Because of Xu Lanyin's foresight, the Xu shop ordered some straw baskets and bamboo baskets in advance, and bought a lot of red paper cut into the shape of flowers with the word "Fu" written on them.
This is a special packaging for New Year gifts. Simple packaging involves covering the oil-paper seal with red paper, while premium packaging involves placing the snacks in a basket and decorating them with colorful string.
Li and others worked overtime for nearly half a month and earned a lot of money.
Two blocks away, two young constables in black robes hurried along. One of them was Zhao Wu. He held two rolls of cotton and linen cloth under one arm and two packages in the other. One package contained a bag of salt and two bags of sugar, and the other contained a few strings of cash: New Year's gifts and money, as well as charcoal money, distributed by the government. He had already taken home the rice and noodles he had been given yesterday.
The other constable was about the same age as Zhao Wu, but half a head shorter. He only had one piece of cloth under his arm, and the two packages he carried were also smaller.
Constable Wang envied him, "Brother Zhao is so lucky to have become a constable at such a young age. My father worked for over twenty years and never got promoted. I have no hope in this lifetime. I don't feel anything at other times, but when it comes to distributing money and things, I feel upset..."
Zhao Wu was very happy. He chuckled and said, "Work hard, everything is possible..."
Before he could finish his words, his eyes were fixed on the front.
The old woman was scolding a young girl selling bean sprouts, saying that the girl's bean sprouts were not good and were sold too expensively. She wanted to take her to the government office, which scared the girl to tears.
Whenever Zhao Wu was in the county town, he kept an eye on the Gu family. The county government office wasn't far from here, and he'd occasionally find excuses to wander around. He'd run into Mrs. Gu a few times, and she was almost always accompanied by a maid.
This time, only Old Lady Gu was there.
Zhao Wu knew he stood out, and since he often went to the Xu family's shop, he didn't want to be recognized by the Gu family mother and son and cause trouble for Xu Lanyin. So he grabbed more than a hundred copper coins from the package and stuffed them into Constable Wang's pocket, saying, "Brother Wang, that woman has a grudge against me. Go and deal with her."
Constable Wang was a few months older than Zhao Wu and was the youngest officer in the yamen besides Zhao Wu. His father had died while arresting a criminal, and Wang had taken his place as a constable at the age of thirteen.
Constable Wang pocketed the money and said with a smile, "No problem, we are brothers. Even if you don't give me the money, I will still help you vent your anger."
Constable Wang handed the thing in his hand to Zhao Wu, and seeing Zhao Wu retreat to a corner, he turned and walked forward.
He asked a few questions in a pretentious manner, and then said that Gu Po was bullying people, speaking ill of others, and robbing the villagers of their vegetables. He took out a rope and wanted to tie Gu Po up and take her to the yamen for trial.
The old woman was frightened and cried out that she was the mother of Mr. Gu and had never oppressed anyone. She sat on the ground and refused to move no matter how much she was dragged.
Constable Wang didn't believe that this woman was the mother of Mr. Gu. He cursed, "You dare to pretend to be the mother of Mr. Gu. Your crime is even more serious. I have also met Mr. Gu. He is truly a god-like figure. How could his mother be so vulgar and rude?"
He really doesn't believe it.
Some people nearby knew that Mrs. Gu was Gu Wangchen's mother, but they all hated her for being vulgar and greedy for money, and were unwilling to speak up for her, so they just watched the fun from the sidelines.
Of course, Constable Wang couldn't really drag Gu Pozi to the yamen. He pulled and rubbed her for a while, and gave her a lecture before leaving.
He came up to Zhao Wu, shaking a handful of gray hair in his hand and said, "I pulled out a handful of that old woman's hair, pinched her waist twice, and kicked her a few times."
Zhao Wu was delighted and hugged Constable Wang and said, "Well done, Brother Wang. I'll treat you to a drink someday."
Constable Wang's eyes lit up and he smiled obscenely, "Brother wants to drink some wine."
Zhao Wu retracted his arm and said, "Forget about the flower wine, I'll invite you to the restaurant and give you a few kilograms of Xu's snacks."
Constable Wang curled his lips behind his ears and said with serious contempt, "Brother, I started having sex last year, and you're already fifteen and still a virgin. There's no one else like you among the constables. You don't act like a real man at all. You're really bringing shame to our brothers."
Zhao Wu was a little embarrassed and made excuses for himself, "I don't like any of the girls there. They are either old, ugly, or have defects. The girls in the building are beautiful, but I don't have that much money."
Constable Wang looked at Zhao Wu. He was indeed too handsome. He said, "Actually, Xiao Taohong is quite good. She's fair and tender, with a pouty little mouth that looks just like a red cherry. As long as she doesn't walk, you can't see she's limping. You, a pretty boy, might be willing to pay for her..."
Zhao Wu still shook his head in disgust.
The two separated at the intersection, and Zhao Wu went directly to Xu's shop.
Xu Lanyin and the others had already finished checking the accounts. Since opening at the beginning of the winter, after deducting costs, next month's working capital, and some gifts, the shop had earned a total of 71 strings of cash. Xu Lanyin then proposed a reward of 1,500 strings of cash for Xu Dashi, 1 string of cash for Li, and 800 strings of cash each for Xu Lanzhou and the others.
This left him with sixty-six strings of cash. To keep it safe, Xu Dashi took sixty strings of cash to a bank and exchanged them for sixty taels of silver.
According to the share distribution, the second wife received 48 taels of silver, 4 strings of eight hundred coins, and the first wife received 12 taels of silver, 1 string of two hundred coins.
Everyone was very happy to have earned so much money in less than two months.
Xu Dashi smiled and said, "Our family is in such a good situation, all thanks to my sister Toyin."
Xu Lanyin smiled modestly and said, "That's also thanks to Brother Dashi's ability and everyone's unity. We'll try to hire two more workers next year so we can do more and sell more."
Mrs. Li asked, "This place is a little small. Should we move to a bigger shop?"
Xu Lanyin shook her head and said, "The feng shui of this shop is good for our Xu family, so we can't move it."
She couldn't bring herself to talk about monitoring Yi Ju Restaurant and bring up Feng Shui as an excuse.
When Xu Dashi heard this, he glared at Li in displeasure and shouted, "You know nothing, yet you keep giving bad advice. We've made so much money from such a small place, which shows that the feng shui here is good."
Li blushed and dared not say anything, feeling that she had not considered it carefully enough.
Seeing Zhao Wu coming, Xu Dashi said with a smile, "Brother Zhao, why did you leave the government office early?"
Zhao Wu said, "I'm taking a day off tomorrow. I'll be on duty from the first to the fourth day of the New Year and can't go home. Uncle He let me come back early."
He showed off proudly again, "I am a constable, and I get twice as much as those constables. Today I also received monthly wages, charcoal money, and New Year's money, more than five strings of cash. I will give them all to my sister when I go home. Oh, I also bought some firecrackers for my younger brother Ting..." He also bought balsam for his sister and aunt.
The latter sentence was deliberately not said in front of outsiders.
Xu Lanyin was not polite and said, "Okay, I'll help you manage it and keep track of the accounts."
Zhao Wu then told the story of how he had dealt with Gu Po just now, which made everyone laugh.
Xu Dashi advised, "Gu Wangchen is extremely sinister. Brother Zhao, don't openly antagonize them."
Zhao Wudao said, "Well, I know what's going on."
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