"But he seems to have an ink stick worth more than ten taels at home."

Gu An saw that some of his classmates in the academy used this ink stick. He said that the ink flowed smoothly, the fragrance of the ink was refreshing, and it had the effect of refreshing the mind. After using it for a while, the classmate was praised by the teacher, who said that he had made a lot of progress recently.

Many people who heard about the ink sticks went to Zizhuxuan to buy them.

However, there are also many people who are tempted but cannot afford the ink sticks, just like him, who are tempted in vain.

"Could I have seen it wrong? How could they afford such expensive ink sticks? If they had so much silver, Xie Yunjiao wouldn't have to work in the restaurant from dawn to dusk." Liu Miaohua didn't believe it. She thought Gu An must have seen it wrong.

Xie Yunjiao never told the villagers about her shop, so no one in the village knew that she had opened a cosmetics store that made so much money.

It’s not that she doesn’t want to move, but the houses in town are too expensive and she can’t afford them.

These days, the wages of craftsmen are high and the materials are not cheap. It is not easy to build a decent house in the village, so they can only stay in this small yard.

"No, I wouldn't be wrong." Gu An shook his head.

The more he couldn't get it, the more he wanted it, so he remembered exactly what the ink stick looked like and what it tasted like.

Even after returning home, Gu An still couldn't forget the ink stick in Gu Huai's house.

After the meal, it was a rare occasion for the family to eat meat, but Gu An had no appetite at all.

It's really strange. They are obviously all meat, but why does Xie Yunjiao's look so fragrant and delicious, while theirs looks bland and has a pig smell that makes people feel nauseous when eating.

"Third brother, why don't you eat anymore?" Fan looked at Gu An distressedly, "You study hard, you need to eat more."

Gu An shook his head and stood up: "I don't have much appetite, you guys eat."

Seeing that Gu An didn't want to eat, Fan pretended to take the meat away from the bowl.

Liu Miaohua saw that Fan was about to take the meat away and wondered what they would eat then, as they hadn't even started eating yet.

No, she had to find a way to keep the meat.

"Mom, I think I know why my third brother has a poor appetite."

Fan stopped and looked at Liu Miaohua: "Really?"

Liu Miaohua took the opportunity to put some meat on Gu Ping, Zhuangzhuang and herself.

Fan saw Liu Miaohua's actions, but she wanted to know why Gu An had no appetite, so she turned a blind eye and pretended not to see it.

The meat tastes so delicious when it enters your mouth.

Liu Miaohua took a big bite of the meat and wanted to pick it up again, but found that Fan had taken the bowl away. She had no choice but to tell everyone about the ink stick under Fan's gaze.

"Ink sticks worth more than ten taels each?" Fan was stunned. "Third brother must have seen it wrong. How could the Gu Huai family have the spare money to buy such expensive ink sticks?"

This single stick of ink is worth more than their family’s income for several years!

"That's not true. I told my third brother the same thing, but he just didn't believe it," said Liu Miaohua.

Fan had an idea in mind: "How about going over and taking a look later?"

"You'd better stop interfering in Gu Huai's affairs." Old man Gu suddenly said.

He was a little afraid of the white-haired man. He always felt that the man seemed to know something.

"You are afraid of that white-haired man. I heard that he has left." said Mrs. Fan.

A hint of doubt flashed across Old Man Gu's eyes, and the heavy stone weighing on his chest, making it hard to breathe, seemed to disappear in an instant: "Really?"

"Yes, the third brother and the eldest brother's wife went to their house yesterday and didn't see that person. I heard from the one in Old Tian's family today that he left some time ago."

She found out after specifically asking Aunt Tian.

They felt that the white-haired man was very evil, so they had restrained themselves during this period and did not dare to cause trouble for Gu Huai and Xie Yunjiao.

Now that they heard that the man was gone, everyone became happy.

"No wonder he is so kind and gives us meat. Is he trying to please us with the meat?" Fan suddenly said.

Old Man Gu also thought so. It was hard for him to pick up Gu Huai and raise him to this age. He thought he had raised an ungrateful person, but now he thinks it is not that bad.

"It seems that they haven't set off firecrackers yet. Do they still have firecrackers at home?" asked Old Man Gu.

"It's gone, it's gone a long time ago. Our family lives a tight life, so how can we have the spare money to buy it for their family?" Fan said hurriedly.

As soon as Old Man Gu asked, Fan knew what he was thinking.

They are all filial parents of the children. How could parents send firecrackers to their children who have separated from the family?

Old Man Gu thought about it and felt that his impulse to behave better in front of Gu Huai had disappeared at this moment.

He couldn't even live a good life, so how could he care about a child he picked up?

He raised Gu Huai with great difficulty and has done everything he could to be kind and righteous.

Seeing that Old Man Gu said nothing more, Mrs. Fan breathed a sigh of relief.

After a while, the sound of firecrackers was heard from next door. Mrs. Fan and Old Man Gu looked at each other and both felt that their decision was correct.

Gu Huai stood in front of his house, looking at the couplet written by Doudou, and nodded with satisfaction: "Madam, our child's handwriting is really beautiful, the horizontal lines are horizontal, and the vertical lines are vertical."

Xie Yunjiao couldn't help but raise the corners of her mouth when she saw Gu Huai with a look of satisfaction on his face.

Although Gu Huai started praising Doudou's beautiful handwriting from the beginning, she never got tired of hearing it.

It is an indisputable fact that Doudou from their family has beautiful handwriting.

Hearing the sound of firecrackers, Gu An sneaked out of the house and came to Gu Huai's yard. Seeing that there was no one around and Gu Huai and the others were not in the yard, he boldly walked to the couplet written by Doudou and started reading it.

The ink hadn't dried yet, so he leaned in and smelled the ink carefully.

The more I smelled it, the more certain I became that this was the expensive ink stick sold in Zizhuxuan.

He was wondering why there was such an ink stick in Gu Huai's house.

"Uncle San, what are you doing?"

Gu An was enjoying the scent of the ink that had not yet dried when he suddenly heard someone talking to him. It was as if he had been caught doing something bad, and he was so scared that he broke out in a cold sweat.

Feeling guilty, I want to run away.

"Third Uncle."

Gu An gritted his teeth and looked at Doudou. Only after confirming that there was no one around him did he breathe a sigh of relief.

If that troublesome second sister-in-law were here too, she would definitely say something unpleasant again.

"Doudou, where are your parents?"

It was the first time that Doudou heard Gu An speak to him in such an enthusiastic tone, and he actually felt a little flattered.

"Daddy and Mom are making dumplings in the kitchen." Doudou said.

"Did you write all these?" Gu An asked. "They're well written."

It’s really good. Doudou is only five years old and can write like this, better than many of his classmates.

But it's a little lacking compared to his calligraphy. His beautiful calligraphy was praised by the teacher!