After being exiled to Lingnan, Prime Minister Quan's family collapsed and his people were set u

Chapter 124 Even the wife of a wealthy clan

Zhou Shimu looked at the situation over there and said, "Uncle Su has left."

Zhou Shiye and Su Huaili turned their heads at the same time. Sure enough, they saw Su Bo'an's leaving figure, and they both breathed a sigh of relief.

When the two elders met just now, the expressions on their faces that they wanted to kill each other were really scary.

It's fine if there wasn't a fight. There was already enmity, but the enmity becomes even deeper when there's a fight.

Zhou Yancheng walked over and saw three people huddled together muttering from a distance, "What are you muttering about?"

Zhou Shiye turned his head, not looking at his father, and said with a guilty conscience: "Nothing, just discussing where to chop wood."

Su Huaili nodded, "I know a place with better wood. I'll take you there."

He led people over and cut down a lot of trees, and then he stopped after making sure that there were enough trees for the roofs of two houses. Several people carried them back together.

Shi Qingxiao had just finished preparing dinner. She smiled and invited Su Huaili to stay for dinner. Su Huaili did not refuse.

*
Mrs. Li scolded Chu Xiaorong and felt happy. That shameless girl would definitely not dare to pester her son, otherwise she would scold her even more severely.

After she returned home, she secretly pulled Zhou Rushan to a corner to make sure that Mrs. Zhou would not see or hear her. She lowered her voice and said, "I think you also want to practice martial arts with that girl Tangtang, don't you?"

Zhou Rushan nodded, "Yes."

Mrs. Li had a look of disapproval, "You are stupid. Dancing with swords and guns is what men do. Why do you, a lady from a wealthy family, learn these things? Don't you want to imitate those reckless men?"

Zhou Rushan hesitated, "But——"

Li raised her hand to interrupt her, "Stop it, your father and your brother will learn from you at home. You just need to be happy being your female celebrity. You don't need to worry about other things. Your mother is here."

"Good boy, stop learning. A noble family won't want a rude girl. You can't learn martial arts. You only need to learn how to control the center, so that you can be a good matron in the future."

Even the wife of a wealthy clan.

Li's heart was pounding when she thought of this, but she didn't dare to say these words. She just thought about it secretly in her heart. She hoped that her daughter could marry into a big family.

Zhou Rushan had long given up on marrying into a big family. His grandmother was right. People should know how much they have. The current situation of their family is already very difficult, and they should no longer think about unrealistic things. s things.

But her mother's words hit her heart hard again, and her heart, which had finally become cold, couldn't help but warm up again.

If you can live a good life, who would want to live a hard life?

Ms. Li looked directly into her daughter's eyes. She was like a piece of flesh that had fallen off her body. She knew her daughter's temperament very well and continued: "Although our family is in dire straits now, we may get better one day. Don't just look at it." At present, we have to take a long-term view. Listen to mother, she will not harm you."

Zhou Rushan pursed his lips and finally nodded.

Ms. Li smiled and said, "This is my mother's good daughter."

*
The next day, Su Huaili continued to come to help, and Zhou Yanshao and his son also came.

After setting up the wood, Su Huaili took people to dig a pile of reeds and came back. Shi Qingxiao didn't dig enough last night and needed more.

I dug piles after piles, tied them into strong bundles, applied layers of sticky mud on the surface, spread it on the roof, pressed it firmly, and laid some other covering materials to ensure that the Rain will not leak.

In this way, two houses were built, the two new houses next to the original two houses, with the kitchen in the middle.

A new earthen stove was built in the kitchen, and the original earthen stove was dismantled and rebuilt. Several grown men helped Su Huaili, and the construction was quickly completed.

The kitchen is now much more spacious.

Su Huaili helped reinforce the two houses that seemed to be crumbling.

Now the Zhou family looks much more spacious.

The original small kitchen was also demolished, and everything was moved to the new kitchen. The new kitchen is big enough that the square table does not need to be put away, and can be placed aside without taking up space.

After finishing the work, the sun was about to go down. Shi Qingxiao made a relatively sumptuous dinner, including chicken and pork, and the rice was not stingy, it was all white rice.

A group of people finished their meal happily.

There was nothing good at home. Thanks to Su Huaili, Shi Qingxiao gave him the last bit of chicken and stuffed him with two taels of silver. Zhou Shitang also taught him how to recognize two medicinal materials.

Shi Qingxiao also gave Zhou Yanshao two taels of silver.

After Su Huaili left, Zhou Yancheng thought for a while, looked at Zhou Yanshao, and warned, "Brother, Su Bo'an entrusts martial arts to us. We can learn it ourselves, and we must never teach it to outsiders."

Zhou Yanshao knew the seriousness of the matter and nodded solemnly, "I know, and it won't be spread."

Zhou Mingyi also nodded. He has been practicing martial arts these days. He feels that his physical fitness has improved a lot. He believes that if he continues to practice, he will not be afraid of ordinary gangsters in the future.

Zhou Shitang felt that the atmosphere was serious, so he dispersed it with a smile, "I heard there is a market tomorrow. Let's go and have a look and buy some things on the way."

Zhou Shiruo became excited and wailed, "I must go and see what good things there are."

She was bored to death and wanted to join in the fun.

Zhou Yanshao and his son were also a little excited. They had been busy outside every day these days, and it was finally a little lively.

After the house is built, there is no need to move mud every day. You only need to take some mushrooms, medicinal materials and bacon to dry, and then put them away when the sun goes down. Life becomes much easier.

Zhou Shitang's family continues to practice martial arts.

The next day.

After the family had breakfast, they rushed out happily with their silver and copper coins. They first went to Zhou Yanshao's house to pick up Mrs. Zhou.

Zhou Shitang and Zhou Shiruo held Mrs. Zhou's arms on the left and right.

Zhou Shitang smiled and said: "Grandma, let's go and have fun together."

Mrs. Zhou was also very happy. She had her children and grandchildren by her side. No matter how difficult the life was, she felt that she could survive it. She was in a good mood and couldn't help teasing, "I remember you didn't like to join in the fun before. Has it changed now?"

Zhou Shitang nodded, "Without books to read, life is very boring, but now I just like to join in the fun."

Zhou Rushan stood next to Zhou Shitang and felt very uncomfortable when she heard their conversation. She couldn't be so relaxed when getting along with her grandmother.

She would be very stressed. She would not dare to make any small moves when her grandmother looked at her. How could she dare to chat with her grandmother as easily as Zhou Zhou Shitang did.

She used to think it was because her father was not as powerful as Zhou Shitang's father and she didn't have the confidence to do this. But now that her father and her second uncle are of equal status, why can't she get along easily with her grandmother?

She couldn't understand that she was obviously no worse than Sister Zhou Shitang.

No one knows Zhou Rushan's little thoughts, and she doesn't dare to let others know. She is jealous of her sisters. If she tells it, she is afraid of being laughed at and laughed at for being narrow-minded.

Zhou Shitang coaxed Mrs. Zhou into smiling and walking in a windy manner without even saying a few words.Li curled her lips. The old lady usually didn't smile much, but now she smiled happily after being coaxed by Zhou Shitang.Alas, it's a pity that she doesn't have the ability to make the old lady happy, otherwise it would be Zhou Shitang's turn.

The Zhou family didn't know where Xinrenkou was. When they went out and saw people, they asked. Everyone rushed towards Xinrenkou, and the group hurriedly followed the large army.

Xinrenkou is bustling with people, and the vendors have a lot of things on display here.People here can't go out, but they are frustrated. People with a little money rush over to buy and buy at this time.

Chicken, duck, fish, various kinds of cloth, these cloths are just ordinary cloths, everything for food and clothing.

They want to buy meat to pickle at home. They haven't eaten meat for a long time, but these vendors are really not human. They know that they can't leave this place. They are asking for prices all over the place. The price of meat is ridiculously expensive.

A pound of pork outside sells for twelve cents, but they sell it for forty cents. Isn't this bullying?

But some people gritted their teeth and bought it.

Other things aren't much cheaper either.

Some of the vendors were villagers who lived on the hill next door. They raised chickens, ducks and geese at home, so they brought them over to sell, and they also sold the eggs laid by the animals.

The vendors who set up stalls here set their prices very high, several times higher than the market price. They may not make any money if they are higher. They have to pay taxes when setting up stalls here. Half of the tax is ridiculously high, and they still have to pay. I picked up the goods all the way here, and I also had to eat and drink on the way.

Just go back and forth and earn some hard money.

They don't dislike the people here. Anyway, as long as they can make money, they can earn more than they would by setting up a stall in the town market.

Guan Cunxin, the manager, did not stop the vendors from setting up stalls and was even happy to see the results.He knew that the prisoner had a lot of money in his hands. Well, he had also received filial piety from some people, but they definitely still had it in their hands.

If you don't give it to him, it's good to give it to the vendors. Those are tax dollars.

These people are better fed and clothed, can work better, and will not die so quickly. After all, manpower is needed everywhere.

He was in charge of these people, and he didn't want someone to die every day, which would be bad luck.

Mrs. Li learned from Zhou Yanshao last night that Shi Qingxiao gave her husband two taels of silver. She didn't know where the money came from. She only knew that Shi Qingxiao had more than two taels of silver in his hand. So where did she go today? She followed Shi Qingxiao closely and stopped bickering with her, smiling gently.

Li: "Brother and sister, what do you want to buy?"

Shi Qingxiao had long figured out her temperament and asked for help. She smiled brighter than anyone else and was very adaptable. She could temporarily forget past conflicts and was commonly known as thick-skinned.

Shi Qingxiao looked calm and said, "There is nothing I want to buy."

"Mom, do you have anything you want to buy?" Shi Qingxiao turned to ask Mrs. Zhou.

Mrs. Zhou smiled kindly and said, "I don't want to buy anything. Let's see what the children want to buy."

Zhou Shitang looked over at a glance and saw that there was everything, and the food was the most. She saw seafood in the corner, and went over to take a look. There were clams, conches, clams, etc., all placed in a bucket with water in it.

The hawker saw a little girl approaching and greeted with a smile, "Little girl, would you like to buy some to try? These are meats, much cheaper than other meats."

The fishy smell of seafood is too strong. Most people cannot remove the fishy smell without seasoning and are unwilling to eat these things, so seafood is cheaper.

They will only consider buying this unless there is really no other meat left.

There are also some poor people who come here to buy seafood because they don’t have much money.

The Zhou family also came over. None of them knew these things. They used to live inland and didn't have to go into the kitchen. They had never seen these strange things at all. Maybe they had eaten meat.

Zhou Shiruo looked down several times and asked, "Can this be eaten?"

The vendor smiled and tried hard to sell it, "It's definitely edible. It's full of meat in one bite. It's very chewy and tastes delicious."

Mrs. Li looked around and couldn't help but curl her lips, "It's delicious, why don't many people come to buy it? I see other stalls are crowded, but your place is deserted."

Of course, there are still a few people who cannot afford expensive meat, so they can only buy slightly cheaper seafood.

When the vendor heard this, the smile on his face faded, "Just leave if you don't want to buy. There's no need to be picky here."

Zhou Rushan quickly pulled Mrs. Li's arm to prevent her from continuing.

Ms. Li was scolded and looked very ugly. She was actually scolded by an ignorant villain. She looked so arrogant.

She doesn't like the excitement here at all, they are all a bunch of ignorant people!
The markets around Daxiangguo Temple in the capital are much more lively than here.

Zhou Shitang took a step forward and blocked Mrs. Li. The eldest aunt really couldn't speak. She worked hard to set up the stall, so she wouldn't buy it if she didn't want to buy it. What was she picky about, and she said it out loud.

Zhou Shitang pointed to the conches and pulled Shi Qingxiao's clothes, "Mom, let's buy some conchs and go back to eat."

"The seafood is very fishy, ​​but I'm not afraid of it."

Sautéed conch, boiled conch, ginger conch...

Suck it, a hundred ways to make conch flashed through her mind, and her mouth was watering just thinking about it.

There is seasoning at home, so there is no need to be afraid of the smell. The money at home will not be used except to buy some things at the market, so just buy it.

When the vendor heard this, he stopped fussing with Ms. Li and stopped looking at her. He turned to look at Zhou Shitang and smiled again, "The little girl has discernment. I think conch is the most delicious."

Shi Qingxiao asked: "How much does it cost per pound?"

The hawker smiled and said, "Twenty cents per catty."

Pork costs forty cents per catty, and he sells it for twenty cents, which is already very cheap.

Shi Qingxiao didn't know how much things cost outside, but that didn't stop her from bargaining. She said calmly: "We bought it for ten cents a pound."

The vendor's smile froze and he refused to give in, "Twenty cents is already very cheap."

Shi Qingxiao didn't give in, "Old man, pork is forty cents, I might as well pay a little more to buy a pound of pork. Home-raised pork is not fishy, ​​but yours is too fishy and you still sell it for so much. Doesn't it hurt your conscience?"

Mrs. Li was stunned.

Is the Shi Qingxiao bargaining with the vendor in front of her still the elegant and noble matron she knew before?
Just for spending ten cents with a hawker, he lost all his pride and gave off a market air.

The hawker refused to lower the price, and there were people watching him. Once he opened the door, he would not be able to sell for twenty cents. This woman was too aggressive in bargaining, and she made him ten cents less as soon as she opened her mouth. Money.

Where is this.

The vendor gritted his teeth and said, "Nineteen cents."

Shi Qingxiao looked away, took Zhou Shitang's hand, and said without hesitation: "Tangtang, let's buy pork. The pork is not fishy and tastes better."

(End of this chapter)