169 Chapter 169: Collecting Eggs
“Not at all! Thank you, Mrs. Song!” Wang Xiaomei quickly thanked her.
She had to have confidence in this kind of thing!
It was rare for Mrs. Song to think so highly of her. She would definitely do a good job.
When they arrived at the hall and started their breakfast, everyone was full of praise for the bean sprouts.
After a while, Qin Xiaoyao told everyone about getting Song Yun to take on more work.
Song Yun, on the other hand, was very thrilled.
She had lost interest in weaving straw sandals recently and was even a little envious of Wang Xiaomei for being able to set up a stall.
Unfortunately, she was two years younger than Wang Xiaomei, and her strength was far from Wang Xiaomei’s, so she couldn’t help her sister-in-law much.
However, now that her sister-in-law had taken the initiative to ask for her help, and it even involved settling accounts and collecting money, she was naturally delighted.
With Xiaomei by her side, she didn’t have to worry too much about making mistakes. It was great!
“Ye’er can also help to harvest the bean sprouts!” Just as everyone was laughing and chatting, Song Ye suddenly opened his mouth. He even looked at Qin Xiaoyao with anticipation.
Qin Xiaoyao couldn’t help but laugh.
“Alright. If you can get up early, I’ll allow you to harvest bean sprouts with the two sisters.”
“The prerequisite is that you have to work seriously, and you can’t complain about feeling tired!” Qin Xiaoyao said.
Ever since they moved to town, because everyone at home was busy and Ye’er was more introverted, Ye’er didn’t go out to play with other children of the same age.
She had wanted to send Ye’er to the academy initially.
However, her husband didn’t allow it.
In this way, this little child’s life was somewhat restricted.
Besides learning from Song Que, it would be good to arrange some work for him and give him training.
“Mm-hmm! I’m not afraid of being tired!” The little child’s face lit up with joy as he hurriedly answered.
“Hehe! Of course! Our Ye’er is the most powerful!” As Qin Xiaoyao praised the little tike and even caressed his head, everyone laughed even more merrily.
They quickly finished their meal.
Wang Xiaomei then packed up her things and pushed her handcart to set up her stall in the market on North Street.
Qin Xiaoyao also packed up her goods and pushed her handcart out of the courtyard.
Madam Liu and Song Yun began washing the dishes and cleaning up the kitchen.
After everything was settled, they also carried the bamboo backpacks and baskets and went out.
Madam Liu and Song Yun had to go to the market on West Street to deliver the straw sandals to Aunt Li and collect some chicken and duck eggs for Qin Xiaoyao.
At the same time, they also had to buy food for lunch and dinner.
Of course, now that they had bean sprouts at home and still had the vegetables in the vegetable plots, they didn’t need to buy vegetables today.
When the mother and daughter arrived at the market on West Street, Madam Liu had just put down her bamboo backpack and was standing at the spot where she usually collected chicken and duck eggs when someone came up to her at once.
This was because Madam Liu often stood here to collect chicken and duck eggs, so some of the people who often sold chicken and duck eggs knew her well.
Madam Liu quickly greeted the sellers.
At the same time, she told Song Yun to deliver the goods to Aunt Li and buy the things needed for their home.
Hence, the mother-daughter pair split up and worked separately.
Song Yun walked to Aunt Li’s tofu stall with the straw sandals on her back.
After giving Aunt Li the straw sandals she asked for, Song Yun went on to buy two pieces of tofu from her.
After that, she went to buy other things.
In the end, when she passed by the Qin family’s meat stall, she saw a few people surrounding Qin Dahu to buy bean sprouts.
Meanwhile, Qin Dazhuang was also cutting meat for his customers.
However, there was still quite a lot of meat hanging at the stall. It seemed that the Qin family’s meat business wasn’t very good today.
Song Yun walked towards the meat stall and said to Qin Dazhuang, “Uncle Qin, I’ll have one catty of tenderloin and one catty of streaky pork!”
Ever since they moved to town, they had meat on the dining table every day.
As for the pork they ate at home, they had always bought it from Uncle Qin’s family.
“Alright! You’re here again today? Did Mother Song go to collect eggs again?” Qin Dazhuang asked with a smile.
“Yes! If Brother Daniu doesn’t have enough eggs, Mom and I will come to the market to collect some to make up for it,” Song Yun replied with a smile.
At this moment, Qin Dahu looked over.
“Yun’er, you’re here!” He greeted Song Yun with a smile.
“Speaking of century eggs! Dad, why don’t I go and buy a few dozen eggs? We can send them to Younger Sis for her to help us make century eggs. It’ll also save you from giving us that look of heartache every time we take out the century eggs,” Qin Dahu said with a laugh.
He had not forgotten what his father said to his younger sister at the Song family’s place.
His father said to send the eggs over and give his younger sister some labor fees in exchange for the century eggs.
Although they were still taking advantage of his younger sister’s family at the end of the day, at least they didn’t let his younger sister suffer too big a loss. If he did it this way, he wouldn’t feel so bad inwardly.
Qin Dazhuang glanced at his eldest son.
“What’s the hurry? Don’t we still have century eggs at home? If you want to eat, just take and eat. Don’t put the blame on your old man!” he responded.
Qin Dahu scratched his head.
...
“But, when Younger Sis finishes making the century eggs, the eggs have to be stored for one month before they can be eaten. If I send the eggs earlier and then go get the century eggs later, it will also help to reduce the time Young Sis has already spent making them.”
Qin Dazhuang was caught by surprise.
He felt that his eldest son’s words made sense.
“Then send more over! Send them today!” he said.
Previously, he had only thought of paying his daughter for the labor so that she would not suffer a loss.
He had forgotten that it would take some time for the century eggs to ripen, and the time taken was a month.
That would mean that they could only retrieve the eggs they sent one month later so that his daughter wouldn’t suffer a loss, wouldn’t it?
Song Yun laughed at the interaction between the Qin father and son.
“No need. Sister-in-law is making 500 century eggs a day, and Fortune Mansion can’t use up all of them.”
“If she shared some with you guys and our household consumes some, there’s still a lot more left over.”
The Qin family father and son were both stunned.
...
After that, the father and son stopped arguing.
“Then you decide for yourself,” Qin Dazhuang said to Qin Dahu.
Qin Dahu smiled and answered, “Alright!”
Seeing that someone had come to ask about the bean sprouts again, he quickly turned to serve the customer.
“This vegetable is very fresh and tender. It’s only two copper coins per catty. That’s enough to eat for two meals!”
“Then give me one catty!”
“Alright!” Qin Dahu hurriedly began weighing.
At the same time, Qin Dazhuang also began cutting two pieces of meat for Song Yun.
Only then did Song Yun look away from Qin Dahu and pay the bill.
Thereafter, she said goodbye to the Qin family’s father and son and left.
After buying some other stuff on the way, Song Yun returned to Madam Liu’s side.
At this point, Madam Liu had already collected 150 eggs, and it was almost time to pack up.
When she saw her daughter return, a smile appeared on her face.
“Have you bought everything?” Madam Liu asked.
“Mm-hmm!” Song Yun replied.
She returned the money pouch that Madam Liu had given her.
Madam Liu took the money pouch and put it away.
“I’ll take 50 more eggs, and then we’ll go home!” Madam Liu said.
As she spoke, she began to shout.
Though her voice wasn’t loud, everyone passing by and in the vicinity could hear her clearly.
Some of the people who were previously unwilling to sell their eggs at a lower price wavered after hearing this.
They were not willing to wait any longer and eventually sent the eggs to Madam Liu.
There were also some who had just arrived at the market and were too lazy to wait for a buyer, so they simply sold them to Madam Liu.
As a result, Madam Liu was able to collect the remaining 50 eggs very quickly.
Only then did the mother and daughter pack up the eggs, haul the bamboo backpacks on their backs, and carry the bamboo baskets home.
On the way back, Song Yun told Madam Liu about the situation regarding the Qin family’s stall selling bean sprouts.