"Boss?" He Chunsheng, who was standing beside Jiang Zhen, was stunned for a moment, then rushed to the side of the boat, and then saw that Jiang Zhen was already swimming towards the shore.
"Boss!"
"Boss, what happened to him?"
"It's hot today, and I also want to go to the river to cool off..."
…
The people on the boat came to He Chunsheng and looked towards the river together, only to find that Zhao Jinge was standing on the pier.
No wonder I jumped into the river, it turned out to be to meet my daughter-in-law earlier.
Seeing that Brother Zhao Jin also ran to the edge of the pier, these people were suddenly envious.
Why didn't they wait
In fact, Zhao Jinge didn't come to wait for Jiang Zhen on purpose. After all, he didn't know that Jiang Zhen would come back today.
However, when he came to the county to run errands, as long as he was free, he would come to the pier and stand for a while, looking forward to seeing Jiang Zhen.
After getting married, he hardly ever separated from Jiang Zhen. This time Jiang Zhen went away, and he felt extremely uncomfortable, but Jiang Zhen hadn't come back at the appointed time...
Today, he had only planned to stand on the pier for a while and then go home immediately, but... he actually saw Jiang Zhen's boat!
Zhao Jinge was overjoyed immediately, and then saw Jiang Zhen suddenly jumped off the boat and swam towards him...
At that moment, Brother Zhao Jin wished he could jump into the water too, but there were countless large boats and boats parked on the shore, and there was no place for him to go into the water, and he didn't make it in the end.
After a while, Jiang Zhen climbed up from the river.
"Brother, did you accidentally fall into the water?" Someone asked when Jiang Zhen got up from the water, but Jiang Zhen turned a deaf ear and hugged Zhao Jinge who was on the shore.
"You..." Zhao Jinge didn't want to push Jiang Zhen away, but subconsciously covered his face with a straw hat - so many people here...
"Haha!" Jiang Zhen smiled and let go of Brother Zhao Jin: "Brother Jin, are you here to wait for me?"
"I just passed by." Zhao Jin said, only to realize that he was soaked all over by Jiang Zhen's hug.
Fortunately, it doesn't matter much... It is now the end of June, the weather is very hot, and it can be a little cooler when it is wet.
"Yes, you were just passing by." Jiang Zhen smiled. He had seen a man in a straw hat standing there for a long time, and he didn't move for a long time... How could anyone passing by stay there all the time
Jiang Zhen said, and squeezed Zhao Jinge's hand, Zhao Jinge blushed, and quickly put on a straw hat to cover his face: "You guys, why did you come back today?"
"I picked up some other business in the middle." Jiang Zhen said: "Thanks to that business, there is no loss in this trip."
Right now, the reputation of the escort agency has not been established. Jiang Zhen was originally prepared to temporarily lose some money. Since he also brought some goods with him, he will also sell a boat of bricks by the way, so he can balance his income and expenditure.
However, this time, because I took a few business deals in the middle, I finally made a little profit.
"That's good." Zhao Jinge immediately became happy. Jiang Zhen said before that he might lose money, but he was even more uncomfortable than Jiang Zhen.
"However, I found a lot of problems when I went out this time... We need to find a way to recruit some literate people." Jiang Zhen said again, every ship should have a person who can read and settle accounts, or else register things like goods It's really annoying to have him deal with it.
"Isn't it a good idea to be a scholar?" Zhao Jinge said immediately.
"I'm not good at recruiting people with good knowledge. It's fine if you don't have serious schooling. You only need to recognize a few words and you will be able to settle accounts." Jiang Zhendao, the Jiangnan side, because of the developed business, needs a lot of accountants. Those who hope that their son will be successful in the future will always spend a few taels every year to send their son to study.
Or if you can read by yourself, you will teach your children how to read.
They don't ask their sons to take the imperial examinations in the future, they only hope that they can become accountants and get one or two taels of silver a month, and they are already satisfied.
Butcher Jiang and Mrs. Jiang sent Jiang Chengcai and Jiang Chengxiang to study with such thoughts.
"It's easy to find this kind of thing. There aren't many in the village, but there are a lot of people like this in the county." Zhao Jinge said that he has come to the county almost every other day these days, but he has gained a lot of knowledge.
"Yes." Jiang Zhen nodded and took Zhao Jinge's hand to continue talking to him. Obviously they were talking about boring things, but he was in a very good mood.
"Why are you two standing here? Get out of the way." Someone who was carrying goods back and forth said to the two of them, looking at them inexplicably at the same time - the two people's clothes were soaked and they didn't know how to take care of them. Take a moment to yourself, still standing by the pier holding hands... What is this for
Jiang Zhen and Zhao Jinge hurriedly came to the tea stall next to them.
Jiang Zhen was penniless, but fortunately, Zhao Jin-ge brought money. He spent two cents to buy two bowls of tea, and then bought four pieces of tea cakes, which were divided into four tea eggs.
Tea cake is the local name for a local pastry.
It is made of glutinous rice flour, a boxy piece, with fillings, and the fillings that are placed inside are usually pork.
Glutinous rice is very filling, and no one dislikes pork these days. This tea cake is naturally very popular, but most people are reluctant to spend money to buy it.
Jiang Zhen ate two tea cakes and two tea eggs while drinking tea, and then asked his daughter, "How is Pearl? Does she miss me?"
Zhao Mingzhu is only three months old now, how can she know that she misses someone? However, Zhao Jinge believed that she had thought about it: "I miss you, she always cried at night, and she was willing to sleep after crying for a while."
Hearing that his precious daughter was crying, Jiang Zhen felt distressed and asked about other things in detail.
Zhao Mingzhu is a good child, and her body is strong. Of course, she will be so easy to take care of, it is probably related to the number of people who take her.
Usually, as long as she pouted her lips, someone would immediately hug her and coax her... Even if she wanted to behave badly, it would be difficult.
And she would make a fuss for a while at night, just because only Zhao Jinge took her alone at night, and occasionally she couldn't take care of her.
After Zhao Jinge told everything about his daughter in the past few days, Jiang Zhen's fleet finally docked.
Jiang Zhen took Zhao Jinge to register the goods on the ship together, and by the way called someone to report to the village, telling the Zhao family that he had returned.
After going out for more than 20 days, everyone was thinking about wanting to go home, and the speed of unloading and registration was very fast. When it was getting dark, everything was taken care of.
Thinking of his daughter, Jiang Zhen certainly couldn't stay overnight in Hecheng County. He asked his men to clean up, and the entire fleet left the pier in Hecheng County and headed for the pier in Hexi Village.
When Jiang Zhenhe went home with Zhao Jinge, it was completely dark, but Zhao's house was brightly lit. Jiang Zhen and Zhao Jinge pushed open the door and went in, and saw Zhao Liushi holding Zhao Mingzhu and breastfeeding her.
Zhao Mingzhu is almost three months now, and her neck is not as soft as at the beginning. When she heard the sound, she turned her head. Then, she cried with a "wow", probably startled by the sudden sound of the door opening.
"Mingzhu!" Jiang Zhen couldn't do it with distress. He picked Zhao Mingzhu from Zhao Liu's arms and coaxed him: "Daddy's precious Mingzhu, do you miss Daddy?"
Zhao Mingzhu stopped crying when he was hugged by Jiang Zhen, which made Jiang Zhen even happier. At the same time, he found that his daughter became more and more beautiful as she grew.
Before, her fat face was drooping, and the whole face was small on the top and big on the bottom. It was a bit ugly, but now she has also gained weight on the top half of her face, and her face is round. How beautiful!
Zhao Mingzhu didn't know if she really remembered Jiang Zhen. When Jiang Zhen "served" her, she gave her a lot of face and didn't cry.
Afraid that the child will get sick, the people in Hexi Village don't bathe the baby very much, but Jiang Zhen bathed Zhao Mingzhu when Zhao Mingzhu was not full moon. , so that Zhao Mingzhu is different from the children in the village, and there is no smell on her body.
She also especially likes bathing.
Jiang Zhen gave her a good bath, and put on a fiery red apron for her to lie on the bed, only to think that she was too cute... However, although the daughter is cute, it is not as important as the daughter-in-law at this time.
Quickly coaxing his daughter to sleep, Jiang Zhen knocked down Brother Zhao Jin without hesitation.
The next day, Jiang Zhen took people to the county to recruit literate people. The salary offered was 22 taels per month. If he did a good job, he could add more money in the future.
There are many people who are willing. After all, many people have learned a few words, but they have never been able to find a good job. I heard that Jiang Zhen is recruiting a lot of people, and everyone is running around to tell them.
"Chengxiang, someone is recruiting people at the pier today. If you need to read and write, you will be able to settle accounts. You have two taels of silver a month! I have written my name over there!" A young man found Jiang Chengxiang and said to Jiang Chengxiang.
"Really? Where?" Jiang Chengxiang was delighted. Since his lies were exposed, he has not come to the county for a long time, taking care of Zhu Shufen and her daughter every day.
Although his daughter cried all day, her life was tough, and she survived. After being raised for a few months, Zhu Shufen's health improved a lot... Then, he came to the county town again.
He is not an arrogant and arrogant person. After arriving in the county town, he cried to some of his classmates with good family background, and then asked them to find him an errand... And the person who came to him this time was one of his classmates. , named Song Li.
"It's right at the pier." Song Li took Jiang Chengxiang and hurried to the side of the pier.
Jiang Chengxiang was full of expectations at first, but when he came to the pier and saw those people on the pier, his expression froze.
Those people wearing uniform clothes, aren't they the people under Jiang Zhen's hands? This is recruiting...
Jiang Chengxiang turned his eyes and saw Jiang Zhen who was standing behind the person, silent but with a strong sense of presence.
"Chengxiang, hurry up." Song Li urged.
"Wait." Jiang Chengxiang stood still, unwilling to go over.
"Chengxiang, what's the matter?" Song Li looked at Jiang Chengxiang puzzled, and said again: "Go quickly, or you will be taken away by others, your family is like this, if you don't find an errand, you can do it in the future. How to live?" Because Jiang Chengxiang told Song Li that Jiang Chengcai was cheated of money in business, Song Li now believes that Jiang Chengxiang's life is very sad.
"I'm sorry, I can go when someone recruits someone, but I can't when he recruits someone." Jiang Chengxiang looked at Song Li, shook his head and smiled bitterly.
"Why?" Song Li was puzzled.
"That man... is actually my eldest brother. Because my parents treated him badly, he took the initiative to move into someone else's house, and he was very disgusted with our family. He definitely didn't want to ask me to do things." Jiang Chengxiang sighed.
"Is there such a thing?" Song Li glanced at Jiang Zhen from a distance, and immediately decided that Jiang Zhen must have forgotten his righteousness. After entering the family to the rich man's house, he forgot his biological parents.
"Naturally, didn't you see it? He looks a lot like me." Jiang Chengxiang said with a wry smile.
The former Boss Jiang and the pampered Jiang Chengxiang are not very similar, but the current Jiang Zhen is indeed very similar to Jiang Chengxiang. What's more, Song Li heard Jiang Chengxiang mention that he has a big brother before.
At that time, Jiang Chengxiang was not very willing to talk about his eldest brother... Song Li never knew the reason, but now he thinks he has guessed it.
It turned out that Jiang Chengxiang not only had a second idiot brother who was cheated by borrowing money to do business, but also an ungrateful elder brother, Song Li felt more sympathetic to Jiang Chengxiang.
"My eldest brother does the delivery work for people. He has to live on a boat all year round to work for him, and he will lose his life when he encounters a water bandit. Before, someone in our village followed him out and died. Oh... Brother Song, it's better for you to change your errand." Jiang Chengxiang said again.
This Song Li has a good family and has money in his hands. He has been helping Jiang Chengxiang these days. Jiang Chengxiang didn't want him to know the real situation of his family, and naturally he didn't want Song Li to work with Jiang Zhen.
This Song Li is violent, and he easily trusts others. Hearing Jiang Chengxiang say this, he immediately said, "Is there still such a thing? How could someone die? I have to expose him!"
"Brother Song, wait!" Jiang Chengxiang hurriedly stopped Song Li, persuaded him from left to right, and told Song Li that Jiang Zhen had something to do with the county magistrate, so he persuaded Song Li and asked Song Li to promise not to do things make a big noise.
Jiang Zhen and Zhao Jinge are recruiting people right now.
They only planned to recruit 20 people, but there were quite a lot of people here. Jiang Chen simply asked these people to write down their names, and then went to a house he rented for the exam tomorrow.
He didn't know the level of these people, so he came up with some topics, and then chose the most suitable one. There are some people who signed up with only a few words, which he didn't want.
"This uncle, the person we recruited is going to go to sea with us. He is too old to bear it." I saw an old man with white hair and a wrinkled face, who looked a little older than Zhao Fugui. Even to come to sign up, Jiang Ming reluctantly persuaded.
"I'm very healthy, young man, even if I go to the dock to fight the goods, there is no problem." The old man was very insistent, and he still refused to leave because of his position, and even hoped that Jiang Ming would settle him directly.
"It really doesn't work..." Jiang Ming was helpless, but he couldn't do anything to an old man.
Jiang Ming persuaded him for a long time, but the old man refused to forgive him, and even performed in public against the sack, and he didn't even look at how old he was.
"I only want someone under thirty!" Jiang Zhen said, looking at the old man coldly: "Are you going by yourself, or should I let someone drive you away?"
Such an old person is definitely not suitable for going with the fleet. Since good words are useless, Jiang Zhen can only scare people away.
The clothes on Jiang Zhen's body made people know at first glance that he was the leader. At this moment, his face turned cold, and the old man didn't dare to say a word. After glancing at the men standing beside Jiang Zhen, he ran away in a hurry. .
"Humph!" The old man ran away, but a young man squeezed in. He looked at Jiang Zhen and snorted coldly, and then faced Jiang Ming, who was holding a stack of paper and was asking someone to write his name and age: " I left my name here before, now cross it out for me!"
"You don't want this errand?" Jiang Ming looked over in surprise.
This young man was Song Li. He wanted to expose Jiang Zhen's "true face", but he was afraid that his family and Jiang Chengxiang would be implicated, so he endured it and said, "Yes, I don't care about this errand."
"Okay, find it out yourself and cross it out." Jiang Ming pointed to the pile of papers next to him.
These days, big families don’t recruit people very much. The shopkeeper’s account is all cultivated by himself or simply let a side branch do it. Even if a certain shop wants to recruit people, they will find acquaintances to find suitable people, and even often directly Invite relatives to do things.
Therefore, many people can't find suitable errands even though they can read... If not, how could Jiang Chengxiang still find an errand that he can do after so long
It is also because of this that this time Jiang Zhen recruited people in public, and there were a lot of people who came. At this moment, more than 30 people have left their names... Some people don't want to come to them, Jiang Ming doesn't care at all.
Song Li was a little angry when he saw that Jiang Ming didn't take him seriously. He was a boy who went to school for a long time! Much better than others!
Song Li found out the paper he had written before, and was about to shred it in public, saying that he didn't take this errand seriously, and the people who were delayed by him and the old old man came up and pushed him away. They were also scrambling to hope that Jiang Ming would have a good impression of them.
Holding the paper with his name on it, Song Li was furious.
Song Lizheng was angry when he saw an acquaintance coming over.
That acquaintance was also Song Li's classmate, named Zheng Baoning.
Although Zheng Baoning's surname is Zheng, he has nothing to do with the Zheng family where Zheng Yi lives. It was a family several hundred years ago at most, and his family's life was not good.
Zheng Baoning's father was a small businessman who sold things for a living. Originally, he went out four times a year, and each trip would net him 10 taels of silver after deducting expenses. Not only did he have a good life, but he also allowed him to study.
But later, his father went out and encountered someone looking for trouble and was kicked...
His father didn't take this to heart, but he didn't know that he was actually kicked and injured his internal organs. After he returned home, his stomach became bigger and bigger, and recently it was actually painful to death.
Without a pillar at home, Zheng Baoning naturally couldn't read books. He was only twelve or thirteen years old at the time, he couldn't find any errands, and his handwriting was not very good. Make money by drawing flowers for embroidery.
What is a big man who paints flowers for a group of women all day long? I heard that he even draws the flowers on the belly pockets of the prostitutes... Song Li hated Zheng Baoning a little bit, and felt that Zheng Baoning had fallen.
Every time he saw Zheng Baoning, he would persuade him to find a serious job, but this time...
Seeing that Zheng Baoning seemed to want to work for Jiang Chengxiang's eldest brother, Song Li quickly stopped him: "Zheng Baoning, that errand is very dangerous, you listen to me, it is better to change the errand."
Zheng Baoning immediately frowned upon hearing this.
This Song Li really does not know that a hungry man is hungry.
At the beginning, I always persuaded him to find other jobs, but I didn't think about it. He had no background at all, so how could he find a suitable job
As for now... I finally got a job, and I came to stop him.
"I will ask. If it's really dangerous, I naturally won't do it." Zheng Baoning said, and immediately squeezed into the crowd after speaking.
"It's really a dog biting Lu Dongbin, I don't know good people!" Song Li scolded, planning to wait outside, wait for Zheng Baoning to come out of the crowd, and then talk to him nicely, I didn't expect Zheng Baoning to disappear!
Did this slip away from the other side? Song Li was furious, but Zheng Baoning, who avoided him, was relieved.
The place where the Jin Zhen Escort Agency recruited people was asked by many people, and he also asked some questions, which was to ask them clearly what they were going to do in the future.
These people, who will follow the ship to deliver goods in the future, will indeed encounter a little danger, but with such a large fleet and so many escorts, the probability of accidents in their accountants is still very small.
Seriously speaking, even if he was a cashier for a store in the county seat, he would also follow the shopkeeper to move the boat to buy goods, which would also be dangerous.
Zheng Baoning had already made up his mind to try to get the job. His father passed away five years ago, and he is eighteen years old. He only earns a penny or two by painting flowers. I am afraid that the family will never make ends meet. He better find a serious job.
This is going out with the boat, the owner is paying for the meal, and the wages of the two taels, he may not need to spend much, and he can use it all to support the family...
I don't know tomorrow, how the owner will choose people from these people.
Zheng Baoning is pondering this, and Jiang Zhen is also pondering this.
He really didn't know how to give people a test paper.
"Ah!" Jiang Zhen was thinking, when Zhao Mingzhu, who was lying on the bed, suddenly shouted.
"My good daughter! You can speak!" Jiang Zhen happily hugged his daughter, and decided to let those people write a five-hundred-word self-introduction and do a few math problems.
He asked the questions according to the difficulty of elementary school. Those people should be able to answer them, right
In the blink of an eye, it was the next day.
Jiang Zhen had been waiting in the house that was used as a warehouse for a long time. When he asked the carpenter in the county to make furniture for him, he wanted to build a school for training talents in Hexi Village in the future. Fifty small tables and small benches have been made, and now these things are just right for use.
There were about a hundred people who left their names yesterday, probably because some of them gave up after thinking about it when they went home. In the end, there were more than seventy people in total.
Those tables and chairs were not enough at all, so Jiang Zhen had to take out the furniture made by the carpenter for himself. Since they couldn't fit in the room, many people still needed to take exams outside the house.
Zheng Baoning came a little late, so he didn't get those sets of tables and chairs, but got a chest of drawers and asked him to answer the questions while standing.
Those wearing uniforms gave each of them three pieces of paper, and on one piece of paper, they asked them to write a few hundred words of self-introduction. After writing, someone would ask a few questions, and then they would give the answer. Just write on the second piece of paper. As for the extra piece of paper, they can use it to write down the topic.
This self-introduction is actually to see if they are really literate, right? Although Zheng Baoning's handwriting was a bit ugly, he knew a lot of characters, and he started writing right away.
Seeing that a person who was writing on a bed beside him only scribbled 20 or 30 characters on the paper, Zheng Baoning relaxed a lot at the moment.
At this time, the person who looked like the leader came to the question.
"I have nine subordinates to do errands. They do a good job. I want to reward each of them 8 taels of silver. How many taels do I need to give them in total?"
"I bought thirteen rabbits. How many legs do these thirteen rabbits have in total?"
"I asked someone to help move the goods, and I moved a bag of goods for a penny. That person moved one hundred and fifty-eight bags of goods on the first day, 211 bags of goods the next day, and one bag of goods the next day. One hundred and seventy-six bags of goods, how much money can he get in total?"
…
Jiang Zhen came up with a total of five questions, all of which he recognized were very simple. After Zhao Jinge, who was beside him, took a few numbers with his notes, he quickly figured them out, but those who did the questions...
Jiang Zhen suddenly discovered that among these people, there were so many solemn expressions, and it seemed that there was nowhere to write...
Fortunately, there are still many people who will count.
Zheng Baoning will count.
When his father was doing business, he had to settle accounts. If he read too much, he would also settle it. At least he had figured out all these questions.
After figuring out the question, Zheng Baoning breathed a sigh of relief, and it didn't take long for their three pieces of paper to be collected.
After Jiang Zhen saw the graffiti, he immediately dismissed them and asked He Chunsheng to give them two eggs each to send them away.
These people had no real skills, and Jiang Zhen gave them eggs again, but he didn't blame Jiang Zhen at all, and left quickly. Seeing this, Jiang Zhen looked at the rest of the papers again.
It is obviously impossible for a really learned person to help him, so these papers basically have some problems, and many people's words are not as good as his. Fortunately, some of them are not bad.
Jiang Zhen had already made up his mind to teach these people mathematics first, and then let them go to work, so he was not too picky, and finally selected 22 people.
For those who were brushed off this time, Jiang Zhen gave them three eggs each. As for the selected ones... He directly gave them five eggs, and then signed a deed with them, asking them to meet tomorrow morning. Waiting on the pier, when the time comes he will pick up someone.
Jiang Zhen and the people under Jiang Zhen are all natives of Hecheng County. Before at the dock, those yamen were very friendly to them. These people were not afraid that Jiang Zhen would deceive them. Naturally, they all agreed.
Seeing this, Jiang Zhen can be regarded as letting go of a worry.
After these people left, Jiang Zhen asked his subordinates to move all the tables, chairs and furniture in the house onto the boat and bring them back to Hexi Village.
The furniture is ready and ready for use. After cleaning up, tomorrow, he will be able to move to a new home with Brother Zhao Jin and his daughter!
For Jiang Zhen, who had lived in modern times, the new house was considered rudimentary, but at this moment, Jiang Zhen was still looking forward to moving. After all, it was much better than the current house of the Zhao family.
There are two rooms, north and south, in the building where he and Zhao Jinge live. He and Zhao Jinge live in the south, but he intends to live with his daughter in the north. The room is covered with wooden boards, and he will be able to pay it back when the time comes. Let my daughter crawl all over the floor.
Well, his pearl can't even sit now...
The house Jiang Zhen built on the pier was more than his own.
He built dormitories for his men and those sailors, and in addition to that, he built warehouses and a few classrooms.
"Boss, what are there so many tables and chairs for?" Wang Haisheng asked in confusion when he saw the layout of the classroom.
"In the future, people can come here to study." Jiang Zhen said: "Your two children can come."
"Reading?!" Wang Haisheng was surprised and delighted, and everyone else was full of joy.
They made money with Jiang Zhen, and they also thought about sending their children to study in the future, but they never thought that Jiang Zhen would actually set up a school on the dock side!