Chapter 137: The Elegant Clock Family's Carefree

  The three of them drank until midnight before stopping. Li Zheng and Niu Laogen sent Da Bao and Si Bao back separately, while Wang Tufu was so drunk that he fell asleep on Da Bao's bed without even washing his hands or face. When Da Bao returned, she had to squeeze in with Si Bao, but fortunately the beds at home were big now, and it was much better than sleeping four people on a broken wooden board like before...

  In the evening, they had to braise meat again and sweep the floor. The people at home were busy until midnight before going to bed. The next morning, they got up early. Dabao and Sibao went to sell braised meat again. After Zhong Gensheng and Wang Tufu got up and had breakfast, Zhong Gensheng sent Wang Tufu back home. He still had to kill a pig and go out with his wife to set up a stall. They agreed to meet again in the afternoon, so he left happily... Of course, he was still carrying some leftover dishes from yesterday's banquet. Although these dishes were leftovers, people in rural areas didn't mind them. Taking them back home to eat was also great, and they could even absorb some festive atmosphere.

  Zhong Gen Sheng saw him off to the village entrance before returning, continuing to sit down and drink some tea. He smiled and said: "I'm really old, I drank half a night of wine, this morning when I got up, my head was aching, my mouth was extremely dry, fortunately it's not cold today, last night we had hot pot, otherwise my throat would be hoarse..."

  He Ashu smiled and said: "You still think you're young?! Drink some tea to sober up, and later return all the borrowed tables, chairs, stools, pots, bowls... Oh, and send some of yesterday's leftover dishes to each household, especially to Er Gouzi and his family who helped out yesterday, as well as the households we borrowed things from, like Li Zheng's house and Niu Laogen's house..."

  "Alright, I've got it under control, don't worry, I'll get everything done by noon...". Zhong Gensheng smiled and took another sip of his tea, sighing: "Life is really too easy nowadays, I never even dreamed that one day I could be sitting in the courtyard so leisurely, drinking tea on a big morning..."

  He Qiu pressed her lips together and laughed, "You, just stop being sentimental, the more you are, the more like an old man who is retired..."

  Zhong Gen Sheng smiled lightly and said: "Isn't this just the life of retirement? With children at home who are sensible and willing to work, I can just relax and enjoy my old age..."

  Two people teased each other and laughed loudly in the courtyard.

  Shen Sisi couldn't help but laugh when she heard this. After finishing breakfast, she began to settle the accounts for yesterday's purchases with the Four Treasures. She counted the money and said with a smile: "Fortunately, we only entered the house once, otherwise we would have lost a lot of money. We only got 15 taels and 600 coins, but we spent nearly 30 taels on vegetables, things, and miscellaneous items..."

  Zhong Gen Sheng laughed and said, "That's because our family's dishes are authentic and we used spices as the base, so of course it costs more. If others were to do it, they would just put out a bowl of meat and a small fish on the table and that would be it, not even enough for each person to have a share. How could they possibly make a loss? They would definitely make a profit, even if people only gave them 20 or 30 cents as a gift. But our family is different, yesterday the least we received was also 50 cents..."

  "Because they think our family is good and willing to give us face, besides, for 50 cents, the whole family of seven or eight people can come and eat, it's a bargain! They also want to see the new house, who wouldn't want to come? They even make a profit from eating here!"

  "You this girl..." Zhong Gensheng was both laughing and crying, but he also knew she was telling the truth. He paused for a moment, then said: "Although it's like that, people from the same village can't have a falling out, if they're willing to come, we should treat them well. We can't be stingy about this kind of thing... I couldn't do it before because I didn't have the ability, but now that I do, I shouldn't do it either. As a person, you can't take advantage of such small benefits..."

  Zhong Gensheng is not that kind of person who is stingy with money, now he can think openly, Shen Sisi naturally welcomes it. In fact, when people are poor, most of the time they are a bit stingy, after all, there's no other way. Now Zhong Gensheng thinks so openly, Shen Sisi is actually happy, isn't making money for spending? But this way of spending, it's good that it's not every day, otherwise, we'd really be poor to death. Spending on herself, she's more than a thousand times willing.

  "I know, I'm just casually sighing... " Shen Sisi smiled and said: "But there are also generous ones. Niu Shu gave a gift of one or two silver coins, and I saw Tian Guihua's eyes were bigger than copper bells..."

  Zhong Gensheng saw Tian Guihua's eyes yesterday, and thinking of that expression that could eat people made him want to laugh. He agreed with Shen Sisi's point of view, but laughed and said: "I heard you gave Tian Guihua a bowl of seasoning yesterday? You're up to no good again!"

  "Who let her sneak into the kitchen? Hmph, if she didn't have a guilty conscience, why would she drink my seasoning?! Serves her right..."

  "Ah..." Zhong Gensheng shook his head, but there was a doting smile in his eyes. He also knew that Tian Guihua had always been restless, so he just smiled and let it go.

  Shen Sisi's eyes rolled around and she said: "Only Si Ba saw it yesterday, did he tell you?!"

  Zhong Gen Sheng saw her with a dangerous smile, and helplessly said: "You also don't always bully him, he's just a child, it's not easy for him in our Zhong family either, he's already very diligent. Don't always find trouble with him, yesterday he didn't say anything to me, I just saw him staring blankly in the kitchen and asked casually, that's when he told me..."

  "Dad, what's wrong? How could I possibly take advantage of him?"

  He also didn't dare to report it, and even if he did, who would be afraid of him?!

  Zhong Gen Sheng laughed and stood up, took the remaining dishes to each household to return things, tables, chairs, stools, pots, bowls, plates, etc., a lot of things, until noon before finishing. Zhong Gen Sheng was busy running back and forth, sweating all over, and the families who received the dishes were also delighted. Who doesn't know that Zhong Jia Tuni's cooking is delicious? Yesterday, even if the fish and meat were eaten up, but some leftover vegetables stir-fried out are also very fragrant, oily and salty, fresh, even if there is a bit of lard in it, each family is extremely happy.

  Few families in the village dared to eat lard like this, buying it was expensive, and even if they bought some back to refine, they had to save it for a long time. Unlike the Zhong family, who slaughtered pigs every day and had plenty of lard to spare, this pork fat was also wasted on them, so they dared to put so much in their dishes. The villagers were both envious and helpless, thinking that although putting so much of this stuff in the dish was delicious, it was also too extravagant...

  Zhong Gensheng ran a sweat and sat by the well to cool off for a bit. He didn't start dinner until Dabao and the others returned.

  They are still eating yesterday's leftovers today, although a lot has been sent out, but it seems that these remaining ones will have to be eaten by the whole family for another day. Shen Sisi means to try to finish all of them in one day.

  "Dad, now that the house is done...” Shen Sisi said with a smile while eating her food: “The fish pond needs to be started as soon as possible too. We should hurry up and dig it out before it freezes, and once spring arrives, I plan on raising fish..."

  Zhong Gen nodded, but worriedly said: "Building houses and digging ponds again, Tuni, is the money on your body enough?!"

  "Enough, although there isn't much now, aren't you selling braised meat every day?! I still have twenty or so taels on me, which can be used to buy some tools for the business first......" Shen Sisi smiled and said: "Dad, don't worry, when Fumanlou comes looking for me again, there will be more silver coming in..."

  Zhong Gen Sheng nodded and smiled: "I'm worried, although there's money coming in every day at home, but digging a pond still needs to prepare food, buy tools, pay wages, and when it's dug out, next year we'll have to buy fish seedlings. I asked one more question because I'm worried that the money won't be enough, but I know you're someone who has a good sense of numbers, so don't worry, Dad will go to give them a heads up this afternoon and then buy some iron hoes and shovels and things like that back, it seems we'll need to buy several baskets to carry the soil..."

  Zhong Gen Sheng said with a smile on his face as he began to make detailed plans, looking very pleased.

  "Father, don't worry, our family will never be short of money again, I guarantee it..."

  Zhong Gen stroked her head lovingly and said, "It's Dad's fault for making you think about ways to make money at such a young age..."

  "That's because I'm clever and can earn this money, right, Dad, Mom..."

  Niu Xiaohua burst out laughing and said, "Yes, mother, only a clever girl like Tuni can earn this kind of money. Which family in the village is as good as ours, with Tuni..."

  He Ahxiu smiled lightly and said, "Yes, in this village, only our family's Tuni has the talent to make so many dishes. Didn't you hear that yesterday the whole village was envying me for giving birth to a good daughter?"

  Shen Sisi burst out laughing, and He Axiu smiled: "One is skilled in cooking, the other is skilled in embroidery, our two daughters are each outstanding in their own way..."

  Zhong Gen nodded and smiled: "Yes, this is indeed correct..."

  The couple burst out laughing, Shen Sisi didn't blush at all, but Niu Xiaohua's face turned red with shyness. Si Ba looked on in secret amazement - this country girl was really not shy at all; her face had all sorts of expressions, except for shyness...

  Is she still a little girl?! Or is it some kind of monster from somewhere, the four treasures were muttering in their hearts, but they didn't dare to say it out loud, and could only use force to scrape the dishes in the bowl.

  The Zhong family's courtyard, after the commotion of yesterday, had finally calmed down. It felt like there were more people around, and the red firecrackers from yesterday were still outside the gate, but it would take three days to clean up completely because they wanted to absorb some of the festive atmosphere. This was a kind of custom, but as long as it wasn't inside the courtyard, it didn't obstruct the view. So when the owner of Fumanlou arrived at the Zhong family's with his people and gifts in tow, this was what he saw: the red marks from the firecrackers, the red wooden gate, and... a grand mansion.

  The shopkeeper of Fumanlou was stunned at once.