It was almost afternoon when they arrived at the village. Wei Ting and Old Man Su were working in the fields, and the three children went to play in the village. Mei Zi and Niu Dan also went.

Because of the matter of selling the recipe, Su Ergou didn't eat a single bite of the food that Su Xiaoxiao brought with her.

He went straight into his room.

Su Xiaoxiao thought about it and decided to make him his favorite braised pork with preserved vegetables.

The pork belly and fermented black beans are ready. Just braising them. Then soak the pickled mustard greens, place them on a plate and put them in the steamer. It will be ready soon.

Su Xiaoxiao chopped some green onions and sprinkled them on the dish. She was planning to ask Su Ergou to come and eat it, but after thinking about it, she directly brought the braised pork with preserved vegetables to his room.

Su Ergou sat on the bed alone, depressed.

After traveling through time for so long, this silly little brother has always been carefree. This is the first time Su Xiaoxiao sees him so sad.

Su Xiaoxiao knocked on the door: "Ergou, it's time to eat."

Su Ergou leaned inward and wiped his face with his sleeve.

Su Xiaoxiao walked forward and looked at the back of his head strangely: "Are you...crying?"

"I don't."

Su Ergou said with a sob.

I really cried.

She didn't cry when she was beaten with a stick for her, she didn't cry when she was pressed to the ground and rubbed, she didn't cry when she had to take a cold shower and was so hungry that her eyes turned black. She just sold a few recipes.

The child cried.

Su Xiaoxiao does business to make a living, so to her, it doesn’t make much difference whether she sells snacks or recipes.

Su Ergou is different, he really likes selling cakes.

When the recipe was taken away, it felt like someone had cut out a piece of your heart.

He turned his face away stubbornly and raised his head so as not to let his sister see him crying.

Su Xiaoxiao sat down next to him and gently hooked his finger: "Are you blaming me for selling the recipe?"

Su Ergou couldn't stop crying: "No, it's my fault! If I hadn't been caught by them, you wouldn't have handed over the formula!"

Su Xiaoxiao sighed: "This... How should I explain it to you? Whether I catch you or not, I will sell the formula. First, I don't want you to get hurt in the slightest. Second, I have my own plans."

Su Ergou cried, "You're talking nonsense! You obviously don't want to sell it!"

Su Xiaoxiao said softly, "Really? I'm not lying to you. I didn't let go before because I was waiting for a chance to raise the price. If I sell it easily, Jinji's people will think they've made a loss, and if they want to cooperate with me again in the future, they will lower the price to the death. But if I sell it when I'm 'pushed into a desperate situation', no matter what price I bid, it will seem like my bottom price. After all, everyone likes to take advantage of others, so just treat it as a marketing and negotiation method."

"It's just that I didn't expect them to act so quickly... Does it still hurt?" Su Xiaoxiao raised her hand to touch Su Ergou's cheek.

Su Ergou wiped his tears: "My heart aches."

Su Xiaoxiao: “…”

Su Xiaoxiao asked: "Did you understand what I just said?"

"I understand...the recipe is gone - ah -" Su Ergou burst into tears.

Su Xiaoxiao: You are listening to this for nothing...

"There will be no more cakes to sell from now on - wooah -"

Su Ergou was extremely sad and felt that his life had no direction.

Su Xiaoxiao said patiently, "You can sell them. Jinji sells Jinji's products and we sell ours. There is no conflict. Besides, even if they get the recipe, they won't be able to make them better than us. On the contrary, they might even bring fame to these dim sum. Besides, the market is so big that we can't divide it all. Don't forget that we still have the business of the academy."

"But it will all be eaten up soon - our family will be poor again -"

Su Ergou cried so sadly.

"No." Su Xiaoxiao quickly diverted his attention, "Don't you like to eat preserved vegetable and pork? I made a big plate, all for you."

"I can't eat--" Su Ergou sniffed and looked at his sister with tears in his eyes, "Sister, what did you do?"

Su Xiaoxiao smiled and handed him a large plate of braised pork with preserved vegetables and a pair of chopsticks: "Eat it while it's hot, it will get greasy when it gets cold."

"Sister, you eat too."

"I don't want to eat, so you eat it." She wants to lose weight.

"oh."

Su Ergou wiped away his tears and began to eat with a sob. ——After a short while of coaxing his brother, Su Xiaoxiao broke out in a sweat.

"It's a physical job to coax people."

After all, who is the child? They are harder to coax than three little kids.

Su Xiaoxiao was about to go back to the house to change clothes. When she turned around, she saw three little kids standing at the door, with their round little heads sticking out, looking inside.

Very good, Ergou, your image is gone, from now on you are the crybaby uncle.

Su Ergou had been crying for so long and had exhausted a lot of energy. At the moment, he was concentrating on eating dry meat and did not notice the three little ones eavesdropping in the corner.

Su Xiaoxiao took the three kids to the main room. Mei Zi didn't go far away, but kept watching them at the door. Only when she saw Su Xiaoxiao did she shyly go back.

I don’t know where the three little ones went to play, but they were sweating all over.

Su Xiaoxiao brought a dry towel and wiped the three of them one by one.

"Are you hungry?" she asked.

In the past, the three of them would have nodded in unison.

But this time, the three of them looked at her straight.

The three of them didn't say anything and ran back to Su Ergou's house.

Su Xiaoxiao thought they were going to look for Su Ergou, so she went back to the house and changed into fresh clothes without thinking much.

As soon as I opened the door and was about to go to the kitchen, I saw three little kids standing in a row at the door, holding their own small bags.

"For mom." said Dahu.

"Erhu, give it to mother too." Erhu said.

"And Xiaofu (Hu)." Xiaohu also stuffed his small bag to Su Xiaoxiao.

Su Xiaoxiao looked confused: "Do you want to leave your luggage with me?"

When she first met the three little ones, each of them was holding a small bag like this in their arms.

They were arranged to live in Su Ergou's house, so the luggage was also placed there.

The three men pulled Su Xiaoxiao into the house and motioned for her to open the bag.

Su Xiaoxiao put three small bundles on the table: "Do you want to change clothes?"

She asked as she casually opened the first bundle.

It’s Xiaohu’s.

Xiaohu stood on tiptoe, rummaged through the bag, and pulled out a small cotton vest.

Su Xiaoxiao thought he was going to wear this one, and was about to take it over for him to change into, when she saw his little hand scratching at his small cotton vest.

I dug out a few small pieces of silver.

He threw away the small cotton vest, grabbed a pair of small cotton pants and started to pick at them.

——He dug out a few small pieces of silver.

Xiaohu dug out a dozen small pieces of silver in total, and Su Xiaoxiao's eyes widened.

"Mom, mom!" Erhu also wanted to open the small bag.

Su Xiaoxiao opened it for him in a daze.

He didn't pick at the cracks in clothes like Xiaohu did.

Instead, he directly unbuttoned his small pocket and took out two gold leaves.

Su Xiaoxiao: “???”

Da Hu's is even worse.

His tiger-head hat had two layers. After taking off the inner layer, he shook out five shiny white silver bills!

Then, he took off his shoes and majestically dug out a glowing black token from under the insole! Su Xiaoxiao: "......?!"

Su Xiaoxiao opened her mouth wide and couldn't close it for a long time.

The case is solved, the case is solved.

Father Su didn't find a single copper coin on Wei Ting, so it turned out to be in the hands of you little guys? No, these scattered small coins and silver bills of different denominations didn't seem to be given by Wei Ting, but more like they... hoarded them on weekdays.

Su Xiaoxiao didn’t really understand why the word “hoard” was used; it was just a hunch.

Their extraordinary sense of crisis sometimes makes people feel that they are not children who grew up carefree.

The carefree attitude is particularly evident in Niu Dan, the boy next door, while Mei Zi, who has always depended on others for her life, seems much more sensible.

To verify her guess, she asked, "Does this money belong to your father?"

The three shook their heads.

"Does your father know?"

The three shook their heads again.

It seems that I have hoarded it and it has not run away.

Are you the three little squirrels? The kind that hoards money? It sounds funny, but Su Xiaoxiao feels sad.

What did these three little guys go through to develop such a sense of crisis and the habit of hoarding small changes?

Did they just hear what Su Ergou said and thought that the family had no money and were worried that she would starve, so they took out all the little money they had saved with great difficulty and gave it to her?

Su Xiaoxiao's heart felt like it was being rubbed hard by a big, hot hand.

She looked at the three little ones who wanted to give her all their belongings, and for a moment she didn't know what to say.

Of course she couldn't take their small change.

Not to mention that she still has some flowers for the time being, even if she doesn't have any, she can't be greedy for having several children.

She gently pushed the small change on the table back, touched the three people's heads, and said softly: "Da Hu, Er Hu, Xiao Hu, take your small change back."

"For mom." said Dahu.

Xiaohu waved his hands seriously: "Mom, I'm not hungry."

Erhu patted his belly and said, "Erhu, eat less."

They ate less so that their mother wouldn't go hungry.

Today is a fat chapter~ 　　 　 (End of this chapter)