003, Brother, this is for you [Please collect]

003, Brother, this is for you [Please collect]

The sun had risen to mid-sky, and the sunlight filled the entire bluestone-paved avenue.

After a morning of shopping, the number of people buying vegetables gradually dwindled, and the morning market was drawing to a close. Most of the stalls had sold out, and a few had already packed up and were preparing to leave. Those who hadn't sold out planned to wait a little longer, selling their remaining goods before packing up and heading home.

The two vegetable vendors next to them had sold most of the vegetables on their stalls, with only a few bundles left. The two vendors were chatting in a relaxed manner.

Compared to other stalls, Lu Mingfei and his father's business was pretty good. This morning, his father sat aside weaving straw hats and vegetable baskets, while he was trying hard to sell their products to target customers passing by.

Probably because the hairpins sold on their stall were of novel styles, they sold quite a few hairpins in just one morning, as well as a few vegetable baskets and some small items.

Lu Mingfei did some mental calculations and realized that the combined profits from his morning sales had already exceeded his target. After reaching his goal, he watched over his stall while weaving his little bird out of hay, occasionally calling out to passersby if they wanted to take a look. He didn't want to work so hard anymore.

Anyway, the items they sell at their stalls don't have expiration dates. If they don't sell out today, they won't go bad the next day. If they can't sell out today, they can just bring more tomorrow. And since these items don't require much capital, the profit margins are quite high.

Sometimes Lu Mingfei didn't want to work too hard, because all the money he and his father earned from selling things had to be handed back to his family. His grandparents were still alive, and his father had five brothers and sisters. His family hadn't separated from the families of his uncles, and his grandparents were the head of the family. The money earned from working and selling goods during the slack season had to be handed over to the public school, and ultimately, this money would go towards his eldest cousin's education.

In Lu Mingfei's opinion, this practice is like using the blood of their entire family to support one person. They, the father and the son, are the two people who are bleeding, so no matter how hard they work or how much money they make, they have to take it home to their family.

In that case, just reaching the goal was enough. If he missed the mark, his family wouldn't complain. If he just barely made it, no one would say anything. Otherwise, if they were out all day and didn't help with the housework, and still didn't make any money to go back to, the rest of the family would be upset. The worst-case scenario would be that he would no longer have the opportunity to go out with his father.

Maybe he doesn't have much of a clan concept, and he doesn't quite agree with the practice of having the whole family work hard to support one person.

In his previous life, after his parents passed away, he had already seen the true nature of his so-called relatives. His parents had died in a car accident, and the two lives had been compensated with 500,000 yuan. Ultimately, his grandmother gave the money to her other sons, leaving nothing for him, her grandson. The following year, after his grandmother passed away, his uncle and aunt sent him directly to an orphanage and abandoned him. So, with those unpleasant experiences from his previous life, he didn't have a very good impression or deep affection for his uncles in this life.

Moreover, his eldest cousin did not look like someone who could study. His family spent so much money to send him to school for more than ten years, but he failed to even pass the most basic examination to become a student.

He had no idea whether his eldest cousin had ever truly read the books. Instead, he squandered all the money the family earned, imitating the pedantic and self-righteous ways of the scholars. When he came home, he would just sit around reading, never setting foot on the ground, and he treated his younger brothers and sisters like servants.

But the grandparents in the family all think that this eldest grandson is very smart and will definitely pass the imperial examination and become a high-ranking official in the future.

Come on!

Given his eldest cousin's personality and character, even if he were lucky enough to pass the imperial examination and become an official, he would be nothing more than a corrupt official who exploited the people!

Lu Mingfei complained about his cousin in his heart, but he didn't stop working. After a morning of intermittent efforts, he finally created a lifelike bird. Just as he was about to put the bird down and get up to find something to eat, he looked up and saw a handsome boy about seven or eight years old standing at their stall, staring at him with a stern face.

This little brother was so handsome that he automatically ignored the expression on his face. Lu Mingfei quickly smiled and handed over the straw bird he had just woven and asked, "Brother, do you like the bird I woven?"

“…I’ll give it to you.”

There was nothing he could do. The little brother was too handsome, and he didn't look very happy, so he gave him a little bird as a gift to cheer him up. Lu Mingfei didn't admit in his heart that he was attracted by this handsome little boy. In order to make the little boy happy, he didn't even care whether he made money or not.

Zhao Lang looked at the younger child in front of him. The child looked about four or five years old, with a round face, big eyes, and chubby little hands. He was holding a small straw bird and saying it was a gift to him. If it were any other time, he would definitely not accept it, but today, he reached out his hand and took the straw bird from the child.

This bird was made of hay and looked very much like a real bird. If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he wouldn't have believed that such a young child could make such a lifelike bird out of hay.

Lu Youtian, who was standing by, was a little surprised when he saw his son giving away a newly woven bird. This was because among all the times his son and he had set up stalls together, this was the first time he saw his son giving something to a stranger.

Their stall has a lot of toys that children love to play with, and occasionally some children would gather around to watch the fun. However, his child would just let the children look at them and would not be willing to give them away. However, if someone gave them a little space, the child would sometimes give them a small item as a favor.

Lu Youtian glanced at his son, then looked at the young man who took the straw bird his son gave him. The young man was wearing a silk suit and had a jade pendant around his waist. He was obviously a child from a wealthy family, and no one knew how he ended up on the street alone.

"Master, Master..."

"Why are you here? We had a hard time finding you."

At this moment, several guards with swords ran over and surrounded their prince.

Zhao Lang ignored the guards who came running over. He just looked at the straw bird in his hand and the child in front of him. Knowing that he had to pay silver to buy things, he felt around his body and found that he had no purse with him today. He took off the jade pendant hanging from his waist, placed it on the stall, and left with the straw bird.

"?" Lu Mingfei looked at the jade pendant on the stall, then at the little brother being escorted away by a group of guards. He hurriedly picked up the jade pendant and chased after him, shouting as he ran, "Wait, brother, wait!"

Zhao Lang, who was walking in front, heard someone calling "Brother" from behind and subconsciously stopped walking. He turned around and looked behind him, and saw a short-legged child running towards him.

When several guards saw a child from a commoner family running towards their prince, they instinctively wanted to step forward to stop him, fearing that the child would bump into their prince. However, when their prince gave him a sidelong glance, the guards hesitated for a moment and finally gave way.

"I finally caught up with you! Why are you walking so fast?"

Lu Mingfei, who was not stopped by anyone, successfully caught up with the handsome boy and handed the jade pendant in his hand back to him. "This thing is too valuable, I'll give it back to you. It's just a straw bird, it doesn't need to be exchanged for such a valuable thing." Even if he didn't know much about jade, judging from the color of this jade, it was of top quality.

There is a saying that goes, gold has a price but jade is priceless, and good jade is more valuable than gold.

"This is for you." Zhao Lang looked at the child in front of him, who was a head shorter than him. He didn't care that exchanging a jade pendant for a straw bird was a huge loss for him. It was just a piece of jade pendant, he didn't care.

After saying this, Zhao Lang raised his foot and left again.

When the guards saw their prince leaving, they hurriedly chased after him.

Lu Mingfei, who was left there, looked at the handsome young man who strode away, then looked at the jade pendant in his hand and raised his eyebrows in his heart. So, his luck was extremely good today?

He made a huge profit by exchanging a straw bird for a jade pendant!

Since the little brother said it was a gift for him, he had no choice but to accept it. The next time he saw this little brother, he would definitely make another small nest... and a few more birds for him!

When Lu Youtian saw his son coming back, he hurriedly asked, "Have you returned it to him?"

"Yeah, yeah." When Lu Mingfei heard his father ask him, he nodded and said he had returned it.

In fact, he was lying, because the jade pendant was hidden in his arms. But people around were watching them, so he didn't want to say that the jade pendant was still there, so as not to make others jealous and envious of him and his son.

Otherwise, everyone else was doing business here, and they had such great luck, but others hadn't. Who knew what others would think? They would continue to do business on this street. If they aroused others' jealousy, they would be ostracized by their peers.

There are so many people in this world who are afraid that you are richer than them.

"Just return it. We should be down-to-earth in doing business and do our job honestly. Never take things that you shouldn't take." Lu Youtian didn't suspect his son was lying because he had been honest since he was a child and had never lied to them. Seeing that the child had been busy all morning and had just run so far away, he asked the child to sit down and rest for a while. He took out a bamboo tube filled with water and gave it to the child: "Have a drink."

Lu Mingfei took the bamboo tube and gulped down two big mouthfuls of water, and his thirsty throat felt a little better.