In the evening, before it gets dark, the streets of Baoding City become deserted, occasionally passing by three or two pedestrians, all of them put their hands in their sleeves, bow their heads, and hurry to their homes.

Chinese New Year's Eve is different from the Shangyuan Festival, it is a day of family reunion, a large family in the house with the fire, warm to eat a New Year's dinner, relatives to say something considerate, happy and harmonious, who is rare to wander the streets?

At this moment, Xu Jin was sitting in the hall leisurely looking at an idle book "Mengxi Writings", which was borrowed from the host of the nearby Daci Pavilion, Zen Master Huijing. This Hui Jing Zen Master is not bad, is a well-known monk, I heard that before the monk was still a man, the house has a lot of books, some poor scholars in the city like to run to him to borrow books, Hui Jing Zen Master is always responsive.

Since Da Zici is not far away, Xu Jin will also go shopping, and by the way, he will ask the host Huijing Zen Master some questions, and he will be familiar with it after coming and going, and it is naturally no problem to borrow a few books.

There was a clanging sound in the kitchen, it was Xiao Wan and Yue'er preparing a sumptuous Chinese New Year's Eve dinner, and Erniu and Dabao both went to help.

As for Xu Jin, he wanted to help in the kitchen, but he was kicked out by Xiao Wan, and he asked the master to help in the kitchen, wouldn't it be self-defeating, so Master Xu was only responsible for waiting for food.

At this time, there was also a stove in the hall, and a clay pot was resting on the stove, in which chicken and mushrooms were stewed, and the tempting aroma came to the nose, making people salivate.

The style of this stove is exactly the same as the honeycomb coal stove used in modern times, and Xu Jin specially asked craftsmen to make it.

It is worth mentioning here that although coal was widely used in the Ming Dynasty, honeycomb coal had not yet been invented, so people burned briquettes or briquettes, or even directly burned pulverized coal, which not only had a very low combustion rate, but also produced a large amount of flue gas, and even toxic carbon monoxide, not to mention, it was extremely unsafe.

In order to allow Xiaowan to have a more comfortable and safe environment to recuperate, Xu Jin made out the stove of the later generations, and taught Erniu and Dabao to make honeycomb coal from pulverized coal by themselves.

There are a large number of holes in the middle of the honeycomb coal, which can allow the coal to be fully burned, almost no flue gas, safe and comfortable to use, and durable and economical. Xiaowan and Yue'er both like it very much, after using it, leave a piece of coal, don't need to make a fire the next day, add new honeycomb coal, and you can continue to use it immediately, which is convenient and fast.

"Mengxi Writings" was written by Shen Kuo, a scientist and politician in the Northern Song Dynasty, and the content was relatively boring, but Xu Jin also read it with relish, no way, in ancient times when the pace of life was very slow, there were too few entertainment activities to pass the time, unlike the modern era of information networking, holding a mobile phone and swiping a few days passed.

Xu Jinzheng read it with taste, but there was a knock on the courtyard door, and he couldn't help frowning, who was so blind, and came to disturb the peace and quiet on New Year's Eve.

"Hehe, Xu Gongzi, have a good New Year, I wish Xu Gongzi a prosperous New Year, a bright future, and the title of the gold list."

As soon as Xu Jin opened the courtyard door, a middle-aged man walked in with a smile, saying auspicious and festive words with his hands in an arched manner.

Xu Jin said with a smile: "Boss Mei, shouldn't you say this tomorrow?" ”

This Mei boss is called Mei Changqing, about forty years old, with the shrewd appearance of a philistine businessman, the courtyard rented by Xu Jin is his, and this Chinese New Year's Eve came to the door, it is estimated that he came to collect rent.

Sure enough, Boss Mei said with a smile: "As long as you are sincere, it is the same if you say it in advance." By the way, when does Xu Gongzi plan to enter Beijing? Before, we said that the rent of this house will be charged on a monthly basis, and it will be collected for a full month if it is less than a month. ”

After speaking, he rubbed his hands and looked at Xu Jin, the meaning was obvious, either you move out tonight, or pay next month's rent.

Xu Jin smiled and said: "It is estimated that I will leave around the fifth day of the new year, Boss Mei can rest assured, the rent will not be short for you, come, let's go to the house to talk." ”

Boss Mei followed Xu Jin into the hall and sniffed exaggeratedly: "It's really fragrant, Young Master Xu must be very rich tonight's Chinese New Year's Eve." ”

Xu Jin poured a cup of tea for Boss Mei, who was flattered to take it, and thanked him repeatedly.

Xu Jin smiled and said, "Boss Mei, is the honeycomb coal stove I gave you a few days ago still good?" ”

Boss Mei suddenly smiled and said: "It's indeed a good thing, the fire is fast, there is no smoke, and the mother-in-law at home is also very happy, but the dozen or so pieces of honeycomb coal given by Xu Gongzi have been burned, and the contemptible people are thinking about asking Gongzi for some more, or Xu Gongzi will simply tell the contemptible people about the method of making honeycomb coal, and the contemptible people will go back and get some by themselves, and it will save trouble!" ”

After Boss Mei finished speaking, a trace of cunning and eagerness flashed in his eyes.

Xu Jin said with a smile: "This method of making honeycomb coal was painstakingly figured out, and Boss Mei wants to take it lightly, isn't it a bit unkind." ”

Boss Mei's smile suddenly froze, and he said curtly: "Contemptible people just think that this honeycomb coal is easy to use and economical, such a good thing, why should Xu Gongzi cherish the broom and take it out for the benefit of the people?" ”

Xu Jin teased: "Boss Mei's words make sense, oh, I heard that Boss Mei's dyeing workshop has an ancestral secret method of color mixing, or let's take it out together to benefit the people." ”

Boss Mei couldn't help blushing, and sneered: "Xu Gongzi said that he was joking, and the contemptible people relied on this bastard to eat." ”

It is said that this Mei boss is to open a dyeing workshop, although it is not big, but relying on the mastery of the "core technology" of color matching, it is also very popular, relying on the dyeing business to earn thousands of family fortunes, but also in Baoding City in the middle of several properties, the success of the bitter mud legs, counterattack to do the outside.

It is worth mentioning here that the so-called ancestral color mixing secret recipe in Boss Mei's family is not actually ancestral, but secretly learned when he was helping in the Suzhou dyeing workshop in the early years, and later returned to Baoding to open his own dyeing workshop, but he made a lot of money.

This Boss Mei is undoubtedly a shrewd guy, and after seeing honeycomb coal, he immediately realized the business opportunity in it, and planned to ask for the method of making coal from Xu Jin's mouth with empty gloves and white wolf.

It's a pity that Xu Jin is not that kind of foolish nerd, and the reason why he sent a new honeycomb coal stove to Boss Mei for use was originally with an "ulterior" purpose.

Just when Boss Mei was a little frustrated, Xu Jin smiled and said: "Boss Mei understands that it is impossible to make honeycomb coal for nothing, but I can sell you this coal making recipe in the future." ”

Boss Mei was stunned for a moment, and said in disbelief: "Is what Xu Gongzi said true?" ”

Boss Mei himself made his fortune by relying on the secret recipe, so he knows the benefits of mastering a secret recipe, not to mention the huge business opportunities of honeycomb coal, not to mention that the amount of coal used in a cold season in Baoding Mansion is as much as tens of thousands of catties, not to mention the Beijing division with a population of millions.

Xu Jin nodded and said, "Naturally, it's true!" ”

Boss Mei tried his best to suppress the excitement in his heart, took a sip of the teacup, and pretended to be indifferent: "Then how much silver does Xu Gongzi plan to sell for this secret recipe for coal making?" ”

Xu Jin smiled and said, "It's not much, just three hundred taels of silver!" ”

Boss Mei was happy in his heart, although three hundred taels is not a small amount, but compared to the huge market of honeycomb coal, this is simply not worth it, hey, I thought this kid was shrewd, but I didn't think it turned out to be a short-sighted fool.

"Ahem, Xu Gongzi's asking price is a bit high." Although Boss Mei was excited, he still planned to keep the price down as much as possible, showing the cunning nature of the profiteer.

Xu Jin said firmly: "Boss Mei is a person who understands, the asking price of three hundred taels is already very low, if it weren't for the tight money recently, he would definitely not sell the recipe for making honeycomb coal." If Boss Mei is not interested, then it will be sold to someone else. ”

Xu Jin's words are half-truths and half-truths, he has indeed been a little unfortunate recently, but it has not reached the point where he is short of money. Although the current business of the carriage and horse shop and black tea adds up to nearly 1,000 taels of silver dividends every year, there is no bank now, let alone a transfer, so Xu Jin has not yet received this year's dividend.

And this time when he went out, Xu Jin carried more than 300 taels of silver, and naturally he would not be wronged in terms of food and clothing, but after a few months, more than 300 taels of silver was "squandered" by nearly half. When leaving Anlu Prefecture, although Princess Jiang of Xing rewarded nearly 1,000 taels worth of gold and silver, most of them were jewelry that could not be realized, and only a few hundred taels of cash could be used.

Xu Jin is the kind of person who will never treat himself badly as long as the conditions permit, so at the beginning of this month, he sent Dabao to the capital first to buy a house, so that he would have a place to settle down when he entered Beijing after the New Year, he didn't want to live in the inn for more than half a year, let alone bring his family.

The capital is not as large as other places, the population is large, it may be a bit exaggerated to say that every inch of land is expensive, but the price of the house is definitely not expensive, a two-entry house of about 300 square meters, cost Xu Jin nearly 500 taels of silver.

Therefore, Xu Jin only has more than 100 taels of silver left on him, to provide food and clothing for five people, plus when he arrives in the capital, there will definitely be daily entertainment, I am afraid that it will not last long, so he plans to sell the "core technology" of making honeycomb coal to Boss Mei to earn a few hundred taels of silver to help make up for it.

Boss Mei and Xu Jin rubbed their lips for a while, and when they saw the latter's resolute attitude, they knew that it was impossible to keep the price down any longer, so they finally had to agree to buy the production method of honeycomb coal for 300 taels.

Next, the two sides signed a contract, Xu Jin promised not to sell the method of making honeycomb coal to others, Boss Mei paid three hundred taels of silver, and left happily with the recipe for making honeycomb coal, and generously exempted Xu Jin from the rent for the next month, after all, Xu Jin and others left for Beijing on the fifth day of the new year.

Boss Mei thought that he had picked up a big leak, but in Xu Jin's opinion, it was not true, because the method of making honeycomb coal is not complicated, especially in large-scale production, it is difficult to keep it secret, and it can easily be copied by others.

Of course, Boss Mei will not lose money if he buys this honeycomb coal recipe, after all, he has the advantage of being the first to make money, and it is certain to make money, but it is difficult to make money, and it is even more impossible to monopolize the entire honeycomb coal market. However, Xu Jin cleaned his hands and feet, and easily put three hundred taels of silver in his pocket.

When sending Boss Mei away, it was completely dark, and the sumptuous Chinese New Year's Eve dinner was also put on the table, Xu Jin naturally would not put any old man on the shelf, so the five masters and servants sat around and happily ate a New Year's dinner.

After the meal, Xie Xiaowan, as the housewife, generously gave Dabao, Erniu, and Yue'er ten taels of silver as a year-end benefit, and they were all happy for a while.

……

After eating Chinese New Year's Eve, it was close to eight o'clock in the evening, because he drank some wine and was slightly drunk, Xu Jin took a bath and went to the morning Kang early, and did not go to the study to read at night as usual.

Under the swaying candlelight, Xie Xiaowan, who had just finished bathing, took off her coat, only wore a close-fitting clothes, pouted her round buttocks and climbed on the kang, and after getting into the quilt, she was like a kitten in Xu Jin's arms.

This girl is about to turn sixteen years old after the New Year, her figure is becoming more and more attractive, and the peaks on her chest proudly arch her dirty clothes high, probably because of drinking, at this moment her pretty face is flushed, and her eyes are sparkling, adding a bit of charm.

Xu Jin hugged Xiao Wan's slippery and soft youthful delicate body, smelling the girl's unique body fragrance, and a vicious fire couldn't help but give birth to an evil fire in her lower abdomen, and a hand unconsciously slipped from the latter's waist and stroked the circle under the thin waist.

Xie Xiaowan had long been accustomed to Xu Jin's caresses, so she didn't notice that her father-in-law's tonight was a little abnormal, and she was tired of talking about the incense in Xu Jin's arms with a coquettish expression today, and the soft and elastic pair of delicate and elastic chests inadvertently rubbed Xianggong's arms back and forth.

"Xianggong, today people asked for a sign in front of the Guanyin Bodhisattva seat, and the master who unsigned said that Xianggong will try to enter high school in Beijing this time!" Xie Xiaowan flashed a pair of dark eyes, and said with a happy face.

"Oooh...... Is it! Xu Jin responded absentmindedly, his right hand was extremely dishonest and "patrolling" on the circle of the lady, and his left hand also quietly poked in from under the obscene clothes, climbing up along the flat lower abdomen.

Xie Xiaowan suddenly felt like an electric shock, her breathing became rapid in vain, and when she was ashamed, Xiang Gong actually bullied her body and pressed it up, turned her dirty clothes up completely, and buried her head as soon as she lowered her head, and her hot snort sprayed on the sensitive place.

Xie Xiaowan's little brain suddenly buzzed, and her throat couldn't help but let out a low moan that made people think about it.

Xie Xiaowan was shy and nervous, although except for the last step between the two, the intimate things between men and women have basically been done, but the woman's sensitive intuition told her that Xianggong's state tonight was a bit abnormal, and she said authentically: "Xianggong, you ...... Hmmm! ”

Before Xie Xiaowan finished speaking, her small mouth was sealed by Xianggong, and she could only let out a burst of muttering. At this moment, Xu Jin was like a hungry baby, sucking hard, and it took a long time before he let go contentedly, and whispered in a slightly hoarse voice: "Xiaowan, let's round the room tonight!" ”

Xie Xiaowan, who had already been kissed dizzy, hummed shyly, and suddenly suddenly realized that she shook her head and said, "No, Xianggong...... Xianggong is not yet 18 years old! ”