“Tell me how you follow the young master and I do my work? How dare you be even lazier than young master me, even sleeping past the hour of rising.”
Gu Yi sat inside the carriage and counted Xiao Si through the curtain.
Xiao Si opened his mouth and tried to defend himself.
He had been up since dawn, but it was you, young master, who couldn’t wake up even after calling several times.
Before he could say anything, Gu Yi said, “Listen carefully, when you see the little girl later, behave yourself and admit your mistake, or I won’t spare you.”
Xiao Si’s open mouth closed, the young master just wanted him to take the blame, it was useless for him to argue.
……
Not only did Song Wan Yue follow to the county to sell cold skin, Song Si also followed.
The two only arrived home at midnight yesterday and had just laid down for a short time when they heard the commotion of the family getting up to make cold skins and also heard the suppressed voice of Grandma Song’s words, “I’m going along today, boss, you stay home and take care of the old, let your father go down on his own.”
Even if her son and grandson were in trouble one after another, even if she was strong, Grandma Song couldn’t hold on any longer, and her voice carried obvious exhaustion.
“Mother, stay home and rest, I’ll follow.”
Xu said softly, lest she wake up Song Wan Yue and Song Si who were still sleeping.
The two children had only returned in the middle of the night, so they must have gone everywhere to beg for help, and there was nothing they could do to help them now, so the only thing they could do was to let them sleep more.
Grandma Song swung, “I’ll go, you stay home.”
Xu’s body was weak, which was why the family hadn’t let her follow them into the field for so many years.
It would be more than worth it if Xu collapsed from exhaustion after a morning out on the stall.
When Xu was about to say something else, Song Wangyue pulled open the door of her room and came out, “I’ll go along.”
“I’ll go too.”
Song Si also came out of the house.
The two of them had just slept for an hour, so Grandma Song, who could not be bothered, swung again, “No need for you, all of you go back to sleep, I will just follow.”
“Today my elder brother and I have to go to the county again to get help anyhow, instead of waiting for dawn to walk, we should take the ox cart and go there.”
……
Today was a little later than the previous days, and after unloading the coolies, Song Shu and Song Shen hurried to move the tables and stools.
These were placed in Xu Lao’s house. In the past, Song Shu and Song Shen had followed them twice, but had not seen Xu Lao’s daughter-in-law, and yesterday was the first time they had seen her.
It wasn’t far from the market and the two of them soon arrived.
The courtyard door was wide open and Xu’s daughter-in-law was sweeping the yard. When she heard footsteps and looked up, she saw that it was them, so she put the broom down and helped them carry it, “I thought you weren’t coming today.”
Even if they sold a hundred copies a day, they would only earn a few hundred coins a day, excluding labour and materials, but she had received ten coins from the Song family yesterday.
If she didn’t take it, it would have been impossible for her to stay at home and take care of Xu Lao.
Song Shu and Song Shen couldn’t move the few tables and wooden stools at once, and they were thinking of coming back for another trip, but Xu Lao’s daughter-in-law moved the rest, “Let’s go, I’ll take them over for you.”
Song Shu wanted to say no, but Xu’s daughter-in-law was already walking quickly out the door, and they hurried to follow.
Liu Cui Lan saw Xu Lao’s daughter-in-law helping to carry the tables and stools from a distance and hurriedly greeted her, “Why do you still have to help to bring them here?
“I am idle ……”, Xu Lao’s daughter-in-law gave her a long wooden stool, “just in time to bring it to you, is there enough people, not enough I stay to help.”
“Enough, enough, just don’t bother you.”
Xu Lao put the table down, “I’ll stay at home and look after him, there’s not much to do, if you guys are too busy, let someone call me.”
Liu Cui Lan thanked her repeatedly.
Xu Lao’s daughter-in-law nodded towards Song Wan Yue and turned to go home.
Song Shen and Song Shu set up the table and stools with nimble feet, and Song Si took a rag and carefully wiped it clean.
Just after they had finished tidying up, someone came over to eat the cold skin.
Liu Cui Lan cut the cold skin and put it in a bowl, and was just about to hand it to Song Wan Yue when Song Si reached over from the side and took it, “I’ll do it.”
Liu Cui Lan’s lips twitched, but Song Si had already turned her head to ask Song Wan Yue, “How should I put these seasonings?”
Liu Cui Lan couldn’t help but redden her eyes again, fearing that Song Si would see her, she hurriedly lowered her head.
Song Wan Yue told Song Si one by one, and after Song Si finished adding the seasonings and served them to the guests, he turned around and walked back to the case board, comforting Liu Cui Lan, “My son thinks this is fine, don’t be sad, Mother.”
How could she not be sad? Her son was expected to become a scholar and a government official, but now he had to help them sell cold skin.
Liu Cui Lan wiped her eyes and said, “I’m not sad, I’m just confused.”
“That’s it!”
The crowd of people in the market was suddenly dispersed, and a dozen of men dressed as houseboys with wooden sticks came from the end of the market, embracing Zhang Yao, before one of them saw the cold skin stall and pointed at it with a wooden stick.
Zhang Yao always travelled by carriage and had never walked before, but the market was so crowded that the carriage could not get in, so she could only walk, and for this little distance, she was already panting and sweating profusely.
When she heard the servant’s report, she stopped and stretched out towards one side. The maid who was following her with the basket hastily lifted the cover cloth and took out a piece of pastry and handed it to her, Zhang Yao took it, finished it in two big bites and stretched it out again, and the maid hurriedly handed her another piece.
^0^ One second to remember [ ]
After eating a piece in a row, Zhang Yao patted, dragging her fat body to the cold skin stall, without saying a word, a big fat wave, “Give me smash!”
“You dare!”
Song Shu grabbed the kitchen knife from Liu Cui Lan and rushed to these family men, “Whoever dares to touch our stall today, I will fight with him!”
The shiny kitchen knife glowed in the sunlight, and Zhang Yao was so frightened that the fat on her face wavered, and she grabbed the maid beside her to block her.
Song Si came over to block in front of Song Shu, looking at these people, anger surfaced on his calm face, “In broad daylight, you want to smash our stall for no reason, is there any king’s law?”
Some of the household staff knew him and sneered disdainfully, “Our Zhang family is the king’s law!”
Hearing his voice, Zhang Yao looked up from behind the maid and was dumbfounded at a glance, such a handsome young man.
Song Si’s gaze fell on her.
Zhang Yao pushed away the maid in front of her, straightened her dress, stretched to hold her hair, pushed aside the houseboy who was in the way, and looked at Song Si smittenly, the harrumphs coming out of the corners of her mouth, “I, I can keep them from smashing, but you have to marry me!”
The surroundings fell silent, so quiet that the sound of Zhang Yao’s harrumphing could be heard.
