Pedestrians were in a hurry. Dark clouds covered the sky, and the sadness of the past was gone. Today, people were busy cutting meat and mixing noodles. Children were standing by the stove. Outside the window, it was drizzling.
People seemed to want to let the heavy rain wash away the previous hard days. When it was overcast, they bought some meat and took some vegetables home. They either fried the meat or made dumplings. Children at home swallowed their saliva and waited beside them.
When the misty rain fell, it was time to eat.
Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan were also busy. The wontons were called wontons. The wontons were stuffed with seafood, prawns, and soup boiled with shark fin. They were poured into the wontons and rolled out. Then, they put pickled mustard in the bowls, some dried shrimps, seaweed, and coriander on top of the wontons. Three bowls were carried to the table.
The old man stood aside and watched the two little guys working together tacitly. He thought the two little guys would just cook some noodles. There were already cut noodles in the kitchen, but he didn't expect that they would chop the wontons and make wontons. They were busy but not in a mess. They were so nimble.
When the three bowls were placed on the table, the old man couldn't wait to taste one of them. He ate one of them, which was fragrant and fresh. After drinking a mouthful of soup, the old man stopped. He was a little reluctant to eat it. Looking at the two kids who were slurping the soup happily, he said with a sentimental smile, "Brother,
"No wonder Bi Gou wrote in a letter that many people went to Between the Clouds and the Water. Some people went there just to eat. He also ate there every day. Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan can make such delicious food. You can imagine how good the food Between the Clouds and the Water is. No, you have to add conditions for raising and training pigeons."
Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan were eating to their heart's content. The fresh shrimps in the sea were really delicious. When they suddenly heard the old man's words, they stopped at the same time. Zhang Xiaobao still had the wonton in his mouth that he hadn't eaten yet. He reached out with his chopsticks to pick up the white chicken that was also in the pot and placed it on the old man's plate. He asked in a muffled voice, "Grandpa, what are your conditions?"
Wang Juan nodded with a piece of seaweed hanging from the corner of her mouth.
"In the future, you will have to arrange my meals for me. I can't always let Bi Gou get all the benefits." The old man was very thick-skinned. He didn't even blush when he said this.
Only then did Zhang Xiaobao swallow the Yuntun and let out a long sigh. "Grandpa, next time, don't say such things out of the blue. I almost choked. Isn't it just a meal? In the future, if grandpa wants to go out, you can go to the Ocean Wave Pavilion to eat, or have the Ocean Wave Pavilion deliver it to you. My family bought it and even brought a chef over. He's the original chef of Between the Clouds and the Water.
The chefs here were learning from him, and the waiters had also brought some over. The taste was not worse than other places, especially the seafood. They could eat it on the spot according to the old grandpa's taste. When the time came, they could customize the menu for the old grandpa. That should be fine, right? It's just a meal. Why are you so serious? It's scary. "
Wang Juan picked up some seaweed for the old man and said, "It's scary. Grandpa, eat quickly. It won't taste good if it lumps up. You can't wait until all the soup is in your mouth. If you like Yuntun, Xiao Bao and I will come here often to cook for you in the future."
The old man looked at the two kids and blinked hard. He raised his hand and rubbed the corner of his eyes with his sleeve. He stuffed the food that Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan gave him into his mouth. Then he scooped up a big Yuntun and chewed it vigorously. He was not afraid of the heat at all.
"No wonder Bi Gou said that I'm enjoying life. He must be not used to the sudden absence of two people over there. Xiao Bao, find them later. I'll live a few more years and enjoy life for a few more years. I promise I'll teach them well.
I can see that your family members must be living a comfortable life. They cook so well, and when they pick up food for me, they are so natural. This is a habit they have developed. "
The old man was a little jealous of Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan's families. He didn't know how the two families taught their children. Comparing other children with the two kids, it made all the parents in the world feel ashamed.
When Zhang Xiaobao heard the old man mention his family, he smiled happily and said, "It's comfortable. Every family member has a separate medicinal cuisine recipe. Grandpa, go to the Ocean Wave Pavilion first to familiarize yourself with it, and then you'll have it."
Wang Juan also smiled sweetly and said to the old man, "Grandpa, you were so good at that time. Why don't you find some people to train in the future? You can watch from the side. If anyone doesn't do well, you can beat or scold them. There's also a sand table. When the terrain is explored, I'll play with you. Or you can live in my house. I can chat with my grandpa and Xiao Bao's grandpa."
Wang Juan found that the old man was lonely, so she wanted to find something for him to do. There were many chess and card games at home, and there was also a gateball game. She thought that the old man wouldn't be so lonely. Her grandpa and Xiao Bao's grandpa didn't care about other people's status. They wouldn't give in to each other.
"Okay, okay, tonight I'll go to the Ocean Wave Pavilion first. There's no need to stay at your place. If you have nothing to do, you can go there and take a look. Tell me, how do you plan to manage this place? Did your father ever tell you about it? "
The old man promised Wang Juan, then looked at Zhang Xiaobao and asked.
Zhang Xiaobao swallowed the soup and nodded, "He did. In the future, everyone here will work together and set up various large and small trading companies. These companies will then form a chamber of commerce. When buying and selling things, they will negotiate the price with others. This way, we won't have to worry about others deliberately lowering the price."
"Good idea, but it's a pity that your family has to do this. In other places, the families of officials don't have such methods. Those who do have methods have to be coerced by the officials. They also have to compete with each other. It's very rare for them to work together. There aren't many big businesses here, and they just happen to lack a leader. You also don't have to worry about the government interfering.
In addition, your family has a large fleet with new sails, so it's convenient to transport goods. The goods here aren't easy to sell because there's a sea in Qinzhou and the surrounding areas. All the goods are the same. If you ship them to the capital or Sichuan and then ship them back from there, it seems that you won't be able to sell them. "
The old man heard Zhang Xiaobao's idea and felt that it was feasible. Moreover, in the future, the locals would be able to earn money and help analyze the situation. As he spoke, he found a problem. There weren't many people here, and the goods shipped back from the other side would soon be enough for the people here to stop buying.
Zhang Xiaobao saw that the old man only cared about talking and didn't eat, so he put down his chopsticks and said to the old man, "Old grandpa, do you think that when those goods are sold to a certain extent, the supply will exceed the demand? It's simple. Repair the roads. Before those goods come and go, we'll repair the roads that lead to the other places.
Since Qinzhou is blocking us, we'll repair the roads to Lianzhou, Su Maozhou, Shang Sizhou and Feng Zhou. We can build bridges in Lianzhou. The Chamber of Commerce will pay for it, and the provincial government will also pay for it. We'll have the four prefectures provide manpower, and we'll pay for it. As long as we harden our hearts, we'll be able to repair the roads in less than a year.
Wang Juan also said, "When the time comes, if they want goods from the north, there will be caravans coming here to buy them. At the same time, they'll transport the goods from the other prefectures to sell. In fact, it's just that we lack a provincial governor who's willing to suffer losses. Otherwise, we would have worked together long ago.
Only through circulation can we prosper. There's no lack of goods here, but the main thing is that there's a lack of means of circulation. This makes the cheap goods in the two prefectures become expensive. Qinzhou is blocking us, so when the time comes, we'll use the same method to block them. We don't have to do anything, and the local merchants will force the provincial governor of Qinzhou to come and ask for peace. "
The old man understood now. He looked at Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan and said, "You two have learned a lot. It's a pity that I don't know much. Otherwise, I'd teach you well. Just like Bi Gou, it's hard to find a good teacher, but it's also hard to find a good disciple. I know about the other prefectures, but Su Maozhou and Lianzhou are on the opposite side of the sea. Why don't we just ship them over to sell them?"
The old man didn't know much about business. It was mainly because business was related to politics. He didn't know what political economy was, so he could only ask. Who asked these two children to be taught by an expert at home?
Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan knew why. Earning money wasn't the goal. Helping Zhang Zhong was the most important. Wang Juan said to the old man, "Actually, it's on purpose. If not, why would we build roads? We let them come over to buy the goods to increase the circulation and increase the floating population of our prefecture. These people need to eat and stay in hotels.
There are also caravans that will arrange for people to wait for the goods here. This requires a special department to appear and act as a middleman. Some people feel that our prefecture is good, so they will stay and live here. At the same time, it's also a form of attraction to the people in the mountains. I don't believe that they won't want to live a better life. "
Now the old man understood. Everything was to accumulate political achievements for Zhang Zhong. The financial resources of the Zhang family had always been used by Zhang Zhong. People couldn't help but admire the effort that the Zhang family had put in for Zhang Zhong. They even made a little loss in business, such as cooperating with the locals, which would make the Zhang family earn less. Even so, they had to bear the burden and pave the way for Zhang Zhong.
Thinking of this method, the old man couldn't stay still and ate faster. The reason why Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan didn't finish eating was that they were waiting for the old man. When accompanying guests or elders to eat, the host and the younger generation couldn't finish eating first. It was very impolite.
Seeing that the old man had finished eating, the two of them sped up. Just as the old man finished eating, the two of them also finished eating. They began to clean up the dishes and put them in the kitchen. There was no need to care about them. The old man had someone to wash the dishes for him.
The old man found that he couldn't find any fault with the two children. He just liked them. He took the tea made by Wang Juan and sat there, sighing with emotion.
"If the people in the world could be like the two of you, then our Tang Empire wouldn't have to worry about the surrounding countries. I have to write down this method and send it to Master. Let's see if Master can understand it and learn to find a way out for the people there."
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