The oxcart was packed to the brim, with no room even for the driver. Meng Xinyu and Cheng Qingyan had no choice but to follow the oxcart toward the town.
On the way, Meng Xinyu asked Cheng Qingyan, "Brother Qingyan, I didn't expect you to raise so many chickens and fish!"
Cheng Qingyan dodged the question: "It's not really something I raised. A friend helped me with it, and it's being sent to the restaurant now."
She had another reason for bringing Meng Xinyu along: she simply wanted Meng Xinyu to run errands for her, and she would pay for it. She really disliked the feeling of spending most of the day on the road when delivering vegetables, chicken, or duck.
Ye Lingyu suggested that Meng Xinyu could join their transportation team. They would need help with other things besides transportation, so it would be better to find someone they knew well, someone they could at least rely on.
They definitely need manpower to expand their planting and breeding operations. Otherwise, relying solely on her and Ye Lingyu would be exhausting.
He introduced Meng Xinyu to Liu Baisheng and explained that Meng Xinyu would be responsible for all aspects of transportation and handover from now on.
Meng Xinyu was flattered and felt as if a huge pie had fallen from the sky!
Moreover, it's a pie filled with meat filling!
After finishing these matters, the Lantern Festival was just around the corner.
Cheng Qingyan and Ye Lingyu, along with Jiang Jiang, went to Ruan Banxia's house to pick up Meng Chuying.
After meeting, Cheng Qingyan handed Ruan Banxia a thousand taels of silver.
A silver note with a face value of one thousand taels, it weighs nothing at all, just a light piece of paper.
Having taken advantage of Shen Ziyu's influence, she naturally had to repay him.
Ruan Banxia unfolded the document and was utterly shocked: "Brother Cheng, you went to rob someone? Now you're here to divide the loot? Trying to drag me down with you?"
Cheng Qingyan rolled her eyes at her: "You'd better hope I can make this money cleanly. Look, it was earned by sacrificing the lives of the three of us and your old Shen's name."
Ruan Banxia became interested and pulled her and Ye Lingyu aside to tell them everything that had happened in the past two days.
When the topic turned to relying on Shen Ziyu's influence, Shen Ziyu didn't say anything, but just smiled.
Cheng Qingyan breathed a sigh of relief, while Ye Lingyu raised an eyebrow.
This Shen Ziyu is no ordinary person!
When Cheng Qingyan mentioned using her general's title, her smile was perhaps a little too nonchalant.
Meng Chuying and Jiang Jiang were playing with pebbles on the side, and the two children were having a great time playing with a few small stones.
Ruan Banxia picked up Jiang Jiang and checked her over carefully, worried that she might have bumped or hurt herself during what had happened before.
"Thankfully, my niece Jiang Jiang is alright. Jiang Jiang, come here and call her Auntie."
Jiang Jiang was tickled by Ruan Banxia and called out with a smile, "Auntie~"
"Oh, my Jiangjiang! How about Auntie gives Jiangjiang this thousand taels as a greeting gift?" As she spoke, she stuffed the silver notes into Jiangjiang's clothes.
Cheng Qingyan and Ye Lingyu stopped them, saying, "Doctor Ruan, this money is meant for Ziyu, so please keep it for Ziyu for now."
Shen Ziyu laughed and said, "Brother Cheng, we are brothers, so how could there be any talk of bribing them with money? You don't need to worry about this matter; they won't dare to trace it back to you."
Cheng Qingyan was somewhat disappointed: "Actually, I just wanted to live a simple life with my wife. But it seems like things are getting a little dark. I understand that if a person doesn't have connections or skills, they'll be bullied even in the village, let alone the fact that I'm planning to sell vegetables in the city later."
As you gain more experience and encounter more diverse people, the situation will only become more complicated.
Shen Ziyu comforted her, saying, "Brother Cheng, there's no need to worry. Under the clear blue sky, no one can cover up the truth. As long as you don't do anything illegal or disorderly, even if you go to the government, no one will dare to lay a finger on you."
Cheng Qingyan wanted to say, "I'm just an ordinary citizen, so I have to be more cautious! I want to grow old with my wife and watch Jiangjiang and Chuying grow up."
There's still a lot to do, so I need to be careful with my life.
In the end, Cheng Qingyan refused the thousand taels of silver no matter what, and even left a lot of medicinal herbs for Ruan Banxia before taking Meng Chuying home.
On the Lantern Festival, we eat glutinous rice balls.
There were events being held in both the town and the county seat, and some shops had already started setting up when they were in the town.
A horse-drawn carriage is much more comfortable than an oxcart, and it's also much faster. It saved at least half an hour of travel time on the way back from Dr. Ruan's house.
On the Lantern Festival, Ye Lingyu got up early in the morning to prepare delicious food.
Fried sugar cakes, steamed rice cakes, meatballs, and vegetable balls.
Cheng Qingyan took out the snacks she had bought before, such as candied hawthorns, from her spatial storage.
Meng Chuying invited all her friends over to her house to share snacks and catch up.
After a short separation, they had a lot to talk about when they reunited.
Without any adults present to interfere, Meng Chuying happily introduced Jiangjiang to everyone.
The four-person team has since grown into a five-person group. Jiang Jiang happily eats and drinks, acting as the team's mascot, the fifth member.
After lunch, Cheng Qingyan and Ye Lingyu helped Jiang Jiang and Meng Chuying make lanterns.
Even in the village, they have lantern festivals at night.
The lantern festival was a small event spontaneously organized by the villagers. The lanterns were not of the highest quality, but they were all unique.
Each person made their own lantern, and they were all different in shape.
Ye Lingyu simply made a fish lantern skeleton. After her fish lantern skeleton was shaped, Cheng Qingyan and the others began to sculpt the skeleton.
Jiang Jiang is still young, so Ye Lingyu can help her pinch the shape she likes.
Cheng Qingyan thought that the shape of a rabbit would be simpler, so she started making a rabbit lantern.
Meng Chuying had a challenge. She had Wangcai stand aside and then pinched a small dog skeleton in Wangcai's shape.
When you're focused on something, time flies by.
By the time the lamps were completely finished, it was already evening.
Sunset glow, wisps of smoke rising from chimneys.
After dinner, Meng Chuying's friends came looking for her with lanterns.
How dare they! Why are those three carrying lanterns they bought?!
The lanterns they made were simply painted, and it was obvious at a glance that they were homemade.
Cheng Qingyan simply painted red eyes on the little white rabbit lantern, thinking to herself, "It's a little white rabbit, just paste white paper on it and add eyes, that's all!"
As a result, I don't know if there was something wrong with the frame of the rabbit lamp. Anyway, well, it's incredibly ugly.
I had just lit the candle inside, and then got up, but before I could even take two steps, the rabbit lantern, so ugly, spontaneously combusted.
The children wanted to laugh but didn't dare to. The way they tried so hard to hold back their laughter really looked like they were constipated.
Ye Lingyu handed her colorful fish lantern to Cheng Qingyan and said to the children, "Go play with your friends. Remember to meet at the village's threshing ground later."
"good!"
Meng Chuying, holding Jiang Jiang's hand, and her friends left the courtyard one after another.
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