Chapter 3 Chapter 3 When Hezhou came out with his lunch box...
When Hezhou came out with the lunch box, Ading was nowhere to be seen. He had already run away as soon as the waiter gave in.
He was in a very good mood and hummed a little song as he returned to the yamen. The waiter did not charge him for the meal, but he still threw a string of copper coins according to his mood.
Nothing unexpected happened along the way, and there were a lot more furniture in front of the door. I saw Ajia and Ading moving out the furniture from other rooms.
The prices were written on the desk that was moved out, but Hezhou was not blind. The new prices were either three or two, like cabbage.
"That's all for now. I'll sell it first. Then take a break after I finish writing. I'm pretty tired from the whole journey."
After saying that, he ignored the two people and walked straight into Xie Xunzhi's room.
"Xunzhi, it's time for dinner." When Hezhou pushed the door open, Xie Xunzhi was lying on the bed coughing. Soon his handkerchief was stained with blood. When he saw him coming, he put the handkerchief into his palm.
Hezhou walked quickly to the bedside and took Xie Xunzhi's wrist with one hand. The cold touch hit him, and his brows twisted into a knot. "What's wrong? Your hands are so cold!"
He wrapped his hands around Xie Xunzhi's, using his body heat to warm him up. His voice was filled with worry. "Isn't it just a superficial injury? How come your hands are so cold in the summer?"
Xie Xunzhi didn't react for a moment, and then his hands were wrapped by the heat source. His subconscious mind over the years made him subconsciously free his hands.
But now his body was too weak, and he failed to break free several times. He turned his head away awkwardly and refused to look at Hezhou's shining eyes.
"It's a minor problem. I'll be fine after taking the medicine. Let's eat first."
"Okay, let me help you down." The cloth shoes at the head of the bed were kicked here and there.
He bent down to straighten the shoes and helped Xie Xunzhi put them on. He didn't feel that there was anything strange about two grown men doing this.
Hezhou seemed to treat Xie Xunzhi as a porcelain doll and wanted to hold her in his mouth.
Xie Xunzhi, who was enjoying himself, couldn't stand it. He broke free without leaving a trace. "Brother He, there's no need to be like this. In fact, I can handle any adult man now. That Dianshi came this morning and I was still safe and sound!"
"What! He's been here? What did he do?" Hezhou's hand holding the chopsticks paused, his face looked even uglier, but he still concentrated on using the hot water on the table to warm the tips of his chopsticks, then handed the chopsticks to Xie Xunzhi.
Xie Xunzhi took it naturally and said, "I didn't do anything. I just said a few unpleasant words and I retorted them back."
"They will have to bear the consequences sooner or later." Hezhou brought out the dishes, which smelled particularly delicious. I don't know if he was scared, but he made a total of eight dishes, which could not even fit on the small table.
"One of them is stupid and mean, and the other is mean and mean. They just moved everything out of the house, and the price they wrote is only half of yours."
Xie Xunzhi chuckled, "Well, they complement each other quite well. I guess someone will come to buy furniture this afternoon, so get ready to clean up the house."
"Got it. Xunzhi, you should move to the main house tomorrow so you can avoid the sun at noon."
Xie Xunzhi shook his head. "That's against the rules."
These four short words instantly deflated Hezhou, with an unhappy expression on his face. He only heard Xie Xunzhi's gentle voice change.
"But when the autumn recruitment comes, I'll take the exam for a historian and maybe I can move out of the guest room." He blinked with a smile on his face.
Hezhou stared at him and smiled foolishly.
——————
I just came out of Hezhou in the afternoon. I was in a surprisingly good mood. I kept fanning myself with the folding fan in my hand, and even my scary face looked a little kinder.
As soon as I walked to the door, I saw a scholar-looking businessman standing next to the furniture. He was wearing a common blue robe and saw him coming over with his luggage.
He was dressed like a scholar, but his temperament was more like that of a shrewd butler from an accounting office. He didn't like him at first sight.
"Sir, I passed by here today and wondered why such a good thing is so expensive." The scholar stood in front of the cabinet that Ading moved out with regret.
"Oh, I don't know how it popped out of the stone. Since no one claimed it, it's naturally sold at a low price for the benefit of the people."
"You are truly incorruptible!" The scholar gave a thumbs-up and praised him. "But ordinary people would be terrified to see government property. My master, Chen Zhiyuan, is willing to help you. My master hopes to buy these things."
Hezhou really wanted to laugh. He was really good at saying nice things. In the end, were the ordinary people afraid of the government or them? But he also pretended to be grateful as the other party said.
"Then I really have to thank you, Master. I will remember this kindness."
The scholar smiled and waved his hand, "No need. My Lord, I'll send someone to fetch you right away. Will you give the money to the Registrar later?"
"No need, just give it to me. I'll be fine for a while. They have construction work to do." Hezhou said as he moved out a bamboo stool from inside and sat aside to fan himself.
As expected, a series of flatbed trucks appeared from the government office. The other party was not even willing to put on a full show. He said it was a compliment but still acted as if you should be grateful to him.
He keeps asking you to do him a favor, even though he created the trouble, and in the end he doesn't forget to play tricks to get A-League to pay him.
Every time he moved a piece of furniture, Hezhou would hold the price tag on it in his hand, waiting for the final payment.
There were so many people coming that all the things were moved out in a short while. Hezhou stood up slowly and read out the notes one by one. Before he could say three, the scholar took out two strings of money and handed them to him.
"Exactly two thousand wen, sir."
Hezhou nodded and said, "Sir, since you are so open and honest, I will not be left out. Thank you very much."
He put the money in his pocket and walked inside carrying the small bamboo stool.
"Sir!" the scholar called out to him, "My master would like to ask you to host a welcoming banquet tomorrow. I wonder...would you be so kind as to do me the honor?"
"Hiss~ Let me think about it and ask Ajia if I have any official matters to hand over recently." Hezhou said in embarrassment.
The scholar had never expected to be rejected. What real business did the magistrate of Qilan County have? He was so shameless. His face froze and he nodded and asked, "The Ajia you mentioned... is it Jia Yan? I've always been good friends with him. I didn't know he had another nickname."
Hezhou laughed heartily, turned around and went back without saying anything. As soon as he turned around, he saw a frown on his face. He knew that no one was calling Ajia and Ading. The other party really treated him as a fool and was beating him up.
He walked quickly towards the inner room, bringing up a gust of wind. He stopped in front of the door and took a moment to relax before pushing it open and going in.
Xie Xunzhi was writing something by candlelight. When he saw him coming, he didn't care that the ink was still wet and picked up a book to cover his writing.
Hezhou sat at the table, looking straight ahead, poured himself a glass of water, and said nothing.
He looked Hezhou up and down and said with some concern, "No one is buying? Or has something happened?"
Hezhou raised his head and smiled at him, then took out two strings of copper coins from his pocket and slapped them on the table. "Don't you know that someone will be waiting for me as soon as I go out? I don't have any less money..."
"What's wrong?"
"Oh! He said he invited me to a welcoming banquet tomorrow, and I'm wondering whether I should go or not." Hezhou put his arms on the table, his eyes dark and no emotion could be seen.
Xie Xunzhi understood and moved the book off the table, revealing the papers underneath. "That Dianshi sent me an invitation this morning, which seemed to be about the same thing. After much thought, I decided to decline."
"Are you telling the truth?"
"Of course! I thought about it for a long time before making this decision. It would be difficult to escape if I ended up in someone else's territory." Xie Xunzhi raised his voice and started coughing a little excitedly.
Uncharacteristically, He Zhou didn't immediately step forward to comfort him. His coughing gradually subsided. "I saw it when I came here at noon. I just want to ask you one question: are you telling the truth when you said you want to stay here as a clerk?"
Xie Xunzhi clenched the pen in his hand. For a moment, he couldn't see through the person in front of him. He seemed like a warm and innocent puppy and was easy to fool.
"Of course it's true, otherwise why would I look for these books to read."
He was mostly appeased after hearing this, and took the initiative to replace the old reply with a new one. "It's spent, change it, otherwise it won't be formal."
Xie Xunzhi sat down, his slender hand resting on his shoulder, his charming almond-shaped eyes filled with guilt. "I'm sorry, I concealed this matter. I... I... I have lost my memory and am alone with only Brother He by my side. I'm afraid... I'm afraid that if Brother He goes, he will only listen to them and find that I'm not so... useful."
After hearing this, Hezhou excitedly held his hand. Just because he had lost his memory and was alone was like a golden ticket to him.
"How could that be? Xunzhi is different. Don't worry, I will find a new identity for Xunzhi. You just need to study hard."
Xie Xunzhi tried to pull his hand back, lowering his head so that he couldn't see the expression on his face. "It's okay, Brother He, are you going to clean the room? I want to sit in the yard and read a book later."
"Got it. Wait for me to move the stool to a place away from the sun." Hezhou said and rushed out.
Xie Xunzhi tidied up the table and opened the new reply. He didn't know how many replies Hezhou had read, so he deliberately put the old ones in a conspicuous corner of the table.
The old post was dangling on the corner of the table, and after struggling for a few times, it fell to the ground with a dull sound.
After a long while, there was no sound outside. Hezhou came back and called him, "Xunzhi, I'm done!"
Xie Xunzhi handed him the post in his hand and said, "Find someone on the street to reply to the Chen family."
"Okay!" Hezhou, who received the task, went out with the money and the post.
He walked for a long way without seeing anyone, so he took the bus to the restaurant where he had gone that morning and exchanged his lunch box.
It wasn't meal time so there weren't many people in the restaurant. The owner was standing at the front desk counting on an abacus, and the waiter was sitting at the table cracking melon seeds and complaining. When he saw him coming, he came over with a smile.
"Sir, why did you come here in person? I can just go to your house to pick up the lunch box." The waiter took the lunch box and said compliments.
Hezhou waved his hand, unwilling to listen, and took out the invitation to him. "I'm unfamiliar with this place. Can you send me an invitation? You name the price."
"Ah?" The waiter and the shopkeeper behind him looked at each other and laughed, "Sir, this is really not very convenient for me. How about..."
"This is the post I want to reply to Mr. Chen!"
"Convenient! That's convenient!" The shopkeeper pushed open the wooden door of the front desk and ran over. "Hey! Sir, you've found the right place. This is the shop owned by Master Chen."
Hezhou raised his eyebrows. "That's good. By the way, don't let me get dinner. It should be light like lunch."
The waiter also took the note and laughed. Hezhou didn't want to argue any further, so he left after leaving half of the money Xie Xunzhi gave him, and the rest naturally went into his pocket.
He bought some sweet dates on the road and said that the money he wanted to leave behind was gone.
Xie Xunzhi was already sitting under the shade of a tree reading a book. He washed the dates, brought them under the tree, grabbed a handful for himself, and started eating while standing aside.
Xie Xunzhi chewed on one of the biscuits and held the book up to show him, "Can you read now? Were you just trying to trick me before?"
"No, no!" Hezhou touched his head, looking embarrassed and trying to prove himself. "It's unrealistic not to know a single word, and I won't know a few that are too complicated."
"Um."
Hezhou finished his sweet dates quietly, clapped his hands and went to clean the room. In the main hall, except for some traces of where the furniture used to be, the rest of the room really looked like no one lived there.
The whole house was covered with dust, so he opened all the windows to ventilate it. Xie Xunzhi found him a scarf to put on his face, and he rushed in with a broom, a rag and a bucket of water.
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