Tian Dalin was stunned, then chuckled awkwardly, "My mother raises chickens, and she slaughters two a year."
Other people's chickens are kept to lay eggs, and they only get to eat them once a year. It's already very good that his family can kill two.
Qin Si continued, "Is there anything else?"
Her older sister's family raised chickens and ducks all over the mountain, and people would send them over during festivals. Compared to others, her family often had meat to eat, but very little of that meat actually ended up in her stomach.
Qin Si suddenly realized that Aunt Niu was right; only those who were genuinely good to her were truly good.
Tian Dalin scratched his head. "Don't worry, my family has five mu of land. We can grow a lot of grain and have enough to eat."
After finishing his meal, Qin Si saw Tian Dalin off and stood at the town's crossroads. Instead of going home, he boarded a boat to the county seat.
Five people were sitting on the small passenger boat, all going to the county town to buy things. They were excitedly talking about this year's autumn harvest and who was getting a new bride.
The family that was talked about the most was the Qin family, the top family in the county.
Some people countered, "This woman doesn't even take her husband's surname. If you ask me, she should be called Lu Jia."
Several people started arguing, and the woman sitting in the corner laughed and said, "They founded the Qin family themselves, so why should they be surnamed Lu? While you were still arguing about whether the Embroidery Pavilion was surnamed Qin or Lu all these years, they had already sold the Embroidery Pavilion's clothes all over the country."
"Besides, the owner of the Embroidery Pavilion has always been a member of the Qin family. It used to be Qin Xiaozhou, and now it's Qin Jinxiu who's in charge."
The man disagreed and started another argument, "That Qin Jinxiu is the child of Qin Fu's second wife, she's not a Qin family girl at all. Look at this woman, she's just confused."
"I heard that Qin Jinxiu's mother is named Du Juan. She married into a rural area in the next town seventeen years ago. These past few days, she's been bringing her son, who has been married three times, to the embroidery shop to ask her daughter for money. It's quite a scene."
"That's great, we can watch the excitement later too."
"It's all because Qin Xiaozhou is too soft-hearted. If the embroidery shop belonged to the Lu family, there wouldn't be so much trouble!"
Qin Si sat on the side, listening quietly without saying a word.
The small boat turned the corner and entered the canal west of the county town. Looking up, you could see the building at the foot of Lanyue Mountain to the west of the county town!
Tall and majestic, it stands guard over Fenggu County under the sunlight.
Qin Si gripped the hem of her clothes tightly, her eyes suddenly welling up with tears.
This is her sister's building; her three older sisters live here, but she has never been here before.
The embroidered building had two large docks, one in the south and one in the north, but their small boat did not go to the nearest northern dock. Instead, it stopped at a small ferry crossing on the river between the two docks.
The boatman explained with a smile, "That dock is for big cargo ships. If we small boats went to that dock, we wouldn't even be as high as a person's deck."
The passengers understood, but they just watched the passing cargo ships with fascination.
Qin Si disembarked at the ferry and walked step by step toward the embroidered building.
Mustering her courage, she stepped forward to the door and spoke her name for the first time, "I am Qin Jinhua, and I am... Qin Jinxiu's younger sister. Please inform her."
I heard that her older sister gave her this name, but it's been so many years since anyone has called her that that she's been called by it; everyone has forgotten.
Even she almost forgot.
The gatekeeper looked her over curiously, puzzled. "The name is similar, but the difference is too great. I recognize the Third Miss. This isn't you. Who are you? Why are you here pretending to be our Second Miss's sister?"
So many people have come looking for Miss Qin these past two days that the gatekeepers have become shrewd and won't casually announce their arrival.
Qin Jinhua was very nervous and explained, "I really am Qin Jinxiu's sister. I came from the town in the west."
Although she has three older sisters, she has only met Qin Jinxiu. It was two years ago in December when Qin Jinxiu suddenly came to her door with several people and brought her two boxes of things.
It's a pity that not many of those things ended up in her hands.
She seemed to rely on Qin Jinxiu more than her blood sisters.
The gatekeeper knew that Manager Qin used to be from the town in the west, so he didn't dare to drive her away rashly and just told her to wait.
Inside the embroidered building, Tian Xiaohua entered with an account book, smiling broadly. "Second Miss, the silk from Linzhou has arrived and is docked at our wharf. Please take a look."
She is now thirty years old, married to Constable Li, and has three children. She is plump and no longer looks like she did when she fled to Fenggu County that winter.
Qin Jinxiu was twenty-eight years old. She was unmarried and still wore her hair in a girl's bun, with the back tied with a ribbon, looking beautiful and neat. "Let's go take a look."
As she stepped out of the main gate of the embroidered building, she caught a glimpse of a figure by the north wall. She turned her head and met Qin Si's gaze.
Qin Si clenched his fists nervously, immediately lowered his head to avoid Qin Jinxiu's gaze, but saw that his clothes were made of coarse linen and his shoes were worn out and old. Instantly, he lost all his courage and turned to run away.
Qin Jinxiu called out to them and walked over, "Why are you running? Why didn't you send the gatekeeper to talk to me when you got here?"
Qin Jinhua stopped, turned around, and called out softly, "Second Sister."
The gatekeeper was stunned. It really was a woman from the Qin family.
Qin Jinxiu didn't have any real feelings for this younger sister. It was just that when Qin Xiaozhou arranged for someone to send her gifts during holidays, she would add two or three insignificant items.
Oh, two years ago, on a whim, I went back to see the house where she lived for several years when she was a child.
"Why are you here? Eldest sister and third sister are at home. I'll have someone take you there." Qin Jinxiu turned around and instructed the gatekeeper to take her to the Qin residence in the county town.
Before Qin Jinhua could refuse, the gatekeeper pulled her to the small ferry crossing on the river and onto a boat.
The gatekeeper was a strong woman in her forties who was very adept at rowing the boat. She smiled and explained to Qin Jinhua, "Fourth Miss, please don't blame me for not informing you in time. It's just that the Second Miss's birth mother came to make trouble these past two days, and I was afraid of causing any more trouble."
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