Chapter 14: The old man met again

Zhang Zhong went to work, and Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan were not idle either. They took more than 20 guards out for a walk. The two of them didn't want to suddenly encounter any danger when they were walking outside. They were prone to dangerous places, such as on the mountain, and they would never go.

Just wander around the county, especially where bird-raising people may appear, such as the market, go there to see if anyone raises pigeons, then you have to ask carefully.

The two of them walked slowly. There were indeed many people in the market, but most of them sold things. If they couldn't sell them, they bartered them. The goods sold were not good, they were all daily necessities. Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan walked out for more than a hundred feet, but they didn't like one thing.

There are no traces of people selling birds. Not to mention selling birds, even those selling flowers, plants, fish and insects cannot be seen.

"This is the impact of not having money, which has made people feel like having fun. The only thing they can do is to find ways to work more and then have enough food for themselves. It's so pitiful."

Wang Juan looked at the clothes worn by the people around him and did not encounter any new ones. The so-called new ones meant that there were no patches, and even this was impossible. Even the people in the store were wearing patched clothes.

"It will get better. As long as they don't lose hope in their hearts, I guess the people in the store deliberately wear torn clothes. Let's go ahead and there is a store selling four treasures of the study. Come inside and ask."

Zhang Xiaobao pulled Wang Juan and walked forward under the protection of a group of guards. When he arrived at the door of the shop, the people inside stood near the door and looked outside.

"Do you have any good things to sell here?" Zhang Xiaobao asked.

"There is no good thing? You look good, that's good. If you look bad, even if I say it's bad." The person standing at the door said politely, while constantly looking at Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan. He also likes children, especially those who are as cute as Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan.

Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan entered the store and looked at the things, and found that there was really nothing good, so they believed this person's words.

Wang Juan looked at the store curiously and asked, "Are you a guy here?"

"Man? I don't have the money to hire a friend. I will only have enough food to guard the store alone. If I invite a friend again, my friend and I will starve to death." This man seemed helpless when he spoke.

"Oh, so that's it. Then why do you have so many patches on your clothes? I looked at some patches that didn't seem to be where you can always get." Wang Juan asked, pointing at the clothes on this person.

The man looked at Wang Juan and Zhang Xiaobao vigilantly, but couldn't answer for a moment.

Zhang Xiaobao seemed to understand something and said to the man: "My name is Zhang Xiaobao, and he is the son of the new governor, you don't have to be afraid."

As soon as Zhang Xiaobao said that, the man immediately breathed a sigh of relief and waved his hand to let Zhang Xiaobao and others follow him. He turned over a door leading into the interior, passed another corridor, and led the crowd to the outside of a room.

"I wouldn't have been afraid if I had known you were a young master. To be honest, these patches were sewn on purpose. Otherwise, when the yamen runners in the county saw it, they would think that my store was still good and good, and the same was true for other stores. Some ordinary people at home who were slightly better at home were wearing patched clothes when they went out.

Usually, the things sold in the store and in the stalls outside are ordinary goods, and they will never dare to put out the good ones. In that case, they will be snatched away and you won’t give a penny. If you really want to buy things, you will enter the room and see that everything inside is full of good things.

Since I am the family of a new and good official, I will not make any money anymore. I will sell it directly. As long as I have a good official here, my life will be better in the future."

The man stood at the door and said to Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan with a smile.

Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan suddenly realized, and at the same time they were a little angry. The personnel sent to collect information when they got off the ship did not hear the news and were dereliction of duty.

The two nodded at the same time and asked the man to lead him in. When he went inside, he found that it was indeed different from the things that were casually picked outside. Zhang Xiaobao came to the front of the pen holder, looked at it, pointed to a pen and asked, "Shopkeeper, how do you sell your wolf-haired pen?"

"Let me see, if you want to buy it, you can get 60 cents, and you can get some capital." The shopkeeper came over and reported the number.

Zhang Xiaobao nodded, "I really didn't make any money for sixty cents. It seems that the price you earn is also low. I'll give you one hundred cents and I bought it."

When Zhang Xiaobao spoke, he naturally didn't have to take out the money. He was still young and couldn't carry too much money. The person next to him handed over the money. The shopkeeper was very embarrassed to pick it up, and said there: "In fact, the capital of this pen is only fifty-six cents, and I just said four more."

"It's a warehouse money to occupy a place. I didn't want it. I'll ask for it. Do you know who raises birds here? My father likes birds, so I want to buy two." Zhang Xiaobao felt that this person was so kind. He only cost four cents more. It's very common to say that it's seventy cents. If you buy such a pen in Beijing, you don't even think about it if you don't have two hundred cents.

The shopkeeper took the money in his hand and was a little excited and said, "In fact, it was cheap. The hunters here couldn't sell their prey at the same time. There were few people outside who came here to buy it. Is it worth it if the people here went out once.

You ask, there is really nothing about this, but if a new good official wants it, just post a notice, and then many people will go up the mountain to catch birds. Good official, isn’t it easy to get a bird?"

"No? Oh, then forget it, you can't send a notice. If you send a notice, you're still a good official. Then let's leave now, wish the shopkeeper a prosperous business."

Zhang Xiaobao didn't find out about the bird, but he knew the attitude of the local people towards his father, which was a kind of gain.

As he was talking, a group of people walked out again. The shopkeeper followed him and sent him off. When he was about to reach the door, the shopkeeper said, "Young Master, you two might as well bring some paper back. These papers are good for practicing calligraphy. Although they are not as good paper, they are actually considered good officials even if they send a notice. If they don't force people to do things, they are good officials.

There are indeed no birds with good voices, but there is a family in our county who raises pigeons, which is Old Man Zhang. His pigeons are also good, but unfortunately they don’t sell them. The same goes for the yamen runners. There are several powerful guards in his family. The yamen runners suffered a few losses, but they don’t know why they dared not provoke them.”

"Pigeon? Whose family? Tell us the place, we have bought all the papers here." When Zhang Xiaobao heard the word "pigeon", he immediately became energetic. All he wanted was the pigeon. While he was asking for money, he pulled the shopkeeper and asked him to give him the way.

"Along this road, walk west, pass the government office, and then the county office, you can see a small wine shop next to you after walking more than a thousand steps. Bypassing the house, you can see a small courtyard, and Old Man Zhang lives in the courtyard."

When the shopkeeper heard that the new official had bought all the paper, he was very happy. He stood at the door to give directions. Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan wrote it down carefully, and regardless of whether the paper was taken or not, he trotted to the other side.

"Is anyone here? Help me shout." Wang Juan and Zhang Xiaobao found the yard, stood outside and shouted inside, and asked the guards who followed him to shout, with the guards loudly.

"No one? Come out and have a breath, hurry up, otherwise you will demolish the yard." A guard shouted foolishly, and Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan shivered when he heard the shouting, and quickly said to him: "Who told you to shout like this? Be polite, it seems that you will have to add one more training in the future, and taking it out will easily cause trouble."

"You are still two little kids who are sensible. Old man, I am really afraid that others will tear down the yard. You are Xiaobao, you are Juanjuan, smart and smart, right?"

As soon as Zhang Xiaobao scolded the guard, an old man came out from inside. He was helped by someone and walked to the gate of the courtyard. It was actually a fence, and there was no high wall blocking it. He could easily see the people inside.

While asking someone to open the door, the old man said to Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan with a smile.

Wang Juan and Zhang Xiaobao were not surprised at all. The only thing they didn't expect was that the person who raised pigeons was this old man.

Wang Juan's mouth moved, "You said the old man knows us so much, isn't he just passing the news through this pigeon? Who do he knows in Beijing?"

"I think it's almost the same. The pigeons raised by the old man are not ordinary pigeons, but carrier pigeons we are looking for. Now, let's see how we can convince the old man to help us raise them."

Zhang Xiaobao also thought of this and replied to Wang Juan.

The two of them walked forward, and the guards behind them followed step by step. When they arrived at the door of the house, the old man suddenly said to Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan: "The place inside is small. Can you let your guards wait outside?"

When Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan heard this, they raised their heads and looked at the old man's eyes. They didn't see any conspiracy from it, but they still didn't dare to take it lightly. Zhang Xiaobao asked hesitantly: "Can you bring two people in and let them stand, there is no need to be too big."

"Okay, enter two, then enter two. The little kid is still very interested and can't be abducted." The old man did not refuse now and led the four people in.

Wang Juan said sweetly beside him: "The old man praised us for being smart just now. If we don't bring two people, it will be hard for the old man to take care of it if something happens."

"You little girl is not ordinary. No wonder Bi Shangshu praised you for the few things in the sky and the earth. Tell me, how did you find them? Why am I doing to find the old man?"

The old man touched Wang Juan's head, but Wang Juan did not react to avoid it, because Zhang Xiaobao stood beside the old man, with his waist so that he could reach it with his hands together, and as long as the old man had bad intentions, Zhang Xiaobao would take action.
Chapter completed!