Seeing that the little beggar boy had woken up, Jiang Sheng went over and asked, "Little brother, how old are you? Where do you live? What's your name?"
The beggar stared blankly, offering no reply.
Zheng Ruqian nudged her, saying, "He's not your younger brother; he looks older than you."
“No, he’s younger than me.” Jiang Sheng still wanted to argue. She already had four older brothers, and she wanted a younger brother.
But when the little beggar stood up and was indeed half a head taller than Jiang Sheng, her lips drooped again.
Alright, another older brother.
Jiang Sheng has no other redeeming qualities, except that he is quick to accept reality. He immediately changed his tune, "Fifth Brother, are you hungry?"
The beggar nodded blankly.
Jiang Sheng heated up the leftover vegetable porridge from breakfast and brought it over, saying, "Hurry up and have a couple of bites."
The beggar stared wide-eyed at the mushy vegetable paste, whose ingredients were indistinguishable, and tremblingly accepted it.
"Fifth Brother, are you cold?" Jiang Sheng asked considerately, immediately taking the last cotton-padded coat over. "Here, wear this. It's super warm."
The beggar's hands trembled even more violently, overwhelmed by the obviously ill-fitting, drab cotton-padded coat, the desolate, dilapidated temple, and the strangers.
"Fifth Brother must have just recovered from his fever, his hands are still weak." Jiang Sheng snatched the vegetable paste from the beggar, found a relatively clean spoon, scooped up a spoonful, and quickly stuffed it into the beggar's mouth. "Let me feed you."
A sticky liquid filled my mouth.
The beggar's expression gradually changed; he seemed to want to vomit, but he forced himself to hold it in.
Jiang Sheng didn't notice and happily finished feeding him, saying, "Fifth Brother likes the vegetable porridge I made."
Xu Mo nearly choked on his water, but managed to swallow it down. He looked at the beggar and said, "You had a fever, and it was your sister who saved you."
The beggar's gaze fell on Jiang Sheng.
Jiang Sheng patted his chest with considerable pride, "We all saved you together."
“I don’t know who you were before, or what your name was, but here, you just need to be yourself.” Xu Mo lowered his eyelashes. “We are a group of orphans without parents, arranged by age. If you’re willing, you can be our fifth child.”
"If you don't want to, the world is your oyster, and I'll go with you."
The beggar turned his head to look outside.
The world is indeed vast, but where can he find refuge?
Those magnificent past events crumbled in an instant; the dilapidated temple, old yet tidy, is the real reality.
The beggar raised his head and finally said in a hoarse voice, "I only remember that my name is Changyan."
Jiang Sheng's face instantly filled with sympathy. "Fifth Brother probably lost his memory from the burns. It's okay, you still have us."
She pointed to herself and her four older brothers and gave a brief introduction.
Chang Yan remained silent, only nodding.
When Fang Heng was introduced, he paused for a moment and stared at him for a long time.
Fang Heng was puzzled. "Do you know me?"
Chang Yan shook his head and lowered his head.
"Alright, alright, to celebrate Fifth Brother joining us, we'll have meat for lunch today." Jiang Sheng clapped her hands and cheered, remembering the two ounces of meat she had bought in the county yesterday.
The expressions on the faces of the older brothers all changed.
If Jiang Sheng's noodles were barely edible, then the meat was something that would make anyone tremble with fear.
"I'm going to the village to change Zhou Zhiqiang's dressing." Wen Zhiyun picked up his medicine box.
"I'll help carry the medicine box," Fang Heng said, following closely behind.
"I'm going to collect mushrooms." Zheng Ruqian tucked his tail between his legs.
For a moment, only Xu Mo and Chang Yan remained in the once bustling dilapidated temple.
Jiang Sheng pouted and looked at her two older brothers warmly, "Eldest brother and fifth brother are the best. I'll go and make you some meat soup."
Xu Mo smiled bitterly; he only hated that he couldn't stand up...
noon.
No matter how busy I am outside, I always have to go back to the dilapidated temple for lunch.
The meat soup that Jiang Sheng cooked eventually ended up in the stomachs of her older brothers.
After finally finishing our meal, people arrived at the village entrance.
It was Aunt Zhang from the east end of the village, peeking out from the entrance of the dilapidated temple.
Upon seeing Chang Yan, her eyes lit up. "Oh my, whose child is this? He's so handsome!"
Jiang Sheng immediately stood up and shielded her fifth brother behind her, saying, "This is my brother."
"It's your brother again." Aunt Zhang's eyes widened. "Jiang Sheng, how many brothers do you have?"
Although Jiang Sheng is young, she is quite smart. Why should she explain this to outsiders?
But not wanting to offend anyone, she quickly changed the subject, "It's lunchtime, Auntie, have you eaten yet? Is there something you need?"
Aunt Zhang then slapped her thigh and said, "I heard you have cotton-padded jackets for fourteen coins. Do you have any more? I'd like one for myself too."
As expected, low prices are the key to success.
Jiang Sheng was a little annoyed that she hadn't ordered enough, and thought about ordering fifty or sixty pieces next time. "That's all for today, but if you want some, Auntie, I'll bring you some tomorrow."
Aunt Zhang slapped her thigh again, "Okay, I'll come and pick one up tomorrow."
After seeing Aunt Zhang off, Jiang Sheng was so excited that she wished she could spend all the money in the house to buy cotton-padded clothes wholesale.
Xu Mo was copying a book when he kindly reminded him, "There are a total of about a hundred households in the village. How many of them can afford to buy cotton-padded clothes?"
Even though there is a market in Shilipu Village, it is too small; a few dozen or fifty padded jackets are enough to saturate the market.
If I were to wholesale a hundred or so items, I'd probably be stuck with them.
Jiang Sheng already had a plan in mind, and said with her hands on her hips, "Then let's sell them in town."
"Is the town saturated?" Xu Mo asked again.
Jiang Sheng was dumbfounded. There are four villages in Shili Town. Assuming that each village can buy thirty cotton-padded coats, then a total of one hundred and twenty coats can be sold.
A cotton-padded coat isn't something you can eat or drink. You can't just buy another one when you run out of food or water. A cotton-padded coat can last for three to five years.
Xieyang County is indeed large, but if you buy things wholesale in the county and then sell them in the county, you won't make a profit.
Is the sale of cotton-padded coats destined to stop at 120 pieces?
Jiang Sheng squatted on the ground, deep in thought.
Suddenly, Chang Yan spoke up, "You can sell them in other towns."
Jiang Sheng jumped up suddenly, her eyes sparkling. "Fifth Brother is right. Although other towns are a bit far, we have donkey carts."
They can go anywhere and sell their goods anywhere, as long as they are willing to go.
"Fifth Brother is amazing! Fifth Brother is so smart!" Jiang Sheng rushed to Chang Yan and pulled him around in a circle.
Immediately, she ran out excitedly, probably to help Zheng Ruqian collect mushrooms, in preparation for going to the county town the next day.
Liu Changyan stood there, stunned, her fair face filled with confusion and helplessness.
Xu Mo saw this and smiled slightly.
In the afternoon, the siblings, who had worked together for most of the day, only managed to collect one basket of mushrooms.
Jiang Sheng wants to go to the county town tomorrow and also wants to send more mushrooms to Youranju.
However, the mushroom production was limited, and they searched almost the entire Shilipu Village but only managed to collect one basketful.
"Isn't this too little to send to Youranju?" Zheng Ruqian scratched his head.
“But there are no mushrooms left in the village.” Jiang Sheng spread his hands. “We can only wait for the uncles and elders to go into the mountains to pick them tomorrow.”
Zheng Ruqian sighed.
Jiang Sheng shook her head.
The other brothers remained silent.
Suddenly, Chang Yan spoke up again, "Can't we accept something else?"
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