The crowd of people who come to the market to buy New Year's goods reaches their peak around lunch.

On the east market, there are many more commodities than those in the west market, and the streets alone are twice as wide as those in the west market, so most people will choose to buy New Year's goods in the east market, including those farmers from nearby towns who come to the city to catch the market.

Groups of people walked in groups, and the dogs were in a good position to place the couplets, and across the street were the vendors who carried small burdens or pushed BMX carts to sell food.

Cooking cakes, steamed buns, rice, chaos, soup cakes and dozens of other kinds of fast and cheap food.

Even if you are not rich when you come to the market on the street, when it comes to lunch, the family will choose to have a light meal at the stall, and they are very happy.

Then you can see a large group of people on the other side of the street, and when you finish eating, you will come and see the excitement.

People have a herd mentality, and when they see what others are doing, they will follow and subconsciously do it, especially outsiders, a gang, as long as one of them pays for the couplet, then the rest of the people will follow him to buy it.

This thing is not expensive, it looks good and festive to buy it and stick it at the door, and it can also ward off evil spirits and pray for blessings.

So the dog was so busy that he didn't even have time to eat lunch, there were guests who had lunch, some of them were old or leading children who couldn't walk, and when they saw a tea shop behind them, they would go over to rest, and the dog would let the stone turn back, and a person even boiled water and greeted the guests.

Wait until it's time for lunch and come back to help, because then there will be another rush in the market.

After eating and resting, and the afternoon sun is very warm, those who have not finished buying in the morning will hurry to the street to sell on this good day.

It's also a loss to the dog to prepare a lot, a group of people have to pick this and that, and even several people want a couplet in golden font, the dog asked carefully, it turned out that they were all stewards of the Dongcheng Fang, some of them came with the little beggar, and some of them rushed over after hearing the news, anyway, the dogs took the pen and paper and remembered it carefully.

The dogs who asked for anything, or what they wanted, asked them one by one, remembered it, took their deposit, and sent someone to send it when it was done tomorrow.

There are also golden ones, that is, the price is more expensive, those in charge of the wealth and coarse do not care, I heard that there is only three dollars of silver, there is a steward directly waved his hand, and ordered nine pairs in one breath, people said that the door of the house has to be pasted, and the little lady and Xiao Langjun in the house can accumulate more blessings.

As soon as the sun arrives, the crowd on the street will be reduced by half, because some of those who live outside the city or far away will leave first, and when the sun sets, the originally crowded street will become deserted.

At this time, many of the vendors who have sold out of their goods will carry the carts and go home one by one, and some of the vendors will also go to the dogs to buy two couplets when they go home, and the dogs will charge less than a penny to the gang, so that they can introduce the couplets to the guests the next day.

There are also some night customers who come in a hurry, probably because they are busy during the day and can't leave, so they come over to buy a pair after hearing the news after work.

Today, the most prominent thing in this market is that except for a few big shops, it is the turn of the dog, and he did not eat at noon, and now when he is not busy, the dog went to buy some cooking cakes and gave them to make do with food.

The little beggars who were pulling guests everywhere in the alleys and alleys of the neighborhood also made a great contribution today, and the dog counted it, at least one-fifth of them were lured over, so the credit was indispensable, and the dog invited them to eat cooking cakes collectively, and each person was awarded five cents, and there were a few of the best performers, and the dog also remembered their names, and promised to make them a pair of cotton shoes when the business was over.

As soon as the sun set, it was too cold to treat people outside, so the dogs shouted that they had collected everything and moved back to the shop, and no one came to buy it.

A few of them are really busy today, and it is time to take a break, and when they go back to the shop and are baked by the warm hot stove, the whole person is like a kite scattered all over the body, especially the female baby Liu Hong, who is directly tired and lies on the bench and refuses to get up again.

The dog is tired, but he can't be lazy until he finishes something.

Tomorrow is the last day, more than half of the couplets have been sold today, referring to today's appearance, you have to prepare at least 300 couplets to complete, especially the big couplets, which are almost sold out!

There are also a few outsiders in Dongchengfang, and more than 30 couplets with various requirements have been ordered, and they must be prepared tonight, otherwise it will be too late tomorrow.

This thing will be imitated a day later by others,

So the dog didn't care about counting the money, so he went out with the oil lamp and walked to Gao Xiucai's house.

It turns out that the pair he wrote sold much better than what he wrote.

Gao Xiu had just cooked the porridge, and was feeding his wife one bite at a time with a bowl, the light from the oil lamp was dim so that he didn't see clearly, and the spoonful was fed in a hurry, which made her choke and cough several times before giving up.

Gently wiped the rice grains off her lips with a handkerchief, raised his hand to light up the oil wick a little, and dug up half a spoon again and handed it to her mouth.

I saw that she moved her lower lips, but did not open them, only twisted her head to the side to indicate that she did not want to eat.

Gao Xiucai sighed and said to her: "Hua'er, why don't you eat after a few bites, open your mouth quickly and drink the remaining half bowl!" ”

Her wife turned her head and stared at her sullenly, "What are you doing with so much food!" An old woman is still paralyzed on the kang, which is a pure waste. ”

Gao Xiucai had heard this many times, and knew that she was not happy in her heart, so he coaxed her softly: "How can you say such angry words!" How can you have the strength if you don't eat a full meal, open your mouth and drink this porridge quickly! ”

After handing it several times, she just didn't open her mouth to eat, Gao Xiucai sighed and put the bowl next to her.

When her wife saw it, she said to him: "You shouldn't have saved me at the beginning, and now you're half-dead and dragging you down, it's better to let me go with the eldest baby and the second baby!" ”

Knowing that she was starting to think blindly again, Gao Xiucai sighed and said: "Hua'er, I only knew how to hold a scroll and read books all day long in the first half of my life, and you were in charge of the work and children at home, now that you are old, it is my turn to take care of you, how can I blame you!" ”

"Besides, the eldest baby and the second baby are gone, if you leave me alone if you leave again, what will I do?" As he spoke, his eyes turned red, and then tears fell down in large pieces

The old wife lying next to him saw that he was making him cry, and hurriedly comforted him: "Gao Wa'er, don't cry, it's me who is wrong, I just said, I won't do stupid things!" Quick, I'm hungry, you feed me more! ”

Gao Xiucai nodded, wiped his tears with his sleeve, picked up the bowl again and continued to feed her.

After eating a bowl of porridge, I wiped her mouth, then took the bowl and went outside, and when it was clean, I turned over and went back to the house, put the dishes and chopsticks into the basket covered with a cloth, and sat next to her and chatted with her slowly.

It's nothing more than an interesting story about carrying a bookcase into Beijing to catch the exam when I was young, this story has been heard for decades, and every time I talk about it, I still tell it with relish, and my wife next to me is also fascinated by it.

After telling a story, Gao Xiucai went outside to pick up a cup of hot water, and when it was hot, he scooped it with a spoon and fed her a few bites, and poured the rest into his stomach as soon as he raised his neck.

The wife next to him scolded with a smile: "People who are dozens of years old can't get rid of this stinky problem, they look like cow drinks!" ”

Gao Xiucai laughed and said: "I can't change it in this life, once I was in a hurry, in order to be greedy for some distance, I believed the guidance of a little baby in the nearby village, and walked along the path, the more desolate it became, the narrower the road became, and when there was a big canyon in the end, the road was broken, and I went back, it was late, and I was panicked, and I never thought that I was lost again." ”

"Listening to the wild beasts in the forest, I climbed a big tree for the night, fortunately I took dry food in my bag and slowly broke it to eat, and when I wanted to drink water after eating the dry food, I found that the water bag didn't know when it broke a mouth, and the water had already run out, and I was a ninja on the tree, the more I endured, the more thirsty I became, and I didn't dare to jump down to find water at night, so I kept swallowing saliva, and I struggled all night."

"The next day, I found someone, borrowed someone's gourd water scoop, and drank five big scoops of water in one go, and since then I have suffered from this problem! Hahaha. ”

When his wife heard this, she snorted him lightly and said, "A person who is bold is not afraid of being eaten by a jackal or something!" ”

After saying that, she wanted to sit up, but Gao Xiucai hurriedly hugged her body, gently helped her up, and stuffed a pillow behind her to let her lean on slowly.

By the way, I also sat on the kang and listened to her continue to nag: "You, you, you have been disobedient, keep the chicken for you to eat, you just don't listen, and lie and tell me that you have eaten it, there is not a single rotten shell in this house, do you eat the shell into your stomach?" ”

Gao Xiucai's old face turned red and was about to explain, so he listened to his wife and said: "You told me a few days ago that there was a tea shop at the door of your house, and the house was very warm. When you go to someone else's place to drink tea, you can't let you drink it in vain, you must have given the chicken to someone! ”

Gao Xiucai hurriedly said: "No, no, I go to drink tea now, he doesn't ask me for money!" ”

The old wife sneered and said, "Look at you, it's not a beautiful little lady, why don't you ask for money!" ”

"Really, he really doesn't charge me money when I go to the tea shop to drink tea now, and he wants to go that day, and he can sit as long as he wants!"

Don't look at Gao Xiucai's wife from a peasant family, she is not necessarily worse than Gao Xiucai in terms of intelligence!

I thought about it for a while and said: "The day before yesterday, you came back very late, and when you came back, there was still a red patch on your sleeves, and there was ink between your fingers, did you write something for the shopkeeper in the shop?" ”

Gao Xiucai nodded and said, "Yes, I helped him write some couplets!" ”

"Couplet? What is that? ”

Gao Xiucai hurriedly told her everything before and after.

"So I wrote hundreds of pairs, the couplet looks very festive, and when the New Year comes, I will write a pair and stick it on the door, and also pray for you."

His wife nodded with a smile and said, "Write more than one and ask for some blessings for you." ”

After speaking, he instructed him: "The little shopkeeper is atmospheric, but you can't really just come to the door every day, even if you go, you have to pick a leisure time, so as not to delay people doing business!" ”

Gao Xiucai nodded, and was about to say a few more words, when he heard the banging knock outside the courtyard door, carefully distinguished the sound, and said to his wife in confusion: "Hey, why did this little shopkeeper come to me in the middle of the night?" ”