Around the end of the day, the sun was still hot, but those who were on their way had to get up, otherwise they wouldn't be able to reach the next resting place before dark.
At this time, everyone was busy on their way, and few wanted to stop for a rest.
Therefore, several groups of people came and went in a hurry.
In two cases, they took copper coins to pack some herbal tea and continued on their way without sitting down to rest.
Song Qiu looked at it, and estimated that the business would be done at most every day, and then he could start closing the stall. He should go back early to rest, and he would not be able to get up until midnight.
But there are also those who are tired from the rush and know that they can reach the next town before dark, so they are not in a hurry. When they see a tea stall here, they just sit in and take a rest.
This is probably going in the direction of Baishui Town, knowing that it is only a dozen miles away from Baishui Town.
At this moment, a group of people came in. They were people from a certain wine shop, specializing in transporting wine. The aroma of wine could be smelled through the carts of wine jars.
There were many young people in the group, and they all sat down, filling up five tables.
There were only two people sitting at a separate table. They were dressed in silk and they looked like the stewards following the car.
Song Qiu came up to greet him. One of them ordered a cup of mung bean soup for each of the waiters after hearing what the tea shop had. The two of them ordered a piece of watermelon and a bowl of iced fermented glutinous rice.
Song Qiu responded one by one and quickly asked Zhang Lihua to get busy.
Twenty or so waiters, each with a bamboo tube of mung bean soup, will finish all the mung bean soup cooked today.
Song Qiu cut two pieces of iced watermelon and saw that there were not many pieces left, so he scooped out the iced glutinous rice.
After the group had had a drink, had a rest, paid their bills and set off on their way, the sun slowly set towards the west.
Song Qiu counted all the things left today and was about to start closing the stall after a while. With so many things, it would take a while to pull them back one by one.
At this time, several half-year-old children trotted into the tea shed despite the heat.
"Sister, sister, I heard that there are ice drinks sold here? What are they? We also want to buy some to try." One of the boys looked at Song Qiu and asked.
Song Qiu saw that he was dressed in fine cotton and his accent was from their area. He was probably from the village across the street.
Old Yuan on the side looked at the person, but immediately said: "Isn't this the eldest grandson of the head of Jiang Village in Shitou Village across the street? You traveled seven or eight miles to come here, does your family know about it?"
This child Jin Gui is the grandson of Village Chief Jiang Du Miaomiao. I heard that he is still studying in their village school. He is a smart child. She was the one who gave birth to him back then, so she naturally recognizes him.
Seeing that Old Yuan recognized him, the boy was no longer afraid. "We had just finished school in the village. I heard someone said there were ice drinks for sale here, so we came here. It's too hot today. If you have any ice drinks, please give them to me."
Let’s get some, we want to buy it!”
When Old Yuan heard what was going on, he knew that this boy was not short of money for ice drinks, so he nodded to Song Qiu.
Song Qiu thought about what was left, and said: "There are not many ice drinks left today. There are only two bowls of cold shrimps, fermented glutinous rice and iced watermelon. Children can't eat too much fermented glutinous rice. You want cold shrimps."
Or iced watermelon?”
When the boy heard this, he frowned and said, "Don't you have mung bean soup, sour plum soup, peach ice drink or something like that?"
As soon as Song Qiu heard this, he knew that this kid had bought some iced drinks from the town's ice drink stalls, so he smiled and said: "None of them, but if you want to drink iced drinks, I can also make iced watermelon juice for you, do you want it?"
"Ice watermelon juice? Is that also a penny for a bamboo tube? There are four of us, and we all only have one penny. If so, we will buy it. If not, we will buy mung bean soup tomorrow!" The boy looked at Song Qiu eagerly,
Apparently they knew that iced watermelon in town cost three cents a piece, but they only had one cent.
Watermelon juice is a penny for a bamboo tube, which is a huge loss, but Song Qiu saw the children sweating profusely and nodded, "I'll sell it to you for a penny and a bamboo tube. Wait a minute, I'll do it right away."
.”
With that said, he walked back to the ice cube, opened the ice cube sandwich, and saw that there were still some watermelons that were not cut into pieces and could not be sold as one piece, so he picked out the seeds for them, took a bowl, and used a spoon to eat all the meat.
Dig it out and press it hard to squeeze out the juice.
I squeezed in all the remaining watermelon and used a large piece of watermelon that could be sold in pieces before loading all four bamboo tubes.
"Here, the watermelon juice is ready. Come and drink it while you're cool. Don't run around. Just sit here and drink it and then walk back slowly."
Several boys carefully held the bamboo tube, took out a penny and handed it to Song Qiu, then sat on the bench and began to drink watermelon juice with satisfaction.
"Wow! Watermelon juice is so sweet!"
"Yes, it tastes better than sour plum soup!"
“Better than peach ice drink!”
…
After the children finished drinking the watermelon juice and happily returned home together, the sun had already set on the western mountainside.
Song Qiu shouted to close the stall, and the three of them got busy.
The tables, benches, small stove, bowls, etc. were all taken home, leaving only a bare thatched shed here.
It took two trips back and forth to finish pulling everything, and it was almost getting dark.
Song Qiu was so tired that he lit a fire to boil hot water, took a quick hot bath, and then washed rice for cooking.
I was busy today, so at noon I ate a bowl of fermented glutinous rice and drank a cup of mung bean soup. I was really hungry at this time. If I hadn't bought steamed buns from the town in the morning, I would have been even hungrier.
Song Qiu still cooked rice well. He cooked a few more bowls of rice and made glutinous rice as before. The glutinous rice he made last time was sold for a day today, and it is estimated that it will be enough for tomorrow. This time, the rice is almost the same.
The rice was blanched in an iron pot at the back. Song Qiu put oil in the pot and cooked a bowl of long beans. The old long beans have seeds and are delicious when cooked.
In addition, I fried some chili peppers and fried bitter gourd, which was enough.
After eating, as long as there was a little light left in the sky, I mixed the rice with wine and rice dumplings, covered it as usual and put it on the stove.
It was already late at this time, and he couldn't see anything in the house. Song Qiu simply went to bed and waited until tomorrow when he was free to settle the accounts today.
It was around seven o'clock, so Song Qiu went to bed and fell asleep. He slept until the beginning of the year, got up on time, washed his face with cold water, rinsed his mouth, and went out to the backyard to hitch the mule cart.
After a while, Mrs. Yuan also got up. In addition to making mung bean soup today, she also had to make cold shrimps, so it was too late for her to get up late.
When Zhang Lihua came out, she also trotted over.
The two of them got on the mule cart and headed towards the town in the still dark sky.
All the way from the dark sky to the faint light, until the sun rises and illuminates the sky.
Zhang Lihua sat comfortably in the mule cart, sighing from time to time, "Ah Qiu, it's only been a few days, you've done a good job driving the cart, why don't you come and teach me tomorrow? You taught me how to do it."