The death of the aunt hit his father Chen Zimin very hard. Xuejiao learned from her mother Li that her grandmother Liu's identity was very mysterious, and the older generation in the village said that she was a rich lady who fell into trouble, and some said that the official lady had committed an accident in her family, and was rescued by her grandfather when she jumped into the river in Maoshan Mountain, so she married her grandfather.

Grandmother gave birth to her eldest aunt Chen Wenxiu, father Chen Zimin, and second aunt Chen Wenying. Grandmother knew how to read and break, Chen Wenxiu and Chen Zimin were taught history by their grandmother when they were young, and they also taught their aunt to blow Xun.

Chen Xuejiao thought, no wonder her grandfather and a farmer would train her father to become a talent, it turned out to be the credit of her grandmother.

My grandmother married my grandfather and was depressed until she coughed up blood and died. At the time of his death, Chen Wenxiu was six years old, Chen Zimin was five years old, and Chen Wenying was only two years old. Later, my grandfather remarried the Wang family to fill the house, and the Wang family was arrogant by nature and was extremely harsh to the children of the Liu family. Wenxiu remembered her mother's last wish to let Chen Zimin study, and that year in order to let Old Man Chen and Mrs. Chen agree to let Zimin participate in the township test, Wenxiu refused Xu Xiucai, who had always been interested in her, to marry Mrs. Chen's maiden nephew Wang Baozhu.

Old man Chen has always had low self-esteem in front of his original partner Liu, and since he remarried Mrs. Chen's Wang, he has become more and more dislike the children born to Liu, and the children born to Liu make him think of the gloomy years when he tried his best to please Liu.

"It's all the sins of the previous generation." Li sighed.

Chen Zimin won the Xiucai in the township examination in the first year, but he had no intention of participating in the imperial examination and chose to be a private school in Baitu Town. Xiucai does not need to pay taxes, Chen Zimin has ten taels of silver to take every year, if according to the current standard of living, Chen Zimin's family is considered to be above average, but because a large family lives together, Chen Zimin's silver is handed over to the public, and his family is not well fed and warm. Chen Xuejiao thought that it was impossible to think of a way to make money, and she didn't think about the life of being rich and rich, and it was not in vain to be able to eat and drink enough in ancient times.

Looking at the situation in this house, when eating, Mrs. Chen will roll her eyes and shout, not to mention that she is full of food and drink, and it seems that she can only rely on herself if she wants to live a good life.

"Second sister," the younger brother Qi Ping rubbed to Xue Jiao's side and whispered: "Second sister, let's go to Huaishui to play, there are bird eggs there, and they are fragrant when cooked." ”

Xue Jiao saw Qi Ping's thin body, and her heart couldn't help but feel sour, and she couldn't help nodding his head in agreement.

There is a river in Maoshan in the village, it is a tributary of Huaishui, the people of Zhuang are called Xiaohuaishui, Chen Xuejiao heard her father say the origin of Huaishui, under the same night sky three thousand years ago, a round of wild moon in the sky emitted silver-white light, a big river flows quietly in the reeds and wild grasses, a short-tailed bird called "Huai" inhabits the river in flocks, to bring peace to the Zhuang people, so the Zhuang people named this river as the small Huaishui

Xiaohuai water is covered with wild reeds, the snow-white reeds make the whole river seem to be floating with snowflakes, the river is gurgling, beans and corn are planted on the bank of the river, lush green and endless, and the air exudes the smell of intoxicating crops.

Xue Jiao and Qi Ping walked along the riverbank, the midday sun was scorching, and they were sweating. Qi Ping searched carefully in the grass, hoping to find the eggs of pheasants or ducks, but found nothing and became frustrated.

Tired of walking, the two of them sat on a river beach to rest, Xue Jiao breathed the sweet breath released by wild grasses and wild flowers, and her heart was clear.

"Oops" Qi Ping suddenly cried out in pain, followed by a burst of cheers: "Crab, second sister, look at the crab." It turned out that Qi Ping was caught by a crab, and Xue Jiao followed the direction of Qi Ping's finger and saw a fat crab crawling into the water.

"Second sister, let's catch the crab and burn it." Qi Ping said loudly.

Wouldn't it be a pity to eat such a fat crab by yourself, Chen Xuejiao's first thought was to catch it and sell it. Now is autumn, the season of osmanthus blooming, but also the season of crab paste full of fat, many rich families like to eat crabs while enjoying osmanthus in autumn, why not catch it and sell it to the rich.

"Ping'er, do you want to eat Hu Fulou's rock sugar pastry, do you want to eat Meng's roast goose." Chen Xuejiao** flush.

"I want to, I can think about it, but we don't have the money to buy it, and I still eat it for Brother Xingjian." Qi Ping couldn't help but drool.

"Let's catch crabs and sell them in Baitu Town, and the money from the sale will be bought for you." Chen Xuejiao said with a smile.

"However, if grandma finds out, she will definitely be scolded." Qi Ping hesitated, in the heart of this seven-year-old child, he never thought that he could go to the street to sell things.

"If you don't say it, I won't say it, who knows, the money from the sale will buy you the Meng family's roast goose, and buy a big one for you to eat." Chen Xuejiao continued.

Qi Ping nodded with fluttering eyes, climbed to the reeds and made a simple basket for crabs. Chen Xuejiao is familiar with catching crabs, remembering that she lived in her grandmother's house in the countryside in her previous life, and would follow her cousin to catch crabs every autumn. The crab grew under the stones or in the hole, and Chen Xuejiao and Qi Ping kept turning the stones, digging holes with branches, and in less than two hours, they grabbed a whole basket.

Chen Xuejiao carried the basket on her back, thinking that the heavy crab could be exchanged for a copper plate, and she didn't feel tired. The two men took a shortcut and soon came to the town.

Chen Xuejiao thought that her brother's classmate Han Xingjian's family opened a restaurant, so it was inevitable that he would also sell crabs, so why not sell crabs to Han Xingjian's family. Thinking like this, he came to the Han family's restaurant "Qingfeng Village" with the basket on his back, and the guy saw that the person who hurriedly went to ask the shopkeeper was Han Xingjian's father Han Zhong. Han Zhong saw that it was his son's sons and daughters, and hurriedly invited them into the store and finished greeting each other. Chen Xuejiao stated her purpose: "It's really troublesome Uncle Han, you also know the situation of my family, this basket of fresh crabs was caught by me and Ping'er, it is fat and fresh, and I want to put it in Qingfeng Village for consignment."

"Gee, why not." And when he spoke, he was to take the money.

"Uncle Han, maybe I'm coming here, you think it's a child playing around, but no, I hope to consign crabs in your store to subsidize the family. In business, if this crab can be sold, we will give us five or five points. Chen Xuejiao looked at Han Zhong with a firm look in her eyes.

Han Zhong couldn't help but be moved by Chen Xuejiao's resolute eyes, originally he thought it was a child playing around, and he only gave two silvers left and right, but after listening to Xuejiao's words, he knew that this child was different from ordinary children, so he got up and said: "Xuejiao niece, you can trust uncle, it just happens to be a good time for crabs to go on the market, many people have already booked in Qingfengzhuang, it is in short supply, you have such a big basket of fresh and fat crabs just to alleviate the urgent need." ”

"Yes, yes, what the shopkeeper said is that Squire Jiang ordered a basket of crabs today to celebrate Xiao'er's birthday, and now the goods have not arrived, so this basket can come in handy at night." A guy said as he served tea.

"If you say anything else, my uncle bought all of this basket, and it will not be too late for Xuejiao to give it to my uncle if she has a big business in the future." Han Zhong said.

Chen Xuejiao no longer shirked, Han Zhong gave Xuejiao 500 yuan according to the market price, and asked the guy to send two large bowls of beef and lo mein, a plate of roast goose, a plate of ham, and a plate of fried pork liver. Chen Xuejiao and Chen Qiping ate, and after eating, Chen Xuejiao said goodbye to Han Zhong: "Thank you, Uncle Han, can I send a basket of crabs every day these days?" However, my niece has a request, asking Uncle Han to keep it a secret for me and Ping'er, and not to tell anyone about it. ”

Han Zhong knew that Chen Xuejiao didn't want Chen Zimin to know, after all, Chen Zimin was a Xiucai, and Xiucai's daughter sold crabs and spread it out to be arranged by many people, so he agreed with a smile.

"Such a big basket of crabs was sold for five hundred dollars." Qi Ping touched the round belly he had just eaten and said happily, he had never had the experience of having money in his memory, and he was naturally smiling when he saw the money bag in Chen Xuejiao's hand at this time.

"Second sister, what are you doing with so much money." Qi Ping asked Chen Xuejiao.

"You will be dizzy with this amount of money, and in the future, my sister will do a big business, and you will be unable to count the amount of silver spent in vain. We spend part of it to buy food, and keep the rest for me to do the capital, and accumulate a lot of money to do a big business. Chen Xuejiao nodded Chen Qiping's forehead and said confidently.

Chen Xuejiao took Qi Ping to Qiaoxianglou to buy a copper mirror, and then she could look in the mirror after washing her face and combing her hair, and bought Chen Xueru two pink silk hair ropes embroidered with louver drawings. I bought four kinds of pastries in Hu Fulou, a pound of steamed chestnut flour cake with osmanthus sugar, a pound of crystal crisp fragrant spring rolls, a pound of preserved hawthorn with green silk sweet sauce, and a pound of preserved pear pulp from Dangshan, and four kinds of lotus leaves were carefully wrapped in my hand. I went to the Mengjia roast goose shop and bought a cinnamon old braised crispy roast goose, and the master of the roast goose shop gave two goose paws. A total of two hundred and seventy dollars were spent, and the remaining two hundred and thirty dollars were tightly held in Xue Jiao's hands.

The sun had set, the twilight was in full swing, and the stars appeared in the sky to herald the arrival of night. The two of them walked towards Maoshan with a lot of things, because they were afraid that people would see it, especially because they were afraid that Mrs. Chen Zhao and others would see it, and when they walked to the Xiaohuai River, Chen Xuejiao picked a few big lotus leaves to cover it.

"Xue Ru went out to look for a circle and didn't find it, where did these two children go, mother, I'll go out and see if I'm brushing the dishes when I come back." As soon as I stepped into the courtyard door, I heard the anxious voice of my mother Li.

"You don't have to go anywhere, you are all children in the countryside, where you are so delicate, you can be eaten by wild wolves or eaten by wild boars, you can't lose them. I wonder if you want to be lazy, don't want to wash the dishes, don't want to feed the pigs. I know that for the death of the eldest girl, you hate the old Wang family, hate me, your heart is twisted into a twist to anger me, Xue Jiao doesn't know where to go to the wild, she is not even afraid of you and afraid of her loss. Old Lady Chen grinned nonsense, and Zhao defended in a low voice.

"Thanks to Grandma Hongfu, my peace and son have neither been eaten by wild wolves nor eaten by wild boars." Xue Jiao retorted with a smile.

"Where have you been, I'm not afraid of my mother's worries." Chen Xueru pulled Laqiping's hand and her eyes were red.

"I'm going to play in Xiaohuai River with Ping'er." Chen Xuejiao said.

"Hmph, I thought I hit the wall again outside, I know about wild running all day long, and I don't expect you two to work when the autumn harvest is coming soon." Xue Miao snuggled up to Mrs. Chen's side and squinted her eyes.

"Sister Xue Miao said well, how can the family expect me to work peacefully, the whole family is the most filial to you, of course you should do more work, and you will be expected to work when the autumn harvest comes." Chen Xuejiao did not back down.

"It's good to come back, it's good to come back, my mother will get you two something to eat." Lee's round game.

"Whatever to eat, run wild when eating, and eat what you shouldn't eat. Chai He doesn't want money? Fire sickle doesn't want money? This family will take out the two of them as ancestors, and they will also have a guy to support, and they will not starve to death if they don't eat a meal, and I will bear it if they starve to death. Mrs. Chen scolded.

"Mother, I'm not hungry with peace, and I ate some wild fruits in Xiaohuai River. Milk is right, if you don't eat a meal, you won't starve to death, what are you afraid of. After speaking, he walked into his house with the lotus leaf in his hand.

"Listen, what this wild girl said, this is unfilial piety, I have a hundred sentences waiting for a sentence in vain, this is purely to anger me. Why keep this white-eyed wolf, if you don't adjust it now, you can kill your mother and kill your father, if you don't beat her today, I will simply hang her by wiping her neck. Mrs. Chen pointed at Li and began to sprinkle.

Li stood in front of Mrs. Chen at a loss.