054. Living in Kyoto is not easy
054. Living in Kyoto is not easy
"Bang—"
The lock of the back door of the yard was opened from the outside, and there was a crisp clang as the lock fell.
The door was pushed open from the outside, and Lu Mingfei, standing in the yard, saw his mother. He asked, "Mother, are you closing the stall?"
"Yes, let's pack up now. You just watch over them and don't come over." Liu Sanniang said when she saw her eldest son was about to come over to help.
"Okay." Lu Mingfei lowered his head to glance at the two boys sitting on the steps eating candied haws. He knew that if he was not optimistic, these two boys would run over and make things worse. It would be better to keep an eye on these two boys.
After his two younger brothers were born, the well in the yard was relocated. Originally, the well was left open and water was pumped up with buckets. Later, after discussing it with his father, he installed a pressure pump to pump water up, eliminating the need to open the well lid.
So now they've covered the well and locked it from the outside. They don't open the wooden lid unless they're cleaning it. They have two children who often play in the yard. If one of them falls in, it would be a huge blow to both families. They need to eliminate these dangerous factors.
Tanggao ate up the string of candied haws in his hand first, then stretched his head out to lick the candy on his little hands, and asked his brother with a dirty smiling face: "Brother, I want to go out and play."
"Hey, go wash your hands first and don't lick them!" Lu Mingfei grabbed the dirty boy and looked at his own brother eating cleanly. He didn't understand why Lu Mingcong was so dirty?
The two children were raised together since they were young, so how come one is clean and the other is dirty?
"I don't want to wash them. My hands are sweet and delicious. Do you want to eat some, brother?" The sugar cake, who was carried by her brother to wash her hands, tried to turn her head away and put her dirty little hands for her brother to taste.
"..." Lu Mingfei hid back with disgust, really not wanting to talk anymore.
Liu Sanniang brought some things in from outside and happened to see her eldest son carrying a younger brother to wash his hands. She came over to help fetch some water and washed the child's face and hands. Then she said to her eldest son, "Take him away quickly."
"Mom, I want to wash too. It's dirty here." Doubao walked over by himself and stretched his neck for Mom to wash his mouth.
"Okay, I'll wash it for you." Liu Sanniang dipped her hands in water and wiped her little son's face, mouth, and hands. "It's really clean."
Looking at her innocent and lovely little son, Liu Sanniang's eyes were filled with happiness and smiles. In fact, even she herself had never thought that she could get pregnant again, but the surprise came just like that. Not long after Xu Yueniang got pregnant, she also got pregnant.
After both brothers were washed, Lu Mingfei took one brother's hand in each and said to his mother, "Mom, I'll take them out for a walk and be back soon."
"Go ahead and keep an eye on them," Liu Sanniang warned.
"Okay." Lu Mingfei responded and walked out holding one of his younger brothers' hands. When he left the store, he said hello to his adoptive father and mother before leading the two boys away.
When they came out and saw their father still setting up a stall there, Lu Mingfei brought his two younger brothers to the stall.
"Father!"
"uncle."
The two children shouted louder and louder.
As soon as they saw the many small toys on the stall, the two boys ran over to look at them and touch them, finding everything they saw curious.
Lu Youtian patted the heads of the two children and asked his eldest son, "Where are you taking them?"
"Just walk on this street, it's not far." Lu Mingfei said.
"Okay, go ahead, but don't take too long." Lu Youtian usually waits until his wife has finished packing up her things before he packs up the things on his stall and goes home with his wife and children.
"I know." Lu Mingfei responded to his father and came to pull the two boys who would touch dog poop whenever they saw it. "Stop touching them, you two. We have all kinds of toys at home. If you don't leave, I'll take you back."
It can be said that basically, every toy sold at his father's stall, each of the two boys had a copy. Whenever a new toy came out, his father would make one for the two boys first, and each of them would keep a set in each house, so that the two boys could play with it when they visited each other's house.
Recently, the two boys have taken a liking to tricycles, the kind that they have to take with them whenever they go out.
Just now, when they went out, the two boys wanted to take the bikes out to play on the street, but he didn't let them. The main reason was that he was afraid that the two boys would ride away on the bikes and he wouldn't be able to catch up.
"Yes, yes, let's go!" When they heard that they were not going to play, the two boys ran over and grabbed their brother's hands.
Only then did Lu Mingfei walk towards the street holding the boy's hand.
Sitting on a low stool, Lu Youtian watched the three children leave, shook his head and smiled, then continued to work busy at hand.
In eight years, their family had grown from three to four, with the addition of a little son. Adding the Lu family's son, there were now three children in the two families.
Lu Youtian had always treated his two sons and the youngest son of the Lu family equally, sometimes even favoring the other family's children. The Lu family adopted their eldest son as their adopted son and treated their two children very well. The two families had a close relationship over the years, and it could be said that the Lu family had helped their family a lot. Lu Youtian was not an ungrateful person.
It can be said that up to now, their family has not had the opportunity to repay the Lu family for their kindness over the years.
Some things cannot be returned immediately just because you want to.
Not to mention that they still go in and out of the Lu family's backyard every day, and the equipment for setting up their stall is stored in someone else's house. If it were someone else, I'm afraid they would have been dissatisfied a long time ago, and they would never have thought that Boss Lu and his wife were so nice.
So there are some things that Lu Youtian is not unaware of. Being able to meet such a good person is a blessing for their whole family. He also hopes that his eldest son will have a smooth test next year and pass the examination to obtain a good name. In the future, when the Lu family needs it, they will be able to help them.
Now, he looked at the three boys walking away, his gaze fell on his eldest son, and he hoped that the eldest son could take good care of his two younger brothers.
***
Lu Mingfei, who had already walked far away with his brothers, didn't know that there was a pair of eyes watching them from behind. He walked along the street with his two brothers. At this time, many vendors had already packed up their things and went home. Some vendors who knew them would even greet them.
"Bringing your brother out to play?"
“Yes, yes.”
Lu Mingfei grew up on this street, and his two younger brothers had been walking here since they could walk. So, the vendors who frequently came to the city to sell their wares were no strangers to them, and he was also quite familiar with some of the older vendors. However, he also knew the importance of being cautious, so no matter how familiar he was with the people on this street, he wouldn't let his younger brothers out of his sight when he was out with them.
The three brothers walked around the street, and in the end, the two boys each held a candy man in their hands.
When they returned to the store, they were faced with his stepmother's question: "Why did you buy sugar figurines for them again?"
"...It just so happened that the candy seller was still there, so I bought some for them." Lu Mingfei didn't dare to tell the truth, for fear that his greedy little candy cake would be punished by his mother.
Because just now, this kid was unable to walk when he saw the old man selling candy figures. In the end, he bought a candy figure for each of the two kids, and the two kids followed him.
But who is Xu Yue Niang? Doesn't she know the child she gave birth to? As soon as she saw it, she knew that it must be the one her own brat wanted to buy.
By the time he sent his two younger brothers back to the shop, his mother had already washed the dirty dishes with the two aunts she had hired to help. They had put the dishes in baskets and set them under the eaves to drain. By the next day, the dishes would be dry and ready to use again.
There are also many small clay pots stacked high in the two baskets next to it. These small clay pots are used to hold meat for customers to take away.
Every month, they use so many of these small clay pots at their stall. In the past, they had to pick them up themselves, but now the demand has increased, and the vendors who sell clay pots send a batch every day. Sometimes the clay pots delivered that day are not enough for the rest of the day.
Now, the number of large baskets for storing dishes and chopsticks has increased from two to eight, and there are also eight more sets of tables and chairs. It can be said that their business has been growing bigger and bigger in recent years.
In fact, their food stall could make quite a bit of money in a month, especially when there were a lot of caravans from Kyoto Prefecture. They could sell hundreds of kilograms of meat and several hundred kilograms of vegetables, braised eggs, and tofu in a single day. Even in the off-season, their braised food stall was better than others.
The money earned from the food business is hard-earned. Although the turnover seems high, the profit is low, and the money earned is not much. Not to mention that the money earned here also has to be paid for the stall fee.
Don't think you don't have to pay for setting up a stall. You do have to pay. If you're just walking around the street with a small basket, you don't have to pay for the stall. But if you set up your stall in one place, you do have to pay.
In addition, there is also the business tax. The Great Yan Dynasty levied very high taxes on merchants. The small vendors in the city were also considered merchants, so they had to pay the same taxes as merchants. The business tax was 30%, which means that if you earned 10 taels of silver, you had to pay 3 taels of tax to the court. This tax amount was really not low.
In addition, the rent for the small courtyard they are renting now is one hundred taels of silver a year; and he has to pay for his studies every year; in addition, there are the food and various expenses for the family of four in Kyoto Prefecture. The daily necessities here are very expensive, so all in all, a lot of silver is needed in a year.
This is why, despite their family's hard work and the food stall business being quite good, they still struggle to afford to rent a shop or buy a house in Kyoto. Their expenses are simply too high, and they can't save enough, let alone rent a shop or buy a house.
How easy is it for an ordinary family to buy a house in Kyoto? It is already very good to have a house to live in and a meal to eat here.
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