Chapter 82
82
The child brought by the village chief was not his biological grandson, but a relative's child. All his own grandchildren were sent to school, and this child was a child of a poor relative.
The poor relative was lazy and had high standards. He asked the village chief to find a job for his child. Originally, the village chief wanted to arrange the child to work in a fertilizer workshop because they happened to be short of people.
After the fertilizer workshop was opened, not only did people from the village come to buy fertilizer, but people from other villages also followed suit. Everyone used it, but they didn’t. They always felt inferior to others. No matter how good it was, they would buy it first.
The wind
Try using it.
This made the fertilizer workshop very busy, and he wanted to hire all the members of the Cheng family. The child was at the right age to be strong, but the child's father said no, and asked him to help talk to Cheng Yeran and help find a job in the city, so that he could work with Cheng Yeran.
Everyone saw that Cheng Yeran sold tofu and renovated his new house, and the Shen family also borrowed money from him. Shen Yuntang's eldest and second brothers also got married, and the Shen family also prepared to renovate the house.
The child's father thought that since the Shen family had benefited from it, the Cheng family should also benefit from it. He had already thought about sending the child to live with Cheng Yeran, so that their child would have a bright future and they would build a big house next year.
Since his father had saved the village chief before, the village chief had no choice but to agree and bring the child to try his luck. If it didn't work, he would take everyone back.
Shen Yuntang wiped his hands and called the child over, "I happen to be short of people, come over and let me take a look at the child."
"Can you make the decision?" The village chief didn't look down on Shen Yuntang. He looked down on all men and women equally. He thought that men should make the decision in the family.
"He is studying outside, and I make the decisions on matters at home. Besides, I want to use this person. Once I've decided, just come back and tell him." Shen Yuntang called the child over.
The child has been looking around since he entered the house. Although he looks simple, he does not seem like an honest child. However, it is normal for children to be curious. Honest children have the advantages of honest children, and clever children have the advantages of clever children.
He looked the child up and down. He was dressed simply and had calluses on his hands, looking like a working child.
From the tone of Shen Yuntang's voice, the village chief guessed that Shen Yuntang was the one who made the decisions in their family. He heard that when they just got married, Cheng Yeran went to the river to wash clothes. Later, it was Shen Yuntang who managed the family's money. The tofu and dried tofu business was also given to Shen Yuntang's two brothers, which shows that Cheng Yeran is a henpecked man.
He had seen too many men who were afraid of their wives in the village. Although he was dissatisfied, he came here to ask these two people for a favor, so he temporarily suppressed his dissatisfaction.
Although he is the village chief, he does not put on airs in front of the younger generations, nor does he say unpleasant words, let alone preach. The villagers all like the village chief very much. However, if anyone makes a mistake, the village chief will punish that person. He has majesty in the hearts of the villagers, and everyone loves and fears him.
Shen Yuntang treated the village chief in the same way. When the village chief came, he also received him warmly. He asked Yuanbao to boil hot water and make tea for the village chief, and asked his fourth brother to go out and buy some snacks to entertain him. When the other party said that he would help find a job for his child, he believed the people introduced by the village chief.
The village chief saw him sizing up the child and spoke well of him, "Although his father is a lazy person, this child is not. He does all the housework. Later, when the family had younger brothers and sisters, he also brought them up. His younger brother has grown up and can do farm work at home, so his father wanted to arrange for him to work out and earn some money."
Shen Yuntang nodded. He could tell that this child was someone who could work regularly. He asked the child, "How old are you? What's your name?"
The child smiled brightly: "I am fifteen years old. My name is Tugen. My father said that he hopes I can take root in the soil like a seedling and grow tall and strong."
He was dark and looked quite rustic, but the villagers were polarized in their naming. Some would ask a learned gentleman to help choose a name for their child, regardless of whether it was a boy or a girl. Some would name their children according to the order of the children in the family, like Xia Xiaowu, who was the fifth child born to his mother, so he was named Xia Xiaowu. Others would name their children with a humble name so that they would be easier to raise, or, like Yuanbao, they would give their children a name based on what their parents pursued.
"Do you like it here? Do you want to stay?" Shen Yuntang pointed to a basin next to him. He was cleaning pig intestines before the village chief came in. "This job is dirty and tiring. Do you want to do it?"
It was Tugen’s first time to come to the county town. After arriving at the county town, he was dazzled by the prosperity here. After entering the Cheng family, he was attracted by the Cheng family’s large courtyard. The house was clean and tidy, completely different from their home.
After finishing his farm work every day, he had to clean the house. However, no matter how diligent he was, he could not keep up with the speed of destruction by his parents. They could not develop good habits. His mother would spit in the house whenever she wanted to, and would spit on the edge of the table while eating and sweep it away with her feet. Sometimes his father was too lazy to get out of bed, so he would urinate on the bed and sleep on it after the quilt was dry. The house was filled with the smell of urine.
He simply couldn't keep up the cleaning, so if he wanted to wash the quilt he had to wash it every day.
He was fed up with that kind of family. It wasn't just a matter of work and mental exhaustion. He had saved some money before, but it was stolen by his parents. They said they were saving it for him to get married, but it was obvious that his parents were lazy and used the money to buy wine and meat.
Because they were so lazy, they got pregnant again. His father said that the purpose of having children was to serve them. The eldest son was raised by his grandmother, and the later children were raised by the eldest son. All the children had been serving them in terms of food, clothing, washing clothes, cooking and farming since they were able to walk and work.
Tugen hated his family so much that he thought that even if it was a bit hard, as long as he could get away from his family, it would be fine.
As soon as he entered Shen Yuntang's home, he fell in love with it. Not only was the yard and the house big and beautiful, but it was also clean.
Especially Shen Yuntang, who was not only beautiful but also clean. Even when washing internal organs, she was so clean. He even began to envy his cousin. It would be great if he could marry such a husband.
When Shen Yuntang asked him if he could do such dirty work, he immediately rolled up his sleeves, squatted beside the basin and started washing the pig intestines, trying his best to perform in front of Shen Yuntang, hoping that Shen Yuntang would keep him.
Shen Yuntang saw that he washed carefully and was a serious child.
Before the village chief took him out of the village, he went to their home to watch the child work. Knowing that he worked efficiently, he dared to take him out. Now it seems that he did not embarrass himself, and he is very relieved.
Shen Yuntang invited him to have lunch at his home, but Cheng Yeran would not be back until the evening. The village chief said he would not wait for Cheng Yeran, otherwise they would have to walk at night, and it seemed that they had no place to stay overnight.
The village chief was also thinking that Tugen was getting old and it was time for him to get married. What if Cheng Yeran felt that it was inconvenient for him to work with Shen Yuntang and didn't want to keep him? If he left now, it would be difficult for Cheng Yeran to chase him away when he came back.
When Cheng Yeran came back at night, he saw a young man who was about the same age as Yuanbao in his house. He was shocked and asked, "Where did he come from?"
"Uncle, my name is Tugen." Tugen took the initiative to step forward and greet Cheng Yeran.
"Wait a minute, am I that old? Why call me uncle?" It was the first time that Cheng Yeran was called uncle by such a big child. He was twenty-five years old before he traveled through time. Children of six or seven years old would call him brother when they saw him. Why was this fifteen-year-old child calling him uncle?
Shen Yuntang came over and explained the whole story to him: "He is your nephew, a relative in the village."
"I already have a nephew?" Cheng Yeran looked at the child. He seemed quite capable and clever, but he didn't know what his character was like. "If you really want to stay, you should work hard. But where to live is a problem..."
"I can sleep on the floor. I've brought my bedding roll." Tugen had already agreed with Yuanbao in the afternoon that he would sleep on the floor in Yuanbao's room for the time being.
The fourth brother was taciturn and no one knew what he was thinking. Tugen felt that he was difficult to get along with, but Yuanbao had a cheerful personality and seemed easy to talk to, so he asked Yuanbao if he could live in his house.
Then Tugen was nearly bitten by a wild dog. He asked to sleep on the floor, and the wild dog reluctantly agreed, but told him to lie in a corner and not to approach.
Cheng Yeran took a look inside the house and found it barely habitable, though a bit cramped. If they didn't plan to move now, they could get bunk beds and they could all live there.
When he was having lunch in the academy cafeteria at noon, he told Yang Shiming and others about his recent plan to move. Yang Shiming advised him to wait until the exams were over before moving, as there were only two days left and he shouldn't bother moving at this time.
He said he might not be able to find a house in these two days.
Zhou Hua suddenly said, "The house next to my house is for rent. Do you want to go and take a look? It's quite big. It used to be a vinegar workshop. Later, something happened at home, so they sold the house. The new owner is looking for tenants, but the yard is too big. My family can't afford it. The yard is very straight. My father went to see it several times but he was reluctant to rent it."
"Okay, I'll go take a look after I finish my exams." Cheng Yeran thought about it. If he became a neighbor with Painter Zhou, it would be convenient for him to print in the future. Besides, Painter Zhou's house was not far from his home, only fifteen minutes away, so it would be convenient for him to move.
Somehow Fatty heard about this, and he found a break in the afternoon to find Cheng Yeran. He wanted to curry favor with Cheng Yeran, improve his relationship with him, and take the opportunity to get the prescription.
He told Cheng Yeran that he heard that his neighbor was giving him a headache, and that his servant was the neighbor's youngest son. He asked if he could help and let the servant go home to talk to him.
Cheng Yeran naturally would not accept his "good intentions" and rejected him.
But the fat man still told the book boy and Aunt Zhao's husband. After Uncle Zhao returned home, his face turned black. The first thing he said to Aunt Zhao was: "Don't run next door all the time. We haven't contacted each other for many years. There is no need to contact each other in the future."
Aunt Zhao was furious when she heard this. "What did they say when they came to your place? What did I do to them? Why are they targeting me like this?"
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They found the young master and asked him to tell me what he was saying. "Uncle Zhao also had a gloomy face," He is a grown man, but he is so petty that he even went to the young master to complain. He will not have a bright future. ”
"I heard that he was studying in an academy, but he runs a noodle shop and makes sausages every day. He can't study well. What future can he have?" Aunt Zhao spat at the door.
There are two kinds of people who can sleep in the same bed. The two of them scolded Cheng Yeran for half the night, calling everyone from him to his husband and his dead parents beasts.
But they only dared to curse him secretly behind his back and did not dare to go to Cheng Yeran's house to cause trouble again.
However, Cheng Yeran didn't notice anything happening next door. He had been staying up late reading books these past two days.
Although he knew he could pass, he was still a little nervous when the exam came. After all, this was a question that would determine whether he would stay or go. If he couldn't even get into one academy, he could forget about other places.
Shen Yuntang also knew that he had an exam, so he told his family members, "Keep your voices down and don't disturb him from studying."
He put a lot of thought into breakfast and dinner to make Cheng Yeran eat more delicious food, and he would get up in the evening to make a midnight snack.
After Tugen came to their house, although he had to sleep on the floor, he felt much better than when he was at home.
There is meat for every meal, and rice, or noodles at a noodle shop. His job is to wash pig intestines at home and help with the fire. These are the only two jobs he has for now.
Shen Yuntang said that he was young and shouldn't work too hard, but when he was at home, his parents always said that he was too old and had to do all the housework. If he didn't do anything well, his parents would scold him for being ungrateful, saying that they had given birth to and raised him in vain and he didn't even know how to be grateful.
But here, Uncle Shen Yuntang not only never scolded him, but also often cared about him, asked him if he would be cold sleeping on the floor, and brought him a few chairs, asking him to put the chairs together and sleep on them temporarily, and wait to buy him a bed after moving.
Uncle Shen Yuntang also gave him some cloth to make a quilt, and asked him about his shoe size, saying that he wanted to make shoes for Yuanbao and the others, so he made some for him as well.
The uncle cooks delicious food, is gentle and pretty, and does things efficiently and effectively. She is exactly the mother in Tugen’s dreams.
He liked Shen Yuntang very much from the bottom of his heart. He would never be lazy no matter what Shen Yuntang asked him to do. He would get up early every day to clean the yard and feed the livestock, and he would share as much work as he could for Shen Yuntang.
With an extra helper, Shen Yuntang was able to make sausages much faster. After completing that batch of orders for the neighbors, he took them to the store for tasting promotion.
He cut the sausage into slices, put it on a small plate, and asked Tugen to stand at the door with the plate for the guests to taste.
He also put an extra table at the door, with a large wooden plate on it and a pile of sausages on the plate, making it convenient for diners to choose and buy.
Those passing by who originally didn't want to eat noodles, saw there was something free and heard that it was made of meat, so they ran over to join in the fun, thinking it would be a waste if they didn't eat it, so they at least tried a slice or two.
Before tasting it, they asked about the price of the sausages. Tugen said it was 15 cents per sausage, which was not expensive and acceptable, but they didn't know how it would taste.
If it doesn't taste good, no matter how good the price is, you will suffer a loss if you buy it.
But after tasting it, they all changed their minds. Some of them bought it directly and asked Shen Yuntang to help slice it and ate it in the store. They also asked Shen Yuntang if he had any wine so they could drink while eating. Some of them just bought it directly and packed it up to take away.
There were more and more people watching. People here like to follow the crowd. They want to buy something if they see others buying. Soon, all the dozen or so in a plate were sold out. They even asked Shen Yuntang if he had any more.
Shen Yuntang said that it was gone, it was troublesome to do, and it might not be available every day.
When people heard that the sausages were limited in quantity, they felt that the sausages in their hands were even more precious and asked Shen Yuntang to make more.
Shen Yuntang also wanted to do more, but the process was too complicated. Fortunately, he had an assistant to help him, but the quantity was still not enough. It would be better if he could take in another apprentice.
Also, many people in the store asked if we sold alcohol. When I was selling noodles before, I didn’t consider the issue of alcohol. There is a store selling alcohol in the alley, so I could buy some from there and sell in the store.
Cheng Yeran also finished his exams and did quite well. He stayed in the academy without any suspense and was assigned to the middle position of Class C.
He went home to celebrate with his whole family, and the next day he went to see the house next door to Painter Zhou. That house was twice as big as his. It had not only a front yard but also a back yard. In addition to the woodshed and kitchen room, there were five other rooms, a cellar, and a larger animal shed. There was also a small vegetable garden in the backyard.
Now that the yard is bigger, there will be enough space to dry, smoke and roast sausages, and we can make more.
Part of the reason why we did less in the past was that the yard was not big enough.
Before we moved in, I thought the yard was quite spacious, but after we moved in, we gradually added more things and started raising livestock, so the yard started to seem small and there was not enough space to even dry sausages.
Shen Yuntang and Cheng Yeran were both very satisfied and wanted to rent the house immediately. The landlord asked for thirty taels of silver a year.
If this price was in the past, Shen Yuntang would definitely think it was too expensive, but after renting the small noodle shop for thirty-eight taels of silver, he felt that thirty taels for such a large yard was a real bargain! Afraid that the house might be snatched away, they paid the money immediately and prepared to move the next day while Cheng Yeran was on leave.
Aunt Zhao from next door secretly lay on the crack of the door and watched them move. Her youngest son happened to be next to her, so she asked him, "Where are they going? Didn't they just move in?"
The younger son didn’t know Cheng Yeran’s class placement yet. He thought Cheng Yeran had failed the exam and was going home. “He had an exam the day before yesterday. Did he fail and is going back to the countryside?”
"Really?" Aunt Zhao was delighted when she heard that Cheng Yeran was in trouble. She clapped her hands with laughter. "God has eyes. He is a nobody, but he jumped so high. He must have fallen badly. If I don't go and make fun of him, I will feel sorry for the injustice I have suffered these days."
Aunt Zhao opened the door and went out, wanting to mock Cheng Yeran's family. She was afraid of Cheng Yeran before because he was the young master's classmate. Now Cheng Yeran was expelled from the academy, and she couldn't find the young master to complain to. What was she still afraid of?
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