Looking up at the stars in 1946

Chapter 14

Qi Si finished his tea first, glanced at the teacup, and said, "This time the Maojian is better than last time, with less impurities and a fresh taste."

Master Lu nodded, and replied: "Acquaintance brought it from the pass. He passed by Xinyang, so I asked him to bring some. I also packed some for you. I will take it back this afternoon."

Qi Si asked, "How is the situation in the pass? Where did the Southern Army go?"

Master Lu clicked his tongue and said, "What are you fighting for? Just passed through Hubei, and then there was a rebellion in the nest. Now it's a mess."

Qi Si was a little surprised and asked, "Who is against whom?"

Master Lu said: "Who knows? It's just that the Yangtze River is in chaos now! People die every day!"

Qi Si's face was a little gloomy, and he said for a while, "It's better to be this lump, without those troops, and without those crap things."

Master Lu took another sip of tea, and the old man said, "I can't tell! When I was young, the Japanese hit Fengtian and killed tens of thousands of people in Lushun! Tsk! This person, as long as he lives for one day, he will die again!" Where is it really safe?"

Qi Si also added some tea for himself, and said, "There are Marshal Zhang on the left and right, so please relax."

Master Lu waved his hand, and said, "Don't talk about the bumps, how is Feng Niang doing recently? Where's the eldest sister? It's rare to come here, why don't you bring it here for fun?"

Qi Si said, "Bring it over next time."

Master Lu smiled, squinted his eyes and said, "Eldest sister is over a year old, you two don't want one anymore?"

Qi Si had a headache, "My mother is also urging this matter. The seeds will be planted soon, so let's wait for this period of time!"

Master Lu nodded, "That's the same reason, business is what matters. Your father is unreliable, and the Qi family still needs you to support them. The seeds are ready for you, and they are all in the yard."

Just as he was talking, Mrs. Lu Wang came in and called his father and father out for dinner.

The meal passed away amidst chatting and laughing, Mr. Lu said, Mrs. Lu laughed, Qi Si just watched silently, occasionally adding a sentence.After eating, Qi Si remembered that he asked Han Yan to wait at the door, and seeing that there was still a lot of food left on the table, he asked the girl to pack up a bowl and send it to him.

After drinking a few cups of tea, Sun Tong came back after shopping.Qi Si asked someone to bring him two wotou, with pickles and sauce in the middle, which was also delicious.Qi Si asked Sun Tong to rest beside him, and directed Han Yan and the staff in the pharmacy to move things.The gifts and seeds to be brought back to the Qi family compound were piled in the compartment, and the others were piled at the door for easy access.

Han Yan looks small and can't hold heavy things, but he is flexible and won't hold others back.

Qi Si asked Ah Fu to stop a rickshaw, greeted Mr. Lu and Mrs. Lu, got in the car and walked to the gambling house on the East Street.Sun Tong ate the corn bread in two or three mouthfuls, greeted Han Yan and got into the carriage, and drove around with the flag.

Han Yan saw that the road did not go to the city gate, but turned in the opposite direction, a little strange, and asked, "Master Sun, where is Fourth Master going?"

Sun Tong said: "You don't know yet, this is going to a gambling house."

"Gambling shop?" Han Yan asked in surprise.

Sun Tong nodded, "The other two masters in the Qi master village opened it together, and the fourth master will come to see it every month." At the end, he turned to the big sack behind the curtain of the car and whispered, "Send some goods .”

Han Yan seemed to understand but didn't understand. He didn't say much when he saw Sun Tong, and he didn't ask too much.

The rickshaw turned into a street while walking, and Sun Tong drove the carriage to follow.The street is a little small, and the carriage can barely squeeze in. Fortunately, the end of the street is accessible, otherwise I really don't know how to turn it out.

Qi Si stopped at a small gate, and a servant was already there to meet him.Seeing Qi Si get out of the car, the man quickly trotted forward, bowed and shouted: "Young Master."

Qi Si glanced at him and agreed, then turned around and gave the driver the fare to let him go.

Han Yan saw that Qisi had got off the car, so he quickly jumped off and waited beside him.Without Qi Si's instructions, Sun Tong lifted the sack from the car door.The man hurried over and said, "Hey, Master Sun, let me come let me come." He quickly took the sack, as if he was holding a treasure, and followed Qi Si into the door.

As soon as they entered, the door closed with a bang.

Sun Tong said to Han Yan: "Let's wait for Fourth Master in the car, it will take a while!"

Han Yan stretched out his head to look at the small closed door, and asked curiously, "Is this the casino?"

Sun Tong said: "This is the back door, and the front door is on another street."

Han Yan nodded, jumped into the carriage again, sat down on the board, dangling with two bean sprout-like legs.

The gambling shop has been in operation for eight years, and there is no rest throughout the year. The more people come and go during the Chinese New Year and the holidays, usually there are more hooligans and some immature ones who have been tempted to come here to try their luck. Prodigal son brother, these are often new faces.

The surname of Guan Gambling is Zhao. He has a whole body of tendon and a fierce face. He looks scary. He is a well-known gangster in this area. Everyone calls him Zhao Da.

When Zhao Da was young, he received the kindness of Master Qi, and had a close friendship with Master Qi.He is a local snake, powerful but not rich, Master Qi is a rural landowner, rich but not powerful.Master Qi is a keen eye, knowing that he has a lot of contacts in the county and knows a lot of people, so he lured him into the gambling house, promised him two dividends every month, and let him look after the shop.On the other hand, I pick one or two days a month to come to the county town to go to the county town, look through the accounts, and share the money.However, since suffering from Hualiu disease last year, Master Qi no longer went to the city, and only asked Qi Si to come to the gambling house on time to have a look.

Qi Si entered through the back door of the casino, and Zhao Da was already waiting for him inside.Seeing him coming in, he also sat still and just called out "Young Master".

Qi Si responded, and called "Uncle Zhao", then flipped up his robe and sat on the high chair, asking, "How is the business in the workshop recently?"

Zhao Da said: "It's normal, it's just that Big Tobacco may buy more next month, and there are more people buying recently, so the goods are a bit tight. Then, young master, this is the bill for this month."

Qi Si took it over without any hassle.Afterwards, he began to follow Master Banner to inspect the edge of Yuanmao Tun and to watch the business in the gambling house, and he was already familiar with these things.He flipped through a few pages and knew what was going on. He didn't ask too many questions after seeing that it wasn't out of the ordinary.He just explained: "I sold a batch to the Western Hospital a while ago, so there are fewer. This time I didn't bring much. Next time, I have to wait for this year's harvest. Big smoke is a greedy person." , If you smoke, you can’t quit. There are too few porridge and there are too many monks, so we can’t supply it indefinitely. Please, Uncle Zhao, watch people carefully and choose to sell. After all, we are running a gambling shop, so don’t ruin the serious business.”

Zhao Da patted his chest and said: "Okay! Young master, I will do whatever you say, and I am a poor man."

Qi Si paused, and then said: "That's not the case, Uncle Zhao, you are capable, and my father also said, don't let a small gambling house hold you back, and go to Yuanmao Village if you have free time."

Zhao laughed and said, "That's good, I'll definitely go tomorrow."

Qi Si was too lazy to stay in the workshop, talked to Zhao Daxu and Wei Snake, got up and left after a few words.Zhao Da called an errand runner to deliver Qi Si to the back door.Qi Si said: "I can go back by myself, the business in the workshop has to be taken care of."

As soon as Qi Si came out from the back door, Han Yan jumped down and called out in a polite manner: "Fourth Lord."

Qi Si glanced at him, opened the curtain of the car and went in.After a while, he uncovered half of his face again, and said to Han Yan, "Get in the car and sit."

Han Yan subconsciously glanced at Sun Tong, saw that he also looked puzzled, and didn't dare to ask more questions, so he climbed into the carriage in a panic.

There is a lot of space in the carriage, even if Han Yan lay flat, there would still be a surplus.A light blue cotton blanket was spread on the car floor, and there was also a small Kang table. Qi Si leaned on the Kang table with one elbow, and looked at Han Yan with his face up. In the corner beside him were neatly piled up A few packages of goods in order.

Han Yan looked uncomfortable.Only then did he realize that the car was wrapped with blue woolen cloth, and once the curtain was closed, it was tightly surrounded, and even the sound outside the car was much quieter.

Han Yan still propped his hands on the blanket, his knees were on the ground, and his feet were left outside. He looked up at Qi Si and said:

"Fourth Master, why don't I go out, look at my dirty shoes, don't trample your blanket dirty."

Han Yan's clothes were a bit wide, and he was fine when he was standing, but now he was lying on his stomach, and when his collar was opened, most of his neck and collarbone were exposed.

Qi Si was stunned for a while, then said: "It's okay, you come in and sit down, I have something to tell you."

Only then did Han Yan carefully find a corner farthest from Qi Si and sit down, not forgetting to fasten his clothes tightly.

Qi Si said: "When you and your father came to pay the rent a while ago, I told you that I lacked a laborer here, and I brought you here today to let you see what kind of work you are here for, you understand. Is it?"

Han Yan was dumbfounded.

Qi Si saw that he couldn't pick it up, so he had to finish talking by himself: "See the bag that was sent in just now? That's opium. There is a piece of land in the back mountain of the Qi family compound that grows opium, and it will be sown tomorrow. , then you can help. I will let Lao Li tell you what to do when I go back today."

Han Yan knew what opium was. Several peasants in Yuanmao Village had smoked opium. Every day, they nestled on the kang and swallowed clouds and mist.Han Yan's heart sank a bit, this incident made his immature heart feel very uncomfortable.He stared at Qi Si with his black round eyes, and there was a hint of reluctance and condemnation in it.

Qi Si saw it and pretended not to know.He knew that it was up to Han Yan whether he wanted to or not.He deliberately added a sentence: "If you harvest this season's big fireworks, the land rent will be settled."

Han Yan blinked, and was a little happy again, and said, "Okay."

Qi Si looked at him, thinking that when the flowers bloomed, he should be able to harvest them too.