Peasant Girl Bookseller

Chapter 9
When Mai Xiang and Ye Dafu returned home, there was no one in the yard, and the people in each house were still cats in their rooms.Ye Dafu picked the straw sandals directly into his room.

"What scent?" Mai Huang's nose was really sharp.

"Your nose is really good." Ye Dafu smiled, and then felt a little bitter. It's been a long time since he bought food for the children.

Mrs. Zhao reacted quickly, looked at Ye Dafu and asked, "How many pairs of straw sandals have you sold?" After she finished speaking, she took a look at the basket, but was still full, and disappointed again.

"This is Da Ya's little basket, which was picked up by a young lady, and I grabbed a handful of money for Da Ya. I counted it, and it was more than 20 coins, so I gave Da Ya two coins and bought four yuan of oil. Fried cakes." Ye Dafu said, this was discussed on the way.

"Really? There is such a good thing? The child's father, you can weave such baskets and sell them in the future." Zhao was excited when he heard this.

"It's a coincidence, where do we always meet such young ladies? The young ladies only go to the temple to worship Buddha and burn incense, and never come to small stalls like us." Ye Dafu shook his head.

"Then let Mai Xiang and Mai Huang go shopping in the temple with their baskets, in case the young lady is interested." Zhao's brain was not slow to react.

"This kind of thing depends on luck. You can try it. Anyway, Erya and I are idle." Mai Xiang found a good excuse for herself to go out.

"Big sister, let's share the fried cakes, my little sister is drooling." Five-year-old Mai Qing was anxious.

Mai Xiang saw that Mai Lu was indeed drooling. Although Mai Lu was three years old, her actual age was less than two years old.

Mai Xiang opened the paper bag in her hand, first gave one to Mrs. Zhao, and then gave another to Ye Dafu. The remaining two were divided in half by each of the four sisters.

"Father doesn't want to eat it, you guys can eat it." Seeing the pitiful faces of the little ones, how could Ye Dafu eat it.

"Father, you have to eat. You are the pillar of our family. I know you can't get enough to eat every day. You can't even eat a single cornbread, let alone half of it." Mai Xiang said.

"Elder Sister, you don't want to buy more, or do you steal it first?" Mai Huang saw that she had just split half, and pouted.

"Buy a few more? You said it lightly. You don't know what's going on at home. I'm going to give birth soon, and I don't have a penny in my hand." Mrs. Zhao started yelling.

"Take it easy, your firecracker temper just keeps talking, can't you speak well if you have something to say?"

Ye Dafu comforted Mrs. Zhao first, and then said to Erya: "Erya, your eldest sister bought fried cakes and came back quickly to share with you. How could you say that elder sister ate it secretly? It hurts your eldest sister's heart." , this is not allowed in the future.”

"Erya, I really didn't steal it. From now on, as the second sister, you are not allowed to steal it. You must take good care of your younger sisters, your own sisters, and don't play tricks." Mai Xiang also said seriously.

Mai Xiang doesn't want to get used to Mai Huang's problems. Although she doesn't have much affection for this family, she borrowed this body anyway. After she leaves, she still points to Mai Huang to take care of the family. Therefore, she must take care of Mai Huang. Good training.

Hearing this, Mai Huang couldn't get down from the stage, his eyes were red, and he pouted angrily.

"Second Sister, I don't want to eat it, let me eat it for you." Mai Qing sensiblely handed half of her fried cake to Mai Huang.

"Erya, my words may be a bit harsh, but I am doing it for the good of this family. My sisters are still young, and there is another child in my mother's belly. There are too many places that need money in the family. We can save some money. I this When I got sick, you took the initiative to help with the family affairs, and I also know that I feel sorry for my mother and eldest sister. The eldest sister thinks that you are sensible. But the eldest sister doesn’t like you like your mother and aunts. Those thoughts are not allowed to be used on your own sisters. Don’t worry , Big Sister promises not to do this, can you promise?" Mai Xiang surrounded Mai Huang with her hands, and she had to correct Mai Huang's problems.

"Understood, I love my mother more than you do." Although Mai Huang still pouted, his face softened a little.

"Okay, let's eat cake." Mai Xiang breathed a sigh of relief.

After all, Ye Dafu was reluctant to eat all the cake in his hand, he just tasted a small piece and still wrapped it up, saying that he would save it for Mrs. Zhao to eat when he was hungry at night.

"Father, Mai Xiang, you still have some food left, go eat it quickly." Zhao suddenly remembered that the two of them hadn't eaten, and this little thing would satisfy their hunger, how could they be full?
When Mai Xiang came back from dinner, Mrs. Zhao was doing needlework. It was already past the first month, and she could use her needles. Several pairs of trousers at home were torn, and Mai Huang was tearing apart a pair of scissors. pants.

"Where's your father?" Mrs. Zhao asked when she saw that Mai Xiang had come back alone.

"Grandpa and Mammy left him to talk."

After hearing this, Mrs. Zhao hurriedly asked, "What's the matter you didn't hear?"

"No." When Mai Xiang heard that this Mrs. Zhao didn't know how to teach children, how could a mother teach children to eavesdrop on the elders?
Mrs. Zhao doesn't think so, she thinks that Mai Xiang is not smart, and she is much worse than Mai Huang in this respect.Seeing Mai Huang who was working with his head down, Mrs. Zhao thought of another question.

"Mai Xiang, come and sew. Jiufeng said that he has already taught you how to hold a needle. You need to practice more. Your mother will teach you embroidery when the stitches are smooth. You can teach Maihuang after you have learned it."

Mrs. Zhao has had enough of not being able to embroider, and she can't earn half a living in the winter, so she must not let Mai Xiang repeat her old ways.

After hearing this, Mai Xiang had no choice but to take it. Although she had never done needlework, she had seen her grandma sew things when she was a child. In theory, she thought it should not be too difficult.

But when she really picked up the trousers and sewed along Zhao's stitches, she realized that it was not so easy. Not to mention the crooked stitches and different lengths, she even sewed the trouser legs to death, and the front and back pieces were sewn together. .

Mai Xiang took a sneak peek and saw that everyone didn't pay attention to her. Mai Huang finished taking off his pants and was playing with Mai Qing and Mai Lu to catch stones, and Mrs. Zhao was holding the soles of her shoes.Mai Xiang secretly took scissors to dismantle and redo it, repeated over and over again, and finally mended a pair of trousers.

Sewing is a skilled worker. After all, Ye Meng is a 20-year-old adult, and his ability to accept it must be much stronger than that of Mai Xiang, who is less than nine years old.

After sewing the trousers, Mai Xiang breathed a sigh of relief and passed another test. It's really uncomfortable to be so worried every day.

"Mom, I'm going to lie down for a while. I'm a little tired after walking such a long distance today." Mai Xiang suddenly thought that she hadn't hidden her money well, and dozens of copper coins were easily found in her socks. of.

"Go, go." Zhao's face became much gentler for the sake of the twenty or so Wen.

Mai Xiang returned to her kang, turned around, but there was no good place, it must be unsafe under the kang mat, and Mai Huang is so shrewd, it is easy to find out.

There was a box on the kang, which contained the clothes of the four sisters, but it was not Mai Xiang's alone.

Mai Xiang's gaze suddenly stopped on the window sill. There were many broken bricks on the window sill. She probably had no money at the time, so she randomly found a few broken bricks to build the window sill. After a long time, the broken bricks also became loose. Mai Xiang was very tired. A broken brick was easily opened, and there happened to be a small hole underneath, which was perfect for hiding money.

Mai Xiang had just laid down after finishing all this, when Ye Dafu came in, his expression was not very good.

Mai Xiang pretended to be asleep, Ye Dafu glanced at her, and went into the inner room.

"Father, what's the matter?" Mrs. Zhao hurriedly asked seeing Ye Dafu sitting down and sighing.

"Dad and mother asked me when I would be able to go to the mountains, and wanted to earn some money to marry Wu Fu. Spring will begin soon, and my father would like to rent a few more acres of land. The family will have more people, and there is always not enough food."

"But this is a world of ice and snow, the snow on the mountain must not have melted, how can I enter the mountain?"

"If you don't go into the deep mountains, you can go around halfway up the mountain, and the second and third blessings will also go. Parents mean that even if you catch a few rabbits, it's better than just idling at home."

When Mrs. Zhao heard this, she couldn't refute it, and Wu Fu had indeed reached the age to say goodbye.

"Tomorrow, February [-]nd, I will take the children back to my natal home for a day, and the second and third younger siblings will also go back to their natal home. Can't we just go up the mountain tomorrow?"

"Not going tomorrow, I will go with you tomorrow to catch the Dragon King Temple Fair in the town, and go to the mountain the day after tomorrow."

Mai Xiang heard about it in another room, and felt like grass grew in her heart again. Will this Zhao's natal family be exposed if she goes by herself?Also, why is February [-] the day to go back to her mother's house?
After a pause, Ye Dafu said again: "Your natal family's life is not easy, otherwise, you should not take Maixiang Maihuang, your natal sister-in-law is not a fuel-efficient lamp."

"What about her? Going back to her mother's house on February [-] is a rule passed down from the older generation. Is it unacceptable to me? I only go back to this house in a year. How much food can I eat? I still want to eat with my friends. A sister reunion."

When Mai Xiang heard this, the old Zhao family had a lot of Ding Ganqing. It sounded like the life of the old Zhao family was more difficult than that of the Ye family. Mai Xiang sighed, not knowing when it would end.

After hearing this, Ye Dafu couldn't persuade him any more, so he took out the straw from the corner and started weaving a small basket.

(End of this chapter)