"Brother, roll them up." Saying this, Qin Xiangnuan had already started moving, neatly stacking the Spring Festival couplets and then rolling them into a large roll, before inserting them into a paper tube she had collected beforehand. It was originally from plastic wrappers bought in the village, and it was just the right size to store the Spring Festival couplets.
This method was really good.
Qin Xiangyang also rolled up some Spring Festival couplets and placed them inside the paper tube. Soon after, they had already packed quite a few paper tubes, and even if they sat on them now, the Spring Festival couplets wouldn’t get damaged.
He took out a cotton quilt from home, spread it in the tricycle, and used a glass bottle that had been used for medical drips, filled it with a big bottle of boiled water, and placed it inside. They were going to sell in the city, which was a little further from here.
Qin Xiangnuan climbed into the tricycle, took off her shoes, and obediently sat down inside the quilt.
She was still thin and small, suffering from long-term malnutrition, which wasn’t easy to recover from. She hugged the hot water bottle tightly and wrapped herself up even more snugly. Now, Qin Xiangyang, who was already 14 years old, was tall and strong, and had great strength, which made riding the tricycle very fast. They had gotten up around five o’clock in the morning, and it was almost six when they set off. By eight o’clock, they had arrived in the city, and by the time they set up their stall, it was almost ten. They took up two big trees and tied ropes on them. This was where they had sold Spring Festival couplets before. Now there were already some people who had set up their stalls, some had even professionally written couplets, but Qin Xiangnuan, feeling young, thought it was better to keep a low profile.
They hung all the Spring Festival couplets. Qin Xiangyang was a very meticulous child; he hung each couplet neatly and very close to each other.
After ten o’clock, more people started coming. Everyone was there to buy Spring Festival couplets.
At that time, the Spring Festival couplets were really magnificent because there were few vendors, and everyone valued the Lunar New Year highly. Even if the Spring Festival couplets were expensive, there would still be buyers, and whether the calligraphy was good could still be discerned by the people, although some might not be very literate.
But generally, just at a glance, one could know whether it looked smooth and pleasing or not.
Qin Xiangnuan’s calligraphy was definitely pleasing, especially here, it was unique.
Nowadays, intellectuals still held high moral standards, unlikely to show themselves here, so those who came to write Spring Festival couplets were not very old. If it were according to the fifty years of calligraphic experience of Qin Xiangnuan, there should have been a nearly seventy-year-old scholar present, but unfortunately, there wasn’t.
Therefore, Qin Xiangnuan’s calligraphy was indeed the best here, and it was also diverse, each piece almost different.
Like the couplets "Ten years of cold wind soak the centuries, a hundred springs fade, a night of storm cleanses hometown, a myriad of trees stand tall" and "Reform spring breeze sweeps the land, enriching people policy rejuvenates China," these were common in modern times, but Qin Xiangnuan also wrote many that would only appear in later generations.
One Spring Festival couplet sold for 50 cents, and they were all snatched up quickly. In just half a day, the Spring Festival couplets were sold out. They could still sell for another day tomorrow. Qin Xiangnuan somewhat regretted not thinking of stockpiling more beforehand. If she had, they could have sold much more. After returning, she decided to stay and strive in the system, utilizing the time difference with the outside world to write more couplets. Next year, they would prepare earlier, and at the very least, they would make around a thousand yuan in these few days.
"Sister, we made more than 500 yuan," Qin Xiangyang counted the money piece by piece, one cent at a time.