"Oh, no... Erlangzi, Tiezhu, what do you mean? Do you want to change your affiliation? Did Tieying fool you with some kind of magic again? You are not stupid, are you? When have I, Liu Er, ever treated you unfairly? The 'pole fee' I charge is notoriously low among all the docks in this area, 10% less than other docks. If you want to go to Tieying West Dock, you'd better think carefully."
The foreman surnamed Liu pushed through the crowd and came up to Erlangzi and the others. He shook his head, sighed, and said with some constipation.
Where there are people, there is the world.
The same goes for the docks.
Thanks to the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, shipping on the Inner City River in Beijing was also well developed. Goods from Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and the two lakes areas went north along the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, passing through half of the Ming Dynasty, all the way to the Tonghui River in Beijing, and then to the end of the Inner City River in Beijing. Every day, countless large and small ships docked at the Inner City River wharf, with merchants coming and going for meals and scholars coming and going constantly.
There are boats and ships stretching for ten miles, and smoke from thousands of homes; boats and ships are lined up like a net, and all kinds of goods are piled up like mountains.
With so many cargo ships, it is natural that laborers are needed to load and unload the cargo. It is no exaggeration to say that there are tens of thousands of people making a living at the docks in Beijing.
Where there are people, there is the underworld, not to mention these tens of thousands of porters. They form a big underworld - the boat gang, and each dock is a small underworld - a branch. The docks in Beijing are under their control. If you want to be a porter and make a living on the dock, you have to buy a "carrying pole" from the boat gang. Only porters who have bought a "carrying pole" are qualified to make a living on the dock. They naturally cannot contact the leader of the boat gang. They can only contact the helmsman of each dock branch, that is, the foreman, and pay them money to buy a "carrying pole".
Foreman Liu is the foreman of this dock, and Tieying he mentioned is the foreman of another dock closest to them. Since the two docks are close to each other, conflicts of interest are inevitable. Foreman Liu and Tieying often have frictions because of this, and they are notoriously incompatible.
After the foreman surnamed Liu finished speaking, the laborers around him gathered around again and started talking in a nonstop manner, half persuading and half lecturing.
"That's right. Tieying and his crew are engaged in water transport. Not only is it tiring, but they earn several dozen more coins per month than Liu Tou."
"You idiots, do you still have any conscience? Don't you have any idea what Liu Tou has done to you?!"
"Don't ask for trouble. Tieying is not as easy to talk to as our Liutou. He will kill people if he hits them."
"You young idiots, you must have been kicked in the head by a donkey!"
... ...
When the conversation got excited, someone even slapped Erlangzi and the others on the head.
"No, no Liutou, we don't want to change...what to change, anyway, we are not leaving." Erlangzi's face turned red when he heard that, and his head shook as if it was about to take off.
"That's right. I'm wondering what you guys are thinking. Who wants to go to that bastard Tieying's place? Don't say anything nonsense..."
"Last year, my wife had a difficult delivery, and it was Liutou who gave her half a year's salary in advance, which saved both my wife and the child. I'm not a beast, how could I leave Liutou and go to Tieying, that brat."
"Whoever wants to go to Tieying will have his whole family killed!"
Tiezhu and the others also shook their heads, categorically denying it, and finally swore an oath one by one.
In ancient times, swearing and swearing were quite convincing. After Erlangzi Tiezhu and his friends swore and swore, people's attitude towards them was obviously different.
"So what happened to you guys today? Liu Tou invited us to Sihai Restaurant for a drink, why didn't you go for such a good thing? Don't tell me that all of you drunkards have quit drinking?!!"
Everyone continued to ask.
"What do you mean by quitting drinking! We are not going to Sihai Restaurant today. We want to go to Zhuji Fast Food for a delicious meal." Erlangzi, Tieniu and the others replied. When they mentioned Zhuji Fast Food, they couldn't help but wipe their saliva with their sleeves.
"What? Zhuji Fast Food? Can Zhuji Fast Food be better than Sihai Restaurant?! You should say that restaurants like Shilixiang and Xiankelai are more reliable."
When everyone heard Erlangzi and his friends say that they wanted to go to Zhuji Fast Food for a good meal, they couldn't help but shake their heads and smile.
"able."
Erlangzi, Tieniu and others nodded vigorously.
"What?! Don't be ridiculous. I've never heard of Zhuji Fast Food before. It's either a small shop or a newly opened one. What good food can there be in it?"
Everyone was stunned when they heard this, and couldn't help but smile.
"There are so many delicious foods, such as pig heart, pork intestines, pig liver, pig head..." Erlangzi and the others counted on their fingers.
"Hahaha, pig heart and pig intestines... aren't they just pig offal? Are you crazy? How can pig offal be delicious?!" Everyone laughed at what they heard.
“Can it be delicious?!”
The fool narrowed his eyes and glanced at everyone. He snorted, grinned, and laughed at everyone. The curve of his mouth was even bigger than that of everyone else.
Ouch? !
Oh my god!
What's that expression on your face, you idiot?!
When everyone saw this, they all expressed their desire to teach Erlangzi a lesson.
"smell."
Erlangzi raised his chin towards everyone.
"What are you smelling?" Everyone looked puzzled.
"What are you smelling?! Do you smell the fragrance in the air?!" Erlangzi took a deep breath of the air and looked intoxicated.
"You mean this fragrance? I smelled it when I was carrying the goods. I don't know how many times I swallowed my saliva."
"Is this aroma someone is stewing dragon meat?!"
"What? Could this aroma be coming from Zhu's Fast Food?!"
"Impossible, even Sihai Restaurant can't make such a fragrance. This must be the fragrance coming from the kitchen of some nobleman. It seems that Qianweihou Mansion is not far from here."
Everyone smelled the alluring aroma in the air, and expressed their opinions at once, thinking that Erlangzi and his gang were being mysterious.
"This aroma is from Zhuji Fast Food. We can recognize it after having tried it once. Three days ago, the owner of Zhuji Fast Food invited us to try it for free. The taste was so good that I almost swallowed my tongue. It's true that you will never forget it after having tried it once. I'm not exaggerating. If you try it once, you will have the same feeling."
When Erlangzi and the others recalled the last time they ate braised pork, their saliva couldn't help but flow.
“Is it really that delicious?!”
Everyone couldn't help but be moved.
"What, you don't believe it?! Can't you smell the fragrance? Let me tell you, it tastes a hundred times better than this when you put it in your mouth." Erlangzi and the others couldn't help smacking their lips as they spoke.
"Then, let's go to Zhuji and try it?"
"Of course, we can eat wherever we go. You know what, this smell is so good, it makes me drool just by smelling it."
"How about trying it?"
"Just give it a try."
Everyone was moved, not because Erlangzi and his friends were good at speaking, but because the smell of meat that was everywhere in the air was so convincing.
"Okay then, let's go to Zhuji this time. We'll still follow the old rules. Everyone will pay equally before the meal, and the wine will be on my account. Haha, if Zhuji's food is not delicious, I won't say anything, and everyone will know what to do, right?"
Since it was a dinner party anyway, it didn't matter where we ate. The foreman named Liu readily changed the venue to Zhuji Fast Food. At last, he raised his arm, pointed at Erlangzi and the others with a smile, and winked at everyone.
"Hahaha, if it doesn't taste good, just skin them alive and stew their meat."
Everyone burst into laughter.
A group of dozens of people, chatting and laughing, strode towards Zhu's Fast Food Restaurant under the guidance of Erlangzi and his friends.