Peasant Girl Bookseller

Chapter 34

Mai Xiang went to Changning Town this time, and there is a butcher shop in the town.When it was time to spend money, Mai Xiang realized that the prices were indeed not cheap. Eggs cost two yuan a piece, pork cost twenty yuan a catty, and the most delicate rice cost ten yuan a liter. Fortunately, bones were cheaper at five yuan. I asked for five or six big stick bones.

"Hey, why did you come to Changning Town?"

Mai Xiang came out of the butcher shop with a lot of things in her arms, and when she was thinking about it, she ran into Tong Liwen.

"Here comes the shopping."

"Let's go, I just invited you to dinner. You invited me last time." Tong Liwen still remembered that Mai Xiang should have a meal.

Mai Xiang looked at Tong Liwen and asked, "You really want me?"

"Of course, manly man, what you say is what you say."

"Then you can convert the money that you plan to treat me to dinner into copper coins for me, okay? I am in urgent need of money now, and I will accept your favor as if I have eaten." Mai Xiang was desperately poor.

I used to joke like this with my classmates when I was in college, so she copied it to the Qing Dynasty.

"This? Is this okay?"

"Anyway, I accept your love."

"That's okay." Tong Liwen reluctantly took out a string of money from his body, and he usually only carried a string of money with him.

"By the way, I told my mother about the silk embroidered wall shoes you mentioned last time. My mother wants two pairs, and I will give you a tael of silver. My mother said, thanks to your wall shoes, my grandmother is getting better. Also, did something happen to your family?" Only then did Tong Liwen see that Mai Xiang's eyes were turning red.

"Thank you, I'll talk about it next time I have a chance. My family is really in a hurry. I'll give you the money in the future." Mai Xiang unceremoniously took a string of money from the other party, and hurriedly turned back and entered the shop again. I also want to buy something for Liu Huilan.I don't know anything else, but she knows that pork kidney soup should be eaten when a child is born.

After coming out of the butcher shop, Mai Xiang went into the grain store and the grocery store again. Tong Liwen looked at Mai Xiang in surprise when he saw that Mai Xiang's calculations were faster and more accurate than those of the sellers.

"Hey, you have so many things on you, why don't you hire a car before you leave." Tong Liwen saw that Mai Xiang was worried looking at the pile of things, so he helped her find the place to hire a car with her things in her arms.

Tong Liwen heard Mai Xiang talk about Huangye Village, and immediately winked at Xiao Si Fengnian, asking him to find out what happened to Mai Xiang's house.

When Mai Xiang got off the car in the yard, Mrs. Qian saw it.

"Big ya, where did you get the money to buy so many things?" Qian exclaimed.

"All the money I earned a few days ago has been spent, is my dad awake?" Mai Xiang called out Mai Huang after finishing speaking.

When Mai Huang came out, several people also came out from the upper room. Seeing Mai Xiang and Mai Huang carrying a bunch of things back to the house, they all followed him to see what Mai Xiang had bought.

Putting down her things, Mai Xiang first took a look at Mrs. Zhao, who fell asleep again.

Ye Dafu woke up, yesterday's bruise doctor was changing his dressing, Mai Xiang saw that he was sweating all over his body, she must be in unbearable pain.

Seeing Mai Xiang, Ye Dafu's eyes turned red.

"Brother, you have raised a good daughter. Da Ya just came back from the outside. She is full of meat, bones and eggs. She must make up for you. This child has really earned a lot of private money. .” Qian said with a smile.

Qian made a rough estimate, and Mai Xiang didn't buy anything worth a hundred and eighty cents.

"Son, you are tired." Ye Dafu spit out a sentence.

"Father, as long as you and mother are doing well, I won't be tired." Mai Xiang spoke the truth. No matter what, she still felt a strong father's love from Ye Dafu, even though her real age was older than Ye Dafu's. Dafu is not a few years younger.

"By the way, Mai Xiang, bring your little brother here and show it to your father." Seeing her son being tortured, Mrs. Liu felt like a knife was piercing her heart, and if she wanted him to see the child, she might feel better.

Mai Xiang went back to the house, picked out a few things to hold, and said to Mai Huang: "Look at the things at home, I'll go and hug my brother."

Seeing what Mai Xiang brought, Liu Huilan hurriedly said, "Take it home quickly, your family needs it."

"I know, I bought two copies, so don't be too polite, my aunt. Maybe I have to trouble my aunt to feed my brother for a few more days, and my mother is taking soup and medicine."

Liu Huilan knew Mai Xiang's temperament, so she didn't say much, thinking that in two days, Cao Xueqin would grab a few packs of medicine for Mai Xiang's parents to recuperate. She already knew from Cao Xueqin that Zhao's health would not improve for a while. , It takes a lot of money.

Mai Xiang took the wrapped little man. The little man's eyes hadn't been opened yet, and he was spitting and playing. He didn't know how much pain his early arrival had brought to this family.

Seeing this little man, Ye Dafu felt mixed feelings of sorrow and joy. The joy was that Ye Dafu finally had a son, but the sorrow was that from now on, he was already a half useless person. How will this family survive?
At this time, he didn't know that Mrs. Zhao had also become a half useless person, but from Mrs. Qian and Mrs. Sun, he knew that the husband and wife had spent 30 taels of silver, which was the refund money given by the Wan family.

Mai Xiang put the child next to Ye Dafu, and went back to her room to start boiling bone soup with a big iron pot.

Because of the kang, Mai Xiang's house also has a stove, the stove is in the room, usually used to burn some hot water, burning cinders, charcoal, or tree pockets or something.

Mai Xiang is cooking bone soup here, and grabbing a handful of fine rice over there, and cooking some rice porridge in a small casserole, which is for the children to eat some rice soup.

When Mrs. Zhao woke up, the room was already filled with the smell of meat. Mrs. Zhao sniffed it vigorously. Except for the New Year, it seemed that she hadn't smelled such a strong smell of meat for a long time.

For dinner, Mai Xiang gave Zhao Shi and Ye Dafu shredded pork noodle soup. Before the bone soup was fully boiled, she made two small bowls of noodle soup with pure lean meat, which was real white noodles.When Mai Xiang was ready and brought out, the aroma attracted all the gluttons in the family.

Mai Xiang's cooking skills are actually not very good, because she didn't have many opportunities to practice in her previous life. With her parents at home and a canteen outside, how can she do it herself?But she has one advantage, a good memory.

Her mother is a foodie and has good cooking skills. In addition, the family originally opened a lo mei shop. She has heard and seen it since she was a child, and she also smoked it.

Of course, the most important thing is that for a family who has been hungry for a long time and eats coarse grains, Mai Xiang has a deep understanding of the stimulation of the taste buds when seeing a bowl of real shredded pork noodles.

"Mai Xiang, why did you only make two bowls? If you don't give us a taste, you have to give it to your grandpa and mother." Qian said half-jokingly and half-seriously.

"Second Aunt, don't worry, when I become as rich as Second Aunt, I will definitely be filial to my grandfather and mother. Now I have no choice but to be sick first." She only bought three catties of flour in total, which was not enough for the big family. for a meal.

"Big girl, your father even drank the ginseng soup, so why spend so much money? Why don't you save the money and use it for your parents' medicine expenses?" Sun said.

Mrs. Sun also heard from Cao Xueqin that the two of them had to grab medicines, especially Zhao's medicines. A pair of medicines is not cheap, and they are all tonic things, such as cinnamon, donkey-hide gelatin, codonopsis, astragalus, angelica, etc. Things, by the way, and ginseng, how much does it cost?
Mrs. Sun did some calculations. Not only did Wan's 30 taels of silver go in because of Ye Dafu and Mrs. Zhao's toss, but the few taels of silver sent today may also include the few taels of silver earned by Ye Dafu last time. Don't know if it's enough to take it in?

This family must be divided. Not only will Ye Dafu not be able to enter the mountains to hunt in the future, he may not be able to do ordinary farm work. The Zhao family is also unable to farm for at least half a year. If this family does not divide, how will they live?
Of course, Mrs. Sun was just thinking about it in her heart. She couldn't propose a family separation at this stall. After the word spread, she and Sanfu would not be able to gain a foothold in this village.

When Mai Xiang heard the word "medicine money", she hurriedly smiled and said, "There are grandparents and mothers in the medicine money, and my little money can't cover the trouble."

This responsibility must be cleared away, otherwise, even the little money in Mai Xiang's hand would not be enough.

Mai Xiang is not stupid, with Ye Dafu and Zhao's like this, it is estimated that they are not far away from the separation of the family. If they do not separate the family, the Ye family's ideas will hit her, and she must leave herself some way out.

The next day, while Mai Xiang's family was still asleep, a group of people came from Mrs. Zhao's natal family. As soon as they entered the yard, the old lady Mrs. Yu clapped her hands and cried.

"Poor girl, why is your life so hard? Ever since you married into this old Ye's family, you haven't had a good day, and no one has sent us a letter after such a big thing happened. nobody?..."

Ye Tiezhu and Mrs. Liu who were in the upper room were woken up, and hurriedly put on a cotton jacket and came out.

"Dear family, I came so early in the morning, and I was planning to send you a letter. Mai Xiang's mother gave birth to a son, and today happens to be the day of the third day." Liu said with a smile.

"Hey, you just said you wanted to send us a letter after seeing that we've all come to your door? You're not a good person, you old lady, you eat persimmons and only pick the soft ones, you just bully our Zhao family poor, don't you see anyone in your eyes? My poor My daughter, my mother almost won't see you, where is she?" Shi Yu stepped forward and grabbed Liu Shi's clothes, asking questions.

At this time, Mai Xiang was woken up by the movement outside, at first she thought it was something happened to Ye Dafu, she got up and jumped off the kang, then opened the door and ran to the room, without even seeing the group of people in the yard clearly.

"Father, dad, what's the matter with you?" Mai Xiang opened the door curtain and went in, and Wufu and Bafu also got up.

"Father is fine, go back and put on your coat, and freeze carefully. Also, it seems that someone from your grandma's house has come to the yard, please persuade your grandma well." Ye Dafu heard Yu's loud voice.

Only then did Mai Xiang feel cold, and hurried back to her room. At this time, Mrs. Liu had already led the Zhao family into the house, and Mrs. Yu hugged Mrs. Zhao's mother and daughter and burst into tears again.

It was only then that Mai Xiang discovered that all three uncles and aunts of the Zhao family had come, and among them, the second uncle, Zhao Yuanhe, the third uncle, Zhao Yuanshan, and the two aunts were Mai Xiang's first meeting.

The three aunts saw that Mrs. Yu took the lead in crying, and sobbed and sobbed too. For a while, the room was chaotic.

(End of this chapter)