As newly arrived strangers, the Xia family had adapted to Jixiang County the fastest. The Hu and Zhao families were slightly behind, but not far behind either.
However, from the beginning of the New Year to the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, there has always been a kind of faint sadness hidden beneath the appearance of the whole family getting together to celebrate the New Year.
Old Master Xia and Mrs. Zhou would occasionally be unable to sleep, tossing and turning, wondering if their original decision to move was wrong or a bit rash.
This sentiment was most intense when officials from Jixiang County came to collect taxes.
They had already paid the autumn tax once in Beiguan Town, but when they arrived in Jixiang County, they had to pay the same tax again.
Fortunately, there are many people in Jixiang County, and many people flow in every year. Things like conscription of corvée labor can be completely replaced by silver and money, and there is no need to compete for the quota of paying money instead of labor.
Moreover, Jixiang County is indeed a prosperous place.
On weekdays, there are crowds of people, traffic, and shops everywhere, and business is booming.
Even when you wake up in the morning and want to get some water to wash your face, there are neatly dressed vendors who will carry their poles and sell you boiled hot water, which will be delivered to your doorstep.
A basin of hot water only costs a copper coin, and it saves the trouble of lighting a stove.
Many people are willing to spend a penny to take this lazy step.
Every morning, the hot water vendor would walk through the alleys shouting, and after selling two large buckets of hot water, he could easily earn dozens of copper coins.
If you are lucky enough to receive rewards, you can earn more.
It is said that this style of cooking originated from Kyoto.
Several counties around Kyoto followed suit. The rich and powerful in Kyoto enjoyed the same luxury, and the lesser-known residents of the surrounding counties could also imitate it.
Also because it is close to Kyoto, Jixiang County holds grand fireworks displays on New Year's Eve and the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first lunar month.
Colorful and dazzling.
The night sky is full of fireworks.
While the Xia family was feasting their eyes, the anxiety in their hearts also relaxed a lot.
The people in Jixiang County live such a good life. Although they need money everywhere, it is still more comfortable than living in the bitter and cold border areas where wars break out every now and then.
After the Lantern Festival, the "Rice Flower Fragrance" of Xiadaohua reopened, but it could no longer replicate the grand occasion of the previous year.
There aren't many customers every day, so we can only sell a few candies, snacks, drinks, side dishes, etc.
Even if we were to say the turnover was high, it usually didn't exceed thirty taels. The lowest turnover was that they didn't even open for the entire day. The second lowest turnover was only a small bag of dim sum.
In fact, this income is not bad.
It’s just that Xia Daohua has become accustomed to those people who used to purchase large quantities of New Year gifts, so now when she sees less than ten taels of silver, she is a little indifferent and does not show any emotion at all.
In the last few days of the first lunar month, "Daohuaxiang" welcomed another wave of customers.
They were also shopping for gifts, focusing mostly on snacks, candies, and alcohol. Xia Daohua asked, and it turned out they were buying gifts for the second day of the second lunar month.
She remembered that the custom on the second day of the second lunar month was to eat pig heads... So Xia Daohua urgently released a new batch of braised pig heads and pig ears. Sales were surprisingly good.
As the days passed, Jixiang County became much warmer than Beiguan Town, and soon it was the season of spring flowers.
Xia Dalang and Wulang both started school.
Xia Dalang entered the official academy in Jixiang County: Ping'an Academy.
Wulang entered a private school called Qimeng Academy.
The teacher was a scholar in his fifties with a long, graying beard. His surname was Mo. He had served as an official for several years. Later, unable to adapt to the various unspoken rules of officialdom, he simply opened a private school in Jixiang County and became a teacher.
The Enlightenment School is not big, with only two classes.
The first was a beginner class with no age limit, primarily for teenagers like Goro, but also for four or five-year-olds and seventeen or eighteen-year-olds who had started learning later.
The other type is students who are over 15 years old, have a certain foundation, and aim to take the examination for a scholar.
Xia Dalang was already a scholar, so the level of the Enlightenment Academy was naturally insufficient for his needs. If he wanted to take the imperial examination, he could only attend Ping'an Academy.
On the first day of school, Xia Daohua prepared a bookcase for Xia Dalang and Wulang, each made of antique rattan. It had compartments inside for books and brushes, inkstones, and wheels, a handle, straps, and a handle on the outside.
You can carry it on your back, in your hand, or even pull it along as you wish.
Apart from the different colors and books inside, the two bookcases even have the same pens, ink, paper, and inkstone.
Hu brush, Hui ink, Xuan paper, and Duan inkstone.
Upon receiving this gift, Xia Dalang was stunned for a moment, his eyes a little moist. But he quickly blinked away the moisture:
"Thank you for your concern, Sister Daohua."
"We are all family, you don't have to be polite, big brother."
Xia Dalang didn't say anything more, but kept this friendship in his heart. He already understood why Erlang's expression was so gentle when he saw Daohua.
The three sisters, Lihua, Daohua and Linghua, personally sent Wulang to the door of the Enlightenment School. They stood quietly outside and watched him enter the school before turning around and leaving.
With the appearance of three little beauties of different ages, Xia Wulang immediately became the most popular freshman in the Enlightenment Academy.
Lihua's height has grown a bit, and her slender figure has begun to develop, and she has become quite graceful.
Even when she had a stern face, she did have an awe-inspiring and inviolable majesty, but it still couldn't stop the gazes that couldn't help but secretly follow her.
The appearance of summer rice flowers is actually quite beautiful.
But in front of pear blossoms, ordinary beauty will inevitably become a supporting role.
Linghua is still a child. Because she is greedy and loves to eat, Xia Daohua often can't help but feed her extra food. Recently, she has become increasingly round.
But her facial features are somewhat childish, and the rounder her face is, the cuter she is.
When this girl grows up, she will definitely be a plump beauty.
The three little beauties standing together naturally attract a lot of attention.
It just so happens that the three of them have very special temperaments and each has their own strengths, which makes people feel amazed but hard to have any blasphemous thoughts about them.
The young boys in the enlightenment school were all eager to get close to Goro. Even if they didn't have any erotic thoughts, they inexplicably wanted to get to know him first.
Goro, always of a calm disposition, readily accepted the advances of others and quickly established friendships with his enthusiastic classmates.
Summer rice flowers returned to "Rice Flower Fragrance" with pear flowers and water chestnut flowers.
There were not many people in the store. Two waiters were standing at the reception desk seriously, and the other two were spontaneously cleaning the floor.
The three sisters walked into the store, and Xia Daohua found an invitation on the table where she often sat to watch over the store.
－－－－－－Digression－－－－－－
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