It's only a mile from here to Lijia Village.
The boy was about fourteen or fifteen years old, with rough and dark skin. He was wearing a patched jacket and carrying two strings of fish. He followed the father and daughter silently.
The three of them walked in silence until they reached the village entrance, where they saw several women hurrying to the threshing ground. Upon seeing Li Erlang and his daughter, one of the tall, thin women stopped and looked at them. "Wow, they're making money! They bought all these delicious foods!"
Father Li did not answer and continued to walk forward!
Seeing Li Erlang ignoring her, the woman became even more furious and shouted, "Scholars are so aloof and look down on us. We are not worthy of talking to Li Erlang."
The other women around wanted to escape immediately, but they couldn't help but want to watch the fun, so they stopped one by one!
Li Yan narrowed her eyes and looked at the woman. It flashed in her mind that this person was Erzhu's wife Liu, who often talked about her mother behind her back and secretly induced her aunt to come back and compete with her mother.
Li Yan took a deep breath and said with a smile, "Auntie, please don't talk nonsense. This fish was given to us at a discount by my cousin's boss. I'm worried I don't have anything good to give in return. Could you please sell me your reed chicken at a discount? I can give it to the restaurant owner next time we go to the market!"
When Liu heard that someone wanted to buy her own reed chickens, she knew that the chickens were in the egg-laying season and she treasured them so much that there was no way she could sell them to her at a low price. She smiled awkwardly and said, "Well, I still have to go to the threshing ground. I'm leaving first." After that, she ran away without looking back.
Li Yan chuckled. The boy looked at the cunning and bright girl in front of him and was stunned. This fish was obviously bought by her.
Father Li couldn't help but shook his head and continued walking home.
The Li family is in the first row of Lijia Village. To the east lives the second grandmother's family, to the west is the old Li family, and next to it is their own two acres of thin land. However, the land is barren and they can only grow some drought-resistant crops such as beans!
The little cousin who was sitting at the door playing in the mud saw the three people approaching, and he quickly jumped in front of them and shouted excitedly: "Second sister, second sister."
The boy put down the fish in his hand, declined the invitation to come in for a drink of water, and turned to leave.
Old Mrs. Wu heard the noise and came out to see eight fish on the ground. She couldn't help but frown and asked, "Why are you wasting money again?"
Without waiting for an answer, she took the bamboo basket from her son's hand. Feeling the heaviness, she lifted the floral cloth and took a look. "Oh my god, why are you buying rice again?" She wanted to curse, but she glanced at her son and didn't say anything. She carried the basket into the house.
At this time, the yard was filled with millet drying in the sun. My aunt-in-law was turning the millet while looking straight at this side. I couldn't help but curse in my heart: "What a waste."
Li Yan followed her grandmother into the kitchen, put down the rice and seasonings in her hands, and said to Wu: "This is what I want to cook. Grandma, please don't scold me! We made money today."
Old Mrs. Wu glanced at the second girl in front of her, pursed her lips but said nothing.
Everyone packed up the things they bought. It was almost noon at this time. Old Man Li also came back from the threshing ground. The whole family fried a plate of cabbage with the leftover braised food from yesterday, picked out a portion and gave it to Li Dalang. The rest were eaten up in one gulp!
After dinner, Li Erlang took out eighty-one taels of silver and some scattered copper coins and handed them to Old Man Li: "Dad, this is the eighty taels we earned from selling our son and the money I earned from copying books."
Old Man Li took fifty taels of silver and gave the rest back: "According to our family's rules, you should hand over sixty percent and keep the remaining forty percent. You will need to buy more things when we divide the family property after the autumn harvest!"
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