Chapter 24 Chapter 24 (Completed) The dusk is half-dyed...
The dusk dyed half the sky red, and the streets were rarely seen without crowded stalls, giving off a lively atmosphere.
Xie Xunzhi heard that there would be a market today when he was in class. After school, he saw Hezhou's cross-body bag on a stool in the back row.
He carried his small bag and followed the students' path to the market. In fact, there was no difference from usual, except that another caravan passed by today.
At the end of a street, there were a few unusual street stalls. He was dazzled by the selection and finally chose some uncommon fruits.
Thinking that I hadn't eaten meat for a long time, I went to buy some tender meat. I thought it would only take one dish, but the butcher cut it with one knife and bent a piece of it severely.
Xie Xunzhi frowned and thought about it, then finally accepted it. He stared at the scale in the butcher's hand.
The butcher placed the blood-stained weight in the middle, holding the rope with one hand and pressing down the tilted beam with his other hand.
"Sir, the total is twenty cents." The butcher smiled and held it up to show him.
Xie Xunzhi's face turned pale as he pushed his hand away. The weight fell and swayed left and right. The beam suddenly lifted up and hit the butcher's chin.
"Calculate carefully." He pulled the weight to the back, and the pole swayed and slowly stopped.
"Forty...forty-three cents..."
Xie Xunzhi took a look and asked him to pick it up, then put the money on the table. He did the same thing more or less the whole time he was shopping.
He frowned and sighed in his heart. It seemed that this rumor was getting more and more popular.
This kind of thing made him feel very uncomfortable, and he couldn't help but worry about how Hezhou would deal with this matter, so he quickened his pace.
As soon as I arrived in front of the county government office, I realized something was wrong. There were people squatting in the surrounding alleys, staring at the government office with their heads stretched out.
Hezhou moved out a long table and sat at the door, with a square box next to him, fiddling with a blueprint in his hand.
He called out to Chun Juan to put the food in his hand, then sat down beside him and patted his leg: "Didn't you say not to cross your legs?"
Hezhou smiled and said, "I feel uncomfortable if I don't. Oh, by the way, look at the positions of the street vendors. They quarreled over this."
"Then what are you doing?" Xie Xunzhi had a vague idea in his mind, but it was denied. He couldn't make things so troublesome.
"I'm going to line them up!"
"What!" Xie Xunzhi exclaimed in a low voice. No wonder they were so eager to stuff things into his mouth.
He sighed, his tone tired: "Brother He, do you know how big a project this is? And how can you guarantee that everyone is satisfied?"
Hezhou's eyes flashed, and he moved his fingertips to the candy plate in front of him. "I wanted to discuss this with you, but it was an emergency. In fact, I told them both at the time, but..."
"If you want to explain, will you be misunderstood? Come on, forget it, things have already happened, let's deal with them first." He took the drawn drawings on the table.
Thin lines were used to draw out a street, and some stalls were also drawn out in their general shapes, and the measured lengths were also written as large as possible.
Xie Xunzhi touched the blueprint with his fingers and asked hesitantly, "Did you write this?"
"Of course not, it was written by Hehua." Hezhou leaned over and put his arm around him. "Actually, I'm also surprised. He can actually read? And writes so well?"
"Oh yeah, guess who spread the rumor?"
"Not from the Chen family?"
Hezhou shook his finger. "No, it's Li Ningshu, the reporter of the temple demolition case. He's the scholar who was crying and shouting at Wang Er's house. He's the son of the seed king I was talking about."
"Him? So what did you say?"
"Hiss~ You said quite a lot." Hezhou told him the whole story from beginning to end.
From the moment they entered the house and started arguing until he found out that Li Ningshu was not from the Chen family, Hezhou didn't want to make things difficult for him. He just said that he would write a notice about this matter and hang it on the street for three days.
Xie Xunzhi tilted his head and looked at him: "Since it is certain that he has no connection with the Chen family, I just don't know why he would spread rumors for no reason?"
Hezhou slowly turned his head, his eyes evasive: "He...he...just wondered...how could someone like me have passed the exam..."
"The punishment is still too light." Xie Xunzhi sighed and waved his hand.
The person sitting against the wall in the alley in the distance pointed at himself and looked around nervously to make sure that he was the only one in the area.
Seeing Xie Xunzhi nod, he immediately stood up, walking a little uncomfortably, his hands always tugging at the corner of his clothes.
"Sir?" The man in the alley half-bent over, his eyes fixed on the blueprint.
Xie Xunzhi brought him a chair and asked him to sit down: "Are you a vendor?"
The man nodded at first, then shook his head and whispered, "Sir, my nephew is a vendor on Najin Street. He asked me to... take a look at the latest policies here."
Xie Xunzhi poked Hezhou with his arm under the table.
"Then tell those on the street that they can choose their stalls now."
Hezhou pointed to the people in the alley further away: "Tell them too."
The man agreed and turned to walk away, taking long strides, fearing that something would happen in the next second.
After a while, the umbrella seller came over, followed by a lot of people. He walked forward carefully, bent down and looked at the drawings on the table.
"Please take a seat. The area division is similar to before, except that fresh produce is concentrated in the front half, the middle is for grocery shopping, and the back half near the Sutra Academy is for snacks and accessories. You can also choose in the middle."
Hezhou handed him the brush and said, "Pick a place, but first make sure you discuss it with the previous person."
"Okay." The umbrella seller sat down on the stool, pressed the map with two fingers, and chose his own location without thinking.
He raised his eyes, his dark eyes filled with hesitation: "Sir, that Mr. Li...he..."
"He did it unintentionally, but there will be an announcement in a few days." Hezhou took the brush he handed over and pushed the candy in front of him forward.
There were a few pieces of date candy and preserved fruits on the white porcelain plate, and the sweet and sour aroma floated in the air.
Xie Xunzhi ate one with a twinkle in his eyes, and then picked a few and stuffed them into his hands.
The umbrella seller happily took it with both hands and said, "Thank you! Thank you!"
After getting the things, he ran back, walked to the edge and looked back three times, and Guigui Suisui hunched over and went into the alley.
Hezhou stretched his head to look. From this position, he could see the boss talking about things vividly and gesticulating.
"What exactly are you thinking?" Xie Xunzhi was still a little confused. No matter how he looked at it, this was a thankless task.
Hezhou picked up a piece of candy and put it on the back of his tongue, his dark eyes gleaming: "Just touch it and see what happens."
As Xie Xunzhi moved forward, his breathing suddenly became louder, and his fair face was magnified, so that Hezhou could even see the tiny hairs.
In fact, it was no wonder that he had hastily concluded that Xie Xunzhi was a rich man at the beginning. The roots of the other person's hair that fell down as he moved were smooth.
Hezhou grabbed the roots of his hair and twirled his index finger around. Just as he was about to say something, a shadow fell in front of the table.
A dull figure stood in front, his long black beard pressed down by his apron. He said in a dull voice: "How do I choose?"
Xie Xunzhi pulled back his hair and distanced himself: "Here."
The man didn't sit down, but simply picked his seat: "Will there be a fee next?"
"No, there has never been a charge for setting up stalls." Hezhou suddenly stopped and looked at him straight.
"Has anyone received money before?"
The man dropped his brush, and ink splashed onto his hands. He lowered his eyes and wiped the ink onto his apron, his voice still low: "Hmm."
Before they could reply, the man turned and left, and then another person took over without giving them a chance to interrupt.
Finally, I met a few slow-paced people who had the chance to speak up and asked them about the money collected at the stalls. Everyone stammered, "I don't know, we never collect money."
Hezhou knew who was behind this at a glance. Soon all the stalls were selected, and Boss Hu was assigned to the front seat.
Except for a few who had agreed to be replaced, the rest hardly moved. Hezhou limped along to work.
The stalls were ready soon after dark, and each family hung up a small lantern. Because he had taken over the stall, many people came to the street.
The snack stalls that used to be huddled there are now gathered together, and everyone who is there has to buy something. The aroma of the charcoal-grilled skewers spreads from miles away.
Hezhou stood in front of the stall with eager eyes: "Xunzhi, what do you think this smells like?"
He sat down next to the stall and ate as he wished, while the people next to him were still shouting and selling jewelry and handkerchiefs.
This was the first time he had seen so many people in all these days, and it felt much more homely.
Today, several children from the school came out from nowhere and looked at him eagerly, just like he did just now.
Hezhou was unmoved and took a bite of the meat. It didn't taste as good as the ones he ate at the stalls during his night runs, but the meat tasted much better.
He handed the meat to Xie Xunzhi's mouth and gave the remaining skewers to the children.
Xie Xunzhi took a look and took a bite: "If you want to eat it, can you buy some ingredients and I can cook it for you?"
"You can do this?"
He shook his head: "Not really, but... I bought too much meat today."
They sat on the street and watched the stall owner busying himself for a while.
The people on the street dispersed, and the lively time was not very long, but it still caused quite a bit of discussion.
Hezhou didn't buy much, he just accompanied Xie Xunzhi to walk slowly around the government office.
Today, most of the consumers are foreign businessmen, and they also find it strange.
He held his own stall and bought a lot of specialties along the way, spending lavishly.
Hezhou followed them and heard a lot of things.
Ever since the dilapidated temple was renovated, the road behind it has been deserted.
In addition, Qilan County is poor, and most people have to take detours. People like them would not have enough time to travel at night.
Hezhou turned to look at Xie Xunzhi, walked up and called out to the two outsiders who were businessmen.
The two men were confused, but they also let him know that he was an official, smiled and complimented him twice, and then stopped.
The carriage carrying goods next to it also stopped, and the horses' hooves paced back and forth.
"Do you have anything special here?" Hezhou's voice was full of laughter.
"Um……"
The two men took off their bags and put them on top of the bag to untie it. There were all kinds of strange things inside.
The man held out one and said, "Sir, this snow-white one is a fish bone sculpture. I also have spices from the Western Regions and palm lamps from Inner Mongolia."
"The stuff is really not good. There's no map?" Hezhou took a look inside and picked up the blue and white porcelain vase to look at it.
As soon as he finished speaking, he felt someone pinching his waist.
Xie Xunzhi smiled awkwardly: "My Lord means that he wants to see the map of your caravan and choose things based on the map."
"Yes, yes, yes! That's what I mean." Hezhou agreed, holding the blue and white porcelain.
The two men packed up their bags and laughed and echoed, "I was wondering why the county government office didn't have a map."
He took out the map and unfolded it. There were small plum blossoms drawn on many places on it, and there were also stars drawn along the way.
Hezhou stared at the map. There was a line on it that started from the seaside and went all the way to Kyoto. From this map, Cailan was the first county town coming down from the low mountains.
It is also the closest route to Kyoto. Manfeng County is home to plum blossoms and stars.
He walked down the mountain road and bypassed the shepherd's purse. "Hey, how did we get around it?"
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