The sky is dark and the clouds are dark, the snow is full of sky, and the wind blows his face.
On the twenty-sixth lunar month of the second year of Kaiyuan, just after three days of the new year, the fourth snow of winter fell. The snow was larger than the previous few times, and it fell in pieces like confetti.
The county magistrate Cheng Lingxiang is the busiest day. Not only does he need to arrange affairs for the yamen, but also to help sell cucumbers. The accumulated five thousand catties of cucumbers will be sold in these few days. This is Song Jinggong these days. Shipped one after another.
In addition to the cucumbers to be sold, two hundred catties were left alone to the county magistrate Cheng. As for whom he gave to them, it was not someone else's responsibility.
By noon, Cheng Lingxiang had put on his official uniform, and brought a group of hands down to a warehouse in the county. The people in these yamen didn’t know what the county magistrate was going to do. This was going to be a holiday. Call it out.
As the warehouse door opened dumbly, countless bamboo baskets appeared in front of him. Cheng Lingxiang knew that these were cucumbers processed with some preservation methods. The older ones are more than ten days old, and the fresh ones just arrived this morning. .
"My lord, you asked us to come over just to see these baskets?" Zhang Mingsheng, the county prime minister of Sanshui County, asked what other people thought.
Cheng Lingxiang shook his head mysteriously, pointed at one of the baskets, "Come and let someone open the basket."
Someone over there naturally came forward and carefully opened a basket in front of him. What appeared in front of him was a layer of silk. Looking back at the magistrate, he lifted the layer of silk under his sign, and suddenly screamed uncontrollably. Scream.
I saw cucumbers with thorns and flowers neatly stacked under this silk. Looking back at the snow still floating outside, this person felt that he had not mistaken the season. It was really winter, but the cucumbers in front of him were not. fake.
"Big, my lord, cucumbers, this, these are all cucumbers?" The man stammered a little while looking back at the magistrate, and seemed to want to get affirmation from the magistrate.
"Well, it's cucumbers. These are more than 5,000 catties in total. There is auspiciousness from the sky. There is a village, and there is a cucumber vine that should have died. New cucumbers have been born last night. The memorial will be given away later."
What Cheng Lingxiang wanted was this kind of result. When he saw cucumbers for the first time, it was the same when he knew the season. In this way, he was not too surprised at first, and others were the same.
The other people in the yamen also stepped forward and watched, each of them wanted to touch them with their hands, but was afraid that they would remove the thorns and flowers on the cucumbers. They all took a deep breath there to feel the taste of the cucumbers.
Xian Cheng carefully squeezed the tail of a cucumber with his hand, raised it to the front to take a closer look, and then brought his nose closer to smell it, nodded: "Xiangrui, it is indeed auspicious, but I don't know which Zhuangzi's auspicious appeared. "
"Which Zhuangzi, don’t be in a hurry at this time, you will know by then, and now we are still helping the officer carry all the cucumbers out, and we’re going to sell them on the street, one catty and thirty cents, a maximum of five catties at a time, and we want to buy it again. , Line up at the back."
The county magistrate Cheng didn't want to let others know the place of Zhangjiazhuang now. Some more cucumbers could be produced there. In case someone went to investigate now, all the cucumber seedlings would be killed immediately there. What a pity.
What you have to do at this moment is to help sell it. Thirty wen per catty is the price set by the expert over there. It was agreed at the beginning. People who have no money will not enjoy this thing. You just sell ten wen per catty, or No one is willing to buy it, and rich people don't care whether it is ten or thirty.
This is still the price of one day today. Let some people buy it back and taste it first. Today only sell the earliest two thousand catties. If it is not sold out, it will be fifty wen tomorrow, eighty wen the day after tomorrow, and one hundred wen the day after tomorrow. , The closer it is to the New Year, the higher the price.
"My lord, it doesn't seem to be good to do this. We are all court officials. We are going to sell vegetables. This will be impeached." When Xian Cheng heard that people like him had to sell cucumbers personally, he was a little bit troubled, so he persuaded him.
"Why are we selling vegetables? We are selling auspiciousness. Go and get the weight. If you want the energy to weigh a dollar, you will carry two thousand catties to the official and move it to the gate of the yamen, where the official will promote the auspiciousness for the court. ."
Cheng Lingxiang thought about this, and didn't mention selling vegetables at all.
"But my lord, this price is too expensive." Xian Cheng still hesitated.
Cheng Lingxiang glared at him: "What's selling? If you tell you it's selling, it's not selling it to the outside world. It's a gift or auspicious gift. Those who pay are asking for auspiciousness, and they can get it for 30 yuan per catty."
Understand, everyone else understands, the magistrate is beautiful with hands, has a reputation, and has money, and the county has to admit that this is indeed a good excuse. He sold his idea again. Oh no, above the money sent out.
"My lord, I don't know how to get the money after the gift is finished... Is it just a little bit for that Zhuangzi?"
When Cheng Lingxiang heard Xian Cheng's words, he took a step away reflexively, as if he was afraid of being involved by the county, how could he dare to touch the money? He is not afraid of that Zhuangzi, he is worried that the expert, the sum of money is only a few hundred taels, people are still waiting for the New Year, really greedy ink, then the consequences...
Thinking of this, he glared at the county prime minister, and said: "This money must be given to the Chuangzi of the other family. We are officials. We are just to promote the court’s virtue and auspiciousness. On the 30th day, everyone will follow me. Go out for a while, and the Zhuangzi will take care of his benevolence and take out a thousand stone grains and a hundred dan of vegetable oil for me to wait for Bude, a poor man in the county."
"My lord, I'll understand." The county magistrate finally got it clear. The magistrate had already agreed with that Zhuangzi, and then helped the county find auspiciousness and gave him a chance to earn political achievements.
When things were certain, the people in the yamen moved, and moved the baskets of cucumbers out and put them on the carriage that followed outside. A basket of 50 catties or so, a total of 40 baskets, without being reminded by them. Just consciously be more careful, thirty words, a cucumber can be exchanged for a few buckets of rice.
The snow outside didn't even mean to stop at all, so that the weather was not so cold. Four carts pulled the cucumbers back to the gate of the county government. Someone had picked it up and prepared to sell them.
Everyone is not worried about not being able to sell it. Don't look at the expensive ones. They eat cucumbers in the winter. That is the only one. There are more rich people, and they are afraid that they will not pay to buy it
It's just that each of these people thinks about cucumbers being so expensive, if they are willing to buy two catties, they really want to eat them.
"Well, the people on the Zhuangzi said, you and your officials have worked hard to manage the people in the county. When they are sold out on the twenty-ninth day of the twelfth lunar month, each person can bring five catties of cucumbers home.
Cheng Lingxiang seemed to know the thoughts of his subordinates, so he spoke slowly, and at the same time sighed that Zhangjia Zhuangzi would be a man. It was like this when he gave him money last time, and it is the same this time.
When everyone heard this, they were all happy, and at the same time, they were surprised at the generosity of the Zhuangzi. The whole yamen, which adds up to more than a hundred people, gave away so many. When I know which Zhuangzi it is in the future, I should help when something goes wrong. I'm going to help.
Cheng Lingxiang looked at his subordinates’ expressions with satisfaction, and continued: “The Zhuangzi also said that it’s not enough to have vegetables. Everyone will take home three kilograms of vegetable oil and five kilograms of carrots. When they go back, they will be fried in oil, saying yes. It’s good for your health. Don’t eat it with other radishes, let alone drink alcohol.”
Everyone nodded. Of course they knew the carrots and vegetable oils, especially how to eat carrots. Someone had already said when they were selling them. Drinking and eating is actually nothing, but it is possible to get sick.
Similarly, the prices of these two things are not cheap, especially the carrot, which costs 20 cents per catty, and sells a little to the restaurant every day. It seems that the vegetable oil, cucumber, hot sauce, and carrot should all come from one family, Zhang Jia Zhuangzi.
This time they all guessed it, but you can look at the eyes of the magistrate, as well as the benefits gained this time. They all chose to forget, and they are not stupid, knowing that once this happened, Zhangjiazhuang would not It's getting better, Zhuangzi's getting better, do they still want something in the future
The county magistrate Cheng regretted it after speaking. He had already told him about the carrot and vegetable oil on the last day, but he couldn't hold back it for a while. Seeing that all of his subordinates seemed to understand, he had to add:
"It's not easy for the people on the Zhuangzi. Wait for Twenty-Nine to send you things together, and take them home for family members to taste. If you have relatives and friends, you can also have a variety of dishes during the meal."
This is very clear. You can show off when you go home, and you can't tell Zhuangzi to your relatives and friends. Everyone naturally nodded and agreed.
After dealing with this, a basket containing cucumbers was opened, and the servants in the yamen did not need to order, they shouted directly, "Xiangrui, I will come to Xiangrui, the cucumbers in winter, and the folks all come to see it, thirty wen per catty. Please come home."
Buying cucumbers in front of the yamen in the big winter. This is a new thing. As soon as I shouted out, a lot of people crowded around to watch.
…
"Xiaobao, you don't use ignition powder. The power is too powerful. Come and help me make Nianzi." In Zhangjiazhuang, Wang Juan and Zhang Xiaobao found a very remote room and were making firecrackers with pomegranate in it.
It was snowing outside, the sky was overcast, and the room was a bit dark, but I didn't dare to turn on a light. The tables, stools and other things in the room were all moved out. Only four walls and a flat ground were empty.
There are cut paper on the ground, and there are three powders of sulfur, saltpeter, and charcoal that are evenly mixed. The pomegranate rolls a little more powder into the larger paper. Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan wrap the powder in there. Wrap one in some narrow paper and roll some powder on the outside.
Zhang Xiaobao helped Wang Juan get a few, and went to roll up firecrackers. One of them had a lot of firecrackers inside, and he even installed them. Wang Juan pulled them back and continued to make them.