Chapter 27 Just tell me if you are angry or not
Zeng Xiaoyan, a straightforward person, couldn't stand this. She looked up from checking the cleanliness of the lantern fruit seeds at a shop and sneered, "It won't hurt you, old man. We bought these lantern fruit and it has nothing to do with others. You don't need to worry about it."
The villagers looked at each other, their lips curled in silence. Isn't that the truth? They just need to sell the lantern fruit. The Xu family is happy to buy it, and everyone is happy to sell it. One hand pays, the other hand delivers, and that's it.
It's that simple.
As for what the Xu family did with the lantern fruit, that was their business. Why bother caring? If they didn't want to talk about it, then they didn't have to. Who wants to talk about making money?
As expected of Aunt Hua, she looks down on everyone all day long and never says a good word.
Aunt Hua was very angry when Zeng Xiaoyan rebuked her in public. She said with a fake smile, "Ouch!", "Zeng, you come from a wealthy family, how come you are so ignorant? I was just reminding you kindly, but you didn't appreciate it, and you even rebuked me, an old lady? Do you understand respecting the elderly? How much money can you afford? Who hasn't seen money?"
Zeng Xiaoyan's anger was rising, and she said angrily: "Well, I just have a little money and I'm very capable. Anyway, I'm better than those who have no money. Tell me if I'm angry or not!"
Aunt Hua was so angry that she fell backwards: "You——"
Xu Zhichun couldn't let Zeng Xiaoyan fight alone: "Everyone should just mind their own business. Who can let outsiders meddle in other people's affairs? Not only do you say it, but you also say you have good intentions. Who would be happy to accept such kindness? No one can do that. Aunt Hua, don't you think this is reasonable? These lantern fruits, if Aunt Hua wants to sell them, we will take them. If you don't want to sell them, we won't force you. It's such a simple thing."
Zeng Xiaoyan hummed softly, "That's right."
Aunt Zhu'er also nodded: "Zhichun is right."
The villagers also smiled and tried to smooth things over, saying that it was indeed a simple matter.
Aunt Hua felt so humiliated and angry that she left angrily after saying a few words.
"This Aunt Hua is really something."
"Oh, she's always like this."
In Xu Zhichun's opinion, Aunt Hua's unreasonable behavior caused by her overflowing curiosity was not without benefits. At least it allowed the villagers to see that the three of them were not soft-hearted and easy to control.
I don’t know if it was an illusion, but anyway, the villagers who sold lantern fruits became a little more polite. They spoke less brazenly and tried to find out things less in a roundabout way.
Finally counting the total, we received a total of 126 kilograms of agar-agar seeds today.
Aunt Zhu'er will advance the purchase money and will give her the money after the goods are sold tomorrow.
Aunt Shu'er said happily: "That's all right, no need to worry."
Zeng Xiaoyan covered her mouth and laughed: "We can harvest more in the next two days. Once everyone has picked most of the fruits, I'm afraid there will be less in a couple of days."
After all, there are more than 70 households and more than 300 people in the village. Even if only a part of them go up the mountain to pick them, the lantern fruit is wild after all and the quantity is limited.
Don’t be fooled by the fact that they seem to be everywhere on weekdays. It will be a different story when there are so many people picking them.
Aunt Zhu'er slapped her head in sudden realization: "That's right. Well, let's harvest as much as we can. God, please don't rush to send rain."
Xu Zhichun and Zeng Xiaoyan smiled: "That's what I mean."
Because of the purchase, I've put my konjac tofu and knot making on hold. After all, there are so many people in the village, and many of them don't have a sense of boundaries. If someone strays in and sees me, that's a problem. When more people come to sell kiwano, I simply stop making konjac tofu and knots.
Fortunately, the konjac paste has been ground.
"It's getting late, so you all should go back. I can do the rest of the work myself."
Zeng Xiaoyan: "You really don't need us to come back to help tonight?"
Aunt Zhu'er also said, "My home is close, why don't I come over in the evening?"
Aunt Zhu'er has been talking about her husband Qi Tian coming back tonight these past two days. The couple is so happy to be together after a short separation, so why don't they have a good reunion? Xu Zhichun would never do such a cruel thing as to "break up a couple of lovers".
"No need! I can do it. There's not much work left! I'll tell you when I need your help later."
Seeing that they wanted to talk more, Xu Zhichun smiled and said, "What's the big deal? At most, I'll be lazy tomorrow and you guys can be busy."
The two men laughed and went back with peace of mind.
Liang Mingxuan has returned, and his uncle and sister-in-law are preparing to cook dinner.
There is a piece of pork belly bought yesterday at home. It is a very standard piece of meat with fat and lean meat. Xu Zhichun plans to make braised pork tonight.
Cut the meat into thick small cubes, put it into the pot and boil it with ginger and scallions, heat the oil in a pan and stir-fry over high heat, add salt and soy sauce, cover the pot and cook over high heat, and add the thickened brown sugar water when ready to serve.
If you don’t have starch to thicken the soup, use a little flour instead. The braised pork soup with starch will be thicker and brighter red, and it will look more delicious.
There are rapeseed sprouts in the vegetable garden. Pick a handful of tender ones, stir-fry them quickly with oil and salt, and they will be fresh and refreshing.
Keep it simple tonight and just make these two dishes.
When the pot was covered and the meat was stewing in it, unexpectedly, Uncle Liang Zhang, Uncle Liang's second uncle Bai and four others all came in an orderly manner.
Xu Zhichun sighed inwardly: I knew they would not stop, here they come again.
She couldn't help but glance at the kitchen. She knew they couldn't lift the lid until they left, or they would have gotten away with it.
Liang Mingxuan immediately understood what his sister-in-law meant. He greeted his uncle and aunt and called some people, then went to the kitchen, brought a small stool, sat quietly and watched the fire, and reduced the firewood in the stove by two.
Let it simmer slowly.
Zhang sat down and began to scold Xu Zhichun: "Look at you, you're always wandering around outside, and you even dare to bring poisonous things like taro into the city to sell. If anything happens, don't blame us for not saving you. And those lantern fruit seeds, even chickens won't eat them, what on earth are you going to do with them?"
Mrs. Bai scoffed, half laughing, "Niece-in-law, it's fine if you hide these things from outsiders, but are you even hiding them from your own elders?"
Xu Zhichun didn't regard them as her elders at all, she just wanted to keep to herself.
"There's a reason for this. Xiaoyan, Aunt Zhu'er, and I have a small business. We signed a contract. We agreed not to tell anyone else, not even family members, otherwise we'd lose the secret and make no money. Whoever leaks it will have to compensate the other two with one hundred taels of silver each. Uncle Zheng also knows about this contract, so please don't make it difficult for me, aunts."
Zhang sneered: "It's just a trivial matter, but you are making such a big deal out of it!"
Uncle Liang asked, "How much money did you earn after working so hard for a few days?"
Zhang's eyes lit up. "Yeah, how much did you make? I see you're so happy every day. Is it ten or eight?"
(End of this chapter)
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