Chapter Eighty: Inviting Guests

  Blocked a little boy, bought some lobsters and a two-pound fish. Because it was in the same village, although they were not familiar with Qi Zhen'er, they had also heard of her, and since they were about the same age, they only charged twenty cents.

  Carrying a basket of vegetables, she hadn't even reached the door when she saw Ye Baiji tiptoeing and constantly peeking into the house.

  "How did you buy so many vegetables? Are you going to invite guests?" Ye Baiji asked when she saw the things in Qi Zhen'er's basket.

  "Uh-huh, Grandpa is coming over for dinner tonight, I'll tell him about selling strawberries then," said Qizhen'er.

  Ye Baiji heard this and pointed at Qi Zhener with a trembling hand, her mouth twitching as she couldn't say a word.

  After a while, Ye Baiji finally caught up with him under the eaves and asked: "Didn't you say that it couldn't be told to anyone, not even parents, but you still made us swear?"

  She did say that and asked them to do so. However, she thought about it later and found their approach was not appropriate at all.

  "I said I couldn't tell Mom and Dad, but I didn't say I couldn't tell Grandpa." Qizhen'er smiled mischievously.

  Ye Baiji was about to retort, but the words reached her lips and she swallowed them back. Zhen'er didn't seem like someone who would do something so tactless. After thinking for a while, Ye Baiji couldn't figure out what was behind this, so she decided not to think about it anymore. She could find out tonight anyway.

  Qī Zhēnér looked at Yè Bái Jí, who was intently picking vegetables. She didn't explain or ask questions, nor did she get angry with her. In her heart, she was very happy for her. Perhaps it was because of her father's influence in the past, but Yè Bái Jí always used the most extreme methods to solve problems. After going through so many things, she had slowly begun to mature, understanding the bitterness of being poor and knowing that one should think thrice before acting. This was a good start.

  The soup in the pot has thickened to a milky white color, and the dishes are almost done. Zhen'er sends Hu'zi to the medical hut to call for Old Master. The medical hut is visible from the doorway, and this road is easy to walk on, so Zhen'er isn't worried about Hu'zi.

  Ye Lao Yezi didn't plan to come to Zhen Er's house for dinner, they had just built a new house and didn't have much money. They had to buy everything. But no matter what he said, he couldn't get rid of Hu Zi. Hu Zi was stubborn, his sister wanted to invite Grandpa to their home for dinner.

  The old man had no choice but to bid farewell to the Mao family and followed Hu Zi away.

  Zhen and the others had already brought out the dishes and arranged the bowls and chopsticks. As soon as the old man entered the house, Zhen and the others didn't say a word, inviting him to take his seat. They began eating dinner.

  The old man looked at the table full of delicious food and was very curious. "Who made this? It can't be Zhi Yu Tou, can it?"

  Ye Baiji used to be a person who didn't even touch the water of Yangchun, but after returning to her hometown, she took turns cooking with three families. She wanted to help her mother and learned cooking skills. Although she had Master Mao as a good teacher, she really lacked some natural talent, and her craftsmanship was only slightly better than Jiang's. When she heard Old Master's teasing, her face turned red.

  "Grandpa clearly knows I'm bad at cooking, yet he's still teasing me like this?"

  Ye Baiji's coquetry made the old man laugh, since Su Mu and Bai Wei grew up, it had been many years since there were no children in front of him to be coquettish.

  "Grandpa, try some of this fish. No rice vinegar. I used garlic to remove the smell, what do you think?" Zhen'er picked up a piece of fish with her chopsticks and gave it to Ye Lao.

  The old man likes to eat fish, everyone knows that. He not only likes to eat it but also understands several cooking methods, however, he has never been in the kitchen and his family members don't know about it.

  Ye Lao Yezi took a bite and couldn't stop praising how delicious it was. The other dishes also received his praise, even Qi Zhen'er, who didn't care about these things, felt a little happy in her heart.

  "Is this Big Bone Soup?" The old man looked at the milky white soup and saw that there was nothing in it except for big bones, so he asked curiously.

  "Hmm," Qizhen nodded and said, "Last time I went to the market, that stall selling buns had this soup. The shopkeeper said it's good for people."

  The old man used to practice medicine in the county town and had also been to wealthy families' homes, where he had seen such a soup. He didn't dare ask what it was made of, thinking it was something very precious, never imagining that it was actually made from large bones.

  "This soup is really good, you and Tiger's body are not good, drinking it has benefits. Using a big pot to simmer is too much trouble, you can buy some small ceramic pots, simmering this just right." Old Master Ye said.

  Zhen'er listened and thought, isn't that so? Her family's firewood wasn't much, she was still worried, it turned out she just didn't know how to calculate.

  After finishing the meal, seeing that almost all the dishes on the table had been eaten clean, Zhen'er felt very satisfied. She thought that these skills were learned in her previous life at the Qi Manor, and for a moment, she had mixed feelings about the Qi Manor.

  When she first entered the Qi Mansion, she was just a rough servant girl who swept and cleaned the yard. Anyone could bully her. Later, the small kitchen in the Qi Fourth Master's quarters lacked a scullery maid, and for some reason, the head cook, Old Lady Rong, took a liking to her and let her enter the small kitchen. The workload in the small kitchen was very light, but she had been diligent since childhood and didn't have many idle thoughts, only focusing on doing her job well to earn money for her brother. Old Lady Rong saw that she was down-to-earth and knew that both of her parents were gone, and she also had a sickly younger brother, so she pitied her greatly and wanted to teach her more skills to rely on, so she taught her own culinary arts. This is also the reason why her cooking skills are good.

  One time while hunting, there were not enough people, and she was pulled in to make up the numbers. Fortunately, she never slackened off, her hands and feet were still so fast, that during this hunt, except for her, everyone else got injured. Master Qi Si wanted to see this clever person, but because of her poor health and small stature, she looked like a little kid. So Master Qi Si transferred her to the study room to be a little book boy, as Master Qi Si didn't love reading books, these book boys had to help him complete his homework left by his teacher, it was also from that time that she learned to recognize characters. Some of the young ladies knew that she could read and write, they asked her to help them write their wills, they didn't want to die on the hunting grounds one day without leaving a single word or phrase for their families. For this wish, she practiced writing with all her might, her cursive script also had some flair. Later on, she somehow offended the head housekeeper in Master Qi Si's household, who secretly plotted against her and got her thrown back into the hunting grounds, where she was shot through the heart by an arrow and died.

  Before, she thought she must have hated her days in the Qi Manor, but now that she's managed to survive, it's all thanks to what she learned from the Qi Manor. Whether it was distinguishing the smell of wild beasts in the mountains, cooking skills, literacy, or even business negotiation techniques, which one didn't come from the Qi Manor?

  Zhen Er was deep in thought when Ye Baiji pushed her, "Huh? What's wrong?"

  Ye Baiji rolled her eyes, "I'm the one asking you something, okay? Grandfather asked you so many questions and you didn't even react."

  Qī Zhēn'er said apologetically: "Sorry, Grandpa, I was distracted."

  The old man waved his hand and said: "Don't listen to what Ye Baiji says, she loves to exaggerate." Ye Baiji stuck out her tongue in response.

  "Can you tell me now what you've called me here for?" The old man continued, "It's not just to invite me out for a meal, is it?"

  Zhen'er told Grandfather every detail about selling strawberries and also showed him the contract.

  The old man carefully looked over the contract and said: "There's nothing wrong with the document. It's just that you're being too hasty in selling strawberries."

  Jian'er lowered her head, and Old Master knew that Qizhen also understood the key point.

  "How careless!" Ye Baiji still didn't understand and asked.

  The old man was a bit disappointed. Bai Zhi was four years older than Zhen Er, but not as perceptive as Zhen Er in seeing things through. This was also because she had suffered less.

  "It was Luyuan and Zhen'er who went to negotiate the price. You are all still children, and even when it comes to pulling goods, there are only a few of you kids. Fortunately, the middleman is not a bad person, otherwise, you kids would be no match for him." Ye Laoye explained. Zhen'er must have also seen these things, which is why she thought of telling him about it.

  "But he paid us in silver, isn't that what they call 'silver goods and two terminations'? Does that middleman think we're all kids who can be swayed by wealth and want to swallow this sum of money..." As she spoke, Ye Baiji's voice grew softer and her face paler. She glanced at Old Master on the left and Zhen'er on the right, seeing they both had an "I knew it" expression, which made her heart feel even chillier.

  Zhen Er only suddenly realized when dividing the silver that this money was a lot. Qian Zhong Ren brought two carters with him. Plus he, an adult male. It would be easy to take down these four little kids. Fortunately, Qian Zhong Ren wasn't that kind of bad person.

  The old man, seeing that they realized the severity of the problem, thought that since they could earn so much money, he couldn't bear to be too harsh on them. He said: "This time, let's just forget it, but next time you can't be so careless. Since Zhen'er trusts Grandpa, next time when selling strawberries, call Grandpa over. This old man may not be good at anything else, but he can still handle the helm."

  Zhen'er couldn't help but laugh when she heard this, as she too had planned to sell strawberries and was looking for the old man to keep her company.

  Ye Baiji originally planned to let Zhen'er hide the silver, but since Lao Yezi was here, Zhen'er came up with a plan to hand it over to him for safekeeping. Ye Baiji thought about it and agreed that Grandfather had money, so he wouldn't mind taking care of this small amount of silver. Moreover, if Grandfather kept the silver, her father would never be able to find it even if he searched the whole house. After teasing Lao Yezi for a while, he finally felt satisfied with his granddaughter's trust and accepted the silver.

  With a weight off his mind, Ye Baiji hurriedly supported the old man back home.

  It cleared up for a day, and the ground was almost dry. This morning, everyone had to get busy harvesting in the fields. Zhen'er also heard the shouting outside and quickly got out of bed.

  After breakfast, Zhen'er took Hu'zi to Ye's house for a visit. The Ma family had also finished their breakfast and were tidying up the farm tools. Qi Zhen'er greeted them and began looking for Ye Baiju and Ye Baiwei.

  Because Mr. Mao said that Ye Baiwei is going to get married this year, and they are also helping Ye Shixie and Ye Shiyan with the harvest for the last time, so Ye Baiwei, Ye Shiyan, and Ye Baizhi all need to go down to the fields. Firstly, to experience the difficulties of life, secondly, in the future, they will have to rely on themselves, and they must have a solid foundation in their hearts.

  Of course, the second house should have been Ye Shi Xie's responsibility, but he is still not well and lies in bed all day cursing. Ye Bai Ju volunteered to take his place. Mao Shi liked her progressive nephews and nieces, so she gladly agreed.

  She also wanted to help the Ye family, but last time she slept for so long and scared everyone who knew about it. Moreover, Old Master said that her body was not good, and Madame Mao would not agree no matter what. Zhen'er also felt that her own body was not as good as before, and it's better to avoid adding trouble after giving birth, so she didn't insist.

  When Zhen'er found them, the two were in the room holding straw hats and gesturing, laughing happily, as if they were not going to harvest but to have fun somewhere.

  After leaving Ye's house, Qizhen hurriedly picked up a basket of strawberries she had picked last night and rushed to the village entrance. The ox cart hadn't left yet, so she quickly got on with Hu'erzi.