"I’ll go get you some chopsticks," Gao Changchun made a move to head to the kitchen. She would certainly not be happy if Lu Siyuan came every day, but he was a sensible kid. He didn’t usually show up, and even when he did, he wouldn’t eat here.
So, just like Lu Dagang, she was willing to make a show of politeness on the surface.
After all, having this nephew around had saved her a lot of trouble. For instance, last time when grandpa’s back pain flared up so badly he couldn’t get out of bed, would she not have had to take care of him if not for Lu Siyuan’s help?
The sale of goods in the city, and those bits of farmland belonging to grandpa, were all counting on Lu Siyuan’s help.
"No need, Auntie," called Lu Siyuan to stop her, "We’ve already eaten. I’m here to ask if there are still many winter melons left at home."
Lu Dagang and Gao Changchun exchanged glances, both harboring their own thoughts. They wondered if Lu Siyuan’s visit was to take some winter melons.
Gao Changchun smiled somewhat reluctantly, "We do have some, just not many. We didn’t plant many winter melons this year to begin with, and they get eaten up quickly since we have a lot of people."
The melons were sitting in the kitchen. She couldn’t say they were all gone without being caught out by Lu Siyuan if he saw them, but she felt pained to admit they had plenty.
With vegetable prices high during the New Year, their family of five had a strong appetite for vegetables. A single winter melon would be gone in just over a day.
"Are you and grandpa out of vegetables to eat?" Lu Dagang was also reluctant to part with his produce. Although hesitant to give it away, that was still his own father. He couldn’t ignore the situation if they truly had nothing to eat.
Lu Siyuan was no three-year-old. He noticed the emotions of both adults but chose not to expose them.
"Grandpa and I have vegetables," he gestured towards Shen Mianmian, "Her family has a relative who works in a cafeteria in the city, and they want to buy some winter melons now. So I brought her over to ask you, if you have surplus winter melons at home, you could sell some to her."
"Someone’s buying winter melons?"
Gao Changchun’s eyes lit up.
Noticing the change in her expression, a sly glint flashed in Shen Mianmian’s eyes. She feigned departure, "Siyuan, since your uncle’s family doesn’t have many winter melons left, you should take me to another house to look!"
"Wait, young lady," Gao Changchun could no longer hold back when she saw her about to leave, urgently calling out to her. She initially thought the young girl was simply one of Lu Siyuan’s classmates, coming over to hang out.
She wondered, with a girl this grown up coming to play at a male classmate’s house, why weren’t her parents concerned? But it turned out she was here to buy something.
They still had about twenty winter melons at home, enough to last until the New Year in the following year. Eating winter melons every day, they were already tired of them. Now with someone coming to the door to buy, freeing them up for money, she was overjoyed.
How could she let the customer walk away?
She promptly forgot about her previous assertion of scarcity, quickly changing her tune, "We do have winter melons, plenty of them in fact. How many are you planning to buy?"
Lu Dagang also quickly ushered them toward the kitchen, "Are these winter melons here enough? If not, we have more in the western room." ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ᴛᴏ ʀᴇᴀᴅ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs, ᴘʟᴇᴀsᴇ ᴠɪsɪᴛ 𝓷𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓵•𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑒•𝙣𝙚𝙩
Shen Mianmian glanced over. In the kitchen’s straw pile, there lay seven or eight winter melons, each weighing over twenty pounds. Thanks to Gao Changchun’s good care, they looked attractive in shape and color.
"Can you afford to take all these?" Lu Siyuan asked Shen Mianmian, knowing she didn’t have much money at the moment. Every time he made money from selling baskets, he would hand it over to grandpa, leaving him without any himself.
If they reserved too many winter melons but couldn’t pay the bill, they would give themselves away. Once the reputation spread, it would be much harder to buy winter melons the next time.