The four of them walked along the entrance, probably because it was still early, although there were many stores, but there were few open doors, and only a few stores that needed to prepare ingredients in advance had already begun to be busy.

Probably because there were no gas stoves in ancient times, the facades used to sell things were built relatively wide, and some of them still had earthen stoves inside.

Gu Huai put his hands in his sleeves, holding the bag of sugar-fried chestnuts and said slowly: "These tables and chairs are all official's, so they don't have to spend extra money, and the houses here are all built of rammed earth, which is better fireproof." ”

Gu Mingzhen said curiously: "Since it was built by the official family, why don't you use a brick house?"

"First, the cost of making this green brick is much higher than rammed earth, and secondly, in ancient times, this green brick was mostly used in the construction of mausoleums, the old man said that it was unlucky for the dead to use, although the two rulers before and after were vigorously promoting the blue brick house, but the old generation of ideas is deep-rooted, and it is easy to be afraid that it cannot be changed. ”

Gu Mingzhen sighed and said regretfully: "That's a pity." ”

The other three didn't know what she was sorry for, so they heard her say again: "Uncle, if you want to rent this store of the food street, who will you look for?"

The four of them happened to walk around, and returned to the entrance of the food street, Gu Huai pointed to the wooden sign standing on the side and said, "This is it, the tenant or sublease will be posted here!"

The wooden sign was empty, not to mention the rental notice, there was not even a scrap of paper, Gu Mingzhen hesitated for a moment, and then asked: "There is nothing on it, does it mean that there is no store for rent now?"

"Well, since the reign of the first emperor, the people's livelihood has been greatly improved, not to mention the land tax has been reduced by one percent, and the business has also shown diversification, this food street has a total of fifty-six stores, almost all year round is full of rent, but every once in a while there will be people who quit the rent because of bad business or something at home, so keep an eye on it diligently, and the façade should not be difficult to rent. ”

The food street is probably like this, it is not yet to the point where many shops are not open, and you can't see a flower anymore, and it is not early, if you don't meet a car on the road, it will take three hours to walk back, and you feel collapsed when you think about it.

"Uncle, there's nothing else to do, let's go back, we still have to go for more than an hour." ”

Gu Huai smiled: "Although you girl has been very bored since she was a child, she will not return to ten cows, if you really want to do a snack business, you might as well stay in the county for one night tonight, the night market will open in the evening, and then come and see." ”

Gu Mingzhen's eyes lit up when she heard this, and before she could speak, her sister had already opened her mouth first: "Yes, yes, sister, let's stay in the county for one night!"

Gu Mingzhen pinched her little face and said with a smile: "If we don't go back, my mother will be worried, if you want to go to the night market, turn around and call your mother, let's come together." ”

Gu regretted: "You two stay in the county for one night, I'll just go back alone." ”

From Chungu County to Qingshan Village, there are several sections of the road that do not have villages, although she is very moved by Gu Cheng's proposal, but Gu Mingzhen still doesn't worry about her, if there are more people in the morning, it's okay, now the sun is slanting in the west, and it is really not safe for a green girl to go on the road by herself.

But Gu Huai's proposal really made her heart move, Gu Mingzhen glanced at Gu Huai, this little uncle is really a reliable person, and immediately said: "Little sister, you can't come to the county twice a year, stay with Mingzhen and them for one night, don't worry about going back to report the news, Liu Dalang came to the county school today, just let him bring a letter back!"

Gu Mingyu jumped three feet high, this uncle rarely promises anything, but as long as he agrees, there is nothing that he can't do, and sure enough, as soon as his voice fell, Gu regret hesitated to agree.

The uncles and nephews wandered all the way back to the carpenter's shop, the door of the shop had been half-covered, and the three little girls followed Gu Huai into the house.

There were no lights in the house, so it was dim, but the curtain leading to the backyard was hooked aside, and the light reflected in the outside was enough to see the way.

When they arrived at the backyard, several people habitually looked around, this is a very ordinary ancient courtyard, the place is not big but it is complete, there is some movement in a room that is suspected to be a kitchen next to it, probably I heard the sound outside, and the people who were busy inside came out to take a look.

Liu Hongying wore an apron around her waist and a spatula in her hand, and when she saw a group of four people, she was slightly stunned for a moment, and said with a smile: "It's just right to come back, and you can start eating soon." ”

Gu Huai smiled and handed over the chestnut that had been holding it in his sleeve: "Eat it while it's hot!"

Gu Mingyu pulled her sister's sleeve with one hand, squeezed her eyebrows and winked at the front, Gu Mingzhen held back a smile and raised her eyebrows.

Gu Huai naturally couldn't see this little movement between the two of them, but Liu Hongying saw it clearly, although she did things neatly on weekdays, she didn't like to worry about some small things, and the neighbors praised her, but in the end, she was not very old, only two years older than Gu Cheng, and now she is only seventeen years old.

Liu Hongying's cheeks flew two shades of color, as if she had smeared a good rouge, Gu Huai turned around after a glance, and knocked twice on the heads of the two nieces, Gu Mingzhen hurriedly reached out and stabbed her sister, pretending that nothing had happened and looked away.

Liu Hongying took the chestnut and turned around and went back to the kitchen, Gu Huai silently warned the two nieces with her eyes, and followed in.

Gu Mingyu thought it was interesting, and wanted to go in to watch the excitement, but was stopped by Gu Cheng and Gu Mingzhen.

My sister is still young, Gu Mingzhen didn't plan to give her these things, and her aunt and nephew sat around the table in the courtyard, eating chestnuts and chatting with each other.

Soon, Gu Huai carried a small stove from the kitchen into the hall next to him, the three little girls had nothing else, this bit of eyesight was still there, several people took it one by one, and brought all the meals to the hall and put them away.

"It's too cold, I'm afraid that the fried vegetables will be cold before I eat them, so I didn't cook any dishes, you can make do with it, don't dislike it." Liu Hongying pursed her lips and smiled.

Gu Mingzhen hurriedly said: "Such a good dish, how can you dislike it, it's too late to thank you." ”

The rice is steamed out of a steamer, the soft and hard are moderately fragrant and pleasant, the two elders of the Liu family are not there, there are a total of five people to eat today, Liu Hongying steamed a small bowl of eggs for each person, and also cut a plate of bacon and steamed it, the rest is a stove, although the dishes look less, but there are a lot of hot vegetables, the stove is fresh pork as the base, some cabbage radish and vermicelli have been scalded in it, and there are some chaseberry coriander on the table with a small bamboo basket.

If this kind of food is still called no vegetables, then I am afraid that the old Gu family eats pig food every day.

Liu Hongying is not a person who picks the door, Gu Mingzhen is not very polite, a bowl of rice quickly entered the stomach, and very consciously went to the kitchen next door to add a bowl, came back and swallowed two mouthfuls of rice, only then did he remember a thing: "Uncle, the three of us don't go back tonight, where do we live?"

Gu Huai didn't answer in a hurry, chewed and swallowed the food in his mouth slowly, and then said slowly: "The three of you will sleep in my house tonight, and we will come back from the night market in a while, and I will go to the county school to squeeze in with the eldest brother." ”

The current policy of the imperial court is very lenient towards scholars, not only encouraging everyone to go to school, such as the county school school, which is a teaching unit set up by the state, but also holding 12 points of sincerity for the students.

A talent like Gu Sui gets a tuition fee of five taels of silver for a year in the county, and this tuition fee has already included the students' room and board fees, and Liu Yu is even more powerful, not only does he not need to pay tuition, but the court will give him silver every year.

Gu Mingzhen knew that Gu Sui had paid another money, and the double dormitory provided by the county school was upgraded to a single room, but inexplicably, she just didn't want this scumbag father to know the news that she and her sister had come to the county, not to mention that she still wanted to do business in the county, although Gu Huai didn't look like a mouthy person, but who could guarantee that the two brothers would turn off the lights at night, would they have a whim to chat and talk about their hearts?

Gu Mingzhen frowned, "Uncle, don't bother your father! Next year's autumn season is the most critical moment in his life, and he doesn't have enough time to study hard, isn't there an inn in the county? I took my sister-in-law and Mingyu to open a room at night, compared with my father's future, this amount of money is far from nothing. ”

The words were serious and listened to completely for Gu Sui, Gu Cheng also nodded in agreement, Gu Huai didn't open his mouth, Liu Hongying said: "Why spend this money, when you went to the food street before, my father asked someone to come back and say, my uncle's side is not busy yet, I won't come back tonight, the house is spacious, it's not easy to make some money, you can sleep in my house at night." ”

Although Gu Mingzhen is not a person who likes to be polite, she really can't agree to this matter casually, she glanced at Gu Huai, the latter nodded, and she said: "Ah, that's really thank you Sister Hongying, we're going to go to the night market for a while after eating, if my sister has nothing to do, come with us." ”

Liu Hongying thought that there was nothing to do at night, so she agreed.

After eating, several people worked together to clean up the dishes and chopsticks, Liu Hongying boiled hot water again, a few people soaked their feet and talked, and when it was completely dark outside, they found a lantern to come out, and the five of them went out together and went straight to the night market.

At night, the food court is brightly lit and full of people as far as the eye can see.

I don't know when the top of my head has been put up with an oilcloth, and when I enter the food court, I can't feel the cold wind of winter, and the stoves and pots are burning in the shops next to me, and the temperature has risen a lot.

Gu Mingzhen had visited a lot of food streets in her previous life, and she had long been accustomed to these things, but Gu Cheng and Gu Mingyu only hated that they didn't have one more pair of eyes.

There are a lot of things sold in the food court, from snacks, pastries, sugar gourds, to big fish and meat.