"I'm starving! Give me some money!" Zhang Jing'an's legs were trembling, it felt like there was acid churning in his stomach, and he was sweating all over. He had no time to eat from noon until now.
Fang Yun opened his hand, revealing twelve copper coins.
"Old Guo is very grateful to you and me. Even though we didn't work in the morning, he didn't deduct our money. You and I earned ten cents a day for the first three days, and I was responsible for shoveling ice, so I earned two more cents." Fang Yun said as he divided the twelve copper coins into two parts, one for seven cents and the other for five cents.
"Also, I'm the one who paid the money to the pawnshop, so you have to pay me two cents a day." Fang Yun transferred the two copper coins to his own seven copper coins.
"You still have three copper coins left, which is exactly the money for the oil cakes this morning. I'll take them all." Fang Yun said and took away all the copper coins.
Zhang Jing'an was stunned and said angrily: "Zhang Baopi! Give me back my money!" As he said that, he was about to snatch the money from Fang Yun's hand.
Fang Yun stepped back slightly, avoiding Zhang Jingan, and said, "Let's go home."
Zhang Jing'an suddenly frowned, covered his stomach, and said painfully: "I haven't eaten all day, can you let me have a meal? Although it was hard when I was a pavilion chief, I had enough food and clothes. How can I live like this now!"
Fang Yun said earnestly: "Jing'an, you have to believe in yourself. Even if you are just collecting feces, you can become the feces king of Jingzhou City and become rich."
"You..." Zhang Jing'an didn't expect the other party to make fun of him.
Fang Yun smiled, turned and left.
"I forgot to tell you that I will charge you three cents for each day you stay in Zhang's house. That means, every day when you open your eyes, you owe me three cents." Fang Yun said as he walked.
"Zhang Longxiang, you are not a human being!" Zhang Jing'an cursed.
Fang Yun turned a deaf ear and continued moving forward.
Zhang Jing'an had no choice but to follow and slowly walked towards the Zhujiang Marquis Mansion.
When he arrived at the Zhujiang Marquis Mansion, Zhang Jing'an tried every means to find snacks or fruits in each room, but found nothing. He wanted to enter the kitchen, but was stopped by the servants.
Zhang Jing'an returned to his room and soon smelled the aroma of rice. He kept swallowing his saliva and secretly walked outside the dining room. He saw Fang Yun sitting at the dining table with six dishes and a soup on it.
"I've never seen such a hateful father!" Zhang Jing'an cursed in a low voice and turned away.
Before dawn the next day, Zhang Jing'an was pulled out of bed by Fang Yun.
"Wash up immediately and come with me to work!" Fang Yun said and left.
Zhang Jing'an felt sore all over, so he washed up and walked into the dining room. He saw Fang Yun eating breakfast leisurely.
After staring at Fang Yun for a long time, Zhang Jing'an swallowed his saliva and said, "Can you give me a bowl of rice on credit? Just one bowl!"
"No!" Fang Yun said firmly.
Zhang Jing'an almost cried and said, "Isn't it enough to have just one bowl? I worked hard today. Isn't it enough? How can I work when I can't even eat? Are you trying to kill me?"
"That's true. I'm a kind-hearted person and I can't force you to death. Someone, bring two steamed buns to Jing'an. It's only one penny, and there's enough water!" Fang Yun said.
Zhang Jing'an stared at Fang Yun.
"It's good enough to have steamed buns to eat. What else do you want?" Fang Yun said and then started eating.
The hot steamed buns were soon served on the table. Zhang Jing'an was about to faint from hunger, so he didn't care that they were coarse grains. He ate them in big mouthfuls, drank water immediately when he choked, and quickly finished two steamed buns.
"Huh..." Zhang Jing'an touched his stomach. It was finally no longer empty, but he still felt hungry.
"Let's go!"
At around five in the morning, the father and son braved the cold wind and headed for Xinming Street. When they arrived at Xinming Street, it was already six in the morning, and the sky had changed from dark black to dark blue.
Lao Guo was already waiting in the house, and he led the two men to get the ox cart from yesterday, but replaced it with a new barrel.
"We have to clean up the feces in the morning. If you're lucky, you can just pour the toilet pot into the bucket. If you're unlucky and it's frozen, you can only break the ice to get it out. I'll leave the ice-breaking task to you two. You can get thirteen cents today." Lao Guo said.
Zhang Jing'an just thought about it, and the corners of his mouth twitched to the sides, revealing a look of disgust and disgust.
Fang Yun said, "Jing'an. I'll break the ice while you clean up the garbage in the afternoon, and you'll take care of the excrement in the morning. I won't treat you unfairly, I'll give you three more cents every day."
"No! I won't do such disgusting things!" said Zhang Jing'an.
Fang Yun nodded and said, "Okay, I won't force you. Old Guo, how about doing it for three cents? This kind of thing doesn't take much effort." Fang Yun said.
Lao Guo chuckled and said, "Do it! Why not do it if there are benefits to be gained?"
The three of them set off pulling the ox cart.
As Lao Guo walked, he said, "Every family gets up at a different time, so the time they take out the toilet pot is naturally different. We have to go back and forth several times. After eight o'clock, we have to knock on the door to remind those who haven't taken it out. If they still don't take it out after being reminded once, we don't have to do anything about it."
The three of them were busy from morning until nine in the morning, and when they took the feces away, it was already lunch time when they returned to Xinming Street.
After bidding farewell to Lao Guo, Fang Yun and his son returned home.
Zhang Jingan had no money, so he could only watch Fang Yun eat lunch. After lunch, the two took a nap.
Because he was too tired, Zhang Jing'an was still asleep at four o'clock in the afternoon and was forcibly dragged away by Fang Yun.
Without having lunch, Zhang Jing'an felt exhausted the whole afternoon and could only do some light work. Later, Lao Guo and Fang Yun unanimously decided to deduct his wages!
Zhang Jing'an was in tears.
The three men worked day after day, and on the tenth day, Zhang Jing'an finally couldn't bear it anymore. For the sake of three cents and to have enough food, he took the initiative to do the dirtiest work, even if it meant vomiting.
At the beginning, Zhang Jing'an thought he could take on another job, but this job alone drained his body and even his mind. He could only do his work numbly and had no energy or strength to think about anything else, let alone how to develop in the future.
Zhang Jing'an felt as if he was imprisoned by garbage and toilets, and that he could only do this business for the rest of his life.
On the morning of the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, Fang Yun and his son, along with Lao Guo, pulled a cart as usual and transported the garbage to the designated place.
"Zhang Jing'an?" A girl's voice suddenly sounded in front.
Fang Yun looked in the direction of the voice and saw a beautiful girl wearing a red cotton-padded jacket with white tassels on the edges. A phoenix jade pendant hung around her waist. The girl's face was rosy, and although she was only eleven or twelve years old, she had a delicate face.
A graceful middle-aged woman was holding the girl's hand, surrounded by many people.
"You are... Brother Long Xiang?" The middle-aged woman looked at Fang Yun in shock, and soon, the shock in her eyes turned into sympathy and regret. The same thing happened to the young girl, her eyes were full of pity.
Zhang Jing'an stared at the girl blankly. After a few breaths, his face filled with shame and anger, he let go of the manure cart, turned around and ran away.
"Do you want to get it back?" Lao Guo asked in a low voice.
However, a different kind of smile appeared on Fang Yun's lips.
"He will come back by himself, let's continue pulling the cart." Fang Yun glanced at Zhang Jing'an's back and continued to move forward.
“Brother Long Xiang, you…” The middle-aged woman hesitated, not knowing what to say at this time.
"You got the wrong person."
Fang Yun pulled the ox cart away.
.(To be continued.)
...