li Mutou came to eat, he said he hadn't come back yet. Sui Yu had a guess in her mind that Xiaomi was about to give birth.
Fresh pork is delicious when fried with sauerkraut, and the pork and sauerkraut dumpling soup is also delicious, but the kid can't eat it. When Sui Yu ate it, his mouth was watering with greed.
"Go buy two pots of tofu tomorrow morning. Put the tofu outside to freeze it, and bring it in when it's frozen solid. Tomorrow night, make pork, sauerkraut and tofu soup, steam a few pots of millet rice, and bake some pancakes." Sui Yu instructed.
Grandma Yin agreed.
After dinner, Zhao Xiping still hadn't returned, so Sui Yu took the kid to wash up and went to bed.
The next day, when the rooster crowed, Zhao Xiping came back with dark circles under his eyes.
"Xiaomi gave birth?" Sui Yu asked when she saw him.
"It's a baby boy." Zhao Xiping yawned and said, "We called the midwife yesterday at noon, but the baby didn't come until dawn this morning."
"The twenty-first of the winter month is close to our little cub's birthday." Sui Yu moved in and said, "You go to sleep and catch up on your sleep."
When it was bright, Sui Yu got up. She packed up the clothes, shoes and socks that the baby had worn when he was born, left the baby in bed with his father, and went into the city to visit Xiaomi.
When she came back at noon, before she got close, Sui Yu saw the figure of a bodyguard doing pole jumping on the ruins in the west. She went to take a look and found that the ruins with pits dug here and there were more suitable for pole jumping than yesterday. It was also suitable for running on it, which was more interesting than running on flat ground.
In the afternoon, the round-faced manager came with his men again with a sullen look on his face. As soon as he arrived, the merchants and bodyguards retreated one after another.
The days that followed were like this, everyone was like a cat chasing a mouse, hiding and taking advantage of the time when no one was around to while away the time in the ruins. Not only that, the escorts would also move the wooden rafters from the ruins to the kitchen and let the cooks use them to light the fire when they were stewing meat.
Four pigs were slaughtered one after another, and the New Year was coming. First, they went to celebrate the full moon of Zhao Xiaomi's son, and then it was the Little New Year. After the Little New Year, the merchants rushed to buy sheep to prepare for roasting sheep on New Year's Eve.
After a busy year, the year came to an end. Sui Yu took her servants and led a camel to the government to pay the money. After paying the money, she went to Dinghu Lane again to return the 5,000 coins she had borrowed from the Song family.
"Aren't you going to go on business next year? If you do business, you need to buy goods. Cloth is not cheap. Do you have enough money?" Before Sui Yu could say anything, Song Xian continued, "I don't need money, so you don't have to rush to pay it back. Use it to buy goods first."
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