Chapter 3123 Lend a Hand
At this time, the leaves of the pomelo only had new buds except for the old leaves from the previous year. Zhou Lizhong had recently learned a little more about Luojiang County, so he quickly found the pomelo tree.
When the owner of the tree heard that Zhou Lizhong was using pomelo leaves to ward off evil spirits, he pointed at the leaves on the tree without a second thought and said, "Pick them yourself."
Zhou Lizhong didn't bring any tools, so he could only take off his shoes and socks, hug the tree and climb up. After a while, he broke off two branches, thanked the owner of the tree, and happily went back with the leaves.
As soon as I got back to the street corner, I saw some noise at the door of an inn, and many people gathered together to watch the fun.
Zhou Lizhong passed by and didn't want to look, but he subconsciously stood on tiptoe and stretched his neck to take a look inside. Just as he was thinking of turning into the alley and going home, he saw the young man who was pushed out by the innkeeper and fell to the ground. A down-and-out middle-aged man hugged the young man and also sat down on the ground.
Zhou Lizhong paused, stretched out his hand to push aside the people blocking his way and peeked inside. He saw the shopkeeper throwing their luggage out with an ugly look on his face. A woman with a sallow face, holding a bundle in her hands, was also pushed out by the waiter.
The innkeeper stood on the steps and said sarcastically, "Master Shi, it's not that I don't want to let you stay. Guests are welcome. Although you're unlucky and have bad luck, as long as you can pay the room fee, we will give you everything we owe to the inn and serve you comfortably. But since you can't pay and don't want to leave, it's really putting me in a difficult position."
The onlookers pointed at Grandpa Shi and asked, "Don't you have a small house? Did you lose the bet again?"
"I heard that Shi Xiaolang was ill and sold his house to buy medicine for his treatment."
"Oh, a house isn't cheap, is it? You've spent it all already?"
The woman walked forward with a numb look on her face, and reached out to help her son up with Uncle Shi. However, the boy collapsed completely, completely without any strength left. The couple couldn't even help him up...
Zhou Lizhong tucked the pomelo branches into his belt behind his waist and stepped forward to help the boy up. Noticing how light he was, he simply lifted him up horizontally. He was about to ask him where to take him, but then he remembered that he had just been kicked out of the inn and had nowhere to go, so he simply said, "Let's go."
Uncle Shi and Madam Shi stared at him blankly. Neither of them recognized Zhou Lizhong, but they just felt that he looked familiar.
Zhou Lizhong had already walked away with the person in his arms. After taking two steps, he realized that the person hadn't caught up with him, so he turned back to look at them and said, "Come on."
The two hurriedly picked up their luggage and tried to follow. The shopkeeper was slightly startled when he saw this and immediately rushed over to grab Zhou Lizhong's arm. "Wait a minute, are you a relative of theirs? That's perfect. Pay the rent they owe me."
Uncle Shi's expression changed slightly, and he said in a deep voice, "I will pay you back the rent I owe you."
"Repay? What are you going to give me?" the shopkeeper said rudely, "I didn't care about the few dozen coins since you have no relatives or friends. Now that you have relatives and friends, why don't you return my money?"
Although Uncle Shi still hadn't thought of Zhou Lizhong, he didn't want him to suffer any loss, so he said coldly, "Who said I have no relatives or friends? Aren't you an old friend of mine?"
He looked at the inn behind him and said with a strange smile, "Come to think of it, you rented this inn from my family. In the past, you always complained that Luojiang County was poor, with few people, and that the inn couldn't make ends meet. So every year when I collected the rent, I would remove the remaining five taels. I did this for seven or eight years. We were good friends back then..."
After Uncle Shi said this, the onlookers also remembered and said to the shopkeeper, "Yes, although Uncle Shi couldn't keep the family business and was a gambler with no skills, he was indeed generous to others in the past and helped many people. In the past, people waived several taels of silver for you, so what's wrong with you waiving a few dozen coins now?"
The shopkeeper's face changed and looked very ugly.
Zhou Lizhong glanced at him, put the boy down, supported him with one hand, and with the other hand, he fumbled in his sleeve pocket, took out a string of money and asked, "How much?"
The shopkeeper said nothing.
Uncle Shi reached out to stop Zhou Lizhong and said, "No need, I'll pay for it myself."
Zhou Lizhong pressed Uncle Shi's hand and said with a smile, "Uncle Shi, don't you remember me? When I was little, I ate a lot of the roosters you gave me for free at a fraction of the price. My grandmother used to be in poor health, but it was because she often got some meat from you that she gradually recovered."
Uncle Shi narrowed his eyes slightly. He had never sold chickens before. The few times he had sold fighting cocks were those that had been pecked badly.
But there was only one person who would buy fighting cocks with him and stew them...
His face suddenly understood, "You are a child of the Zhou family."
He looked the man up and down, sighed, and asked, "Are you the one called Big Head, or the one called Two Heads?"
Zhou Lizhong: "...I am Datou, I have a big name, Zhou Lizhong!"
Uncle Shi nodded slightly, and was about to speak, but Zhou Lizhong had already tossed the purse to the shopkeeper, picked up the boy, and said, "Except for the room fee, the remaining money will be sent to Guan's house in the alley."
After saying that, he strode away. Uncle Shi and Mrs. Shi hurriedly followed him, and then they returned to the door of the house they had just sold at the end of the alley.
Both of them: ...
Zhou Lizhong kicked the door open lightly. Zhou Erlang, who was doing some simple cleaning inside, turned around and said, "You're back? Did you find...what is this?"
Zhou Erlang widened his eyes.
Zhou Lizhong smiled innocently and said, "Second Uncle, is everything in the house still complete?"
Zhou Erlang nodded blankly.
Zhou Lizhong took the boy back to his original room and let him lie on the bed.
Uncle Shi and his wife looked embarrassed. They had just sold their house and moved out two days ago, but now they were back...
Zhou Lizhong came out and said to Zhou Erlang, "Let them stay here first. I'll go to Jishitang to get a doctor."
Uncle Shi hurriedly stopped him and said, "The doctor at Jishiditang has already seen it all. We have the prescription here, so there's no need for another visit. We can just go back and get the medicine with the prescription."
Zhou Lizhong was curious, "Do you have money to buy medicine?"
Uncle Shi's expression didn't change much, but his body stiffened slightly and he didn't say anything.
Although Zhou Lizhong was curious about where the money from selling the house had gone, he didn't ask and insisted, "Let's ask the doctor to take a look."
After saying that, he went out.
Zhou Lizhong was already grown up, and since he was the eldest grandson of the eldest son's family, Zhou Erlang did not object to his decision. Seeing him go to ask for the doctor, he smiled and greeted Mr. and Mrs. Shi, "Please put down your luggage first. By the way, your room is still untouched. My wife has just tidied it up a little. I'll go and get her. You can stay in that room."
After saying that, he hurried to the backyard to find Feng and Zhou Sanlang.
The three of them were cleaning the backyard. When they heard that the Shi family had been brought back by Zhou Lizhong, they couldn't help but stare, "Then who owns this house?"
"Of course it's still ours, but we're not in a hurry to live here, so we're just giving it to them temporarily." Zhou Erlang said, "The children are grateful, which is a good thing. Uncle Shi also helped Manbao and the children a lot back then."
(End of this chapter)
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