Thanks for the invitation: In ancient times, people shared children

Chapter 242

The children chose a bad day to worship Buddha. It was neither the first nor the fifteenth day of the lunar month. There was no free vegetarian meal. Everything became dull and boring, and even the Buddha's light seemed to have dimmed.

The child sat in the pavilion on the mountainside, leaning against the railing, gnawing on the mixed-flour black steamed buns made by Aunt Yu, sniffing the faint fragrance in the wind, with no light in his eyes.

Not even a bite of pickles...

"Twenty cents isn't that expensive..."

The child muttered.

Aunt Yu: "What do you mean by not expensive? My girl, you don't know how expensive firewood, rice, oil and salt are, since you haven't run a household yet. Twenty cents can buy a bunch of vegetables and radishes. If you had told us earlier that these were the things, we could have simply cooked them at home and carried them up the stove to heat them up and eat them."

"Not good at all!"

The ones made by Aunt Yu and those made by Fayuan Temple taste completely different.

The child sighed sadly.

Aunt Yu thought she was talking nonsense. Ten cents for a bowl of vegetarian rice was enough for two bowls of meat wontons at the foot of the mountain. She could eat anything, including vegetables and radishes.

Fortunately, she was smart and brought two steamed buns, otherwise they would have been spoiled. With that girl's appetite, two bowls would not be enough.

And that incense is not cheap either.

She had bought everything but forgot to pack it when she went out. At that time, she thought it was not worth a few cents and she had come so far, so she didn't bother to keep it and could use it next time, so she didn't go back to get it.

As a result, when she went up the mountain to ask, she found that the price had doubled. She bought it with gritted teeth. She wanted the monk to give her two amulets, but he refused. She couldn't bargain in front of the Buddha... In the blink of an eye, dozens of coins were gone.

I knelt in front of the Buddha and made wishes for a long time, but I don’t know if any of them will come true.

Aunt Yu's heart ached, and the child was still thinking about the delicious and expensive vegetarian meal, but he could forget about it.

They still owe famine.

The two of them gnawed on the steamed buns silently, stretching their necks to swallow them. There was no water or salt, and they felt extremely miserable.

Aunt Yu touched her purse, and the copper coins made a slight sound when they touched each other.

The child tilted his head up.

Aunt Yu glanced at her, touched her purse, then stuffed it into her arms and turned her head away, out of sight and out of mind.

Child:……

His head tilted back again and his body slid down a lot. He was a good kid, but now he was sitting there half dead and looked like a nobody.

She really wants to eat vegetarian food!

Lian Li, where are you!

The sudden nostalgia is without any emotion, just appetite.

By the time the last bite of steamed bun was in her stomach, the child no longer expected to have a vegetarian meal. She wanted to go out and play, but Aunt Yu said that she had fermented the dough and was going to steam buns, and if she went back too late the dough would ferment too much.

"So why send it..." The child grumbled sadly.

Aunt Yu: "If there are no steamed buns, what will we eat without fermented dough?"

"Eat bread, eat noodles, eat anything!"

"You need oil to make pancakes, and eating noodles requires too much flour. Besides, we left late today. If we don't go back now, we don't know what will happen to us tonight. My dear girl, if you want to have fun, let's go out earlier next time, on the first or fifteenth day of the lunar month. You can still have vegetarian food. Let's forget about it this time."

Aunt Yu always has some reasons for not allowing us to play, but she never says when the next time will be.

The child naturally couldn't persuade her, and went down the mountain with her with a pout, only then did he realize that he had been tricked.

This is a road Lian Li doesn’t want to take, Aunt Yu thought.

"It's still early, let's just take a leisurely stroll back. I looked around on the oxcart when we got here, and there are woods on both sides. If we're quick, we can pick up some branches and leaves to use as firewood."

As she spoke, she took out a sack and said with regret:

"If you weren't a vegetarian and didn't like killing animals, I was thinking of raising a few rabbits. They're not like chickens or ducks; they don't make noises, and if you keep them clean, they won't smell too bad. I could go out every day to cut grass and pick up leaves to feed them, and selling them during the New Year would also bring in some income. But I was afraid they'd get attached to me, so I gave up."

Child: "Forget it, I'm scared too."

The child was quite self-aware, but she couldn't bear to see Aunt Yu constantly worrying about money. After thinking for a long time, she said, "How about I run errands? The kitchen isn't always busy. If I run fast enough, I can do the shopping and deliver meals for others in my free time. The cooks often ask me to run errands, so I can take advantage of that time to deliver things for others."

"That won't do," said Aunt Yu. "Even if there's nothing going on over there, you shouldn't run around. Otherwise, you'll be nowhere to be found when we look for you, and you'll get into trouble sooner or later. If you lose your job, it won't make up for it. We're just relying on other people's power, and it's good enough to have a little freedom without having to work hard. Don't be too arrogant.

Besides, the errand runners outside are all idle men with no job to do. They will be happy if you take their jobs. But as a girl, it is not good for you to hang out with them. Don't even think about such a thing.

A while ago, I discussed with the landlord that we could open up a plot of land in the yard to grow some vegetables. Don't use all your spiritual energy there. You can't count things that you can't count. If you leave some, we can grow some at home and sell them later to make some money."

"This isn't a good idea." The child knew that Aunt Yu had been trying to distance herself from those people since the last incident, and always kept her from running around. The child did as she was told, but this matter was different.

"I've already promised Eunuch Zhang. He's been good to me, so I should do my best. There's really no reason for you to play tricks on me. Let's not talk about this again. I'll pay back the money I owe slowly. You don't have to join me, and you don't have to go to such lengths to save money for me."

The child actually wanted to say that if it really doesn’t work out, just divide the money and split it up.

But...Alas...

She was afraid that Aunt Yu would get angry because of what she said, but she was also afraid that she wouldn't get angry.

So I didn’t say anything.

But Aunt Yu still looked unhappy: "How long will it take for you to go back? After all, you are just a child and have no plans."

She sighed and said, "If you don't want to, forget it. I'll grow some vegetables for us to eat."

Aunt Yu was serious. Within two days, she had cleared several narrow strips of land at the base of the walls on both sides and under the windows. She also got some soil from outside the city and used old bricks and tiles from Zhang Fengci's house to build something like a flower bed and planted some fast-growing vegetables.

Based on the children's experience of farming, she didn't take care of it carefully at all. She didn't pull out the weeds even when they grew a lot. She watered them when she remembered to and waited for rain when she didn't. She didn't use much fertilizer and would occasionally damage the pumpkins.

She didn't put any effort into it, but her vegetables grew well, not many died, and they could be picked and eaten after a month or two. On the other hand, the children's...

Growing up is slow and troublesome, and if I'm not careful, I'll die in front of her...

This is simply unreasonable!

The child and Zhang Fengci studied hard, almost hanging their heads on the beam and piercing their legs with a needle. They vowed to grow the best vegetables to be worthy of their hard work.

I tried many methods, even imitating Aunt Yu, but the results were... disappointing.

During the harvest season, the child and Zhang Fengci looked at the desolate field and consoled each other, saying, "It's all your fault! I told you not to pour boiling water (or lime) on it."

People's joys and sorrows are not the same.

Aunt Yu gave Eunuch Zhang bitter melon and green onions.

The child suspected that she did it on purpose, because she hummed a song for a long time on the way back, and it was a very cheerful tune, which seemed to be something she never hummed.