Chapter 223 Invitation

As newcomers to Jixiang County, the Xia family was the fastest to adapt to Jixiang County. The Hu and Zhao families were slightly inferior, but not bad either.

However, from the beginning of the New Year to the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, there has always been a faint sadness hidden beneath the appearance of the whole family getting together to celebrate the New Year.

Mr. Xia and Mrs. Zhou sometimes couldn't sleep, tossing and turning, wondering if their decision to move was wrong or a little rash.

This sentiment was most intense when officials from Jixiang County came to collect taxes.

They had already paid the autumn tax once in Beiguan Town, but when they arrived in Jixiang County, they had to pay the same tax again.

Fortunately, there are many people in Jixiang County, and many people flow in every year. Things like conscription of corvée labor can be completely replaced by silver and money, and there is no need to compete for the quota of paying money to replace labor.

Moreover, Jixiang County is indeed a prosperous place.

On weekdays, there are crowds of people, traffic, and shops everywhere, and business is booming.

Even when you wake up in the morning and want to get some water to wash your face, there are neat and tidy vendors who will carry their poles and sell you the boiled hot water that will be delivered to your doorstep.

A basin of hot water only costs a copper coin, but it saves the trouble of lighting a stove.

Many people are willing to spend a penny to take this lazy step.

Every morning, the hot water vendor would walk through the alleys shouting, and after selling two large buckets of hot water, he could easily earn dozens of copper coins.

If you are lucky enough to receive a reward, you can earn more.

It is said that this style of cooking originated from Kyoto.

Several counties around Kyoto followed suit. The big shots in Kyoto enjoyed the same things, and the little people in the surrounding counties could also imitate them.

Also because it is close to Kyoto, Jixiang County holds grand fireworks displays on New Year's Eve and the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first lunar month.

Colorful and dazzling.

The night sky is full of fireworks.

While the Xia family was feasting their eyes, the uneasy feelings in their hearts were also relaxed a lot.

The people in Jixiang County live such a good life. Although they need money everywhere, it is more comfortable than living in the bitter and cold border areas where wars break out every now and then.

After the Lantern Festival, the "Rice Flower Fragrance" of Xia Daohua reopened, but it was no longer as grand as it was before.

There aren't many customers every day, so we can only sell some candies, snacks, drinks, side dishes and the like.

Even if we say the turnover is high, it usually doesn't exceed thirty taels. The lowest turnover was when the shop was closed for the whole day. The second lowest turnover was when only a small bag of snacks was sold.

In fact, this income is not bad.

It’s just that Xia Daohua has become accustomed to those people who used to purchase large quantities of New Year gifts, so now when she sees less than ten taels of silver, she is a little indifferent and her emotions are not affected at all.

In the last few days of the first lunar month, "Daohuaxiang" welcomed another wave of customers.

They also bought gifts, with a focus on snacks, candies, and alcohol. When Xia Daohua asked, she found out that they were buying gifts for the second day of the second lunar month.

She remembered that the custom of the second day of the second lunar month seemed to be eating pig heads... So Xia Daohua urgently launched a new batch of braised pig heads and pig ears. The sales were surprisingly good.

As the days passed, Jixiang County was much warmer than Beiguan Town, and soon it was the season of spring flowers.

Xia Dalang and Wulang both started school.

Xia Dalang entered the official academy in Jixiang County: Ping'an Academy.

Wulang entered a private school called Qimeng Academy.

The teacher was a 50-year-old scholar with a long white beard. His surname was Mo and he had been an official for several years. Later, he could not adapt to the various unspoken rules of the officialdom, so he simply opened a private school in Jixiang County and became a teacher.

The Enlightenment School is not big, with only two classes.

One is the elementary class, which has no age limit and is mainly for teenagers like Goro, but there are also four or five-year-old children, and 17 or 18-year-old new students who started learning later.

The other group is students who are over 15 years old, have a certain foundation, and aim to pass the examination for a scholar.

Xia Dalang was already a scholar, so the level of the Enlightenment Academy naturally could not meet his needs. If he wanted to take the imperial examination, he could only go to Ping'an Academy.

On the first day of school, Xia Daohua prepared a bookcase for Xia Dalang and Wulang, imitating the antique rattan style. There were partitions inside for books and writing brushes, inkstones, and wheels, pull rods, straps, and handles on the outside.

You can carry it on your back, in your hand, or even pull it along as you wish.

Apart from the different colors and the different books inside, the two bookcases even have the same pens, ink, paper and inkstone.

Hu brush, Hui ink, Xuan paper, and Duan inkstone.

After receiving this gift, Xia Dalang was stunned for a moment, and his eyes were a little wet. But he quickly blinked away the wetness:

"Thank you for your concern, Sister Daohua."

"We are all family, you don't have to be polite, big brother."

Xia Dalang didn't say anything more, but kept this friendship in his heart. He already understood why Erlang looked so gentle when facing Daohua.

The three sisters Lihua, Daohua and Linghua personally sent Golang to the door of the Enlightenment School. They stood quietly outside and watched him enter the school before turning around and leaving.

With the appearance of three little beauties of different ages, Xia Wulang instantly became the most popular freshman in the Enlightenment Academy.

Lihua has grown taller and her slender figure has started to develop, giving her a somewhat graceful look.

Even when she had a stern face, she did have an awe-inspiring and inviolable majesty, but it still couldn't stop those who couldn't help but secretly follow her gaze.

The appearance of summer rice flowers is actually quite beautiful.

But in front of pear blossoms, average beauty will inevitably become a green leaf.

Linghua is still a child. Because she is greedy and loves to eat, Xia Daohua often can't help but feed her extra food. Recently, she has become increasingly rounder.

But her facial features are all somewhat childish; the rounder her face is, the cuter she is.

When this girl grows up, she will definitely be a plump beauty.

The three little beauties standing together naturally attract a lot of attention.

It just so happens that the temperaments of these three people are very special, and each has his or her own strengths, which makes people feel amazed but difficult to have the thought of blaspheming them.

The young boys in the enlightenment school were eager to get close to Goro. Even if they didn't have any erotic thoughts, they inexplicably wanted to get to know him first.

Wu Lang has always been a calm person, and he readily accepted the initiative of others. He soon established friendships with his enthusiastic classmates.

The summer rice flowers returned to the "Fragrance of Rice Flowers" with the pear blossoms and water chestnut blossoms.

There were not many people in the store. Two waiters were standing at the reception desk with serious expressions, and the other two were cleaning the floor spontaneously.

The three sisters walked into the store, and Xia Daohua found an invitation on the table where she often sat to watch over the store.

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(End of this chapter)