Chapter 61: The Stall Trouble
As night fell, in order to prevent the night dew from wetting the millet piled in the yard, Liu found a piece of worn tarpaulin and Qianhuan helped to cover the rice with it. The two also picked up some stones and pressed them on the edge of the tarpaulin to prevent it from being blown away by the wind at night.
After finishing her work and entering the house, Qianhuan said to Liu: "Mom, our family has harvested all the millet. I plan to go to the county town to set up a stall tomorrow. We still have more than 900 kilograms of raw chestnuts at home. Let's sell these first and then make plans."
"Qianhuan, if both of us go to set up the stall, what will happen if your father is left alone at home with no one to take care of him? He needs to take medicine twice a day." Liu asked worriedly.
Liang Lao Er was lying on the bed, and heard the conversation between his wife and daughter in the main room. He shouted, "Chun Xiang, it doesn't matter if I'm alone at home. You and Qian Huan just need to go and set up the stall."
When Liu heard Liang Laoer talking, she hurried into the house. She looked at her husband on the bed with a worried look on her face and said, "You can only lie in bed and recuperate now. There is no one at home to take care of you. I am really worried."
"It's okay. I'm totally fine being home alone."
"Mom, please prepare the medicine for Dad in the morning. We will let Dad drink the medicine once before going out in the morning, and then drink the medicine for the second time after we come back from closing the stall in the evening. We will heat up the food for Dad at noon in the pot. You can tell Aunt Cui next door and ask them to help bring it to Dad at noon." Qianhuan had already thought of everything.
"Qianhuan, you are very thoughtful. Let's do as you say. Let's go next door and tell Cui." Seeing that her daughter had arranged everything properly, Liu felt relieved.
"Sister Cui, Qianhuan and I are going to the county town to set up a stall tomorrow. My second son's leg has been reattached, so he can't walk for the time being. I will prepare his meals in the morning and keep them warm in the pot. I will also trouble you to help serve the meals in the pot to my second son at noon."
"Sister Liu, don't worry. My Hu Zi happens to be idle at home every day, so just let my Hu Zi come over and serve the food to your second son."
Cui's son Huzi is also 11 years old, so serving meals is not a problem for him.
"The sun has been strong these days, and our millet is drying in the yard. Sister Cui, if you are free, please help turn it over. If it rains, please help us cover the millet with tarpaulin."
"Okay, no problem. I'll take care of the small things at home. You can go into the city and set up a stall to make money without worry." Cui agreed readily. Between neighbors, helping with this little thing was nothing.
The next day, Liu got up early in the morning to boil medicine and cook.
After the family of three finished their breakfast, Liu brought a bowl of medicine for Liang Laoer to drink. She warmed up the lunch she had prepared for Liang Laoer in the pot, and there was still some charcoal fire in the stove. She also took a chamber pot and placed it beside the bed for Liang Laoer to solve the problem of grain cycle.
After arranging everything, she went out with peace of mind and took a ox cart with Qianhuan to the county town to set up a stall.
"Brother Liang, your family hasn't come to the city to set up a stall for a while. Did something happen at home?" Shopkeeper Zhou couldn't help but ask with concern when he saw that they hadn't come to get tools to set up a stall for a while.
"Shopkeeper Zhou, I had a lot of things to do at home recently, so I took a few days off. Now as soon as I finished my work, I came to the county town to set up my stall." Qianhuan replied with a smile.
"My young master came to inspect our store two days ago and said that the old lady, the lady and the young lady in the family wanted to eat the sugar-roasted chestnuts in your store. But your family didn't set up a stall, so they had to buy some from other stalls and take them back. As a result, the old lady, the lady and the young lady in the house all said that the sugar-roasted chestnuts in other stalls were not delicious and tasted far worse than yours." Shopkeeper Zhou continued.
"It is our honor that the nobles in the palace like to eat our sugar-roasted chestnuts."
"Our young master said that if you set up a stall, when he comes to the store, he will ask you to leave 10 kilograms of chestnuts for him and send them to the restaurant.
"Okay, if your young master comes to the store today, please trouble Manager Zhou to send someone to tell me."
"Okay, if our young master comes here today, I will definitely let the waiter inform you." Shopkeeper Zhou nodded in agreement.
After Qianhuan took the tools and placed them on the stall, Liu started to make a fire and fry the chestnuts.
"Mom, I'm going to the shop in the west of the city to pick up the oil paper bags that were ordered two days ago. Is it okay for you to look after the stall by yourself?"
"Go ahead. I'm fine for now, but you have to come back quickly. Otherwise, when the chestnuts are cooked, I won't be able to handle it all by myself."
"Okay, I'll try to walk as fast as possible."
Woodblock printing had already been invented in this era. It took Qianhuan about ten minutes to reach the shop that made custom oil paper bags. When she got the goods, she saw that each oil paper bag was printed with the seven big characters "Liu Ji Kaikou Xiao Chestnuts", and she felt very satisfied.
She hurried back carrying a large bag of oil-paper bags, but when she arrived at her stall, she was dumbfounded to see that her stall had become a mess.
Several sacks filled with raw chestnuts were tilting all over the place. Fortunately, the sacks were tied tightly with hemp ropes, otherwise the chestnuts would have rolled out and been covered in dust and could not be sold. The several piles of firewood that were brought were also scattered all over the ground. Liu was picking up the firewood on the ground in a panic.
"Mom, what happened?"
"Qianhuan, you're finally back. Our stall was smashed." Liu said sadly to her daughter. Her eyes were red, obviously she had been crying.
"Who smashed our stall? Didn't Master Cai do anything about it?"
"Master Cai hasn't come today, and even if he did, he wouldn't be able to do anything. During the days we weren't here, the shop next to our stall was bought out and a new restaurant was renovated. Their owner said that we vendors were blocking the way for their customers by setting up stalls next to their restaurant, so he asked the waiter to drive us vendors away."
As Liu spoke, she felt very aggrieved and couldn't help shedding tears again. She wiped her eyes and continued, "We have a lot of stuff at home, and I was just a little slow in packing. The shopkeeper asked the waiter to smash my things. Fortunately, Shopkeeper Zhou from Zuixianju across the street saw it and sent people to help. They protected our boilers. Otherwise, if our boilers were smashed by them, how could we continue to do business?"
Qianhuan looked up at the newly renovated restaurant. The scale of this restaurant seemed to be even larger than Zuixianju across the street. There were four big characters "Auspicious Restaurant" written on the plaque of the restaurant.
Qianhuan knew that these people could open such a large-scale restaurant in a short period of time, so their families must have some background. She was just a powerless peasant girl now. In this era of hierarchy and disregard for human life, she could not afford to offend many people. A good man would not suffer a loss in front of him, so she could only force herself to swallow this anger today.
But she secretly swore in her heart: if she had the chance one day, she would turn this "auspicious restaurant" into an "unlucky restaurant".
"Mom, it's okay. We can just find another stall. Let's quickly pick up the firewood." Qianhuan said as she bent down and started picking up the firewood on the ground.
"Qianhuan, we don't need to find a new stall. Manager Zhou said that we can set up a stall next to his restaurant in the future. Qianhuan, I was narrow-minded before. I always scolded you when you sent them chestnuts. Today, Manager Zhou is willing to help us, probably because you sent him chestnuts in the past."
At this time, Liu was very glad that her daughter gave chestnuts to Manager Zhou, otherwise he would not care about their business. The other vendors who were driven away pushed their goods to find stalls elsewhere, and only their family could move to the entrance of Zuixianju to set up a stall.
"Mom, it's not too late for you to understand now. Having more friends outside means having more opportunities. Don't feel bad when I give gifts to others in the future. You can only gain if you give. People who are too stingy can't make friends."
"Okay, I know. From now on, I won't say anything to you no matter what you do."
After the two men picked up all the firewood and tied it up, the waiter from Zuixianju came over to help them.
"Madam Liu, Mr. Liang, our shopkeeper asked me to come over to help you move your things. I'm really sorry, but the store was a bit busy just now and I really can't spare a hand."
"It's okay. We are already very grateful that Manager Zhou asked you to come over to help." Qianhuan responded with a smile.
With someone's help, things went much faster and all the things were moved to the side of Zuixianju Restaurant in just a few minutes.
After the first pot of chestnuts was fried, Qianhuan brought another five pounds of chestnuts to the counter to thank Manager Zhou solemnly. After some refusal, Manager Zhou finally accepted her chestnuts.
Qianhuan returned to the stall and continued to help Liu with business.