Chapter Eighty-Three: The Shop Opens

  On November 18th, the entire Anping Town was shocked by a piece of news: someone had opened a store in their town that specialized in selling pickled eggs!

  Stepping on the slightly cool bluestone, Xi Mei sneaked out of her new home.

  No choice, today the shop opened, busy to death, Zhao's family disliked her young age, couldn't help with work, and sent her to the backyard early.

  Taking advantage of no one noticing her, the little girl quietly opened the back door and slipped out.

  Afraid to run far, Xi Mei only dared to wander around her own shop, suddenly feeling a gaze staring at herself, and when she turned back, she found that there was no one.

  People are coming and going on the street, everyone is busy with their own affairs, who has the time to bother her? She's just being paranoid by herself.

  Patted her own forehead, laughing at herself for thinking too much, and continued walking forward with her sister.

  As she walked along, she found that people were crowded in front of her. Xi Mei stretched out her head to take a look, wasn't this the entrance of their own shop? Why were there so many people?

  He took two steps forward and heard a man with an out-of-town accent ask the person next to him, "Auntie, I'm asking you, what kind of business is this? Why are there so many people as soon as it opens?"

  The onlookers, a middle-aged woman, looked at him with a rustic gaze and said, "Don't you know? This store specializes in selling pickled eggs, do you know what pickled eggs are? They're something that only high-ranking officials can afford to eat."

  The man was surprised, "Auntie, you said that, so only high-ranking officials can afford to buy this? How much can it sell for? I estimate it won't make much money."

  Upon hearing this, the woman despised him and said, "I say, you outsider, how can you be so ignorant? Haven't you ever heard of a pickled egg?"

  The man smiled foolishly and said, "Auntie, I really don't know about this. Can you tell me?"

  Seeing the man's curious eyes, the woman felt that her image had been instantly enhanced a lot. Lowering her voice, she said to him, "I'm telling you, this pickled egg is only available in the capital city, and except for the high officials in the capital city, others don't have the good fortune to eat it."

  Seeing the outsider's distrustful eyes, Auntie became anxious, "Don't you still believe me? Go ask around and see who in Anping Town doesn't know?"

  "If Auntie said so, how could they have this thing and even open a shop?" the man asked persistently.

  "Ah, you're asking the right person! This pickled egg is something that even the wealthy officials in our town can't get enough of. Whoever eats it is considered honorable!"

  "Pausing for a moment, he continued gossiping, 'But you know, this town only produces a few hundred thousand eggs per year. Not even enough for me to snack on.'"

  Just after they finished speaking, they heard a "heh" sound coming from behind them. They both turned their heads around and saw a little girl with bright red clothes from head to toe covering her mouth and laughing.

  The woman was originally going to get angry, but when she looked at the little girl's bright and shiny eyes under her hood, her anger dissipated like a fire that had been splashed with water.

  He squatted down and said with a smile: "Little girl, why are you alone? Where are your elders?"

  Look at this child's clothes, they don't look like those of a poor family. I wonder if he got lost with the servant? The woman thought.

  Who would have thought that the little girl shook her head, and the silk ribbons on both sides of her bun moved with her movements, making it seem as if she was a little maiden under the Guanyin Bodhisattva's seat?

  Sister Xi spoke clearly, "My parents are behind me?" Her slender fingers pointed to the back. Then she shook her aunt's arm and coquettishly said, "Auntie, please continue, I want to listen."

  The woman saw the delicate and charming little girl making a scene with her, how could she possibly refuse?

  With a proud look at the out-of-town man, he said, "You know this is the best wine house?"

  The man was taken aback by his aunt's eloquence and nodded silently.

  The woman smiled and continued, "I'm telling you, even the largest wine house, Drunken Beauty, can't guarantee a daily supply, but this one is different. They dare to put up a sign saying they're selling it, which means they can guarantee a daily supply. Don't you think that's good news for rich families?"

  Xi Mei couldn't help but nod secretly, this aunt had indeed brought her three-inch tongue to its extreme, if she wasn't an 'insider' who knew that her family hadn't found a matchmaker.

  I thought this was a specially arranged play at her home.

  The woman said after discovering the outsider's sudden realization, "How about it? Are you surprised? This is something that only our Anping Town has, other towns don't have it."

  After finishing speaking, he kindly reminded, "Hey, young man, don't you buy some to take home? I'm telling you, once you leave this village, there's no such store anymore."

  "Well, auntie, you said it's so good, it should be quite expensive, right? I, I don't have the money." The man said honestly.

  The woman listened and laughed, "Brother, you're wrong. I heard that their family just opened today and they're doing what?"

  After finishing speaking, she fell into deep thought. Xi Mei saw her struggling and kindly reminded her, "Auntie, it's said that you can buy a catty with the original price halved, only 50 cents for a catty."

  "That's right, that's what I said." The woman slapped her forehead and exclaimed.

  The man patted his own wallet, 50 cents was really not cheap, but thinking of the people at home who had never eaten this precious thing, how much face would he have if he took it back? He gritted his teeth and decided to buy it, what's the worst that could happen with 50 cents?

  Then she turned her head and asked, "When can we buy it, Auntie?"

  The woman glared at him with a bad temper and then said, "How would I know? I've been waiting here for half an hour."

  Just as a group of people were waiting anxiously, several sedan chairs slowly appeared at the corner of the street. After the sedan chairs landed, the attendants carefully lifted the curtains.

  The happy sister who was pulled to watch the excitement took a closer look, and wasn't this just those people from the Zhang and Wang families again? Wait, no, that's not right. Besides the Wang siblings and Xiao Ba Wang, who jumped down from the carriage behind them, there seemed to be one more person.

  Several people walked to the front, and the family servants unconsciously made way for them. As they passed in front of her, Xi Mei quickly buried her head on the thigh of this aunt.

  I can clearly feel my heartbeat 'thumping, thumping' coming over, oh my god it's really scary. Speaking of which, since they moved to the town, this little tyrant has practically taken root in her house, making people so annoyed that they're about to die.

  One, two, three... Gradually, the dignitaries dressed in satin all walked in one by one. Only then did Xi Mei let out a breath, but before she could even finish catching her breath, she saw Xiaobao's figure walking towards her.

  Xi Mei tightly buried her face in the woman's legs, while Xiao Bao Wang circled around her twice, still hearing him muttering to himself, "Why does the little girl's ankle bell look so much like the one I gave to Xi Mei?"

  Not finished speaking yet, Zheng in front turned back to shout him, "Shang Er, quickly come in, missed your Zhao aunt's auspicious hour, look at Xi Mei that servant girl following you anxiously!"

  Upon hearing this, Xiaobao temporarily didn't have time to size her up and loudly responded with a "Coming!" before hastily following after her.

  This will make her sister feel completely relieved, if it's exposed like this, her face will be completely lost.

  Just as they had just entered, the crowd suddenly boiled over, "Hey, hey, aren't those who just went in the old masters and mistresses of the Wang and Zhang families?"

  Some people even exaggerated: "It's not just them, the county magistrate has also gone in. What kind of background does this Chen family have? How can they be so influential?"

  Xī jiě yě lè zhā zhā de xiǎng, jiù shì, tā jiā zěn me jiù zhème dà de miàn zi?

  Translation:

  Xi Jie was also delighted to think that her family had such a big face.

  But now there's no time to think about this, thinking about how to slip away is the right way, otherwise if her mother can't find her later, her own butt will be in trouble again.

  Gently, she wanted to break free from her aunt's hand, but the other party simply wouldn't let go, and was still persuading her, "Little girl, your parents haven't arrived yet, just wait a bit, there will be firecrackers and lion dancing later."

  Auntie, I know, this idea was mine in the first place, can you let me handle it for now?

  Let's ignore the excited sister for now, but instead, Chen Tian walked out of the house with a bright red face. He said, "Fellow villagers, today is the first day of my family's shop opening. I'm grateful that everyone can come and support us. Today, we guarantee that you'll be able to buy everything to your heart's content. Later on, there will also be a lion dance performance, so please feel free to enjoy yourselves!"

  Sister Xi is cheering below, her dad is pretty good, and the words are recited quite smoothly.

  Chen Tianfa finished speaking, and then Rui Xuan and Rui Hao walked out wearing new clothes.

  "Hold on, everybody move back, I'm going to set off the firecrackers!"

  The crowd spontaneously made way, and Zhao also walked out in festive clothes, calling on his sons to be careful when whipping, not to hurt themselves or the crowd.

  Rui Xuan's face was no longer as calm and composed as before, his eyebrows and eyes smiled as he replied to Madam Zhao, "Mother, don't worry."

  Just then, Little Overlord also jumped out from inside, shouting "Me too, me too."

  Zhao had no choice but to hand him a bamboo stick, constantly reminding him to be careful.

  As she looked around and saw that everything was ready, Zhao was about to go in to entertain the guests. Just as she was about to turn around, she caught sight of a flash of bright red in the crowd, exactly like the dress she had put on her sister-in-law that morning.

  Take another look, which is exactly what Xi Mei wore, this is clearly Xi Mei!

  Zhao's family was about to lose their temper, but thinking that today is different from usual days, they only coughed heavily and knew that the exposed sister had no choice but to raise her head.

  She smiled foolishly at her mother, and as soon as she looked up, Xiaobao saw her. He was waving his hands and feet, slapping Ruihao, "Look, where did Xi Mei go? I said, the one I just saw looked so much like Xi Mei!"

  He jumped and ran over, snatched Xi Mei's hand from the woman's hand, and walked towards Zhao's direction.

  Zhao looked at Xi Mei who was tugging on her sleeve, with big eyes blinking pitifully, and her gaze told her that she would deal with her later when she finished being busy.

  As she entered the shop, Chen Tianfa and his wife finally spoke up, ordering the three small ones: "Release the whip!"

  Suddenly, the loud and clear sound of firecrackers "Boom! Boom!" echoed through the streets.