Old Hantou squatted on the stone roller in his yard, smoking a dry cigarette. The years had left clear traces on his Chinese-character face. His forehead and the corners of his eyes were covered with wrinkles. His formerly straight back, I don't know when I became slightly rickety, and the thick eyebrows that once attracted girls so much when I was young are becoming thinner.
"Dad, it's time to eat." The talented Aunt Han came out of the house and greeted Old Han.
Old Hantou knocked out the unfinished cigarette from the pipe, and then walked back to the house with his hands behind his back. As he walked, he sighed. Aunt Han, who was serving rice, also had a sad look on her face.
"Dad, how can this poor guy get two hundred kilograms of food together?"
"You ask me? Who am I going to ask?" Old Hantou slapped her rice bowl hard, and Aunt Han did not dare to say a word.
Just yesterday, the town office suddenly issued a document requiring all households with farmland in the town to pay grain per mu. The quota is 40 kilograms per mu for upper fields, 20 kilograms for middle fields, and 10 kilograms for lower fields.
Old Han's family has five acres of good paddy fields and needs to pay 200 kilograms of grain.
This is really going to cost your life. How can the old Han family get so many kilograms of food from such a poor person
The couple just didn't know what to do when a voice like a broken gong suddenly sounded outside the door: "Is Brother Han at home?"
When Old Han and his wife hurriedly looked back, they saw a thin and small old man striding in, followed by three green-skinned thugs. When they reached the old man, Old Han's face trembled involuntarily. , the name of a person, the shadow of a tree, this is the famous Hong Jiugong of Mei Town.
"Jiu Gong?" Old Hantou forced a smile on his face that was uglier than crying, "Have you eaten?"
"Eat, I've just eaten." Hong Jiugong waved his hand and said with a smile, "Brother Han, you eat yours, I'm just here to tell you something, and I'll leave after that."
Old Hantou didn't dare to eat anymore, so he quickly said: "Jiu Gong, tell me."
"That's it, you should already know the announcement from the town office, right?" Hong Jiugong said, "Brother, I have been entrusted by Mayor Huang this time to be responsible for the task of urging food in our area, so I still I hope the fellow villagers in my hometown can help each other, so that everyone will look good and I will have an easier time doing business with Mayor Huang."
Old Hantou and the woman looked at each other and thought, here comes the reminder.
Lao Han's face turned into a bitter melon and he didn't know what to say.
However, Aunt Han said bravely: "Jiu Gong, our family really can't get enough food."
"Brother Han's family can't even get together a mere two hundred kilograms of grain?" Hong Jiugong expressed disbelief, but immediately said, "But it doesn't matter. If Brother Han really doesn't want to take advantage of it, you can borrow it from me. In any case, we have been friends for decades, and I can still get a mere two hundred kilograms of grain."
Old Hantou's face trembled again, you do have food to borrow, but how can I dare to borrow it
When others borrow food, they only need to pay back the food, but when they borrow food from you, they need to pay back with their lives!
Who in the neighborhood doesn’t know that you, Hong Laojiu, are a loan shark? What’s more, others get two points of profit, while you get five points of profit, and it’s still like a donkey rolling on the monthly basis!
Seeing that Old Han didn't say a word, Hong Jiugong smiled coldly and said, "It seems that Brother Han doesn't look down on me, Old Hong. Whatever, just treat what I just said as if I didn't say it. However, the deadline given by Mayor Huang But there are only three days. If we can’t get food within three days, it won’t be easy for me to get through to Mayor Huang, Brother Han, what do you think?”
What else could Old Hantou say, he could only say with a smile, yes, she is your sister.
Hong Jiugong left with a few green skins, and Old Hantou and his wife discussed it for a long time, and finally only came up with one way, which was to take out the jewelry that Aunt Han had packed at the bottom of the box and pawn it. In any case, we must not borrow money at usury. , especially Hong Jiugong's usurious loan, otherwise he would be waiting for his family to be ruined.
Aunt Han rummaged through the boxes and cabinets to find all the jewelry, packed it in a fur bag, and went straight to the pawn shop in the town.
But less than half an hour after she left, Aunt Han came back crying, expecting only ten oceans!
Ten yuan is ten yuan. At least you can still buy a hundred catties of grain, so let’s pay a hundred catties first. You can think of other ways to use the remaining one hundred catties. If you really can’t sell the domestic cattle.
Now Lao Hantou came to the grain store in the town with ten yuan in his arms.
But when he asked about the price of grain, Lao Hantou was dumbfounded. The price of grain had risen, and the rise was so outrageous. Rice that usually cost 10 cents a jin, would now rise to 50 cents a jin, a five-fold increase! Moreover, the shopkeeper of the grain store said that the price of grain would continue to rise in the future. When Old Hantou heard this, he panicked and bought twenty kilograms of grain.
After returning home carrying the grain, Lao Hantou suddenly collapsed.
At this time, Old Hantou finally came to his senses. The pawn shop in the town was owned by Liu Heiqi, the Black Dragon Society, and the grain store was owned by Yiguandao Master, Ran Deng Zhenren, and Liu Hei. Qi is clearly colluding with Hong Jiugong. They are joining forces to eat their flesh and drink their blood.
Damn it for the Taoist sect! Damn it for the Taoist sect!
In the blink of an eye, three days have passed.
Miaoqian Street is a famous entertainment street in Meizhen. Along both sides of the bluestone-paved street, there are gambling halls, opium dens, teahouses and wine shops, as well as small alleys connecting Miaoqian Street like capillaries. Inside, there are dozens of private brothels hidden inside, which are also known as brothels, the lowest brothels in the world.
However, there are also high-end private houses, such as the Red Mansion.
It is said that Honggu, the old madam of the Red Mansion, was once a socialite in Shanghai, but later she grew old and lost her beauty, and could no longer hang out in Shanghai's entertainment scene, so she packed her bags and returned to her hometown in Meizhen to open this private house. I also collected several pretty young ladies in Nian, and I have a lot of benefactors.
At this moment, Ran Deng Zhenren, Liu Heiqi and Hong Jiu Gong were drinking wine under the service of three fans.
Although Ran Deng Zhenren is the master of Yiguandao, Taoism does not taboo women's lust. In fact, this Ren Deng Zhenren is the real lustful ghost, even an old bustard like Hong Gu. He was all interested. No, when Hong Gu twisted her waist and passed by, Ran Deng Zhenren quickly reached out and touched Hong Gu's butt.
Hong Gu then cursed the devil and continued to walk forward with her hips swaying, causing Ren Deng Zhenren to burst into laughter.
Hong Jiugong and Liu Heiqi also laughed. Hong Jiugong smacked his lips and said with envy: "It's great to be young, but now the world belongs to you young people."
"What did Jiu Gong say? You are not old at all." Liu Heiqi said immediately. After speaking, he turned to stare at the fan sitting next to Hong Jiu Gong, and asked with a smile, "Xiao Qing, Tell me, is Jiu Gong old or not?"
Xiaoqing's white face covered with makeup was immediately filled with smiles, and she said coquettishly: "Master Qi, you are so annoying. My legs are still weak. Do you think Jiugong never gets old?"
Liu Heiqi laughed loudly and asked Hong Jiugong proudly: "Jiugong, look at it, look at it?"
Hong Jiugong also laughed. In fact, he knew in his heart that Xiao Qing, this little bitch, was trying to please him, but he was still very happy after hearing this. He even took out a big ball from his trousers and pulled off Xiao Qing's trousers. The skirt of his shirt was thrown into the deep ditch wrapped in his bellyband.
Rendeng Zhenren drank a cup of wine and said with emotion: "Seventh Master, Jiu Gong, now I have really opened my eyes. When it comes to doing big things, the second young master is the one who really does big things. What do you mean? Why are we fighting so hard in the year? How great is it that we can all make money together like now?"
After hearing this, Liu Heiqi and Hong Jiugong immediately nodded like chickens pecking at rice.
In the past three days, due to the pressure of paying for food, every household in the town took out their belongings from the bottom of the box and went to several pawn shops in Black Dragon Club to sell them, and then used the money to buy food at a grain store on Yiguan Road. , in the meantime, Black Dragon Club took the opportunity to lower the price, and Yiguandao took the opportunity to raise the price. After one back and forth, both companies made huge profits.
Hong Jiugong did not make less money either. He received dividends from both companies.
"Where are we now? The show has just begun." A voice suddenly came from outside the door.
When Liu Heiqi, Rendeng Zhenren and Hong Jiugong looked back anxiously, they saw Huang Shouyi and Shi Shiran walking in.
Seeing Huang Shouyi walking in, Liu Heiqi and the others quickly stood up to greet him, and said at the same time: "Second Young Master, aren't you at a loss for words? You see, we have all eaten."
Liu Heiqi is also a well-known figure in Meizhen, but when facing Huang Shouyi this time, you even used him. For those who don't know, he is just a lackey of the Huang family.
Huang Shouyi took off his wide-brimmed hat and handed it to Hong Gu, and said, "Originally, it was agreed that King Kameda would treat me to dinner at Kobayashi Sushi in the county seat. It's just that King Kameda had something to do and went to the provincial capital for a meeting. I was in the county seat. If I'm bored here, I'll just go back to Meizhen first."
Rendeng Zhenren asked tentatively: "Second Young Master, do you have any clues about that matter?"
"Brows and eyebrows?" Huang Shouyi sat down at the empty side of the Eight Immortals table. Hong Gu quickly placed bowls, grinders, and chopsticks, and found the youngest fan to sit next to Huang Shouyi. Huang Shouyi took the hand from the fan. He drank the wine cup in one gulp, and then said with a chuckle, "Let's put it this way, the matter has been settled. Murayama Taikun of Murayama Yangxing Company has said that no matter how much goods we ship, he will take them all."
"deal?!"
"Very good!"
"This is a fortune!"
Liu Heiqi, Hong Jiugong and Ran Deng were overjoyed when they heard this.
Although grain stores, pawn shops and large car shops also make money, how can they make money selling cigarettes? In the past, the government of the Republic of China had very strict control over the private cultivation of opium. No one would dare to cultivate opium without a special background. But now, with the Japanese as their backers, they can freely cultivate opium. From now on, money will not be available. Flowing in
Huang Shouyi put down the wine cup and added: "However, we are almost here. The opium planting season is about to begin, but there are no fields for this kind of opium yet. You have to speed up the progress." (To be continued.)