In the following days, Zeng Ruiyu sometimes sent fifty, sometimes thirty, Ziqing kept accounts every day, how much the lantern rack was completed, how much Ziqing had done, etc., at the end of the month, Zeng Ruixiang and Zeng Zifu came back, Ziqing asked them to inscribe on the lantern, what "congratulations on the New Year", what "all the best", what "more than every year", what "auspicious stars shine", etc., write a word every other petal, at night, Ziqing deliberately lit a candle to try the effect, everyone said it was good, Especially under each lantern, there is a Huang Luozi played by the Shen family, which is really interesting.

"My Qing'er is really capable, on the day of the Lantern Festival in the old year, my brother also said that I would tie a lantern for you, but my brother's lantern was not tied, you are ready to sell it, you are better than my brother." Zifu said with a smile.

"Big brother, I made this first lantern with my sister, and I helped my sister a lot." Zilu said.

"Yes, Xiao Er is becoming more and more capable." Zifu touched Zilu's head and said with a smile.

The busy time is the easiest to pass, during which the potatoes and soybeans at home are harvested, Ziqing has been busy for a few days, and the harvest is still okay, but the yield of late rice has been greatly reduced, and the millet is basically deflated, and Shen only needs half of it to feed the chickens, and let Ruiyu feed the pigs with the rest.

By the eighth day of the lunar month, when Zeng Ruixiang and they came back from vacation, Ziqing looked through the records and actually completed more than 3,100. On the tenth day of the first lunar month, Ziqing and Zifu took a pair of lanterns to find the shopkeeper Zhou, and said to the shopkeeper that they wanted to discuss with the owner and wanted to see the owner.

"It's really a coincidence, our lord is preparing to return to Beijing, and you really won't be able to see you two days late, so let's go and spread the word, and I can't call the shots if I can't see it." Come back in half an hour. ”

After Ziqing heard this, she took Zifu to the vegetable market again, still buying some chicks and two lambs, but found a few peach trees, and found nothing new. Back at the grocery store, the owner had arrived, and there was a teenage boy standing next to him, who looked like a young master from a big family, with a red silk gown, and a jade pendant with him, and an eleven or twelve-year-old long-term entourage next to him, who did not smile.

As soon as Ziqing entered the door, before she could see the people in the house, the owner asked, "Lao Zhou said that you have sent something new this time, I'll take a look." ”

Ziqing took out the folded lantern, and when they opened it, the proprietor looked at it and said with some disappointment, "Isn't it a lantern?" Your lantern is festive enough, but it's nothing special, if you want to say that it is used in the Lantern Festival flower street, the appearance is too simple? ”

Ziqing said: "Who said that it can only be used during the Lantern Festival? My lantern is specially prepared for the New Year, and two red lanterns are hung at home during the New Year, don't you think it is a special joy and a special New Year's flavor? Moreover, my lantern can be folded, when not in use, you see, it does not take up space at all when folded and put away, it is especially easy to keep, and it can be used again next year. And you look at this. ”

Ziqing walked to a darker place, lit a candle and put it in, Ziqing turned the pull line on the top of the cage, and as soon as the lantern turned, the handwriting on it was particularly clear in the streamer of the candle, "Don't you think the overall feeling is not only festive, but also warm?" During the New Year, hang two lanterns on the courtyard door of the house, the guests will definitely be comfortable when they come to see the auspicious words on it, and show it to the people passing by at night, and it can also illuminate the road in front of them, for the wanderers who travel far away, it is even more different, this lantern can also illuminate the road in their hearts, igniting their strong desire for home. ”

"Hey, hey." Ziqing saw that the young master-looking person was looking at Ziqing and snickering. Ziqing glanced at him.

"Master of the owner, my sister is used to talking to us at home, and her speech is a little marginal, but this lantern is really happy to hang for the New Year, and the New Year's Day is not just a lively and festive picture." Zifu said.

"It's okay, it's not the first time I've seen it, the little girl is quite able to speak. But how much are you going to sell for a pair? The proprietor asked.

"Two hundred Wen a pair, you see, these are all the best yarn and silk, I personally sewed, sewing is particularly troublesome, this is also my mother's own hand to play auspicious Ruyi Luozi, the New Year, how good the meaning. This is my father's special inscription, a hundred wen a lamp, really not expensive, and the shelves inside, are made of freshly cut bamboo, it took a lot of effort, a pair of couplets written on red paper will be sold for ten wen. Ziqing said carefully. This price was negotiated with Zifu last night.

"You're not afraid that I won't buy it, take your samples and let the workers do it yourself." The proprietor asked.

"How can I be? You are such a big man, there are so many things to deal with every day, how can you look at the benefits of a few taels of silver, I am also so that you can take it out for your own use, or give it to others have a new idea, right? Ziqing slid his beard.

"What I want to know is whose idea was this?"

"Whose mind is what's the matter? It is the crystallization of the collective wisdom of our whole family. Ziqing said.

"Crystallization? What does crystallization mean? ”

"That's it, that's what the result means." Ziqing touched her head.

"I haven't heard of it, but it turns out to be crystallized. But in the past two years, little girl, your watermelon has really not earned less, and the big house has been built, little girl, I really want to know, why can your watermelon ripen more than ten or twenty days earlier than others, and you are so hard to earn silver at a young age, last time you said it was to build a house, what do you want to do most to earn silver this time? The owner looked at Ziqing curiously.

Ziqing was a little entangled, thought about it and said: "First, the issue of precocious watermelon cannot be discussed, it is an exclusive secret, and my family refers to this to support the family, so I have nothing to say, second, I said that you don't laugh, of course you can buy a field and buy a shop after earning money, and then wait to collect rent, and then wait to be a rice worm, sleep until you wake up naturally, and count the silver until your hands cramp." ”

"Rice worms? Why rice worms? ”

"How good the rice worms are, you don't have to do anything, you lie in the rice pile all day, you don't have to worry about starvation, you have to eat and play, and you have a lot of leisure."

As soon as Ziqing's voice fell, everyone laughed, some hehe, some fluttered, some haha, in short, Ziqing's words entertained everyone. Zifu rubbed Ziqing's hair with a smile.

"Okay, just for you, the great rice worm target who sleeps until he wakes up naturally, counts the silver and counts the cramps in his hands, I will ask you for this batch of lanterns." He asked how many there were, and told Lao Zhou to take three hundred taels of silver tickets and some broken silver, and then transport the gelding back and prepare to send it to the capital. After saying that, the owner left, and the two children looked back at Ziqing several times.

Ziqing was still immersed in the joy of earning money, and jumped up and pulled Zifu to celebrate, "Brother, I succeeded, brother, I succeeded." With a smile in his eyes, he thought it would take a lot more to speak, but he didn't expect it to be so easy.

Where did she think that it was her sentence that moved people with a little novelty for her own use or as a gift, where would people put this little money in their eyes? Of course, what Master Wen didn't expect was that as soon as the lanterns in his house were hung up and some were sent out, the whole capital was looking for red lanterns everywhere, and in a hurry, the batch of lanterns in his hand fell out of his hands for one or two silver. Of course, Ziqing has no way of knowing, otherwise she would not regret not selling more.

Ziqing and Zifu followed Zhou's donkey cart back to the village, Zeng Ruixiang and Shen were busy catching chickens, Ziqing, Zifu and Zilu carried the lanterns into the car, Ziqing left five pairs, and the rest moved away, and she was ready to send them to the old man and the Shen family.

In the evening, Ziqing secretly gave the silver ticket to the Shen family, and her father and mother were too surprised to see that they had sold so much silver. "I didn't expect Qing'er to really do it, and she can actually sell these silver taels, my Qing'er is really capable." Shen boasted.

"Mother, and me, the first lantern was made by me and my sister, or did I help my sister think of a way?" Zilu said.

"Yes, my son is not bad, my mother knows that you are all good children."

Zilu touched his head and smiled.

Ziqing calculated, in fact, the cost was more than thirty taels, of course, the labor was not calculated, Shen said that the silver would be given to the He family ten taels, Ziqing naturally had no opinion.

Ziqing asked her again if her father still sells couplets? Shen said: "Let's sell it, sell some silver, make up for your loss, and the silver for the New Year will be enough." ”

Ziqing was taken aback when she heard this, and hurriedly asked, "What loss?" ”