Chapter 27: Steal half a day’s leisure

finish dressing,

He Yuzhu went to get a haircut, pedicure, and massage.
That is to say, since we are young now, there is no need for cupping or shaving.

Otherwise, he would have to order a one-stop service to fully experience the bathhouses of this era.

Get yourself in good shape.
He Yuzhu followed the example of the neighbors and went to the stall, holding the teacup and drinking slowly.

After a while, Xu Damao, Yan Jiecheng and the others also packed up and came over.

"Zhuzi, don't just lie here. Let's go watch Uncle Wang and his friends fight crickets.

Last time when I came to have a bath, I heard that he had caught a blackhead general.
I have to take a good look today."

Hearing this, He Yuzhu also felt that lying down and drinking tea did not seem suitable for him, so he agreed.
"I'm just waiting here for you three.
I've heard Uncle Wang say before that if you raise a black-headed general, he will become the king of insects.
We can’t miss this opportunity.”

Putting down the teacup, He Yuzhu led the three of them to the place where Uncle Wang and his friends usually fought crickets.

When we saw neighbors drinking or playing chess along the way, we all greeted them politely.

"Uncle Zhu, please take it easy. Be careful not to drink too much and not be able to go home!"

"Brother Zhang, why did you remove your card pair? Be careful that you won't be able to win later."

……

"Hey! Uncle Li,

You, the dragon, are in danger. Be careful or you will be slaughtered soon!"

He Yuzhu had just finished greeting Uncle Li when he heard him scolding with laughter,
"You little brat, do you know what it means to watch a game of chess without saying a word? How about you come and do it?"

Speaking of which, Shazhu did learn how to play Go from the old men in the bathhouse.
But he had other things to do at the moment, so he couldn't agree.
"Don't worry, Master Li. I heard that Master Wang found a black-headed general. I have to go and take a look.
I will come to you to listen to your advice after I have gained more experience!"

Seeing He Yuzhu's good attitude, Uncle Li and others waved their hands with a smile.
"Hurry up, Lao Wang's cricket is really good, it's good to take a look."

We arrived at our destination chatting and laughing, and suddenly we saw several old men gathered around a small table, looking intently at the tabletop.

He shouted excitedly,
"Bite it! Bite him!"

……

He Yuzhu and his friends also squeezed to the side of the table and saw at a glance an exquisite pottery jar in the middle of the table.

Two strong crickets in the jar were fighting each other fiercely.

The game is over.

The two crickets separated and chirped within a few seconds of each other.
"Ha! It's a draw."

After hearing the verdict of Mr. Zhu who was the referee next to me,

Uncle Wang and Uncle Ma, who was sitting opposite him, looked at each other in dissatisfaction, then picked up the grass roots and started to pull out their own crickets.

"That's not right, Old Ma. I'm wondering if you're feeding ant eggs to crickets.
Otherwise, how can you fight my black-headed general to a draw with your iron bullets? "

When Uncle Ma heard what Uncle Wang said, he was very unhappy. This made him doubt his own character.

"Old Wang, what do you mean by this?
What is feeding ant eggs?
To put it in today's terms, it's like giving athletes stimulants.
It's cheating.
We are just having fun on weekdays. We don’t lose money or rice. Why should I do this?

If you can't afford to lose, don't come. Why are you playing dirty tricks?"

At this time, Mr. Zhu, the referee, also smiled and tried to smooth things over.
“What Lao Ma said is not bad!

Lao Wang, although this is a black-headed general, a rare good insect, I think you must not have raised it well and ruined it. "

This is true,

We Xia people have been raising crickets since the Tang Dynasty, and people from all walks of life also like to fight crickets. Over the past thousand years, we have summed up countless tricks for raising crickets.
But if you want to raise crickets well, you have to be a rich and free person.

This obviously has nothing to do with people at the bottom of society like them, unless they are the kind of people who are obsessed with playing with things. At this time, Uncle Wang also said with some annoyance,

"If I had known this, I would have sent it to Master Ma's mansion some time ago. Maybe Master Ma would have given me something in return.
Why are you so obsessed with wanting to raise it yourself?

When I get well, I'll go out and fight with others and win something."

"You are just greedy and don't know how to stop when you are ahead.
Don't think we are fighting crickets.

But those good crickets have nothing to do with us.
Take you, the black-headed general,

If I don't take good care of it, it will be useless. Even if I take good care of it, I think it will be snatched away by those hooligans, and I might even get beaten up.
You should have given this to Master Ma San from the beginning, maybe you could have gotten something out of it."

Hearing this, Uncle Wang couldn't help but sigh with lack of interest.

"Forget it, forget it. If it's ruined, then let it be. It's already like this, there's no place to regret.

Come on, let’s continue!”

……

Uncle Wang and his companions continued to fight crickets. Seeing that the insects were useless, He Yuzhu and his companions just watched for a while and then went somewhere else.
After playing Go with Uncle Li for a while, He Daqing chased him back home.

"Zhu Zi, don't play here after you finish this game of chess. Go back and boil some water so Pan Di can wash the rain water.

The little girl has been playing so hard these past two days that she's all smelly."

"I know dad!"

After playing chess, He Yuzhu greeted Xu Damao and the others, but these guys were in high spirits and had no intention of going back with him.

He Yuzhu went to the locker room alone to change into the clean clothes he brought with him.

"One! Show him out."

"Walk slowly."

“You are welcome to come again!”

Coming out of the locker room and heading to the bathhouse door, every guy he passed by greeted He Yuzhu politely.

It made him feel the enthusiasm of old Beijing.

Coming out of the bathhouse, I looked up at the sky and found that the sun was already setting.

The time in the space has already passed 5 o'clock,
At this time, some night soil collectors appeared in the alley, pushing carts and carrying baskets, and were carefully cleaning the public toilets and the cesspools of each household.

I secretly said that it was bad luck.
He Yuzhu could only carefully avoid them.

Fortunately, it happened in Nanluoguxiang. If it happened in other places where poor people gathered, these night soil collectors pushing night soil carts and carrying backpacks would be running around recklessly.

Back at the courtyard, most of the women in the courtyard were at Jia's house helping Jia Zhang prepare for tonight's apprenticeship banquet.
He Yuzhu took a look and found that there were chickens, ducks, fish and meat.

It looks like a lot of money has been spent tonight.

Just as I was about to turn around and leave, I heard Aunt Yi say with a smile,

"Zhu Zi is back so early!

Why didn't you soak in the bathhouse for a while longer? But you're back just in time, come and help your Aunt Zhang cook."

Hearing Aunt Yi's call, He Yuzhu smiled and refused.
"Auntie, I'm busy now.

My dad asked me to come back and boil water for Yu Shui and the others to take a bath. The two little girls have been playing like crazy these past two days and they smell bad. "

When she heard that it was He Daqing who asked him to come back to give his sister a bath, Aunt Yi didn't say anything more.
"Okay, we have to go to work tomorrow, so it's time to give Xiao Yushui a good wash, otherwise Shopkeeper Luan won't let the three of you in."

(End of this chapter)