The Hu family—
When Huang the matchmaker walked in, Xiuxiu's mother looked surprised.
The two sat down in the main room, and then the matchmaker, Huang, said, "Carpenter Cai said that the meeting will be postponed for three months."
"What?" Xiuxiu's mother already had a bad feeling, and sure enough! She said anxiously, "Why was it postponed?"
"It was quite a coincidence. This morning, carpenter Cai almost tripped and fell when he went out. Just then, a monk passed by and told him that he couldn't get married for three months, or he would suffer a bloody disaster."
"It's better to believe it's true than not to believe it's not. The Cai family has decided to postpone the matchmaking. Xiuxiu's mother, please wait!"
Xiuxiu's mother was extremely reluctant and asked suspiciously, "Auntie, tell me the truth, is that carpenter Cai dissatisfied with my Xiuxiu and looking at other girls?"
"Hey, they haven't settled down with Xiuxiu yet. If they're looking at other girls, they can look at them together with your Xiuxiu and then take their time to choose. Why make up this excuse to postpone it for three months?"
Xiuxiu's mother thought about it and realized that it made sense.
Even if we haven't met yet, and they say they need to think about it, we'll still have to wait.
“I have delivered the message. I will come back in three months.” Matchmaker Huang stood up.
Xiuxiu's mother said anxiously, "Since we have time, matchmaker, why don't you find a few more for Xiuxiu? If the carpenter doesn't like her after three months, wouldn't we have wasted our time?"
Matchmaker Huang's lips twitched; she almost cursed!
God knows how long she searched for a sucker willing to give 20 taels of silver as a bride price!
But her professionalism made her smile: "Hehe, you can rest assured! Cai the carpenter is the only son in five generations, and he just wants to find someone like Xiuxiu who is easy to bear children. His family is not short of money."
Xiuxiu's mother breathed a sigh of relief, said a lot of nice things, and then saw the person out the door.
Hu Xiuxiu, hiding in the corner, glared at Hu Xiaosi: "You little rascal, where did you find this monk?"
“That’s an old thug from He’an Village, a bald man. I gave him twenty coins and had him pretend to be a monk to fool Cai the carpenter.”
Hu Xiuxiu chuckled and affectionately poked Xiao Si's head.
For the next three months, her mother was destined to live in anxiety.
Two months later, Yongge had raised enough for the bride price. All he had to do was put 20 taels in front of his mother, and how could she possibly refuse?
...
Of the four newly opened hot and sour soup stalls in town, three closed down after four or five days.
Then two more stores opened, but they went out of business within a few days.
In the end, only one company remained, the one that knew how to use pepper.
They make a whole bucket of soup a day, but only sell half of it. They're barely surviving; they're probably losing money.
Ye Caiping's business was initially affected, but later her customers returned, and she steadily sold three buckets a day, which would sell out in three hours, allowing her to return to the village before noon.
Baiweilou —
Five bowls of spicy soup were placed in front of Manager Lin, which he had hired someone to buy from Ye Caiping.
After finishing their drinks, the head chef and two assistant chefs at Baiweilou seemed to be deep in thought.
The chef said, "I've never tasted this aroma before. It's very special, unlike the usual sweet, sour, bitter, and spicy flavors. I only tasted the most prominent flavor, which is pepper."
The flavor is too strong, and his wife is sick, so he occasionally uses pepper.
"Pepper is a medicine, and you can only buy it at a pharmacy," the chef said.
"Medicine?" Manager Lin's eyes flashed with a sharp light as he realized something.
...
That morning, the town was as lively as ever.
Li Jiaojiao and Li Ziming got off the oxcart, and a little boy of seven or eight years old followed behind them.
"Sister Jiaojiao, what are you doing in town?" Li Gouwa asked solicitously.
"Buy some things." Li Jiaojiao smiled. "Buy a silver hairpin for Mother, a set of writing implements for Father, and a bolt of floral fabric for Grandma."
Everyone in the village knew that Li Jiaojiao had two hundred taels of silver.
The Li family, confident in their official titles and achievements, were not afraid of being coveted by others, so they made no attempt to hide their secrets.
"Jiaojiao is the best daughter and granddaughter in the world."
Li Jiaojiao glared at him, but her heart was filled with happiness.
Although her father and grandmother were both stepchildren, they were a thousand times, ten thousand times better than her scumbag biological grandmother.
She received their love and care!
She would repay them a thousandfold, as long as they were even slightly kind to her.
Li Gouwa kept praising her, making Li Jiaojiao's ears ring.
Just then, a vendor selling candied hawthorns walked by, so he bought a skewer and stuffed it into Li Gouwa's hand:
"You keep chattering away, it's so noisy. Here, this is enough to fill your mouth!"
Li Gouwa was stunned for a moment, then a warm feeling welled up in his heart: "Sister Jiaojiao is the best to me."
"loquacious."
"Jiaojiao, I heard that a new dish has appeared in town called Hu spicy soup. Shall we go and try it?" Li Ziming said.
"OK."
The three arrived at the stall selling spicy soup, only to find it surrounded by layers of people.
The group looked on with anticipation, but the next second, Li Ziming's expression changed: "Jiaojiao... is that the person selling spicy soup... that Ye family?"
Li Jiaojiao looked closely and realized it really was her!
Li Gouwa recognized the person too; the anticipation he had just felt turned to utter disgust.
"Hmph, selling a bowl of spicy soup is nothing special. No matter how much you sell, you can't compare to my sister Jiaojiao, who made two hundred taels of silver from digging up ginseng!"
"Shh." Li Ziming covered his mouth. "This isn't a village. The town has a diverse population, and people don't flaunt their wealth."
Li Gouwa was startled: "Sorry, I spoke without thinking. Anyway, Sister Jiaojiao is the best, no one can compare. Sister Jiaojiao, let's not eat at her place, let's eat somewhere else!"
Li Ziming also said, "Jiaojiao, let's go!"
Li Jiaojiao didn't think she had any deep-seated hatred for the Ye family, but the awkwardness was real, so why bother going over there and making a fool of herself?
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