Chapter 28 Chapter 28 Go to Shengchangli.
Bao Yu spent the least amount of money, stole the show, and no one could find fault with him.
When the banquet was over, she was in high spirits and found a small room in the backyard.
Wen was sitting facing the window. When she saw her coming, she put down her needlework, closed the door, and fiddled with something in her suitcase with her back turned.
Bao Yu asked, "Where's my fourth brother? I chased him after the banquet. I clearly saw him go into the backyard, but I don't know where he disappeared to."
"Your brother has been working as a debt collector lately. He's afraid you might say something bad about him, so he's avoiding you."
"He's a quiet waiter in a restaurant, but he's quitting his job and going out to fight and collect debts for others. He'll learn his lesson only if one of his arms and legs is broken!"
Wen sighed, "I've said this many times, but it's all in vain. Only you are the only one he listens to."
"Forget it, let's not talk about his unlucky side. Mother, did you see what happened just now? My fake mother and the others were so angry when they saw me being praised by those guests that they couldn't even eat the meat soup and kept staring at me." Bao Yu felt refreshed when he recalled it.
Wen pinched her nose. "You, such exquisite pastries, made so vividly, must have cost you a lot of money, right? Here's the money."
What Wen took out from her suitcase was a purse with about a hundred dollars in it, which she had saved up bit by bit through needlework. She did not ask the master and the other two wives for money under various pretexts.
Bao Yu refused and took out a string of money from his sleeve, "I spent thirty coins, and the Feng family gave us three hundred coins to buy birthday gifts.
Here, these are all leftovers. I'm leaving them to my mother. Don't spend too much time on needlework, you're ruining your eyes."
"It's not good. Master has withheld most of your betrothal gifts. Even your dowry is not decent. If you use the money to supplement me like this, your son-in-law's family will complain." Wen said.
"I'm a girl from Shengchang Village. Who in the Feng family dares to say anything?"
Bao Yu held her hand again and said in a soft voice, "Feng Er knows about this. He also said that the money is for you."
Wen's heart was moved by all sorts of things, and she stuffed her purse and the string of money in her daughter's hand into her arms.
"You keep it for yourself. I've saved some money here. Who knows, they might take it away again someday."
Bao Yu refused to accept it, so Wen Shi quietly stuffed it into her bag when she was packing the dried fruits she had brought for her as a return gift.
Ben Guli,
A donkey cart was parked on the ridge, and Feng Er was waiting beside it.
Ji Xu escorted Bao Yu out of the thatched cottage, both of them smiling.
"Those leftover mulberries, celery, and dates, keep them for your family. They were originally meant to be given to my grandfather's family, but luckily they didn't end up in the hands of those lazy thieves."
Bao Yu hugged her and said, "Don't thank me now. I'm only four or five years older than you. Just call me Sister Yu!"
Ji Xu said, "Okay, that's what I was thinking, but I was afraid it would be too abrupt because of the generation gap."
Bao Yu got on the donkey cart with a smile on his face and returned to the courtyard. Aunt Xu asked them if the birthday gift was appropriate.
Bao Yu said: "My grandfather likes it very much, and even the guests who come here are full of praise for it."
Aunt Xu was relieved to hear this, thinking that the young couple had torn the chicken-crowing cloth and sent it as promised. Although she felt sorry for the money, it was a courtesy among relatives and she had to do it, so she went to prepare dinner.
Bao Yu thought for a moment, then went forward and said, "Let me help mother."
Feng Er went to the backyard to water the vegetables.
Feng Fuzhen, who had just returned from Cui Si's house, came over and asked, "Why did my aunt come out from Xu Nu's house?"
She was playing grass-fighting with Cui Si in front of her house at that time. She saw her donkey cart from afar and came back.
"Oh, Miss Xu wants to build a tiled house, but she is short of money. She has just paid the taxes, and every household is broke. The steamed cake business in our town is not as good as before. She wants to sell it in Shengchangli, so she asked me to ask about the situation." Bao Yu said, picking a large cabbage in his hand.
Somehow, Feng Fuzhen felt secretly pleased when she heard this. She curled her lips and said:
"She wants to do business in Shengchangli too? Some people from our Benguli wanted to sell vegetables there before, but they were chased out and some were even beaten."
Bao Yu said: "That's why she first asked me about the households in Shengchangli and who was running the various small businesses..."
"Did your aunt tell her everything?" Feng Fuzhen pressed on.
"I told her everything I knew."
But Bao Yuke didn't reveal the story of saving money on longevity peaches. She just said, "It won't hurt me to tell her."
Feng Fuzhen's face turned cold. "I know she'll never make it there. With a cook like her, how can she afford a tiled house? She deserves to live in a thatched hut for the rest of her life!"
After saying that, he turned and left.
Speaking of Ji Xu, he has already decided to go to Shengchangli to sell steamed buns with meat filling tomorrow morning, but what about the business in the rural market?
Although it is quite deserted, mosquito leg meat is still meat, so both sides have to sell it early. If you miss the breakfast time, people will not buy this kind of noodles. They will rush to sell on one side and leave the other side alone.
Although Ji Feng at home was worldly-wise, she was only eight years old after all. With such a small body, Ji Xu would never dare to let her be sold, fearing that she would be abducted by thieves.
Coincidentally, Zhuang came to give them new clothes. When the sisters heard the noise, they jumped out from behind the house with mud in their hands from having just pulled out the grass.
Zhuang smiled and said, "Go wash your hands quickly and try this dress on to see if it fits you. If it doesn't, I'll take it home and have it altered."
"Why!"
The two younger sisters responded and ran into the kitchen to fetch water.
Those are new clothes! Most families in Bengu would wear their clothes for two or three years until they were so worn out that their buttocks were exposed. Then they would make new ones.
Only my sister cares about them and is willing to make it for them even though it’s not a festival, Ji Feng thought happily.
In addition to clothes, Zhuang also held other things in her hands. She first took out a square bag tied with a thin rope.
"I used the scraps of cloth to sew a money bag. I thought since you charge five baht for steamed buns, this could be useful."
Zhuang was very clever. She thought that it would be inconvenient to put the heavy purse in her sleeve when she was busy, so the hemp rope was long enough to be slung over the shoulder, which was no different from the small bags in later generations.
The stitches of the scraps of cloth seemed to form irregular patterns, which looked beautiful when carried on a shoulder. Ji Xu liked it very much.
"I'm just in need of a purse, Aunt Zhuang. You have such a clever hand, and your stitches are solid and beautiful. I'm afraid there's no one else in Bengu who can sew as well as you."
Zhuang was so flattered by her that she could only smile. She buried her face in the clothes in her hands and fiddled with them for a long time before she thought of something and said,
"I also used scraps of cloth to sew a pair of armbands for Xiaozhu and Erfeng."
Armbands are worn on the arms, similar to sleeves in later generations. Wearing them can prevent dirt and protect clothes. Zhuang even thought of this.
Ji Xu felt warm in his heart and hugged Zhuang's arm to express his gratitude.
At this time, the two younger sisters also changed into new clothes and pleated pants, and came out. They all lowered their heads to look at and touch the body, feeling very curious.
Zhuang pulled them over, bent down, pinched the lengths of the pieces, and said with a smile:
"It fits. I can still wear it next year."
At that time, ordinary people would not make clothes for their children that fit them perfectly. Children grow quickly, so they would rather make clothes that are loose so that they can be worn for another one or two years. That is why Zhuang said that the clothes are suitable. If they fit the clothes perfectly, they are just too small.
Ji Xu was also replaced, and they were all suitable.
Ji Feng touched the edge of her clothes and said, "This new fabric just has a nice smell that the old one doesn't have."
This made everyone laugh, and Zhuang gave the remaining three feet of cloth to Ji Xu, saying that it could be used as a towel for wiping his body and hands.
"This is perfect. It can be cut into three strips." Ji Xu said as he held it up.
There were three people in the family, and they only had one towel for wiping themselves, which was rotten like a spider web. Fortunately, the weather was hot before, so they could make do without wiping themselves after taking a bath. Now that the weather is getting cooler, she originally planned to make new clothes and then modify her sister's old clothes.
Unexpectedly, she had the extra three feet of cloth, so she said shamelessly, "I just want to borrow my aunt's scissors. We don't have any of these at home."
Tao said, "Since you've decided to make a handkerchief, I'll help you cut it later and sew the edges together to make it durable."
Ji Xu thanked him again and again.
I originally wanted to make three new sets of clothes, but I didn't expect so many extra things. Thinking about what I was thinking, Ji Xu pulled Zhuang and said:
"Auntie, would you like to go to the market and sell white jade steamed cakes?"
Zhuang was worried and hurried back home. As soon as she pushed the gate open, she called out:
"mother."
Aunt Lu, who was busy preparing dinner in the kitchen, came out and asked, "Have you sent the clothes?"
Zhuang nodded, excitedly and nervously talking about what Ji Xu had proposed: "Miss Xu asked me if I could help her sell white jade steamed cakes in the market. She sells her white jade steamed cakes for one penny each. If we sell one, we can get a 30% profit.
She gets 30% off one steamed bun, so 30 cents off ten buns. She said that nowadays in the market, she can sell 30 to 40 steamed buns every day, and today she sold 40 buns.
This was a great thing. Lady Lu was naturally delighted, but she was also puzzled, "She won't sell it herself?"
"She sells it, but business in the market isn't as good as before. She plans to go to Shengchang tomorrow to sell stuffed meat, so she can make more money."
Lü Ai knew very well that business in Shengchangli was not easy. "The vendors there are all clinging to each other and are especially xenophobic. How can I even think of going there? I'd better not get bullied by a gang..."
"That's what I said too. She was determined to go because she wanted to earn more money to build a house," said Zhuang.
Lu Mu understood, "The thatched hut she lives in is still the firewood shed of the Ji family in the early years. It's old and it's time to build a new one, otherwise it will be washed away by the rain next spring."
"In that case, go find the bamboo basket, wash it, and use it to sell steamed cakes tomorrow," said Aunt Lu.
Zhuang hesitated and didn't move, pinching her sleeves. "Mother, I haven't agreed to this with Miss Xu yet..."
Under Lu Ai's puzzled gaze, she said simply, "I've never sold anything before, so how could I do it? I'm afraid I can't do it well."
Zhuang farmed and wove at home all year round. Whenever the family went to the market to sell vegetables, eggs, and cloth, it was her husband Chen Da or her uncle Chen Laobo who went. Zhuang was not sure about dealing with people, so she didn't dare to agree blindly, so she came to ask Jun's aunt for advice.
"You stupid guy, what is your mouth for? If you don't know, ask the girls and learn how they hawk their wares.
She chose you to help because she respects your honesty. She's the first to ask, isn't she afraid that you won't do well? You're the one who's timid."
Lu Ai continued, "You only think that if you sell well, you can earn more.
There's only one thing I'm afraid of: if Miss Xu finds that business in Shengchang is not going well in a couple of days, she'll go back to the market to sell it. Don't be upset then, we'll sell it as long as they let us."
After listening to this, Zhuang felt more confident. She asked Chen Gou'er to watch the stove at home, and Lu Ai went with her to Ji Xu's house, where she solemnly agreed to go to the city to sell white jade steamed cakes.
The next day at dawn, Zhuang came with a bamboo basket filled with some warm straw and stood on the earthen ridge outside the second house of the Ji family.
Keeping Jun Gu's instructions in mind, he did not rashly go to Ji Xu's kitchen. It would be bad if he discovered his cooking skills.
"Aunt Zhuang is here, Aunt Zhuang, come in!"
Ji Feng was wearing the new clothes she had made yesterday. Some of the clothes were stained with soot when she was burning the fire, so she patted them outside, taking great care of them.
Seeing Zhuang on the ridge outside, he said with a smile.
"Erfeng, let me take this basket to carry the things. I won't go in." Zhuang said.
I didn't come in until I heard that the steamed buns were ready. I hesitated for a moment.
She didn't dare ask for too many this time, fearing that if she didn't sell them, Ji Xu would lose both flour and time, so she agreed to buy thirty last night.
Ji Xu got up in the middle of the night and made thirty white jade steamed buns and over a hundred meat-filled steamed buns, the latter of which she took to Shengchangli.
After getting ready, the two of them went out, only to see Old Man Chen standing at the intersection.
He was covered with a short white beard, wore a gray-white turban on his head, and stood there in a short brown suit. Although he was nearly sixty years old, he was still tall and straight. After all, he had fought on the battlefield against the Huns when he was young.
Zhuang explained, "My mother was worried that you, a little girl, would be bullied by those people in Shengchang, so she asked Weng to accompany you. If anyone attacked you, you'd be better prepared."
Ji Xu refused several times but to no avail, feeling guilty, he said, "I'm wasting my father Chen's time in the fields."
Old Man Chen followed behind them and heard this in a loud voice:
"It's no problem. There's not much work to do in the fields after the autumn harvest. Ah Da can do it all by himself."
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