Chapter 28: Consumption in the City
"Meet here in one hour, and then leave the city together. It's only one hour, remember?"
As soon as he entered the city, Meng Yi said this to everyone. After seeing everyone nodded in response, he waved his hand and left.
The few people who had already planned what to buy went their separate ways.
Xu took her daughter in her arms and ordered a hundred meat buns from a bun shop, paid a deposit, and agreed to pick them up in half an hour.
Then, he went into the grocery store next door and bought a backpack. Then he said to his waiter, "Brother, I'll give you ten catties of millet, three catties of brown sugar, and five catties of fine salt."
"Hey, ma'am, please wait a moment, it will be ready soon."
As he spoke, the second brother skillfully weighed the millet for Xu. Seeing that Xu didn't bring anything with her, he considerately put it in a bag and put it in the backpack. He also wrapped the sugar and salt in brown paper and put them in the backpack.
The shopkeeper nearby fiddled with the abacus and said, "Millet is thirteen wen per jin, so ten jin is one hundred and thirty wen. Brown sugar is three jin forty-two wen, fine salt is one hundred and fifty wen for five jin, and the backpack is five wen, so the total is three hundred and twenty-seven wen. Madam, just give me three hundred and twenty-five wen."
Xu took out money from her sleeve pocket and gave it to the shopkeeper, then put on the backpack, took the change from the shopkeeper, quickly left the grocery store, and started shopping on the road with her daughter.
No matter what it was, as long as Ouyang Feiluo wanted it, Xu bought it. This move made some people dumbfounded.
After buying needles and thread at a cloth shop, Xu generously bought fifty embroidered handkerchiefs, two screens and twenty pairs of shoes of various sizes.
Then, at the reminder of his daughter, he bought ten pieces of cloth of different colors and patterns. The total cost was almost three hundred taels, which made the boss so happy that he said he had met the God of Wealth.
Xu's purchase was lavish. The boss was also generous, giving Ouyang Feiluo two dresses as a gift, and also gave Xu four sacks of rags and five bolts of soaked cloth from the warehouse as a gift.
Xu also happily accepted it, then put the shoes, embroidered handkerchief and dress in the backpack, tied the cloth and put it on the backpack. Just as she was about to carry the sack, she saw her son and brother-in-law coming over.
“You’ve bought it.”
"Second sister-in-law, I'm still short of a mattress, and I was just about to ask if this family has one."
After hearing what her brother-in-law said, Xu immediately looked at the boss: "Sister Zhen, mattresses, if you have any, please give me two."
Hearing that business was coming in again, the cloth shop owner, Sister Zhen, smiled so hard that her teeth were showing and replied in a loud voice: "Yes, I'll give it to you right away."
Seeing her uncle and brother coming, Ouyang Feiluo's eyes rolled and she looked around. Seeing her mother talking to her uncle and the others, she took the opportunity when the boss turned around to get the mattress and quietly used her mind to collect the cloth shoes and three bags of rags.
"Sister, this mattress is ready."
As soon as he put away the things, the cloth shop owner held up the mattress and asked.
"If Sister Zhen says it's okay, then it's definitely okay. How much are these two mattresses? I'll take them both." As soon as Xu finished speaking, she turned around and asked Ouyang Qin, "Can you buy your shoes?"
"No, buy this together."
"Okay. Sister Zhen, eight pairs of shoes. Two pairs each for my brother-in-law and sister-in-law, plus one for a nine-year-old boy and one for a nine-year-old girl. Take care of them."
"Oh, okay, I'll be right there."
After responding, the cloth shop owner, Sister Zhen, quickly took out eight pairs of shoes, and then gave some needles and thread as a bonus, and charged fifty taels.
With Sister Zhen seeing them off with a smile on their faces, Xu and the other three left the cloth shop and walked towards the city gate.
When they reached a corner, Xu said to Ouyang Qin and Ouyang Minglou, "Lou'er, go with your uncle first. Mother will take your sister over there to buy something for her and then come back."
"Second sister-in-law, let's go together."
"Mom, I'll go with you."
"No need, we'll be there soon. You go first and see if there's anything else you want to buy on the way. It's almost half an hour already, hurry up." After saying that, without waiting for the two to speak, he carried Ouyang Feiluo and walked towards the street on the side.
Ouyang Feiluo saw that no one was following him, so he said, "Mother, my uncle and brother didn't come with us. Let's go get the buns first."
"Okay, I'll go right away."
When the mother and daughter arrived at the bun shop, it was almost time. The owner of the bun shop saw them coming and took out a basket full of buns: "Madam, this basket is padded with brown paper, so it's clean. Don't worry."
Seeing the boss being so considerate, Xu took out some money and handed it over: "Okay, thank you, boss. Here, this is your compensation, count it."
"Well, no need to count. Madam will definitely not be short of money." He put the money into a wooden box and then packed up his things.
The mother and daughter did not stop and continued to buy things on the street. Finally, they bought all the pastries at a pastry shop and then stopped.
Carrying two baskets of cakes from the shop owner in both hands, Xu, carrying a backpack, led Ouyang Feiluo, who had successfully landed and walked, towards the city gate.
When they were almost at the city gate, the mother and daughter came to a deserted place and repeated the same trick, leaving only two portions of cakes in the backpack. Then they checked and found that there was nothing wrong, so they went out.
At the city gate.
After Xu met up with Ouyang Feiluo and Meng Yi, she waited for a while before she saw the Ouyang Mingqing brothers hurried over with baskets on their backs.
Now they all came back, and then they left the city together and headed back the way they came.
After returning to the base, the group sat down and rested for about a cup of tea, and then set off again.
When they set off, Ouyang Minglou handed his younger sister to his younger brother Ouyang Mingxu's arms, letting them walk in front, while he followed his mother Xu.
Xu knew that the child must have noticed it, so she asked, "What does Louer want to ask?"
"Mom, if you need me to cover for you in the future, just tell me directly. I'm not as smart as Mingxu, and I know it in my heart. The three of us brothers only have a few taels of silver on us now, and the rest has been given to my younger sister. However, the second brother doesn't know about this."
After hearing what her eldest son said, Xu looked at him with a little surprise and asked, "When did you give it to Luo'er?"
"After the tea shop is open."
Hearing this, Xu asked again suspiciously: "Is the second son really that stupid?"
"I don't know, but the youngest one was the first to know."
"Okay, let's go ahead. The road ahead is just beginning, and it will get harder and harder from here on out."
"good."
Ouyang Minglou walked forward and took his sister Luo'er from his brother's arms. He then reached out and pinched her nose, smiling slightly and said, "Little clever girl."
"whee…"
Looking at his smiling sister, Ouyang Minglou felt that it was quite good that his sister had such an ability to hide things. At least it would not let this delicate and soft sister go hungry.
Time passed quickly and before I knew it, it was night.
Although he knew that every family had bought some food, Meng Yi still gave each of them a bowl of porridge, ensuring that they would not be left without food.
Ouyang Feiluo, who was already used to sleeping outdoors, drank some porridge and ate some mung bean cakes her mother handed her. Then she happily lay on the mattress, staring at the starry night sky with her big eyes open...
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