Chapter 8 Chapter 8 "Xie Zhuyu, what are you doing?"...
"Xie Zhuyu, what are you doing?"
Song Fuxue's face was tense and there was a hint of severity in his eyes.
Hearing the movements of the two people, Song Mian pricked up her ears and her eyes darted back and forth, trying to find some meaningful story.
Xie Zhuyu stood in front of the stall, his face grim as he watched Song Fuxue wrap the pie and hand it to him.
He sniffed.
Standing in front of the stall, he took a bite of the pie and cursed Song Xiaoer.
As he spoke, his eyes became red.
Song Mian's eyes widened as she watched her father's stern features soften. She handed him the kettle in the bamboo tube and whispered, "The well water near my home is very sweet. Try it."
That is water added with spiritual spring water, so it is naturally sweet and delicious.
Xie Zhuyu looked at the rough bamboo tube and fell silent.
The two of them had been at odds since childhood. When they were both in the Imperial College, Song Fuxue always took first place, and he was always second. Others only remembered Song Fuxue, and no one remembered Xie Zhuyu.
He still remembered the day when the top scholar was paraded through the streets. He was a handsome and elegant man with black hair, red clothes, and a tall horse. He had a proud and restrained smile on his face, and his warm yet distant eyes swept over the mortals in the crowd.
Now, Song Fuxue has become a mortal.
His face and hands were covered with scabbed scars, and he was wearing coarse linen clothes. In the midsummer sun, his face was paler than snow.
Xie Zhuyu drank a sip of water indignantly.
It was indeed sweet, and he couldn't help but drink sip after sip.
He clearly had a lot to say, but knowing that someone was watching him, he didn't dare to utter a single word. He only said in a snarky voice, "If you have nothing to eat one day, come find me. If you kowtow twice, I might give you three taels of silver to buy rice."
Song Fuxue: ...
The corners of his mouth twitched, and he waved his hands helplessly: "I will never beg you even if I die, get out of here."
If the Xie family had not been purged by the emperor, they should have just stayed out of the spotlight and not gotten involved in the Song family's affairs.
Who knows if someone will remember the friendship between the Song and Xie families and send the Xie family in.
He didn't want to implicate him. Ever since the Song family got into trouble, no matter how Xie Zhuyu talked to him, he refused to pay any attention to him.
Knowing that Xie Zhuyu was angry and upset, there was nothing he could do. He just hoped that he would be fine.
Xie Zhuyu threw two copper coins over and turned around to mount his horse in a menacing manner.
He heard the sound of horse hooves and turned around to look, but finally swallowed all his words.
The Xie family...even if they have military power, as long as they don't want to rebel, they can only stay at home. He understands this, but he feels extremely uncomfortable that he can't help his best friends.
I feel so sad.
Seeing his friend suffer, he felt no pleasure even in eating meat.
Even though he was the eldest son of the general's mansion and came from a noble family with a respected status, he could not help at all.
Hate your own powerlessness.
*
After selling the pies, Song Mian was packing up her stall and found another ingot of silver underneath. She skillfully put it in her pocket and thought to herself, Song Zhun must be a very good prime minister. Even though he was forgotten and his policies were overturned by the emperor and the succeeding prime minister, there were still many people willing to help him.
"Dad, I originally wanted to buy a set of summer clothes for everyone, but I guess autumn will be here in more than a month, so we should buy thicker autumn clothes." Her family had so little money, so every penny had to be spent wisely.
Song Fuxue had no objection, so he nodded.
"Don't be upset with your Uncle Xie. He wants to help us, but he's afraid that if the Emperor finds out, it will bring trouble to his family, so he has no choice but to use this method."
"I know that people usually humiliate others with words and fists, and rarely with money."
The two pushed a cart to the cloth shop to buy cloth. In fact, in most families, women weave cloth and make clothes themselves, which saves money. The sound of spinning wheels can be heard in Songjia Village.
"What kind of cloth do you want?"
Song Mian's eyes swept over those beautiful cloths, and finally returned to the simplest cotton cloth. It was comfortable, durable, and inconspicuous, which was very consistent with their status as criminals.
That's good enough.
"How many sets of clothes can be made from this piece of cloth?" Song Mian asked.
Seeing that she didn't understand, the shopkeeper explained in detail that if someone had a body shape like hers, he could make two sets of clothes and two long jackets, but if someone had a body shape like her father, he would only have enough to make two sets of clothes.
Song Mian was stunned.
There are seven people in her family, so she needs at least eight pieces of cloth to provide two sets of clothes and a jacket for each person.
"That's two taels and four qian of silver." The shopkeeper immediately quoted the price.
Song Fuxue looked at the linen. It was cheap, only one penny for one piece. His lips moved and he sighed, "You three women can wear cotton, and we men can wear linen."
This can save a lot of money.
Song Fuxue shook her head and said in a deep voice, "A family should share joys and sorrows and should not be treated differently."
The money in her hand was even less than she had imagined.
There will be a big market tomorrow. She ordered ten pounds of pork. One pound of pork can make twenty pies, each costing three cents. Ten pounds means six hundred cents, and half of the profit is three hundred cents.
"Forget it, let's come back when we have enough money."
Song Mian touched the fine cotton cloth and left reluctantly.
Song Fuxue followed behind her and felt a pang of pain at the sight of her lingering eyes. She used to wear Shu brocade and Yun brocade with gold and floral patterns, every inch of which was worth a fortune. Now, even the cotton cloth had to be carefully calculated.
Although he was full of loyalty to the emperor and patriotism, he felt a little uneasy.
Loyalty to the Emperor and Patriotism...
To whom should he be loyal, the emperor on the throne or the common people?
Such a rebellious idea went through his mind for a while, but he swallowed it down.
Song Mian didn't think too much about it. She almost broke her fingers in her heart and calculated for a long time before she came to the conclusion.
"Dad, if we go to all the big and small markets, we'll have enough money to buy autumn clothes in about ten days. It's not too late! There's enough time!" She curved her lips and smiled.
How wonderful, there is still hope.
Song Fuxue looked at her red cheeks from the sun, held up a chopping board for her to use as a hat, and said, "Buy a veil hat when you see one later, so you won't get sunburned."
The Song family members are all fair-skinned. If they are exposed to the sun too much, their skin will become red and flaky. Although they will not get dark, they will get sunburned, so they also need to protect themselves from the sun.
"Okay, let's buy both." Song Mian nodded.
Save when you should and spend when you should, this money is still necessary.
There happened to be a small shop in front that sold veil hats, so the two of them went in to have a look. There were all kinds of hat skirt lengths and styles. Song Mian chose two simple bamboo hats.
This is the cheapest.
Song Fuxue shook her head and gave her a veil hat with a circle of fine gauze hanging around it, which made it five cents more expensive.
He took the hat and put it on himself.
"Very good." Song Fuxue counted the money and handed it to the shopkeeper before walking out.
Song Mian puffed out her cheeks. She was not afraid of sunburn. With the spiritual spring water, even if she got sunburned, it would heal quickly.
But she felt the care from her relatives, which warmed her heart and she couldn't say no.
The weather was too hot, so the two of them didn't delay and walked all the way home.
"It's indeed a drought. We saw that the leaves of the soybeans we planted were curled up on the way." Soybeans are considered drought-resistant crops, and the fact that their leaves are curling up shows that the situation is indeed very serious.
Song Fuxue was deeply worried. If his father were still alive, he would probably have started preparing for autumn tax cuts and exemptions based on the drought, and also be on guard against locusts...
But now, he was fanning himself with a palm-leaf fan, still worrying about the money to buy cloth in the autumn. It was obviously unnecessary to worry about these things.
"Then Zhou Qi..." Song Zhenge said and then shut up.
The two looked at each other and fell silent.
Seeing the two people playing charades, Song Mian put his face in the wooden basin, splashing the water to cool down his sunburned cheeks.
She secretly put spiritual spring water in it, and the cool and sweet taste enveloped her, making her feel much more comfortable.
"Dad, do you want to try it?"
She invited sincerely.
Song Fuxue was very envious and rejected her.
Song Chi sat next to her. Seeing her playing with water, he followed suit. He buried his face in the water, imitating the gurgling bubbles. When he came out of the water, he looked surprised and said, "Am I a fish?"
He loves playing in the water.
Wenlan sat aside sewing shoe soles. It was easy to make clothes, but it was difficult to sewing shoe soles. She was not familiar with the technique and had to take her time.
On a midsummer afternoon, the sun is scorching, cicadas are chirping, and there are occasional shouts of young children.
Song Mian wet a cotton towel and applied it to his forehead and neck to feel cooler.
Wait until it warms up and then wash it again.
"So summer is so hard for poor families." Wenlan sighed. As long as she could remember, there were always ice basins in the house and ice bowls in her hands, eating things like rose deer and rose stew...
There is also the grape and licorice ice cream soup that Brother Chi mentioned last time. It is both refreshing and delicious.
Now……
It feels like a waste of firewood to boil a bowl of water.
"In the summer, you can only sit still to resist a little bit of the heat. The real hardship is in the winter. Clothes are expensive, quilts are expensive, coal is expensive, everything costs money." Gao Xiu walked over slowly with a crutch.
Song Mian nodded in agreement.
She went shopping for autumn clothes today. She was full of confidence at first, but became calm after hearing the prices.
When he had nothing to do, Song Fuxue taught Song Chi to read.
Without books, paper or pen, I just recited every sentence to him and taught him to memorize it first.
"You've already had your enlightenment. Today, let's recite the Great Learning." Song Fuxue sat at the table and read aloud: "The way of the Great Learning is to manifest the bright virtue..."
Song Chi followed suit and learned: "The way of the university is to manifest the bright virtue..."
The two of them had just recited a few sentences when several of Aunt Zhao's younger grandchildren started peeking over the fence of his house.
"hey-hey!"
“Hehehe!”
Song Chi heard the laughter and turned around to see a few little braised eggs with snow-white teeth showing on their dark little faces.
Song Fuxue waved at them: "What's going on?"
The older child in the lead said with a grin, "Do you want some watermelon? I picked some."
"No thanks." Song Fuxue refused.
No one has enough food, so there is no need to take from others.
Who knew——
Aunt Zhao came over carrying a basket of watermelons and said with a smile, "After we finish this crop of watermelons, it will be hard to see you again. We picked a whole cart of watermelons and sent you a basket. We're neighbors, so don't be so formal."
She put down the basket and left.
Song Fuxue was at a loss whether to laugh or cry. The farmers were really straightforward.
A few people then sat under the shade of the tree and killed the melons to eat.
This is Song Mian’s favorite type of watermelon, with a thin rind and pink crispy flesh. It tastes sweet and refreshing.
"Spit the watermelon seeds into the basin, wash and dry them later, and we can plant watermelons next year." Song Fuxue said excitedly.
He seemed to have adapted to life after the house was raided and started making plans for the future.
"Okay." Song Zhuo obediently spit into the basin.
They haven't even had a chance to eat watermelon this year, but when summer came, they were thrown into prison and beaten many times.
Holding a melon nowadays is really a bit strange.
"It's delicious, very sweet." Song Chi held the melon and chewed it. His little mouth looked like a little squirrel, very cute.
Song Mian ate two pieces and couldn't help but smile.
"I'll bring you some candied haws when I come back tomorrow." This child is so well-behaved and cute.
Song Chi shook his head obediently: "I don't eat candied haws. My mother said to save money to buy flowers for my sister."
Looking at the blushing Wenlan, Song Mian pursed his lips and smiled.
"Our pies are selling very well, so we have enough money to buy flowers. Don't worry, Xiaochi."
After Song Fuxue finished eating the watermelon, she collected the rind and threw it away.
He looked at the wounds on his body. After the scabs formed, they were in good condition. There was no more inflammation or suppuration. The dry scabs made him feel at ease.
A few people were chatting idly. Gradually, the sun set and the fiery red sunset stretched people's shadows long.
The quiet village became lively unknowingly.
Aunt Zhao came over to collect the baskets and said with a smile, "If you have nothing to do, go play on the millstone in the village. Everyone is here. What are you doing staying indoors all day?"
Gao Xiu stood up with the help of his crutches and replied, "We've been banished back to our hometown, so we need to be quiet at first, to avoid... trouble. A few words from the neighbors isn't a big deal, but if we hang out with people all day, I'm afraid it won't work."
So they just live their own lives.
As for being busy making money, there is nothing wrong with that.
The emperor couldn't care less.
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