I'm incredibly ambitious after being reborn.

Chapter 5 Zhang Xiang Sells Fast Food in the Three Lanes
Since Zhangshi Village has the character "Shi" in its name, it is naturally not a simple place. There are 2,700 people with the surname Zhang in the whole village, 1,400 of whom are from the same clan, and the other 1,300 are sworn brothers, adopted sons, and subordinates of the great-grandfathers.

The independent detachment that fought guerrilla warfare in the northeast of Jiyang City back then actually had its stronghold in Zhangshi Village. The surrounding low-lying areas used to be wild ponds, lakes, and reed marshes, where a hundred or so water houses and strongholds were hidden. They gradually disappeared after the bandit suppression.

Further along, in Jiyang City, there were also stations or inns in Zhangshi Village for various markets such as Dongxiang Cattle Market, Dongxiang Canal Transport Station, Dongxiang Grain Market, and Dongxiang Dyehouse.

Therefore, there are still some ancient place names in Zhangshi Village, such as "Liangzhanli", "Caochuanwan", "Niushijie", "Ranfangtou", etc.

However, these place names don't carry much weight. The ones that truly command respect are the three brothers from our great-grandfather's generation. The eldest and second eldest were both literate and scholarly, while the youngest was skilled in martial arts, whose main function was to provide men to protect the family and property.

Old man Zhang Qihui was the only scholar of his generation in the "Three Schools"; the rest of the intellectuals came from the "Big Schools" and "Second Schools".

Officially, those who are considered capable are basically "first-class" and "second-class" officials, who are considered to be officials among the "changing county magistrates but constant clerks".

Jiyang City had a total of eighteen townships in the eastern part of the city. The head, deputy head, and instructor of the public security office in each township were all people from the "two lines" (referring to the two political factions).

Even so, the reputation of "Second Lane" is not as good as that of "Third Lane". After all, the position of a clerk means that he is not likable. A few words of respect are enough.

On the contrary, it was the two generations of people from "Sanxingli" who fled famine, taxes, levies, and Latin. Therefore, the 1,300 people in Zhangshi Village were not from the same clan. When burning incense, they would offer a stick of incense to Zhang Daxiang's great-grandfather, Zhang Zhixu.

The old man's name contained the character "xu" (meaning emptiness), and he was anything but empty-handed. He had a dozen or twenty sons, nine of whom died in battle and three were crippled. Some of the "privileges" in the "three lines" also stemmed from this.

Moreover, his family genealogy is separate, and he is the only one going back five generations.

No matter how you look at it, many of his sons died.

Zhangshi Village now has a total area of ​​more than 5,000 households, half of which was mainly created through land reclamation. Many of the fertile fields in the village today were reclaimed by organized manpower.

Many of the reed marshes and sandy areas were hiding places for lake bandits and water pirates decades ago.

Suppress the bandits! Suppress the bandits! Zhang Zhixu was one of those bandits.

The real ancestral land, which was what Zhang Zhixu and his brothers received when they divided the family property, totaled only 300 mu, and it was purchased with reward money earned by the older generation in battle.

So if you look down on the whole Zhangshi Village, you will find that the ancestral hall and ancestral house are the core, and the small ditches are surrounded by them, with the canal running north-south and east-west as the farthest boundary. The waterways were once covered with reeds and aquatic plants, which made it easy for small boats to shuttle back and forth.

Now that it's clean and fresh, it's not very noticeable.

Time has passed, and Zhangshi Village has changed much more than it did decades or even a hundred years ago. However, it is still very useful for people in the village to be known by their titles such as "So-and-so from the Three Ranks".

These past few days, people from other clans in the village have been talking about "Zhang Xiang from Sanxingli selling fast food," but there's been little buzz about "Zhang Xiang from Sanxingli not going to university."

Making money is always more appealing.

"Uncle Qi Hui, I heard that A Xiang's business is doing well and he's short-staffed. Do you think I could work here washing dishes, cooking vegetables, and serving food?"

"Oh, it's Jianfeng's wife. Please sit down. I'll call Qinglao over."

"Huh?" "If Zhang Xiang isn't home, then let his old man help look after the recruitment."

Because Zhang Daxiang successfully set up a stall in "Wujiatan", Zhang Zhengqing took a few days off from work to come and help with some miscellaneous tasks, so that his nephew wouldn't have to do all the work himself.

For example, that grove of dawn redwoods doesn't actually belong to a private individual or the village next door; it belongs to the Road Administration Office. Zhang Zhengqing certainly doesn't have the means to buy the entire grove, but buying a dozen or twenty trees is still within his reach.

The Highway Administration usually doesn't bother with such petty squabbles. However, there's an office director in the Highway Administration who's a big shot. So as long as Zhang Zhengqing doesn't try to take advantage of the situation and the money is there, he'll handle things officially.

Although this cousin, who is now the director, hasn't lived in his hometown in the countryside for thirty years and doesn't even want the homestead anymore, he will still give him this much face.

It was this matter of spending money to buy metasequoia trees that enraged the old man, Zhang Qihui, so much that he went and berated his own father, who was the director, for a full hour.

His first words were, "I lost nine brothers to feed your family of pigs and dogs," which almost shook the tiles off the ancestral house.

Finally, the director of the road administration office went to the old man overnight with cash to apologize, saying that he, as Zhang Daxiang's cousin, would pay for the purchase of the metasequoia trees!

In fact, the old man had an even more ruthless trick up his sleeve: he planned to re-register the names on the family genealogy using indigo ink. As the saying goes, "the lineage is pure and red," and those who are of the same lineage would naturally be registered in red ink. If a cultured person were to emerge, they could also have a seal or a "monogram"; but if it was a "concubine" or an illegitimate child... sorry, it would be registered in blue ink.

When people are cursing each other like this, there's not a single nice word to say. As the saying goes, "there are no nice words when people are cursing each other." It's not impossible for them to call each other "bastards" right off the bat.

That's incredibly lethal.

To become an official?

Be your mother my ass.

Hypocrites are thieves of virtue.

Even though Zhang Qihui was a cultured man to a certain extent, he was still the son of Laozi Zhang Zhixu. So what was wrong with him occasionally playing the role of an "old thief"?
Someone capable of performing such an underworld act as "one person offering twelve incense sticks" is unlikely to be a great philanthropist or a good person.

The dishwasher, vegetable washer, and vegetable preparer each hired an aunt who needed money at home. They didn't need to come to the stall; they could just work in Zhang Daxiang's yard. Two helpers came to the stall: one was Zhang Daxiang's younger brother named Zhang Damiao, and the other was his nephew named Zhang Gangwu.

My nephew is a year older than Zhang Daxiang, but he is timid. He just got into university this year and is now working part-time during the summer vacation.

"Big brother, are we going to set out turtle hooks tonight?"

Zhang Damiao, clinging to the cart frame as he followed Zhang Daxiang out to set up his stall, asked excitedly. He had followed Zhang Daxiang since he was a child, and had eaten all kinds of fish, turtles, shrimps, crabs, snakes, and frogs. Because of the good nutrition, he was as strong and healthy as Zhang Daxiang, but he still looked immature and had a youthful feeling that Zhang Daxiang lacked.

"Put... um?"

Just as Zhang Daxiang was about to reply, he suddenly paused, because he saw several uninvited guests at his stall. In addition to a modified "yellow fish cart", there were several people wearing "City Management Office" uniforms, sitting at a folding table eating wontons.

Zhang Daxiang pulled up on his motorcycle, got off, and said directly to the group, "Who gave you permission to set up a stall here? This is my stall. Get out of here and clean up the trash on the ground."

(End of this chapter)