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“Yes, we have money now!”
The four of them laughed.
It cost just ten wen for 500 grams, and they only paid 200 wen for so much meat. Qiao Xuan decided not to argue with them any more, so she smiled. “Then, I can treat you to a bowl of noodles each, let’s go!”
A bowl of noodles consisted of green onions, pickled vegetables, beans and a spoonful of bone soup added on top. It only cost three wen.
One egg could be sold at one wen, and villagers were not really happy to spend money upon buying one bowl of noodles, normally.
But they felt that they had made a fortune today, so they all agreed and went to eat noodles together.
When they were done eating, they went to fetch the bullock cart, and guarded their stuff for a while, whilst Qiao Xuan went to buy some garments and needles at the garment store.
The garments would be used to make the sole and the top of the shoes.
Summer was coming soon, and there were many kinds of beautiful garments in the store. Qiao Xuan picked some and decided to make three sets for herself and Shao Yunduan, two for her in-laws, and one each for the others, respectively. She even counted Yang Xiaoni in.
She also needed some underwear for the hot days. So, she bought some thin white cotton garment and decided to make two sets for herself and Shao Yunduan as well as Shao Taotao.
Girls from the countryside would normally make garments for themselves, so they knew about each other’s sizes. Qiao Xuan asked Shao Taotao to tell her the sizes, and gave the order to the garment store, telling them that she would fetch the clothes in a couple of days.
Shao Taotao was really worried about splurging so much money. But Qiao Xuan smiled and whispered. “We should not waste our time upon making clothes. We have to earn money during that time instead…”
Shao Taotao fell silent.
The manager of the store saw how generous Qiao Xuan was, and everyone laughed. They treated them nicely, and decided to give the cotton garments to them for free and gave some other beautiful garments as gifts too.
That made Shao Taotao really happy. She was definitely going to make a beautiful pair of new shoes for her beloved fifth sister-in-law!
As they left the garment store, they went around and saw a person selling small geese.
There were nine of them, bigger than a fist. They had long necks, and their eyes looked like black beans, lovely and cute.
Qiao Xuan bought all of them.
There were many chickens at home, but no ducks. Qiao Xuan had asked her mother-in-law about the reason, and her mother-in-law said that it was because ducks ate too much. Keeping them was not worth the while.
Qiao Xuan dropped the idea of keeping ducks. They could wait until they had more money in the future.
But geese were different. They only fed on grass, and little grains.
The family could stew the geese and eat geese eggs as well.
Ms. Fang saw the geese and said nothing, since she knew that they only fed on grass. She was glad too.
Shao Yunduan returned at four in the afternoon, and they all went back to the village together.
Ms. Niu and Ms. Ma did not show up this time, unexpectedly. Shao Taotao could not help but mumble out of curiosity.
Ms. Fang sneered. “They knew that we were going into the village to buy things for your brother’s wedding, and they did not want to be here in case we would ask them for money!”
They groaned so terribly about their poor situation, but that worked only on her husband, not her.
She knew them pretty well!
They were afraid of being blamed by her.
Qiao Xuan laughed. “You have seen them through, Mom!”
Ms. Fang was proud and replied with a smirk. “I have!”