Chapter 26: Great Harvest

  After the family finished dinner and rested for a while, Zhao invited everyone to leave. The crowd gathered together to clean up the things, loaded them onto the cart, Chen Tianfa pushed it, Rui Xuan and Rui Hao pulled it, and they went home with a loud noise.

  Xījiě was carried on her back by Zhao, and Xīméi joked: "Who was it that kept shouting to come, but now they still need their mother to take care of them?" Xījiě swung her two little legs, with a sugar cone in her mouth that some auntie had given her, sucking happily. When she heard her second sister say this, she immediately stopped and said: "Mother, I did a lot of work today, I didn't come here to idle around! Don't believe me? Ask Father."

  Zhao said with a smile: "Ask your dad? Forget it, whatever you say, your dad will just agree, and asking him is useless." "That's not true!" The little girl got anxious. "Dad, tell me, was I good today? Did I help mom with a lot of chores?"

  Chen Tianfa, who was chatting enthusiastically with his sons, turned his head and said "Yes, yes." Upon hearing this, the people behind him burst out laughing, and Xi Mei also shook her head secretly, thinking that this was a bit too coordinated.

  When they had walked halfway, Xi Mei leaned over to her mother's ear and whispered: "Mom, how much did we sell today? Did we make a lot of money?"

  Zhao patted her buttocks and said, "How can you ask such things? Little girl has fallen into the money pit?" Although she said so, but in her own eyes, there was also a slow smile.

  "Daughter, it's not right for you to say that. Haven't you heard? Money isn't omnipotent, but without money is absolutely impossible." Zhao asked in doubt, "Is there such a saying? I've never heard of it before. But what you said is true, having no money is indeed absolutely impossible."

  "Come on, wife, tell me quickly, how much money did we make? Is it enough to buy a head of cattle? I like the ox from Old Man Sun's house." The little one was happily twisting and turning on Zhao's back.

  Zhao looked at the father and son in front of him, although his eyes didn't look over but their ears were almost perked up. Not to mention the little tyrant beside him and the three sisters who were waiting for an answer without blinking. He shook his head with a smile, "I'm so busy today, I don't know how much money I've collected." After looking at the few people whose eyes had dimmed, he added.

  "Although it's not clear how much money was made, we've brought so many things and almost all of them have been sold. We can still make some profit. If you want to know, just hurry up and walk, once we get home and count, you'll know?" Zhao comforted a few people. But his own footsteps were getting faster and faster, which couldn't fool the several children.

  Xi Mei laughed on her back, haha, it turned out that the most anxious one was still her mother. She hugged Zhao's neck and said, "Mother, hurry up."

  A group of people rushed back, finally returning earlier than when they left by the time it takes to burn an incense stick. As soon as they entered the courtyard, Chen Tianfei didn't even bother with the carriage and threw it aside, following Zhao Shi into the house. Zhao Shi originally wanted to put down Xi Mei, but unexpectedly the little girl clung to her like she was stuck to her body and wouldn't let go.

  Two little legs clung tightly, and the small arms also hugged her neck tightly. Looking at several children outside, they all had an anxious expression. Forget it. Wasn't she just as anxious? "Alright, alright, let's watch together, but no one can go out and talk nonsense about what we heard, got it?"

  "I heard" replied in a drawn-out tone. After entering the house and closing the door, Madam Zhao carefully took out the package hidden on Xi Mei's body. Xi Mei was speechless for a moment, "Mother, you're too cunning! I wondered why you were so diligent in carrying me all along the way, not even letting me walk two steps on my own. It turns out that I had a 'huge sum of money' hidden on me, no wonder it felt so heavy!"

  But now there's no time to care about these things, Zhao poured the money onto the table, and Xi Mei swept a large portion of it into her arms. "Mine, all mine." Xi He said disdainfully, "Little money lover," if her eyes hadn't been fixed on the table, it would have been more convincing. The others didn't have time to notice them, they were all stunned by the scene in front of them.

  "Brother, brother pinch me quickly, is this real?" Before he could finish speaking, the wicked Zhang Zishang stepped forward and stomped on Ruihao's foot with force. "Take a look, is it real or not?"

  "Ouch, that hurts, you dare to step on me!" Ruihao hopped around on one foot. "Didn't you ask me to hit you?" Xiaobao looked quite wronged.

  "I'm called by my brother, you're not my brother, besides I said pinch not step." Ruihao's pitiful defense. "Alright, alright, look at everyone counting their money, why are you so troublesome." Haha, Xiaobao is extremely excited inside.

  Yes, Ruihao thought to himself, shouldn't I be counting money? What's the point of talking to him, and so he turned around and threw himself into the great undertaking of counting money.

  Among the pile of money, although there were a few silver coins, most of them were copper coins. After counting three times, Zhao finally believed her eyes, "Dad, how much is it? Is it a total of one or two silver coins and 500 copper coins?" Ignoring Chen Tian's grinning face, she didn't wait for him to answer before continuing to count again.

  "Borrowed 1 or 2 silver coins, pork costs 12 cents a catty, bought 30 catties, beef costs 15 cents a catty also bought 30 catties, 50 catties of white flour, each catty is 6 cents...” Everyone else laughed at the sight of Zhao's expression.

  "Goodness, I've lost count." After counting for half a day, Zhao looked up to see the children laughing at her, even Little Overlord had a smile on his face, and she couldn't help but laugh too. "I'm going crazy too."

  "Mother, you're not being unreasonable. You, in our family," Xǐ Jú stretched out her thumb, "are capable and intelligent." The rest of the people all nodded in agreement.

  "Alright, I'm not clever, the clever one is over there," he pointed to Chen Tianfa, "nothing's wrong with him, just making me lose face." This time, I've really lost a lot of face.

  "Mom, we borrowed 2 taels of silver from Second Uncle's house. We spent 360 coins on pork, 450 coins on beef, and the butcher gave us a discount of 10 coins. In total, we spent 800 coins. The noodles cost 300 coins, and we still haven't paid for the three jars of wine yet. Later, Dad will have to give them 120 coins, and there's also the vegetable money, 70 coins. Adding up the oil money and all that...". She bowed her head and started calculating on the ground.

  "Mother, it's almost enough to earn 200 coins." When Rui Xuan gave an answer, the whole family was stunned. "So much?" Zhao Shi couldn't believe it. She thought that after marrying into this family for so many years, she would never dare to believe that she could earn more than 200 coins in a day. Last month, her mother and several others had rushed to finish knitting socks just to earn over 200 coins, and now they earned that much in just one day?

  "Yes, we earned 200 wen in just one day." Chen Tianfa patted Zhao's shoulder, and Zhao looked at him with tears welling up in her eyes. "Mother, this is good news, why are you crying?" Xi Ju carefully wiped away Zhao's tears.

  Chen Tianfa also nervously used his sleeve to wipe away Zhao's tears, "Hurry up and stop crying, don't let the kids laugh at you." Zhao suddenly burst out laughing again, "Look at your silly face, aren't I happy?" Xi Mei now fully understands her mother's thoughts. Before, she was afraid of hurting Chen Tianfa's self-esteem, fearing he would overthink it, so she never dared to mention being poor in front of him. Now, she suddenly saw a way out.

  Crying is a farewell to one's past poverty and also a hope for future life, with the excitement of having the ability to fulfill one's son's wishes.

  Watching Chen Tianfa and his wife being affectionate, the children smiled and quietly left, Rui Xuan even considerately closed the door for them.

  Outside, Xi Mei suddenly remembered the account settlement at noon and pulled Xi Mei aside to ask: "Xi Mei, who taught you arithmetic?"

  This is terrible. If Second Sister finds out that no one told her it was her who counted, she'll definitely think she's possessed or something. What four-year-old can do such complicated math?

  Calm and composed, she lifted her head with a sweet smile "Second sister, it was Shang Gege who told me, he thought you wouldn't figure it out so he intentionally let me tell you. If you don't believe me, go ask him."

  "Really?" Facing Xi Mei's skeptical eyes, the little girl said: "It's true, second sister, don't believe me go ask?" Xi Mei bet that her sister wouldn't go ask, their relationship was so awkward, Xi Mei wouldn't do something to lose face.

  "Alright, I believe you, just consider it a small favor for a silly girl like you." After saying that, she got up and went to the kitchen. Xi Mei, who was left standing there, secretly let out a sigh of relief and wiped away non-existent cold sweat from her forehead. Good grief, this is terrifying, life is indeed exciting.

  Kids, see you next time with more exciting content! And happy National Day tomorrow!