Xingzi glanced at Mother Lin and then said in a low voice: "The eldest brother called a car and sent dad to Aunt Liu. Two yuan a month, rice, noodles and oil... Dad's food and drink are given to our family on a monthly basis."

.”

Mother Lin curled her lips: "This woman has always been shrewd. This is because she has figured out your brother's temper and knows that he will not bear the grievance of kissing me. How about giving food to me, where can I find the right one? It will only be more, not less. Just give me more."

Yes, it’s enough for her to chew. These two dollars won’t just fall into her own pocket. She can coax your Ama to buy her a house, and sometimes coax you to buy some small jewelry, more than ten dollars.

Over the years, I have saved a lot. Now, thanks to you, Amma, I have earned enough money for retirement..."

"Mom!" Xingzi looked at Lin Yutong's face carefully, and then said: "She is a woman with no children, no daughters, and no husband. If she doesn't even have this little selfishness, she would be a fool. You are different from her, it doesn't matter.

It’s like that.”

Mother Lin stopped talking.

Lin Yutong smiled and pulled Xingzi to the kitchen and told her how to braise pork. Mother Lin watched and learned with interest, and asked Lin Yutong in a low voice: "Have you told my uncle about this?"

"What's the matter?" Lin Yutong was a little confused.

Mother Lin looked at the study carefully and said, "This recipe is something that has been passed down from generation to generation. If you just give it to Xingzi, I will agree to it. You have thought about it, keep this recipe at home, and rely on this craftsmanship

, generation after generation cannot stand poverty."

If my child could survive by eating the old man's braised meat, he and the fourth master would have died head-on.

She waved her hand: "I can make the decision on this matter. It's okay!"

Only then did Xingzi realize how unreliable her request was. She was thinking of not asking her eldest sister to subsidize her, but she just took away the family heirloom golden doll: "Sister... I don't know."

Lin Yutong didn't care about this: "With this skill, you can straighten up wherever you marry in the future." The dowry is not as important as the skill.

In the evening, the whole yard was filled with the aroma of braised pork. Lin Yutong fished out some, cut it into pieces, and asked Xingzi to give some to his friends. When Lin Yuhuai and Yang Zi came back, they came directly. The meal was served by Lin Yutong.

Eat here.

At the dinner table, Lin Yuhuai and the fourth master had two drinks, and Lin Yutong heard the two whispering about Dong Fan.

"...He often sells some antique calligraphy and paintings to foreigners, and they are not all genuine. Most of them are old goods burned in wild kilns outside the city." Lin Yuhuai turned the wine glass in his hand and took another one.

He put a pile of money in front of Fourth Master and said, "Here's the two hundred yuan. It's not used. You can put it away."

The fourth master laughed: "Did you sell that porcelain piece?"

Lin Yuhuai laughed: "Yeah! The porcelain pieces were sold for two hundred and fifty yuan. I paid off the debt owed by the master and got dozens of dollars richer." After saying that, he gave the remaining money to Xingzi, "

This will give you the capital to do business."

Xingzi wiped her hands on her clothes again, then grabbed the money and didn't know what to do.

Lin Yutong added some soup to the fourth master, and Lin Yuhuai lowered his voice and said to the fourth master: "I met Dong Fan by the way today. This guy is very smart. He promised me that he doesn't know anything and won't say anything.

"

"Is it credible?" Fourth Master asked.

"His wife has never given birth. A few years ago, he raised a female student. Now he has two sons, both of whom are raised outside the house. He doesn't like to offend anyone, for fear of pushing someone into a hurry and attacking the children.

." Lin Yuhuai snorted, "Of course we can't do this, but he feels guilty. He told me that the woman who went to his store today has been asking about people who learn antique packaging in Liulichang."

"He said it?" Fourth Master said firmly.

Lin Yuhuai nodded: "The woman bought three thousand yuan worth of fake stuff in his store, and he told her everything about pouring beans through a bamboo tube."

Fourth Master frowned: "This person... is really untrustworthy. So... you can find time to see him again tomorrow and tell him that this may be an opportunity for him to go further. As long as the Japanese people are interested in cultural relics,

If he repays the favor to his master, it will be a great achievement for him. It will be more effective than giving him any treasure."

Lin Yuhuai suddenly realized: "This guy turns out to be an official fan. If so, it would be easy to handle. I will tell him to keep his mouth shut and not dare to say more than a word."

If we are on guard, nothing will happen. Then I heard that the bandits along the railway line had been attacked by real people. It goes without saying that this was to clear the way for cultural relics to move south.

This year’s New Year has arrived in such an atmosphere.

Rich people are very particular about celebrating the New Year. People without money have a really hard time celebrating the New Year.

Xingzi's braised pork business was particularly prosperous the year before. There are many delicious restaurants that must be booked in advance. The Lin family's yard is filled with the smell of braised pork every day. For several days in a row, the daily income has been around one yuan.

.Some people who can't afford meat come here with a cent or two to buy a jar of marinade and use the juice to stew a pot of cabbage and potatoes. It's also very fragrant. Even the Lin family is better.

Come here. Lin Yuhuai doesn’t charge any money and delivers a lot every day. In fact, braised pork must use an old soup base. The older the soup base, the better it tastes. Nowadays, we don’t pay attention to this anymore.

On New Year's Eve, some people had an early lunch, simply offered sacrifices, and then quickly posted the couplets.

When Lin Yutong and Fourth Master went out to post couplets, there was a man wearing a fur coat and fur hat standing in the yard. He rubbed his hands and looked at the door of this house and the door of that house. Behind him was a young man in his twenties.

, like a little boy. The two masters and servants, not talking about the Lin family, didn't know what they were doing wandering around the yard.

The two people also saw Fourth Master and Lin Yutong, so they came forward with smiles on their faces: "Are they Fourth Master Jin and Mr. Lin?"

Fourth Master nodded: "I wonder who you are looking for?"

"Ouch!" The man looked bitter, "You don't know how difficult it is to do business these days. We are also doing a business that relies on one hand for two families, but it's the end of the year... we can't collect the money.

Come up, you asked me how to deal with other people's creditors? Look, every household has posted couplets and closed the door to celebrate the New Year. What does this mean? According to the rules, if you have debts at the end of the year, you cannot collect debts at the beginning of the year.

After entering the twelfth lunar month gate, I came to remind me every day. I said that the debt could not be repaid, so I should settle the interest at least. These people promised well, but they just kept pushing back day by day, telling me that the end of the year

I must have done it before. Look, it’s only noon, and they started to celebrate the New Year as soon as they posted couplets. Where can I go to ask for debt? They are celebrating the New Year, and I can’t survive this year. How can I explain to others? Next year they will come again

I want to borrow money, where can I go to exchange it for them? It’s not difficult to borrow money and borrow it again, isn’t that true?” His voice was loud, as if he was afraid that the people who had borrowed the money but had not paid it back would not be heard. Then he whispered again.

He said, "Fourth Master Jin, we know that you are a wealthy owner. So, if you have any spare money, you can leave it to me, and I will never let you suffer any loss."

"Ouch! Who do I think you are?" Lin Yuhuai came out of the house, stood on the steps and leaned against the wall and sneered, "It turns out it's you donkey shit! What do you mean by shouting so loudly at my door?"

"It's Mr. Huai!" Lu Fen knows best who can offend and who can't offend. He has always stayed away from anyone who dares to risk his life. He clasped his fists and said, "Happy New Year to you! I'm not on an errand.

Isn't it over? What can I do? Poor man. If you have spare money, you can also give it to me. I will definitely be figured out by you. It's 'short position', 'plus five system', 'seed profit',

'According to the price', 'according to the price', any of those will do!"

"Short position", "plus five system", "seed profit", "post profit" and "price based" are all forms of loan sharking nowadays. The interest rate of the plus five system is five tenths per year. If you can't pay it back, you can

Rolling calculation is what everyone calls "rolling profit calculation". "Price-based" is even more cruel. According to the price, the price will be paid if it goes up or not. In March, the price will be returned in May, and if it is not paid in May, the price will be paid again. For example,

A landowner lent a farmer two stones and five bushels of sesame seeds last year, which he immediately converted into five stones of corn. The next summer harvest, the price of corn was high and the price of salt was low, and the corn was converted into six hundred kilograms of salt. In the autumn of the same year, the price of salt was low and the price of corn was soaring.

, and broke the salt into twenty-four stones of corn, and the interest in one year was four times the debt. The popular sayings of "one year's profit" and "one year's light" are referring to this usury based on the price. Because

This loan sharking has caused many families to be ruined and their lives to be ruined.

Lin Yuhuai chuckled: "I'm talking about donkey shit, you have done less dirty things in recent years. Just restrain yourself, don't really give birth to a son with no butt|eyes."

The annoyance on Lu Fen's face flashed away, he smiled awkwardly, held his hand to the Fourth Master and left neatly.

Lin Yuhuai said to Fourth Master and Lin Yutong this time: "This bastard has a dark heart. All the profit in our area is fighting profit. Who can resist this thing?"

Like Dou Li, you have to double the amount when you pay it back.

"Doubling a year?" Lin Yutong asked.

Lin Yuhuai shook his head: "It depends on how much you borrow. If you borrow less, it will double in a month."

That is to say, if you borrow one yuan this month, you have to pay back two yuan. If you don't pay it back, it will be four yuan in the third month, eight yuan in the fourth month, and so on.

This is too cruel!

"At the beginning of the year, we killed a whole family." Lin Yuhuai pointed out, "The old Zhao family in the alleyway borrowed three yuan when the man was sick, and it turned out to be a huge sum in half a year. This thing forced

The daughter-in-law went to the kiln to make money to pay off debts, and she also wanted to sell his daughter-in-law. The daughter-in-law agreed that day, but ended up going to the drugstore to buy a pack of rat poison and feed it to the man's child. She was killed in front of the house.

It is natural to pay back debts. Two people went to the police station to have a look, and the matter was over. There is no such thing as donkey excrement. Year after year, I still make less money."

Yang Zi stepped out from behind Huaizi and asked Fourth Master: "Is this the exploitation Mr. Bai said?"

Mr. Bai, I mean Bai Kun.

The Fourth Master nodded, if this is not considered exploitation, then what is. It’s not that the Labor Party is good at inciting people, and if their ideas don’t resonate, it’s useless for anyone to say anything. If you haven’t suffered from it, you don’t know the pain!

Nowadays, the Lin family school has become a propaganda ground for Bai Kun. Children like Yang Zi have an obvious tendency to hate in their hearts.

Lin Yuhuai smiled and patted Yang Zi, "Did you deliver the dumplings for Amma?"

Yang Zi nodded: "Sent it away. Life is pretty good over there. When I went there, I saw Aunt Liu making dumplings with mutton fillings." When she saw him coming in, she quickly covered them with a lid.

.

Lin Yuhuai said to Fourth Master and Lin Yutong: "You should go back quickly. It's very cold outside. It looks like it's going to snow again."

Even though the two families are next to each other, everyone celebrates New Year's Eve in their own way. The old rules cannot be broken. The Lin family is the Lin family, and the Yin family is the Yin family. In future generations, there will never be a situation where a son-in-law spends the New Year at his mother-in-law's house.

Lin Yutong returned to the house, and then divided the dumplings, cut meat, and cooked dishes that had been made long ago, and asked the fourth master to deliver them to Bai Kun and Bai Yuan's uncle and nephew.

In the evening, snow started to fall from the sky. Every household was celebrating the New Year at home. But the sound of firecrackers was rarely heard. The occasional ones seemed to be far away from here. Nowadays, during the New Year, having a dumpling meal is just the beginning of the New Year.

Many people don’t have a New Year’s Eve dinner. They save some good ones and have to wait until the first day of the Lunar New Year.

Lin Yutong didn't feel sorry for herself and her fourth master. Recently, she always smelled of braised meat, which was very disgusting. She only made leek fillings and pickled cabbage fillings for her own.

The two sat opposite each other, occasionally sipping a sip of wine. There was a strong fire in the room, and the warmth on the kang was warm.

"Everything is fine living like this, but I'm a little... lonely." The fourth master took a few sips of wine and felt a little dizzy, "You said it would be great if you had children, how lively the house would be right now."

People live their lives with hope. If people no longer have the heart to rush for their children, they will have no hope.
To be continued...