On the morning of the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month, the young couple had breakfast. Seeing that it was the usual time for the neighbors to open their doors, they went out with the pastries and dried fruits prepared yesterday and the New Year's goods specially prepared for Aunt Sun and his wife.
Aunt Sun and her wife had just opened their own shop when they saw the young couple coming to the door carrying things: "Why are you here at this hour, but what can I help you with?"
Chu Yi helped carry the things into the backyard of the shop. Shen Luzhu handed the cakes and dried fruits individually packed to Aunt Sun and said with a smile: "It's okay, Auntie. My family is planning to go back to the village today. Isn't that right?" Send some New Year's goods to the neighbors. These pastries were bought at the market on East Street yesterday. You can try them out when you are not busy."
Aunt Sun smiled and took the package: "Tell me what you two bought these things for. Yesterday afternoon, the old man was still mumbling, why didn't your house open, and your third uncle didn't come to play chess with him. It turned out that he wanted to play chess." I have gone back to celebrate the New Year. It might as well go back early. I guess there is still some tidying up at home. By the way, when do you and your family plan to come back? On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month every year in the county, there is a Lantern Festival, and young people love to go there. Let’s join in the fun, if you come back early, you might be able to catch up.”
"My grandpa's family next door have always taken good care of us. Every time they knew we were going back, they would pack up their house in advance. This time it happened to be one day ahead of schedule, so I wanted to go back earlier to save them trouble. Come back The date hasn’t been set yet, and I haven’t been back for a long time, so I might have to stay a few more days, but the Lantern Festival Lantern Festival is really good. We heard about it when we were in the village, and one year we even drove an ox cart here to see it. By the way. Why is it that you and the uncle opened the door today, but the waiter in the shop has delivered the goods?"
Aunt Sun explained: "No, his family is not here. He will have a holiday from now on so that he can go back to buy things for the New Year. Today is also the last day for our shop. We will pack up and buy some things tomorrow. The New Year’s goods can be spent peacefully in the backyard, so it’s easy for just the two of us.”
The young couple also learned a lot about the situation at home of the old couple from Uncle Chu. The old couple only had a son and a daughter in their lives. The daughter was older and married into a family in the county a few years ago. , the younger son was good at reading. After several imperial examinations, he stumbled into the palace examination in the capital. Although he only got the same rank as a Jinshi, he was rare and outstanding.
Aunt Sun originally thought that her son would finally be able to return to his hometown in glory, but who would have thought that he would find a small official position in a county under the capital and completely enter the officialdom. The son of the Sun family also wanted to take his parents with him. , but his official position was too small and his salary was not high. He was barely making ends meet. He really couldn't afford to settle his parents in the capital, even if it was just a small county under the capital, so he could only continue to work hard and strive for Get your parents by your side as soon as possible.
It was precisely because of knowing this that the young couple specially bought a lot of annual goods and sent them to Sunjia Cloth Store, so as to save the old couple from buying them themselves and the inconvenience of moving them.
After coming out of Buzhuang, the young couple were about to enter Boss Zhou's bun shop when they saw two young men dressed as beggars standing not far away, swallowing their saliva while looking at the aromatic basket in front of the shop. The older one and the younger one look so similar that they should be brothers.
Chu Yi looked at the two brothers and for some reason remembered himself and Chu Li when they were young, but at least he and Chu Li were lucky. Chu Yi stepped forward and bought ten meat buns, and then handed them to the seemingly older man along with all the remaining copper coins on his body.
The two boys quickly bowed and thanked him. Chu Yi opened his mouth and finally said: "Take good care of your brother."
After giving New Year's gifts to the neighbors, Chu Yi went to the car dealer to rent two carriages and came back. His own ox cart was now left in the village to pull goods. Jiang Quan didn't know that they were going back today, so naturally there was no time to pick them up. , and in the twelfth lunar month of winter, it was really hard for a whole family to ride in an unshielded ox cart. Although the carriage was more expensive, it could block the wind and snow. It was many times more comfortable than the ox cart with thick bedding and a heater. .
The speed of the carriage is indeed much faster than that of the ox-cart. Perhaps it is because the driver is anxious to return to the county town to continue his work. In less than half a morning, the two carriages stopped in front of the Chu family's old house.
The paper money shop in front of the old house is currently open, and there are many villagers in the shop buying paper money. When they hear the sound of horses neighing from outside, some people can't help but open the door and come out to take a look. Fortunately, I was even more surprised when I saw it. The Chu family actually came back in a carriage!
You must know that the Chu family bought a bullock cart, which caused quite a stir in the village. What's more, in the past six months, although the Chu family has been away, there has been a lot of movement. Several carts have been brought out of the backyard workshop at every turn. Several carloads of paper money were delivered to the county. People in the village said privately that the Chu family was completely prosperous this time, and the shops in the town probably didn't sell paper money like this.
Now when I see the Chu family who came back in an ox cart last Mid-Autumn Festival, they came back in two carriages this time, which seemed to confirm everyone's suspicions. How could anyone not be surprised and excited?
"Chu Ping, come out quickly, come out quickly! The guy next door to your house is back, Chu Yi and his family are back!"
Chu Ping was busy in the shop when he suddenly heard someone calling him. Just as he was stunned, he heard that his cousin's family had come back. He didn't care about selling goods, so he and Yuan Shuang ran out of the shop.
"Cousin, cousin, why are you back today? Didn't Jiang Quan say that he would go to the county to pick you up?"
Uncle Chu smiled very happily: "Ayi and his wife sold out all the paper money in the shop yesterday. We have nothing to do if we stay there, so we will come back in a hurry."
When Chu Ping heard Uncle Chu's words, he looked at Chu Yi with wide eyes for confirmation: "Sold out? They shipped so much a few years ago, and they were all sold out yesterday?"
Chu Yi looked at his cousin's silly look and smiled, patted him on the shoulder and said, "Help me unload the car first, and we'll talk later."
While they were talking, Shen Luzhu and Yuan Shuang had already taken Zhengzheng, who was sleeping in the carriage, to his grandfather's house next door, and entrusted them to the care of Mrs. Yu and Qian together with the twins from Chu Ping's family.
When my uncle and grandpa learned that the man from the yard next door had returned early, they quickly put on their coats and came to the gate. The juniors were moving the things in the car into the yard, while Uncle Chu, his uncle and grandpa stayed outside the courtyard chatting with the villagers who were watching the excitement.
"From the Chu family, did you buy this carriage in the county?"
Uncle Chu shook his head: "No, it was rented by Ayi from the car dealership in the county town. He said that he was afraid that we would suffer when making oxcarts in the winter, so he rented two carriages."
The lady who asked the question said "Oh", then curled her lips to the people next to her and said: "I'm just saying, you heard me, this carriage does not belong to their Chu family at all, it is rented, what's so strange about it?" of."
Uncle Chu naturally saw the other party's meaningful expression, and immediately felt uncomfortable. Although he usually didn't want to compete with others, he was not without a temper: "Sister-in-law of the Fang family, what do you mean? Did your family buy a carriage?"
The Fang family member was stunned by Uncle Chu's question, and subconsciously replied: "Where can I buy such expensive things?"
Uncle Chu then said: "Oh, I thought you were used to owning carriages at home, so you looked down on our rented ones."
The cousin also echoed: "Buy whatever you want. Her family doesn't even have money to buy a bullock cart, and they don't even care about a horse-drawn carriage. I mean, from the Fang family, if you don't know how to talk, just shut up. If you continue to be arrogant, just talk to my elders." Madam, go and talk."
Although Aunt Fang didn't believe that the Chu family really called the old lady out because of this matter, she was still afraid of the old lady's reputation in her heart and whispered: "It is, it is just a show off when the car is parked on the road. , I didn’t buy it myself, so why don’t I tell anyone about it.”
Originally, I was very happy today. Uncle Chu didn't want to say anything more, but the other party kept saying it. They pretended that A Yi and Lu Zhu were promising, not to mention that they didn't show off at all today, so what if they just showed off. .
Then he replied: "You want to show off, but you have to have a plan!"
After saying that, he ignored the livid-faced Fang sister-in-law and turned around to continue chatting with others: "I'm really lucky to have Ayi and his wife. They are really filial and capable. How could I ever have thought about my life before?" I still have the opportunity to move to the county town. You don’t know that when I first said that I wanted to go to the county to sell our paper money, I was still a little nervous in my heart. I thought it would be okay to sell our stuff in the village, so go The county didn’t know if it could be sold, but look at the result: I hired a fleet of cars a few years ago to haul so many paper ingots, but yesterday morning there was nothing left.”
Uncle Tang also said: "No, when Gangluzhu and Xiaoshuang carried Zhengzheng into the house, I was still wondering. Didn't they come back just because of Ming'er? The joint business was so good that it was sold out in advance."
Grandpa Tang nodded: "They are all good children. Ayi and the others are the two most promising in our old Chu family!"
Others also started to praise: "Well, you two married sons of the Chu family are pretty good. Now that Chu Ping has taken over this paper money shop, isn't he managing it in a decent way? I see that Chu Li I will definitely make no mistakes in the future.”
When the villagers heard this, they were about to remind everyone that they had forgotten something. There was still someone in the Chu family who was promising. The only scholar in the village in recent years was not from the Chu family.
But the words were already on his lips. After thinking about it, he swallowed them back. He thought to himself, forget it. Let’s not mention the troubled family. With such a dark heart, let alone being a scholar now, even if I really win the prize in the future, I will be fooled. Official, I'm afraid he is also a corrupt official who will discredit his ancestors.
After not returning to the village for several months, Uncle Chu and the others chatted for a long time with the villagers outside the courtyard. Except for a few who looked bad due to jealousy, it was considered harmonious and happy, and the guests and hosts enjoyed themselves.
After unloading the cart and paying for the carriage, Chu Yi sent Chu Ping and Yuan Shuang back to look at the score. When the young couple was about to take their younger siblings to clean up the house, they found that there were a lot of things piled up in their kitchen. Good bacon and sauerkraut, a few big fish kept in the water tank, prepared pork legs and boiled lard, and new rice and noodles were also poured into the grain tank on the side of the stove.
The house also looked like it had been carefully cleaned. The young couple went to the shop and asked Chu Ping. Sure enough, they were all the New Year's goods sent by various families a few days ago. The house was owned by the Qian family who had stopped their workshops and had some free time. The Zhao brothers took care of it.
There was no need to tidy up the house, so the young couple sorted out all the New Year's goods they had bought before lunch, and took advantage of the time when they went next door to have lunch at noon to carry large and small packages into Chu Ping's house.
In addition to buying a lot of fresh food to bring back, the young couple also bought sets of ready-made clothes for each of their elders. Qian and Mrs. Yu complained: "Hey, we have plenty of clothes at home. What are we going to do with these? It's so far away." You still have to deal with it.”
"Originally, I wanted to buy some good quality fabrics to make by myself, but the shop was really busy a while ago, so I bought ready-made clothes. Grandpa, grandma, uncles, and aunts don't want to dislike it. And these fabrics, touch them They are all very soft, and they were chosen for brother and sister Huanhuanxixi, but Xiaoshuang had to go back and make them herself."
