Chapter 14: Advanced (19)

After eating the horse meat powder, it was only a few dozen steps back to the grain and oil store, Zhou Shiming looked around blankly, and asked Mo Di in surprise: "It's here so soon!" Mo Di said with a smile, we used to walk in a square shape, and when we arrived at the cross street, it was very close to the store. Tell Zhou Shiming that the road in front of him used to be called Chongde Road, and in the 25th year of the Republic of China, after the Guangxi Provincial Government moved from Nanning, it was changed to Zhongzheng West Road in order to pat Lao Jiang's sycophants. This name is not recognized by the common people, or like to call Chongde Road, a little old-fashioned, you ask him for directions, how to go on Zhongzheng West Road, he may roll his eyes at you, because you asked him to be an old Guilin shell. This east-west road is far less famous than the north-south Zhongshan Road, when Sun Yat-sen came to Guilin to preside over the Northern Expedition, the north-south avenue became Zhongshan Road, and now ask the old name of the year before the Northern Expedition, I am afraid that no one can remember. Zhou Shiming let out an "oh" and forced himself to remember that when he arrived at Cross Street, he was not far from his family's grain and oil store.

Seeing the arrival of the Mo Di couple, the guy guarding the store began to open the door panel, close the window, check the candle repeatedly, and then close the door. The two backpacks had already been taken away, and the three of them left lightly.

The guy took the lead and walked to the cross street again. When you reach Cross Street, turn to the south side of the street, where a arcade is being repaired, with high scaffolding and some building materials piled up on the street. The guy led the two of them around the building materials and walked into the corridor under the arcade again. Tell Mo that this family is quite unlucky, last month the Japanese planes came to bomb, and the three planes threw a total of 12*, one of which landed on the roof of this building, and directly exploded to pieces. Mayor Chen Enyuan came to see it and allocated special funds for the family to repair it, otherwise, the family would probably have to let the house go for ruin.

Mo Di glanced back and nodded approvingly, this house was blown up a bit badly, and it cost a lot of money to repair it. The Guilin Municipal Government was only established two years ago, and its financial resources are not abundant, and being able to do this shows that it has done a good job of being close to the people. Only then did she find that Zhou Shiming had fallen too far behind them, and her interest completely fell on the arcade pillars. Guilin this kind of arcade, is a typical French architecture, square arcade columns, square, merchants do not want to let go of the arcade pillars in vain, on the depiction of a variety of advertising words, some also pasted colorful posters, these messy content to Zhou Shiming's interest to attract the past.

Mo Di turned his head and half-hugged Zhou Shiming, and said with a smile: "These things will not change for a while, tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, you can have a lot of time to come and see, don't bother your eyes under the street lamp." ”

Zhou Shiming smiled embarrassedly and said, "It's fun." ”

The guy was waiting for them not far in front, and when he saw them approaching, he turned right into the alley next to him, which was an alley no more than one meter wide, with high courtyard walls on both sides, the relatively neat wall on the left belonged to the Christian church, and the right side was a private house, which was relatively not so exquisite, and it was just a blue brick. A street lamp at the mouth of the alley illuminates the alley with a faint light, not too gloomy.

Walked a hundred steps into the alley, a small door appeared on the right, the threshold of the bluestone strip, and the eaves of about a foot stretched out on it, the carved pattern of the eaves could not be seen clearly at night, only from the door frame and the door leaf can be known, this courtyard gate is not dilapidated. The man stopped, felt on the corner of the door, felt a small rope, pulled it lightly, and the crisp sound of a small bell came from the door.

"It's coming, it's coming." Mo Di could hear that this was the voice of the fifth child of their family. Immediately after, there was the sound of the latch opening, and the door opened.

The man let the two of them enter the door and said to Mo Lao Wu: "Boss, I won't go in, go back to take a bath and sleep." ”

Mo Lao Wu said politely: "I got some supper, why don't you go in and eat some before leaving?" ”

The guy refused, turned and left.

Mo Lao Wu closed the latch of the door, took off the rope tied to the bell, and said: "At night, don't tie the rope to the bell again, otherwise, there will be a bean ghost to play pranks in the middle of the night, so that you can't sleep all night." ”

Mo Di smiled and nodded, Guilin people call those young people who eat dog eggs raw and don't put salt as bean ghosts, these boring teenagers often do things that harm people and are not good, not to harm others, just to have fun. This kind of doorbell is their favorite, and after waking up the owner of the house, they scatter in laughter.

Following Mo Lao Wu's steps, he walked straight in, and he couldn't see the environment in the night, but only felt that the pavement under his feet was not a bluestone pavement, nor was it a gray asphalt pavement, but was paved with uniform pebbles. After walking about twenty steps, a light appeared on the left, and under the illumination of the light, five steps appeared. Go up five steps, it is a small hall, the hall is irregular, the main feature is that there are many doors and windows, there are doors on all sides, count them, there are as many as five. Except for the door, the rest of the place is basically a window, the window is a glass lattice push window, although there is no carved magpie plum and other patterns, just horizontal and vertical lines, but it looks very elegant. The windows are mostly closed and become decorative objects. In the small hall is a drum-shaped round table, surrounded by six drum-shaped stools, on the table, a few side dishes are fried, and a bottle of Guilin Sanhua is placed next to it.

At this moment, two women walked up from the steps on the right, one carrying a bowl of soup and the other a bowl of rice. Mo Di recognized that the person who served the soup in front was his second sister, Yang Litian's wife, and the other one was still young, and it should be Mo Lao Wu's wife.

"Second sister." Mo Di shouted, reaching out to pick up the soup in the second sister's hand.

Second Sister Mo smiled and let go and said, "Mo picks it up, look at it." ”

The woman serving the meal called out "Third Brother", confirming Mo Enemy's idea. Mo Lao Wu was responsible for introducing the second sister, the third sister-in-law and the fifth daughter-in-law to them, and soon, several women talked about it together.

"They all said that we were eating rice noodles outside, and we had such a big table." Mo Di said.

"You've eaten, but we haven't eaten yet." Mo Lao Wu said: "Catch the wind wine, if you don't drink it, you will be settled." ”

"Such a good dish is definitely enjoyable, not compromised." Mo Di glanced at the table, braised chicken, duck soup, boiled dried fish with capers, and a plate of cured meat, vegetarian fried cabbage, salted eggs and old pumpkin, a table full of people.

Mo Lao Wu poured three glasses of wine, the second sister also took a cup, and the three sisters and brothers raised their glasses and drank them all. Mo Lao Wu said: "A few years ago, the military government transferred all your money to my account and told me that you were going to bring your third sister-in-law back to study, and I would look for a house in the area behind Doumu Lane Mansion. I finally found this one that was being sold, and when I inquired, it was the industry of Chen Hongtai of Kyushu Commercial and Trade Bank, so I begged the boss of Zhang Xiangpu to introduce it and bought it. This yard is not big, but it is very foreign, and you should like it. ”

Only then did Mo Di know that this small courtyard was his residence, and when he returned to Guilin, he immediately had such a place to live, and he was quite satisfied. Zhou Shiming heard that it was his home, so he couldn't sit still anymore, and accompanied by his five younger siblings, he walked casually. The house on the stairs is in a zigzag structure, with two small rooms in a row with the small hall. Both rooms are not big, and after putting down a bed, there is not much room left. Walking down the steps from the second sister and five younger siblings just now, it is the kitchen, and then it is the toilet, and then it is the courtyard, but the black light is blind, and it is not clear what it is.

"What? Still satisfied? Mo Di asked.

Zhou Shiming nodded and said, "Although it is dark and I can't see clearly, I am already quite satisfied!" ”

"This is the outroom mansion of Xiong Tong and the second boss Xiong Lianjin." Second Sister Mo said: "Xiong Tonghe's boss is a native of Qingjiang, Jiangxi, who came to Guilin during the Guangxu period and opened a Xiong Tonghe pharmacy. Xiong Jing and Xiong Lianjin are the third generation, and their business is very big, some people say that they can compare it to Tongrentang in Beijing. The Xiong family built three or four large gardens on the side of Lanjing Lane, and the small garden of Doumu Lane was sold to Chen Hongtai, who was also from Ji'an, Jiangxi. Chen Hongtai returned to his hometown to build an ancestral hall, and almost had the money to sell this small courtyard. It can be regarded as if we knew the news early, so we could buy it, otherwise, with the fact that Guilin is full of outsiders now, and broken houses can be speculated on the price of gold, where can we get our turn. ”

Mo Di nodded, Guilin in the past two years has almost become the rear of the Anti-Japanese War, and many units and individuals who are unwilling to move to Chongqing prefer Guilin. Mo Lao Wu said that Guilin's population has grown too fast in the past two years, and the south gate can no longer be settled, and even along the Xiaodong River on the other side of the Li River, and outside the south gate on the south bank of the Taohua River are also full of people. Some people exaggerate that in the afternoon, the people who flock into the Taohua River to bathe will stuff the river more than half a foot high.

Brothers haven't seen each other for a few years, there are endless topics, Mo Lao Wu asked Mo Di, the last time the Guangxi Military Government hit the account, the amount of money was a lot, and it took less than one-twentieth to buy this small courtyard, what is Mo Di's plan for the rest of the money? Mo Di shook his head and said that he had no plans. Mo Lao Wu said that if there is no plan, he wants to use a part, during this time, Guilin not only housing prices have risen, food prices have also skyrocketed, if the funds allow, you can go to Hunan into a wagon of rice to come over, the profit is very large, the price difference is not small. Mo Lao Wu asked Mo Di to take out a sum of money, which can be regarded as investing in grain and oil stores and expanding into a grain and oil trading house, which can not only supply Guilin's local grain, but also transfer it to Guizhou and Yunnan. Mo Di told him that he had no experience in business, and as for the money, he had no investment plans at present, so he let Mo Lao Wu take care of it.

With the consent of Mo Di, Mo Lao Wu was very happy, he did business completely from scratch, relying on his own diligence and reputation, if there is such a large capital investment, he can immediately jump up more than one level, and even become one of the top grain trade firms in Guilin.

couldn't help but be overjoyed, and sang about wine, and after a while, Mo Lao Wu made himself drunk.

The night dinner had to end, Mo Di let Zhou Shiming stay at home, he and the second sister helped the five brothers and sisters to send Mo Lao Wu home, Mo Lao Wu's home is in the back of the house, from Doumu Lane through, down a cascade big well platform, a side street is Fuhou Li, Fu Hou Li south to Sanduo Road, north to Chongde Road, a few steps to Chongde Road, is the Juren Street, Mo Lao Wu's home is next to the Juren Mansion.

After sending Mo Lao Wu back, Mo Di walked alone in the empty alley. On the well platform, I picked up a handful of water and took a sip, it was so sweet! It is the taste of hometown.