Fish Leaping Farm Gate

Chapter 24 Crab Oil
After going out, Du Xiaoyu yelled that he wanted to pull some beautiful cloth and also went to buy pork. The three of them bought here and bought there, and soon their hands were full.

When she passed by a stall, she picked out two more beautiful hairpins. The expensive ones were temporarily unaffordable, but at least she didn’t need to bring wooden hairpins. She chose a topaz one herself, and gave Du Huanghua a silver butterfly hairpin on the spot. Putting it on, her eyes were red with joy, and the last remaining jade hairpin was of course for Mrs. Zhao.

The sun had already set in the west, and the ox cart was driving back slowly.

Du Xiaoyu asked Du Wenyuan in a low voice, "Why don't you want 50 taels of silver?" She was still brooding over this matter.

Du Wenyuan chuckled lightly, "You said you were smart, why are you so stupid now?"

"Where are you stupid?" Du Xiaoyu didn't know why.

"Let me ask you, is your dried tofu good?"

Du Xiaoyu scratched his head, thought for a while and said, "It's easy to make, just dry the tofu and marinate it with spices."

"Others can make such an easy-to-make thing," Du Wenyuan said, "If you don't get rid of the dried incense as soon as possible, sooner or later people will know that it is made of tofu, and once other dried incense appears, yours will be worthless Now, I still want to sell it for ten cents a piece, and I’m afraid no one will buy it for ten cents a catty.” He tapped her on the head, “50 taels is too expensive, shopkeeper Mao won’t take the risk of buying it, 20 taels, he will always buy it.” Not bad."

Du Xiaoyu was stunned for a moment, this second brother was really thoughtful, to be honest, she didn't think about these things.

"Second brother is amazing!" She rushed forward and rubbed her head to express her admiration.

Like a kitten, Du Wenyuan laughed, his eyes as gentle as the setting sun.

Back home, Mrs. Zhao saw three people making large and small bags, and saw a large pile of pork about to explode. Du Huanghua hurriedly said, "Mother, we earned 20 taels of silver by selling dried incense, look."

Mrs. Zhao thought she heard it wrong, so she turned her head and asked, "What, how much?"

"20 taels." Du Huanghua took out the silver and put it on the table.

The bright white silver shimmered under the light, Zhao's eyes were straightened, he reached out to touch the silver, and he didn't know what he was muttering, Du Xian was coming out of the backyard at this moment, and said with a smile, "Everyone come back Ah, yo, I bought so many things, it’s like the New Year’s Eve, let’s see what it’s all about,” while flipping through the pages while talking, “This cloth is beautiful, it’s just right for your mother to wear, this…”

"The child's father!" Mrs. Zhao finally uttered, "Look at the money!"

Only then did Du Xian realize that he rubbed his eyes, "Where did it come from?"

"The child earned it, he said he earned it by selling incense!" Mrs. Zhao still can't believe it, that thing can be sold for so much money!

"Oh! Ouch!" Du Xian turned around and picked up Du Xiaoyu, "Our Xiaoyu is amazing, mother, I'm not wrong, Xiaoyu will have future blessings! That time I couldn't breathe It can’t be done, the doctor also said that it can’t be cured, but it’s not healed later, look, my heart has become bigger! Ouch, this child can make a lot of money!”

Du Xiaoyu just smirked, "It's all sold by my sister and my second brother, Xiaoyu doesn't know anything."

Mrs. Zhao was so happy that she didn't know what to do. Twenty taels of silver was a huge sum of money for the family. She wiped her hands on her clothes repeatedly, and then said, "I bought so much meat, I'll cut some and burn it at night."

"His mother, you don't have to worry about buying fertile land now. I'll talk to Old Li tomorrow to buy a four-acre farm." Du Xian said with a smile.

Mrs. Zhao nodded again and again, "Stop leading the little fish around in circles, the child will get dizzy." After saying that, she went into the kitchen.

Du Xiaoyu was so dizzy that she liked to play trapeze when she was happy. She stood on the ground and rested for a while before she felt better. She took out the hairpin from her bosom and gave it to Du Xian. I will put it on for mother in a while, and I will keep it if mother likes it, so father said that he told us to pick it up and bring it back before going."

"This..." Du Xian felt a little awkward holding the hairpin.

"Don't father want to make mother happy?" Du Xiaoyu blinked.

Du Xian finally understood, and went in happily.

Du Huanghua looked at Du Xiaoyu from the side, this girl, it's hard to think so much about buying a hairpin for her, and Du Wenyuan also heard it, and the corners of his mouth slightly curled up, he should have seen it for a long time.

In the evening Mrs. Zhao prepared several dishes, and when she came out she was all smiles, with a beautiful jasper hairpin in her hair.

The whole family talked and laughed, and they were all very happy.

Afterwards, Du Xiaoyu proposed to make crab oil. Those crabs can't be delayed, maybe a few will die tomorrow, Zhao's naturally agreed, and for the first time, Du Wenyuan didn't have to go to school to help Du Xiaoyu peel the shrimp together The meat is dug with shrimp paste.

This is a technical job, even if everyone participates in it, or it is still very late, but when the crab oil is made, everyone feels that the effort is worth it.

It's so fragrant and delicious, it's delicious to put a little of anything in it!
On the second day, Du Wenyuan came back from the private school at noon and brought news that Zhang Zhuoyu's aunt was planning to take in one or two apprentices, but it hadn't been decided yet, so Du Xiaoyu hurriedly asked Du Huanghua to prepare, and Zhang Zhuoyu would bring embroidery pieces to her. His aunt looked at it and told him to embroider it better. His aunt had a high vision.

After hearing this, Du Xiaoyu found a piece of fabric suitable for making a handkerchief from those corners, and went to find Du Huanghua in a hurry, "Sister, quickly embroider me a beautiful handkerchief!" Bu, "I want the best-looking one, you draw a pattern first."

Du Huanghua was cutting Chinese cabbage. After cooking, she had to send it to Du Xian and Mrs. Zhao in the field. She nodded casually, "Okay, I'll do it when I have time."

"No, I want it now!" Du Xiaoyu rushed up and hugged her leg, "My sister promised a long time ago, but I haven't made it yet, so there is no rush for the pillow, I have to fix mine first. "

"What nonsense are you talking about?" Du Huanghua frowned, "You're not in a hurry with that handkerchief. The field will be busier in a few days, so I'll do it later. Anyway, there are many free times in winter."

But it’s too late in winter!
Du Xiaoyu was anxious and twisted hard, "No, I want it. Other children have it, but you are my sister! We all know that your embroidery looks good, but others laugh at me for not having a handkerchief!"

"Put your hands down!" Du Huanghua was busy, and said angrily, "You are being unreasonable? Don't delay my cooking, I will starve my parents in a while, get out!"

Du Xiaoyu pursed her lips, it seemed that this trick would not work, Du Huanghua was sometimes very principled and there was no need to discuss it.

Du Wenyuan laughed while watching outside, Du Xiaoyu rolled his eyes, "Still laughing, don't think of a way!"

"Is there any way, I can't force her to embroider if I don't want to." Du Wenyuan pulled her into the main room, thought for a while, "Why don't you just tell Eldest Sister?"

"No!" Du Xiaoyu flatly denied, "What if you don't like the embroidery? I don't want my sister to be hit. Although I still believe in her craftsmanship, everything is unexpected. We are very sorry for Zhang Zhuoyu. I don’t know my aunt well, so who knows what kind of temper it is, right? It’s better to coax my sister to embroider a handkerchief, and if I really like it, wouldn’t it be a surprise for my sister to know that I can learn Suzhou embroidery?”

"You're right." Du Wenyuan breathed out.

Neither of them could think of a good solution for a while, but what they didn't know was that Du Huanghua was outside the house at the moment.

Earlier, when she said she wouldn't embroider Du Xiaoyu's handkerchief, seeing her go out aggrieved, Du Huanghua felt that she might be speaking too seriously, so she chased her out. But when she heard Du Wenyuan say "tell elder sister", she became suspicious Following the past, unexpectedly hearing such a conversation, I was stunned for a moment.

It turned out that Du Xiaoyu wanted the handkerchief so that she could learn Su embroidery from a teacher, but he yelled at her just now, Du Huanghua's throat was congested, it's hard for Du Xiaoyu to think of anything because he was afraid that she would be hit So thoughtful!

She stroked her chest and left quietly.

At night, Du Xiaoyu was still racking his brains for ideas, Du Huanghua stretched out his hand and said, "Where's that piece of cloth?"

"What cloth?" She didn't understand.

"Don't you want a handkerchief?" Du Huanghua frowned, "Forget it, I'm busy."

"Sister, are you willing to embroider?" Du Xiaoyu was overjoyed, and hurriedly took out the light yellow fabric, but had doubts, "Why are you suddenly free?"

"Aren't you in a hurry, saying that other children are laughing at you." Du Huanghua replied casually, pointing to the fabric, "What do you want to embroider on it? Flowers, landscapes, or birds?"

Du Xiaoyu really didn't know about embroidery, and had no idea, so he said, "I can embroider whatever you think looks good, but don't you need to draw a pattern first?"

"No need." Du Huanghua stopped talking, as if thinking about something.

It turns out that she still has such abilities. Doesn't that mean she has a talent for painting?Embroidering directly is not something ordinary people can do. Du Xiaoyu believed in her skills even more, so she didn't disturb her, and just lay there reading a book by herself.

Before she knew it, the night was getting late, and she poked her head to look, and there were three budding white lotus flowers on the veil. Against the background of green leaves, it reminded people of the poem, "The little lotus is just showing its tip Horns, dragonflies have already stood on their heads."

"Hey, sister, let's embroider a dragonfly on it!" She lit one of the lotus flowers. "It's better to be a red dragonfly. The color looks good. This pattern is also artistic, isn't it?"

In the fields, dragonflies are common. Du Huanghua embroidered a red dragonfly without even thinking for a while, her wings were slightly opened, as if she had just landed on Xiaohe and had not had time to put them away.

"Let's do this for now. It's late, and I have to get up early tomorrow." Du Huanghua pulled the quilt for her and urged her to go to bed.

Du Xiaoyu undressed and climbed into the quilt, poked her head out from inside, "Then I will continue to embroider for me tomorrow, and I can't drag it to the back."

"Okay." Du Huanghua rubbed her hair, and turned off the oil lamp with a bang.

In the dark, Du Xiaoyu thought about adding something nice to the veil, such as fish playing in the water, or a cormorant catching fish, but he felt unsatisfied, so he fell asleep slowly.

(End of this chapter)