The grand scene in front of the paper money stall did not ease until a day or two before the Hungry Ghost Festival. The stall was closed at noon on July 13th. After dinner, Shen Luzhu added some to the cold mung bean soup in the kitchen. Sugar, the weather is too hot. Although Chu Yi has set up a pergola in advance, it will still be too much for him to stay outside for a long time.
Shen Luzhu brought the filled soup and gave a portion to Grandpa Chu and Grandma Chu who were still in the main room. He also gave a bowl to Chu Li and watched him drink it and fall asleep before giving it to Uncle Chu. Chu Yi, who had brought soup back, went back to the house together.
"There were fewer people coming to buy paper money this morning. When I was free in the morning, I quietly calculated in my mind that we might have earned thirty or forty taels in the past half month!"
This is Shen Luzhu's rough estimate. The actual number should be slightly higher. I had thought before that I would probably make a fortune during the Ghost Festival. Holding the money box in my hand every day, I knew that there was indeed a lot of sales, but I can estimate. The number came out, which still surprised Shen Luzhu!
Seeing Shen Luzhu smiling so hard that his eyes narrowed, Chu Yi also felt happy: "Our A-Zhu is awesome!"
Shen Luzhu lay into Chu Yi's arms with a smile. Chu Yi always liked to say "our A-Zhu, our A-Zhu" recently. Shen Luzhu thought it sounded better than any love words, at least it was very useful to her!
Chu Yi adjusted his position to make his wife lie more comfortably. He felt that the person in his arms seemed to have lost a lot of weight recently: "Since there are not many people around, why not stop tomorrow and rest for a while?"
"Okay, we should have already bought everything we should buy. What we stocked before and what we bought later are almost sold. Then when the second brother and the others come to deliver the goods in the afternoon, don't bring any more yellow goods. Let's go back to the burning paper. They have been very tired for more than a month, so we just stopped for a while and everyone took a good rest!"
"Okay, go to sleep!"
In the afternoon, Zhao Cheng came to Chu's house with a trolley to deliver copper coins and burn paper as usual. While unloading the goods with Zhao Cheng, Chu Yi told him about the closure of the stall starting the next day.
Chu Yi took the money and handed it to Zhao Cheng, "Have a good rest these days. I'll go find you before I leave the stall."
"Well, you and your siblings should have a good rest!" Zhao Cheng collected the money and was about to leave and go outside the courtyard when he saw Shen Luzhu walking in from outside the courtyard.
"Chu Yi, give the paper money to Brother Zhao and get a few knives back, as well as the candles bought at home. I'm so busy these days, I'm afraid I haven't prepared anything for the Ghost Festival!" Shen Luzhugang suddenly thought of this, and when he saw There was no one around anymore, so he told Chu Yi and Chu Xiuxiu to look after him first, and then he entered the yard!
"No need, brothers and sisters, the family must have prepared it!"
"I'm so busy these days, how can I have time to prepare these things? This is what I do at home, why can't I let my people go out to buy it?" Shen Luzhu has always had a clear distinction between love and hate. Who is nice to her and Chu Yi? , she naturally wants to be sincere to others.
"A Zhu is right, wait for me." Chu Yi patted Zhao Cheng on the shoulder, motioned for him to wait, and then entered the empty room where the goods were stored.
Zhao Cheng pushed five copper coins to burn paper and a small bundle of candles, and walked home step by step, feeling hot in his heart. In the past month or so, his family had earned more than seven taels of silver just by making this copper coin to burn paper, which was quite a lot. I only have enough money to work in the town for a year!
Although Chu Yi always said that it was impossible to make money for others at a loss to himself, Zhao Cheng knew in his heart that it made no difference to Chu Yi who gave such a profitable job, but Chu Yi gave it to him. It was true. He was thinking of giving his brother a hand!
After that, Chu Ping from the next yard also came over. Chu Yi also told him about stopping the stall, and also brought him burning paper and candles for Chu Ping to take back.
Although Chu Ping has been a lot more diligent in the past month, he still has the same lazy temperament. When he heard that he could finally take a rest, he instantly felt that all fatigue was gone: "The relationship is good, cousin, why don't we take a more rest?" How about the holiday? I think the Ghost Festival has passed, and no one will need to buy paper money for a while. How about we just take the holiday until August? "
Before Chu Yi could say anything, Chu Ping's mother Qian's loud voice came over: "I'll take a break, I'll do it for you. You can't wait until August next year! Stop causing trouble to A Yi!"
Seeing that her son hadn't come back after going out for a long time, Mrs. Qian thought that he was hiding in the yard next door and refused to come back. She quickly stepped on a stool and leaned on the wall to look over. As soon as she came up, she heard Chu Ping saying that he wanted to rest until August!
"Auntie."
Chu Ping was yelled back by his mother, and his second brother Shen Songjie also arrived at the stall at the courtyard gate. It happened that there was no one around, so Shen Luzhu chatted with his second brother for a while, and talked about his future plans. When he left, second brother Shen even asked Chu Yi to go to Shen's house for a drink the next night.
After all, we didn’t get the wine on the second day because Chu A’nai was sick. When Grandpa Chu got up in the morning, he found that his wife, who usually should have gotten up long ago, didn't get up. She didn't respond when he called. When he pushed him, he realized that Grandma Chu was hot and seemed to be talking nonsense. He hurriedly asked Chu Yi to invite a girl from the village. Here comes the doctor.
When the doctor arrived, Grandma Chu had already woken up, feeling weak all over and dizzy.
The doctor looked at Grandma Chu's condition, took her pulse again, sat aside and started writing the prescription: "The old lady was thinking too much and didn't have a good rest. In addition, she caught a little cold at night, so she got fever. , It’s nothing serious, I’ll prescribe some medicine, drink it and have a good rest, you’ll be fine in a few days!”
Grandma Chu was sick, so Shen Luzhu and Chu Yi naturally couldn't go to the Shen family for a drink at this time, so they could only ask someone to go to the Shen family yard to tell them that they had something to do here and would go there another day.
Shen Luzhu cooked the medicine and served Chu's milk to drink. Then he went back to the kitchen to make breakfast for the whole family. The mung bean porridge on the stove still had to cook for a while, but Chu Li was going to the school soon. , thinking of simply boiling a few more eggs and carrying them for him to eat on the road: "Xiuxiu, help my cousin look after the fire, and I'll pick up some eggs, Xiuxiu, Xiuxiu?"
"Cousin, did you call me?"
Seeing her stunned, Shen Luzhu reached out and touched Chu Xiuxiu's forehead: "What's wrong, Xiuxiu, are you feeling uncomfortable?"
"No, cousin, I'm not feeling uncomfortable."
"Then you help my cousin look at the fire, and I'll pick up some eggs. We'll have porridge with boiled eggs for breakfast later!" He took off his apron and left the kitchen.
Chu Xiuxiu poked the fire in the stove with a stove hook and continued to think about what happened just now. The doctor said that grandma was overthinking. She thought she might know why grandma was overthinking, but should she tell her cousin? ?
Soon Shen Luzhu returned to the kitchen from the backyard, cleaned the eggs, put them in the porridge pot and cooked them together. Chu Xiuxiu thought about it and decided that it would be better to talk to her cousin: "Cousin, the doctor said that grandma is thinking too much. I may know what grandma is thinking about!"
"Is this what you were thinking about just now?" Shen Luzhu remembered Chu Xiuxiu's reaction just now. Knowing that she was usually timid and honest, he guessed that she was really struggling with this matter.
"Well, grandma always likes to stand in the courtyard and look at the stalls at the door recently, and she always mutters, if I had known this, I wouldn't have let them work alone. Cousin, grandma doesn't seem so happy that the stall has made money. .”
Although Chu Xiuxiu is only twelve years old this year, she can no longer be considered a child in the countryside. What's more, after Uncle Chu broke his leg, his third aunt left the Chu family. Chu Xiuxiu had to learn to help the family at a young age. Although she doesn't like to talk, her ideas are much more mature than many of her peers.
Shen Luzhu has been too busy recently, so he hasn't paid much attention to Chu A'nai's activities, but he knew that he would definitely regret not agreeing to the family's business. However, Chu A'nai actually initiated it with regret. The illness was something she didn’t expect!
"Cousin-sister-in-law knows, thank you Xiuxiu, but it's good for the two of us to know about this, eh?"
After Shen Luzhu heard about it, he planned to forget about it. Elderly people like to think more. Things have become like this and cannot be changed. Xiuxiu can just say it without holding it in her heart and feeling uncomfortable.
"Um!"
The next day is July 15th, the Ghost Festival!
In the afternoon, Uncle Chu and his wife Wang returned to their old house with their youngest son Chu Zhi. As soon as they entered the hospital, they heard that Grandma Chu was sick, and the family of three hurriedly went to visit her at home.
Grandma Chu drank the decoction for two days and lay down in the room to rest for two more days. By this time, her fever had gone away and her body was much better. However, she was old after all, and she was not as energetic as she was when she was young. Not good. Seeing his son's family coming, he half-leaned by the kang and talked.
Uncle Chu was originally a little awkward because of the paper money business. Now he heard that grandma was sick and couldn't care less: "It's such a hot summer, why is grandma still catching a cold? The third brother said that the doctor said, it's I’m overthinking, what’s bothering me?”
"It's nothing, it's just that I was sweating in the middle of the night and was blown by the wind. Let's take Azhi out quickly. Your father is still waiting for your help." Now that Chu Grandma thought about this, she felt depressed and didn't want to go any further. After half a sentence, he sent him out.
Uncle Chu took Chu Zhi to the courtyard and helped him prepare the candles for the ceremony. Because he had to light two candle strips from outside the courtyard gate and extend into his own yard. It was impossible to stand firmly with only candles, so he had to light two candle strips. Make many wooden boards with nails nailed in the middle to make simple candle holders, and then insert candles on them to fix them.
There is a lot of wood in the yard, and it is windy today. If you burn paper money in the yard, you are afraid that the wood nearby will be set on fire. Chu Yi and Chu Li dug a pit outside the courtyard gate. They can burn paper money in the pit without burning it. It blocks the wind from all directions and prevents the wood in the yard from catching fire. It is also convenient to backfill the excavated soil after the burning.
Things were going on in an orderly manner outside, but Wang, the eldest uncle, stayed behind in the name of taking care of Grandma Chu. After so many years of mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, Chu Renzhong and Xiucai had been fighting for many years before they separated. She didn't believe what her mother-in-law had just said to her husband.
But what is it that makes everyone so worried become feverish? Mrs. Wang rolled her eyes, and after washing the handkerchief, she had a rough guess!
It must have been about the paper money business. When she and Chu Ren's father saw how popular this stall was from a distance that day, they were in a daze for several days, let alone the people who were watching in front of them every day!
She must have regretted not agreeing to this business, not to mention her mother-in-law. She would have regretted it to death. If she had known, she should have persuaded her family to agree. If it didn't work, when Mrs. Shen said she wanted to give her money, It’s okay to ask for more, it’s better than watching money go into other people’s pockets and being anxious!
"Aniang, wipe your face. The third child has said it. The doctor said that Aniang is overthinking. If you didn't say it, my daughter-in-law would have guessed that it is because of that stall!"
"If you don't have anything to do, just go out. I don't need you to serve me!" What annoyed Mrs. Chu the most was her energetic and expressionless look. If she hadn't given birth, she would have given birth to a baby for the old Chu family. The capable eldest grandson would have taken care of her long ago!
It was for Chu Ren's sake that I turned a blind eye to her all these years! Fortunately for her, she rushed here to cause trouble for herself!
"Mom, don't be impatient. It's too late to regret it now. I've already tasted the benefits after making money. How can I do business for my family again? Instead of getting angry here, it's better to think about how to do it again." The most important thing is to get some benefits!”
