My Siheyuan Shelter

Chapter 426 Coffee
Xu Dong smiled and nodded.

"Wife, please accompany eldest sister, I will go back and get the shrimp."

The stall owner seemed hesitant to speak.

Yang Lina quickly comforted her: "Don't worry, big sister, our house is right next to Panjiayuan, and we can go back and forth in half an hour at most."

"That's fine!"

After Xu Dong left, Yang Lina chatted with the stall owner about homework, and she was idle anyway.

"Sister, did you plant the melon seeds yourself?"

"Yes, more and more sunflowers have been planted in the past two years, and our balcony has been fully planted."

"Why not just grow potatoes or sweet potatoes?"

Yang Lina asked curiously.

The stall owner explained with a wry smile: "I used to grow potatoes and sweet potatoes at home, but it was too water-intensive and the output was not as high as expected...

After trial and error, it is finally the most cost-effective to grow sunflowers. It can be grown twice a year, and about [-] catties of coarse grains can be exchanged, which is much higher than the harvest of potatoes and sweet potatoes. "

"Seeing how anxious you are, is your family short of food now?"

"No, why not?"

The stall owner pointed to himself:
"You can tell by looking at me, which one is not short of food now, to tell you the truth, our family's October rations can only last until the 25th.

There are still six full days until next month!

If it weren't for the fact that I couldn't persist, I would be reluctant to sell the melon seeds now and save them for the Chinese New Year, at least for more than now. "

"Sister, how many people are there in your family? Why is the food consumed so quickly?" Yang Lina asked curiously.

"There are six people in our family, the old man and I, our son and daughter-in-law, and finally two grandchildren, one is ten years old and the other is six years old.

Originally, the rations could barely last until the end of the month, but the two children were so ignorant that they learned to steal food.

By the time I found out, it was already too late, and more than 20 catties of sweet potatoes were missing. Are you angry? "

Yang Lina helped the stall owner fill up the tea.

"Didn't you lock up the food?"

Nowadays, food is precious and is the lifeblood of every household. Most families hide their food carefully for fear of being stolen.

Even in the old Xu's house, the rice in the kitchen is usually locked in a cupboard, for fear that it will be ruined by the triplets playing house.

Speaking of this, the stall owner was even more angry.

"It's locked, why is it unlocked? But it's useless. The boss didn't know who he learned from. He secretly assigned a key. I blame my carelessness. Every time I cook, I don't even bother to check it."

Yang Lina is also a mother, so she couldn't help but care:

"You didn't hit the kids, did you?"

The stall owner shook his head: "We don't dare to do anything. The two children are already skinny. Let's not talk about playing well. If someone from the Children's Bureau finds out, it will be too late to regret."

"The Children's Bureau still cares about this?"

"In the past, we didn't care much, but now we are very strict. After all, it is not uncommon in our family. Some cruel parents can really kill them."

Immediately afterwards, the stall owner listed several real cases, some of which were read from newspapers, and some happened around him.

Yang Lina covered her mouth in surprise, she couldn't imagine this kind of situation, no matter how naughty her child was, she never hit her hard, at most she spanked her butt a few times.

After a while, Xu Dong came back with the shrimp.

The stall owner was very satisfied with the successful completion of the transaction, and repeatedly praised Xu Dong and his wife as good people, because the dried shrimps were worth three taels more, and they made a lot of money.

After sending the melon seeds back to the small shop, Xu Dong saw that his wife was in a low mood, and asked cautiously:

"What's the matter, wasn't it fine just now?"

"It's okay, let's continue shopping, maybe we can meet other good things." Yang Lina quickly adjusted her mentality.

But then, the couple did not gain much.

……

More than two hours passed in a flash, and it was almost the time agreed with Mr. Mike. Xu Dong brought his wife to Mr. Mike's new home.

"Dong dong dong..."

"Come in, come in quickly."

Mr. and Mrs. Mike are very welcoming.

Xu Dong looked at the furnishings in the house, and praised with a smile on his face:

“The house is beautifully designed!”

"Thank you!"

Xu Dong pointed to his wife and introduced: "This is my wife Yang Lina, you can call her Nana."

Mr. Mike stretched out his hand and shook Yang Lina's hand. He said that if you do as the Romans do, he has already changed the kissing ceremony.

Mrs. Mike looked very kind, holding Yang Lina's hand and kept asking for warmth. Yang Lina also liked this "foreign friend" very much.

Xu Dong couldn't help but exclaimed: "Mrs. Mike, I didn't expect that your Mandarin is not inferior to Mr. Mike's at all, and your accent is even better."

Mr. Mike laughed a few times:

"Haha, I learned Mandarin from my wife. She is my Xia language teacher, so she should be better than me."

Yang Lina took the opportunity to hand the bag in her hand to Mrs. Mike: "Mr. Mike, Mrs. Mike, this is the first time I came to the door, and I brought you ten catties of dried shrimp. I hope you like it."

Dried shrimp are used to "swap" the pastry.

Because Mr. Mike was determined not to accept money and said he would give it away for free, Xu Dong had no choice but to uphold the principle of "reciprocity" and give the other party a big gift as well.

Mrs. Mike was a little taken aback. Ten catties of dried shrimp was a great gift. It could be sold for at least 60,000 yuan on the market.

If you meet a local tyrant, one hundred thousand is not a problem.

"It's too expensive." Mr. Mike evaded.

Xu Dong waved his hand: "Mr. Mike, please believe me, these dried shrimps are nothing to me, you must accept them."

He also did this to make friends with each other.

From the last transaction, he found that this person's background is not simple, and he has a very wide network of contacts, and he might be able to use it at any time.

Mr. Mike showed a big smile:
"Using your Da Xia's words, then I'd rather be respectful than obedient."

"Mr. Mike, your Mandarin is getting better and better. You use this idiom very well." Xu Dong gave a thumbs up.

"Thank you for the compliment!"

After everyone was seated, Mrs. Mac quickly delivered a pot of freshly brewed coffee, and said modestly:
"There is only instant coffee at home, please forgive me, both of you!"

"It's nice to have coffee."

Xu Dong said politely.

Yang Lina was a little curious: "Nicole, where did you get your coffee?"

"It was given to us by my father's friend. There are many indoor coffee plantations in the beautiful country, and the output is quite considerable. You also know that we Westerners cannot live without coffee every day."

Mrs. Mark explained.

"Bullshit can't be separated."

Xu Dong secretly complained.

The Daxia people also like to drink tea, but the growth environment of the tea trees is a bit harsh, and in the end they replaced it with chrysanthemum tea, which is easier to grow, and the scale of planting is also limited.

To put it bluntly, it is not that the plantation factory cannot grow tea trees, but the question of whether it is worth it. In the current environment, the higher-ups are not fools and know how to choose.

ps: Ask for recommended tickets and monthly tickets!

(End of this chapter)