Flowers in full bloom

Chapter 521 How to settle this account?

After working hard all night, Jiang Yunqi ate three servings of cold noodles in one go, then picked up a bowl of vegetable soup and began to drink it slowly.

Because Hualei and the others were eating in the lobby of the inn. The strong smell of chili and vinegar filled the air silently. As a result, the guests at the surrounding tables could no longer swallow the bland food at the inn.

Then the woman who bought the pickled fish yesterday came over first. After asking a few questions, she immediately bought six servings of cold noodles. Half a cup of tea later, she came over again and bought three servings.

This silent advertisement immediately gave Hualei a good place to sell the remaining cold noodles. The extra thirty or forty portions of cold noodles were sold out in no time.

Alas, I didn't prepare enough cold noodles last night, which was a pity. I thought I had prepared more and it should be enough.

If they can't be sold, they can eat them on the way. I didn't expect them to be so popular. Pearl took a bag of copper coins and got on the carriage with a clang, smiling so hard that her teeth were showing.

After packing up the empty plates and bowls and loading the things onto the carriage, Hualei and the others set off again. However, after walking only a hundred or two hundred meters, the woman who had just sold eggs came hurriedly carrying a few green pumpkins.

Behind him were several women dressed similarly, carrying various vegetables and poultry.

It turned out that when Hualei asked her to buy eggs, she casually asked if there were any pumpkins. Now, the woman who had been waiting for the pumpkins to ripen before picking them immediately returned home.

I made up my mind to pick seven or eight green pumpkins from the field and brought them to Hualei, along with three plump chickens.

Sister Lotus stepped forward, took the green pumpkin promptly, stuffed the plump chicken into a hollow bamboo basket, and paid the copper coins.

The woman walked away with the copper coins in her pocket, smiling happily. This lady was really generous, and even the people who followed her were generous. They gave her six hundred copper coins for just a few pumpkins and three chickens.

After looking at the baskets of several other women, Hualei told Sister Hehua that if they looked similar, they should just buy them all and there was no need to bargain too hard.

When the carriage started again, there were already seventeen or eighteen chickens and seven or eight ducks on the mule cart behind it, as well as a large number of fresh vegetables.

Hualei happily continued on her way. Since she got on the carriage, Pearl, who had been counting the copper coins, strung them together and talked to Hualei with a smile.

"Sister-in-law, the copper coins I earned this morning offset the cost of the ingredients, leaving me with more than 200 coins. This means that after so many of us had a free breakfast, we still earned more than 200 coins.

If this goes on, when we get to Mobei, will you not need to pay out the silver, and I will have to share the silver with you?" Pearl was overjoyed.

Yes, Hua Lei has never been a kind person. She charged thirty-five coins for each serving of cold noodles, and one hundred coins for three servings. The price was twice as expensive as the meat wontons in the capital. Anyway, the price was clearly marked, so anyone who was willing would take the bait.

"Hey, how do we settle this bill?" Zhenzhu was holding a string of copper coins and suddenly felt confused.

"What has been spent can be spent, and the money from the sale of the pickled fish and cold noodles should be considered as your sister-in-law's contribution." Rong Jin looked at Zhenzhu and said bluntly.

Zhenzhu glanced at Rong Jin, curled her lips, and said, "Brother, you are too stingy. Am I not your sister?"

"Didn't you propose this yourself?" Rong Jin glanced at Zhenzhu and said with a smile.

"That's the truth. However, you don't have to be so clear with me. You are much richer than me. My sister-in-law is also much richer than me." Zhenzhu stuffed the copper coins into the cloth bag and handed it to Qinghe behind her.

"Don't listen to your eldest brother. Just count the money we earn from the sale as belonging to both of us." Hua Lei said with a smile.

"My sister-in-law is still nice to me. Ever since my brother and sister-in-law got married, he has only been nice to her and not to me." Zhenzhu joked.

"But don't worry, I will record every single thing. I understand this." Zhenzhu added a few more entries to the account book and handed the account book to Qinghe behind her.

"By the way, sister-in-law, what are you going to do with the green pumpkin? Don't we have to wait until the pumpkin turns red and ripe before eating it?" Zhenzhu asked again.

"When we have lunch in the afternoon, we will make egg yolk pumpkin and stir-fry it with salted egg yolk. I'm sure you will like it. I will use less oil and salt, and you can eat it as a snack."

Hualei smiled and said, "We'll pick some green leafy vegetables and stir-fry them. They won't last long in the hot weather. But as for the chicken and duck, we'll have to eat them at night."

We'll see what happens in the evening. If we can get to the post station, we'll keep these chickens and ducks for a few days. If we can't, we'll just have to eat the chickens and ducks."

"Okay, I'll listen to you, sister-in-law. By the way, sister-in-law, how about making some old duck and dried bamboo shoots soup? The weather has been a bit hot these days, and we ate spicy food yesterday. Shall we drink some duck soup to moisten our bodies?" Zhenzhu smiled and pulled Hualei's arm.

"Okay, I'll take the dried bamboo shoots from the carriage behind. I'll ask Sister Hehua to soak them later." Hua Lei nodded in agreement.

"Great, there are delicious foods again. I was originally worried that there would be nothing delicious to eat during the journey, so I brought a lot of fried rice noodles, steamed buns, etc. However, now that I am with my sister-in-law, I guess that won't happen.

I ate two servings of cold noodles this morning, they were so delicious." Pearl burped involuntarily.

Rong Jin looked at the unpresentable Zhenzhu and turned away. In the carriage behind, Jiang Yunqi, who had not slept all night, was catching up on his sleep. Behind the horse team of the Zhenbei Marquis's Mansion, other carriages were also on their way.

On the way north, there are fewer and fewer towns. In a few days, it will probably take several days before we encounter a provincial capital or county town.

The weather this year was good, with good weather and good harvests, so rice seedlings had already been planted in the farmland not far from the official road. In the distance, some mountains would occasionally appear.

That evening, they still hadn't reached any town or post station, and there were fewer and fewer post stations. Seeing that the sun had already set, Rong Jin picked an open area not far from the river, stopped the carriage, and prepared to settle down here for the night.

Hualei got off the carriage and looked around. There were some sparsely grown thick broad-leaved trees around, and the leaves were quite lush.

There were relatively open fields all around, and from a distance, they were full of green, with rice seedlings growing better and better. Five or six miles to the west, there were about twenty farm families.

To the east, about 70 to 80 meters away, there is a 10-foot wide river. The water is quite clear. There are some wild lotus roots growing sparsely along the river. However, the lotus leaves are also graceful. It is indeed a good place to camp.