CH 51.1

Zhang Fangyuan chose a day to go to the county yamen to approve the formalities. The people in the yamen were busy recording the collection of taxes, and they checked whether he had paid the taxes on time and if the amount was right. Looking at the records in the booklet, the performance was not bad, so they did not make things difficult for him during the busy schedule and approved it in a hurry.

The official registrar also taught him a bit, so that in the future, if he opened a shop to cooperate with the county government's errands, it was best to pay the taxes by himself every quarter, and didn't let the county government send people to urge him over and over again.

Zhang Fangyuan promised in every possible way.

In fact, in places like the side of the official road, there were often people who built some sheds and stalls to do something, such as setting up a stall and withdrawing it at any time, but those who built a shed must report to the county government, but there were also many people who refused to go to the county government to report and were criticized because they refused to pay commercial taxes.

But Zhang Fangyuan no longer had such thought. With Xu He, he had become a lot more honest. After all, he must serious about doing business.

But it couldn’t blame the dishonesty of the people. In some counties, the county government was not a human at all. If you wanted to get land approval, If you didn’t invite them to drink wine and banquets, gave some gifts and money, even if you ran four or five times, the county government would not even see anyone.

Ordinary people who just wanted to start a small business, how could they bear these hardships, and they still had to pay high taxes after being approved.

Fortunately, the county magistrate of Siyang City was still fair and clear, and the people could live and work in peace and contentment without showing any misdeeds.

After completing the formalities, he went to Wangfeng grocery store to pick up Xu He. Today he came to the city to buy kitchen utensils.

The carriage stopped on the side of the road, and the man came out with two bundles of pots and utensils. Although the outside was wrapped with sackcloth, the pottery bowls inside could still be seen.

Another iron pot, colander, soup ladle,... a series of them were carried out in the pot. Zhang Fangyuan couldn't name all these kitchen utensils, just like Xu He couldn't recognize all kinds of the iron tools like iron knifes in his house.

He couldn't get in the conversation either, so he stood guard in front of the carriage with his arms folded. Xu He counted the things before getting on the carriage: "It's all ready."

Without waiting for him to ask, Xu He said, "It cost six hundred copper coins in total, and the iron pot is the most expensive."

Zhang Fangyuan knew iron things were expensive, but it was worth the 600 copper coins for a half-carriage pots and another utensils. In short, Xu He couldn't be fooled.

"How about it, did the people in the county government make things difficult for you?" Xu He was worried that Zhang Fangyuan's violent temper would not be able to do things in the government office, if so it was better if you could go by yourself.

Zhang Fangyuan said that it would be quick to do things separately, so he went by himself.

"Don't worry, it's done. I've been in the business for so long, and I know it well."

Xu He tilted his head suspiciously: "I wonder if you really know, you scolded a customer a while ago."

"He did it on purpose ." The customer was looking for scolding, after he chose and agreed on which piece of meat, let him cut the meat, but after he cut the meat he didn’t want it. Even if he opened the door to do business, he didn’t want to be bullied.

"Okay, don't be angry." Xu He took out a couple of coins from his pocket, and ordered a piece of sweet ice from the ice stall by the roadside: "To cool off the heat."

Zhang Fangyuan stopped and pointed to the small ice stall: "I want the one with pears in it."

The vendor put the sweet ice back again, and took the one with pears instead: "Three copper coins."

Zhang Fangyuan looked at Xu He and motioned him to pay it.

Xu He gritted his teeth, and added another copper coins: This prodigal bastard was used to climb all over him.

[蹬鼻子上脸   dēng bí zi shàng liǎn: lit. to climb all over sb; fig. to take advantage of sb's weakness]

He took the ice from the vendor and stuffed it into Zhang Fangyuan's mouth: "They all taste the same, so you still have to eat this expensive one."

Zhang Fangyuan grinned with the ice in his mouth, and couldn't help laughing.

The two of them didn't go back to the village first, but went directly to the tea shed. After seven days, the shed was roughly formed, with four walls and a roof on the top.

Zhang Fangyuan went in and found that the inside was still very lively. His fourth uncle Zhang Shicheng came over today.

"I happened to be out of the village to do some errands, so I stopped by to help."

Zhang Shicheng looked very satisfied with the tea shed, just like he was the one who built it by himself.

"Uncle will take aunt and Xiaomao tonight, let's have dinner in my house today." Zhang Fangyuan said to his fourth uncle, and looked back at the two brothers of the Chen family.

"Okay."

Everyone agreed without hesitation.

Zhang Fangyuan said quickly: "Then I'll take my things home first and let He ge’er cook."

Xu He heard the words outside, came in to say hello to Zhang Shicheng, and went back with Zhang Fangyuan. Although there were a sudden guests, Xu He didn't worry about having nothing to cook at night, he only needed to take the meat from Zhang Fangyuan's stall. Stir-frying and cooking were all things that villagers could easily get their hands on.

But it was a pity, Zhang Fangyuan smacked his lips, he didn't buy some fishes in the city. Not to mention the cheapness, it was easy to cook. There were still fat sausages left for sale. It would be beautiful to cook a pot of fish with fat sausages.