Otoharu

Chapter 237
Mrs. Jiang saw that the book was selling so well, so she had other thoughts. Now this book is only sold in the state capital, not in the town, but the market in Zhangshui Town is neither big nor small. Selling books in an off-market shop can also make a fortune, and the profits earned do not need to be shared with others, all of which are their own.

Jiang then told Li Yan what he thought.But Li Yan didn't quite agree, and persuaded Jiang: "Our family already has two shops, a soap shop, a printing workshop, and a book shop. I'm afraid you will be too busy."

Mrs. Jiang was not too worried, and said: "Ms. Wang has always been in charge of the soap shop. After all these years, she has managed it very well. I just check the accounts every few months, and don't care about anything else.

And the printing shop is now being looked after by Cousin Xu. The workshop is just printing books, and there are no other things besides, let alone worry about it. Once you find a reliable shopkeeper, you can let it go. "

"But where can I find such a good shopkeeper? You haven't seen the shopkeeper in Xintang's bookstore. He's also been an old shopkeeper for many years. It's not the same as stealing and cheating." Li Yan felt that Jiang's thinking was too easy, shaking said the head.

"It's a big deal, let's go to other bookstores. There are a few bookstores in our town, but the business is not very good. As long as we are willing to pay a high price, we may not be able to find the shopkeeper." Jiang is not worried. laughed.

"This matter...let's talk about it after the New Year's Eve. It's almost the end of the year, and there are a lot of things at home." Li Yan didn't want his wife to be too tired, so he thought about waiting for the New Year's Eve before making a long-term plan.

"I'll just mention it to you first. There's no rush about it. I have to inform Third Brother Xin. Otherwise, we'll open a bookstore quietly, and he'll have to think too much about it." Jiang said with a smile.

"Sure, we are cooperating with the third brother now, and the third brother has also helped us a lot in selling books. If we want to open our own shop, we must inform him." Li Yan nodded in agreement.

After the beginning of winter, the days passed quickly, until the end of the twelfth lunar month, the Li family's annual rites were basically gone,
The Li family ushered in the New Year with great excitement.The window grilles and couplets were all replaced with brand new ones, the doors, windows and yards were cleaned up. When it came to the New Year’s Eve dinner, although it was only a small family with no delicacies from mountains and seas, there were all kinds of chicken, fish and knuckles.Also, both children and adults have changed into new clothes.Now that there are many children, when Li Meier was alone, Li Meier wore new clothes every season, but now many children wear new clothes every year.

Li Meier complained more than once that Mrs. Li was stingy.But Mrs. Li was justified, and her original words were, "They are all grown up, and they look the same every day. Making so many clothes is not a waste of good materials. It's better to wait for the children to grow up. If you make a few more clothes, it will be decent to go out and meet guests.”

But no matter how stingy Mrs. Li is, new clothes for the New Year must be made, and now Li Meier has learned embroidery from Mrs. Zhengu, Jiang Shanqing and Kang Geer's padded jackets have patterns she embroidered by herself. Very elegant bamboo, and Kang Geer is a tiger head appliqué, which is simple and festive to look at.

The New Year's Eve dinner is naturally the most lively, not only there are many delicious food, but everyone in the Li family held a talent show again. Jiang Shanqing's flute music is an annual repertoire. Now that Li Meier has learned to sing, she will let Jiang Shanqing accompany her , I sang a few songs smugly.Naturally, Mrs. Li wouldn't just let Li Meier show off, she would also come up and sing a few songs, but her voice would be too hoarse the next day to entertain relatives and clansmen who came to pay New Year's greetings, so she just stopped.

The whole family was lively for most of the night, and because Mrs. Li insisted on vigil, Li Meier and Brother Kang both fell asleep on the kang in Mrs. Li's room.

When it was midnight, Li Yan went out and set off fireworks representing "Gao Sheng". The vigil on the New Year's Eve was officially over, and everyone went to sleep.

Chinese New Year is by no means a one-day event. The fifteen days from the first day of the Lunar New Year to the Shangyuan Festival belong to the category of New Year's Day.Everyone basically eats and eats, pays New Year greetings, visits back and forth, and plays everywhere.There are also big merchants in the town who invite opera troupes to sing operas, and then the big merchants show off their wealth and so on.

However, in a small place like Zhangshui Town, showing off your wealth is nothing more than ten taels for you, and 15 taels for me... This is not a small amount for ordinary people.

Li Xin's family is one of the richest households in Zhangshui Town, and this year they also invited an opera troupe to sing, because Li Xin and Li Yan's family have a very good relationship this year, so they naturally invited their family to watch the opera.

The Li family are all very lively people, so naturally they watched with gusto, even Brother Kang, who is almost four years old, Jiang Shanqing, who usually only likes to read at home, watched the big drama at this moment. Very serious, but Li Meier, she really would rather go home and sleep.

Mrs. Li thought her granddaughter couldn’t understand, so she kindly told her about operas, but the more Mrs. Li talked, the more sleepy Li Meier became. Angrily, Mrs. Li said to her, “You are so stupid, why can’t you even know how to play?” Look, it's not as good as my grandson."

Li Meier got angry when she said that, took a bagful of snacks, and went to her room to chat with Li Yuanxia, ​​who also didn't like watching theaters.

"Mei'er, sister Mengying will be engaged in the next year, do you know?" Li Yuanxia asked vaguely while chewing a piece of peanut nougat.

"Which one is it? Didn't sister Mengying look down on these families in our town?" Li Meier also picked up a peanut candy and asked curiously.

"I also heard from my sister that she seems to be from the state capital. What's the surname..." Li Yuanxia seemed to be unable to remember it for a while, and knocked himself on the forehead with his small fleshy fist.

"It's fine if you can't remember, what are you doing to yourself?" Li Meier took her hand funny and rubbed her forehead.

"I remembered! It's Zhuang!" Li Yuanxia suddenly yelled, which startled Li Meier.

Zhuang... Li Meier suddenly had some bad premonitions. This surname is not common, and she is from the state capital. She thought it could not be such a coincidence, so she asked tentatively: "Do you know what kind of thing it is?" family?"

"My sister said something before. The Zhuang family was actually an ordinary wealthy family. Its family status is not as high as sister Mengying's family. But two years ago, it seemed that it had climbed to the Lu family in the state capital. He has made great progress all the way, and now he is a well-known wealthy household in the state capital." Li Yuanxia said seriously.

(End of this chapter)