Gateway to Happiness

Chapter 9: First time gathering

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The next day, Dongfang had just turned pale, when Lu Zhong and Miao Cuilan got up lightly.

Lu Zhong loaded the donkey cart, and Miao Cuilan had already lighted a fire, kneaded noodles, and pancakes quickly, and then woke up the two little dolls from the bed, pulled them out to wash and eat, and went out.

Xiaoxue and Lu Xiaoshu ate the leftover salted egg porridge from last night, while the couple ate pancakes, leaving two for Lu Qi by the way.

After eating well, Miao Cuilan released the large group of chickens and ducks early, fed them, and drove them out, then sat on the car with Xiaoxue in her arms, told her to sit down obediently, and then sat next to her with Lu Xiaoshu in her arms. Then sit on the other side of Xiaoxue and drive the car.

"Mother! Mother, I can also sit by myself." Lu Xiaoshu twisted his small body and said.

"Don't move around, sit down for me!" Miao Cuilan strengthened her arms and hugged her tighter, glaring at her and said, "Why are you sitting? There's an awl under your buttocks, and you're never quiet for a moment. Watch out for falling!"

"..." Lu Xiaoshu was very depressed and had no choice but to give up.

It was still early in the town, and the sun had not yet risen. Except for the peasants who were like them carrying their loads and carrying baskets and pushing their carts into the city to sell things, the people in the town seemed to have not woken up much yet. , the whole town gives people a sleepy feeling.

There is a place in the town for farmers from the countryside to set up stalls and trade. Those like Lu Zhong and Miao Cuilan come every market day, so they register at the management office and pay the rent on a monthly basis, which is equivalent to renting a fixed stall. First, it is convenient for old customers to remember the location to visit, and second, it also saves a lot of trouble.

Of course, if they didn't come to the market because they had something to do, others could occupy the vacant space, and the management office would not refund their rent.

When they arrived at the place, Miao Cuilan got out of the car, carried Xiaoxue down, and pulled the two children to stand behind her, telling them to hold hands and not let them go away, and then she took down the things one by one. Go to the management office to register, and by the way, get a simple long case nailed with several pieces of wood to place the goods, and a long bench.

The couple quickly arranged the things, and Lu Zhong drove the donkey cart to the unified storage place beside the market to tie it up. Then he came back and started business with his wife.

The two little dolls opened their eyes and looked around curiously. It seemed that many people appeared in front of them, and they did not know where they all appeared. Compared with when they first entered the town, it was much more lively.

Miao Cuilan spread out a soft square mat woven from reeds on the ground, and bought two packs of jelly beans for each of the two sisters, and asked them to sit on the mat and eat the jelly beans to play with, and said: "Be good and play by yourself. When you are thirsty and want to pee, call your mother, do you hear me?"

Xiaoxue and Lu Xiaoshu quickly agreed, and the two sisters sat together and ate jelly beans intimately.

Lu Xiaoshu's memory unknowingly returned to the day last year, when her father and mother had to secretly put her in the care of the overlord for reasons unknown to her, unknowingly more than a year had passed, If it wasn't for talking about the town, she would have almost forgotten that couple.

Looking at the bustling crowd in front of her, everyone was smiling and dressed in colorful clothes. Although she thought the patterns were quite old-fashioned, it at least showed that everyone was not poor, and that she had traveled to a richer era. place of abundance.

This is quite gratifying, at least, she doesn't have to lead the whole family to a well-off life like other time-traveling girls! Uh, then again, she actually doesn't know how to do this kind of difficult technical work...

Father and mother's business is very good, the morning is the peak time of the market, father and mother are so busy that they don't even have time to drink water, except for occasionally turning to look at the two sisters, they are busy weighing, collecting money, and changing money.

Those regular customers couldn't help but smile and ask when they saw the two sisters: "Is this your daughter? She is so beautiful!" The parents couldn't stop laughing when they heard this, and then the mother added, "Pretty What the hell, it's not looking good!"

The regular customer laughed and said, "Where did you find it? It looks so cute! It really makes people like it just by looking at it!"

So Lu Xiaoshu raised his head, smiled sweetly at the people and called out "Hello, Ma'am!", Xiaoxue followed suit, making the aunts and aunts squint their eyes with joy, and couldn't help but come over to tease their sisters after shopping. The two played, and grabbed a handful of pine nut candies, sweet-scented osmanthus candies, or two oranges, autumn pears, pomegranates, etc. from their own baskets and gave them to the sisters.

Of course, everyone patted Xiaoxue's head and praised her as "so pretty and cute", then squeezed Lu Xiaoshu's face and said with a smile: "The white and tender face like tofu makes people want to take a bite!"

So, Lu Xiaoshu was depressed again. She was not a persimmon in her previous life! If someone came again, she refused to call for anyone.

Lu Zhong and Miao Cuilan looked at her depressed face and smiled happily.

It was almost noon, and more than half of the things they brought had been sold out, and the crowd gradually dispersed, so Lu Zhong and Miao Cuilan were able to catch their breath.

Miao Cuilan took the two children to have a pee. After washing her hands and coming back, at noon, she asked her if the two were hungry. Lu Xiaoshu nodded and said "hungry", and Miao Cuilan took them to a nearby wonton stall for lunch.

Every time the couple eat here, the old man Zhang who sells wontons is considered an acquaintance. When he sees Miao Cuilan coming, he greets Miao Cuilan with a smile, and he smiles and praises the two little babies twice. Lu Xiaoshu was afraid that others would pinch his face again, so he learned to be obedient and stop talking, and sat down at the table obediently holding hands with his sister and waiting for food.

Miao Cuilan ordered two bowls of wontons and an empty bowl, and divided one bowl into two for Xiaoxue and Lu Xiaoshu, and she ate a bowl for herself. The strong aroma came over the nostrils, both Xiaoxue and Lu Xiaoshu became greedy, and the two sisters ate soup and wontons with relish. Seeing it, Miao Cuilan smiled and said hastily: "Eat slowly and don't burn it, I'll ask you if it's not enough!"

The two sisters have big stomachs, one bowl is just enough, Lu Xiaoshu looked at the cute wontons on the table and clicked his tongue. These ancient wontons are really delicious. The noodles are good, and the fillings and soup are also delicious. Well, unfortunately, she's already full.

"Mother! Mother! Let's buy some and cook them tonight, okay? My brother hasn't eaten yet!" Lu Xiaoshu said while tugging on Miao Cuilan's skirt.

Old man Zhang couldn't help laughing when he heard the words, and said: "This little girl is really sensible, such a small person knows how to love her brother!"

Miao Cuilan laughed and said: "Little girl, I'm so greedy and I'm too embarrassed to say that!" But she agreed softly, and sure enough, she asked old man Zhang to pack a two-jin bag and take it home.

Lu Xiaoshu was overjoyed, and told his sister, Xiaoxue also smiled, and the two sisters finally followed their mother back to the stall with satisfaction.

It was Lu Zhong who came over for lunch, and then Lu Zhong said: "There are not many people at the moment, I can handle it by myself, you take two girls to go shopping and see what to buy! It's the first time for my two daughters Gotta do some shopping in town!"

Lu Xiaoshu and Xiaoxue immediately looked at Miao Cuilan eagerly when they heard the words, Miao Cuilan smiled and said, "You are a good person, but you told me to suffer!" But she did not refuse and took them for a stroll with a bamboo basket on her shoulders. I bought a lot of daily necessities, candy and melon seeds, cut the meat, and bought hairpins, rattles, and small clay figurines for the two sisters.

Until around Shen o'clock in the afternoon, only a few catties of yuba and 20 to 30 pieces of dried tofu that were not very good-looking were left unsold, but the eggs and duck eggs were all sold out. So he closed the booth and went home.

After getting into the donkey cart, he turned to the academy where Miao Chuhe studied.

Miao Cuilan picked up a bamboo basket and jumped out of the car. In the basket were a pair of new cloth shoes, about 20 eggs, two bottles of small pickles made at home, and a thick stack of freshly bought from a bookstore. Rice paper, two wrapped ink sticks.

At this time, it was class time, so Miao Cuilan couldn't ask Miao Chuhe to come out, so she handed these things over to the porter here, and asked him to deliver them to the porter here, and the porter readily agreed, and then Only one family can go home.

When I got home, I couldn't help being busy again. I bought good food today, so Miao Cuilan asked Lu Qi to invite Mr. Wu over for dinner. The whole family spent the night in a lively manner.

After half a month, the rice in the field was so yellow that it was time to harvest.

The Lu family has a total of 60 mu of paddy fields, and at this time of the year, part-time workers are invited to help.

In the countryside, when planting rice seedlings in spring and harvesting in autumn, the school is given a few days off as usual—it’s okay if you don’t let it go. Most of the parents don’t have any idea about what kind of candidates their children will be admitted to, or Jinshi will become a high official in the future. Yes, those who are ambitious, look forward to the smoke rising from the ancestral grave, the ancestors will bless their children to be a scholar, and the family's fields will not have to pay taxes in the future-this is not easy. For the rest, I only hope that the child can recognize a few words, write his own name, and read and write simple letters. This is enough.

Therefore, reading is not so important, and the farm work at home is the absolute greatest benefit above everything else—if you miss the best time for harvesting, eating will be a problem in the coming year, so what's the point of reading!

Therefore, every time at this time, the classroom is empty and almost no two people come. Mr. Wu has no choice but to give everyone a half-month vacation, and the fee for this half-month will not be charged. The villagers are very happy and say Mr. Wu is kind, because other gentlemen are unwilling to reduce the half-month fee.

Therefore, Lu Qi also temporarily stayed at home, hanging out with his eldest sister and second younger sister all day.

One of Lu Zhong and Miao Cuilan was busy instructing the workers to harvest in the field, and the other was busy spreading water and grains at home and cooking. They were so busy that they asked the three children to help guard the water and grains in the yard. When the chickens came to eat, they went to catch them.

After five or six days of busy work, the rice in the field was harvested.