"Mother? Are you buying us new clothes too?" Tianquan looked at the shopkeeper who was taking his measurements, then turned and asked in a low voice.

"Well, of course, if you don't want to wear new clothes, you don't have to," Hong Xiaoduo said, deliberately keeping a straight face.

"Mother, Yaoguang wants to wear new clothes." The little one, who had just been taken off, stood on the ground and, afraid that one of her older brothers or sisters would say no, rushed to say so.

After saying that, seeing her older siblings glaring at her, she realized that what she had said might be wrong, and immediately lowered her head: "Mom, you can also ask the shopkeeper if they have any second-hand clothes for sale. Those should be cheaper, right?"

"Pfft, little girl, we only sell new clothes. If you don't wear clean clothes, it might be difficult for your mother to take you into any shop." The shopkeeper was quite surprised to hear the little beggar call Hong Xiaoduo's mother, but having been in business for many years, he suppressed his curiosity and decided to make the sale first.

“Or, you can choose the color and style yourself.” After saying that, Hong Xiaoduo started looking at what people her age could wear.

The younger ones, hearing that they could choose for themselves, all looked towards Tian Shu.

"Could you please help us choose? Just make sure the color isn't too light." Tian Shu acted like a responsible older brother. They always picked clothes from hand-me-downs given by kind people, never wearing new clothes, let alone going into a shop to choose. How could they choose? They didn't know! They didn't understand!

The shopkeepers didn't even need to measure the children's height to know their size; they quickly chose the right clothes for them, including underwear, socks, and shoes.

They were also wrapped in cotton cloth and given to each person to carry.

They were all filthy; they definitely couldn't be changed like that.

"Young lady, is there anything you like in my house?" The woman, having finished with the children, noticed that Hong Xiaoduo hadn't made a choice yet, so she stepped forward to ask.

“Auntie, you saw it too. I’m someone who travels around a lot, so wearing a skirt is definitely inconvenient, but I haven’t seen anything similar to what I’m wearing,” Hong Xiaoduo said directly.

Upon hearing this, the woman smiled and said, "Yes, yes, young lady, come and see if this is the style?" She led Hong Xiaoduo to a corner to ask.

Hong Xiaoduo reached out and picked it up, and sure enough, it was exactly what she wanted.

The cotton-silk fabric with a subtle floral pattern, the light blue top with a cross-collar, and the loose-fitting daisy-colored lantern pants—when I compared them to myself, the size and length were about the same.

"Auntie, this outfit is fine." Hong Xiaoduo was very satisfied, and choosing shoes, socks, and innerwear became much easier.

Looking back at the little ones, each of them had a bulging cloth bag in their hand, and they all had their little mouths pursed, looking like they wanted to laugh but didn't dare to.

Hong Xiaoduo asked the shopkeeper to settle the bill. She didn't intend to haggle with him. Through their interaction just now, she was certain that the couple were not the kind of unscrupulous merchants.

The shopkeeper picked up his abacus and quickly operated it. He looked up and said to her, "Young lady, the total is three taels and eight mace. How about I charge you three taels and six mace for all of this?"

"Okay, thank you very much, shopkeeper," Hong Xiaoduo replied.

I did the math in my head: one large and seven small pieces, from top to bottom, inside and out, all for only three taels and six mace—that's incredibly cheap. And it's not even the cheapest material.

One tael of silver can be exchanged for ten coins of silver, and one coin of silver is one hundred copper coins.

The shopkeeper gave her a discount of two qian of silver, which is equivalent to a discount of two hundred copper coins. She had asked Tian Shu these past two days, and the price of a meat bun was two coins each. In other words, the shopkeeper gave her a total discount of 200 coins, which means the children can eat one hundred meat buns.

Sigh, think about it, Kaiyang bowed and begged for so long on the street just now, all for a single coin!

"Excuse me, auntie, which inn in town is better? I mean, the service, since we live here." After paying and putting away the change, Hong Xiaoduo remembered to ask.

"The owners of the three inns in town are all quite good, but while you can stay there, young lady, I'm afraid they won't," the innkeeper told me.

Hong Xiaoduo was taken aback: "Why?"

“Young lady, you must have a travel permit on you when you travel, but the others probably don’t, right? The innkeeper keeps records, and the government checks them frequently,” the innkeeper added.

I thought to myself, they're probably too young to have considered this!

A travel permit? Hong Xiaoduo was a little dumbfounded. She vaguely remembered that a travel permit was like a pass for people in ancient times. In some places, you had to go to the local government office to get one if you were ten miles away from home.

I don't think I have any of those things on me. The seven small ones weren't needed originally, so they're definitely gone now. What should I do...?