During famine years, I had a divination slip in hand, and my whole family ate chicken, duck, fish, a

So people in ancient times also enjoyed watching a good show?

Ye Qingqing suddenly realized, "It's his 80th birthday, no wonder."

In ancient times, living to fifty or sixty was considered a long life, and living to seventy or eighty was considered an extremely long life, with even the government sending congratulatory gifts to the birthday celebrant.

That wealthy man, Master Sun, lived to be 80; shouldn't we have a proper celebration?

The townspeople had three days of free theater to watch, so how could they not flock to the town?

Remembering something, Ye Qingqing quickly asked, "Auntie, we're here to buy grain, but with so many people, we probably won't be able to squeeze in. Is there any other path leading to the grain store?"

The woman glared at her. "Buy grain? You can forget about it today."

Ye Qingqing frowned, puzzled. "Why?"

"The grain shop is owned by the Sun family!"

The woman laughed, "They put it on their door yesterday. Today, the Sun family's grain shop is closed, and they're setting up a stage specifically to celebrate the old master's birthday."

"Young lady, I think you should come again tomorrow."

Ye Qingqing's heart skipped a beat.

Wow... Life is unpredictable. Often, the more you rush to buy or find something, the less likely you are to be able to buy or find it.

The indicator arrow above her head was still flashing, and it had been flashing for almost half an hour since it appeared. Ye Qingqing was really afraid that it would suddenly "ding a few times" and disappear from her sight.

That would be a huge loss!

Since buying grain was out of the question, Li Chunyan nudged Ye Qingqing's arm again.

"Second Girl, there's no other way! Let's go sell the pork and wolf pelts first, and then we can come and watch the fun after we've sold them for money."

"By the time we get back from selling the silver, it'll be too late!"

Ye Qingqing jumped down from the carriage, frowned, and said, "Big brother and sister-in-law, you two find a place to settle the carriage down. I'll go to the grain shop with Brother Dazhuang."

We absolutely must buy the grain today!

As he spoke, he gave Ye Dazhuang a wink and then slipped into the crowd.

Ye Dazhuang didn't hesitate to take off and follow.

"what?"

Li Chunyan looked puzzled, gazing at the two figures as they walked away, and muttered resentfully.

"No, we still have about a hundred catties of rice and flour at home. Why are you in such a hurry to buy food, Er Yatou?"

They urged me to come to town early in the morning, but they wouldn't sell meat or hides; they were only interested in buying grain.

"You've left us here to starve! What are you trying to achieve?!"

Seeing that his wife was upset, Ye Dali quickly tried to calm her down with a simple smile.

"Yan'er, let's listen to Er Yatou. When has she ever been wrong?"

"Nonsense, do you think I don't listen to Er Yatou?"

Li Chunyan glared at him. "I haven't even had a bite of the steamed buns I made this morning, and I'm already here starving. Can't I at least have a little something to say?"

"Go get me a bowl of wontons and a few meat buns!"

"Daddy, I want candied hawthorns! I want candied hawthorns!"

Little Huanhuan quickly poked her head out from under the blankets of her mother and son, her round eyes shining brightly.

"Okay, you and your daughter get ready and wait. I'll go buy it right away."

Ye Dali said with a smile.

……

As expected, the Sun family's grain shop was tightly closed, with a large "longevity" character pasted on the door.

Right next to it was a stage, where ancient opera performers, heavily made up and dressed in brightly colored costumes, were performing enthusiastically.

It's estimated that most of the town came, crowding the stage and the entire street.

Ye Qingqing had no choice but to ask around and find the Sun family's house, bypassing the grain shop. She saw that the gate was decorated with red ribbons and colorful decorations and that the house was full of guests.

Two servants stood at the door to greet the guests. Seeing Ye Qingqing and Ye Dazhuang approaching, they quickly greeted them with smiles, even though their clothes weren't fine silks or furs, but rather brand-new fine cloth jackets, and they didn't look poor at all.

"May I ask whose relative or friend they are? Do you have an invitation?"

"We're not relatives or friends; we've come to your house to buy food."

Ye Qingqing said calmly, "Could you please tell them that we urgently need to buy food?"

One of the guys was fairly polite.

"Buying grain? I'm sorry, young lady, our master has said that the shop will be closed today to celebrate the old master's birthday. If you want to buy grain, please come back tomorrow."

As he was about to greet other guests, Ye Qingqing stopped him.

"Young man, please help us. We really need to buy some grain urgently. Could you please pass on a message inside and ask for the manager to come?"

The man's expression immediately turned impatient, and he shouted something.

"The shopkeeper? It's my master's birthday, all the shopkeepers are inside celebrating and having a feast, who has the time for that..."

Before he could finish speaking, something hard and cold was suddenly shoved into his hand.

Looking down, I saw a string of coins strung together with hemp rope, so heavy it must have been at least fifty or sixty coins.

The rest of the words were left swirling in the man's mouth, but he swallowed them back. He turned around and smiled, saying, "Maybe someone has the time. I'll go ask for you, young lady. Please wait a moment."

Ye Qingqing nodded. "Thank you."

She wouldn't bother saying another word if she could be appeased with copper coins.

Before long, the man rushed out of the house, pulled Ye Qingqing aside,

"Girl, I've delivered the message, but the shopkeeper said it's the old master's birthday today, and it's not worth opening a shop for a hundred or so catties of grain. He told you to come back tomorrow so as not to disturb the old master's enjoyment."

Ye Qingqing, "..."

"Who told you I only bought about a hundred kilograms?"

She sighed and raised an eyebrow.

"Please make another trip and tell them that my family urgently needs grain. We need 500 catties each of rice and wheat flour, and about 500 catties of other grains and noodles."

The man gasped. "Buying so much? Young lady, we're only closed today, it's not like we're shutting down. Why are you buying so much?"

"There are many people in our village, and they can't get out when the heavy snow blocks the mountains, so they all asked me to buy things for them."

Ye Qingqing made up a reason on the spot and stuffed a handful of copper coins into the man's hand, saying, "Thank you for your trouble!"

To her surprise, after waiting for a while, the man came out looking disheveled and started complaining as soon as he saw her.

"I shouldn't have gone to inform you; now I've gotten a real scolding, haven't I?"

Ye Qingqing, "..."

"The shopkeeper said that half a year ago, an old Taoist priest with a cow-nose told him that the grain shop should not be opened on the old master's birthday, so we closed for a day."

The man said angrily, "How was I supposed to know this place? I got scolded for nothing."

Ye Qingqing frowned unconsciously.

That old Taoist priest with the ox-nose nose is quite skilled in divination; he was able to predict that grain prices would rise today!

Ye Qingqing pressed on with great interest, "Then... what else did the old Taoist priest say? Did he say why the door can't be opened?"

The man shook his head. "I don't know. Anyway, the master said we can do whatever we want today, but we can't open the grain shop door, or it will be bad luck."

Just bad luck?

It didn't say that you can't do business?

That makes things easier...

This person clearly doesn't want to wash, but how will they know if they don't try?

Ye Qingqing's heart skipped a beat. She reached into her money pouch, grabbed a handful of copper coins, and shoved them into the man's arms.

"Brother, please help me out. Just tell him I don't need him to open the shop door, I just need to sell the grain to him, and I'll come to pick it up first thing tomorrow morning."