Chapter 20 Spending Money Like Water
It was getting dark and the Shen family's dinner had just begun.
Tonight, Shen Qingshan sat down at the table with the help of his brother-in-law and was finally able to have dinner with his family.
A large bowl of wild onions mixed with tofu, boiled carob shreds, and thin porridge and steamed buns was served. Everyone looked at Chen Yao and Shen Qingshan.
"Dad, you and mom, try this bowl." Chen Yao brought the tofu in the bowl to his parents and pointed at the tofu in the large basin. "I sprinkled a little bit of dogwood powder in it. It might be a little spicy."
Shen Qingshan understood that his daughter was doing this for their own good, so he picked up his chopsticks to signal everyone to relax. He looked at the steamed bun in his hand and took a careful bite, eating it with great care.
Huang Xing took a bite of the steamed bun and drank a mouthful of brown rice porridge, her eyes turned red and her nose felt sore. She didn't ask for great wealth, she just wanted her daughter to have such a good life in the future.
The children finished their steamed buns before their elders, and seeing the extra half bun in their bowls, they returned the buns to their parents.
"We agreed to have one for each person, and we must all finish them. My cousin even made a promise that he would treat us to meat buns when he makes money in the future." Chen Yao stood beside her parents, holding the bowl of rice, and winked at Huang Dongsheng.
Huang Dongsheng, holding his bowl, immediately responded to his cousin, pointing his chopsticks to the sky and swearing: "Cousin, you are right. When I make money, I will treat everyone to meat buns."
The adults knew the children’s filial piety and ate the steamed buns with a smile.
Chen Yao took the remaining steamed bun to the kitchen and locked it in the cupboard.
After seeing off the relatives, Chen Yao sat by the oil lamp and taught Yang Wenying how to eat thorny sprouts in the dim light.
Tian Baozhu picked these young thorny shoots for Yang Wenying to thank her for promising to teach her how to read and do math, but Yang Wenying had never eaten them.
Break off the sharp thorns on the prickly buds. You don’t need to peel the skin of the thinner prickly buds and chew them directly. The thicker ones can be peeled. The prickly buds taste very sweet.
Huang Xing put a bowl of washed mulberries in front of the two children, and sewed fur gloves for Yang Jizong by the oil lamp.
A piece of rabbit fur was not enough to make hand guards for two adults. Huang Xing, following her daughter's suggestion, only used rabbit fur for half of the palm and coarse cloth for the five fingers, so that she could sew a pair of hand guards.
"Dad, Mom, try some, they're so crispy and tender." Chen Yao handed the peeled young thorn sprouts to her parents.
Shen Qingshan took it and fed it to his wife first before tasting it himself. As he tasted it, he watched his daughter's eyes light up as she ate. Then he said, "We still have some white grass on the ridges of our fields. A'yao, you can go dig some white grass roots tomorrow when you're home as a snack."
Seeing Yang Wenying's curious look, Chen Yao grabbed a handful of fresh mulberries, fed them to her mouth, and nodded.
Huang Xing bit off the twine in her hand and turned the rabbit skin over. "The elderly people in Wanhe Township asked your cousins to send a lot of mulberries here these days."
Chen Yao just pricked up her ears and listened. At this moment, she was baring her teeth at Yang Wenying, letting her see her red tongue coating. She had no idea what her mother was going to say next.
Huang Xing looked at her daughter's childish demeanor and sighed, "We couldn't finish it at home, so Mom gave some away. The rest will be made into dried mulberries. You can bring them to Zi'an during the Mid-Autumn Festival."
"Mom, I'm jealous. Why do you always ask me to bring him whatever we have at home? He's your biological son, and I'm your little sister who runs errands for you, right?"
She's almost become a takeaway delivery person.
Ouch--
"What are you talking about, kid? Son-in-law is half of our family." Huang Xing was amused by her daughter's words and was accidentally poked by a needle. She pretended to hit her.
Why is this kid getting more and more naughty? He's playing crickets in front of his own sister.
Chen Yao quickly stood up to avoid her mother's slap, and said to Yang Wenying with her hands on her hips, "After you finish eating the rest, clean up. I'm going back to my room to sleep."
No matter how Huang Xing in the house tried to smooth things over for her and Yang Wenying, she didn't care about it anyway. She and Yang Jizong were just a fake couple, and only her mother took this marriage seriously.
Didn’t you see that her father has always been indifferent to Yang Wenying? He must not agree with this marriage. It’s just a temporary measure!
At the same time, Huang Mei and Tanaka returned home with their children. Just as they sat down to rest, they saw their children handing them the three cents they had earned that day.
The family's money has always been managed by the daughter-in-law. Tanaka Masaru left the main house on the pretext of going to the kitchen to boil water and did not interfere in the matter.
Huang Mei looked at the six copper coins, her eyes reddened, but her heart was at peace, thinking that the children had not been raised in vain.
"Your cousin is a kind-hearted person. No matter what happens in the future, our family and she will stick together. Do you understand?"
"Mom, we know." Tian Baozhu and Tian Baolai responded in unison.
Huang Mei looked at the copper coins on the table and took out only two coins, leaving the rest for the children to keep. "You are grown up now, you should save the money you earn. These two coins can be used as a household payment. I will keep them for you first, and when you find someone suitable in the future..."
"Mom, what are you talking about?" Tian Baozhu was shy. It was okay for her to be teased by her cousin, but how come even her mother was complaining about her?
Huang Mei watched her daughter take the two coins and go back to the house with a red face. She didn't say anything more. Then she looked at her son who hadn't reacted yet, and her anger rose to her head. "Baolai, learn to read well with your sister in the future."
If you don’t learn, you won’t be able to catch up when making money!
In fact, Huang Mei wanted to say that her son couldn't even eat hot shit, but he was still her own son after all, so she couldn't be so rude to him. It would be a shame for her to be rude to her.
Tian Baolai didn't hear the hidden meaning in his mother's words, and still pushed the two copper coins towards her innocently: "Mom, I know, please keep this money for me, I'm afraid I'll lose it."
Huang Mei took a look at her son and took it for him without hesitation. She planned to give it to her son for safekeeping when he got married.
When Dr. Zeng brought the child to the house, Chen Yao had already returned from weeding and watering the fields, carrying a hoe and a wooden bucket.
At this moment, he is tending to the vegetable garden in the yard, sowing the chive seeds he exchanged in Shahe Township in the ridges.
"Dad, Mom, Doctor Zeng is here." Chen Yao opened the fence gate and welcomed Doctor Zeng and his son into the hospital.
The child looked at the mud house in front of him with curiosity in his eyes. He had never seen such a dilapidated house in his life.
"Xiaobao, don't be unruly. Remember what your father taught you at home. Call someone quickly." Doctor Zeng carried the medicine box on his left shoulder and held the child's hand with his right hand.
The child called Xiaobao immediately greeted the adults.
"Xiaobao, your father needs to take my parents to see a doctor. Come out and play with me." Chen Yao waved to the child with pigtails.
After Xiaobao saw his father nodded, he walked towards Chen Yao.
In the room, Doctor Zeng first washed his hands in a wooden basin. At Shen Qingshan's strong request, he took Huang Xing's pulse and found that the problem was very serious.
But he did not tell the truth in front of the couple. Before coming, Chen Yao told him that no matter how serious her parents' illness was, he just needed to tell her the truth.
Therefore, after Dr. Zeng checked Huang Xing's pulse, he just asked Huang Xing to rest well, indicating that the problem was not very serious.
As for Shen Qingshan, his broken legs were reconnected in time, and he was already strong, so there was really no big problem.
It only takes more than a month to be able to walk again.
The couple was so happy that they kept thanking him.
Doctor Zeng gritted his teeth and wrote down the prescription on some straw paper with a brush, but after he put pen to paper, he felt that it was not right and crumpled up the prescription.
"Doctor, but..." Shen Qingshan held his wife's hand and sensed something was wrong.
Doctor Zeng wiped the sweat from his forehead and waved his hand, saying, "Don't worry, I wasn't thoughtful enough. Instead of prescribing medicine for you two, it would be better to prepare a medicated diet. It would be more appropriate to supplement both medicine and food together."
Shen Qingshan sighed, "Doctor, how much is the consultation fee and medicine fee in total?"
Shen Qingshan was worried that too much money would burden his daughter. If it was too expensive, he would just not eat the medicinal food.
"I have already discussed these with your daughter." Doctor Zeng put away the medicine box, bowed to Shen Qingshan, and went out to look for his son.
If he stayed any longer, he was afraid he would be exposed.
"Xiaobao?"
In the kitchen, Zeng Xiaobao was slurping sweet soy milk and steamed bread slices when he suddenly heard his father calling him. He choked out of guilt.
Chen Yao hurriedly patted his back.
"Dad." Zeng Xiaobao held a bowl that was bigger than his face and looked at the figure at the door with his head stiffly.
Chen Yao stood up and signaled Xiaobao to continue eating. With her around, there was nothing to be afraid of!
Zeng Xiaobao watched his father talking to Sister A Yao in a low voice and not noticing him, so he crouched down and hid in the corner of the stove, continuing to use a spoon to scoop up the soft and sweet steamed bun slices in the bowl.
He often eats steamed buns at home, but why are the ones from Sister A Yao's house so delicious?
"Your mother is suffering from a deficiency of both Qi and blood. She should take Ginseng Yangrong Pills, but ginseng is expensive. You can start by taking some nourishing food. Eat more glutinous rice, dates, sesame seeds, etc. to replenish Qi and boost Qi."
Shen Yao's face was solemn. After listening carefully, she asked again: "Doctor, can my mother eat more mulberries?"
She remembered that mulberries can soothe the liver, moisten the intestines and promote bowel movements, and nourish yin and blood.
Doctor Zeng's eyes lit up and he nodded.
Chen Yao immediately had several recipes in her mind: mulberry and red date tea, mulberry stewed chicken, and mulberry porridge.
Chen Yao paid the remaining medical fee to Dr. Zeng, said goodbye to her parents, carried the backpack, and went to Qingfeng Town with the father and son.
Chen Yao did not collect any money when she entered the East Market this time because she came with money to buy things.
The officer on duty today was not Officer Liu, but a fat and big-eared Officer Wang. When Officer Wang was rummaging through Chen Yao's backpack, he glanced at her several times.
Chen Yao rubbed her sallow face and sighed secretly.
Even shriveled bean sprouts can't stand being noticed by others.
When Chen Yao passed by Yang Wenying and Huang Dongsheng's tofu stall, they were busy packing tofu and collecting money from customers, so she walked in quietly.
The grain store sells brown rice for five cents a pound, but the stalls in the East Market sell it for only three cents a pound. Chen Yao reached into the sack and could see with the naked eye that there wasn't a single intact grain of rice.
"My dear girl, please don't look down on my rice crumbs. All kinds of rice taste the same when they are eaten and come out of your stomach." The uncle selling brown rice squatted on the ground with his hands in his sleeves, not worried that she would not buy it.
If he can't sell the food, he can just take it home and eat it.
Chen Yao picked up another handful of brown rice. She didn't see any stones or gray-black rice grains in it, so she asked for five pounds first.
Fifteen copper coins are gone!
After two more steps, you will get a small jar of rice vinegar brewed from grain.
The price of salt is high and prohibitive.
She had no choice but to take two more steps. The furry little chicks were chirping and pecking at the wheat straw in the nest. Chen Yao was very moved by the sight.
Buy! Raise it and it will lay eggs. Chickens lay eggs, eggs hatch chickens, and you get both meat and eggs!
After searching his pocket, Chen Yao stood up awkwardly.
"Hey, young lady, don't you want to buy anything?" The old lady tried hard to retain every customer.
I don’t have money, Auntie, please wait and I will come back to buy it next time.
Auntie: "Next time? If it's cold, we won't be able to hatch chicks. If I don't buy them this time, there won't be a next time!"
Chen Yao didn't smile at all as she went to look for her cousin with a basket on her back.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
