Chapter 145 Collusion

The family began to build a house, and someone had to keep an eye on it at all times, so Ye Anyian and Jiang Zhu took turns going to town.

　　However, Jiang Zhu was a little worried about Ye Anyian being alone, so he asked him to take Zhao Le with him. He couldn't come back too late in the afternoon and had to get home before dark.

　　On this day, it was Jiang Zhu's turn to go to town again, while Ye Anyian stayed at home to keep an eye on the progress of the craftsmen and make lunch on the way.

　　When they first discussed wages, they calculated them based on days, and they didn't care about lunch at noon. But Zhang Minjiang had helped them renovate their shop before, and he worked quickly and steadfastly, and they were acquaintances. Ye Anian watched them hug each other at noon. Eating dry steamed buns and pancakes is somewhat unbearable.

　　So they discussed with Jiang Zhu that they would stew a large pot of food at noon, make more pancakes or steam buns, and ask these craftsmen to eat with them.

　　At first, the craftsmen refused, and Craftsman Zhang Min took the lead in refusing. They went out to work, and if they had not made an agreement with the master to take care of the food, they would not eat the master's food at noon.

　　But they couldn't help but persuaded them, telling them that they could continue to bring their own dry food, but they could eat vegetables together. If someone didn't have enough dry food, they could also eat pancakes, steamed buns and the like.

　　After saying this, Zhang Minjiang reluctantly agreed, but he also asked the eight workers to bring enough dry food by themselves and not to think about taking advantage.

　　The nine people worked very quickly, laying foundations, building walls, and erecting pillars. Obvious progress could be seen almost every day.

　　After Ye Anian saw Jiang Zhu off in the morning, he went into the house and made wood carvings for a while, and started preparing a big pot of stew at almost noon.

　　It's easy to make a big pot dish. Wash potatoes, cabbage, wide vermicelli, and fat and thin pork belly. Add them to the pot, add water, add oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar and other seasonings, and turn on the fire. Get up, simmer and it's ready.

　　To paste the pancakes, mix the cornmeal in advance, knead the dough with your hands and pat it to the edge of the pot, one next to another in a circle. When the vegetables are cooked, the pancakes will also be cooked, and the meat and vegetables will be smoked into it. Fragrant, with crispy rice crackers on one side and soft pancakes on the other, it is very popular with vegetables.

　　He was busy cooking, and the craftsmen in the yard were working noisily. Fuzai and Dingqiu went out early in the morning, saying they were going with Shitou to cut some hay to make food reserves for the rabbits.

As soon as the vegetables and meat vermicelli were stewed together in the pot, I heard a burst of excited barking of dogs outside, accompanied by Fu Zai's "brother" and "brother".

　　Ye Annian put the lid on the pot, wiped his hands and went out. He saw the copper coins rushing in at the lead, with a fat rabbit in his mouth.

　　Fu Zai and Ding Qiu followed behind, each carrying a tied pheasant.

　　"Did you catch them?" Ye Annian was a little surprised. Didn't the three children go out to cut the grass? Why did you bring so many wild animals back?

　　"The Lion King caught them!" Fu Zai showed Ye Anyian the two pheasants with their necks bitten off. "Brother, the Lion King is so powerful. He caught two hares and three pheasants in just one morning. Where's the chicken?"

　　"Where are the rest?" Ye Annian looked at the two children and then at the copper coins, confirming that there were only two pheasants and a hare, and asked.

　　"He gave me stones," Ding Qiu replied. "He said there were many of us, so he only took a pheasant and a hare."

　　"Oh," Ye Annian nodded, "The lion king should be repaying you for helping him treat his foot injury."

　　"But today's meal has been cooked, and tomorrow we can stew chicken."

　　When they heard that they would eat stewed chicken tomorrow, the two children became happy. In the past few days, they have been eating big pots of food every day. Although there are vegetables and meat, they will get tired of eating them all the time.

　　The pheasants and hares were both killed. Ye Anian temporarily tied them up with ropes and hung them at a high place until they had lunch and then cleaned them up in the afternoon when they had nothing to do.

　　Not long after, the delicious food came out of the pot. Ye Annian filled out the portions for him and Fu Zai Ding Qiu, picked up the pancakes in a big basin, and then called to Zhang Minjiang and the others to finish their work and eat.

　　Zhang Minjiang led the eight craftsmen to line up one by one to scoop vegetables from the pot into the food boxes he brought. Then everyone spread out across the yard, found a place to sit down, and started to feast.

　　For a moment, the aroma of the food filled the yard, and was blown away by the wind.

　　Different from the lively atmosphere here, Sun Caihe was walking quickly with a baggage on his back on the path leading to the outside of the village.

　　Since the idea came to her that day, she has been rushing to work every day and waited for several days before she found the opportunity to go out today.

　　The cigarette leaves that Ye Quan had been smoking all day were gone. The old man was addicted to cigarettes and couldn't wait. Among all the places in the country, they could only be sold in the town.

　　But at this time in the afternoon, there was no bullock cart to ride on. Wu Xianglian was old and had bad legs and feet, so she volunteered to go to town to buy tobacco leaves for her father-in-law.

　　Wu Xianglian originally thought that she would take Zhou Liang's ox cart tomorrow morning, but she thought that if Sun Caihe wanted to go now, she would have to walk. Wouldn't that save the money of taking the ox cart? Two pennies!

　　The family is in debt, so these two pennies are treasures, and a little adds up to a lot.

　　So, Souchou gave Sun Caihe 50 yuan, and repeatedly told her not to spend money blindly. Whatever she bought and how much she spent, she would have to pay for it when she got back.

　　Sun Caihe had something on his mind, so naturally he didn't care about it so much, so he agreed and left.

　　I walked for almost two hours. When I arrived in the town, I bought tobacco leaves first and then went straight to Zhou Ji's pawn shop.

She had the idea, but as a peasant woman who didn't know how to read a few words, she couldn't find someone to deal with that kind of illegitimate person, so she had to ask Zhou Zaiqian again.

　　Coincidentally, Zhou Zaiqian was not around today, and only Zhou Rong, who had a bulging belly, was watching in the shop.

　　Sun Caihe turned to leave, but Zhou Rong recognized her as a member of Lao Ye's family and called her into the room inside to talk.

　　Hearing that she wanted to find a cheat because she borrowed loan money from her pawn shop but couldn't pay it back, Zhou Rong was stunned for a moment, then covered her mouth with a handkerchief and laughed.

　　She had some impression of this Sun Caihe. The last time he came to the shop to borrow money, he was very submissive. He didn't know a few words and dared to borrow money alone. But she didn't want to come again this time, so she thought about it and went astray.

　　"This method is indeed a quick way to make money." Zhou Rong pinched the grapes on the table, cut the skin with her nails, brought it to her mouth, sucked in the pulp with a slight sip.

　　"If you sell someone, you can earn more than a dozen taels even if you don't look good. If you have a pretty girl or a boy, you can get dozens or even a hundred taels. Even a rough guy can do hard work. Sold at a higher price."

　　She ate the grapes slowly and observed Sun Caihe's expression as she spoke: "Auntie, who are you planning to sell to?"

　　Sun Caihe came to his senses after being asked by her, but he hesitated for a long time, unable to say a word.

　　Zhou Rong became a little impatient: "Do you want to sell a girl, a boy, or a man? How old are you?"

　　"If you don't say anything, how can I find someone to help you with?"

　　It turned out that he wanted to find someone to help him. Sun Caihe breathed a sigh of relief and said, "The salesman is quite handsome. He must be seventeen or eighteen years old."

　　"Okay, then you go back and wait," Zhou Rong glanced at her and said, "I have news here, and I will send someone to deliver it to you."

　　"Hey, fine." Sun Caihe agreed quickly.

　　Asking the shop assistant to send the person out, Zhou Rong crushed the grapes she held on her fingertips, and the purple juice slowly dripped down her fingertips and covered her hands.

　　A handsome boy of seventeen or eighteen years old. Is there anyone else in the old Ye family besides Ye Anyian?

　　Ye Anyian's cool and handsome face appeared in his mind, and Zhou Rong suddenly sneered.

　　If it hadn't been for Ye Ansong's incident that brought down the Ye family, that idiot Ye Chenghe would have been a cheap father to the child in her belly.

　　But now, her marriage was messed up, and Ye Anyian couldn't escape the involvement.

　　Since there is a ready opportunity in front of her, why not help a bunch of poor women like Sun Caihe?

　　Thinking of this, she found paper and pen, wrote a letter in a hurry, and asked the shop assistant to help her deliver it to Xu's house in Anxing County.

　　Xu Fu, the only son of Mr. Xu, the richest man in Anxing County, was famous for his lewdness and his love for beauties.

…

　　Jiang Zhu went to town early this morning.

First, I went to the shop and the wood shop and walked around to see the accounts and order completion status in the past two days. If there was anything that needed to be dealt with, I wrote it down and told Ye Anyian when I went back in the evening. If nothing happened, I would continue to set up a stall at the same place in the afternoon. While on a medical visit, I played chess with Old Man Chen.

　　In the evening, he cleaned up the stall, carried a large bag of candied fruits he had won from Old Man Chen, and drove the bullock cart to the butcher shop to cut a few kilograms of lean meat and pork belly. He passed by a wine shop and made two jars of soju.

　　The cattle have now been fattened and strong. They go to and from town every day to pull the cart, and they are not tired at all and are in good spirits.

　　Jiang Zhu drove the car very casually. He sat cross-legged in the car, opened a jar of wine, and started drinking it.

　　It's already the beginning of winter, the flowers and grass are withered, and all the leaves have fallen.

　　The pedestrians walking on the street were all wearing thick clothes and cloaks and cotton-padded jackets, but he was still dressed in single clothes. He raised his head while drinking, and his wide sleeves fell down, revealing his lean and white wrists.

　　The oxcart walked slowly out of the town. There were almost no people on the dirt road back to the village, and the "tapping" of hoofbeats became increasingly clear.

　　The back of the car suddenly sank, Jiang Zhu's fingers on the wine jar twitched, and the young man's clear and somewhat worried voice rang in his ears.

　　"Master, why did you start drinking so early this year? Is it due to poisoning?"

　　Hearing the sound, Jiang Zhu turned around and glanced at Zi Mo, who suddenly appeared on the rear panel of the car. Without answering, he asked, "Are you going back to Kyoto?"

　　"Yes." Zimo nodded, took out a small black bottle from his arms, and handed it to Jiang Zhu, "Thank you, senior, for giving it to me last time and letting me pass it on to you."

　　Jiang Zhu took it and stuffed it casually into his sleeve pocket, without looking at Zi Mo, and continued drinking alone.

　　Zi Mo got a little anxious and reached out to grab the wine jar from his hand, but Jiang Zhu swayed him away.

　　"I'm fine. If you want to leave, just leave quickly. Don't be an eyesore in front of me."

　　Zi Mo naturally refused, staring at him stubbornly with a pair of bright black eyes.

　　After a long while, he seemed to have made up his mind and said: "How about you go back with Shaojun."

　　"Where are you going back? Baihezhai?" Jiang Zhu hit him on the head and suddenly laughed, "What, was it Ziyu or the old man who bribed you to be a lobbyist?"

　　"None of them." The young man rarely became serious, "It's my own intention. Master, let's go back."

　　In total, they have been outside for four years, and after the New Year it will be the fifth year.

　　When the master and the prince broke up, in order not to implicate them, he asked to step down as the master of the restaurant, walked away, and disappeared from the world since then.

　　He was supportive at the time. When the prince of the dynasty was brutally killed, Bai Hezhai acted as the prince's support and support on the surface, but in fact he was a knife in the prince's hand and the prince's minion.

They did things with blood on their hands. In order to help the prince seize power and clear the way forward, they had countless innocent lives on their hands. Breaking with the prince and breaking away from the prince's control is undoubtedly a way out.

　　But he later found out that the dog prince had poisoned his master, and it was the most difficult poison in the world. Even Senior Xie had no choice but to make some pills to suppress it.

　　Poison is of a heat nature, but the master's internal energy is extremely cold. It only attacks during the coldest time of the year. During the attack, the internal organs will burn like a raging fire, causing heart-wrenching pain and unbearable pain.

　　As the poison invades the veins and invades the internal organs, the poison will appear earlier and earlier and last longer and longer.

　　From the first three to five days, it turned into ten days and months. When the poison spread to the heart, it was the deadline.

　　At that time, the poison is no longer restricted by temperature, and within one month after the attack, it can completely corrode the human heart, causing the person to die in severe pain.