The old lady bought a lot of things from the market and came back, and piled up a lot of them under the big tree, fortunately with the help of Uncle Rong's ox cart, otherwise so many things would not have been able to get back at all. It was past noon when the mother and daughter returned home, and the father was sitting in the courtyard weaving a basket, and when he saw that they were buying so many things, they were nagging to save some money, but their faces were full of joy.

The family had a hearty lunch, packed up the things for the afternoon, and began to settle accounts in the hall in the evening, Ling'er took the initiative to take on the task of bookkeeping, found a piece of straw paper, picked up a carbon stick, and every time the old lady reported a number, she wrote on the straw paper:

5 liters of millet 8 yuan, brown rice 3 liters 7 yuan, 10 liters of millet 18 yuan, cotton half a kilogram of 10 yuan, sweet potato 10 pounds of 4 yuan, pork 3 catties 20 yuan......

The things that the old lady bought were scattered, and she specially selected people to sell the leftovers, naturally a few catties in the east and a few catties in the west, she could only rely on memory to slowly narrate, and it was definitely not easy to write down so many things in a general way. Ling'er simply drew a table, listed everything in a vertical column, marked the quantity and price, and finally counted the total amount.

In the end, it was calculated that there were 235 liters of millet and 120 liters of brown rice, with a subtotal of 750 liters; The weight of sweet potatoes, beans and other grains varies, with a subtotal of 200 yuan; Cotton, cloth, needlework, rulers and tools and other subtotals are 520 wen, and pork, bacon, pig bones and other subtotals are 210 wen, totaling 1,680 wen, and the remaining 320 wen.

The old lady counted the remaining copper coins, looked up at Ling'er, Ling'er immediately reported the numbers, the old couple was stunned for a moment, bowed their heads and calculated silently for a long time, and counted the copper coins twice, the old lady was surprised: "That's right!" Dad, yes! ”

Dad also looked at Ling'er with some surprise, Ling'er didn't know why: "Dad, mother, are these things enough for us to survive the winter?" ”

Daddy stroked his beard and nodded: "That's enough, Ling'er, show Dad the list you keep!" ”

Ling'er looked at the straw paper, it was full of numbers written down in Arabic numerals, and there were calculations, Dad and Mother shouldn't be able to understand it, right? She handed the straw paper to her father with some trepidation, the father took the straw paper and frowned for a long time, and the old lady also leaned over to take a look, and said strangely: "Ling'er, what is this?" Where did you learn it? ”

Ling'er thought for a while and said, "I just kept the accounts, and as soon as I put pen to paper, these symbols jumped out of my mind, I thought...... Maybe the immortal in the sinkhole taught me, right? ”

Father and mother glanced at each other, and then turned their heads to look at Ling'er at the same time, and their eyes were a little strange. Ling'er laughed dryly: "Father, mother, it was really taught to me by immortals, he said...... Learning is beneficial, just wave my sleeves, and I have these things in my head! ”

The old lady said: "Good Ling'er, my mother doesn't believe you, my mother is... I'm happy! Hehe! ”

The old man nodded slightly, and then there was a long sigh, and the old lady said: "Old man, the fairy gave us such a good girl, what are you sighing about?" ”

"Hey, I said it's a pity that Ling'er is a female baby, if a male baby can definitely get fame, become an official, and benefit one party!"

"Don't be greedy, old man! Who said that only a boy can benefit one party? Our family Ling'er is so capable, so the two of us can enjoy happiness at a young age, right? ”

Dad laughed and said, "Speaking of which, you can't be too greedy!" Ling'er, the immortals have given you such a favor, you must make good use of it, you can only help others, not harm others, do you know? ”

Ling'er promised on her lips, but she muttered in her heart, thinking what a bullshit immortal, I am that immortal!

The old lady got up and rummaged in the newly bought things for a while, and after a while, she took out two cloth bags, a bag, and a piece of cloth. Place them on the table one by one.

"Look, Dad, this is a good thing I picked out today. The two cloth bags each contained five catties of polished rice and five catties of soybeans, and in the baggage were two catties of high-quality cotton, as well as this green cloth. These are taken to the old man of the village chief, and by the way, he is invited to teach us Ling'er to recognize words when he is free, do you think it? Is there enough of things? ”

Dad looked through the items on the table one by one, thought for a while, and said: "The old village chief has always been good to us, and the last time we built a new house and held a banquet, they sent two large jars of good wine, and there is still a surplus of 300 yuan at home?" Let's add another 100 wen as a bundle! ”

The old lady nodded: "This is easy to say!" It's just that although our family Ling'er has opened her mind and is a little smart, she is a girl after all, I don't know if the old village chief is willing to accept it? ”

Dad looked at Ling'er thoughtfully, and said after a while: "Ling'er, the old village chief is the talent of our village, well-informed, fair, and respectful, but there is one thing, he never teaches his daughter to study, I heard that there was a rich family in the county town who was willing to pay ten taels of silver a month to ask him to teach a few young ladies, but he didn't agree!" You ......"

"Daddy, don't worry, Ling'er will behave well tomorrow, so that the old village chief willingly accepts Ling'er!"

The next day was still a foggy day, my father and mother wanted to eat and go, Ling'er saw that it was cold and damp outside, she knew that the old village chief was not in good health, and often coughed, so she asked to wait for the fog to dissipate, but she herself pulled the old lady into the kitchen, and asked the old lady to teach herself to boil ginger brown sugar water.

After waiting for the hour to pass, the fog cleared and the sun came out, and the family took their things and carried a jar of brown sugar water to the village chief's house. Naturally, along the way, it was inevitable that the villagers would look and see and the mouthy women would ask questions, Ling'er had already set up a good relationship with her father and mother, and it was easy to deal with them.

As soon as they arrived at the gate of the village chief's house, they heard a long series of violent coughs from the old village chief inside, and then an old lady muttered: "Tell you not to go out, don't meddle in your affairs, you just don't listen, now it's okay, as soon as you get cold, you cough, and you are all blind after drinking the decoction for two months, alas~~~"

"What do you know about a woman, cough~~~ I~~cough~~ I am the village head~~coughcough~~~"

"Okay, okay, don't talk about it, I know you're the village chief, and you have to take care of everything, alas!"

The family looked at each other at the door for a long time, and waited for the voice inside to be a little quieter before knocking on the door, and the door was opened by an old lady in her fifties, gray hair but strong and capable, she saw the family and immediately said enthusiastically: "Oh, isn't this Brother Yang and the eldest sister?" Oops, the silly girl is here too, come in, come in! ”

The family entered the courtyard, and the father and mother handed the gift to the old lady, who was a little surprised, said kind words, and took all the things away with a few pushes in her hand, and then poured tea for the family with a smile and said kind words.

Ling'er took an empty tea bowl and carried the jar to the old village chief: "Grandpa the village chief, I heard that you have a cold and often cough, you see, I boiled ginger brown sugar water for you, which can stop coughing and dispel wind, and now the temperature is just right, you can drink it while it's hot!" ”

Ling'er poured half a bowl of brown sugar water and handed it to the old village chief, the old village chief looked at Ling'er, and then at the bowl, seemingly a little hesitant? Ling'er thought about it, took a bite first, and handed it over: "Grandpa is not afraid, it's not bitter at all, it's sweet!" Last time I was sick, my father and mother just boiled this for me to drink, and it will be fine in two days! ”

The village chief's wife came over with a smile: "Oh, the silly girl is really enlightened, and she will boil brown sugar water!" Old man, the eldest sister said that this was made by the little girl herself for more than half an hour this morning, so you can drink it! ”

The village chief took the bowl, thought for a while and said, "Silly girl, you ......"

"Grandpa the village chief, my name is Ling'er, not a stupid girl!"

The village chief smiled, "Well, Ling'er's name is good, why did you boil brown sugar water for me?" ”

"Grandpa the village chief, my father and mother said that you are a good person, you can read and break words, and you know a lot of truths, Ling'er wants to learn to read and write!"