Chapter 52 Businessman

By the river more than 100 miles southwest of Xiangcheng, several wooden water trucks are "squeaking and creaking". By the riverside is a seemingly simple farmyard. In the yard separated by the fence wall, there are more than a dozen thatched huts. It is barely covered with yellow mud on the fence wall of the house, and several chimneys on the thatched shed in the yard are scorched smoke. .

Dozens of workers by the river are busy loading a waterwheel with an iron shaft wooden wheel on the frame. This is the fourth waterwheel of Jitiefang and the first iron shaft waterwheel. When the waterwheel was picked up, most of the onlookers were admiring.

Opposite this simple "iron workshop", there are some people standing to watch the bustle. Facing this scene, they are envious and talking about it.

"The ancestral grave of the Xu family is good, make a fortune together!"

"What kind of ancestral grave is good? It's not a loss to Xiao Xuanzi. This child is so clever that he doesn't laugh or talk when he sees people. But it doesn't matter what it is. As long as it falls into his eyes, he will definitely learn it.

"He has a craftsman's eye in his eyes. He went to the city to deliver the goods half a year ago. As a result, he got the waterwheel back. The waterwheel turned and cobbled. The flow was still water. It was silver!"

"Listen to me, the Xu family can't last long. I heard that Xiao Xuanzi wants to live and want to go out to read some foreign books!"

While others were boasting like this, although shopkeeper Xu of Tiefang had a smile on his face, he stared at Zheng Qixuan, who was standing there greeting the craftsman's iron waterwheel, but he could sigh helplessly. Then he shook his head with a trace of hesitation. He looked up at the sky, took a breath, and walked to Tiefang. Go.

Xu Changmao entered the shop, and his wife stretched out her face to ask.

"What kind of foreign books do you really want Xiao Xuanzi to read in Wuhan?"

Xu Changmao lowered his head but didn't say anything.

"Hmm!"

Seeing that he didn't look well, Xu Li grabbed the dry pipe and handed it over. Xu Changmao took it absent-mindedly and took a few sips.

"It's still what Xiao Xuanzi said. The things of foreigners are easy to use. Even the emperor likes things of foreigners. No matter what he does in the future, he must rely on the things of foreigners. Xiao Xuanzi's child is shrewd and can learn things outside."

Xu Li saw what he said, but there was hesitation on his face.

"But as you said, the shop can't be separated from Xiao Xuanzi. If it weren't for Xiao Xuanzi, wouldn't Xu Ji still be the little iron shop!"

Listening to his daughter-in-law's words, Xu Changmao turned around, then turned around and looked at his wife fiercely.

"Women, what do you know!"

Xu Li subconsciously covered her face, and then looked at her husband, but she didn't say anything more... In the afternoon, there was a banquet in the room of the Xu family. The delivery box of vegetables in the restaurant is put aside. Although Xu Changmao's family is not luxurious, it is also a wealthy family. After all, it is also a merchant family that has opened a blacksmith shop for decades, and the decoration of the house is naturally good.

In the yard, Xu Changmao's eldest son sat on a pony and wrote a big imitation. The desk was a small stool, and he looked seven or eight years old. The youngest son is five or six years old and is pumping the top.

Looking at Zheng Qixuan, who set up the waterwheel, entering the courtyard, he came to his eldest son who was writing and touched his head. "Brother, write well and read well. In the future, the Xu family's family business will depend on you! When you get into a foreign school in the future, get a foreign scholar, and you can go back..."

The eldest son will stop writing and raise his head to say.

"Brother Xuanzi, my father said that as long as I have you at home, my two brothers will break their arms and feet in their lives and will not be hungry. I will go to Yangxue School in the future, and I will not be able to catch up with Brother Xuanzi."

Zheng Qixuan smiled and looked at the dishes in the hall. First, he was stunned.

"Your father is angry with you. If you play, you will know how to play crazy. Everyone has to sue himself. Brother, when you grow up, you will understand that everyone depends on themselves. Write well." "

At this time, Xu Changmao has come out of the side room.

"Xuanzi, the waterwheel frame is ready. Come and have a cup of our master to drink!"

Zheng Qixuan hurried forward.

"Uncle, why do you still invite me to dinner!"

Xu Changmao smiled.

"In the past two years, if Xu Ji didn't have you, he would not be as good as he is now. The uncle has to treat you to this meal no matter what!"

With that, Zheng Qixuan followed Xu Changmao into the house.

Xu Changmao, who is an elder and the owner of the shopkeeper, naturally sat on his right head and stretched out his hand to let Zheng Qixuan sit on the next chair.

Looking at his seat, Zheng Qixuan said with a smile.

"Uncle, we are one generation apart. I'll sit in front of you so that I can pour you wine."

He casually moved a stool and sat in the corner of the table, leaning against Xu Changmao, with continued respect.

Xu Changmao stretched out his hand to hold the wine pot. Zheng Qixuan grabbed it in front and pressed Xu Changmao's hand.

"Uncle, if I hadn't been old without you, I would have starved to death. I was so busy in the shop all day, and I could have to pour a drink for you."

He poured the wine with a very respectful expression, like a listener.

Xu Changmao nodded.

"In the past two years, I said that I rewarded you with hunger, but it was also you who rewarded the Xu family with food. You are also full. I respect you as an uncle."

Zheng Qixuan was stunned when he heard this.

"Uncle, father and son are different, uncle and nephew don't drink, this rule can't be broken. Drink it, uncle. I'll bring it to you.

He said and picked up the wine. Xu Changmao took a look at Zheng Qixuan, sighed, and drank it all.

Zheng Qixuan then drank wine for Xu Changmao.

Xu Changmao took a sip of wine and sighed.

"Xuanzi, we have been getting along with each other for almost ten years. I, the Xu family, don't know which life has accumulated virtue. Of course, I actually left you in the shop. Obviously, he is a scholar, but he can do things, and ten of your uncles can't catch up with you!"

After saying that, he shook his head and sighed.

Zheng Qixuan filled him with a glass of wine, and then said.

"Uncle, I can't talk about it. A little blacksmith, what's the ability to say! All I know is that if I don't have Uncle Xu's kindness and take me in again, my mother and I will die in the morning, so I will do it desperately.

Zheng Qixuan's words are powerful. He not only sold strength in the Xu family, but also remembered the kindness of the Xu family in his heart.

Xu Changmao smiled.

"By the way, uncle's shop has delayed your future in the past few years!"

As soon as his voice fell, he took out a small stack of banknotes from his arms, all of which were ten yuan, as many as a hundred. Looking at the ticket, Zheng Qixuan looked at Uncle Xu and said aggrievedly.

"Uncle, you... do you dislike me?"

Xu Changmao shook his head and said while drinking wine.

"It's not that I don't like you, Xuanzi, your uncle is a sensible person. I know that Xu Ji's small shop can't tolerate your heart. The previous ones, you mentioned that you thought of learning foreign things in the foreign school, and your uncle thought that's the same reason! How much money has the shop earned in the past six months? You know, our shop has made a list of political axes, wrapping materials, and a lump of iron pimples for a dime. It's a profit. It's more than 50 yuan a day. This is one thousand taels, which can be regarded as a dish given to you by my uncle!"

Zheng Qixuan looked at the money and looked at Uncle Xu's expression. If he had not drunk, he drank a glass of wine, and then put down the glass and said something.

"Uncle, I just said casually that my book has been left for several years, so I can go to Ziyang School. If it's uncle, you don't think I don't have the strength, and I will do it in Xu Ji all my life!"

Xu Changmao was shocked and looked at Zheng Qixuan for a long time and said nothing.

Zheng Qixuan stood up and saluted Xu Changmao.

"Uncle, if you don't mind me, let's say so!"

After dinner, when Zheng Qixuan left the house, Xu Changmao looked at his back when the door was closed, nodded meaningfully and said to himself.

"It's only sixteen!"

There are six iron furnaces in the shed, and standard factory ingots are neatly placed next to the iron furnace. Anyone can see that this is a simple iron workshop.

"Pi, Pi..."

The bellows next to the iron furnace are not ordinary pullers. Instead, a thick bamboo is stuck on the bellows handle. With the rotation of the waterwheel shaft, it keeps pulling the bellows by the rotation of several boards. This small improvement saves a lot of manpower. The large pieces of iron in the iron furnace have turned red and soft under the action of coke. Workers dressed in sweat put iron molds in front of the iron furnace. Unlike other workshops, pliers cast iron hard molds are used here.

Picking up a fist-sized iron sleeve from the basket, Zheng Qixuan glanced at it a few times, and his expression became difficult to look at.

"There are too many trachoma, and the heat is not good. This furnace is all smashed, stuffed into the stove, and recast!"

"Xuanzi, why don't we choose again..."

Master Wen looked at Zheng Qixuan, who had just become a shopkeeper, and said that everyone knew that Xuanzi was careful about life. He recognized the original sixteenth child's brain, but now he is the shopkeeper, but he is not convinced. That's why he got the stove sandeye.

"What to choose! I said I would smash it. What kind of work is this? In this case, it's a shame to pull it out. It's sharp, and it's all smashed!"

Everyone was angry when they saw him. Although he was young, he was also a shopkeeper after all. They were more or less afraid. Da Genzi stood up and said.

"Aren't you listening to the shopkeeper? Hurry up and work!"

Seeing that everyone was busy, Zheng Qixuan snorted coldly and stared at Wen Changying. First, he frowned, and then sighed.

"Master Wen, don't blame me..."

In his heart, Zheng Qixuan has made up his mind to resign from this person.

"Xuanzi,"

Xu Changmao, who had just entered the workshop, looked at this scene and knew that he was afraid that someone bullied Xuanzi, but he pretended not to see it.

"The owner!"

At the sight of the owner coming in, Zheng Qixuan's anger decreased a little, and his eyebrows also fell down.

"Have you seen the newsprint?"

"Huh?"

Zheng Qixuan was stunned. He really didn't come to read the newsprint today.

"The newsprint said that Yiteng Bowen went to Nanjing to make peace, and we didn't fight in the northeast... You said this..."

Xu Changmao's eyes looked at the baskets of iron sets in the yard, and the wooden sticks piled up like hills over there. What is this iron thing used for? He knew that it was all for war on the front line. There was no war in front, and Xu Ji's business... When he heard this news, Zheng Qixuan didn't think about anything.

"Uncle, it's okay. Don't listen to the newsprint. This is all the news five days ago. Yesterday, Section Chief Chen of the county, didn't you send us a list of 30,000 yuan this month!"

"Then ask for peace and negotiate, and stop the fire, then..."

"Uncle, the soldiers are not tired of cheating. Who talks only with their mouths."

(to be continued)