Flowers are expensive

Chapter 24

"Where's the person?" Xiao's sister-in-law asked gloatingly, "Why didn't you see her come back? Did you hide in the house and cry?"

"Why is she crying..."

Just as he was talking, Lihua ran to the door of the kitchen full of energy and said with a happy smile on her face, "Wow, I can smell the aroma of the rice, and it smells sweet! When can I start the meal? My stomach is grumbling." Cooed!"

Sister-in-law Xiao was stunned for a moment, tired all morning, how can this girl still be so lively?Hong Ling and Huang Ying also felt a little strange, she didn't look like she had done heavy physical labor at all.

At this time, Duan Qigu said affectionately to Lihua: "Lihua, why don't you talk about it in the afternoon? That story is endless, isn't it?" Lihua gestured an ok gesture, nodded and smiled: "It's not over, there will be more later, in the afternoon Keep going!"

"That's great!" Third Aunt Dong clapped her hands and laughed, "I'm still worried about my son right now! So can you tell me the truth about whether Master Luo and the daughter of the Zhu family will succeed in the end?" "What are you missing? What's the point of talking about the end after the beginning?" Mrs. Gong waved her hands hurriedly, and said solemnly, "I heard from my relatives that there is a joke in Goulan (the place where I hear books) in the city. It takes half a month to talk! It’s interesting to listen slowly, isn’t it, Pear Blossom?”

"That's right!" Li Hua nodded with a smile, "I'll go back to the house to see Xie Manting!"

"Go, I'll call you when it's time to eat." Gong said with a smile.

"Wait," Mrs. Xiao seemed to recognize something, and hurriedly asked Gong, "So, didn't she plant rice with you? Just talk about Master Luo and Miss Zhu?"

"She is making trouble when planting rice seedlings. Brother Haitang said that she is not allowed to plant them. Not to mention the useless seedlings, we have to clean up the mess for her! Brother Haitang asked her to rest by the side, and she told us jokes. Who knows, it sounds so good! Listen to me, it's been a whole morning, and I don't feel tired." Gong said excitedly.

"Isn't it?" Third Aunt Dong nodded and smiled, "I've never felt that the morning passes so quickly! I always hope that the sun will rise above my head earlier, but today I think it's too fast." Several women Everyone laughed.Sister-in-law Xiao said with a serious face: "Ah? Didn't the housekeeper let her follow you to plant rice seedlings? She turned into a storyteller? She really knows how to pick up cheap jobs! Let the housekeeper know later, and you must clean her up!" "

The women's laughter stopped abruptly, and they all stopped talking immediately, and cast a cold glance at Mrs. Xiao, and each of them dispersed to rest.Sister-in-law Xiao muttered unconvinced: "It was originally!"

Besides, Lihua ran back to the room, walked to the bedside with a happy face and asked Man Ting, "Does the wound still hurt? Didn't you get up and move around?" Man Ting looked up at her several times, and asked suspiciously: "No Tired?"

"Tired!" Li Hua laughed after pulling Zhang Fang's stool to sit down, "I'm really tired after talking all morning, my throat is a bit dry, and I drank a lot of water."

"Speak?" Man Ting hesitated for a moment and asked, "Didn't you plant rice?"

"Cao Haitang won't let me intervene, saying that I'm just adding to the mess! Let me rest by the side. I saw how boring they were, so I told them stories. In the end, I talked all morning, and everyone was still enjoying themselves. Let me continue talking in the afternoon!"

Man Ting looked at her in surprise, and asked with a faint smile on his face, "So, you talked about books all morning? Didn't you go to the field to plant seedlings?"

"No," Lihua smiled and shook her head, "All the seedlings I planted are floating, and none of them can stand up. Cao Haitang is almost crying."

"Heh!" Man Ting pursed his lips and smiled, nodded and said, "You're really good!"

"What's the matter? Worried that I'm going to die from exhaustion?"

"Nobody's worried about you."

"What about it? Even if they're not real couples, they live in the same room and are considered roommates. Are you worried that you will die? Xie Manting, you're so boring!" Lihua complained slightly.

"Well, I used to be like that."

"Oh, this little face is so innocent... Forget it, I was thinking too much, okay?"

Outside, Mrs. Gong told Lihua to serve dinner, and Lihua responded and ran out.As soon as she went out, Haitang opened the door and came in, asking, "Is the injury better? Lie down comfortably and let your wife take care of you. You are a god!"

Man Ting smiled slightly and said, "Then you trade with me? I'd rather go down to work in the seedling field, I'm going to get moldy lying here."

"Do you want to go to work in the fields? Or are you worried about your wife?" Haitang smiled and said, "Don't worry, I will take good care of you. Hurry up and recover from your injuries. It's been a long time since you went hunting in the woods." , There are a lot of hares and wild deer waiting for us! When you recover from your injury, we will hunt some and come back to fight the tooth sacrifice."

"Wait for the meat?" Man Ting asked with a smile.

"Aren't you asking knowingly? It's not a day or two for my sister to pick. It takes half a month to eat back meat. Can Hongling and the others stand it? Hunting some came back and made air-dried meat. Occasionally, it's not bad to have a tooth festival." " "You treat Hong Ling very well." Man Ting said lightly.

"Aren't you treating Lihua badly? Then why did you ask Dongchuan to come to the field early in the morning to tell me something? Didn't you ask me to watch her because you were worried that she would be half dead from exhaustion in the seedling field?"

"It seems that my worries are unnecessary."

"That's true," Haitang said with a few giggles, "she's really interesting, she told us about the book all morning, even I was fascinated by it, maybe she used to be a storyteller."

"What are you talking about?"

"It's just...it's a story about Young Master Luo and Ms. Zhu. There is a feud between the two families, but the two love each other very much. The family refuses to let them get married. I don't know what's going on behind it. I have to wait for her to tell it in the afternoon. Yes. You can ask her yourself later, I’m going to eat, let’s rest.”

In the afternoon, Lihua continued to go to the fields to tell stories.Within a few days, people from the nearby fields were attracted to her, and they came to listen after finishing their work.Not only that, the elderly and children who are idle in the village also came to join in the fun.

At first, Mrs. Cao didn't believe that Lihua had such a skill, but she was shocked when she went to the field to have a look.I saw Lihua sitting on the edge of the field, surrounded by many people, all listening to her storytelling with great interest!The people in the country are really embarrassed to listen to it for nothing, so they help the farm planting rice seedlings, doing farm work and so on while listening.

Seeing this battle, Mrs. Cao felt a little unconvinced, and wanted to find an excuse to discipline Lihua, but Ma Liu told Mrs. Cao not to disturb Lihua when she found out.In this way, the seedling fields that originally took seven days to plant in Zhuangshang were completed in five days.Only then did Cao understand why Ma Liu didn't let her call Lihua back.

On the night when the seedlings were planted, Mrs. Cao took out two dried rabbits salted and sun-dried last year according to the rules of the village, and brought out two jars of shochu for everyone to beat teeth.

After holding the lamp for ten minutes, two large pots of roasted rabbit meat with mixed vegetables were carried onto two tables.One table for men, one table for women and children.Ma Liu poured two bowls of wine, picked up one of the bowls and took a sip, then passed it down one by one from the left, and then passed the other bowl to Mrs Cao, and said: "The wine tonight is called Qin Lihua Drink two more sips, she is quite tired these days."

Mrs. Cao was a little unhappy when she heard this, and answered in a lukewarm manner, saying: "Who is not tired during the busy farming season? Just seeing the people in the fields busy, they didn't see that there are still people in the yard. There are a few living people jumping around! To be honest, Mrs. Xiao is also tired, without her in charge of the kitchen, can there be ready-made meals for every meal?" She took a sip and passed it to her left hand. Sister-in-law Xiao, who was sitting next to her, rolled her eyelids towards Lihua, looking a little dissatisfied.

Sister-in-law Xiao took the wine bowl with both hands, took a sip and said with a smile: "Thank you for your care, I'm just doing my duty. I don't dare to drink too much wine, just make sense of it." After she finished speaking, she turned to the left again. Passed it to Aunt Dong.

It is the rule here to pass wine from one bowl to another.When it was passed to Hong Ling, although she felt a little dirty, she was too embarrassed to refuse, so she reluctantly took a sip and handed it to Huang Ying.Huang Ying frowned tightly, with a disgusted expression on her face, took the wine and handed it to Gong Shi next to her.Upon seeing this, Cao asked, "Why don't you drink?"

"My throat doesn't feel right, drinking alcohol burns my throat!" Huang Ying muttered in her heart after a perfunctory sentence, it's disgusting!Everyone is holding this bowl to drink, the saliva is all mixed together, how can they drink it?

"Even if your heart is burning, you still have to take a decent sip," Mrs. Xiao said somewhat proudly, "This wine is called invite rice wine, and everyone has to take a sip to invite the god of rice. In autumn, The grain harvest on our farm is abundant!"

"Just one bite?" Huang Ying asked unconvinced. "Unless you are not from the village," Cao said flatly, "as long as you eat from the village, you have to take a sip. Look, Liang Lao San—" She turned her head to Huang Ying's husband Liang Bai laughed and said, "I'm afraid your daughter-in-law thinks this wine is not clean? It's no wonder that there is probably no such rule in Bianjing, and everyone drinks it in small cups!"

The people on the table stopped talking, but Liang Bai was a face-saving person, so he hurriedly greeted Huang Ying and said, "Drink it quickly and pass it on. I'm still waiting later. What are you waiting for?" He took a bite and quickly handed it to Mrs. Gong.

Mrs. Gong is a drinker, so she took a sip and handed it to Lihua.When Lihua was about to drink, Mrs. Cao stopped her and said, "Guan Ma said just now that you have worked hard these days, so you should drink more. If you don't drink more, you will look down on Guan Shi Ma! Hurry up and drink."

Man Ting's injuries were almost healed, and he was sitting at the table of the men eating at this time.Hearing Mrs. Cao's words, he turned his head to look at Lihua, wondering if this girl would drink alcohol?

I saw Lihua holding the bowl and taking a sip first, after pondering it for a while, she said: "It's quite pure, but it burns your throat a bit, but it's definitely authentic, undiluted soju, not bad!" After she finished speaking, she held it and drank it After three or four mouthfuls, the people next to her stopped their chopsticks and looked at her in surprise.When she took her sixth sip, Mrs. Xiao had no choice but to stop her, "Pear Blossom, I can't drink it up, there are still people behind!"

"Ah? Can't drink it all up? I thought I could stew it in one mouthful and then add more!" Lihua smiled with a slightly flushed face.

"This is the first bowl of wine. Everyone at the table has to taste it. If you finish it in one gulp, what will the people behind you do?"

"Hahaha..." The men at the table next to them were already leaning forward and backward with laughter, and Man Ting couldn't help but pursed his lips and shook his shoulders and laughed.

Lihua herself smiled embarrassedly, and hurriedly handed the wine bowl to Duan Qigu next to her.Ma Liu got up and smiled at her, "Don't worry, there's still some in the jar! After drinking, I'll move two jars to the storeroom. Looking at Lihua like this, I'm afraid she's another wine general."

"Oh, Brother Man Ting," Dong Ping said with a big smile and patted Man Ting on the shoulder, "I envy you! Have you found a partner for drinking now? Which one of you can drink more? Have you ever compared? what?"

"Never mind your own business," Haitang stuffed a piece of tofu into Dongping's mouth, "I really like to meddle in business! Anyone can drink it, and it's a matter for the couple to close the door. Eat your tofu!"

Dong Ping put his arm on Man Ting's shoulder, chewed two bites of tofu and said with a smile: "Aren't I just curious to ask? I need to know how much Li Hua's sister-in-law can drink, so that I won't be hit by a knife next time. No matter how I ask someone to carry it back." It's not clear!"

(End of this chapter)