After leaving Yu Ran Ju, Jiang Sheng walked as if she was floating.
If the seven or so taels of silver made her hands and feet tremble a few days ago, then today's fifty taels of huge wealth made even her goosebumps dance.
She finally walked to a secluded corner and took out the five ingots of silver with trembling hands and feet, nearly biting her tongue several times. "Uncle Zhang, Zhang, how should we, how should we split this?"
Zhang Qiquan also stammered, "Any, any way is fine."
Zheng Ruqian's eyes widened, feeling that he couldn't even stick out his tongue in embarrassment.
"Didn't we want to buy things?" Fang Heng was relatively calmer. "We can break the ingots when buying things, and then each person takes half."
Zhang Qiquan had no objections.
He was the main force in hunting tigers, but relied completely on these kids to sell the hunted animals, so each taking half was very fair.
Jiang Sheng also had no objections, and quickly stuffed the five ingots of silver into her clothes, re-experiencing the heavy happiness.
"We're going to buy meat, lots and lots of meat, and then buy quilts, one new one for each person..."
She was excited and started muttering calculations as she walked out.
Suddenly, the sunlight was blocked, and two shadows blocked their way out.
Jiang Sheng's pupils enlarged then contracted as she hurriedly covered her pocket and posed defiantly.
This was the first time she had earned so much money, and she absolutely could not let anything go wrong. This was more important than her life.
Until she heard Zheng Ruqian's confused voice next to her, "Little Four, Little Five, how did you two get here?"
Oh, it turned out to be Chang Yan and Wen Zhiyun.
Jiang Sheng's legs went soft and she almost fell to the ground.
Luckily, Fang Heng supported her in time, suppressing his laughter and said, "Don't be scared, they're our own people."
Jiang Sheng was unhappy. Who could have imagined that Fourth and Fifth brother who stayed home would suddenly appear in the county?
"Not long after you guys left, Pang Dashan brought people to the broken temple and tore down all the haystacks," Wen Zhiyun said sadly. "Little Five was worried about you guys getting into trouble, so he figured out a way to get a donkey cart over here."
"Now that we see you're alright, we feel reassured."
The group talked as they walked from the secluded alley back to the main road with people coming and going.
Jiang Sheng suddenly remembered something. "Fourth Brother, Fifth Brother, you didn't have any money, so how did you get on the donkey cart to come over?"
Wen Zhiyun opened his mouth but didn't say anything.
He really had no other way, but Little Five...was very smart.
Last time at the Zhou house, he falsely claimed that Zhou Zhiqui might have leprosy and forcibly locked him in the little black room for a few days. After that, Zhou Zhiqui held a grudge against Wen Zhiyun.
He didn't dare provoke the young doctor again, nor did he dare make trouble openly, he could only throw snakes, bugs, and mice stealthily, or urinate behind the broken temple as retaliation.
Today, Chang Yan deliberately poured water three times on the spot where he usually urinated, freezing it into a layer of ice.
Zhou Zhiqui accidentally slipped and fell on his butt, and his already alcohol-ridden body couldn't get up for a long time.
Wen Zhiyun appeared in front of him at the right time.
Although Zhou Zhiqui held a grudge, there was only this one doctor within a radius of ten li, so he could only swallow his pride and ask for help.
This time, Wen Zhiyun showed mercy and only asked for four coins.
The two used this money to pay for the donkey cart fare and hurried over to the city.
Although it was a little late, their brothers and sister were unharmed, which was fortunate.
However, Wen Zhiyun was too embarrassed to mention the process of obtaining the fare, so he vaguely glossed over it.
Luckily Jiang Sheng wasn't the type to dig to the bottom of things.
"Since you're here already, let's buy some things together. Today we can buy whatever we want."
It was rare for Jiang Sheng to be so generous.
The haystacks in the broken temple were demolished, so they should buy quilts, one per person, twelve in total.
The small donkey cart couldn't fit them all?
No problem, spend two more pennies and the owner will deliver them home.
The meat and vegetables could be kept in the cold weather.
So get two chickens, two ducks, a bag of sweet potatoes, two pumpkins, three cabbages, four bunches of scallions, and five turnips.
Seeing the cart full of supplies, Jiang Sheng smiled from ear to ear.
In her life, she had never seen so much delicious food.
Passing by the cake shop, the aroma drifted out. Jiang Sheng remembered that she had bought cakes for the White Boss last time but hadn't tried them herself yet.
So she gritted her teeth and bought two bags.
The fifty taels of silver were broken up and Jiang Sheng counted out twenty-five taels to give Zhang Qiquan.
Zhang Qiquan told the kids to wait at the intersection while he went to the most famous silver shop in the county.
Not long after, he came back pinching a plum blossom hairpin.
"Cui'er was born on the day when plum blossoms bloomed," he grinned. "This plum blossom hairpin will definitely look good on her."
The little donkey cart returned fully loaded.
Passing through town, many people couldn't help but look over at them.
Some who were acquainted with Zhang Qiquan greeted them, "Stocking up for the new year?"
Only then did Jiang Sheng suddenly realize that the new year was approaching.
Back at the broken temple, Zhang Qiquan came home pinching the plum blossom hairpin while Fang Heng agreed with him to go set traps on the mountain tomorrow.
Jiang Sheng and her brothers cleaned up the straw.
Although they had bought quilts and mattresses, they didn't have beds so they still had to sleep on the ground.
Previously, they had arrogantly discarded the haystacks, but in reality, the weather was severely cold. A single quilt couldn't withstand it at all, so a layer of straw was still needed as a base.
Luckily, none of the brothers complained and patiently spread out the straw before laying out the mattresses side by side, with quilts on top.
It looked just like a large dormitory.
Jiang Sheng happily crawled into the middle and wrapped herself completely in the quilt. This was still her first time owning her own bedding.
Smelling the unique scent of a new quilt, one couldn't help but indulge in it.
That night, Jiang Sheng looked at the newly bought chicken and duck meat but finally didn't lay a finger on them under her brothers' persuasion.
Her hungry stomach turned to the two bags of cakes, and she hesitated several times before suppressing the urge.
Zheng Ruqian giggled at the side, "Little Jiang Sheng, have a bite or two, no one will blame you."
But Jiang Sheng turned her head and buried herself directly into the soft quilt.
"No, I want to wait for Big Brother to come back."
Good food should always be shared with the whole family.
Late into the night, Xu Mo returned home covered in dew.
Seeing the ingredients scattered on the ground, his eyes crinkled as he put down his pen and paper and started cleaning up.
The chicken was very fresh. Red cooking it would be wasteful, so it'd be better to cook a pot of chicken soup with nothing else added besides some salt, which would be very delicious.
The moment he lifted the lid, the fragrance drifted out for ten li.
All the kids gathered around.
There were no tables in the broken temple, so they ate around the stove. The remaining warmth from the bottom of the pot could drive away the bitter cold.
The cooled cakes went perfectly with the piping hot chicken soup.
This meal was the most delicious they had eaten since coming together.
This night was also the warmest night.
Lying on the soft mattresses, covered by brand new cotton quilts, lying side by side on the open ground of the broken temple, they chatted idly with each other.
Gradually, Jiang Sheng closed her eyes first, and the others also became drowsy one by one.
Outside, the wind howled as the ice on the river's edge gradually extended inward, the translucent frost flowers spread through the grass, and those walking outdoors couldn't help but wrap themselves up tightly.
Only in the broken temple was it warm as usual.
The oil lamp burned out and went "zila" as it was extinguished, and the world became quiet.
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