Shen's mother knew that her daughter felt uncomfortable because her parents were alienated from her: "My family really didn't think much about it at first. Who knew that not long after this business was done, it suddenly became busy. Suddenly It’s not easy to find anyone, and I haven’t even been busy for a few days. Fortunately, it didn’t delay your Ghost Festival sales.”
"What are you talking about, grandma? There is no need to delay anything! We are too busy at home, so just tell us."
"I'm just telling you, your two sisters-in-law are pregnant, and now they are involved in this business. The family is really busy. Do you and your son-in-law have any candidates who can take over?"
Shen Luzhu thought for a while, then looked at Chu Yi and shook his head: "Not yet. Whose family did I want to talk about just now?"
Mother Shen patted her daughter's hand gently and said, "I'm not an outsider. What do you and your son-in-law think of your uncle's family?"
"Isn't my uncle working for people on Zhuangzi? The journey back and forth is not short. Besides, can my boss agree?"
Shen's mother is the second daughter of her parents' family. She has an older brother and a younger brother. Shen Luzhu and his uncle have been working in Zhuangzi on the outskirts of the town since they were young, and the whole family also lives in Zhuangzi together.
Shen Luzhu, his uncle's family, was naturally trustworthy, but the distance from Zhuangzi on the outskirts of the town to their village was not short. Going back and forth every day would be time-consuming and laborious, and not worth it.
Mother Shen waved her hand: "You don't know that your uncle is getting older and can't do much work in the village anymore, so he begged his employer to give his part of the job to your cousin-in-law. Your uncle and aunt I moved back to the village a while ago, and I still live in my parents' old house. Your grandparents left early, so the house was empty."
Although Chu Yi and his wife's uncle's family have not had much contact, they have met twice. The uncle's family seems to be responsible people and relatives, so there is nothing they can't trust: "Auntie, that uncle What does home mean?”
"Although the old couple have saved a lot of money in the village over the years, your two cousins got married, and they returned to the village and bought a few acres of land this time, so they are not very rich. But I am. I haven’t asked them yet, but I think I have to ask you about this first. If you think it’s okay, I’ll ask them later. It should be no problem for such a good job!”
Shen Luzhu also felt that the problem should not be big: "Then please ask Auntie for us. If uncle agrees, we can find a day to go to uncle's house and have a look. By the way, we can tell uncle what to do." .”
"Sure, I'll tell you later when I have some information."
Shen Songjie listened for a long time and finally found a chance to interrupt: "Auntie, why didn't you tell me in advance? Otherwise, I would have just said it in the backyard to save my sister from misunderstanding. I treat her as an outsider." !”
Mother Shen rolled her eyes at her son: "You still have the nerve to say who it is, just to show off, you hurriedly dragged me to the backyard before I could sit in the house for a while! I wanted to say it, but I have to find someone. ah!"
Shen Luzhu looked at his shriveled second brother and couldn't help but laugh. A few days after returning from the Shen family, Shen's mother asked someone to bring good news. Her uncle agreed to take over the job of burning copper coins and paper.
The young couple picked up some things and went to Uncle Zhang's house the next day. Mother Shen also went with her and took the two sets of molds for making copper coins and burning paper.
The niece and nephew's son-in-law came to the house for the first time. Uncle Zhang was very happy: "Come here if you want. What else do you want to bring?"
Although Shen Luzhu didn't have as much contact with her uncle as she did with her uncle, she still remembered that when she was a child, every time her uncle came back, he would bring her many new things. Although they have seen each other less and less in the past few years, every time they meet, When he arrived, he still felt very cordial: "We should have come a long time ago. Uncle and aunt should not blame us."
Aunt Xie explained at the side: "You didn't know it for a long time, so how can I blame you? Your uncle specifically told your mother-in-law that he knew you were busy and didn't want you to have trouble!"
The uncle said with a smile: "Now is not the right time, you are free, you can still stay with me for a while!"
The uncle and his wife had been living in Zhuangzi with their two sons and three families. The population was large and lively. Now the sons and son-in-law all stayed in Zhuangzi to work. The old couple moved back to the village alone for a while. For a while, I was really not used to it.
"Your mother-in-law told us about the paper money. In fact, when I saw them doing that work earlier, I wanted to ask about it. But then I heard that it was you and my nephew and son-in-law who did the work, so I didn't have the nerve to open my mouth. It's just a coincidence! Don't worry, my uncle and aunt are both good at work!"
"Of course we can trust my uncle and aunt! This also helps us, otherwise we wouldn't be able to find anyone we can trust for a while!"
Shen's mother accompanied her to her uncle's house for lunch and then left. The young couple stayed for a day. After being taught how to use the mold in the afternoon, they returned home before dinner.
Last year, due to the quarrel between Mr. Wang and Grandma Chu, the shop was closed before the Hungry Ghost Festival, and it was not until September that it reopened. Nothing happened at home this year. After the fifth day of August, Shen Luzhu's birthday, the shop in front of the Chu family opened again.
The Hungry Ghost Festival had just passed, and the work in the shop was quite leisurely. Shen Luzhu and the others gathered in the shop to play cards and chat when they had nothing to do.
Chu Ping finally regained his freedom after being forced by his mother to look at several girls.
Shen Luzhu was a little surprised when she saw Chu Ping walking into her shop after many days. She looked at Chu Yi aside: "Is Chu Ping successful in dating and being let out by his aunt?"
Chu Yi looked at his wife whose face was full of curiosity. He remembered what his third uncle had said when he came to chat with him yesterday when he was making a coffin in the backyard. He cleared his throat and said, "It failed."
Shen Luzhu glanced at Chu Ping with a puzzled look on his face: "That shouldn't be the case. My cousin's external conditions are sufficient!"
"Cousin, I'm still here, you two are whispering in front of me, I can hear you!"
Shen Luzhu smiled sheepishly: "There are so many little girls, how come they still fail?"
Chu Ping looked around, took a few steps forward, and whispered to the two people sitting behind the counter: "Cousins, how can this be called a failure? This is a small victory for me." !”
After saying that, Chu Ping smiled proudly. It wasn't that he didn't want to get married, but he just didn't want to be pushed to the top.
Seeing him like this, Chu Yi raised his eyebrows slightly: "Aren't you afraid that I will file a complaint?"
"Cousin, you are just trying to scare people. When you were a kid, you always said you were going to report me, but you always hid it from me in the end!"
"That was when I was a kid."
Chu Ping stared at Chu Yi for a long time, then turned to Shen Luzhu: "Sister-in-law, I haven't been here recently. Did something good happen that I don't know about?"
"No." Shen Luzhu shook his head.
"Then how can my cousin seem to be in a good mood? It was the same last time, and he started making fun of me! Cousin, you haven't made trouble with us for several years!"
Shen Luzhu turned to look at Chu Yi: "Really?" It seems that during this period, she did speak more and expressed more, but she couldn't remember when it started.
Chu Yi stretched out his hand to help his wife smooth her hair, and then said calmly to Chu Ping: "I'm talking about you, don't change the subject."
His cousin was tired of his cousin's attitude. Chu Ping had long been used to it and didn't care at all: "If this thing doesn't work out, it really has nothing to do with me! Think about it, cousin, we all know that our family is making money. , the matchmaker is the same, she feels that if my marriage is finalized, the reward will definitely be large! Most of the matchmakers who come to the door have not even thought about which girl they want, and they come here for the reward.
For the rest, either my parents didn't like her, or they just didn't like me, and there was one whose parents agreed, but the girl wouldn't do it. My grandpa said that the more I catch up with this stall, the less likely I am to find a good one. I am now more sensible than before, and I will eventually find a good one. My mother-in-law spared my life! "
Shen Luzhu thought for a while and felt that what his grandfather said made sense. The people who came to Chu Pingxiang to see this might have some other thoughts. It's not that it was wrong, but his grandfather and his family were not stupid. That’s all.
Chu Yi and Chu Ping were chatting when they suddenly heard someone knocking on the door.
"Is this the Chu family's paper money shop?"
The man who came was a bit strange. He was a middle-aged man. He looked like he was not from the nearby village. He knocked on the door even though the door of the shop was open. Besides, the shop had been open for more than a year. Now he was here to buy burning paper. The people here are all familiar with each other, and there are very few unfamiliar faces!
"That's it, do you want to buy burning paper?" Chu Ping said, welcoming the person in.
"Yes, yes, what kind of burning paper do you have at home?"
Chu Ping stood outside the counter, pointed at the paper money, and introduced it like this: "There are many, ordinary yellow burning paper, white money, and different ones. This one is copper money burning paper, and this one is copper money burning paper." There are banknotes, paper money, and this paper ingot that sells quite well, both gold and silver. Uncle, which one do you want to buy?"
The middle-aged man looked at the last few pieces of paper money and touched them: "Copper money burning paper, this one is called silver note paper money, don't tell me, it looks very similar. Is this one called paper ingot? Hey, how is it made?" It’s so similar! The paper money you have is really strange. I’ve never seen it anywhere else before. There aren’t any shops in town. Where did you get the goods?”
"Did you come here for something else?"
When the man saw the man at the counter standing up with a cold face, he quickly waved his hands and said with a smile: "No, no, I'm just chatting, chatting!"
Chu Ping patted the man on the shoulder: "Uncle, how can you ask someone about this in a casual conversation! You still want to go directly to the place where you buy the goods, can't you do it? They can't sell to you as a retail investor, even if they sell to you, You can’t save a few pennies, can you?”
"Yes, yes, my little brother is right, I just have nothing to do, so I just want to chat for a while, don't mind!"
"Then will you buy it or not?"
"Buy it. I don't need the first two, but the others are the same, right?"
"The same portion?" Shen Luzhu confirmed with the middle-aged man.
This person asked a bunch of weird questions when he first came up, but in the end he didn't ask the most important questions! I didn’t ask how it was sold or the price. I just ordered one. It really didn’t look like someone was here to buy paper money!
"Yes, the same one. What's wrong? Is there any problem?"
Chu Ping also felt that there was something wrong with this person, but there was no business that he would not do if he came to his door. He thought about it and said, "No problem, no problem."
After saying that, he turned his back and winked at Chu Yi: "What are you doing standing there, cousin? Get it quickly for this uncle, five copper coins to burn paper, fifty pieces of silver paper money, and fifty paper ingots!"
"That's a lot for one serving?" The man's eyes widened when he heard this!
Chu Yi turned around with a smile and said to the middle-aged man: "Our family sells goods, they are cheap, so you have to buy more! Besides, there are big families in this village. If you buy less, it won't be enough." ! There are only so many per portion, and they are all sold this way. If you don’t think it’s too much, why don’t you go to another store?"
The middle-aged man wiped the sweat from his forehead: "...If you don't mind, take it!"
Chu Ping nodded: "Okay, copper coins and burned paper are thirty cents each, silver notes are two cents each, and paper ingots are five cents each. The total is... How much is the cousin's total?"
Shen Luzhu calculated silently: "Exactly five hundred coins!"
Chu Ping suggested sincerely: "What a coincidence, uncle, good things come in pairs, perfect. Why don't you buy two copies and make up a tael of silver!"
"No, no, no need, no need!" The man waved his hands repeatedly!
Chu Yi counted the paper money, motioned the man to come forward, and then took advantage of his height to put the paper money into his hand one by one at the counter. After putting the last pack of paper ingots, the height of the pile of paper money exceeded The top of the man's head!
The middle-aged man's vision was tightly covered, his feet were hanging out, and he was swaying out.
Chu Ping followed behind him and sent the man out of the shop door. He leaned on the door frame and shouted at the man's back: "Uncle, be more generous next time! If you keep doing this, be careful to burn the paper tonight." , your ancestors came up to scold you for being such an unworthy descendant!"
