Peasant Girl Bookseller

Chapter 26 The Matchmaker Who Gives Money

The two of Mai Xiang returned home, everyone was eating in the upper room, Mai Xiang put the things away, and followed Mai Huang into the upper room.

"Mai Xiang, how much did you sell today?" Qian looked at Mai Xiang and asked.

"Not much."

"Mai Xiang, didn't you see your third aunt?" Qian turned her eyes around and asked with a smile.

"Third Aunt? Third Aunt also went to the market?" Mai Xiang felt that something was wrong in her heart, because she could see a look of waiting for a good show from Qian's face.

"Well, if you go ahead, your third aunt will go out." Qian was still smiling.

"Second sister-in-law, Mai Miao's mother is going to buy handkerchiefs, what are you talking about?" Sanfu glared at Qian with dissatisfaction.

"What did I say, I just said that the third brother and sister went to the market, ask Da Ya if you saw it, is there something wrong with that?" Mrs. Qian gestured twice with her chopsticks.

At this time, Mrs. Sun also entered the yard, and she also went back to her room first, put her things down and entered the upper room later.

"Third brother and sister, you must have gained a lot from this trip, right?" Qian asked Sun directly, she was also curious about what this girl Mai Xiang was up to.

Mrs. Sun didn't answer Mrs. Qian, but looked at Ye Dafu with a half-smile, and said, "It is said that elder brother is honest and kind, so he is just quietly making money."

As soon as Sun's words fell, everyone in the room looked at Ye Dafu.

"What does the third sibling mean?" Ye Dafu asked.

"Brother can pretend to be stupid."

"Old man, what do you mean by that?" Ye Tiezhu asked.

"Father and mother, didn't you say that all the money earned by the men in the family goes to the public? My sister-in-law doesn't know how to embroider, and my elder brother weaves a few pairs of straw sandals to sell in winter leisure, which can be regarded as making up for my sister-in-law's shortcomings. We don't say anything about this. But shouldn’t other income go to the public?” Sun looked at Liu and asked.

"Of course it should be returned to the public. We didn't dare to keep a penny of the money my family's Er Fudong earned from doing part-time labor." Qian said hurriedly.

"Who does the money earned by working as a part-time job? Doesn't it go to the public? How many part-time jobs does my family Dafu do a year, and how much does I earn? I have seen a big man?" Zhao said this and felt aggrieved in his heart.

Obviously my husband is the most capable, but the money he earns supports this big family. The children in my family are still not fed and clothed, and the third child in the family doesn't know what to make a fuss about.

Both Qian and Sun had nothing to say. Dafu did have more part-time jobs than Erfu and Sanfu, and the wages were higher, because he knew the work of a plasterer. He was trained in the barracks and could do a little bit of everything.

"You made it clear." Mrs. Liu asked Mrs. Sun.

"Brother got busy early in the morning, weaving these wicker baskets for Mai Xiang to sell, and coaxing us to say that they are for children to play with. I think Mai Xiang sold all the flower baskets, at least tens of pennies " Sun was far away, but she saw someone grabbing a handful of money to give to Mai Xiang, so she made a calculation.

It was precisely because this sum of money was not in decimals that she became jealous that she could earn dozens of pennies in one morning, which was worth the handkerchiefs she had worked so hard to embroider for several days. This loss was unbearable.

Of course, she also had the intention of making a fuss out of it. It was so hard for Dafang to find a job to earn money. It's no wonder that Mrs. Zhao was willing to let go of her outburst. It's good to start a fight, if you can't separate the family, it will make Dafu suffer a little bit, who told him not to agree to the separation?
"Third brothers and sisters, how many flower baskets our aunt sells are bothering you? Da ya's father didn't delay anything, and got up early to weave a few baskets..." Zhao was anxious, gestured with chopsticks, and spit flying.

Mai Xiang held her down, and said by herself: "Grandpa, Mammy, my father came back from the field yesterday and saw that the willow twigs had just sprouted, so he picked a few at random and made a small basket to coax us to play with." In the end, Mai Huang got angry and played for a long time, saying that she only wanted one, and my father got up early to pick some wicker, weaved five or six, and picked some wild flowers. Mai Huang and I got up early to go to the market, and we brought I went to play with it, but I didn’t expect that someone would take a fancy to it and give me some money to buy it.”

The reason why Mai Xiang said it herself was mainly because she was afraid that Ye Dafu would be burdened by lying. After all, these were his parents, and the ancients valued filial piety the most.

When Mrs. Liu heard this, she also nodded for Da Ya's cleverness, this child is really different.

Mrs. Liu always felt sorry for Ye Dafu. In this family, he earns the most, contributes the most, but lives the hardest. Now that Mai Xiang can do something, why is she willing to embarrass the eldest family?Besides, how much can a few wicker baskets sell for?It can't be sold for a few days.

"The third one, do you care about how much money a child made just for fun? Your elder brother doesn't do this every day. He's going to go to the mountains in two days."

"Mother, it's not a few dollars, it's dozens of big boys." Qian was not reconciled.

"Second sister-in-law, it's because Mai Xiang has the ability to sell it, so don't be jealous. What did Mai Xiang say when you were making money?" Jiufeng naturally favored the Dafu family.

"I'm different. If my sister-in-law can embroider, I'm not jealous of how much money she earns, but the money earned by my brother has to be handed over to the company." Although Qian Shi was annoyed by Jiufeng's words, she was not easy to talk to Jiufeng in front of the two old people. Flip.

"Kids, shut up." Shi Liu glared at Jiufeng.

Then he frowned and asked, "Mai Xiang, how much did you sell for?"

"Mommy, the total cost including my father's two pairs of straw sandals is only twenty cents." Mai Xiang replied respectfully.She didn't dare to say too little, after all, she didn't know how far Mrs. Sun was from her.

"Listen, from the third family, why don't you yell nonsense for only twenty dollars. If you have the ability, you can weave wicker sticks and sell them early in the morning, as long as you don't delay the work in the field." Mrs. Liu glanced at Mrs. Sun dissatisfied. , she naturally knew that Mrs. Sun just wanted to take the opportunity to make trouble.

In the past, Mrs. Sun didn't say anything and just encouraged Mrs. Zhao and Mrs. Qian behind her back, but now she was too eager to separate the family, so she had to come out on her own.

When Qian and Sun heard that they could also sell small flower baskets, they fell silent, thinking secretly.

At this time, someone shouted outside the gate: "Is there anyone in the room?"

Mrs. Sun was the last to come in, so she sat on the edge of the kang, and now she opened the door curtain and went out first. Mrs. Qian hurriedly cleaned up the dishes, and Mai Xiang also helped her because she didn't know what was coming Guests, the decency that should be at home still needs to be talked about.

Liu looked at Mai Xiang's behavior, and secretly thought that this child was indeed different.

Mrs. Sun brought someone in, she was a woman in her forties, she looked very capable, Mai Xiang was wondering if she had never seen this person before, and when she was worrying about not knowing how to address her, Mrs. Liu spoke.

"you are?"

It turned out that Mrs. Liu didn't know her either, so Mai Xiang breathed a sigh of relief and sat down.

"Old sister-in-law, I'm from Houcun. It's more than ten miles away from here. I can't blame my old sister-in-law. Helping people to be a matchmaker, being a middleman or something, I am the most honest person."

It turned out to be a matchmaker, no wonder she was so familiar.Without waiting for the adults to speak, Mai Xiang took the little ones out of the house.Erfu and Sanfu also took the wheat grains out.

Jiufeng, Wufu, and Bafu followed Dafu into the house on Dafu's side.

"Fifth brother, I must have come to marry you, which girl would fall in love with fifth brother?" Jiufeng tilted his head and looked at Wu Fu.

Wu Fu's face turned a little red, and he said, "My little sister is messing around again, and Brother Wu will be angry."

"My fifth brother is getting married, where do I live?" Bafu was worried.

Eight Blessings and Five Blessings brought wheat seeds and grains to live on the big kang in the middle of the upper room, which is also where everyone eats.The other two rooms are Liu Shi and Ye Tiezhu to the east, and Jiufeng to the west.

Sanfu's family lived in a side room on the east side, Erfu lived in an east wing next to the kitchen, and only Dafu's family occupied two rooms in the west wing.

"It's not something you should worry about, let's go to Kang and play with Mai Xiang for a while." Dafu patted Bafu on the shoulder.

"Brother, let's pick wicker to weave baskets, and let Mai Xiang sell it. It would be great if I can sell some money to buy some food for my sister-in-law." Wu Fu said.

"Forget it, didn't you see that your second sister-in-law and third sister-in-law didn't want it?"

"Take care of her, hmph, the second and third brothers will go pick wicker soon." Ba Fu was a little annoyed.

Mai Xiang heard it on the kang, raised her head and smiled and said, "Uncle Fifth and Uncle Eight will also make up this?"

"Fifth brother is skillful, I still don't know how to do it." Ba Fu shyly patted his head.

Jiufeng went to the kang and saw Mai Xiang playing with the copper plates, so she sat on it curiously and asked, "What are you doing?"

"I'm teaching them counting and arithmetic." Mai Xiang took twenty copper coins to teach Mai Huang and Mai Qing.

The Five Blessings and the Eight Blessings also went to the kang when they heard it, and they are not very good at this.

At this time, when they went to the room, as soon as they left, Mrs. Liu thought she was a matchmaker, so she naturally thought that she was here for Wu Fu's marriage, and her face was immediately full of smiles.

"So it's the second sister-in-law Shi from Houcun. She's really a rare visitor."

After Mrs. Liu finished speaking, she ordered Mrs. Sun to make a cup of tea for the other party. Of course, it was only the cheapest tea foam.

Shi took a sip of the tea, curled her lips secretly, but she didn't show any emotion on her face, she had already taken advantage of the time when she entered the door to look and understand that this family is poorer than she imagined, it seems that today's errand is good done.

Thinking of this, she seemed to have seen the thick red envelope, and immediately put a smile on her face, and said, "I came today to give money to my old sister-in-law."

"Send money?" Everyone in the room was stunned. They didn't mean kiss, but money. What kind of money?

(End of this chapter)