Chapter 177 Don't Buy
After entering the city, the happiest people were the children.
Each family followed their parents, looking here and there, and were very excited.
Si Niang whispered to her elder sister Jin Hua, "My father is studying in the academy in the county town."
Jinhua cooperated very well and exclaimed, saying that her third uncle was so powerful, which made Liu Ji, who was eavesdropping, laugh so hard that his face was twisted.
He stole the show at the city gate today.
He wanted to see if the people in the old house would still call him a bastard after he returned to the village.
Liu Zhong and He Shi wanted to buy vegetables, so Liu Ji led them there. It was inconvenient for Jinhua and Jinbao to buy things, so they followed Old Man Liu.
Qin Yao took Dalang and the other three with Old Man Liu to look at the farm tools first.
With six half-grown kids following behind them, it was quite lively.
Fortunately, Dalang, Erlang and Jinbao have a strong sense of responsibility as older brothers. They each hold the hand of a younger one and follow the adults obediently.
But when he saw the vendor holding the target with red candied haws on it, he couldn't move a step.
Old Man Liu raised his hand as if to hit him, but Jinhua quickly said, "Daddy gave us some copper coins, we can buy it ourselves!"
"How much money do you have to be so arrogant?" Old Man Liu asked angrily. He raised his hand but didn't hit her, and retracted it halfway.
Jinhua quickly took out two copper coins from the small pocket that her mother had sewn for her.
Jin Bao was shocked, "Why didn't my father give it to me?"
They are all children of the family, why does the second uncle spend money on Jin but his father doesn't give him any?
"Grandpa, this is not fair, I want one too!" Jin Bao angrily stretched out his hand towards his grandfather, and received a slap from Old Man Liu.
"If you need money, go ask your parents. I can't control you."
Seeing Jinbao being humiliated, Erlang laughed unkindly, "Hahaha, you're the only one who doesn't have pocket money, we all have it!"
A'niang gave each of the four of them fifty cents in pocket money every month. The previous money was swindled away by their good-for-nothing father. Erlang and his friends regretted it so much that they should have spent it earlier.
After that, every month when Qin Yao gave them pocket money, the four brothers and sisters would quickly spend some of it, asking Qin Yao to help buy paper, or asking people from the village who came to the city to buy some meat. Anyway, they had to spend it.
Otherwise, you never know when you might be cheated by your useless father and your life would be wasted.
Under Jinbao's incredulous gaze, Erlang took out the pocket money of his brothers and sisters, giving each of the four brothers and sisters a candied haws.
Dalang didn't want to eat it and told him to give it to his grandfather. Old Man Liu was really surprised. When he saw the candied haws handed to him, he was so moved that he couldn't express it in words.
"Dalang, good boy, eat it yourself. Grandpa doesn't like it." Old man Liu refused with a smile and touched Dalang's shoulder. He felt that the child had suddenly grown a lot and was becoming more and more handsome.
Dalang shook his head and stuffed the candied haws directly into Old Man Liu's hand. "Eat it. It's sweet."
Qin Yao also said: "Please try it."
Old Man Liu confirmed once more that Dalang really didn't want to eat, and then he happily accepted it.
"Then let me, an old man, have a taste too. In the past, I only saw the little kids clamoring for it. Let me have a taste of what it tastes like and why they are thinking about it so much."
Jin Bao immediately rushed to his grandfather and said, "Grandpa, I'll go to the fields with you to harvest wheat later. I've grown up now and can do more work for the family, right?"
Old man Liu exclaimed, "Oh!" and looked at Liu Jinbao, the complaining guy, in surprise, "You're still working in the fields to harvest wheat? Don't shout that you want to go home to the toilet as soon as you get to the end of the field."
"How could that be!" Jin Bao held his grandfather's arm, staring at the candied haws, and said sweet words that he himself didn't believe, such as asking grandfather to take a rest and letting his grandson do it.
Old man Liu was amused by his greedy look, but he was soft-hearted and gave the candied haws to him without eating a single bite.
Jinbao immediately made a face at Erlang with pride, "Look, we have candied haws too!"
Erlang rolled his eyes, too lazy to argue with him, and ate his own candied haws, which was so sour and sweet.
Sanlang and Si Niang finished eating the front ones and couldn't bite the back ones, so they raised the candied haws in their hands and asked their eldest and second brothers to help them break off the upper half of the bamboo stick.
Dalang and Erlang scolded them for being so stupid and broke the pointed sticks for them.
The children ate very quickly, and by the time they arrived at the place where farm tools were sold, only the sticks were left of the candied haws in their hands.
Old man Liu bought two iron hoes without handles, and he could use them by cutting wooden sticks and attaching them to the handles.
I saw someone selling iron plows, so I gritted my teeth and bought one.
These farm tools are not cheap. Just these three items cost Old Man Liu three taels of silver.
Carrying the iron plow and two hoes, Old Man Liu felt both pain and joy.
Now the family has two iron plows and two more iron hoes, making plowing the fields in spring much easier.
Even after spending the money, there is nothing left from last year's grain sales.
Liu Zhong was going to hold another banquet. Although he received some gifts, he could barely break even, and he had to give out so many favors.
Qin Yao wanted to go to the cattle and horse market to have a look. Although she had no plans to buy a horse for the time being, she would consider it if there were oxen available at the right price.
Liu Ji was not the only one who was afraid of plowing the fields. She was afraid of it, too!
Dalang and Erlang could go down to the fields to help, but it was limited.
Old man Liu followed happily, thinking, "If we can't afford it, can't we just take a look?"
On the way, Qin Yao suddenly thought of Liu Fei's marriage and asked curiously, "Dad, how do you think I look like this?"
When talking about this, Old Man Liu's face fell, "Not very good, he didn't like any of them, isn't it infuriating, he doesn't know what kind of coward he is? He's still picky, saying he wants to find someone with a good temper, capable, and good-looking."
"Such a good girl, don't you think about whether she will like us? Even if she does, we can't afford the bride price."
Qin Yao raised her eyebrows in surprise and regretted asking.
Seeing that Old Man Liu was still complaining, Qin Yao quickly changed the subject, "Dad, look over there, someone is selling a cow and a cart together, let's go and take a look!"
"Where?" Old man Liu was indeed attracted, and called Jinbao to take his sister to follow, and a group of old and young squeezed into the crowd.
It turned out to be a second-hand ox cart, which had been bought less than a year ago. The seller was in urgent need of money and was anxious to sell it, so he asked for a low price, sixteen taels of silver including the cart.
Many people are interested and are bargaining.
The seller touched the cow, tears in his eyes, and refused to give up the price even if it meant sixteen taels.
Old man Liu carried an iron plow and went forward to take a look. He was not afraid of getting dirty. He opened the cow's mouth and took a look. Then he squatted down and touched the cow's legs and stomach. He also picked up the cow's hoof and looked at it. He was quite professional.
After reading it, he nodded with satisfaction.
The seller was delighted, thinking that he wanted to buy it, but he turned around and said to his daughter-in-law:
"The cow is really good, but it's a pity that we can't afford it. Let's go."
Qin Yao's family only rented ten acres of land, and Old Man Liu never thought that this little land would need to be plowed with oxen.
So when Qin Yao took out the silver and was about to pay, the old man was almost frightened and quickly stretched out his hand to stop her, "What are you doing! Put the silver away quickly, we don't want to buy it, we don't want to buy it!"
The latter sentence, "not buying", is directed to the seller.
The seller, who was already feeling uncomfortable due to the price pressure, finally saw some hope and almost shed tears.