A little girl actually stood in front of his counter and boasted that she could make better wine than what he was selling now.
You don’t even have wine yeast, and you still want me to buy it for you. Where does this confidence come from?
What a joke!
The shopkeeper almost laughed in anger, "Girl, you are so boastful."
He looked carefully at the girl in front of him again.
She has no makeup on her face, no decent jewelry on her head, and she wears cloth clothes and over-the-top plain shoes. She is obviously an ordinary peasant woman from the village below. Only her eyes look livelier and her mental temperament is slightly different.
I don’t know how she can speak to me in such a loud tone.
"Don't you believe it?"
Zhuang Keqing opened his eyes wide, "How about we make a bet, how about you buy the wine koji for me, I will pick it up in a few days, and after a month, I will bring the brewed wine to you for tasting?"
"If it's not as good as yours, then how about I apologize to you and give you five hundred dollars for your hard work?"
"You're such a loud girl, why should I bet with you?" The shopkeeper rolled his eyes and stopped looking at Zhuang Keqing, obviously not wanting to pay attention to her.
This actually made the atmosphere cool down.
At this time, another customer came to the grocery store, and the shopkeeper didn't even need to look at Zhuang Keqing.
"Shopkeeper, hurry up and bring me some soy sauce and vinegar. Hey, Miss Zhuang, why did I happen to meet you here today? Isn't it the first ten days of the month?"
The person who came was none other than Zhao Ping.
As soon as he looked up, he saw Zhuang Keqing in front of the counter, and immediately smiled and said hello.
"Brother Zhao? I just went to Zhao's house and didn't see you. I thought you were not on duty today."
Zhuang Keqing smiled and responded when he saw an acquaintance, and the shopkeeper noticed the familiar tone of the two.
"What are you here to buy?"
"I'll buy some wine and go back. What about you?"
"Hey, it's not Chef Jia. He said that the kitchen is short of some things, so he asked me to buy them all." Zhao Ping scratched his head and complained: "He has so many assistant cooks, and he has to drag me here. It's really...
trouble."
"This is because I have a good relationship with you."
The two chatted for a while, and Zhao Ping left in a hurry after buying the things. However, the shopkeeper looked at Zhuang Keqing with more scrutiny.
"Do you still have contact with the Zhao family?"
"It's just some tofu ingredients, it's nothing."
"Tofu? Your family makes tofu? Is that the girl who came here every ten days before?"
The shopkeeper was quick to react and turned the corner in no time.
It turns out that this is the only girl selling tofu in the town. If it is her, then this bet is not impossible to try.
"It's me." Seeing that the shopkeeper's attitude seemed to be softening, Zhuang Keqing thought of Zhao Ping who had just appeared, and knew that something was going on. He hurriedly struck while the iron was hot, "Shopkeeper, just trust me once. If you are really worried, tell me immediately
You can also submit written evidence."
"Create written evidence? Are you still literate?"
"How about my husband-in-law, who happened to know him? The shopkeeper?"
The shopkeeper stood behind the counter, thinking to himself.
It just so happened that the store had to go to the county to purchase goods tomorrow, and the round trip only took five days. It was more than enough time to buy some rice wine on my behalf, and it didn't take much trouble.
He glanced at the girl standing straight and calmly in the store again. He was inspired by her confident eyes and agreed unconsciously.
"Yes, yes, but you have to pay for the wine first."
"of course."
Zhuang Keqing didn't mess around, he paid as soon as he untied his wallet, and the shopkeeper was impressed by his swiftness and simplicity.
"Is the document established now?"
"No, you can just pay. I see that you are trustworthy, so let's just make a verbal agreement."
"Thank you for your trust, shopkeeper, I will definitely give you a surprise."
Zhuang Keqing completed the task and felt happy. He thanked the shopkeeper, picked up the bamboo tube and left.
On the way back, she saw a man selling candied haws on the road again, and happily ran to buy two. After waiting, she celebrated with Shen Ling.
When they arrived at the bookstore, Shen Ling was still standing reading. He was so focused that he didn't even notice anyone entering the store.
It wasn't until Zhuang Keqing stuffed the candied haws in front of him that he was slightly startled.
The young man turned his head and saw the person. His tight and serious mouth suddenly relaxed, and the corners of his lips were slightly raised. A ray of sunlight came in along the door and spilled into his eyes as quiet as a cold spring under his thick eyelashes.
"You came."
Golden light spots bloomed brightly in his eyes, like silent and twinkling stars in the dark night.
Even though he faced this beautiful face every day, Zhuang Keqing would always be amazed by him in some casual moments.
Another day of being seduced by beauty.
Turning his head in embarrassment, Zhuang Keqing only blushed and raised his hand to forcefully send the candied haws in front of Shen Ling to cover up his embarrassment.
The shopkeeper of the bookstore smiled knowingly when he saw this scene. True love between a young couple is always rare. He couldn't help joking: "Oh, my dear, Mr. Shen is an adult, why do you still buy this kid's stuff?"
Shen Ling lowered his eyes and took the bunch of candied haws, "My lady knows that I like it, so she buys it every time. This is her sincere wish."
The tone of the explanation was gentle and caring, almost making Zhuang Keqing unable to hold the wine in his hand.
Hey, this guy, can you please stop talking like this? It makes her a little uncontrollable.
After selling the tofu and giving away a wave of vermicelli, Zhuang Keqing planned not to go to town for the next few days. He would have to wait for at least five days for the grocery store owner's wine to arrive.
The young couple drove the mule cart and returned as usual to buy big bones and meat. They greeted butcher Zhang and asked to save some ribs for a few days before returning to the village.
A few days later, the salesman from the field came again to purchase goods, saying that the vermicelli was indeed too expensive and not easy to sell. However, he would try again somewhere further away and asked the dealer girl to give him some time to look at it. .
Vermicelli is not easy to sell, but dried sweet potatoes are said to be very popular.
There was a recent discussion in the village that the old lady from the banker didn't know how to get the dried potato recipe from Widow Qin, so she made a batch of them and sold them in the town, and she made a lot of money!
"I heard it's ten cents and half a catty!"
"Why is it so expensive? Does anyone buy it?"
"Who knows? But I've seen that old lady smiling so hard these days that she can't even see her teeth. No matter how much or how little, she must be making a lot of money!"
"But ten cents and half a catty is too exaggerated. It's just made of sweet potatoes and is cheap."
"Who says it's not the case, and wasn't this the dealer's girl who did it first? She got it out of spite of her old face, without looking at what she had done before, and without fear of retribution."
In the morning, there are many wives and aunts washing clothes by the river behind the village. You and I gather together and chatter together.
At this time, we were talking about the business of selling potatoes in the second and third bedrooms of the banker. The second wife of the banker brought a basin of clothes to wash.
Everyone who was washing clothes by the river had their ears and eyes in all directions. They had already seen Mrs. Li coming. They were squinting and pushing, and they wanted to ask someone out to find out how much the dried sweet potatoes were sold for. .
In the end, Aunt Wang glanced at this bunch of losers.
"Tch!" She snorted from her nose and pursed her lips, as if someone owed her ten taels of silver. With a wipe of her butt, she took the basin and placed it next to Li.
But when he turned around again, there was a friendly and enthusiastic smile on his face, just like how familiar the two of them were.
"Hey, the banker also comes to do laundry?"
As soon as Aunt Wang made a sound, the people around her started doing laundry more lightly, and their ears were perked up to listen.
Mrs. Li was choked by her smile and almost turned over in shock.
After hurriedly packing up her clothes, she gave a weak "hmm".
Aunt Wang tilted her head and gave a disdainful "tsk", then raised her head and kissed her warmly, "I heard that your family has been busy making potato chips recently. Why did you get asked to come out to do the laundry?"
"It's okay to have a good life at home, but it's not easy to have clothes piled up and not washed."
Li answered one sentence after another, as if he was interrogating a prisoner, and there were not many sentences.
Aunt Wang couldn't stand the grinding, so she didn't bother to beat around the bush. She pulled Mrs. Li's wrist and asked: "People in the village say that your family sells dried potatoes. How are they? Is it easy to sell? How much does it cost?"
How many pounds?"
Before going out, Mrs. Qian warned her not to spread rumors about how much money the house sold for and how much money she made when she met someone when she went out. Her mother-in-law never told her in front of her, so how could she know?
But Aunt Wang's hands clamped her wrist like an iron vice, and she couldn't break free.
"Aunt Wang, I don't know, my mother-in-law is in charge of this."
"You are talking nonsense, you are a family, how can you not know?" Aunt Wang twitched her eyebrows and stopped smiling. She glanced at the people watching around her and raised her voice proudly.
She still remembers the bad things Zhuang Keqing did to her third son, and now she gets angry when she sees a banker.
At this moment, seeing Li's weak and bullying appearance, he felt even more energetic.
