Joyful Motherhood in a Rural Family

Chapter 364: Picking Up a Treasure

Translator: 549690339

The next day, early in the morning, Di Yelei climbed up the roof to start repairing the house.

Yesterday was the Minor New Year, according to the local tradition, people start cleaning the house today to prepare for the Lunar New Year.

He removed the straw from the roof completely and replaced it entirely.

However, since he had replaced the straw in the bedroom a few days ago, today’s work was much easier for Di Yelei.

Since the Di Family didn’t have any land to grow rice, they had no straw. But luckily, he had already exchanged a piece of preserved beast meat for a haystack of straw with the villagers. While he was outside changing the straw, Liu Sisi took YingEr, Liu Zhi’er, and Da Mao with her to help out at the bookstore in the small town.

As she expected, the bookstore was packed today as usual; even those who usually didn’t go out in the village had come out of their homes.

The best-selling items in the bookstore were finished products like spring couplets, window paper-cuts, and fortune children. The other most popular items were raw materials like red paper, colored paper, rice paper, and calligraphy tools.

Today, since Di Yelei wasn’t there to help, Liu Sisi didn’t offer customized spring couplets. She directly wrote the spring couplets and sold them.

Because of everyone’s word of mouth, they all knew about Liu Sisi’s reputation as a female tutor, so many people came just for that reason.

When her written spring couplets were put on display, they were often sold before they were even hung up properly.

Everyone was busy until late afternoon when the customers gradually decreased, and they were all exhausted.

Nan Tianzong shook his wrist and threw the brush-pen far away: “This is really exhausting! Even more so than studying for a whole day!”

“I’m worn out too…”

Liu Sisi felt her right arm trembling and didn’t want to move as she leaned against the chair.

“Let’s see how much money we made today! While it’s New Year’s time, we’ll distribute the earnings daily—everyone will have peace of mind and be cheerful about using the money and doing their work!”

Nan Tianzong happily started counting, and the amount of money on the account was indeed quite a lot, several times more than usual days.

“Fortunately, we hoarded enough supplies before this period. Otherwise, we would have run out of goods to sell!” Liu Sisi said excitedly.

Nan Tianzong also laughed: “That’s the result of your excellent planning and decision-making. When I came to the shop the day before yesterday, I was shocked by the amount of goods you had squeezed in! I never thought you would have such a big appetite!”

What Nan Tianzong said was true. The original break room inside the shop was piled high with goods, leaving only a bed and a passageway. How much courage must Sisi have to stockpile so many goods?

“Does this kind of thing require courage?”

Liu Sisi asked curiously with a calm expression, “Take red paper for example. Although few people buy it on regular days, its sales during festivals are three to five times more, let alone during the Lunar New Year. My family rarely buys red paper, but don’t we still get fifty sheets for the New Year? By putting myself in their shoes, I collated the statistics for the whole year, compared them, and calculated the demand. Naturally, I came up with such a large amount.”

Liu Sisi explained it as if it were reasonable, while everyone else listened, completely confused and not understanding what she was talking about.

A flash of radiance appeared in Nan Tianzong’s eyes, followed by a smile.

It seemed that he had inadvertently picked up a treasure!

The accounts were soon completed. After deducting costs, tenant fees, Li Wu’s one tael of silver, and Zhang Peng’s share, Nan Tianzong divided the net profit into ten parts according to their prior agreement. He took four parts, Liu Sisi took three parts, and Di Cheng took three parts.

Liu Sisi received her share and carefully counted it, totaling more than 163 taels of silver, which genuinely startled her!

“This…the income for today is even more than what we make in a month on ordinary days? It’s just unbelievable!” She held the silver money, unable to believe it was real, no matter how she looked at it.

“Pfft! Little Sister, now you understand my feelings, right?”

Liu Zhi’er, who was sitting at the doorway cutting window paper-cuts, couldn’t help but laugh.

Liu Sisi also laughed: “I really do understand now!”

It was just too far beyond her expectations. She pressed her sore waist, unable to help but furrow her brow in exhaustion.

Her fatigue was caught by Nan Tianzong, who immediately said, “Sisi, are you tired? There’s no end to making money, and your health is more important. Why don’t you take a break starting tomorrow? I’m planning to go back to the county seat to check on the two shops anyway. I bet they’ve been very busy.”

The busy nature of just this small town could give them an idea of how hectic the silver and wine-houses in the county were!

After considering her proposal for a moment, Liu Sisi said, “How about this? You can go into town tomorrow to check on the two shops. Tonight, I’ll write spring couplets at home. I’ll bring them over to sell in the morning, so everyone won’t be so tired. In a couple of days, I can go help out in town again. What do you think?”

“That sounds good! You’re pregnant, so you mustn’t tire yourself out, okay?” Nan Tianzong couldn’t help but remind her once again.

“Don’t worry, I won’t work myself too hard,” Liu Sisi assured him with a smile.

When she and Liu Zhi’er returned home that night, they found that Di Yelei, Zhang Peng, Li Wu, and the others had gone up to the mountain for hunting.

Of course, Zhang Yun had gone with them too.

Di Xuan had chased after them for quite a distance before eventually being sent back by Di Yelei with several backward glances.

Seeing the clean house with a new roof, Liu Sisi felt somewhat dazed, and even Liu Zhi’er, who was standing next to her, gaped.

It took them a while to find their words: “Brother-in-law…is so amazing! When we only had three thatched huts in my family, it would take me two days to clean them all, but he…”

“Yeah, isn’t it? Second Sister, you should have seen who he is married to!”

With a smug expression, Liu Sisi held her head high and entered the courtyard.

Her words caused the smile to fade from Liu Zhi’er’s face. She seemed to still feel the lingering warmth from when Di Yelei, drunk that night, had grasped her hands. Her cheeks flushed as she thought of his sturdy build and tense muscles…

She shook her head forcefully, trying to rid her mind of those inappropriate thoughts.

She couldn’t think about it! She shouldn’t, and it wasn’t right for her to think about it either!

After all, he was her brother-in-law. This affair wasn’t something she could accept, let alone expose to the world.

She forcefully slapped her flushed cheeks and took a couple of deep breaths before following Liu Sisi into the courtyard.

In the courtyard, YingEr, who had entered just before her, was happily playing with Da Mao’s hand; her radiant smile made her look like a beautiful flower bud.

She couldn’t help but feel a heartache. How wonderful it would be if her three children were by her side right now?