There is a family surnamed Zhang in Qilipu, and there is a daughter named Cui'er, who is eighteen years old.

As the saying goes, "A family has a hundred girls who want it," this is not false at all. It is precisely because of Cui'er's outstanding appearance that the young descendants within a radius of ten miles dream of it, and they have asked the matchmaker to ask for marriage.

Many of them were children of rich families and officials, but they were all rejected by the Zhang family.

The Zhang family was an outsider from Qilipu, but it had been some years since the family had migrated to Qilipu.

Mrs. Zhang lost her husband in her early years, and her orphans and widows depended on each other for life. She was both a father and mother, and raised Cui'er as an adult with one hand. It was reasonable to have reluctance to part with her.

On this day, Mrs. Zhang suddenly said that she wanted to open the door to recruit a son-in-law, but the two conditions she offered were surprisingly simple: one was to learn a craft and survive regardless of drought or flood; the other was to be responsible and treat Cui'er well.

For a time, the matchmaker who came to matchmaker almost broke through the threshold of the Zhang family. In the end, Mrs. Zhang chose two of them, one of whom was the chef Fusheng of Dongzhuang.

The other person was Erkui, a potter in Xizhuang. This person was dark, taciturn, honest, and could not beat a fart with eight sticks.

After the matchmaker made a match, Mrs. Zhang made the same request to the two descendants, saying that she wanted to taste the lotus roots on Tiantai Mountain, and asked them to go to Tiantai Mountain in person tomorrow, pick some lotus roots with their own hands, and then come to Zhang's house, use the lotus roots they picked back to make the road slippery lotus root slices with their own hands, and then talk about asking for relatives after Mrs. Zhang tasted them in person.

The next afternoon, Fusheng from Dongzhuang was covered in mud, carrying a bag of lotus roots, washing his hands and face, and cooking himself.

Speaking of cooking, of course, Fusheng is good at cooking, but this time cooking is no small matter. Fusheng did not dare to be careless, and almost used his ability to eat milk to make a smooth lotus root slice with complete color and fragrance.

As for Erkui from Xizhuang, he didn't carry a bag of lotus roots until dusk, but his whole body was clean.

According to Mrs. Zhang's instructions, Erkui also cooked in person, but after all, he was not good at cooking, and the slippery lotus root slices made people lose their appetite at a glance.

After Mrs. Zhang tasted the lotus root slips made by the two of them, she didn't say who was good or bad, but told them to go home and wait for the news. If anyone was selected as the future son-in-law of the Zhang family, the matchmaker would definitely report the good news within three days.

Three days is like a year for two descendants.

Three days later, early in the morning, the matchmaker hurriedly came to Xizhuang Erkui's house to announce the good news. Everyone was dumbfounded when they heard it, especially Fu Sheng, who was originally full of confidence and determined to win. After learning the news, a hundred people were not convinced.

In a hurry, Fusheng came to the Zhang family to ask for an explanation.

Mrs. Zhang met Fusheng and did not rush to explain her reasons for choosing a son-in-law this time. Instead, she told Fusheng a story earnestly.

In the past, the largest pharmacy in Huang'an County was called Puji Pharmacy. The owner, Mr. Huang, did not have any children and half daughters under his knees. Therefore, when he was in his seventies, Mr. Huang decided to recruit a disciple to inherit the family business.

The news came out, and the people who came to study medicine were all over the place.

This old man Huang made the same request to those who came to study medicine, that is, he wanted to taste the lotus roots on Tiantai Mountain, and asked them to go to Tiantai Mountain to pick some lotus roots in person, and use the lotus roots they picked back to make a slippery lotus root slice by themselves. After he had tasted them separately, he would discuss the matter of apprenticeship.

As soon as these words were said, there were dozens of people who went to Tiantai Mountain to pick lotus root, but Mr. Huang decided to accept only two disciples.

Fusheng was so strange that he couldn't help but interrupt Mrs. Zhang's speech: "Is there anything special about the lotus root in Tiantai Mountain?"

Old Mrs. Zhang took a sip of tea and calmly explained, "Actually, there is nothing special about the lotus roots in Tiantai Mountain, but the lotus roots produced elsewhere are all seven or nine holes, but the lotus roots produced on Tiantai Mountain are eleven holes.

In traditional Chinese medicine, eleven-hole lotus root is regarded as a prescription, which is cold in nature and bitter in taste. It mainly replenishes medium coke, nourishes the mind and nourishes qi, and is a good prescription for reducing fire and preventing diarrhea.

Maybe ordinary people, even you chefs, don't notice how many holes there are in the lotus root of Tiantai Mountain, but Mr. Huang is a family of traditional Chinese medicine. Of course, he knows which lotus root is really produced in Tiantai Mountain. In order to recruit a dutiful and loyal person to inherit the medical skills of the Huang family, Mr. Huang used this method. "

Fusheng retorted: "But even though Erkui brought the lotus root from Tiantai Mountain that day, it cannot be concluded that he personally went to Tiantai Mountain to dig. Besides, he didn't see any mud all over his body. Maybe he bought it at the vegetable market?"

Old Mrs. Zhang smiled and said, "Tiantai Mountain is nearly twenty miles away from here. The mountain is high and the road is long, and cars and horses are blocked. It takes a day to go back and forth, but you come back in the afternoon. How is this possible?

Tiantai Mountain is high in water and evil, and the lotus root produced is cold and bitter, slightly sour, and is rarely used for cooking, so it is difficult to buy in the vegetable market.

After Erkui came back from picking lotus root from Tiantai Mountain, because his body was covered in mud, he went home and changed his clothes, but his hands and fingers were purple, which is the imprint left by picking lotus root. "

When Fusheng heard that, he was immediately ashamed, because he did not go to Tiantai Mountain that day, but casually walked around the vegetable market in the afternoon and bought a bag of high-quality lotus root at a high price.

In order to prove that the lotus root was dug by himself, he deliberately made some mud all over his body, but he didn't expect to be seen by Mrs. Zhang at a glance.

Mrs. Zhang continued to tell the story of Mr. Huang recruiting apprentices: "In fact, only the little apprentices who were recruited later that day picked the lotus roots from Tiantai Mountain, and the other apprentices who came to worship were all bought in the vegetable market. However, Mr. Huang saw that one of them was of outstanding appearance and intelligence, so he finally forgave him and made an exception to recruit him as a big apprentice.

Therefore, the brothers and sisters followed Mr. Huang to study medicine. A few years later, Mr. Huang was bedridden due to illness and was on his deathbed. He decided to divide the well-managed Puji Pharmacy into two, to be inherited by the two apprentices.

After Mr. Huang passed away, the brothers and sisters opened a Puji pharmacy in the south and north of the city.

The little junior brother is loyal and sincere, and never prescribes medicine indiscriminately.

The eldest senior brother did not change his temperament. When prescribing medicine, he was short of weight, and when using precious drugs, he was fake and real. In the end, he caused a death, ate a lawsuit, and died in prison.

Afterwards, his wife sold her belongings and moved to the countryside with her underage daughter. She bought a few acres of thin fields and lived in incognito to make a living. However, the most popular pharmacy in the county today is still Puji Pharmacy, and the owner is still that little junior brother. "

"That senior brother is Cui'er's father..." Speaking of this, old Mrs. Zhang was already in tears. "Before Cui'er's father left, he repeatedly told the old woman that when Cui'er grows up, she must find a husband who is responsible for her."

In this way, Cui'er finally married Erkui, a potter in Xizhuang.

Although Erkui was not good at words, he was honest and hardworking. Although he was not rich in his small life, he lived a moist life.

Dongzhuang's Fusheng felt that Erkui was simply lucky, and he was always indignant in his heart, so he deliberately found fault and wanted to make a whole Erkui.

One day, Erkui came to Dongzhuang with a load of pottery to sell. Fusheng said he wanted to buy a chamber pot, but it happened that Erkui didn't have a chamber pot in the pottery he picked at that time, so he promised to bring it to him next time.

The so-called chamber pot is a pottery urinal that men use to relieve their hands at night. It is a bit like a pottery teapot, with a handle on one side and a mouth on the other.

A few days later, Erkui made a special trip to bring a chamber pot to Fusheng. Who knew that Fusheng looked at the chamber pot and thought that the mouth of the pot was too small, so he said he wanted to customize a larger mouth.

Erkui was an honest man, and he really fired up a large-mouthed chamber pot, but Fusheng still thought the mouth of the pot was too small after reading it, and hoped to customize a bigger one.

In fact, Fusheng had no intention of buying a chamber pot at all. He just wanted to play tricks on Erkui. As a result, the chamber pots were burned one after another, and each was bigger than the other.

Every time Erkui carried a burden to visit the village, people often pointed to the oversized chamber pot and made fun of him: "Erkui, you make a chamber pot with such a big mouth, who uses it? How can anyone buy it?"

Erkui could only tell the truth: "That was customized by Dongzhuang Fusheng."

From then on, whenever Fusheng fell in love with a girl or asked a matchmaker to ask for marriage, they all rejected it like avoiding the god of plague.

Afterwards, Fusheng was a bachelor all his life, but he never understood: Why is he so inferior to others, and he can't even get a daughter-in-law?