Chapter 11 Chapter Eleven

Although Lu Niupi's surname is also Lu, he doesn't live in Lu's residence.The Lu family is lined up according to the class of "Ding Ding inherits the dynasty, and the family is prosperous". When it comes to the Chang generation, that is, the generation of Grandpa Lu Niupi, there are already more than 400 brothers and sisters of the same clan.Lu Niupi's grandfather is the thirteenth among his uncles and brothers in the same branch.Known as Thirteen Fathers.Thirteenth Father lived in the Lu Mansion when he was alive. Even though he was stupid, unlucky in his life, and didn't even get half a scholar, the time of more than fifty years passed smoothly and peacefully. Forty years of Qianlong In the autumn of five years, the braids turned up, leaving more than 400 acres of land and twelve high halls in the sixth courtyard of the Lu Mansion to the four sons.The four sons separated in that year, and in the third year after the separation, Lu Rongling, the father of Lu Niupi, the second son of Thirteenth Father, was forced to sell his property to his elder brother Lu Ronglian, and he took his wife and children to live outside.At that time, the big family surnamed Lu had begun to show signs of disparity and disintegration. For various reasons, dozens of brothers from the same clan of the Rong family couldn't support themselves in the Lu residence and moved out of the Lu residence one after another. The government was forced to open up a new living space in every corner of Qingpu Town.Those who moved out were doing business, or drying salt, or doing other jobs, and most of them became worse and worse, and it was difficult for their children and grandchildren to return to the Lu Mansion—of course, there were exceptions: Lu Rongjun, the son of the twelve fathers, borrowed money to buy He took two three-masted fast ships to Beiyang and Nanyang, and made a fortune in foreign countries in more than ten years. In the eighteenth year of Jiaqing, he spent 80,000 taels of silver to repair the seventh courtyard of the Lu Mansion.

Most of the descendants of the Lu surname lost the hope of returning to the Lu Mansion forever. They could only watch helplessly as their rich brothers and gentlemen of the same clan built a hall and entertained guests.Seeing that the 384 mu of family property left by the ancestor Lu Shilang for house building was completely built up by new houses, their last hope was replaced by despair. . The Lu Mansion was just a passing dream to them. Lu's mansion is scholarly and loyal to the family, but Lu's mansion is also like people who don't value loyalty, respecting the rich but not the poor.

However, even so, their last name is Lu, and they are inextricably linked with the Lu family.After they both became old servants, the blood of the old servants was not only pulsating in the wealthy people surnamed Lu, but also pulsating in their poor people surnamed Lu.Their poverty is not to be blamed on the old servant or others, but on them and their predecessors for their incompetence!Therefore, no matter where they live in Qingpu Town, no matter what despicable things they do for their own survival, that majestic style does not belong to their Lu Mansion, but it is still the center of their beliefs, and it is still their unshakable emotional support!As long as the majestic gatehouse of the Lu Mansion does not fall down, they will have a basis for living, and their lives will be very stable, and they are qualified to show off to those people in Qingpu Town who do not have the surname Lu: "Look, we It was moved out from there, we had a lot of money at that time! Put gold on the horses, silver on the horses, and a lot of cars, horses and sedan chairs!"

In Qingpu Town, being qualified to be named Lu is a kind of pride. This pride is now their only spiritual wealth. There are also some people with mixed surnames who don't take this kind of pride seriously.Disapproval is an offense, so there is ample reason to mark it once. Lu Niupi beat it.At that time, Li Waibi, the master accountant of the Nanbao account, and Lu Niupi had a quarrel over the issue of credit. Li Waibi said: "The Lu family doesn't have many good things, and they are all f*cking things!" He heard it. It's on fire.It's fine to scold Lu Niupi, but this Li Waibi scolded the entire Lu family!His Lu cowhide is not good, so is Master Xiaolian of the Lu Mansion also not good?Could it be that the uncles and men in Lu's mansion are all bad?Hit now.After being pulled away by the guy in the number, he still didn't give up. First, he went to Master Xiaolian to sue, but seeing that Master Xiaolian ignored him, he invited dozens of brothers and men with the surname Lu who lived outside the Lu residence. , into the store with great momentum.It was really a good fight, more than a dozen store clerks were beaten to the point of bleeding, poor Li Wai-nose was so frightened that he hid in the rice vat.Lu Niupi took advantage of it, but still messed around, relying on some skin scratches on his head, he insisted on lying down at the gate of the shop, foaming at the mouth, pretending to be dead and pretending to be alive, so he had to force Nanbaohao to take the compensation for the wounded.In the end, it was Zhao Ziyun, the big shopkeeper of Nanbao, who invited Mr. Zhao nine times and gave gifts to make amends. He invited Mr. Xiaolian to stop a bigger dispute.Master Xiaolian reprimanded him in front of everyone, but he also unambiguously asked for thirty taels of silver for his recovery.Master Xiaolian is also surnamed Lu. Although Master Xiaolian is fair and moderate, his elbows tend to bend inward.Afterwards, he didn't bother the second owner any more, and when he ran out of thirty taels of silver, he salivated and ran to Mr. Zhao Ziyun, saying that he wanted to serve Nanbao.Uncle Zhao couldn't afford to offend the men of the Lu family, and at the same time wanted to use the influence of the Lu family to protect the business on the ground in Qingpu, so he agreed and let him be the foreman of the boat escort.

Lu Niupi has a very thick skin. According to Master Xiaolian's research, this kind of thick skin was inherited from his old man Lu Rongling.Master Xiaolian is the eldest son of the eldest son of the Rong family. He has been known as the head of the family since he was a child. He often advises Lu Rongling as the head of the family, but this Lu Rongling never repents.When he first moved out of the Lu residence, Lu Rongling often borrowed money from Mr. Xiaolian, and he never repaid the borrowed money, nor was he embarrassed.Borrowing money, he went to buy foreign medicine, but died at the age of thirty-seven.His son Lu Huatian's troubles were even more outrageous, he actually had a nickname of cowhide, not only took foreign medicine, played dice, but also fooled around with some scoundrels on Qingpu Street.Some people say that he is a piece of stinky cowhide that cannot be cooked or cut, and whoever gets it on will be unlucky!It was precisely because he saw Ruan Dacheng often mingling with Lu Niupi that Master Xiaolian saw Ruan Dacheng's unbearable upbringing and decided to ask him to walk.

Master Xiaolian is smart, he believes that no one who gets along with Lu Niupi is a good person. However, Lu Niupi didn't think that he was so bad, he thought he was a great hero, for the dignity of the Lu family, and for the sake of Master Xiaolian, he dared to go all out with the Heavenly King Lao Tzu, this is not a hero, what is it?He doesn't care if Master Xiaolian admits it or not, anyway he admits it himself, anyway a bunch of brothers and men around him admit it, anyway Mr. Zhao on Nanbao admits it—he thinks Mr. Zhao admits it, Mr. Zhao doesn't recognize him as a hero, Why did you accept him as the foreman of the escort ship?

Uncle Ruan is naturally a good man and a hero.Compassionate and sympathetic, the hero respects the hero, they came together, and forged a friendship of Jinlan.From now on, he will follow Uncle Ruan to do great things!Uncle Ruan made a fuss, and he would naturally benefit from having a Futai, a governor or something.At that time, he would also want to plunder some money, build a courtyard dignifiedly, and live in the illustrious Lu Mansion again. Naturally, you need someone to do something, and you need to make friends with a bunch of brothers.Brother Ruan sent a message, he had to pull someone in, he had to ask for help, and if he pulled someone in, Brother Ruan would give him a tael of money for etiquette and incense.Just to get a person here to give a tael of silver, he will have to make a hundred and eighty people come!

For several days, Lu Niupi was very active. First, he paid respects to a dozen buddies around him who were eating foreign medicine and throwing dice, and then dragged seven or eight brothers from the Lu family who got along well with each other into the water. , and finally, began to develop to the periphery. This development is very simple, that is, copy the play that was staged in Brother Ruan's house, anyone who is not a fool can act--since anyone can act, he has to act quickly, if he acts slowly, it will be cheaper It will be taken away by others.He also saved a trick. When he worshiped the master, he swore to the sky: "We are the only ones who form the golden orchid alliance to live and die together, and don't want one more! Whoever worships with others will be punished by heaven and earth!"

He has never told anyone about the earth-shattering righteousness that Brother Ruan mentioned when he was in charge.This is what brother Ruan told me, so I can't tell ordinary people.He didn't know what big brother Ruan was going to do, and he didn't want to know, he just believed that there would be no disadvantages in following Brother Ruan.He pondered: Brother Ruan might want to make a career of fame and fame, and if he had a career of fame and fame, he would have to employ a group of people to become a magistrate or county magistrate or something.He also pondered: Big Brother Ruan might want to follow the example of those guys from Shuntian Mansion and set up a "Tiger Mighty" bodyguard agency, so naturally he would have to employ people.Thinking about the worst: Big brother Ruan wants to pull a group of people to rob houses, that is also a very fun thing, the commotion is too big, the government has nothing to do, and will recruit them to give them a title... No matter what, there is no Lu Niupi Suffering.Taking a step back, things got out of hand, his surname is Lu, and Master Xiaolian also has a Lu character, so Master Xiaolian will not ignore it—just like the riot at Nanbao, in the end , Didn't Master Xiaolian show up?Master Xiaolian will not see him suffer!

Lu Niupi didn't have a word of fear in his mind at all! On this day, Lu Niupi invited Zhong Deliang, a fisherman, Zhao Laoer, a saltman, Bai Erlong, who opened a dog meat soup pot, and seven other brothers to his hut on West Street. It is indeed a hut.The house was in a narrow alley on West Street, and the alley floor was half a foot higher than the house, which made the house look pitifully short, and tall people could reach the eaves with their hands.There are three rooms in the house, which are made of blue bricks. There used to be tiles on the roof—you can still see two rows of dilapidated small blue tiles above the eaves, but now they are covered with a layer of thatch. Some thatch on the ridge Surprisingly alive, a piece of green.There is no yard in front of the house, and a dilapidated small courtyard can be seen from the open door behind the house.

Lu Niupi lived in such a place to defend the dignity of the Lu Mansion and Master Xiaolian, this side is a bit admirable! Because Lu Niupi still has a surname of Lu after all, although the Lu family's scholarly fragrance has not been fully inherited, he can still write two characters, and the door of the house is not like the red paper with only a series of circles drawn on it like the neighbors. , but posted a genuine pair. Bai Erlong, who opened the dog meat soup pot, had also seen a few Chinese characters before. When he walked to the door of Lu Niu's thatched hut, he saw the faded pairs pasted in front of the door, so he desperately pretended to be a gentleman.He hugged his shoulders, stared wide-eyed at the pair of missing arms and legs, and struggled to identify the missing pair for a long time, finally recognized it, shook his head and read: "Braised wakame on the stove, clear water in the kitchen. Boiled radishes, the horizontal comment is... oh, the horizontal comment is: good news, fortune and treasure now! Good! Good! Good match!" Zhong Deliang, a fisherman, laughed and said, "I've never seen a pair like this before! Their pairs are all very gentle, what's 'the sound of firecrackers removes one year', what's 'new peaches for old symbols' I've never heard of the combination of roasted octopus and boiled radish!" Lu Niupi, who was about to step into the door of the house, stepped back, glanced at Zhong Deliang with great displeasure, and said disdainfully, "Brother Zhong also talks about gentleness? If he is serious about being gentle, the big Qingpu may not be more gentle than our Lu family." That’s right! Look at the pairs in our Lu family, you can’t think of them even if you want to hurt your head! For such a pair, my old Lu can write ten or eight pairs in an hour! Otherwise, he deserves the surname Lu Is it? But we don’t write it! That’s boring, we want to be as elegant as vulgar!” Bai Erlong, who opened the dog meat soup pot, was even more solemn, thinking that Lu Niupi's words were justified, which was great, so he half flattered, half flattered and said: "How about brother Lu writing a pair for my shop someday?" This flattery is both subtle and solid, and Lu Niupi is very useful. "One sentence! One sentence! When I have free time, I will write it down for you. Look at this pair: 'A good dog that beats alive and well, cooks a pot of fresh and delicious soup'. How about a batch...a batch of 'Fragrance of Dog Meat'?" Bai Erlong was flattered: "Great! Great!" That Zhong Deliang couldn't help laughing again, and said after laughing: "The Lu family has a good scholar!" Lu Niupi said very humbly: "It's not good! It's not good! Compared with my master Xiaolian, it's far behind! However, Brother Bai Xian, I'm quite proud of the pair I made for you! Pairs are about confrontation. , you see, 'beat' is right for 'cooked', 'lively' is right for 'fresh and delicious', how appropriate and neat! A dog meat shop is naturally inseparable from the word dog, so I slammed it with 'dog meat floating' fragrant'……" Just as the spittle was blowing, Lu Niupi's wife, Mrs. Kuai, came out and invited everyone to come in and sit down. Then Lu Niupi suddenly remembered the way of hospitality, and warmly invited his friends to the house: "Yes! Yes! Come in, brothers! Let's chat while having wine!" The wine and meat in the room were fragrant, Na Kuai had arranged the table and chairs according to Lu Niupi's arrangement, and placed four plates and eight bowls on the table. The brothers lined up their seats carefully according to their age, then sat down one by one, and got up drinking.There was nothing to talk about in the first three cups, and they were all drunk.When the fourth glass of wine was filled, Lu Niupi raised his glass and said, "Brothers, I used to bother you all the time, brother Lu, but today I invite you to have a drink. I have a name for this wine, 'Unity Wine' , Concentricity means that everyone has one heart, and there can be no two hearts! Throughout the ages, anyone who has achieved great things, anyone who is promising, who has not had a group of Jinlan brothers? Today, my brothers and I are drinking this wine of unity, and we are also imitating Liu Guanzhang. , How about forming a friendship in Taoyuan?" Bai Erlong, who runs a dog meat shop, has always been bullied by a gang of ruffians on the streets of Qingpu, and he has long hoped to attach himself to a force in order to protect himself.When he heard Lu Niupi propose to worship Jinlan, he was so moved that tears were about to flow out. He stood up immediately, his face flushed, and he said excitedly: "Brother Lu is right! Rely on your parents at home and friends when you go out. To do something in the world, you must have a group of good brothers! We are all together, helping each other, and applauding each other, so that others will not dare to bully us!" Originally, he still wanted to talk about how he was bullied in the past, but he swallowed the words again, he was afraid that he would be looked down upon by others if he said such words on such a sacred occasion. The second son of the Yanmin Zhao spoke next.Zhao Lao Er is a bald man, with only a few strands of yellow hair growing sparsely on his huge flat head. The braid made of yellow hair is very unspectacular, like a long, thin pig's tail.Because of this unlucky bald head, he was often teased by others: when he put on a hat, they would take off his hat;He had long thought of finding a protection for his bald head, but now that the protection was delivered to the door, how could he not want it? "Brother Lu is right! After drinking the wine together, we are all brothers! It's only natural to worship Jinlan! Why don't we set up an incense table right now and pay our respects once!" Zhao's second son was very anxious and anxious, he was afraid that if he didn't worship this brother Lu immediately, things would change in the future. The others at the table also yelled together, agreeing with Lu Niupi's opinion with one voice, saying that they had long been sworn brothers, but they did not say so.Everyone advocated following Zhao's second son's wishes and worshiping immediately. But Zhong Deliang didn't speak, just focused on drinking. Lu Niupi knew that Zhong Deliang was a great man, with excellent fist and kick skills. In three years, he beat four men with broken arms and legs.This kind of hero cannot be easily let go, and you have to pay homage to him for anything!So, Lu Niupi asked: "Did Brother Deliang not say anything? Brother and you exchange posts, I'm afraid it won't humiliate your face?" Zhong Deliang really didn't want to worship, he felt that the bull-headed horse-faced people around Lu Niupi were not as great as himself, and to worship these bull-headed horse-faced people would be to flatter them.He didn't want to lift people up all his life, he just wanted to trample people in the mud.However, it was hard to say goodbye to Lu Niuhide's face. So, for the sake of Lu Fu and Lu Niupi, he also agreed to worship once. Dang even set up the incense table, Dang even wrote down their respective birth dates, and according to the golden orchid alliance ceremony, Dang even knelt down neatly and said: There is heaven above, and earth below. Becoming sworn brothers on a certain day in a certain month, I don't want to be born on the same day in the same year, but I hope to die in the same day in the same year, whoever loses his heart will be thundered from the sky. After paying their respects, the eight people regrouped around the table and sat down again. The Kuai family brought out some freshly fried dishes, and everyone drank again in a cloudy sky. . Lu Niu was bold and generous, ran into the back room, and took out another jar.The youngest Bai Erlong scrambled to uncover the lacquer seal, poured wine into the empty cups in front of each elder brother with great graciousness, and then tremblingly held up a glass of wine, starting from Brother Lu and Brother Zhong, toasting all the time To Seventh Brother Little Bean Sprouts.Next, Little Bean Sprout paid respects again, starting from Brother Lu and Brother Zhong as usual... Respects came and went, the newly added jar of wine went down by one third, the eight brothers and sisters who were brothers and sisters were a little dazed, but no one mentioned the end of the banquet, as if their bellies were full. It's so authentic that it can hold three or five jars of wine.As a result, the wine became more and more presumptuous, and eventually caused trouble. The first disturbance was provoked by the little bean sprouts.This little Bean Sprout is so cunning, he used a cup of tea to fight Lu Niupi and brother Lu, and he wants to use tea to do it with Lu brother, how inhumane and unrighteous this is!Brother Lu turned his face when he found out, rolled up his sleeves and rolled his arms, vowing to beat the bean sprouts into bean paste!Little Bean Sprout turned pale with fright, bowed and kowtowed again.The brethren also persuaded, finally put out Brother Lu's soaring fire.Brother Lu is both the master and the eldest brother. Seeing the love of his righteous brothers and sisters, he withdrew his idea of ​​pounding the little bean sprouts into bean paste, and immediately forced the little bean sprouts to drink three glasses of wine in one go.Little Bean Sprouts knew he was in the wrong, so how dare he not drink it?There was a blur of gold stars in front of his eyes, but he made a very bold appearance, drank the three glasses of wine in a row, and after a while, he poured them down under the table very boldly. The second commotion was even bigger. After the little bean sprouts were poured under the table, the seven brothers and sisters at the table got up again.The matter was provoked by Brother Zhong.Brother Zhong always looked at the baldness of Siyi brother Zhao Laoer's baldness, so he suggested to drink three cups.Zhao Laoer didn't dare not to drink, so he drank it bravely. He drank until his bald head was sweating, and his eyes were rolling. After the second cup, he couldn't drink any more.Brother Zhong was not willing to let go, with the veins on his neck protruding all the way, but he shouted loudly: "Fourth brother, drink! It's right to drink medicine, otherwise, you are looking down on brother! There is a saying: one cup is for drinking, two cups For the sake of drinking, three cups are poured every day, and the fourth one, you can pour it down for your brother!" Zhao's second son couldn't drink it, and he just begged for mercy with a bitter face.This made Brother Zhong angry: "Begging for mercy? What kind of mercy are you begging for? Could it be that brother bullied you? If you don't drink this glass of wine, I won't recognize you as my fourth brother, and I will call you a second bald!" , to touch Zhao Lao Er's bald head with his greasy five fingers!Zhao Lao Er suddenly turned his face.He swore sworn brothers to protect this unlucky bald head, but he never thought that the righteous brothers would also make fun of his bald head, which is tolerable but unbearable!The second brother Zhao, relying on a few glasses of wine in his stomach, and relying on brother Lu and other righteous brothers and brothers in front of him, guessed that he would not be able to fight, so he had a serious attack.He jumped forward, grabbed Brother Zhong's wrist, and made a desperate posture.How can brother Zhong eat this pot of brother Sibald?Pushing the bench aside with one kick, he hit him with a punch.Seeing this scene, a group of brothers rushed forward and pulled, almost knocking over the table.When pulling the two brothers and sisters apart, another disaster occurred: brother Lu's hand was too heavy, and he pulled Zhao Lao Er staggeringly, and Zhao Lao Er's bald head hit the corner of the table. The head was opened again, and bright red blood flowed down the neck.Zhao Lao Er didn't know it himself, and fell asleep lying on the table in a daze, the little gown on his back was wet and red. The remaining six brothers who were still able to sit still on the chairs continued to drink until it was time to light up the lights, and three more fell down when the wine and vegetables were exhausted, and the feast was considered to be over. When the banquet was over, Zhong Deliang, who had a good capacity for alcohol, also staggered a little, and couldn't tell from east to west, so Lu Niupi decided to give it to him.He left the five people lying around at home, supported Zhong Deliang and went out, but he didn't return for a long time. The five in the family vomited, yelled, and groaned, making a fuss in the middle of the night, making the neighbors uneasy.In the middle of the night, Bai Erlong was the first to wake up, he didn't go to see the lives of other brothers, but went into Kuai's room to make a fuss. The next morning, Lu Niupi came back with a bruised nose and a swollen face—not by himself, but by Yang Lao Sijia of the "Chunsheng".According to Mr. Yang: Brother Lu slept on the wet beach at the foot of Nansi slope all night, ate some seawater at high tide, and was beaten up by some unknown people... When Yang Laosi said these words, he was very sad, as if he had been beaten.