Chapter 3 three

The second boss's fat fingers moved slowly across the pages of the ledger.Sunlight shone in through the palindrome eyes of the wooden window, and the second boss's fingers shone red and shiny, just like a good sausage.There is a golden hoop in the middle of this "sausage", and a diamond the size of a pea is shining, making Lao Hu's eyelids twitch. The second boss's fat fingers suddenly stopped on a line in the account book, and he read softly: "Zhao Sanbao——in the 21st year of the Republic of China, I owed five shi of rice;——in the 22nd year, eight shi; Shi Qidou. What! (Second Boss's voice burst out suddenly) What! Old Hu! Is Zhao Sanbao's household owed all this year? It's outrageous!"

"I urged them twice, and took them two stones and three buckets like cutting flesh; but I didn't go for the third time." As Lao Hu replied, his eyes could not be separated from the big diamond shining brightly on the finger of the second boss. "Why didn't you go for the third time?" The second boss's voice was sharp and cold. "My wife told me not to go. Zhao Sanbao's woman came to beg his wife, saying that they have been tenants for 20 or 30 years, and they were started by the old man. They have never owed rent; this year, the drought was really severe. They really couldn't help it, so they begged my wife for mercy; Zhao Sanbao, that woman can really talk,—madam...my wife told me not to rush."

"Fart!—Hey! Hey! My wife is so confused! I can't hold back three good words! Hey, Lao Hu——oh, I remembered, this Zhao Sanbao's family used to be the bearer for the old man. This little idea made the old man happy. It was supposed to be rented for one stone and only charged them eight dollars. I also thought that the old man had done it like that, and it was inconvenient to change it. How did I know that they were really black-hearted and still owed Rent! How tricky!" The second boss moved his diamond finger to the inkstone, picked up a pen and made two circles on Zhao Sanbao's account name, and said:

"Old Hu! Order them to withdraw the rent! I'm afraid no one will pay for such a good field!" "Yes, yes. But ma'am—" "It's none of your wife's business! Take care of Xiao Wang, and don't let Zhao Sanbao's woman in from now on!" The second boss flicked the cigar ashes, turned over a page, frowned, looked at the first line first, then the second, third, and fourth lines, then glanced at the left and right sides, shook his head and said: "It's outrageous! There's not a single household that doesn't owe it! The old rent, the new rent, the debt is more than twice as much as the repayment! If this continues, what do I need to do with the land? Hey, old Hu——"

"Second boss, the two maps here, more than 100 acres of land, and thirteen households, are not bad! There are a few maps below, which are really rent-resistant! They said that there is a drought this year, and there is no harvest,—" "There is no such thing!" The second boss cut off Lao Hu's words like a sharp knife. "I know that this year's drought, some places are really terrible, some places are better than last year. My fields are all close to the Dagang River, so there will be no harvest. These troublemakers have to deal with it A few will not work! Old Hu, tell me, which ones are the most tricky?"

The second boss picked up the pen and tilted his head to see Lao Hu's face. Lao Hu has a troubled face.He stretched out his hand hesitantly, flipped through the edge of the account book twice, opened a page, and said hesitantly: "Second Boss, here are the tenants of the Seventeen, Eighteen and Twenty-Three Maps of ×× Township, they-they are the most tricky bastards! The road is far away, I went there once, they, some of them from the village The tenants came here in a hurry, and they talked a lot and didn't allow me to say a word. They, they said, didn't pay a grain of rent rice, and the boss wanted the land, and they all quit the rent!"

"Good! Good! Good!" The second boss threw the inch-long cigar butt into the spittoon.Old Hu's eyes could not help but followed the cigar butt into the spittoon!He knew that the cigars that the second boss smoked cost more than one yuan a stick, but they were only four inches long, and a cigarette butt that was one inch long was worth more than the Ocean Triangle.The second boss spit out another mouthful of phlegm, and then continued: "Refund the rent? Good, good, good! Ask them to return the rent after clearing the debt!" "Yes, that's what I told them too, Second Boss! But what did they answer! They said: There is only one life, if you want—take it! These gangs are really desperadoes!"

The second boss snorted, but didn't speak.He looked down at the account book, and his fat fingers slowly scanned the pages of the account book. He seemed to be counting, but then he became impatient again, pushed the account book, and asked sullenly: "How many acres are there in total? How many households?" "It's nearly 200 mu, but there are forty or fifty households." "How much is the old rent and the new rent?" "It's about 200 shi. But it's really a drought this year, so the rent was supposed to be 40% off." "Okay, okay! Hmph! Lao Hu, bring a few policemen and go again tomorrow. Whoever dares to withdraw the rent, I will take over the land; see if they still say to withdraw the rent? My second boss is fighting for two hundred I don’t want Shi Zumi anymore, hurry up and get out of here! Our surname Tang has been renting fields for three or four generations, and this is the first time we have encountered such a thing!”

"However, Second Boss, it's really not easy to rent out the fields over there. If it rains for a few more days, there will be flooding; if it's sunny for a few days, there will be no water. Second Boss—— still……" "No, no! I'd rather let Tian Huang get up, and don't get any benefit from those killers!" The second boss said that his face was blue, he took a picture of the account book, stood up and took a few steps, and then ordered: "I still have something to do! Hu, go and find out some of the most tricky ones. Copy a sheet of paper for me. Tomorrow I'll call on the chief of the Public Security Bureau and make them resist the rent!"

"Then—I'm afraid it will cost dozens, it seems too much?" "You copy the list and read it again. Hmph! - This year, there is not enough taste in the land. The price of rice is cheap, and the tenants have to owe, the regular tax, the additional tax, - the additional tax is heavier than the regular tax, What's the point of collecting rented rice and paying taxes for one mu of land? "But, Second Boss, our place is pretty good. There are more than 2,000 fields in Lin's house on Qianjie Street. I heard that last year, I lost a net of 700. Lin Wengweng borrowed money to spend the New Year. Well, Huanweng took the land slips to mortgage, but no one wanted it. He was willing to suffer a loss. Two years ago, it was 80 yuan per mu, and he gave up half of it, but there was no owner. The land would be so worthless, so many big families Everyone is going to be poor, this world! Hi!"

"Don't say it's Tian, ​​everything is the same!" The second boss sighed and said, slowly took out a cigar, lit it slowly, held it in his mouth, and looked out of the window in a daze.His complexion is even worse now - 40% angry, 60% embarrassed. "Second boss. Rent—doesn't count today?" Old Hu said softly, and took out a stack of papers from his side. "Oh-oh!" The second boss turned around quickly, subconsciously took the cigar from his mouth, and subconsciously glanced at the cigar again; the cigar had already been extinguished, so he subconsciously reached into his pocket He went to touch the matchbox, but it was still an empty hand.At this moment, Lao Hu had already lit a match and brought it to the second boss. The second boss leaned over to smoke it. The big diamond on his finger holding the cigar caught Lao Hu's attention again.Old Hu gave a low snort like a sigh, threw away the matchstick, and rubbed his eyes. The second boss said at that time: "Oh, what about the rent? How are you doing? I was going to ask you. Those houses on the side street—a tailor's shop, a barber's shop, and—there's a peanut stand or something , have they been ordered to relocate?" "I've been there just now. Only the one with the peanut stand is unreasonable;—cough! The second boss, the one with the peanut stand, I heard that he was originally a worker in the Huaguang Silk Factory. After the factory stopped working , Sitting and eating, his woman barely set up a stall to sell peanuts, and sold less than five or six hundred dollars a day, and the rent was owed for four months..." "Oh—what the hell! Tell him to move!" The second boss is impatient.He always felt upset when he mentioned Huaguang Silk Factory. "Yes——the police were called later, and it was stipulated that if he didn't pay a little tomorrow, he must give up." His voice lowered a little. "He—he doesn't seem to know that the landlord is your second boss." "Scare scare—what about the other two? "Both of them are limited to the first month and a half of next year. The tailor paid five dollars. The barber shop paid four dollars." "How much do you owe?" "One family is less than two months, and the other is a full three months." "What! There are still three or four months left! Hey, you go to collect it again. This group of people is very tricky and cheap, and they don't eat or drink fines for toasting; didn't you just grit your teeth and say that you can't pay any money? They moved, just four or five yuan to plug a tiger's asshole. The poor tailor has been busy all winter, how can there be a barber shop that doesn't have business at the end of the year? It's just a bad temper, and it's worth a penny if you can drag it. Old Hu. They must pay for another two months, two months!" "But it's true that the business is slow. Today is twenty-six, and the chairs in the barber shop are more than half empty." "Tomorrow and the day after tomorrow it will be lively. This group of people - if you don't force him, he will never expect to pay for the rent after living for the rest of his life! Humph!" The second boss walked a few steps as if thinking of something on his mind, The hands are cut behind the back. "The tenants on the high street and on the road outside the city, I made a list here." When the second boss walked to the second circle and was facing Lao Hu face to face, Lao Hu handed over the stack of papers while talking.These are two thirty-six-line hand-rolled letterheads, full of writing.The second boss put the cigar in his mouth, took the list, read a few lines, and then frowned; he turned to read the second half page, glanced briefly, and then turned to the second page; finally, He twirled his fat fingers again, and seemed to make some calculations, put down the list, and said: "What a joke! Fifty or sixty tenants, the bigger the size, the more they owe. On average, they owe three months! There are more than a dozen big shops that owe four months. It seems that they have made an appointment to settle I'm kidding! Humph!" "Indeed, they seem to have made an appointment. The little shop also said, 'I beg the boss to give me half a month's grace, and after the new year, I must pull out some more." When the little shop heard that the boss was going to take back the house, he was still a little scared .Large font size, hey! It’s useless to be soft, but to be hard, they said, as if they had made an appointment, “The market is not good, and the decades-old store is in arrears for half a year and eight months! If the landlords all Get serious like your second boss, call for the house to be given up, then there is no market!' The second boss,—they also said: "Let the government come to seal the door, we can't wait!" Hey, hey! My old Hu did it This is the first time I have met a rent collector for more than 20 years." "Hmph, joke, joke!" The second boss seemed to have spent a lot of effort to spit out these words.His face is now quite gloomy.Just now, he can't show the kind of prestige he used to deal with the tenants' barber shop, tailor shop, or even the tenants who set up a peanut stall. However, in addition to the feeling of "embarrassment", he also felt a little "outraged" pain: he was "outraged" and the big-name tenants here (not in Shanghai!) actually imitated those tenants in Shanghai; he did not expect The kind of nail he had encountered in Shanghai was unexpectedly encountered again "here". Lao Hu seemed to understand what the second boss was thinking, but he just said: "However, Second Boss, compared to Shanghai, is this place still better? Second Boss's market house in Shanghai has been built for a year and a half and no one has rented it. It will take two or three months to rent it out. Here It's not empty at all." Although Lao Hu is good at joking around, this time it is almost self-defeating.The second boss stopped suddenly, staring at him, as if he wanted to vent all his sulking anger on Lao Hu; He only stared at him for a while, then laughed dryly twice, shook his head and said: "What do you say it does! It's nothing more than being in debt now! In short, the world has changed drastically." So the second boss raised his hand and scratched his head. He was in a daze for a long time, and suddenly he felt that his position was really "funny": he owed people, but was owed by others. Should he be comfortable or uncomfortable? At this time, a ray of sunlight was shining on the second boss's diamond ring, and the shining precious light hit Lao Hu's eyes, making Lao Hu feel both comfortable and uncomfortable.He wanted to avoid his gaze, but he was reluctant to do so; he was in a dilemma when he heard the second boss say, "Old Hu, hurry up and make a list of the most cunning tenants."